Are you satisfied with your current internet service provider?

[yoda313]

So are you happy with your current internet provider?

I have slow dsl with at&t yahoo dsl. It was originally through SBC before they switched names. I've been very happy with the service. Very stable albeit slow - but great for the price something like 15 a month I believe with our bunled phone service package.

My only complaint is I don't seem to have access to dsl pro for 1mb and up speeds at any price. I haven't called to ask specifically but my phone number doesn't show up for pro service when I check their website - only basic service.

So how about you?

[Marvingj]

Down South Bellsouth is Great....Super Speed DSL.....Wish I had Stock in the Company!!!

[ozymango]

I've got Comcast, and I can't say that I really love 'em or hate 'em, but I do think they're overpriced.

But DSL isn't really a viable option because I don't have a home phone line (cell only, and I love it!), and by the time you get to the "actual use cost" of DSL vs. Cable in my area, it's pretty much a tie. So I think they're both overpriced.

I have to have a fast internet connection at home because I occasionally do work from home, VPN to work, and I'd be tearing my hair out over a dialup connection. At work we're connected to a gigabit network, university internet, so I'm rather spoiled when it comes to download and upload speeds.

For the most part, Comcast has been reliable, and that's probably the most important thing for me. So again I'm not really interested in all the bells and whistles they want to sell me -- I do not watch TV beyond incredibly basic cable, just local channels plus Discovery, so there's that.

[redwudz]

Suddenlink took over the local Cox Cable internet service. Cox was undependable and slow at times. Suddenlink is worse. DSL is not a option.

Help or service is just a phone call away.... to Texas. And then after a 30 - 40 minute wait, you might get hold of a tech. At least it's a toll free number.

I also have a business hookup from Suddenlink at work and it's twice the price of the home service and 1/4 the speed. But it's better than dialup.

[gadgetguy]

I have Comcast cable and it's definitely overpriced. I've been looking at AT&T DSL but my brother-in-law has it and he has nothing but trouble so I've been a little leary. The other thing DSL doesn't have that Comcast includes in the price is webspace, which has come in handy on many occasions. Still, I'd really like to reduce my internet bill...

[buttzilla]

I have verizon not by choice. Comcast tried to strongarm me into upgrading to commercial account because i was exceeding the bandwidth limit for a resedential acount. They told me they were going to suspend my acount if i didn't upgrade. i told them the TOS states no limit and i ask them what it was because i would try to stay under it and they would give me no numbers. So i guess their unlimited internet access as they advertise really isn't unlimited.

[mh2360]

I have verizon not by choice. Comcast tried to strongarm me into upgrading to commercial account because i was exceeding the bandwidth limit for a resedential acount. They told me they were going to suspend my acount if i didn't upgrade. i told them the TOS states no limit and i ask them what it was because i would try to stay under it and they would give me no numbers. So i guess their unlimited internet access as they advertise really isn't unlimited.

Exactly the same situation with AOL UK, they advertise an "unlimited" 8mb ADSL service, but then throttle your speed to 700kbps between 18:00 and 22:30 if you download too much. Problem is, they wont tell you how much "too much" is.

One less customer for them very soon...

[TBoneit]

My DSL was & is rock steady at the advertised 3Mb speed (Verizon) I never noticed any throttling either.

Then we Got Cable at work and it was running around 12 Mb throughput so....

I have added Cable I-net at home the "30Mb" speed, Note the quotes. It seems to run around 18 to 23 Mb throughput right now. Only had it a couple of weeks. To soon to know if they watch and Throttle. Strangely enough it seems to get slower after approx 11:30PM. Just got the first bill in fact including the one week of use from the previous billing period.

I was happy with the DSL as it was faster than the 500k or so we had at work. To far to get full dsl speed. Then they finally wired the strip mall for cable and when I saw the faster speed I wanted it. It sure makes it easy for me now when I have to do the security updates or download drivers for new computers or repairs/upgrades.

Of course I wish it were cheaper but for less than double the 3Mb DSL I have much faster.

The only thing that held me back from FIOS Internet was I've heard they pull your copper phone line and I'm sure FIOS phone won't work for days in a power outage like my POTS line did when that real bad storm killed power for four days one year. The phone still worked.

Edit:
So bottom line, Basic POTS service for voice. Cable for Internet, Satellite for TV.

[lordsmurf]

Charter. Going on 6 years and still relatively pleased.

[FulciLives]

I selected the second option:

Speed only - its at the speed I want but price and or quality suffer

I have COMCAST internet cable.

The SPEED is there and the QUALITY is there but the PRICE sucks! It is WAY too high.

I have "basic" cable TV which means I get only the analog channels (channels under 100) which means I get stuff like TCM and DISCOVERY and HISTORY etc. but not movie channels and no SCI-FI which I admit I miss.

On top of that I also have of course the CABLE internet service.

All together my bill is just over $120 and this includes the cable modem and my Comcast DVR cable box. To me that is downright disgusting!

I am seriously considering dropping cable TV for a short time in order to save some money as I don't watch TV as often as I used to. According to Comcast if my only service is Cable internet I will still be paying about $60 a month which is a total ripoff.

