Is this a good deal for DSL/Phone Service?

[rockymtnhigh]

Ok, talking with Verizon (who serves as the baby-bell, so to speak, for Bloomington-Normal), thinking about DSL service instead of cable. No FIOS is available.

Anyways...
7.1MB download, 768 Upload on DSL, 1980 ft from the house to the Central Office.

Charge is $63.99 per month, plus $54.44 per month for land line and unlimited long distance.

Total bill of $118.43.

I am pretty sure that Comcast Cable modem has a 10MB download and I am guessing a higher upload. Don't have that info in front of me.

I am currently using a cable modem that costs $56/month through Bresnan here in CO.


Good price? I am nervous about the 768 upload. Seems kind of slow to me. Their lower package has a 3.0 download, for $43.

 

[8bitbytes]

I have the 3mb down, 768kb up service here in VA and it works fine for me. I don't stream a lot of video or constantly upload and download bittorrents. It works great for the remote desktop work I do on my servers and other administrative work and still provides good bandwidth for the other things mentioned before if I want to do that too.

Cable I don't think is going to give you much up speed and even though the down is higher, you are on a party line and depending on your neighborhood, that can slow to a crawl on weekends and in the evening when all the kids are home. Plus, when I had cable internet, they could care less if my connection was down - it's for entertainment purposes so I shouldn't have something important relying on it. I was glad to say goodbye to Comcast.

YMMV

 

[charper1]

I do DLS 6mbps for $45/mo + $13/mo for a backup land-line and bring my own VoIP (ViaTalk) @ $9/mo (FULL SERVICE/FULL FEATURED and UNLIMITED)

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I do DLS 6mbps for $45/mo + $13/mo for a backup land-line and bring my own VoIP (ViaTalk) @ $9/mo (FULL SERVICE/FULL FEATURED and UNLIMITED)

WHat is your upload? I am confident that the 7mb will be fine for downloads.

 

[charper1]

768k as well (that is the one thing I wish I could up grade)

 

[stevenl]

Who is your local cable company. Here for that price you can get phone,tv,internet with 10mbit/1mbit for that price, and for 10$more you could get 15/2

 

[rockymtnhigh]

768k as well (that is the one thing I wish I could up grade)

And that is the only issue I have. Debating whether it is enough.

Now 8Bit said that the difference between cable and DSL is that the connection is not shared; and I forgot about that; but I have never had problems with my cable connection slowing down much.

Tough call.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Who is your local cable company. Here for that price you can get phone,tv,internet with 10mbit/1mbit for that price, and for 10$more you could get 15/2

The local cable company will be Comcast. I am going to call them and find out what their rate is; I spoe with them a while back, and think it was around $44, but somehow did not write it down.

 

[rad]

And that is the only issue I have. Debating whether it is enough.

Now 8Bit said that the difference between cable and DSL is that the connection is not shared; and I forgot about that; but I have never had problems with my cable connection slowing down much.

Tough call.

Both services are going to be 'shared' at some point, it's either in the neighborhood node on cable or the uplink from the DSLAM/remote terminal for DSL. Either way if ISP doesn't keep utilization of that facilitiy at a reasonable level performance will suffer. I have both cable and DSL at home and it's usually a total outage, not a performance problem that causes problems.

 

[digiblur]

DSL is shared too just in different places.

I have 9000/512 and it is plenty for me for 42 a month and unlimited in state with 200 out of state minutes with more features than you can shake a stick at for 15.50 after tax and fees.

Only thing I wish for is more upload for the Slingbox but the extra 10 a month is not worth it.

 

[charper1]

And that is the only issue I have. Debating whether it is enough.

Now 8Bit said that the difference between cable and DSL is that the connection is not shared; and I forgot about that; but I have never had problems with my cable connection slowing down much.

Tough call.

768k UP, what are you going to be doing that you would need more? I know we all want more; but need? I up a lot of web code and photo/video and need more. Frankly 1.5 - 2 mbps would do just fine, but I really can do everything I need on 769k; no issues with VoIP and avg everyday stuff

 

[rad]

768k UP, what are you going to be doing that you would need more?

It would be nice, at least for me, when using my Slingbox remotely.

 

[digiblur]

512k upload on a slingbox still looks great....looks downright awesome from a PDA phone.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

768k UP, what are you going to be doing that you would need more? I know we all want more; but need? I up a lot of web code and photo/video and need more. Frankly 1.5 - 2 mbps would do just fine, but I really can do everything I need on 769k; no issues with VoIP and avg everyday stuff

Probably true. I upload photos a lot, but can do that from work. I would have a 30 day trial so that would also give me time to make sure I am satisfied with it.

The price is not stellar, but its just a few dollars more then I am paying for a cable modem now. Of course, there is an upfront cost of $179 for the install/modem, but its rebated back.

 

[charper1]

Sounds a lot like the deal I got; they directed to do it all online if I was comfortable doing so and was doing the self-install and avoided all the out of pocket up front costs; basically online gave instant rebates.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Sounds a lot like the deal I got; they directed to do it all online if I was comfortable doing so and was doing the self-install and avoided all the out of pocket up front costs; basically online gave instant rebates.

Is it easy to install?

 

[charper1]

To me yes; but as I have been told to mention before; I am in the IT field. Even so, I still think if one can connect a A/V setup; you can do this.

Will you be wall to modem; modem to PC?

or

Will you be wall to modem; modem to router; router to PC?



Did you get a static IP or going with the dynamically assigned?

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Ok, one more question - and maybe a dumb one, but I don't know the answer; but in the house I have been in for the past twelve years, there was separate coax for the cable modem and separate coax for Dish (which had a diplexer to split the OTA antenna from the Sat input).


In the new house, I know there is coax throughout the house, but I do not know how many separate lines there are.

If I opt for cable internet instead of DSL, is that a potential problem to be concerned about?

 

[stevenl]

The cable company SHOULD install free a new line for your cable modem. Its usually included in the install..

I would seriously check on comcast though specially because you are right at the "2000ft" limit. Which means you may not get the full 7mbit speed anyway. With comcast you will get faster speeds for less money. and no upfront costs that you need to wait for rebates on.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The cable company SHOULD install free a new line for your cable modem. Its usually included in the install..

I would seriously check on comcast though specially because you are right at the "2000ft" limit. Which means you may not get the full 7mbit speed anyway. With comcast you will get faster speeds for less money. and no upfront costs that you need to wait for rebates on.

I am going to call Comcast, and going to check with the guy who did the wiring for the house about the coax situation.

Thanks all. Much appreciated.