[pizzaisgood14]

hey guys what isp do you use. i just got charter 5 meg with downloads of 4800 kb/s and uploads of 500 kb/s. very very fast.

[techie4fun]

I have Cox in Florida and I get around 10.8 to 11.0 Megabits Per Second. I average 900-1300 KB/S on download speeds. It beats my Comcast provider in Virginia by about 67%. Incredibly fast! It's usually pretty constant too.


I've noticed a BIG difference downloading files that take up 300 megabytes worth of stuff. I can download that file size ratio in about 3 minutes. I never want to go back to dial up again :^0 :)

[coastie65]

I have Verizon FioS. 15 Mbps down and 1.8- 2.0 Mbps up. It gets the job done. We have a choice between msn or yahoo. I've been using msn. I know in the clutches of uncle Bill. It also includes DirecTV. Comcast has finally got some competition here in Va. and they ain't happy. They can't compete in speed, service, or price. I was interviewed for an article in the August issue of PC World about this. If you get fiber optics in your area, by all means get it. You won't be sorry. I forgot to mention verizon.net. It's in here, I just don't use it. I set up the mail box and all but I don't use that address. I kept my old earthlink address for a public box. Verizon partnered with DirecTV to provide the TV service so all is good. coastie65

[KellieCM]

I have Covad, but I don't remember the speeds. It is pretty fast and really stable.

[AuroraDizon]

I live in the middle of nowhere and do not have a choice on highspeed lol.. seriously... there's about one.. ok.. theres a wireless internet I had for a few months that was as slow as dialup so yea I only get one option. Mediacom its like Comcast. Cable, obviously its ok could be better a little bit over priced. I was suppose to get 15 mb dl but they changed it so vip (video internet phone) subscribers don't get that only if you pay an extra 20 dollars a month. Not bad though I get 8 mb dl which isn't bad.

[coastie65]

Hi Aurora, Cable is a bit pricey? :D Man, the last time I checked it was alot pricey (Comcast). They are still operating in this area as if they are still the only game in town for high speed and TV. In the meantime, Verizon is merrily rolling along stringing their fiber and adding new areas almost on a daily basis. I don't know how far out they'll go, but I suspect it may be further than cable. I have a friend that the cable stopped at the end of his street, so he has dial up only. It sounds like you got the upper end of cable as far as speed goes, and 8Mb. isn't bad at all. It also should be enough for online gaming as well. I got the phone, TV, and internet through fiber. The downside is if you lose power, even if you have a generator, you lose all of it. I'm hoping that Verizon has had the foresight to install some generators for fiber. It wouldn't take much as everything travels by light. Course, I don't have a generator either. I saw one for about $3500 plus whatever the installation cost would have been. That would have like buying Champaign on a beer pocketbook. Oh well. I just got off track. Enjoy the 8 meg connection, it will get the job done as you already know. coastie65

[AuroraDizon]

Its sounds cool, yea I can't even get dsl around here. Cable in other areas isn't so bad because theres a bit more competition. Here I pay 30 a month which is great but its a year long promotional thing (video internet phone all 30 each for a year). If I didn't get all of them though it would be like 40 - 50 dollars I think its like 39.99 then they add 10 dollars if you only have cable internet and no other services. Fortunately I have a phone modem with cable so if the power blows I can still access the internet via my laptop. Not sure for how long though its never happened to me. Anyway, its desolate over here for the most part my old cell phone couldn't get reception in buildings or most streets unless you were near the highway. I may be moving to a bigger area soon so we will see how that goes. I don't really know much about fiber because it hasn't been available to us. Id kill for a cellular card but theres no way I could afford one (again if I could I couldn't get access out here anyway lol)

[coastie65]

Hi Aurora, Yeah, that is about what Comcast gets for their triple play ( Phone, Internet, and TV). Usually $99. You read the fine print and find you have to sign for a one or two year commitment and the price is only for the first 3 or 6 mos. The fiber package is $137 per mo. that is with all the taxes and other fees they throw in. At least that is the package I have. I have no long distance charges on the phone within the continental US, everything is same as local. That is good, because all my cousins are either in Calf., Ore., Or Wash. OOPS, I forgot the one in Arizona, but I don't call her anyway. You said you'll probably be moving to a larger area, good for choice, hopefully, but bad for losing peace and quiet. Again, you said you were in the middle of nowhere and could get cable, that's good. In these parts they don't serve rural areas or small towns. They say they have to string too much cable to serve too few customers. Some areas have formed Co-ops and did there own thing. As far as fiber goes, I think they are concentrating on the the larger population areas, but will build out over time. I know in the Southern part of the state, 1 or 2 counties and a town got together and formed a co-op to do the fiber thing. They are paying the costs for building the system and Verizon will let them tie into their main trunk. It's a good deal for the people as Verizon probably wouldn't have built into that area and a good deal for Verizon as they get customers that may well have been left out, and they didn't have any costs to build the system. I've already run into cases where the servers couldn't upload as fast as I was downloading. I forgot what the lower package was with fiber. It was either 8Mb or 10Mb ( 39.95 mo.). I've been thinking about getting a cell phone in case of a power loss. I've got a tower behind the house just across the interstate (64). I guess I've rambled on enough. coastie65

[lilxkid24]

i get 654 kbs for dl speed and 378 for upload i pay like 12 bucks a month for dsl dsl extreme lol i don't need that fast dsl

[techie4fun]

Hey Coatsie
I totally agree. Cable is downright expensive. I think it's overpriced. My Comcast provider in Virginia was a perfect example. We were paying $80 a month for 5 meg services.. I'm now paying less than that for 10 megs. I haven't really come to a likeness with Comcast.

