Looking for better internet

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carnuck
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Looking for better internet

Post by carnuck »

Not looking to pay hundreds a month, but my current system sucks. Clear wire doesn't work. Comcast varied from 14.4 to 56K on cable modem (they said we are too far from their broadcasting terminal yet we are 10 blocks from their main office) We've been using Frontier, but I plan to drop Dishnet soon to and it's packaged with them and just jumped up to $200 a month with home phone included.
I got our cellphones down to less than $100 a month for 3 lines unlimited. Anyone with reasonable cost ideas?
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Stuka
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by Stuka »

I would say Comcast, except you were having issues. I paid $102 a month for 105Mbps internet and their basic cable package (like 60 channels).

But going at 56k speeds makes it sound like there is a major issue with the lines some place. Having a connection rated for say 6000Kbps (their slowest speed offering) slow down to 56Kbps is horrible.
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REDONE
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by REDONE »

Yeah, internet sucks up there. When I lived in Granite Falls it was Comcast or read a book. NO second option. In urban SnoCo you have 3 choices that are completely different. Comcast, which costs a ton and they dial it down to nothing whenever they feel like because, whatcha gonna do? The other options suck too! Clearwire, which I did like but their towers went down fairly often and since they've been bought by Sprint, Sprint has been re-allocating the bandwidth for their phones data. Last is those Verizon mobile hotspots where you pay by the gig, so you stream a movie it may cost you $70.

I had friends (in the most liberal interpretation, I worked on their yachts) out on Sammamish Island with Hughsnet and it was fast, but one was a Hollywood director/producer and the other owned the company that invented the Xbox Kinect, so I don't think it was cheap.
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badaboom
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by badaboom »

I thought Comcast's recent ad shows a couple ranchers out in middle of nowhere with service and a duvet and they get service.
ANOTHER LYING CORPRORATION Comcast only wants to service major markets or metropolitan areas.
Very misleading one of the greatest lying lobbying corporations not to trust out there.
Good luck with finding another service I say stay away from Comcast!
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by Stuka »

badaboom wrote:I thought Comcast's recent ad shows a couple ranchers out in middle of nowhere with service and a duvet and they get service.
ANOTHER LYING CORPRORATION Comcast only wants to service major markets or metropolitan areas.
Very misleading one of the greatest lying lobbying corporations not to trust out there.
Good luck with finding another service I say stay away from Comcast!
Seriously?

I live in a very rural area, Comcast works flawlessly for me. It works great in many rural areas. But that doesn't mean it will work perfectly for every single house hold. The amount of bandwagon hate for Comcast is almost comical, since the vast majority of people don't even know why they hate them. Have they had issues, sure. But mostly with individuals that work for them, and when you have 126,000 employees, you are bound to get some bad eggs.

If he was truly getting speeds that slow, it means there was something seriously wrong with the lines and/or equipment.
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by AwesomeJ10 »

My entire city is getting fiber internet this year!
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by carnuck »

Stuka wrote:
badaboom wrote:I thought Comcast's recent ad shows a couple ranchers out in middle of nowhere with service and a duvet and they get service.
ANOTHER LYING CORPRORATION Comcast only wants to service major markets or metropolitan areas.
Very misleading one of the greatest lying lobbying corporations not to trust out there.
Good luck with finding another service I say stay away from Comcast!
Seriously?

I live in a very rural area, Comcast works flawlessly for me. It works great in many rural areas. But that doesn't mean it will work perfectly for every single house hold. The amount of bandwagon hate for Comcast is almost comical, since the vast majority of people don't even know why they hate them. Have they had issues, sure. But mostly with individuals that work for them, and when you have 126,000 employees, you are bound to get some bad eggs.

If he was truly getting speeds that slow, it means there was something seriously wrong with the lines and/or equipment.
They came out at least a dozen times. It would work okay for awhile then I would have to download movies to watch them. TV kept cutting in/out too. They dug up the main cable and replaced it all the way to the road which helped a lot. Then they jacked their triple play to $200 a month and I asked for a discount. Guys on their end (I called 3 times) basically blew me off and I said F it and went Dishnet and now the 2 years is up and their price jumped too high so it's time to change again. Oh, and I'm in town, next to one of the biggest malls in the PNW.
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Stuka
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by Stuka »

Switch back to Comcast for two years then, until the entry discount goes away. I know several people that bounce back and forth.

