Author Topic: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley  (Read 5104 times)

dios.del.sol

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Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« on: December 15, 2016, 05:52:21 PM »
Hi I.P. (and others). I'm about to pull the trigger on internet at a new place. I just want to make sure that I'm doing the best I can before contracting new service. (New zip is 91104.)

I currently pay $15 per month with Time Warner (now Spectrum). I get from 1.5 to 4.0 Mbps in speed tests. I'm moving to a new service area in what I expect to be a temporary move while we look at a more permanent move, likely buying a home.

Spectrum internet is $40 per month (unbundled) and who knows if my existing modem will work. Probably. But if not, I'll need to rent/buy. Speed is 100 Mbps. The guy told me that was "blazing fast". I told him I don't want blazing fast; I want crawling slow and cheap. He laughed and then ended the call.

AT&T has service for $30 + $10 modem rental, which is about the same.

Sonic has service for $30 + $7 modem rental.

DSL Extreme has service for $28 + $7 modem rental (option to buy). 3 Mbps.

These are all pretty darn equivalent in price and all way more than what I pay now. I.e., they all make me equally unhappy. Am I missing something, or am I stuck with these prices if I want internet broadband service?

Daley

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2016, 08:26:27 PM »
Check vDSL prices with TOAST.net. Their cheapest listed vDSL service (6Mbps) is $37.95 flat with taxes included, no modem rental, only one year contract, $50 install. When we switched over ourselves to TOAST a year ago, they had an unpromoted 3Mbps option on the back end sign-up from post address check for around $32-33-ish, IIRC.

TOAST has become my go-to recommendation for people in AT&T Uverse territory now, even over DSLExtreme and Sonic, and it's because of the customer service, pricing, terms of service and contract length. Used them decades ago for dial-up, and they were great then. Using them for the past year now and still great.

Unfortunately, you're probably just looking at between $30-40 a month.

esq

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2016, 07:19:06 AM »
Just popping in to say hola to I.P. 

1 funny dood you are!  Merry Christmas!

OP - good luck with your internet - choices here stand at about zero.

Daley

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2016, 08:19:54 AM »
Just popping in to say hola to I.P. 

1 funny dood you are!  Merry Christmas!

OP - good luck with your internet - choices here stand at about zero.

Hola as well, and a Happy Hanukkah to you! :)

Sorry I can't help you more with your own internet options.

dios.del.sol

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2016, 08:29:17 AM »
Thanks for the feedback. Groan. I guess that $15/mo rate I had was grandfathered in. I'll probably go with Sonic for the land line that comes with it. It will save me minutes on the cell plan (also selected with IP.'s input!).

Daley

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2016, 09:38:20 AM »
Thanks for the feedback. Groan. I guess that $15/mo rate I had was grandfathered in. I'll probably go with Sonic for the land line that comes with it. It will save me minutes on the cell plan (also selected with IP.'s input!).

Most likely, yes. Sounds like Sonic is the deal to go with, then. (I'd kind of forgotten that Sonic provides unlimited home phone with that "as fast as they can provide" DSL service at that price. Definitely the better deal.)

BlueMR2

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2016, 09:59:56 AM »
TOAST has become my go-to recommendation for people in AT&T Uverse territory now, even over DSLExtreme and Sonic, and it's because of the customer service, pricing, terms of service and contract length. Used them decades ago for dial-up, and they were great then. Using them for the past year now and still great.

IMO, TOAST is also the way to go in Verizon and Frontier land.

Daley

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2016, 10:55:01 AM »
IMO, TOAST is also the way to go in Verizon and Frontier land.

From what I understand, I don't believe they're offering service in those regions anymore for new subscribers, though I have no doubt they're staying on top of and caring for the older grandfathered plans for folks like you. It's getting hard to get any sort of dry loop service on Verizon copper these days, first or third party.

Thanks for reminding me of them still being around a couple years back. :)

dios.del.sol

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #8 on: December 16, 2016, 11:19:13 AM »
Well, I went with Sonic. Sort of annoying because even though they allow opting out of the modem rental fee ($6.50), they will then remove the promotional discount for the first year ($10). This is a net increase of $3.50 per month. Oh well, $36.50/month it is.