But dial up is totally out-of-the question so what choice do I have?

I had DSL once before via Verizon and it totally sucked donkey balls.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[John Shumate]

I got Verizon's Business DSL Package and sign a yearly agreement with them and they give me a huge discount. I only pay $30 for it. Amazing speed. I'm able to stream my radio stations, download videos, and large files all at the same time with relative ease.

Now..if I can only get my cell phone bill down. $50 a month for Sprint's free incomng plan, plus I go over the minutes sometimes so overages there, plus $10 tax. So at miniumn, I pay $60 a month. grr

[thecoalman]

I have Comcast too for about 6 months, just switched when they purchased the old cable company. Both are/were very reliable but as stated above the price sux but i really have no choice because I need the speed. The DSL's download speed offered im my area doesn't even compete with the upload speed I get from cable.

[redwudz]

TBoneit said:

Strangely enough it seems to get slower after approx 11:30PM.

I noticed the same problem with my cable speeds. They would slow down between 8PM and 9PM and again at 11PM till 12PM local time. Hmm...3 hour difference. I had a thought......

I asked my bank rep about that and he laughed. He told me financial institutions do all their transactions at the very last minute, usually between 11:30 and just before midnight before the date changes. East coast time three hours earlier. This is to squeeze the last percentage of interest from the money they hold before they have to hand it over.

They likely overload the internet links for a short time as they move a few million $$ across country.

This sounds plausible to me.

[AlecWest]

I have Comcast cable now. Used to have Qwest DSL. Both providers exaggerated their speeds. But between the two, Comcast has always been faster than the fastest Qwest connection I've checked. However, for less money, people who live in the rural city of Pendleton, Oregon can get wireless service (6 mbps up, 6 mbps down) that is faster than Comcast's real speed. Whether the wireless service exaggerates or not, I'm not sure. But they are cheaper than Comcast in the metro Portland area.

[dcsos]

I have luscious

"DONKEY BALL"

Verizon service
I hate the upload throttling..
its like they're saying: UPLOADING is our BUSINESS now go away you pesky little geek!

[thecoalman]

I hate the upload throttling..
its like they're saying: UPLOADING is our BUSINESS now go away you pesky little geek!

I think the biggest reason they throttle the upload is so you don't use it for a server and/or abuse it. A household connection is sold as that, its not intended to be used maxed out 24/7 .

[mats.hogberg]

Had Telia ADSL @ 512 kbps, as they were the first to offer ADSL where I live. Unreliable at best. Lived with it faaaar too long. Switched to Bredbandsbolaget/Telenor 24Mbps for very little more/month.
Never a problem, that wasn't my own network. The switch only took a few hours of down time.
A workmate used to have ComHem - also very unreliable. He (an on line game addict, depending his life on being connected) also switched to Bredbandsbolaget, and is very satisfied.
As with everything not free, there's always the hope/wish for it to be cheaper, but I can't complain. I'd rather ditch my TV and/or fixed line phone, as I use them less and less.

/Mats

[Baldrick]

Yep, very satisified. Skekraft.net 10MBit lan/optical fiber. Very reliable. It has only been down one day the last 1.5 years and I could fix it myself, someone had unplugged the power cable to the switch in the basement. .

[hudsonf]

I have Comcast and except for the price I'm very happy. I live in the country and only have Comcast or dial up to choose from. I don't think I could ever go back to dial up.

[ntscuser]

I have verizon not by choice. Comcast tried to strongarm me into upgrading to commercial account because i was exceeding the bandwidth limit for a resedential acount. They told me they were going to suspend my acount if i didn't upgrade. i told them the TOS states no limit and i ask them what it was because i would try to stay under it and they would give me no numbers. So i guess their unlimited internet access as they advertise really isn't unlimited.

Exactly the same situation with AOL UK, they advertise an "unlimited" 8mb ADSL service, but then throttle your speed to 700kbps between 18:00 and 22:30 if you download too much. Problem is, they wont tell you how much "too much" is.

With respect they quote "no fixed limits" which isn't quite the same thing.

One less customer for them very soon...

As one poster in uk.telecom.broadband warned me when I proposed doing the same thing "out of the frying pan and into the fire". There are a lot worse providers than in the UK than AOL. It's almost paradise compared to what NTL and Telewest have become recently. My only gripe is with upload speeds which remain uniformly laughable at any time of the night or day.

[TBoneit]

John "FulciLives" Coleman, You must have more than basic cable.

I have basic cable at $8.95 a month. It is not much more than just the local stations. I believe as I rmember it the basic cable and High speed version of the internet bill was around $60 which included a partial month from the install.

They wanted $10 q month for the DVR and if I wanted the "free" $10 a month for teh converter box so to get "free" HD with a DV would only cost $20 a month. Then I see the cable companies running adverts knocking Verizon's bills for surcharges.

From what I've heard Comcast is very high. compared to some of the others for Basic or Cable Internet.

