Author Topic: Internet or Not  (Read 7177 times)

Chanel No5

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Internet or Not
« on: May 20, 2016, 08:13:41 AM »
After a long personal debate, I cancelled Charter Communication TV and internet w/wifi at home at the end of last month. The creeping costs on the bill and lack of use are main motivations to cancel service. The savings have gone towards a local charity I enjoy supporting.

The TV I do not miss. The public library supplies plenty of episode TV and so much more on DVD. The local public library has free wifi but it's a clutzy service and hard to log into. Plus, the limited hours make access time difficult to fit in. A 45 minute daily commute cuts into home time.

I was going to go internet only but Charter raised the price so high I said no. When I turned in the equipment, the sales clerk invited me to come back at the end of the month and reconnect internet with a year long promo of $40 per month + fees. I can see low use over summer as I love to garden, time to read, and enjoy quiet.

I am enrolled in an online college program and will be back needing reliable internet access for Fall/Spring semesters. Plus, I enjoyed studying Italian language on line. Plus, I plan to travel to Italy next year and need access for trip planning. Plus I have a blog and not doing articles as access is a pain.

I guess I am saying I want to reconnect. I researched the competition and no other company offers internet service in my area. Not any except satellite and all the reviews were terrible.

I have read some of MMM discussion on internet and it looks like people bite the bullet and use it for so many things they enjoy. When oh when will connecting become affordable for all. It just seems every month a few more pennies cost creep on that bill. And, with no competition it stinks.

I want it and I don't. I want to be connected but feel like a broken record trying to lower costs and get quality of service that are realistic for my level of use.

alsoknownasDean

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CmFtns

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2016, 08:37:18 AM »
I think the internet is useful enough to justify at the current prices... just try to minimize it by having your own modem & router if they charge fees for that and not getting speeds you don't really need... As an avid gamer and a software engineer who uses the internet constantly at home I have concluded that anything 10mbs+ is more than I reasonably need for any task... They pretend you need higher speeds for things to try to up sell you...


This is how my last conversation went:

Do you really want the 10mb/s  speed?
"yes I really want the 10mb/s"

Are you sure? It is our slowest offering and will be much slower than other tiers.
"Yes I know it's your slowest internet"

Do you play video games?
"No I really don't need faster speed for games"...

Do you watch netflix or video streaming?
"Yes and 10mb/s is plenty fast for any of my streaming needs"

You know that your video will not be at the top quality with this service tier
"I don't watch video anymore I changed my mind"

Okay sir if you would like to change tiers at any time you can call us
"Okay can we activate my internet yet?"



And now they changed their tiers and 25mbs is their minimum speed... WHO NEEDS THESE SPEEDS? let me buy 10mbs for half price =(

Chanel No5

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2016, 08:51:03 AM »
Can you get DSL?

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/communications-tech-discussion-thread-1/

:)

Nope, Comcast is not available in my area. Verizon does not service my street address in town. Nor does AT&T.

alsoknownasDean

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #4 on: May 20, 2016, 08:53:00 AM »
Can you get DSL?

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/communications-tech-discussion-thread-1/

:)

Nope, Comcast is not available in my area. Verizon does not service my street address in town. Nor does AT&T.

Who provides your landline phone then?

Chanel No5

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #5 on: May 20, 2016, 08:56:35 AM »
I will say that talking to a Charter Communication person in the office was a pleasant experience. She listened, responded with skill on trying to keep me as a client but understanding $$.

Can I tell them I want my own equipment? Just turn on the line?

I want to hook my laptop to my TV with an HDMI cable and enjoy some programs on line. The screen is bigger and much more comfortable with watching anything on You Tube for fun or for my course.


mak1277

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2016, 09:01:15 AM »

I am enrolled in an online college program and will be back needing reliable internet access for Fall/Spring semesters. ... Plus I have a blog and not doing articles as access is a pain.