I'm now trying to remember what we were paying in Alabama for Charter High Speed. Maybe I'll think of it later on.

[pizzaisgood14]

charter is really cheap. you can get 5 meg for 20 dollars a month. im guessing that 10 meg is probably around 30 to 40. its funny because i used to have aol dial up for the same cost of my charter 5 meg. also charter tech support is excellent

[coastie65]

Hey Techie, You have Verizon FioS? Comcast was the only game in town for high speed internet here in the Richmond area. I got rid of comcast cable TV in Dec. '04 and went with DirecTV on the dish. I kept that until Verizon brought in the Fiber. I got the Internet on 21 Sept. '06 and the TV on Dec. 27 and haven't looked back. I know that NOVA had Fios before we did. I got the 15/2 internet package. Customer service is very good on both the Internet and TV. For those wondering, NOVA ia Viginia thing, not the TV program on PBS. It is an acronym for Northern Virginia, a whole other world from the rest of the state. :D coastie65

[ColoradoThunder]

I enjoy my Bresnan Cable package and I even upgrade aspects of it to make it better for me and my family. Though I am not sure if it is a little pricey or not, the only other option is Quest DSL and normal dial-up. I don't feel like upgrading my home's internal wiring to get the best use of DSL and there is no way I am going back to dial-up. I have Digital Premier cable with OnDemand (all the premium channels movies are free to watch at any time plus tons of cartoons for my son to watch when he wants to watch then), Digital phone, and 8Mbps High-speed internet. That all costs me $158 a month with 2 Motorola boxes one with built-in DVR and HD tuner & all my HD channels are free. However I pay additional fees for a third box with DVR and upgrading the second box a DVR along with upgrading to 15Mbps Downloads and 1.5Mbps Uploads.



We have been looking to move in mid '08 or so. We want to move to Seattle, Denver or near Minneapolis and build a new house where we know Verizon FioS is or will be coming soon. If they are not available in any of those areas we will just get a new house were we are. But I am having a heck of a time finding out if they have it in those areas. The Verizon site only lets you put an address to tell you if its in that area (no help unless you already have an address). Any help on this would be appreciated.

[Requiem]

I have nothing special or even close but it will suffice until college. AT&T Yahoo is my ISP. Pay $24.99 get about 3.2mb/s download.

[Number3124]

I have a um lets call it local dial-up ISP. It's definitely something special it has 5kpbs downstream and .5kpbs upstream, and it's always disconnecting itself.

[coastie65]

Hi Colorado, I got Verizon FioS here in Richmond Va. on Sept. 21, 2006. I didn't get the TV and phone until Dec. 27. I did some checking and the only states that Verizon lists TV services for are the following: Ca., Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Mass., Maryland, N.J., N.Y., Pa.,Rhode Island, Texas, and Va. Verizon partnered with DirecTV to provide that service. They may well be building the system faster than they are keeping the site updated. I was thinking that it was available in Seattle Wa. as well as the Portland Ore. area. I've got a neighbor that moved in a few months ago and didn't know we had fiber until I told him. By this time he had already signed up for Comcast and was locked into a one or two year contract, with a heavy penalty for early termination of service. Oddly enough, he only got the internet service and he got DirecTV as there was already a dish in place. He was told that he couldn't get DSL, which is true, but told nothing of the fiber availability. Needless to say he is not a happy camper. You would think Verizon would put out map of the existing fiber system, but judging by the speed that they are adding new areas around here, I guess it would be a hassle, as they would be constantly updating the information, and would probably need a whole staff just for that. As for that TRS80 thing, I remember it although I never owned one. I had a Commodore 64 and then a Commodore 128, which I still have. You said you were good at the hardware end of things whereas your wife was good at solving the software problems. Works for me, sounds like you two have it covered. :D Welcome to the forum coastie65

[TechyGuy]

I've got Earthlink, but I don't really know how fast it is @ downloads.

[coastie65]

Hi Number3124, Are you serious about that speed? If so, 1) you might want to consider a new modem such as a linksys Zoom, or 2) you must have an awful busy circuit where you live. I was getting 50.6 kbps on dial up and on the rare occasion 52.4 kbps. As for Requeim's isp. When I had dial up, I would have been salivating for that, :D particularly at that price. That is only $3 more than what I was paying for the dial up. My dial up was with earthlink. coastie65

[Number3124]

Well I live in the middle of no-were I have like 3 or 4 neighbors so it definitely not a busy circuit, and its a weird type of speed it starts off at 56.6kpbs and then it drops off to 4.5kpbs so I have no idea whats wrong with it.

[coastie65]

Hey Number3124, Yeah, you're right about the lack of traffic. That shouldn't be a problem in the immediate area, but what is between you and where ever could be, but not to that extent. I live in a suburban neighborhood with a bunch of chatty housewives, who live on the phone. Your initial speed of 56.6 kbps is something. I've not seen it, nor anyone I know. Why it's falling off like that is baffling, although it seems I had that problem at some point when I had dial up. One thing I did learn, Holidays were the worst time to try and get on the internet with dial up. You might want to try and run that problem in another thread and see if anybody comes up with something. The first time I had the problem of a slow Internet connection, I changed to a decent modem. Oh, I forgot. I was using one of those wireless things that you plug into an electric outlet near the phone. You plug the line from the jack and another line from the unit to the phone and it broadcasts the signal to the second unit which is plugged into an outlet near the computer and a line runs from it to the modem. Those things are junk and will definately cut down your connection speed. I went to Radio Shack and bought a nice long phone line and a splitter for the phone jack. I ran the line direct from the phone jack to the modem and it made all the difference in the world. I don't know if you're using that type of set up or not. If so, I'm reasonably certain that is your problem. coastie65