How do I find a local ISP that gives good service? I am on comcast, and I hate them, but don't know where else to go. I live in the Chicagoland suburbs. Any suggestions?
Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...
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Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...
#12I'm also in San Francisco, and looking to move away from Comcast. Mostly due to cost, than anything (yeah, the idea that Internet costs me more than TV + Internet pisses me off in an irrational way). I must admit, it's tough, their Internet service is quite good. I assume you got the 'two lines' package? I wouldn't mind comparing what you are paying to my other options. What's your upload speed, and did you go with '…
In SF, I'm very happy with http://sonic.net/ as a service and as a company.
Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...
#13He's leaving because he has the option to use a different comparable provider. Some of us are not so lucky. I have only two options available in my apartment. 3mbit/s cable service which disconnects frequently and is wholly unreliable, or ATT DSL 6mbit/1mbit which while its reliable costs $40/month. 4G wireless solutions do not penetrate my building enough to be useable. What we really need are more comparable option…
I have only two options but am not as lucky as you, 1mbit DSL and Satellite internet which has very high latency and a very low (as in quantity) daily download limit.
I chose DSL because it is better all around but complaining about a $40/month bill for those speeds seems silly to me because that is already $20/month less than my 1mbit connection.
Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...
#14He's leaving because he has the option to use a different comparable provider. Some of us are not so lucky. I have only two options available in my apartment. 3mbit/s cable service which disconnects frequently and is wholly unreliable, or ATT DSL 6mbit/1mbit which while its reliable costs $40/month. 4G wireless solutions do not penetrate my building enough to be useable. What we really need are more comparable option…
I'm another instance of a person that actively chose to go to DSL over Comcast, even though I took a substantial speed cut (at my old place, I had 35/35 FiOS, and I switched to 7mb/800kb DSL). The price between the two services was the same ($50), but it was that significant for me to not use Comcast.
And now, I'm pushing my new apartment complex to switch over to FiOS, since I'm literally 1.1 miles away from my old house, as the Google Maps suggests.
Long story short: I chose 1/5th my old connection speeds to avoid Comcast.
Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...
#15I would love to switch ISPs, if only to get away from Comcast's ridiculous caps. But in my area, although there's a bundle of fiber running not 250 feet from my apartment, it's well over $1k for setup and the monthly fee, and the only DSL provider in the area (CenturyLink) only offers service a tenth as fast as Comcast's Xfinity service. Rocks and hard places.
If that wire is Frontier, they may be able to provide the apartment complex with FiOS for free to the apartment complex, under the hope that they'll get customers. That's what a representative told me when I asked what it would take to get FiOS at my place, considering my parts of Redmond is well wired with FiOS. YMMV
Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...
#16Are there any good 4g options in Maryland?
Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...
#17He's leaving because he has the option to use a different comparable provider. Some of us are not so lucky. I have only two options available in my apartment. 3mbit/s cable service which disconnects frequently and is wholly unreliable, or ATT DSL 6mbit/1mbit which while its reliable costs $40/month. 4G wireless solutions do not penetrate my building enough to be useable. What we really need are more comparable option…
I wholeheartedly agree. I'm thankful that I turned out to actually have a decent 2nd option. My main reason for writing this was to encourage others, especially in the bay area, to make sure they've really looked at all their options. Some might find a nice surprise like I did.
I did the same thing, and another quick plug for sonic since there are likely people here who would find this useful: I'm using their basic dsl service (single-line) and even that comes with a free static ip address. No more messing around with dynamic dns providers just to get ssh access to my desktop at home.
Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...
#18I'm also in San Francisco, and looking to move away from Comcast. Mostly due to cost, than anything (yeah, the idea that Internet costs me more than TV + Internet pisses me off in an irrational way). I must admit, it's tough, their Internet service is quite good. I assume you got the 'two lines' package? I wouldn't mind comparing what you are paying to my other options. What's your upload speed, and did you go with '…
Webpass (http://www.webpass.net/), the other wireless ISP in the bay area, has been amazing. They only serve high-density residential buildings though, not individuals.
Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...
#19Are we to the point yet where internet should be considered a public utility? It certainly seems to be more of a necessity than a luxury these days.
Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...
#20He's leaving because he has the option to use a different comparable provider. Some of us are not so lucky. I have only two options available in my apartment. 3mbit/s cable service which disconnects frequently and is wholly unreliable, or ATT DSL 6mbit/1mbit which while its reliable costs $40/month. 4G wireless solutions do not penetrate my building enough to be useable. What we really need are more comparable option…
Are you in an area with 4G coverage, just not into your building? When I was living in a house that was literally just outside the coverage area, I had success using a long USB cable to hang my modem up in a corner window, and broadcasting WiFi from there.