Who or what are you using for Internet access?
 

So I am going down the path of wanting to dump satellite...

People keep telling me "hey, you can get everything on the internet now!"

Ok... phone provider in my neighborhood is AT&T... and they charge (what seems to me) exorbitant fees for internet access.

Wasn't there some kind of ruling that they have to share the wires that come into your house?

Can or should I go with some small local provider?

Anyone have a ISP they like and would recommend?

Thanks!

It's all too farking expensive if you ask me.

I've been happy with happy with Earthlink cable internet for the last 10 years or so.
My brother has AT+T U-verse; he's happy with the internet but gripes about the TV.

I've got old legacy style DSL, and have been very happy with it, but I don't think you can get the same thing these days. Can you get Internet and phone through a cable company like Comcast? I know lots of folks that are happy with it.

you need more fiber in your diet

Hughes satellite. No other option, really, so it is nice that it is fast and reliable.

This can be an issue if you're a gamer, the lag can kill you in a game (literally).

We are not gamers...

Just want to get high speed Internet and roll everything into that (phone, TV, Internet)

Checked Hughes... kinda pricey... if it isn't saving me money no point in changing.

Paul - I'm interested in Hughes....Can you run speedtest.net and post your numbers? My phone is dial-up only and using a Verizon USB modem thru a router. I hate the 5 GB monthly limit.

I was under the impression that Sat. internet was no faster? Thax...

I'm kinda in the country (10 miles from nearest cable outlet), but have DSL... 1.5 down and 384k up, no blocked ports, excellent uptime. I'd upgrade to the 3mb or faster, but I'm so far out that while it will provision, it has a VERY low s:n ratio and drops connection constantly. But rock stable at 1.5, so I'm happy.

If you get a 3g signal on your phone, see about getting a 3g-fi dedicated 3g -> 802.11something doohicky - creates an access point based off a 3g connection. Friend has one, works well for her when she is where she gets signal. Not sure if she has a data limit.

Satellite will be slower on the speed tests just due to the distance the data must travel - request to start connection, then start getting stuff, you go thru 2 bounces off the satellite. So it is slow for surfing web pages - click, wait 10 seconds, start rendering the page. Click again real soon. For downloading large files, or for non-live streaming stuff, it is fine, since you are only having one initial connection delay. For live interactive stuff, it lags again.

Running through a wireless router with two others on line:

0.80 down and 0.22 up.

I am miles from the nearest cable outlet and DSL lines to the house were too expensive...we've had Hughes for over ten years.

For work I use VZ wireless modem.

On my iPhone connecting to Comcast cable via Apple Airport extreme.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1329188243.jpg

Our service is through Cox cable. The service we pay for "Preferred" level which just went from $50 to $54/month. Speeds claimed "up to" 18 mbps.

However, we usually test much faster. The test I just ran was 23.6 mbps. Somtimes I wonder if they have speedtest.net set to run faster. For the most part it's very reliable and obviously quick enough for home use.

I don't know what it means, but here is the results on my Comcast.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1329191425.jpg

We're rural and we have a small provider that uses radio. We have a antenna about the size of a small (12") pizza box on the roof. Speed is faster than Hughes sat and there's no limits.

the nice thing about Hughes sat, is that if he goes on a road trip, he stick the dish on top of his 356 and turn the car into a mobile WiFi access point...

Mark, does your antenna have to be "line of sight" to a tower of some sort? If so, I have it in my area, but too many trees to use it....Thax

Thanks for the info Paul and Id10t

That's what we did. Our ISP is Knology and we get tv through a huge antenna mounted in the rafters in the garage, and Hulu. Our DVR is a desktop PC in a nearby server closet with a 2TB hard drive and tv capture card.

$35/month after taxes for 12Mbit service + another 8 for Hulu. Beats our old $120/month bill and the internet is loads faster now.

Yes it needs line of sight, but it can go though some trees, but for some reason coniferous trees give it problems. Providers here give you a free site survey to see if it will work for your house.

No worries...like many things, I seem to have gotten complacent with the whole ISP thing. I am very interested to see how this plays out for you.

The speed posted here would be amazing...but again, no cable here.

I looked up Knology and that seem to be a southern outfit.

Anyone know of a like capability in the DC area?

I recently switched to TimeWarner cable high speed internet... $30/month for "up to 10 Mbps". My speedtest.net results are usually 20 Mbps down / 1 Mbps up. They have faster plans too, for more cost. They also offer internet/cable/phone bundles but I'm not interested.

And most importantly.... I don't have to deal with Verizon anymore! With Verizon I was paying $45/month for "7 Mbps" that tested out at 4 Mbps.

Paul, and you other rural guys, have you looked at satellite internet offered by Wildblue or Starband? High-Speed Internet Service | WildBlue | Official Website Satellite Internet from StarBand - Broadband, High-Speed Internet for Home, Small Office and Rural Communities | StarBand.com

I used to have a commercial grade of satellite service from Starband's parent company. It was pretty good except for heavy rain days when the signal would be attenuated/scattered by the rain drops.