Seems to me like these are reasons enough to have internet.  Consider the cost part of your tuition for the classes you're taking.

ketchup

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2016, 09:18:41 AM »
10mbs+ is more than I reasonably need for any task... They pretend you need higher speeds for things to try to up sell you...
This.  This is the worst.  Comcast fought me tooth and nail, insisting that 75mbps internet was needed for "optimal" Netflix streaming which I foolishly told them we did.  We're on the 25mbps service, and would be on the 10mbps if the upload speed wasn't so much worse on 10mbps (2mbps vs 5mbps up on the 25mbps plan) which my GF cares about for uploading photos to her clients (it already takes forever).  Nobody on the phone knows why anyone would care about upload speed.

Bettis

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #8 on: May 20, 2016, 09:27:55 AM »
Comcast is ridiculous.  I pay $50/mth for internet only and it's pretty "slow", 6Mb down 3Mb up.  However, I can stream Netflix in HD just fine so 25Mb, 50Mb, 75Mb, etc are not needed for video streaming at all.

Trudie

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #9 on: May 20, 2016, 09:42:24 AM »
I work in telecommunications and my company offers an internet-protocol TV service.  I'm told by our IT guys that 10Mb is what you need to do video comfortably.  You can probably get by with even less (if you don't have much other traffic on your home network) -- as some posters here have actually found.

Being sold on 50 MB, 75 MB packages is just crazy for most users.  No provider can ever guarantee speed (they can't control everyone on their network), but if you're questioning the quality of the service I'd do a speedtest:
http://www.speedtest.net/


CmFtns

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #10 on: May 20, 2016, 09:52:55 AM »
Another thing that I have found is that:
-The lower tier the service is rock solid because there is all this available network speed built for higher tiers and you are just software capped so speed test will be a straight line right at what you pay for.

-When you buy a higher tier you are stretching the limits of their network and you get a speedtest that looks like the damn rocky mountains with spikes up to your advertised speed but not consistency.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2016, 09:56:51 AM by comfyfutons »

Maria_M

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #11 on: May 20, 2016, 10:36:15 AM »
10mbs+ is more than I reasonably need for any task... They pretend you need higher speeds for things to try to up sell you...
This.  This is the worst.  Comcast fought me tooth and nail, insisting that 75mbps internet was needed for "optimal" Netflix streaming which I foolishly told them we did.  We're on the 25mbps service, and would be on the 10mbps if the upload speed wasn't so much worse on 10mbps (2mbps vs 5mbps up on the 25mbps plan) which my GF cares about for uploading photos to her clients (it already takes forever).  Nobody on the phone knows why anyone would care about upload speed.

I had the same problem with slow upload speeds when sending graphic files to clients. Now I use WeTransfer.com and can upload big files in seconds, the client I work for also sends me large files (video, etc.) without any problems.

ketchup

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #12 on: May 20, 2016, 10:47:51 AM »
10mbs+ is more than I reasonably need for any task... They pretend you need higher speeds for things to try to up sell you...
This.  This is the worst.  Comcast fought me tooth and nail, insisting that 75mbps internet was needed for "optimal" Netflix streaming which I foolishly told them we did.  We're on the 25mbps service, and would be on the 10mbps if the upload speed wasn't so much worse on 10mbps (2mbps vs 5mbps up on the 25mbps plan) which my GF cares about for uploading photos to her clients (it already takes forever).  Nobody on the phone knows why anyone would care about upload speed.

I had the same problem with slow upload speeds when sending graphic files to clients. Now I use WeTransfer.com and can upload big files in seconds, the client I work for also sends me large files (video, etc.) without any problems.
She already has a file-sharing service she uses specifically tailored to photography.  The bottleneck is our upstream bandwidth.

Chanel No5

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #13 on: May 20, 2016, 12:19:54 PM »
Hey, back to the original post and poster. So, next Friday, I'll visit a Charter Communication office and ask for internet with latest promo deal.

I can say i have a modem/router, no thanks to renting yours? All I need is internet turned on? What sort of resistance will I get? Might the sales rep say no?

