Which high speed internet access?

OK, guys and gals, I've got a technical question that I'm betting somebody
here can answer.

I've finally given up on my dialup service. I need a phone connection and
more than one computer connection at the same time. The obvious way to do
that is to get high speed and a wireless network for the house. The
question is what, by who, for how much.

I've checked into a couple of options and have one more to go. Here's what
I have so far.
1. BellSouth provides the service and rebates the cost of equipment over a
12 month contract. They offer up to 3mb download and considerably slower
upload. That implies that my peer to peer transfers won't go anywhere near
the possible download rate because the user at the other end can't upload
fast enough. The same seems to be true of cable. Bellsouth offers 20 hours
of dialup for free. That may be important when I travel.
2. Comcast offers the same service, reportedly at twice the speed, again
with a much slower upload. The cost seems to be about the same, but it's
not clear whether they pay for any of the equipment or not. Rumor has it
that they're not as fast as they claim, with actual throughput about the
same as from Bellsouth. Comcast offers newsgroup access only from my main
connection.
3. Earthlink offers something. Since they are my current ISP, they at least
get a chance to make an offer. I've not checked into what they have
available yet, but know that they have local dialup pretty much everyplace I
go. If I can dial in, I have newsgroup access. If not, I'm not sure.

OK, that's what I know now. Anybody with opinions on which way might be
best or on features or limitations I've not considered, feel free to speak
up now.

Lee

"Lee Bell" wrote in message
news:BNc0f.8912$q1.8588@newsread3.news.atl.earthli nk.net...
<snip>

I changed from dialup to cable modem broadband quite a few years ago... DSL
at that time was saying that they could be by in a couple of weeks to see if
I was within the right number of feet from the distribution point and then a
couple more weeks after that they could be by to do the actual install...
When I called Time Warner for RoadRunner service, they said that they
couldn't be by *that* day, but they could by by the next day to do the
install...

Given that, not all cable based broadband suppliers are equal... Over in the
New Orleans area, Cox Cable was ok, but Charter had reliability problems...
When I was up in Cedar Rapids, I had Mediacom -- their reliability wasn't
that great either... If you have cable TV, you can sometimes catch a deal on
combined TV plus broadband...

RoadRunner had provisions for dial-up... Initially, they gave a certain
number of hours for free each month and changed after that, but from what I
currently understand, you get unlimited dial-up and can use it while
travelling or as a backup in case broadband goes down... Even though many of
the hotels that I've been at across the country have broadband internet
access, newsgroup access tends to be nonexistant... Either they do not
provide it or they do not know the names of the newsgroup servers... For
those cases, I just use Google Groups...

If their is not a local number for dial-up access where you might be
staying, you could get one of the cables for your cell phone and use it
during your weekend and nightly free time allotment for browsing... b

Lee Bell wrote:
> OK, that's what I know now. Anybody with opinions on which way might be
> best or on features or limitations I've not considered, feel free to speak
> up now.

I have no experience in SoFL, but in both Charleston, SC and West
Chester, PA Comcast just plain sucked. The speed was nowhere ner what
was advertised, and the downtime was significant. In PA, we experienced
a 25%+ downtime over a 2 month period. When we switched to Verizon DSL,
our speed actually increased, despite the advertised speeds to the
contrary.

My experience with BellSouth DSL in SC was all good - I had virtually
no downtime, and the dialup ability was important then, although a lot
of hotels now have broadband access for free or a reasonable fee.

For a wireless router, the IT monkeys in work told me to buy the
Linksys, and it was cheap and has been trouble free.

On Mon, 03 Oct 2005 16:14:25 GMT, "Lee Bell" <leebell@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

>I've finally given up on my dialup service. I need a phone connection and
>more than one computer connection at the same time. The obvious way to do
>that is to get high speed and a wireless network for the house. The
>question is what, by who, for how much.
>...

I used BellSouth in the Dunnellon area for some time, both dial-up and
later DSL (wireless) when it became available. I had a good experience
with them in both instances, and would continue to use them, were they
available here (Alltel is the *only* game in town). My brother uses
BellSouth DSL in North Carolina with good results. I use Netgear for my
residential gateway but have used Linksys in the past, both with good
results. The dial-up numbers for traveling with BellSouth are only good in
the southeast. There is no local dial-up for BellSouth in, say, West
Virginia or Maine.

Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA ghekhuis@earthlink.net
Hell hath no fury like a bird in the hand.

Lee,

I've been starting to make similar deliberations.

I've also been thinking of a Static IP, as this makes FTP'ing to the
home PC a lot easier (ditto for setting up a website, etc), and a small
company I found on www.dslreports.com that seems to have one of the
best prices is:

http://owc.net/dsl.html

You can get a modest speed DSL account for $25, plus they only want
another $2.50/month for having a Static IP. No News Server, though.


-hh

Lee Bell wrote:
> OK, guys and gals, I've got a technical question that I'm betting somebody
> here can answer.
>
> I've finally given up on my dialup service. I need a phone connection and
> more than one computer connection at the same time. The obvious way to do
> that is to get high speed and a wireless network for the house. The
> question is what, by who, for how much.
>
> I've checked into a couple of options and have one more to go. Here's what
> I have so far.
> 1. BellSouth provides the service and rebates the cost of equipment over a
> 12 month contract. They offer up to 3mb download and considerably slower
> upload. That implies that my peer to peer transfers won't go anywhere near
> the possible download rate because the user at the other end can't upload
> fast enough. The same seems to be true of cable. Bellsouth offers 20 hours
> of dialup for free. That may be important when I travel.
> 2. Comcast offers the same service, reportedly at twice the speed, again
> with a much slower upload. The cost seems to be about the same, but it's
> not clear whether they pay for any of the equipment or not. Rumor has it
> that they're not as fast as they claim, with actual throughput about the
> same as from Bellsouth. Comcast offers newsgroup access only from my main
> connection.
> 3. Earthlink offers something. Since they are my current ISP, they at least
> get a chance to make an offer. I've not checked into what they have
> available yet, but know that they have local dialup pretty much everyplace I
> go. If I can dial in, I have newsgroup access. If not, I'm not sure.
>
> OK, that's what I know now. Anybody with opinions on which way might be
> best or on features or limitations I've not considered, feel free to speak
> up now.
>
> Lee
>
>
Comcast has been, at least, reliable or me. I have found that the
up/down speeds vary greatly depending on time of day (perhaps due to
traffic on their network?). The system has been reliable since the move.

It is a pain top not be able to get newsgroups anywhere except your
"home" connection.

Were I to do it over again, I'd consider trying someone else besides
Comcast. I am unhappy, but not yet (quite) unhappy enough to move.

As they say, "YMMV"



--
“No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy”
Sun Tzu

"Galen Hekhuis" wrote

> The dial-up numbers for traveling with BellSouth are only good in
> the southeast. There is no local dial-up for BellSouth in, say, West
> Virginia or Maine.

Now there's something I didn't know. Thanks.

Lee Bell wrote:

> If I can dial in, I have newsgroup access. If not, I'm not sure.

Ask your ISP if they provide a Usenet feed before you buy. Time
Warner/RoadRunner does, but I had to figure out the hostname myself.
The access is restricted to my home machine though, unless I were to go
to the trouble to re-export it myself.

Lee Bell wrote:
> OK, guys and gals, I've got a technical question that I'm betting somebody
> here can answer.
>
> I've finally given up on my dialup service. I need a phone connection and
> more than one computer connection at the same time. The obvious way to do
> that is to get high speed and a wireless network for the house. The
> question is what, by who, for how much.
>
> I've checked into a couple of options and have one more to go. Here's what
> I have so far.
> 1. BellSouth provides the service and rebates the cost of equipment over a
> 12 month contract. They offer up to 3mb download and considerably slower
> upload. That implies that my peer to peer transfers won't go anywhere near
> the possible download rate because the user at the other end can't upload
> fast enough. The same seems to be true of cable. Bellsouth offers 20 hours
> of dialup for free. That may be important when I travel.
> 2. Comcast offers the same service, reportedly at twice the speed, again
> with a much slower upload. The cost seems to be about the same, but it's
> not clear whether they pay for any of the equipment or not. Rumor has it
> that they're not as fast as they claim, with actual throughput about the
> same as from Bellsouth. Comcast offers newsgroup access only from my main
> connection.
> 3. Earthlink offers something. Since they are my current ISP, they at least
> get a chance to make an offer. I've not checked into what they have
> available yet, but know that they have local dialup pretty much everyplace I
> go. If I can dial in, I have newsgroup access. If not, I'm not sure.
>
> OK, that's what I know now. Anybody with opinions on which way might be
> best or on features or limitations I've not considered, feel free to speak
> up now.