Looks like they did what they could to fix the signal quality issue though. Would take a decade or so to recoupe the cost of replacing that stuff for one customer.

Not sure if you use a cell phone or not. We ditched our land line entirely as there we used our cell phones for everything. So we just get TV and Internet for just over a $100.
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by REDONE »

You know, Clear isn't super fast, but at least you get what you pay for. It worked for streaming on my laptop and I had less signal next to the Everett Mall than you do next to Alderwood. $49 for the high speed Clear and $40 for SIMple Mobile = $89 for phone and internet.
Stuka wrote: The amount of bandwagon hate for Comcast is almost comical, since the vast majority of people don't even know why they hate them. Have they had issues, sure. But mostly with individuals that work for them, and when you have 126,000 employees, you are bound to get some bad eggs.
No, they really are terrible across the board, not just a few "bad eggs". I'm sure some good people work for Comcast, but from practice to policy, it's a terrible company.
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by carnuck »

Part of my problem seems to be a cellphone tower between us and Alderwood mall (less than 200 feet from my place). The guy from Clearwire was here and so embarrassed he couldn't get enough signal to play his intro video
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by husker77 »

I got so fed up with our provider giving us like .4gig speed and paying for 3 g that I filed a claim with the bbb. They reduced my bill like $10 a month for a year, by then they had upgraded something and we at least get the 3 now. I have no real options.

One thing that I do not understand is all the ads I see for internet say "up to" such and such speed. I think you should never get under a speed you are paying for. Imalso understand in these rural areas like I live it is hard for them to invest in equipment. Like Stuka said it would take decades to recoupe it.
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by REDONE »

carnuck wrote:Part of my problem seems to be a cellphone tower between us and Alderwood mall (less than 200 feet from my place). The guy from Clearwire was here and so embarrassed he couldn't get enough signal to play his intro video
I totally know what you're saying. Where I lived on the north side of Everett Mall, behind Toys"r"us and Michaels I was RIGHT next to the Everett Police headquarters with their comms hub. If there were running any kind of drill or having a busy night their antenna knocked out my internet.
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4" front spring drop, 5" rear shackle flip
Chevy style HEI (ECM controlled)
Dolphin "Shark" gauges in a fancy homemade oak bezel
3/4 resto, rotting faster than I've been fixing it.
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REDONE
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by REDONE »

More on how Comcastic internet in western WA. Kitsap county is right across Puget Sound from Carnuck.

http://consumerist.com/2015/03/25/new-h ... mpetition/
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4" front spring drop, 5" rear shackle flip
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3/4 resto, rotting faster than I've been fixing it.
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j20owner
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by j20owner »

Ugh..... Now I need better internet and I have no options......

I feel your pain.
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by Tatsadasayago »

Stuka wrote: Seriously?

I live in a very rural area, Comcast works flawlessly for me. It works great in many rural areas. But that doesn't mean it will work perfectly for every single house hold. The amount of bandwagon hate for Comcast is almost comical, since the vast majority of people don't even know why they hate them. Have they had issues, sure. But mostly with individuals that work for them, and when you have 126,000 employees, you are bound to get some bad eggs.

If he was truly getting speeds that slow, it means there was something seriously wrong with the lines and/or equipment.
I have experienced Comcast AND Comcrap depending on location.
My last experience in Sacramento was stellar. I had Xfinity and it rocked with very few ISP related outages in 3 years. My previous experience with them 3 miles away was so bad, I shut it down and went ADSL which was superb in comparison.

Will add: Living in a 'Man Camp' here in North Dakota with only WiFi/Wipop serving at least 400 users with 4 access point AND using wireless backhaul has made me appreciate and even yearn for 'terrible' Comcast...
I'm about to go off the deep end and try Huges Net, Gilat or similar.
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by carnuck »

Image my result
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by Stuka »

carnuck wrote:Image my result
While better than dialup, those speeds are horrible. Take that is DSL from the ISP you have. Shame they don't have DSL2 there.
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by carnuck »

Can't watch movies without a complete download. Can't watch Amazon Prime movies at all. $100 a month for rubbish!
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Re: Looking for better internet

Post by husker77 »

carnuck wrote:Image my result
I would have loved to have had those speeds 6 months ago. Now I get about twice that, still not great but hey whatevs.
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