Time to choose an ISP

[Rob Oplawar]

So I'm all moved in to my new apartment, and it's time to get some internet access asap (I'm writing this from my parents' house). The big two are Qwest and Comcast.
Every single rate quoted on the Qwest site has a little asterisk indicating that the rate is only available for people who already pay for other qwest services, and the rates are already high as it is ($32/mo for 256kbps? what the fuck is that?!).
Comcast is cheaper at first- they only quote the rates that you get for the first 6 months, after which your rates typically more than double. And there's the fact that Comcast sucks big giant hairy sweaty donkey balls. I hate Comcast.

On an aside, I had Comcast in my previous apartment (paid for by my roommate) and I had periodic connectivity issues, where for hours a day the connection would be so slow that sessions would time out before I could connect to anything. And we of course called Comcast to say what the fuck, and they sent out a tech to look at it and say "there's nothing wrong with it" and charge $50 to the bill, even though they told us that there would be no charge for the support. This happened 3 or 4 times before we realized that they wouldn't help us even if they didn't have their heads stuck up their asses. My roommate and I joke that Comcast would deliberately slow down our connection and then whenever we would call customer service they would restore it so they could say "oh, look, nothing wrong."

Assholes.

Aaaaanyway, I don't want Qwest, and I don't want Comcast, but I need high speed internet. I cannot live with anything less than 1.5mbps. I tried searching for what ISPs provide service in my area and discovered that there are hundreds. Can anyone help me narrow it down? Is Qwest decent? Should I put up with Comcast's shit?

[UrKungFuSux]

Just puttin' my two cents in; We use At&t, and pay like 30 bucks for 6 mb/s. Although, it can get downright unreliable sometimes. It's fine when it works, but when it starts getting problems, it stays that way for a day or two. Hope this helped.
Edit: Right now, they're offering 30 bucks for 3mbs, not 6. :\

[Rob Oplawar]

*looks at AT&T site*
Ok, aside from that site being poorly designed, it says that the rates are only available to current AT&T customers, and in order to check availability, I have to enter the phone number of the line I want to use. But I don't have nor want nor need land line telephone service. I just want my high speed internet.

I'll be calling Comcast, Qwest, and AT&T for quotes; in the meantime, any other suggestions?

[dg]

If you are serious about Internetz, and it seems as though you are, I would check out Verizon FiOS. Two drawbacks however: 1) Not available everywhere. 2) Price blows.

Otherwise Road Runner or Qwest 20Mbs Fiber. I fucking hate Comcast. Throttling torrents is not okay with me.

[Rob Oplawar]

Road Runner? Link plz.
Google search for RoadRunner ISP turned up "Covad (http://www.covad.com/)". Wohoo, I can set up a T1 line for my apartment for as little as $699/mo? Sign me up!

[Abdurahman]

Try looking at DSL Extreme. i hear they're pretty good. They're prices are better than my current AT&T dsl now, and I might switch later on, seeing as I have crappy 768k dsl now :(

https://www.dslextreme.com/Services/Internet/DSL/Default.aspx

[Sel]

You should have just brought your laptop with you when you checked out the appartment, and made sure it had wireless that you could hijack :downs:

[Rob Oplawar]

^ ha ha ha!- no.

Actually, I did happen to take a look at the available networks the other day. Turns out the people who live here are smart. There are about 20 available wireless networks, and they are all locked.

E: Checked DSL Extreme; not available in my area.

[Terin]

I use Comcast now, as compared to AT&T. They were terrible, overcharging me for 256kbps internet. Now I have great 8mbps internet with comcast for just a little bit more per month. Really, it's hard to recommend ISPs to people in different areas, due to various factors, one of those being is that you don't usually have all the choices in the world with ISPs either. AT&T may work for you, though. I dunno.

[ExAm]

I've got AT&T at my dad's place, works great. The only problems are with the router :/
Word to the wise, first thing you should blame if you have connection issues is your router.

[Rob Oplawar]

Yep, that's what I thought. So I bought a brand new, mid-to-upper range linksys router. It's a good router, and I'm happy with it, but it did nothing for my connectivity issues.

Sigh, I'm thinking about going with Comcast, because I think that's the fastest connection I'm gonna get, but I just hate the company so much. : (

[Party_Grunt]

but I just hate the company so much. : (You and just about every subscriber out there. I don't know how it is in the city, but out here in the developing suburbs (where good ole boys owned the place less than 10 years ago) the service is absolutly crap. Comcast can't keep up with the rate of development, and because most people don't have much knowledge of technology, there isn't great incentive to upgrade service other than for volume.