Lee,
You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself. I mean this isn't even
remotely on topic.

Not ONE single mention of guns, politics, gay rights, the Iraq war, etc.

However I shall reply to your question. I am on cable and my upload
speed is MUCH slower than my download. I have a feeling this is pretty
consistent with most consumer internet lines.

In my area, we have several options for internet. The old dialup which
I don't know how I ever managed it. At least one DSL service. I don't
have any experience with that but am told it is almost as fast as cable
and you can use your phone and be on the internent at the same time (how
that works I have no idea). Cable (which as I mentioned is what I am
on), and there is some wireless, which is kinda pricey compared to cable
and DSL. The wireless, though is good for locations where cable doesnot
have service. You might want to check and see if that is an option
also. Like I said, pricey but quite fast.

One thing that is being tried in some locations is BPL or Broadband Over
Power Lines. Being a ham radio operator, I can tell you there are some
serious technical issues and *I* would steer away from it.

Since you are currently with Earthlink, you may want to try them first.
Perhaps then you can maintain your current email address with them.

Andy

Tried cable for a few years. They were good at first. Unfortunately, after
the first 6 months they started to have local network troubles. When my
internet connection went down I would have to drive to work 60 miles away,
no matter the time of day or the weather. Tech came out about once a week
and found the problem was from the demarcation out, (their problem). After 6
months of screwing around I did a trial of both cable and DSL services for
one year. (My company pays for one connection.)

Side by side comparison...

DSL was within 90% the speed of cable all the time and often faster,
(depends how many people are on the same cable in your neighborhood). Cable
was out roughly 40% of the time and DSL was NEVER out.

Needless to say I dropped cable like a rock. (On Friday cable offered me 3
months of free service to keep them. Cable was working 3 hours out of 72.
Called back Monday PM and got rid of them forever!!!) BTW most of my
neighbors have dropped them too.

The moral of the story, go with what work nest in your area.. Talk to people
and check the company ratings for service.

Good luck,
Flea

"Lee Bell" <leebell@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:BNc0f.8912$q1.8588@newsread3.news.atl.earthli nk.net...
> OK, guys and gals, I've got a technical question that I'm betting somebody
> here can answer.
>
> I've finally given up on my dialup service. I need a phone connection and
> more than one computer connection at the same time. The obvious way to do
> that is to get high speed and a wireless network for the house. The
> question is what, by who, for how much.
>
> I've checked into a couple of options and have one more to go. Here's
what
> I have so far.
> 1. BellSouth provides the service and rebates the cost of equipment over a
> 12 month contract. They offer up to 3mb download and considerably slower
> upload. That implies that my peer to peer transfers won't go anywhere
near
> the possible download rate because the user at the other end can't upload
> fast enough. The same seems to be true of cable. Bellsouth offers 20
hours
> of dialup for free. That may be important when I travel.
> 2. Comcast offers the same service, reportedly at twice the speed, again
> with a much slower upload. The cost seems to be about the same, but it's
> not clear whether they pay for any of the equipment or not. Rumor has it
> that they're not as fast as they claim, with actual throughput about the
> same as from Bellsouth. Comcast offers newsgroup access only from my main
> connection.
> 3. Earthlink offers something. Since they are my current ISP, they at
least
> get a chance to make an offer. I've not checked into what they have
> available yet, but know that they have local dialup pretty much everyplace
I
> go. If I can dial in, I have newsgroup access. If not, I'm not sure.
>
> OK, that's what I know now. Anybody with opinions on which way might be
> best or on features or limitations I've not considered, feel free to speak
> up now.
>
> Lee
>
>