See, I mentioned Comcast and the thread goes off. I am not surprised

StockBeard

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #14 on: May 20, 2016, 12:57:48 PM »
I can say i have a modem/router, no thanks to renting yours? All I need is internet turned on? What sort of resistance will I get? Might the sales rep say no?
They probably won't say no but they might try to make you believe your modem is not "fully" compatible, or not supported anymore, etc.... make sure you have the right model, basically.

The prices of Internet connection in this country are absurd. Is this really the country where the Internet was actually invented? In Tokyo I used to pay less than $30 for Gigabit fiber. Today I pay $45 for 7Mb with centurylink :'(

KM77

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #15 on: May 24, 2016, 05:20:40 AM »
Hey, back to the original post and poster. So, next Friday, I'll visit a Charter Communication office and ask for internet with latest promo deal.

I am in the same boat as you right now.  My husband and I live 30 minutes south of Boston and Comcast is the only internet provider.  When we moved in we didn't take our time in researching our options and landed in Comcast's 'deal' of cable and internet bundle for $80/month...which when you add all the fees it ends up being over $100 a month:
 
XFINITY Bundled Services 79.99
Additional XFINITY Internet Services 10.00
Other Charges & Credits 8.27
Taxes, Surcharges & Fees 3.26
Total New Charges $101.52

Now I hate cable and could easily go the rest of my life without but my husband wants it. According to Comcast, even if you get rid of cable, your total bill is only $13 cheaper/month.  WTF.

I finally said Fuck This and cancelled the whole thing, eating a $170 early cancellation fee because we broke out of a two year contract. 

But now we don't have internet and will be trying to see how the next two months go (to at least eat the cost of the early termination fee) while researching alternatives.  So far I have been unsuccessful.  I hate giving money to greedy corporations that take advantage of a monopoly.  Absolutely hate it.  I'd almost rather go internet free for as long as we live here than give them another dime.

Please let me know how your visit to the Comcast store goes!

slappy

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #16 on: May 24, 2016, 06:46:12 AM »
Hey, back to the original post and poster. So, next Friday, I'll visit a Charter Communication office and ask for internet with latest promo deal.

I am in the same boat as you right now.  My husband and I live 30 minutes south of Boston and Comcast is the only internet provider.  When we moved in we didn't take our time in researching our options and landed in Comcast's 'deal' of cable and internet bundle for $80/month...which when you add all the fees it ends up being over $100 a month:
 
XFINITY Bundled Services 79.99
Additional XFINITY Internet Services 10.00
Other Charges & Credits 8.27
Taxes, Surcharges & Fees 3.26
Total New Charges $101.52

Now I hate cable and could easily go the rest of my life without but my husband wants it. According to Comcast, even if you get rid of cable, your total bill is only $13 cheaper/month.  WTF.

I finally said Fuck This and cancelled the whole thing, eating a $170 early cancellation fee because we broke out of a two year contract. 

But now we don't have internet and will be trying to see how the next two months go (to at least eat the cost of the early termination fee) while researching alternatives.  So far I have been unsuccessful.  I hate giving money to greedy corporations that take advantage of a monopoly.  Absolutely hate it.  I'd almost rather go internet free for as long as we live here than give them another dime.

Please let me know how your visit to the Comcast store goes!

We live an hour north of Boston and we have Comcast. Basic cable (15 channels) and internet for $72.87 a month.  When I first tried to call and downgrade, they told me I was already on the lowest package available (45 channels). I called back and told them I wanted BASIC cable, and they were finally able to downgrade.  Initially they had said that the 45 channels was basic.  I still wish I could get that bill lower though.

Daley

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #17 on: May 24, 2016, 07:10:23 AM »
My husband and I live 30 minutes south of Boston and Comcast is the only internet provider.

There are almost always alternatives, and if there aren't, there's still ways to tweak the system. The guide (unabridged) covers a lot of alternate ISP options depending on region and network providers.

Look into Earthlink. They offer a $46/month 25Mbps service to most Comcast customers with a $30/month for the first three month intro price. No "cable TV requirement", no bickering for lower prices, no service commitment, just nearly reasonably priced internet access.

There might even be methods for Charter, depending on circumstances.

