Residential internet options?
August 10, 2011 10:14 AM Subscribe
At home I use internet pretty heavily. In the evenings we often use the Roku box, laptop streaming Netflix, and wireless printer all at the same time.
My problem:
I hate paying Comcast $67 a month for internet access.
My limitations:
Very few ISP’s provide service in my neighborhood. I believe Comcast and Surewest are it and offer the same price.
I inquired about using a mobile hotspot, but was told it wasn’t sufficient for my usage needs.
I asked neighbors if they’d be willing to share an account. They agreed but even with a long-range router I cannot pick up a strong signal.
Does anyone know of any options for residential access to the internet giving my limitations and usage?
Lifehacker to rescue. Ever tried a wifi extender?
http://lifehacker.com/296367/boost-your-wireless-signal-with-a-homemade-wifi-extender
posted by no bueno at 10:20 AM on August 10, 2011
http://lifehacker.com/296367/boost-your-wireless-signal-with-a-homemade-wifi-extender
posted by no bueno at 10:20 AM on August 10, 2011
No suggestion on providers, but I wanted to say... your wireless printing does not use the "internet". It uses your "intranet", which is the term for your local network.
inter being the latin work for "between/among", and intra meaning "within/inside"
posted by sbutler at 10:22 AM on August 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
inter being the latin work for "between/among", and intra meaning "within/inside"
posted by sbutler at 10:22 AM on August 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
How much bandwidth do you get for your $67? Simultaneously streaming video to a laptop and a Roku box takes quite a bit. If you share, will everyone have enough?
posted by jon1270 at 10:23 AM on August 10, 2011
posted by jon1270 at 10:23 AM on August 10, 2011
Call / online chat with Comcast's help desk. Ask for lower cost internet. If they say no, thank them and hang up, and call again. You can likely get it for $19.99 a month for a "promo" deal. When that deal is expiring, repeat.
posted by inigo2 at 10:25 AM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by inigo2 at 10:25 AM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Are you low-income? I just read that Comcast will be soon offering $10 internet for low income-families.
Unfortunately, I don't know much more than that.
posted by nikkorizz at 10:27 AM on August 10, 2011
Unfortunately, I don't know much more than that.
posted by nikkorizz at 10:27 AM on August 10, 2011
It looks like DSL Extreme serves Sacramento, and Im really happy with them. 2+ years and they've never been down. (I've had a couple of issues on my end, but their tech support was great.)
I pay ~$30/month and I'm satisfied enough with the wifi speed, including watching YT while Netflix is going through the Wii and using the iPhone and the best part is that I don't have to give another penny to Time Warner. They probably have speedier plans that are still less than $67/month.
And I say all this even though my modem died this morning.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:30 AM on August 10, 2011
I pay ~$30/month and I'm satisfied enough with the wifi speed, including watching YT while Netflix is going through the Wii and using the iPhone and the best part is that I don't have to give another penny to Time Warner. They probably have speedier plans that are still less than $67/month.
And I say all this even though my modem died this morning.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:30 AM on August 10, 2011
I wouldn't put too much stock in that BroadbandExpert site. It's only finding 1 broadband provider for my address - Xfinity (Comcast.) It's missing at least two, including the one I use.
Have you looked into Comcast's bundled deals? You may be able to add phone or cable and actually spend less. It makes no sense, but it often works that way.
posted by COD at 10:32 AM on August 10, 2011
Have you looked into Comcast's bundled deals? You may be able to add phone or cable and actually spend less. It makes no sense, but it often works that way.
posted by COD at 10:32 AM on August 10, 2011
I forgot to mention that I've also got Time Machine kicking in all the time, too.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:33 AM on August 10, 2011
posted by Room 641-A at 10:33 AM on August 10, 2011
To clarify my above comment, because it's come up again wrt Time Machine:
Traffic you care about can be classified into two categories: intranet is stuff that goes from machine in your house to machine in your house; internet is stuff that goes from machine in your house to the outside. Things that are intranet traffic:
- wireless printing
- Time Machine/Time Capsule backups.
- sharing video files from your home computer to your laptop/tv
- sharing music files from your home computer to your laptop/tv
- LAN party multiplayer gaming
Things that are internet traffic:
- email
- web browsing
- Roku
- Netflix streaming
- any "cloud" service. So if you backup to "the cloud" and not some HD sitting on your desk, it's internet traffic
- not LAN party multiplayer gaming
You only pay Comcast for your internet traffic, not your intranet stuff. Now, you may be using the same (Comcast) hardware for both. But a $50 one time purchase at Best Buy will buy you a wireless router and any geek can set it up for your intranet stuff without any internet at all.
Why is this important? Suppose your internet traffic is real low (email and the NYT) but your intranet traffic is real high (Time Capsule and terabytes of saved Star Trek episodes). Well, you could choose the cheapest ISP plan and you'd be OK.
Of course, this does not match your situation because your internet traffic (Roku and Netflix) is real high but your intranet traffic (printing) is real low. In your case I won't go with anything less than 10mbps. But my $70/mo buys me 30mbps from Comcast so maybe a cheaper plan will be OK if they offer one in your area.
posted by sbutler at 10:53 AM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Traffic you care about can be classified into two categories: intranet is stuff that goes from machine in your house to machine in your house; internet is stuff that goes from machine in your house to the outside. Things that are intranet traffic:
- wireless printing
- Time Machine/Time Capsule backups.
- sharing video files from your home computer to your laptop/tv
- sharing music files from your home computer to your laptop/tv
- LAN party multiplayer gaming
Things that are internet traffic:
- web browsing
- Roku
- Netflix streaming
- any "cloud" service. So if you backup to "the cloud" and not some HD sitting on your desk, it's internet traffic
- not LAN party multiplayer gaming
You only pay Comcast for your internet traffic, not your intranet stuff. Now, you may be using the same (Comcast) hardware for both. But a $50 one time purchase at Best Buy will buy you a wireless router and any geek can set it up for your intranet stuff without any internet at all.