Thanks for your help both now and before!

Daley

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #9 on: December 16, 2016, 01:05:52 PM »
Well, I went with Sonic. Sort of annoying because even though they allow opting out of the modem rental fee ($6.50), they will then remove the promotional discount for the first year ($10). This is a net increase of $3.50 per month. Oh well, $36.50/month it is.

Unless they permit you to opt out of the modem rental at any time (including a year from now), I'd personally rather spend the extra $42 the first year if it means saving $78 each and every year after.

Thanks for your help both now and before!

You betcha.

Captain FIRE

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #10 on: December 16, 2016, 01:34:36 PM »
While y'all are here...any recommendations on a Comcast compatible modem?

After ignoring many letters from Comcast that our modem was out of date (and kind offers to rent us a new one) they called up to say that starting Jan 1, our internet won't even work with our old modem.  Obviously they want us to rent one.  We plan to buy instead.

Daley

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #11 on: December 16, 2016, 01:53:06 PM »
While y'all are here...any recommendations on a Comcast compatible modem?

Any DOCSIS 3.0 capable modem should be fine, theoretically. I usually recommend the Motorola/Arris Surfboard modem line, and something like the Surfboard 6121 would probably work well.

dios.del.sol

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #12 on: December 16, 2016, 03:19:38 PM »
Well, I went with Sonic. Sort of annoying because even though they allow opting out of the modem rental fee ($6.50), they will then remove the promotional discount for the first year ($10). This is a net increase of $3.50 per month. Oh well, $36.50/month it is.

Unless they permit you to opt out of the modem rental at any time (including a year from now), I'd personally rather spend the extra $42 the first year if it means saving $78 each and every year after.

They allow opt out any time. One reason I don't want to spend more now is that we're viewing this move as temporary. We got asked to move from our current location (landlady moving in) so we're in a rental for a year as we look to buy. My planning horizon for anything related to this move is one year. At the end of the year when the promotional rate for the 12 month contract expires, I'll reassess the situation. Who knows? Maybe we'll have moved by then.

Then again... looking at the broadband rates I'll probably stick with DSL, so maybe it makes sense to buy a modem that will work with any DSL service. At any rate, after 30 days I can request a waiver for the rental and return their equipment. I'll mull it over during this month.

FrugalKube

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #13 on: December 18, 2016, 11:45:57 PM »
At least you have options where you live OP. I get either very crappy DSL provided by Frontier on a contract or Charter Cable no contract at about $60 a moth.

DSL is close to that monthly cost.

FrugalKube

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #14 on: December 18, 2016, 11:48:23 PM »
Might have to look into Toast...

Wow its a decent deal for what you pay to bad you cannot get it here in the PNW.

dios.del.sol

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #15 on: December 20, 2016, 04:25:42 PM »
At least you have options where you live OP. I get either very crappy DSL provided by Frontier on a contract or Charter Cable no contract at about $60 a moth.

DSL is close to that monthly cost.
I'll count my blessings I suppose. When I was in the PNW, I didn't pay nearly that much. Has something changed recently? There seem to be no-frills, basic rates that no longer exist.

Johnez

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #16 on: December 21, 2016, 03:32:24 AM »
Posting to follow, since I've got the $15 a month internet from Time Warner/Spectrum and will eventually need new service when I move.

FrugalKube

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #17 on: February 12, 2017, 01:22:10 PM »
At least you have options where you live OP. I get either very crappy DSL provided by Frontier on a contract or Charter Cable no contract at about $60 a moth.

DSL is close to that monthly cost.
I'll count my blessings I suppose. When I was in the PNW, I didn't pay nearly that much. Has something changed recently? There seem to be no-frills, basic rates that no longer exist.

It seems like the prices have gone up in the last few years even for the cheaper options, granted if you live in the greater Seattle or Portland area you have more options.

I live in the southeastern part of WA state

tj

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Re: Internet Service - Pinging I.P. Daley
« Reply #18 on: February 12, 2017, 03:16:34 PM »
I had no idea AT&T sold bandwidth to these other companies like Toast. That is good to know.