High speed internet

[guxx.livejournal.com]

I moved into my Teele Square apartment about two months ago and I'm slowly losing my mind for not having a high speed Net connection. Partially because my housemate doesn't need it in the apartment. I know my landlord, who lives upstairs, has a cable modem connection, and I've thought about paying him a fee for jacking into his modem if I buy a wireless router for my desktop... but otherwise, I figure I'd be willing to pay either RCN or Comcast for their services, presuming it's about $40 a month.

Thoughts? Comments?

Comments

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

I have a cable modem at home. Our total, combined bill through Comcast is about 100 per month, but I also have a lot of added channel packages that made it that high. I have never had a problem with Comcast's internet service. We also have wireless in the house and I love it. The speed is better than my work connection and, as I said, I've never experienced tech issues either. I would say go for it!

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

i use RCN for a phone/internet/cable tv package and it is about $80 per month, just to give you a very vague idea of what they might charge.

[mrpet.livejournal.com]

I'm in Davis and we just ditched RCN due to crappy service (it was always down) The Comcast link has been really stable. We are currently getting phone, digital cable, and broadband internet access for around 100 bucks a month.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

With Comcast, if you have even a basic cable tv package and add internet, you get a multiple-product discount--mine was $15, so that fees and taxes included my monthly total was about $71 for the cable tv+internet. They're also likely to have a special promotion where you get the first couple of months of internet at an additional discount if you're an existing customer adding it to your cable. And they often have new customer specials as well where the first few months are at a reduced rate.

This is in Medford, so it's possible they have different rates and packages for your area, so I'd suggest just calling RCN and Comcast (or visiting their websites), telling them what you want, and seeing what they offer.

[uberjay.livejournal.com]

I've got RCN (internet only, 7Mbit/800Kbit) for ~$55/month. It's been rock solid for >1 year, except for when our downstairs neighbors disconnected it when they needed a coax coupler. (grr)

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i too have problem-free comcast cable and it's $84/month for modem and tv. we have standard cable - basic cable is the basic six channels, whereas standard is, like, tnt and tbs and fox and scifi and about a billion news channels. i don't know how much it would be for just the modem, tho.

[tekunokurato.livejournal.com]

what nobody else really said here is that cable internet is pretty much completely unavailable without bundling. You've gotta at least pay for cable TV, and maybe more, totaling at LEAST $60. If you already have such stuff from comcast it's a cheap add though.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

I'm not so sure about that. I recently dropped all of my Comcast services except internet, and they had no problem with me keeping just that (and even gave me a special rate for a few months since otherwise I would have dropped internet also). I suppose it could be different for a brand-new customer, but I'd think they'd want to sell you what they could, and hope they could get you to add stuff later.

Granted, as a stand-alone item it's pretty unlikely to be in the $40 range though (standard rate from Comcast for internet is about $60 but could average to less if you got a first-two-months special rate, which isn't uncommon).

DSL

[lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com]

You can also consider High Speed DSL from Verizon or ATT or etc. I have Verizon DSL. It is just as fast as my neighbor's Cable connection. Verizon is $29.99 a month. Other DSL services are around the same price. I don't have Cable TV and don't want it which is why I went with DSL.

Re: DSL

[guxx.livejournal.com]

I've historically stayed away from DSL, typically because I lived with others who also had cable modems which warranted the service. How would a DSL connection work for a single computer? Obviously, I'd replace my cable modem with a DSL modem, but does that go through the existing landline or would I need a new jack to the street?

Re: DSL

[lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com]

I can't speak to other DSL services, but I expect they are generally the same. You sign up. They test your line to confirm that it can use DSL.

They send you a DSL modem and some jack plugs for your phone lines. DSL goes through your existing landline. You do not need to add a new line.

The phone cord goes from the regular jack in your wall to the modem. From the modem you plug either an ethernet cable or a USB cable (both provided by Verizon) into your computer.

For all jacks where you will be plugging in your actual telephones and answering machines they give you converters which you plug into the wall jacks and then you plug the regular phone cord into the jack plug and then into your phone. These converters (probably not the correct term) will filter out any noise on the line from the computer. They give you 5 of these jack plugs for your telephones and you can get more if you need more. You can use your computer and telephones all at the same time. It is pretty simple to set up.

[kalessin.livejournal.com]

I buy DSL service from speakeasy.net, $50/month. They've got help desk people with a clue, they supply a fixed address if you want to run your own servers, and they've been really quite reliable for the past 2.5 years.

[bratling.livejournal.com]

my monthly comcast bill, living a bit outside davis square in somerville, came to about $65 per month. same services as you -- real Basic cable (the really cheap, broadcast-only channels, not basic-with-dozens-of-channels they try to sell you for $25 more), internet.

[bratling.livejournal.com]

in somerville?

i once had DSL near davis square, but it was incredibly unreliable. Speakeasy, Covad and Verizon all pointed fingers at each other. i finally gave up in disgust and got a cable modem. this was circa 2001, but i haven't heard any positive DSL reports in somerville since then. have you had better luck?

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

I think it works out to be something like $57 if you get (internet+basic cable) and $56 for (internet).

Our apartment just has cable internet access, and we pay $57/month once you include taxes and fees. The connection is stable.

[kalessin.livejournal.com]

Yep, on Winter Hill in Somerville. Perhaps the Dread Lords of Telecom smiled at me or something. :-)

[lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have an excellent stable DSL connection. I live closer to Porter. The Verizon line comes from Central Street. I think the closer you are to the actual station, the better.

DSL

[charlwoo.livejournal.com]

We have DSL through Verizon, and use a metered land line because all of us have cell phones and don't need an in-house telephone number. The DSL service is 34.95/month plus 9.99/month for the land-line. If you don't already have cable, DSL is marginally less expensive. If you already have a land line, DSL is much less expensive.
In evaluating DSL versus high-speed Internet via cable, it's important to keep in mind that the telephone companies and the cable companies have very different paradigms that they use when providing high speed Internet service. The phone company sees itself as a service provider, where the cable company sees itself as a content provider. If you want to use all of the available bandwidth on your Internet connection all the time, the cable company will probably suspend your account for what it calls 'bandwidth abuse'. However, in the past three years Verizon has never had a problem with how much I use my DSL line.
What this boils down to is that if you use the Internet for bandwidth-intensive applications on a regular basis, you are probably better off with DSL instead of cable. For short bursts of bandwidth and casual Internet use, cable is quicker, but for an aggregate amount of data transfer per month, DSL beats the pants off cable. In practical terms you wouldn't notice a difference in speed between the two as a casual Internet user.

Re: DSL

[charlwoo.livejournal.com]

Oh! And we live right next to Davis. Our connection is very stable.