The hardest part of the install getting them to take the order. They require SS# verification. Finally the girl took the order. Then repair had to come and fix the line into the house. He removed the filters, changed the ends on cable from the drop to the house. Then his signal tester showed good levels, and sure enough it worked. Download speeds test at 18 to 23 mb reliably. I've never tested upload speeds. Doesn't take much bandwidth to send a URL or mouse click or email. And it doesn't matter since I don't do P2P.

[thecoalman]

I don't have cable TV at all but it's only a $10 dollar difference. Here's the prices where I live.

For current cable TV subscribers:

$42.95 384/6000
$57.95 768/8000

---------------------

Non Cable subscribers such as myself:

$52.95 384/6000
$67.95 768/8000

----------------------

I have the $67.95 plan, one thing to note is the speed far exceeds what they advertise at about 1500/12000 so I certainly can't complain about that. I upload a lot of large files so I need the upload speed, be more than happy with say a 1000/1500 connection if it was cheaper but there is nothing available like that. Besides that I'm hesitant to switch to DSL because that seems to be a hit and miss kinda deal, cable speeds I get are always fast.

[nwo]

I just got unlimited 16mb adsl (£10) from Sky about 9 weeks ago and it's been nothing but a pain in the ass! it cut off when uploading to ftp or just using firefox or ie i have to turn the wifi box off 5 or 6 times before it restarts, and they will not let you use your own wifi box it has to be a netgear box.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

the speed is unbelievable
in the past 13 months, I've only lost connectivity once and all I had to do was reset the modem - less than 30 seconds and I was up & running again.
Same ISP as the one we had before, but 5 miles away from the old place. HUGE difference.
At the old place, we would lose our internet every single day at around 0930 and not get it back for at least an hour. Every damn day!

but I'm paying $100.00 a month for "extended" basic cable + internet......
it's kinda steep, especially since I no longer download like I used to.
it seems to be the consensus on this thread that Comcast is pricey as all hell. I must concur.

unfortunately, I have no other options as there is no phone line/service coming into our house and QWest wants an arm, a leg, AND a testicle to run a service 30 feet from the pole in our backyard to the house. Not to mention the fact that they have a loooooonng memory and are still holding a grudge against me for having to sick the collections on me almost 15 years ago (it was USWest) and won't even think about giving me any kind of service without a minimum secruity deposit of $300.00. (Keep an eye on your room-mate's long distance habits if the phone is in your name!!)
WTF?!?! I DID eventually pay them back.....
I guess they can't let it go.

[regster]

I´m very happy with my 50 Mbit of download / 5 Mbit upload - Optical Fiber Powered by Tvtel in Portugal.

[cal_tony]

I'm happy with current provider. Wildblue satellite svc. The street that I'm on is the southernmost street for Verizon. One street over, people have GTE with DSL, and cable. My street ,none of those and beside that my dial up was at about 10kbs most of the time.

So, I canceled my land line as I only used it for dialup anyway. Also canceled net zero since I didn't have a landline any longer.

Total increase in cost for an increase from 10kbs to 500kbs was $10.

An additional side benefit, no more sales calls.

Tony

[kimco52]

I had Verizon DSL. I was at the end of the limit for distance from the central office.... 3 miles. Had many problems which they eventually fixed. They buried Fiber in my neighborhood 6 weeks ago and I converted to Fiber 2 weeks ago and am happy with it.

[Bondiablo]

I've had Yahoo DSL for a few years. I'm satisfied with the speed and the price, and it's been reliable. $30 per month for about 5Mb down and 640Kb up. I only use it to get connected though. I refuse to install any of their software. Their customer service is about on par with everyone else and by that I mean, should you ever have a question not answered in their help section, about all they can do is send form letters repeating what's in the help section and quote policy.

[EddyH]

Virgin Media
formerly Telewest-NTL
formerly Telewest
formerly Blueyonder
formerly Birmingham Cable...
Many changes of name, still the same line, same cadle mobem*, same good rock-solid service, same lack of download cap, same regular upwards trickle (free upgrades!) of transfer speed as they gradually ad capacity to their network.
Apparently the person who pays the phone bill thinks their prices are a little steep (which is why our tv channel package has been recently brought down from a pricey and basic package, to the standard 'free' freeview channels (no monthly charge, but they dont disconnect you or remove the digital tuner box..) that appear almost exactly the same), but compared to Sky/Orange broadband, or whatever the heck BT expect you to pay these days, it's still a pretty sweet deal. And they look to be rolling out a 20mbit max speed quite soon (and that long-promised "TV Drive" sky-plus / tivo -a-like)

wheee virgin media. recommended. hopefully their customer service is as good as it was anytime i had reason to call them previously (dunno why it was me hehe)

[gll99]

On Rogers Cable I had the Extreme internet but was not getting numbers above 500 - 600 KB/sec. When the price went up for Extreme, I switched to the Express package which was supposed to be slower but seemed about the same. Now in the last little while my speeds are 6.91Mbps or 884.13 KB/sec on speed tests but also on http sites with open bandwidth I hit that download speed with no problems. Wow what an improvement but Rogers didn't send anything to customers saying they were upgrading the speed.

I guess that now puts me in the satisfied category