Spork

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #18 on: May 24, 2016, 08:06:31 AM »

Being sold on 50 MB, 75 MB packages is just crazy for most users.  No provider can ever guarantee speed (they can't control everyone on their network), but if you're questioning the quality of the service I'd do a speedtest:
http://www.speedtest.net/

It depends on what you mean there...

They can.  And they do.  But they won't for residential service.  For example, they're running multicast HBO on that same network.  I promise  they guarantee the speed to insure it has exactly as much bandwidth as it needs both via multipathed MPLS tunnels and via QoS.

In the case of residential cable service, DOCSIS won't guarantee throughput.  It's a best effort protocol.  You can have multiple service flows and add QoS.  (This means your 911 phone call will get through even when the network is congested).  But you can't fully guarantee traffic between the CMTS and the cable modem.

mlejw6

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #19 on: May 24, 2016, 08:20:09 AM »
They don't often advertise their lowest speed plan. We have 5 Mbps which is the slowest plan Cox offers here. We can watch netflix and hulu just fine. It was not advertised on their site. I found it on a deal website. You can ask what their slowest internet plan is without tv or phone.

The price for ours just went up randomly by $3 last month, but it's only $38, so I didn't complain. It's still cheaper than Fios.

Digital Dogma

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #20 on: May 24, 2016, 08:23:30 AM »
Have you considered using your cellphone data plan to connect to the internet using a phone as a hotspot? Depending on what sort of plan you may have, that could be a viable solution for limited internet use.

Edit: Oh I see you'd like to stream video, that might not work too well. Check out your wifi hotspots nearby using your phone, some services like Verizon offer wifi hotspots in populated areas which you could tap into if you're using their cellphone plan. You'd connect your computer to the phone via wifi, then your phone would act as the modem.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2016, 08:26:51 AM by Digital Dogma »

Johnez

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #21 on: May 24, 2016, 09:51:09 AM »
$15 a month with Time Warner. Not sure what the speed is, I thought they said 2 Mbps, but seeing these speeds in here makes me wonder.

Got mine through a deal in the mail, move in special. Starting 3rd year of service, same price.

chemistk

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #22 on: May 24, 2016, 10:33:22 AM »
Hey, back to the original post and poster. So, next Friday, I'll visit a Charter Communication office and ask for internet with latest promo deal.

I can say i have a modem/router, no thanks to renting yours? All I need is internet turned on? What sort of resistance will I get? Might the sales rep say no?

See, I mentioned Comcast and the thread goes off. I am not surprised

I recently did this with the local Cable company. I say local because they're a small, regional provider, and that to me is local when viewed next to Comcast...I digress. When i called to confirm the appointment, i mentioned that I would like to use my own modem and the representative said that the service technician coming to turn on the internet would need to see it and confirm it was compatible (why the phone rep couldn't tell me is beyond me). When he arrived, he looked at my modem (I had it for 3 years with Comcast) and said that was the type of modem he was going to use anyway. He plugged everything in and made a phone call and the internet was up and running!

I would just make sure you're using a DOCSIS 3.0+ modem - most made in the past few years are. Other than that you should have no issue using your own equipment.

Just remember, at the end of the day, you're still giving them business even if you're paying a fraction of what the average user pays. They will usually relent to your needs. When a year comes up again, you have shown that you can easily disconnect your service so if you call their customer retention dept. annually saying you'll cancel, you should be able to keep your promo rate for a while.

Bettis

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #23 on: May 25, 2016, 12:35:24 PM »
I'm about 30-40 mi south of Boston and am so far stuck with Comcast.  We have a 6Mb plan called Performance Starter (that I believe was just boosted to 10Mb recently) for $49.95.  I'd like to find something less expensive.  I checked Earthlink but they don't service my address.  The 6Mb we had was enough for Netflix, even in HD so no need to be much faster than that but I definitely do not want any slower.  I have no cable or home phone so I should be in a good spot finding internet only alternatives but so far no luck.

Bonus question - Since I'm only getting 10Mb, do I need Docsis 3.0?  I get prerecorded calls from Comcast about it and they even say I can buy my own at a retailer but I have an old modem that seems to still work for now.

