Suggestions for Internet service?

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

I've had Verizon Internet service for over a decade now, but over the past 6 months or so it's acting more and more like an 80-year-old man whose Viagra supply has run out. I've spent countless hours on the phone with their tech support, and have had 4 technicians to my house this summer (each one necessitating staying home from work, which wouldn't be a problem if my connection would stay up). So I'm guessing it's time to switch. I saw some discussion a while back comparing RCN & Comcast, but thought I'd bring it up again, just in case things have changed (hell, at the time of the discussion, Verizon seemed like a good deal). Also, if anyone has had any experience with Clear, I'd be interested to hear about that. ETA: RCN sent somebody over yesterday morning to hook me up. I called them Thursday afternoon & they were able to set up a 2 hour window, which they respected, the next day - I suspect they aren't as accommodating when they're already got your business. Kind words to Best Buy in the Watertown mall for completely refunding the cost of the Verizon modem I bought a couple of weeks ago. Service is definitely faster, and it's $10 less a month than I was paying for Verizon (though this will increase in a year, c'est la vie). So far I'm happy with it.

Comments

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

Comcast or RCN- of course everyone here has dif experiences with either. But there are deals be had right now and make sure you get a deal and make it clear that you switching to them

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I checked on line & was able to get a really good deal. I'll be paying as much for 10Mbps cable from RCN as I was paying for barely functional DSL from Verizon. I probably could get a better deal if I were bundling, but I really don't have any use for a landline, and I rarely watch TV in anything resembling "real time". So I just have an indoor antenna & a streaming Netflix subscription, which is perfect for someone like me who never gets into television shows until they're near the end of their run (I just started watching Mad Men during Irene, and am totally hooked!)

[veek.livejournal.com]

Your post prompted me to look into deals on both RCN and Comcast -- I need new internet service at home, since I moved in July and was taking a home-connectivity hiatus. Found the deal you're referring to; thanks. Here's hoping it doesn't suck!

[veek.livejournal.com]

...OR NOT. They don't service my (technically Medford; in Winter Hill) area. >:(

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

if you are currently on DSL it might be a phone line issue, which wouldn't be helped by changing companies. The cable lines also might be bad.

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

It is, in fact, DSL and probably is the phone line (though they've sent several techs out to fix the line - each time the problem improves for a few days). I'm getting an RCN cable modem put into tomorrow.

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

This is a reply for everyone but 2 things to keep in mind- not sure about RCN but comcast charges for the "rental" of there modem so get your own it is well worth it and pays for itself in 6 months time. You will just have to call and coordinate with them when you attach your own-I have had the same modem for 10 years now. Also keep on whatever provider you have and insist on the same great rate you are happy with or got when you signed up. This post is a reminder that I have to call comcast and renegotiate my phone service again. I do not mind, myself, paying for a reasonable service like quality internet but should be able to pay a good rate when they always offer temporary deals to students.

Long term customers are just as important right? :)

[madrigal.livejournal.com]

RCN doesn't charge for modems.

[unferth.livejournal.com]

They do for me. Or at least there's a $3 modem rental charge on my bill, and a $3 credit for having my own.

[madrigal.livejournal.com]

Weird. I guess that was part of the special I signed up for a few months ago.

[smammy]

A friend of mine recently started up new service, and was told that they no longer charge for modems. Apparently too many people were complaining or bringing their own so they just stopped charging. I checked my bill and I'm still getting charged $5 and then credited $5 for having my own, so they probably only applies to new customers.

[gingicat]

We had similar problems and when we complained to Comcast they brought us a new cable modem. Presto, no more Internet problems.

(We may be luckier than most because husband used to work for Comcast and knows the buzzwords.)

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

I have DSL so it's through the phone line. Verizon has sent 4 techs since July all to fix the lines. They also provided me with a new modem AND I bought my own modem (fortunately less than 30 days ago, at Best Buy, so I can return it). I'm just called RCN & I'm getting a Cable Modem put in tomorrow. Hopefully that will help.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this, hathor--my DSL has been down a lot lately too, and while the owner of my service is Covad, the owner of the phone lines is Verizon, meaning Covad has to open a trouble ticket with Verizon whenever the line is down. Aka the past few weeks. So perhaps I should switch, too.

[squirrelitude]

I can't speak for connection reliability -- RCN and Comcast both lie out their asses about quality of service -- but I do know that Comcast was something of a nightmare to deal with, from botched installation to confusing service termination procedures.

[smammy]

RCN doesn't cap. Comcast does.

[afty.livejournal.com]

RCN was terrible when I had them in Somerville. If you ever tried to change your service, they would invariably screw it up and you'd have to watch your bill like a hawk. They continually raised my rates without providing anything in return. And their 10 mbit service was oversubscribed, and it would slow to a crawl in the evenings.

People bitch about Comcast, but when I've had them in Malden and the SF Bay Area I've had fast, reliable service. Aside from generally higher prices, I have no complaints about Comcast.

[avjudge]

Well, I've been consistently getting 1.5Mbps on Comcast (way less than I had on RCN) and while it's REALLY hard to tell from their info what I'm supposed to be getting (they spend all the text bragging about the tremendous burst of speed my first 10 or 20 Mb will be at - like I care about that when I'm streaming a movie) I'm pretty sure it's a good bit faster than that. I'll call next week to complain. I've been lazy (I call it "collecting data") and haven't yet.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this; I'm also curious about the answer, since I'm in about the same situation.

Rampant speculation: my guess is that Verizon is consolidating their remaining DSL infrastructure in crappy ways as they push people to FIOS. (It may be overcynical, but there could also be some element of "if we make it suck they'll have to switch.") Not that they even offer FIOS everyplace yet, but where they do the direct marketing efforts to get people to switch are ridiculously intense.

[bettyw.livejournal.com]

This. They keep sending me letters worded very carefully to imply (but not actually state) that I must switch to FIOS or else lose my connection. But considering I still have "Measured Service" on my landline (we hardly make outgoing calls) it's no deal to switch both to FIOS.

[ron_newman]

no FIOS in Somerville yet

[jicama]

I've been happy with RCN in Arlington.

[mihmo.livejournal.com]

comcast is horrible. our internet dies at least once a day, usually more. they told us our cable modem was bad. we bought a new one. no improvement. we called back. they told us our access point must be bad. bought a new one. no improvement. they keep offering to send people between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm during days we have to work to 'take a look', but i'm not sure how looking again when the guy was just here last month is going to help. the person on the phone told us unfortunately all he could do was schedule appointments for someone to come and he couldn't do anything else to help us.

their 'chat support' is hilarious, btw. i don't recommend it if you're sober.

[nurrynur.livejournal.com]

I've been more or less satisfied with RCN. I recently moved and the "allconnect" utility-helping place told me I'd have to pay another installation fee. I called RCN and got a pretty nice "Customer Retention" person who not only agreed (immediately) (and without my having to ask more than once) to waive the install fee, also made sure I wasn't going to have an increase in the monthly price either. *shrug*