Why is this important? Suppose your internet traffic is real low (email and the NYT) but your intranet traffic is real high (Time Capsule and terabytes of saved Star Trek episodes). Well, you could choose the cheapest ISP plan and you'd be OK.
Of course, this does not match your situation because your internet traffic (Roku and Netflix) is real high but your intranet traffic (printing) is real low. In your case I won't go with anything less than 10mbps. But my $70/mo buys me 30mbps from Comcast so maybe a cheaper plan will be OK if they offer one in your area.
posted by sbutler at 10:53 AM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's at least 3 years old but I can't check right now. Maybe it's the computor's processor speed that makes it slow down so much for some people? Anyway, I'm definitely not a Viking when it comes to that stuff so thanks for the info.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:58 AM on August 10, 2011
posted by Room 641-A at 10:58 AM on August 10, 2011
Also keep usage caps in mind. All that streaming AND sharing with the neighbors? You'll hit Comcast's 250GB monthly cap in no time.
posted by elsietheeel at 11:12 AM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by elsietheeel at 11:12 AM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
We watch a lot of streaming Netflix and Roku on a 8 mbps DSL connection and have no problems at all. I'm paying $45 a month for my DSL, about $65 after all the government taxes and fees.
posted by COD at 11:33 AM on August 10, 2011
posted by COD at 11:33 AM on August 10, 2011
Try calling Comcast and seeing if they have any promotions or have a lower tier of speed (you won't need more than 10Mbit for Roku + Netflix at the same time).
I call every few months to see if they have any promotions and usually can get between $30 and $45 a month for 30Mbit service.
posted by wongcorgi at 3:03 PM on August 10, 2011
I call every few months to see if they have any promotions and usually can get between $30 and $45 a month for 30Mbit service.
posted by wongcorgi at 3:03 PM on August 10, 2011
at&t currently has a special on their 18Mbps tier for $35 a month, but you have to call in to get it and agree to a one year contract. Do note that at&t has recently implemented caps on U-Verse service.
posted by wierdo at 5:04 PM on August 10, 2011
posted by wierdo at 5:04 PM on August 10, 2011
A wifi extender or cantenna or something along those lines should be able to boost signals enough to access your neighbor's connection.
But I did the shared with neighbors thing for a year and, while it's a great way to save money, there can be some annoyances.
-Once or twice a month the modem or, less commonly, router needed to be reset and of course it was always right when I wanted to use the internet and they weren't at home (at least it felt that way!). Plus it felt a little intrusive to have to go over just to ask them to reset things. We were on Comcast as well; maybe the service and equipment is more reliable in your area.
-It works best if everyone is a fairly light internet user. If you've got people streaming movies, torrenting stuff, and playing online games it can be frustrating for everyone. The torrent clients are trying to saturate the connection and of course weren't scheduled to run in the middle of the night or when nobody is home, the movies start dropping out, and the FPS guy is complaining because his latency is too high. And you'll be hitting Comcast's 250GB limit.
If you are a heavy internet user, and it sounds like maybe you are, the lack of access to the equipment combined with lack of control of who's downloading what (and at what time and rate) can be frustrating. Are you or others in your house likely to be annoyed if you can't do anything online for an evening because the neighbors aren't home? Or are you likely to be annoyed if your movies aren't watchable at times because you can't sort out a way to prioritize traffic that makes everyone happy?
posted by 6550 at 8:31 PM on August 10, 2011
But I did the shared with neighbors thing for a year and, while it's a great way to save money, there can be some annoyances.
-Once or twice a month the modem or, less commonly, router needed to be reset and of course it was always right when I wanted to use the internet and they weren't at home (at least it felt that way!). Plus it felt a little intrusive to have to go over just to ask them to reset things. We were on Comcast as well; maybe the service and equipment is more reliable in your area.
-It works best if everyone is a fairly light internet user. If you've got people streaming movies, torrenting stuff, and playing online games it can be frustrating for everyone. The torrent clients are trying to saturate the connection and of course weren't scheduled to run in the middle of the night or when nobody is home, the movies start dropping out, and the FPS guy is complaining because his latency is too high. And you'll be hitting Comcast's 250GB limit.
If you are a heavy internet user, and it sounds like maybe you are, the lack of access to the equipment combined with lack of control of who's downloading what (and at what time and rate) can be frustrating. Are you or others in your house likely to be annoyed if you can't do anything online for an evening because the neighbors aren't home? Or are you likely to be annoyed if your movies aren't watchable at times because you can't sort out a way to prioritize traffic that makes everyone happy?
posted by 6550 at 8:31 PM on August 10, 2011
I'm as cheap as they come, but you can pry my Comcast from my cold, dead hands. This isn't saying much, but they generally are the best, once you get all the kinks worked out. The extra few dollars a month are dollars well spent, as far as I am concerned.
But if you must, see if Clear is available. I've heard that their residential service is pretty fast if you can find the right spot for the antenna.
posted by gjc at 9:02 PM on August 10, 2011
But if you must, see if Clear is available. I've heard that their residential service is pretty fast if you can find the right spot for the antenna.
posted by gjc at 9:02 PM on August 10, 2011
Response by poster: Great suggestions. Thank you! I'm going to keep hassling Comcast to drop my rate and try no bueno's lifehacker trick. Looks like for now I may just have to come to peace with my love for the internet and paying out the nose for it.
posted by greensalsa at 10:59 AM on August 11, 2011
posted by greensalsa at 10:59 AM on August 11, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by soelo at 10:18 AM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]