Daley

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #24 on: May 25, 2016, 01:24:37 PM »
I'm about 30-40 mi south of Boston and am so far stuck with Comcast.  We have a 6Mb plan called Performance Starter (that I believe was just boosted to 10Mb recently) for $49.95.  I'd like to find something less expensive.  I checked Earthlink but they don't service my address.  The 6Mb we had was enough for Netflix, even in HD so no need to be much faster than that but I definitely do not want any slower.  I have no cable or home phone so I should be in a good spot finding internet only alternatives but so far no luck.

Bonus question - Since I'm only getting 10Mb, do I need Docsis 3.0?  I get prerecorded calls from Comcast about it and they even say I can buy my own at a retailer but I have an old modem that seems to still work for now.

http://www.broadbandmap.gov/ might help you find some alternatives, just keep the list focused to "wired" providers. Sorry to hear you're stuck with Comcast in that regard.

As for the DOCSIS 2.0/3.0 question, no-ish. DOCSIS 2.0 supports download speeds up to ~42Mbps. So long as Comcast still supports DOCSIS 2.0 modems on their network, you don't need to replace it. If they do end support for DOCSIS 2.0, though, then you will have to replace it. If that day comes, look into going with an Motorola/Arris Surfboard modem such as the SB6121. Good prices, pretty solid, plenty of them even used now for cheap.

~Ari~

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #25 on: May 25, 2016, 01:28:40 PM »
This may have already been mentioned - but what about a wifi hotspot? This is what we do! We can not get internet where we are without paying an arm and a leg for it as we are in a rural area. We bought a straight talk hotspot from walmart on black friday for $30 and put 2 gigs of data on it each month for $20 a month. You can watch video with it but it tends to hog a lot of data so we avoid watching any youtube videos, but other than that it works great!!! We don't need the internet much, but when we do, this is super convenient!

~Ari~

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #26 on: May 25, 2016, 01:31:15 PM »
This may have already been mentioned - but what about a wifi hotspot? This is what we do! We can not get internet where we are without paying an arm and a leg for it as we are in a rural area. We bought a straight talk hotspot from walmart on black friday for $30 and put 2 gigs of data on it each month for $20 a month. You can watch video with it but it tends to hog a lot of data so we avoid watching any youtube videos, but other than that it works great!!! We don't need the internet much, but when we do, this is super convenient!

Forgot to mention the best part - you can take it with you anywhere! It is great for road trip and such. It isn't limited to just your house.

Bettis

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Re: Internet or Not
« Reply #27 on: May 25, 2016, 01:48:38 PM »
I'm about 30-40 mi south of Boston and am so far stuck with Comcast.  We have a 6Mb plan called Performance Starter (that I believe was just boosted to 10Mb recently) for $49.95.  I'd like to find something less expensive.  I checked Earthlink but they don't service my address.  The 6Mb we had was enough for Netflix, even in HD so no need to be much faster than that but I definitely do not want any slower.  I have no cable or home phone so I should be in a good spot finding internet only alternatives but so far no luck.

Bonus question - Since I'm only getting 10Mb, do I need Docsis 3.0?  I get prerecorded calls from Comcast about it and they even say I can buy my own at a retailer but I have an old modem that seems to still work for now.

http://www.broadbandmap.gov/ might help you find some alternatives, just keep the list focused to "wired" providers. Sorry to hear you're stuck with Comcast in that regard.

As for the DOCSIS 2.0/3.0 question, no-ish. DOCSIS 2.0 supports download speeds up to ~42Mbps. So long as Comcast still supports DOCSIS 2.0 modems on their network, you don't need to replace it. If they do end support for DOCSIS 2.0, though, then you will have to replace it. If that day comes, look into going with an Motorola/Arris Surfboard modem such as the SB6121. Good prices, pretty solid, plenty of them even used now for cheap.

Thanks for the link.  It looks like it's between Comcast and Verizon for anything above 3Mb at my address.  At least I stick it to Comcast by not having one of their bundles.