[LinkandKvel]

Go with AT&T.....I was gonna make a claim against them but according to speedtest.net I'm getting a 1200 kbs downstream somehow....and it thinks I live somewhere in kansas when in reality im in ohio....but with speakeasy it was close to the same speed and I have the most basic service.

[legionaire45]

Road Runner Cable. (http://www.rr.com/)

10MB for around $50 or $60 a month IIRC. Service can be a little bit iffy once in a while but that's because I'm trapped between about 6 condos full of shitheads watching youtube videos all day. Other then that, it's very good.

[Xetsuei]

nothing wrong with comcast honestly. if it works, it works and will be enjoyable. if not, get a new isp.

Ha. Bit torrent throttling, connection randomly quitting about 2 times a day, if you call for someone to come and try to fix the internet they'll find anything to charge you for, the list goes on. They're just an all around horrible and dishonest company. I can't wait for the day when we switch to FiOS.

[Rob Oplawar]

There is no TWC or Road Runner Services at this address. The service provider in you area is Comcast.
am cry.

After some checking around, it looks like my two options are Qwest and Comcast. Qwest only offers up to 3mbps, while Comcast offers up to 6mbps, and also a 16mbps business fiber optic deal, which is only something to consider if they'll actually set that up in an apartment and if my employer is willing to pay for it (a perk of my job: I need a fast internet connection to host a server for what I do, so the company is going to pay for my internet service. Shazam!).

So Comcast is faster, and I have no idea what Qwest's service is like- they say better the devil you know than the devil you don't. Much as it pains me to say it, I'm probably gonna go with Comcast. I haven't committed yet, though- this is your last chance to talk me out of it.

e: AT&T seems alright as well, and their Home Office service plan looks about the same as Comcast's 6mbps bit, but I can't check the availability in my area because the damn website requires a phone number at the address and I don't have a phone number here (and I'm not giving out my cell number- they don't need it and I don't need more phone spam. Fuckers don't get the concept of the do-not-call list). Time to quit dilly-dallying (oh what a fun phrase that is) and call these bitches to see what sort of a deal they're willing to cut me.

[Rob Oplawar]

Woohoo, I have Comcast service now! =D

...wait

aw dammit, I have Comcast service now! DX

[Party_Grunt]

Woohoo, I have Comcast service now! =D

...wait

aw dammit, I have Comcast service now! DX
Enjoy your AIDS ISP.

In all seriousness, as much as I hate it, its probably the better choice.

[ultama121]

Which speed did you end up getting?

[Rob Oplawar]

advertised as 8Mbps download and 2mbps upload, which means it's going to peak at around 1Mbps download. I'm still waiting for the tech to come out and flip a switch to activate my service and then add $50 to my bill for "installation/activation", even though the rep who created my account assured me there would be no such charge. Arg.

[Terin]

I have 8mbps internet from Comcast, and I get that with DownThemAll, Steam, torrents, and some other things. It's not too bad.

[Rob Oplawar]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/315182024.png
not bad. : )

e: oh, uh, yeah, my service got activated today. I have internet! Wooo!

[ExAm]

Oh boy, did you pick a bad time to get Comcast:
They're putting on bandwidth caps (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080828-its-official-comcast-starts-250gb-bandwidth-caps-october-1.html) on October 1st

[Rob Oplawar]

Well, fortunately I don't do very much heavy downloading. Surely not 250 gb per month.

[Timo]

I don't think you could waste 250GB too easily o_o

[Rob Oplawar]

