Pissed at my broadband provider again

[Prepube]

I live in the mountains of Colorado west of Denver.  Comcast has plans to upgrade this area by 2030, and Century Link's nearest box is about a mile away.  The fastest internet connection I can get is just under 2 Mbps.  But, they charge me as if I am getting more than that.  50 bucks a month!!!

Have any of you tried satellite internet connections?  Are they worth the money?  How much are they?  Do you have internet on a rainy day?  I have Dish for my tv, and it goes out whenever it snows.  Does that happen with Internet satellites?  Any other suggestions or alternatives you are aware of? 

[zolotiyeruki]

It sounds like Comcast offers (slow) service in your area.  A lot of times, both the phone company and the cable company have "new customer" (i.e. "not with us in the last 12 months, or if you ask nicely") discounts.  We had AT&T DSL for four years, hopping from one promotion to the other--I'd just call them up near the end of each promotion and ask to be switched to a different promotion.  Earlier this spring they couldn't (or wouldn't) switch me to another promotion, so we jumped ship to Comcast, who had a 12-month $25/mo offer.  At the end of the 12 months, we'll likely jump back to AT&T, since their 3Mbps is better than Comcast's 3Mbps.

[Katsplaying]

Call CenturyLink and tell them you're going to bail, then watch the scramble to keep your business. I recommend click-to-chat so as to have a save-able/printable record of the terms. If you're a Comcast customer, CTL will have a win-back offer for you that may or may not be better than currently advertised deals. Once you find the right deal, get contact info for your account rep & document everything.

For some insane reason, CTL/phone companies do NOT automatically treat current or long-time customers to the same discount programs offered for new ones. I have to make contact with my personal account rep every Jan/Feb to make sure I keep my $30/20M/mo rate.

For CTL: Available speeds vary depending on the distance from the equipment to your home and the quality of the physical plant. If you're within a mile of a site, you should be able to get the fastest speed that site is equipped for, realizing that some sites that got dsl earliest are now slightly outdated in terms of speeds (first generation remote sites were capped at 1.5/3/5/7Mbps and are being upgraded all the time).

Good luck!

Source: 27 yrs as a network tech for USWest/Qwest/CTL

[Jack]

Satellite Internet has high latency (i.e., bad for things like gaming and VoIP) and there's no reason to think it would be any more reliable in rain/snow than your satellite TV is.

Are there any point-to-point wireless providers in your area (the kind where you have a directional antenna that you aim at a mountaintop)?

[forummm]

I looked into satellite Internet and the only things I could find had very low limits on the amount of MBs you could download during the normal daytime hours I would be awake. So downloading podcasts or watching online video during waking hours would be out. I'd love to hear differently if other people have better providers.

[alsoknownasDean]

What about mobile broadband? If you've got 3G/4G signal near your place, that's likely to be a better option than satellite. Satellite's known to have high latency and low quotas.

Oftentimes it's cheaper too, at least here in Aus it is.

[FrugalKube]

What about mobile broadband? If you've got 3G/4G signal near your place, that's likely to be a better option than satellite. Satellite's known to have high latency and low quotas.

Oftentimes it's cheaper too, at least here in Aus it is.

Thats what I was thinking too

[johnny847]

What about mobile broadband? If you've got 3G/4G signal near your place, that's likely to be a better option than satellite. Satellite's known to have high latency and low quotas.

Oftentimes it's cheaper too, at least here in Aus it is.

Thats what I was thinking too

Not so in the US. The data caps on cellular internet makes this prohibitive.

[alsoknownasDean]

What about mobile broadband? If you've got 3G/4G signal near your place, that's likely to be a better option than satellite. Satellite's known to have high latency and low quotas.

Oftentimes it's cheaper too, at least here in Aus it is.

Thats what I was thinking too

Not so in the US. The data caps on cellular internet makes this prohibitive.

Have you seen the data caps on satellite internet?

[johnny847]

What about mobile broadband? If you've got 3G/4G signal near your place, that's likely to be a better option than satellite. Satellite's known to have high latency and low quotas.

Oftentimes it's cheaper too, at least here in Aus it is.

Thats what I was thinking too

Not so in the US. The data caps on cellular internet makes this prohibitive.

Have you seen the data caps on satellite internet?

Haha good point. No I have not.

[alsoknownasDean]

What about mobile broadband? If you've got 3G/4G signal near your place, that's likely to be a better option than satellite. Satellite's known to have high latency and low quotas.

Oftentimes it's cheaper too, at least here in Aus it is.

Thats what I was thinking too

Not so in the US. The data caps on cellular internet makes this prohibitive.

Have you seen the data caps on satellite internet?

Haha good point. No I have not.

Haha I've just done a quick search for 'satellite internet colorado' and selected the first carrier that came up:

http://www.hughesnet.com/plans

Pop in a random Colorado zipcode and it shows that most of the plans are 5-20GB with an additional 50GB available in offpeak hours. :)

[eostache]

I have Century Link DSL. I live in the biggest city in western CO, and even though I live right in the city I can only get 3mbps speed. The CL tech says I live in a "brown zone" that they probably won't bother to upgrade. I could get faster internet from another provider but the 3mbps is fast enough for us to stream video, voip, etc. Since it is so slow I can call CL and ask for a better price on my service (I only have the DSL). Sometimes I have to hang up and call again until I get a person who wants to help me out. I pay $20-25/mo for my DSL.

[Spork]

What about mobile broadband? If you've got 3G/4G signal near your place, that's likely to be a better option than satellite. Satellite's known to have high latency and low quotas.

Oftentimes it's cheaper too, at least here in Aus it is.

Thats what I was thinking too

Not so in the US. The data caps on cellular internet makes this prohibitive.

I did it for about 5 years before cable internet was available in my area.  I won't say it was cheap... but in some cases it's the only real option.    Compare the price per Mb in your area with cable.  It might be comparable.  I am guessing not, since you do actually have cable.

The other possibility (if cellular and/or CenturyLink don't work out) is to see if there is a wifi isp in your area.  Some areas have them for not a whole lot of money... and some companies will even work deals with you like "if we can put an antenna on your land, we'll give you free service."