internet providers in central somerville???

[lentower.livejournal.com]

hi!

i want to get just internet access @ home
i live on porter street between elm and summer

know of any providers beside Comcast, RCN, and Speakeasy?
(verizon doesn't do DSL or FIOS to my street)

who is your provider?
what % of the time are they down?
what % of the the time do you get more speed than promised?

any providers to avoid?
any ones that are really great?

anyone know when, if ever, the city will actually provide wireless everywhere?

anything else?

thanks either way -len

Comments

[uberjay.livejournal.com]

I have RCN, and really like it. It's up almost all the time. Let's say, less than 1% downtime, but I can't recall the last time it's been down the past several years I've had it. I never get more than the promised 20/2 speed.

This is in the Davis Square area, if it matters.

[ron_newman]

I get DSL from Galaxy rather than Verizon. Seems to work nearly all the time. It's only 768K but that's enough speed for my needs.

[doogly.livejournal.com]

I am also happy with my RCN, I think they may have been down once in the last two years for me, if I recall correctly.

wireless router

[lentower.livejournal.com]

thanks -so far Galaxy looks like the best option yet.

is it straightforward to connect a wireless router to Galaxy's dsl modem?

Re: wireless router

[ron_newman]

Probably, but I haven't done so.

[latvianchick.livejournal.com]

RCN's pretty great. Don't remember them ever being down, really. I have no idea if I ever got faster speed than promised, but it was always adequate for all my needs (and I got their cheapest package, so 1.5 megs)

Re: wireless router

[zaarwin-devolve.livejournal.com]

Would you mind posting the modem model? I don't know, maybe it has changed since you got it but knowing what you got would really help. My parents (outside the area) got DSL awhile back. The company used a modem that required you to do all kinds of genuinely weird tricks in order to get it to play nice with routers.

Also, FWIW, I live near Len. My roommates swear RCN is crap in this area but maybe RCN had a rough patch. Comcast seems fine. *shrug*

Re: wireless router

[ron_newman]

It says Zoom ADSL X5 on it.

[mrpet.livejournal.com]

I'm on Orchard St and RCN was always problematic for me. It was down around 50% of the time and they constantly blamed me instead of trying to find the problem. Considering that I could give them a traceroute showing the problem right inside of their network they kept on doing the "cycle power on every thing in your house" route that made me drop them and go to Comcast; if I can see them and they can see me then the packets are getting through. Network has only fully dropped a couple of times in the last few years. My only complaint is the crappy Motorola cable modem that needs power cycling once a month or so but that has nothing to do with Comcast.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Galaxy has worked fine for me. Any DSL modem should work.

My only complaint is the "administrative and regulatory fees" of about $4.50 per month which they didn't mention until after I'd signed up, and even after multiple calls and emails they haven't told me what these fees are.

As far as I know there are no taxes on DSL in Massachusetts. Does anyone know for sure, or know if other DSL providers tack things onto the bill?

[lentower.livejournal.com]

i tried to order residential dsl from Galaxy, but they rejected the order on bogus technical grounds
(too far from the central office)

thanks anyway