Beware the rant of the internet addict who was stupid enough to dare to believe that Comcast's service might actually not be all that bad.
roboplawar (5:14:42 PM): oh my fucking god
roboplawar (5:14:45 PM): i despise comcast
roboplawar (5:14:54 PM): every two weeks I have to go through the same stupid shit
roboplawar (5:15:39 PM): comcast decides to drop all packets except pings so that they can ping me and say "oh, we can contact your modem just fine! hurr!"
roboplawar (5:15:46 PM): so i turn everything off
roboplawar (5:15:49 PM): including my server
roboplawar (5:15:52 PM): reset my modem
roboplawar (5:15:55 PM): then reset my router
roboplawar (5:16:04 PM): then reset my fucking webserver
PharoaheZephyrus (5:16:26 PM): wow
PharoaheZephyrus (5:16:27 PM): gay
roboplawar (5:16:31 PM): then call them up and say I did your stupid dance, now press your stupid button that stops dropping my packets
roboplawar (5:16:43 PM): and they say "oh, gee, there's nothing wrong with your connection"
PharoaheZephyrus (5:16:56 PM): lol
roboplawar (5:17:20 PM): and I say "oh, gee, I reset everything BUT I STILL CAN'T DO ANYTHING EXCEPT PING OTHER USERS because YOU DECIDED TO START DROPPING MY PACKETS"
roboplawar (5:17:31 PM): and they say "oh, well, I'll reset your modem..."
roboplawar (5:17:37 PM): and I say "FACEPALM.JPG"
roboplawar (5:18:01 PM): and they say, "ok, it's fixed now. electronics, ya know? lol. sometimes you just gotta reset it"
roboplawar (5:18:19 PM): and I say "DO YOU THINK I'M A FUCKING ASS? DO YOU THINK I DON'T SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING HERE?!"
roboplawar (5:18:30 PM): and they say "thank you for using comcast bye!"
roboplawar (5:18:56 PM): and I say "OH NO YOU DON'T GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE YOU FUCKING LYING ARSEHOLES!"
roboplawar (5:19:06 PM): but they're gone already
roboplawar (5:19:42 PM): and then two weeks later they start limiting my bandwidth, dropping packets at will and ignoring every service gurantee they have
roboplawar (5:19:53 PM): It's not like I'm anywhere near the 250gb cap, either
roboplawar (5:19:59 PM): I don't do heavy downloading
roboplawar (5:20:03 PM): I just do frequent downloading
roboplawar (5:20:08 PM): cause I'm always online
roboplawar (5:20:30 PM): but they think they need to start dropping my packets cause I'm just sending and receiving too many
roboplawar (5:20:36 PM): YOU WANKERS!
roboplawar (5:21:15 PM): and yet
roboplawar (5:21:17 PM): for some reason
roboplawar (5:21:26 PM): when I needed to get an ISP for my new apartment
roboplawar (5:21:32 PM): I thought it would be different
roboplawar (5:21:40 PM): I thought, meh, I just had bad cabling at the old place
roboplawar (5:21:45 PM): but it's not fucking bad cabling!
PharoaheZephyrus (5:22:18 PM): of course not
PharoaheZephyrus (5:22:27 PM): verizon doesn't do that to me
roboplawar (5:22:32 PM): It's their shitty tool they spent millions of dollars to develop instead of spending that money strengthening and fixing their infrastructure
roboplawar (5:22:49 PM): the reason they feel they have to limit users is cause they don't have the infrastructure to handle the high loads
PharoaheZephyrus (5:23:19 PM): i just tell companies i'll call the better business bearau and blog about it
roboplawar (5:23:30 PM): but instead if fixing their infrastructure insufficiencies, they let the united states fall even further behind in its internet connectivity while screwing the people who use, nay, need the internet the most!
roboplawar (5:23:51 PM): what do they care?
roboplawar (5:23:54 PM): they're comcast!
roboplawar (5:24:14 PM): what's one more complaint about their shitty-ass service?
roboplawar (5:24:18 PM): it's just a drop in the bucket
PharoaheZephyrus (5:24:24 PM): lol
roboplawar (5:24:34 PM): everybody knows that comcast is run by the scum of the universe
roboplawar (5:24:54 PM): and yet they're still the only goddamn ISP in my area except for Qwest!
roboplawar (5:25:16 PM): Qwest can gurantee me 1mbps download speed
roboplawar (5:25:59 PM): sure, it's slow, but at least they're not lying to your face saying "You are paying out the arse for 8mbps download speed, and by golly you'll get that 24/7!"
roboplawar (5:26:21 PM): they tell you that, but every two weeks you get 0 mbps because they just cut you off without warning!
PharoaheZephyrus (5:26:36 PM): hahaha fucking comcast

[InnerGoat]

roboplawar (5:15:49 PM): including my server
including my server
server


lol. Comcast has been great for the past two years or so since they kicked Adelphia out (also great service). Maybe they just don't like you. :(

Also, the service is crap if you're using junky splitters. Learned that the hard way...

[Rob Oplawar]

yeah i have a server so what you wanna fight about it? I have to reset the network settings on that fucker every time my connection gets cut off over here.

[Atty]

nothing wrong with comcast honestly. if it works, it works and will be enjoyable. if not, get a new isp.I love comcast, they are my main homie g's.

Unfortunately they aren't available here, so I use Roadrunner.

[Rob Oplawar]

http://www.slate.com/id/2199368
^this. I'm glad to see a good, objective summary of the issue. Maybe the solution really is to build fiber optic lines directly to every residence. :O

[StankBacon]

yeah i have a server so what you wanna fight about it? I have to reset the network settings on that fucker every time my connection gets cut off over here.


host some halo servers. :)

[Rob Oplawar]

N. It's a webserver- it's running linux on an ancient Pentium II.