Looking to change ISPs, suggestions? Minneapolis,MN
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 - 12:28am
Ok I'm sick of my current ISP, while fast its a shared connection that doesn't know how to throttle, also the lack of proper IP addresses and the inability to forward ports to my machines is a pain. So I'm currently looking at either QWest or Comcast, the city WiFi *might* reach my apartment (I'm right on the edge of a trouble zone). I'm open for other suggestions.
Mostly i'd want it for :
P2P
gaming
downloading of morally questionable photos.
spying on LobsterMobster
and world domination
Anyone got thoughts or issues with the choices?
"Also, I have four legs and am covered in wool. Baa!" *Legion* reveals his inner furry.
The city wireless isn't there yet. They bent over backwards to try and get a good connection at my place, fifty yards from a transmitter thing, but it just didn't connect consistently or have fast enough speeds. They thought it might be because my downstairs neighbor's wifi router transmits a very strong signal. I have no idea.
I use Comcast now. They haven't updated my cable modem since 2002 and my service has gotten unreliable recently, but a friend in town who is more aggressive with them has gotten good quality customer service and has a very fast connection.
I don't know anything about QWest. I am prejudiced against both QWest and DSL.
You can't make somebody love you, but you can buy a bigger television.
www.dslreports.com This is purely community driven. You can see reviews for ISPs in your area, get a feel for what kind of speed people are getting from them in your Zip code. Call Quest, see how close you are to the DSL hub, they have to tell you. Comcast, if you can stay away from them, do so. They have been throttling bandwidth on people. If you want to download video, stream video, use VoiP like Skype, play games, you will be throttled. Not to mention that cable in large cities often really slows down in the afternoon and evening, so called "peak" times. Basically from 3 PM til around 8 or 9(you know when you want to play games) your speeds will be very diminished.
I'd say Comcast because your area will be the first to get their new 50 mbps Docsis 3.0 tech. Of course the cost will probably make you stick with their lower-tier offering, but at least you could sample it for a month.
Qwest might be doable, but they are much slower in most places. I wanted to switch to them for a few months so I could switch back to Comcast at a cheaper price for awhile, but they don't seem any cheaper and I can only get 1.5 mbps max. Some areas can get ~3.0 mbps or even up to 7.0 mbps now, but I think the latter is pretty rare.
Oh and if you go Comcast then 2 things. First, get a deal. 6 months for $20 or $30 a month or something along those lines for new customers. IT's always changing so not sure what they are offering now. Also consider getting basic cable with them if you don't have it. It runs about $15, but (having cable) gives you a ~$10 discount on their internet.
I get Qwest DSL to Visi, and have been doing that for probably 8 years now. Qwest is fine if you don't need to use them as an ISP and Visi's been really good as an ISP. I'm pretty sure it's not a good deal, but they'll give me a static IP and leave me alone, and that's worth something.
Were you using their special modem or just your regular wireless adapter?
I may end up going Comcast, because as it turns out my brother just got a job with them, he's going to see if there is any sort of discount for family members.
"Also, I have four legs and am covered in wool. Baa!" *Legion* reveals his inner furry.
I used their Ruckus modem and then a Ruckus modem with an antenna that screwed into the back. Then they wanted to come to my house and install a big-ass antenna outside my window (like I said, they really tried hard), but I called it a day at that point.
You can't make somebody love you, but you can buy a bigger television.
Qwest today announced faster internet services coming as well. 10 and 20 mbps. I guess they are rolling out the fiber to the node. Man I can't even get the fastest services they currently offer and yet they are rolling out faster ones? Bah. I guess I'm too far away from the CO or last on the list.
I saw the listing for the 50mpbs, er $150 a month for internet is a little out of my price range.
"Also, I have four legs and am covered in wool. Baa!" *Legion* reveals his inner furry.
I've got Comcast and have had no connection issues. Gaming is smooth and the service is mostly reliable.
Xbox Live: StaatsM
I got Fiber. I can't believe it. I really thought my neighborhood would be last. I settled for a 7 mbps dedicated line. Be ready within the week.
Prices here I believe are $36/month for 7mbps, $60/month for 12mbps nd $130/month for 20 mbps. All prices require a local phone package which sucks, but I just got a basic line. Still after taxes and fees it's $66/month for basic local phone and 7mbps dedicated internet line. Free install. Free modem. $150 gift card supposedly, but the door to door sales guy was new and I think it's only a $50 gc. (He did print $150 gc on my invoice though so I might have some leverage there.) I think the upload is ~1.5 mbps. We'll see.
So Qwest won my business if only because I want to check them out promote competition. Once they are installed her within the next week I'll cancel Comcast. Worst case, if Qwest sucks, I figure Comcast will offer me sweet deals to come back to them.
I got Qwest Today. I love the yellow ethernet cable they gave me.
I think it's a bit snappier than Comcast, but that's wholly unscientific. It also makes me feel all tingly inside knowing that I have a "dedicated" line. A bit strange that I use MS as the ISP provider (in conjunction with Qwest) for my Mac.
I'm getting 6 mbps/750 kbps down/up in real world speeds. Pretty similar to what I was getting with Comcast albeit a bit more consistent.
DSL is a bit more of a pain to configure with your own router than cable. And Qwest is absolutely unhelpful in recommending what to change on their modem to get it to work with your router. I realize you don't officially support 3rd party routers, but come on.
I got it working by disabling NAT and DHCP on the modem.
Later I found a more "elegant" solution after some research (or at least I'd like to think so.) Put the modem in bridging mode and so I did that. Now the modem is invisible. I can't even access it unless I plug directly into it. And the internet light doesn't light up on the modem now either. I'm not sure my minor OCD can put up with that, but it all works.
In both cases I had to switch the router to PPPOE and use your Qwest PPP login which luckily I wrote down while setting up/registering the modem in the first place otherwise I'd be calling Qwest for that info if they would even give it to me. They'd probably just recommend that I buy the Qwest wireless plugin for the modem which is actually pretty kool. It plugs right into the top of the modem. Tech Support calls give me headaches though and I want to use my nice Apple router. Jobs would be proud of me.
I think there is another solution which involves setting up a static IP and making sure your router gives out a different set of local IP addresses than the modem/DSL gives out. I might do that later so I get all 4 pretty green lights lit and so I can easily access the modem and change settings when I feel the need for speed, er I mean need to be a geek.
All in all I feel good to support some competition amongst broadband providers.
I've used Time-Warner, or however the old Comcast service was rebranded, and haven't had a problem uptown in two years. Tech support is generally helpful with issues that aren't really their problem (i.e. router).