Thanks, Jim. I will take a look.

I did a bit of searching and Cricket was listed as available in my area.

Again, it seems I lapsed into a bit of internet ISP ennui:cool:

That happens to us all, regardless of what internet service we have. :D

We have TW in our area.. thanks, I will check that out!

They offer "wireless access" for an extra $5/month. You don't need to pay that. It just means they'll support your wireless setup. You can just buy your own wireless router and plug into your cable modem and you're good to go.

Verizon FIOS here with phone and TV. No problems except for the 180/ mo cost. Cell phones with Sprint and that's another hundred. Always looking for something as good but cheaper.

$180/mo? Yikes!

Hughes sucks major big time. Been with them for 10+ years as it's my only option. don't have a choice but would leave in a heartbeat if I could.

I'd KILL for your posted speeds of 10-15-20 meg a second.

doen't take deep digging on google to find thousands and thousands of pisssed off customers.

you have a cap download of 500-750 meg a day download, called a FAP, "fair access policy"

Non-consistant speeds, decent in morning hours at 800k-1.2M down, but goes to dead dog slow evening hours where just openning email can be a pain. I'm talking 80k-150k a second down.


I just can't stand Hughes sometimes, read these other rants, and all these have valid points:

hughes net | Ripoff Report Directory | Complaints Reviews Scams Lawsuits Frauds Reported

HughesNet Satellite Broadband : All reviews | DSLReports.com, ISP Information


Here's my speed test, at 1:30 pm USA West Coast time. As this is 4:30 on the east coast, people will soon be getting home and taking the bandwidth with them. My speed will just get worse the rest of the day as we enter "peak hours".

super slow 1.3 second ping time, 230K down, 140k up, which is pretty much average speed. And I pay $80 a month for that. Fastest you'll ever see is 1.5 - 2 meg second down.

YouTube Videos, chunk chunk chunk. Unless you get on Hughes at midnight or 1-2 a.m, no way you can stream them at high resolution in real time.

welcome to my early mid day internet speeds...........thanks Hughes..............I'm honestly thinking of getting a 3G (we dont' have 4G coverage) Cell Phone solely for home internet.

You just have to learn and understand the FAULTS of Hughes that they're snake oil salespeope selling cure all elixer. Basically they're blatent liars on their ads saying you can do on-line gaming and stream videos. Oh and there is the 2 year contract and $400 penatly if you cancel before........bastagess.......honestly I hate hate hate the India Tech support with a PASSION........but hey, you get to talk to the Philippines for Finance and accounting. It takes an act of God to get elevated to Tech level 3 or 4 support which finally you get to talk to Florida and english speaking people, but to get there, you've spent 4-6-8 hours getting through the India Hughes idiots...........

are you getting a sense of my passion for hughes yet? :rolleyes:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1329254877.jpg

3 hours since my last post. So 4:45 pm Seattle Time. That's 7:45 East coast time and everyone over there is downloading Jersey Shore and Pookie Lonely Housewife photos of their MILF neighbors. Bandwidth gets sucked up and this just is what it is.

60K a second download. :eek: and no use calling tech support, this is what it is, with a brand new Hughes 9000 modem (they replaced the last one after months/years of my whining), and awesome signal strength. (no trees or anything blocking sat dish path)

Thank you oh Thank you Hughesnet, for your $80 a month internet service at peak East coast time and dead dog slow interweb service.

60 Kbps down. Geez, thanks for the dial up speed. As I said, I have no other option for ISP. WildBlu is another Sat provider, but I hear they're no better.


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Dave, can't you even get 3G cellphone?

On Verizon 3G, using a MiFi wireless modem, then WiFi to my work laptop, I'm getting 1/17Mbps down and 0.79Mbps up. Costs $40/month. There are some data limits, I never run into them as it isn't my primary Internet access (I carry this to not pay $15/day to hotels for Internet), so you should look into it - I think if you're not streaming video it will be fine. This is unimpressive speed by today's standards, but still lots better than you seem to be getting through Hughes. If the 3G signal is weak, might check if there are directional antennas that can be aimed at the closest tower and improve your 3G signal. If you have no 3G . . . dunno, feed the pigeons amphetamine?

<IMG SRC="http://www.speedtest.net/result/1774412138.png">

At home - Comcast cable, usually 17.0Mbps down or better.

Yes I really need to check into 3G, last time I was at Verizon I think it was the data limit caps that steered me away. If Microsoft or Adobe pushes a security update on you, it can eat up 100meg quickly in the middle of the night.

A 3G cell tower is only about a mile from my place, so I assume a cell provider has an atnenna up there.


Just to test my "max speed" when I was awake at 2:30 a.m. I ran a quick speed test, sigh:


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1329323362.jpg


So for those others considering Hughes, just go into it with open open eyes and read the fine fine print........they guaruntee no minimum speeds/performance and they're not the cheapest out there..