Alternative High-Speed Internet Access

[stretch0069]

Well...as the old saying goes....you take one step forward and two steps back. Thankfully...its not that bad.

BUT.....Verizon is increasing my DSL fee and lowering my speed (sort of....more an issue of quality). Comcast is even more expensive and less reliable.


So....does a good alternative exist or are we lowly surfs destined to pay out the ass for ever dwindling services???

In the past, I've paid as little at $20 a month for the service I have now. Next month it goes to $35 and they only guarantee 1.1 Mb (the service is advertised as "as high as 3Mbps"). Talk about crap.

[Topcat]

Re: Alternative High-Speed Internet Access

not really....you're kind of bent over. It's kind of like going to a ford dealership and asking for chevy parts.....you'll get laughed at.

[NxB]

Re: Alternative High-Speed Internet Access

Yes, you're doomed to be bent over. In/near Chicago there is DSL, Comcast, Clearwire, WOW and RCN.

3 of those are cable providers, comcast being the fastest. Clearwire is about as fast as DSL.

What I could ACTUALLY get by my house would be comcast and AT&T and maybe clear. All of those are $50+ for less than 20mbps.

No real WISPs, no fiber and for sure nothing even close to reasonable. All this in a MAJOR market.

[delaware74b]

Re: Alternative High-Speed Internet Access

I have with Verizon's DSL: NEVER had a problem with it, BUT.......
- I'm maxed out at 3mbps, $48/month after taxes with no phone service
- I'm less than 500 ft from the central office.
- The CO hardware will only do 3mbps download
- If I want faster (only part of the time), I'd have to go with Scumcast at $65/mo
after their promo runs out and having to deal with outages every time the
weather changes.(internet only, I refuse to have their TV 'service')
- No plans for FiOS for at least 5 years.

[toastygoodness]

Re: Alternative High-Speed Internet Access

become an employee at a university. fastest paying internet you could get. i mean, you have to work, but if its a large research university, chances are it's close to being part of the backbone.

trolling aside, verizon's dsl sucked in seattle too. speakeasy was the only reliable dsl you could get. Honestly, it seems like all the companies are just toying with us. unless you call around and do the 'complain to comcast about switching' game, you probably won't get any better. I think satellite is just as pricey.

[acstech]

Re: Alternative High-Speed Internet Access

You think you've got it bad:

http://www.forbin.net/wireless/hService.asp

Where I'm at, it's either that or dial up. Period. There's a fiber optic line running a few houses down, that nobody can access, going to a single business. That business wasn't even supposed to build where they did (by the golf course) but they paid off the right people, so it got done, and the line got put in.

The nearest cable provider keeps saying they're going to expand into this area, then we'll get their internet plan. However, I suspect some money is being exchanged beneath the table, as it keeps getting put off.

In short,

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Alternative High-Speed Internet Access

become an employee at a university. fastest paying internet you could get. i mean, you have to work, but if its a large research university, chances are it's close to being part of the backbone.

My friend at UCSD (canyon vista housing) gets 20MB/s downloading stuff from steam. That's MEGABYTES, not megabits, per second. I'm fucking jealous.

*goes to corner and cries about not having good enough math grades to get into a UC*

[stretch0069]

Re: Alternative High-Speed Internet Access

damn....well...at least I'm not alone. My dad had 6Mb and was paying $25 a month...in North Da-frickin-kota.

I just thought providers were just being asses in this area.

I guess I'm better off than my coworker in Hagerstown......his only choice right now is dial-up.

oh well....guess I'll bend over and take it....

[toastygoodness]

Re: Alternative High-Speed Internet Access

My friend at UCSD (canyon vista housing) gets 20MB/s downloading stuff from steam. That's MEGABYTES, not megabits, per second. I'm fucking jealous.

*goes to corner and cries about not having good enough math grades to get into a UC*

yep. The Univ. of Washington is part of the backbone, so the 100Mbps link was literally at least 100Mbps.... fast stuff right there. NU is part of the backbone over here in chicago too... some offices are wired gigabit