Thread: How to choose an ISP

Any other alternative like Satelight, Wireless (security reasons), or ISDN sucks. So no.

It sucks, but yeah I pay $70.00 a month for high-speed cable access. I stuck it right back to them when I got juiced up for all channels for a year to off set how they were raping me in the ass, fiscally speaking that it.

It's rediculous that Verizon is pimping their new dsl when many of their customers have no need for a landline at home. I guess I'll have to get a home phone line.

I have Comcast cable TV and cable internet, it is only $43 more for the internet.

We just moved to a new home and had to switch from Time Warner to SBC ADSL. We already have a landline so the ADSL is only $30 a month, but Cox cable internet is like $50. I may need to switch to them when I come back in two months just because the ADSL is eratic as hell, the servive drops often, and SBC wants to try to charge me for service calls. All I'm sayin really is no matter where ya go there is a down side.

I thought the FCC ruled that cable internet providers couldn't force you to purchase TV service in order to get internet service? I was able to cancel mine with Time Warner and even get a refund back dated three months. This was in like 2002 ...

Hey BC, I've had SBC DSL here in Austin for years with almost no problems. I don't know what ADSL is, though. I'll check into the Time Warner thing. I simply don't watch TV, and one phone (my mobile) is enough for me.

Originally Posted by Pirate!

Hey BC, I've had SBC DSL here in Austin for years with almost no problems. I don't know what ADSL is, though. I'll check into the Time Warner thing. I simply don't watch TV, and one phone (my mobile) is enough for me.

asyncronous/asymetric digital subscriber line. Basically DSL where you're upstream speed is slower than your downstream.

Go wireless and mooch it off your neighbors

Originally Posted by Robert DiMaggio

I have Comcast cable TV and cable internet, it is only $43 more for the internet.

me too.

I'm not crazy about comcast, but as an ISP it's been very reliable & very fast. I'm looking forward to AT&T's fiber network, uverse. IPTV



Wish I was in a Verizon location though.. Fios looks bad ass...

As long as your house is wired for cable, you don't need to purchase TV service to get the internet service...At least not around here anyway.

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

As long as your house is wired for cable, you don't need to purchase TV service to get the internet service...At least not around here anyway.

right.. with comcast it's an extra 12 bucks/month if you don't have the tv service with it.

Originally Posted by Pirate!

Hey BC, I've had SBC DSL here in Austin for years with almost no problems. I don't know what ADSL is, though. I'll check into the Time Warner thing. I simply don't watch TV, and one phone (my mobile) is enough for me.

On ADSL I'm rated by SBC at 3008 kbps down and 512 up. Not happin' ... I just ran a temp line to my router to remove the house wiring from the loop as a test. Gonna do a speed check in a minute.

Imma PM you though bra I been meaning to ask ya bout somefin ... ... but always have a case of the "round to its".

True Story, I just haxt some OC-192 connex and stream slingbox0r media as fast as my DL can handle, which equalz0r every channel in the world.

this is typical speed for me...............


It is only $39.99/month. I could get 10mb service, but that runs $70 or better a month in addition to your phone bill.

Originally Posted by BigDyl

asyncronous/asymetric digital subscriber line. Basically DSL where you're upstream speed is slower than your downstream.

Hey BigDyl, does standard DSL typically mean the upstream can equal the downstream? Meaning downstream+upstream can only = x amount? Syncronous is the term?

Originally Posted by dg806

this is typical speed for me...............


It is only $39.99/month. I could get 10mb service, but that runs $70 or better a month in addition to your phone bill.

I have you done some actual research into this. A T1 is much faster, and much better with multi-station networking then standard highspeed internet. I think you may be getting the short end of the stick.

A T1 is only 1500 kb/s. I'm getting nearly almost 4 times that.

Originally Posted by dg806

A T1 is only 1500 kb/s. I'm getting nearly almost 4 times that.

Yeah but your connection isn't dedicated, and you're not getting that upstream.

Originally Posted by KentDog

Hey BigDyl, does standard DSL typically mean the upstream can equal the downstream? Meaning downstream+upstream can only = x amount? Syncronous is the term?

It's implied that way. 99% of the time you're getting ADSL though. There is also vdsl, hdsl, and a few others.

Originally Posted by dg806

A T1 is only 1500 kb/s. I'm getting nearly almost 4 times that.

What are you using?

Originally Posted by BigDyl

It's implied that way. 99% of the time you're getting ADSL though. There is also vdsl, hdsl, and a few others.

How do you know which one you will be getting? And are you saying the ISPs can advertise "DSL" while giving you ADSL, and that this is common practice?

ASDL is the norm. It sucks, but it's not underhanded.

I have Starpower/RCN. It's just under $50 a month, it never has outage problems (Like Comcast did), I can download at about 800KB/sec from good servers, and I can upload at about 90K/sec (Most cable services have about a 30K/sec cap). I get amazing pings in online games too. I can get single digit pings at a variety of servers.

Originally Posted by Pirate!

What are you using?

My phone company offers a 5 megabit and 10 megabit service, in addition to their low speed (512, 768, 1.5) It is DSL. Just high speed(like cable).

Originally Posted by BigDyl

Yeah but your connection isn't dedicated, and you're not getting that upstream.

The upstream is about T1 speed.
It is not dedicated per say(as an actual dedicated line is run from your house to the phone company's main hub apart from telephone line), but they do guarantee your speed unlike cable. I have a seperate line from the box to my router. And the speed never varies. I get better performance with this than I would with a T1. I had a friend who had a T1 at his office that was closer to the hub than me, and I was getting better speed with a 768 at the time than he did with a T1.

Originally Posted by dg806

The upstream is about T1 speed.
It is not dedicated per say(as an actual dedicated line is run from your house to the phone company's main hub apart from telephone line), but they do guarantee your speed unlike cable. I have a seperate line from the box to my router. And the speed never varies. I get better performance with this than I would with a T1. I had a friend who had a T1 at his office that was closer to the hub than me, and I was getting better speed with a 768 at the time than he did with a T1.

What are you paying monthly for this? Last time I checked any DSL service with an upload bandwidth like that was rape on the wallet.

Originally Posted by CowPimp

What are you paying monthly for this? Last time I checked any DSL service with an upload bandwidth like that was rape on the wallet.

39.99, I get a discount because of bundled service but the regular price is 44.95.
Just checked and the up is 768 for 5mb and 1mb for 10mb service.(59.99 month)

Wireless im 10.5 MB download and 3.5 MB upload
10 509kbps 3515kbps

I have Verizon FIOS