Seeking A Good Internet Service Provider

July 31, 2010 4:14 AM

Would anyone know of a good internet service provider in Chicago that is reliable and not outlandish with their prices? I was dealing with one company in Chicago that attempted to raise my internet rate by 30%. UGH!! I do not need the fastest speed; however, I would like solid reliability.
posted by Mckoan1 to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

If you live in the northern suburbs, DSL from TDS Metrocom might be a good and reasonable option. We've had it for several years. Their tech people are not always the most skilled (e.g., it took three tries for them to get the DSL installed correctly) but everyone I've dealt with has been unfailingly helpful, polite, and fair. You can check their service area here.
posted by DrGail at 4:36 AM on July 31, 2010

RCN has been good to me in the past. reasonable rates, and very solid customer service. Avoid Comcast like the plague, though…
posted by LMGM at 5:41 AM on July 31, 2010

Comcast has worked for me, if there is something cheaper that offers DOCSIS 3.0 service I'd love to know about it.
posted by MrBobaFett at 7:06 AM on July 31, 2010

I recently asked a similar Chicago broadband question.
posted by Mid at 8:47 AM on July 31, 2010

I won't touch Comcast with a 10ft pole due to their throttling after a certain cap has been reached. They also hand over your IP address for pirating.

RCN has been pretty decent though. They have some real idiots in India (not saying all people there are idiots, just the ones RCN hires) working tech support and that can get pretty frustrating, but their speed and service are decent for the price.

Since I have an abnormally low rate from them due to a major billing issue I had a couple years back, I pay like $40/mo for my 10mbit connection (10down/1.5up) and recently upgraded for +$10/mo to the 20mbit down/2up connection and am STILL paying less than their full price for the 10mbit.

Not bad.
posted by Elminster24 at 9:29 AM on July 31, 2010