Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dsl and comcast

Picking a good plan

pulled_levers — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:10:11 -0800

In need of a cheap high speed internet/cable package shared among 7 college girls in MD and not sure where to start. Help! Six other girls and I will be moving into a house in College Park, MD 20740. A friend of mine has looked into Verizon for a plan. Unfortunately, she says that that particular plan only works with flatscreen TVs which we do not have.

I have looked at comcast as well as reviews of comcast saying that they are overpriced with not-so-great customer service.

After looking at some DSL vs Cable sites, it seems that cable is pricier but has faster connection. Because the internet will be shared among seven girls, I wanted to know whether or not paying for cable will become a necessity and if we should go for a package that has a minimum of X MBPS.

I would prefer a high-speed internet service coupled with a fairly basic TV cable plan. I am worried about internet being too slow if shared between so many girls. I am also bringing a wireless router to the house (will the internet company I choose help me install that at all?).

I am feeling slightly overwhelmed because we are moving in in two days and classes start on Monday. Any input would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Out of the frying pan into the fire

mkb — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 10:19:47 -0800

I am in the process of switching from Comcast cable to Verizon DSL. I am trying to figure out the wireless situation in my house. So Verizon is offering a free netbook to new DSL subscribers, and I don't have any particular affinity for Comcast, so I decided to try it out.

With Comcast (which is actually still running), I have the following setup:
- Motorola cable modem
- Linksys WRT54g v 2.2 running Tomato and boosted output power

I have this unit set to forward BitTorrent, SSH, and icecast ports to one machine at home.

Verizon unexpectedly sent me a modem for my new service that also functions as a wireless access point and a router. It's a Westell 7500. It seems to be almost as configurable as my Linksys, and it looks like there is no need to boost the output power in order to get up to my office. The only missing feature appears to be DynDNS.com updating; the new router uses TSIG authentication which is only available on paid accounts, and I can just punt this to one of my computers.

So, is there anything I am missing that would be worth me keeping the Linksys around? Does this router have any hidden gotchas?

Comcast, from the gates of hell I spit at thee!

jadepearl — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:41:56 -0800

DSL in Minneapolis. Recommendations, experiences, ISPs of note. Comcast is awful. I get horrible digital service and the speed is nothing impressive. I am probably going to go satellite for cable but I need internet service that is fast, reliable and not too expensive. I have a wireless network in the house and use Apple TV. I do a lot of work online so lots of uploading and downloading.

Should I ditch Comcast's Triple Play in Chicago for DSL?

bdk3clash — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:31:07 -0800

Thinking of switching from Comcast cable modem to DSL for broadband--will I notice the difference? I'm in Chicago and currently have the Comcast Triple Play package (cable TV/digital phone/Internet) which ends up costing $123.44 a month. My year of service is almost up and I'm not interested in paying even more than I already am, so I'm considering getting rid of Comcast and switching over to just a broadband provider.

I'd stick with Comcast if they could offer Internet only for $50 a month or so, but that's not an option with them as far as I know, so I'm thinking about switching over to AT&T for DSL service.

I'm a fairly heavy bandwidth consumer--in addition to typical browsing, I download a lot of binaries via Giganews. I usually get speeds of around 1000 k/s.

Other than AT&T, are there any solid options for broadband Internet providers in Chicago? And if I switch to DSL, will I notice the difference when doing regular browsing? Slower binary downloads don't bother me unless it's, like, way slower than what I'm used to.

Thanks.

Best option for internet provider in San Francisco?

jcruelty — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:51:56 -0800

What's the best option for high-speed internet access in San Francisco? (Moving from Castro to Potrero Hill, would like to ditch Comcast if there's a good alternative.) Apologies if this has been covered somewhere-- I googled around but there's too many hits to make sense of. Basically I want to know what people recommend for fast reliable internet service in San Francisco. We've been using Comcast (cable modem) but I don't like the company and don't need cable TV, just internet. I'm not entirely averse to staying with Comcast but I'd like to know the alternatives. Is DSL comparably fast?

I'm running a wireless network through a Belkin Pre-N router, don't know if that matters.

Comcast v. Verizon

jk252b — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:21:19 -0800

What internet service to use in Cambridge, Massachusetts? Does anyone have experience with both high speed internet options in East Cambridge, Mass, that can tell me what the practical differences are between Verizon DSL and Comcast cable internet in the neighborhood? I know that technically Comcast is faster than Verizon (6 mpbs v. 3 mbps), but is there any real difference when it comes to every day usage? Does the fact that there seems to be a Verizon central office on Bent Street in East Cambridge (just a few blocks from my new place) mean that it may actually end up being faster than (or comparable to) Comcast which shares the bandwidth among all subscribers in an area?

Anecdotes about people's real experiences in this neighborhood would be most helpful to me!

Comcast vs. DirecTV in Seattle Eastside?

frogan — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 14:32:56 -0800

Comcast vs. DirecTV in Seattle Eastside? I'm moving soon and need advice on telephone, internet and television. Need advice and a best plan of action. I currently have DirecTV+ TiVo, DSLExtreme and SBC phones in SoCal. I'm fairly happy with this arrangement.

I'm moving to Sammamish, WA and need to re-evaluate my set-up.

DirecTV has a promotion in which they will install a dish at the new house in exchange for keeping their service for one year. A similar service on Comcast seems to be about the same price (give or take), but Comcast does not have a channel lineup currently available on their site.

Moreover, Comcast also offers all-in-one packages of television, cable-based broadband and telephone services. This seems like it could be very good or very painful.

* Anyone have any experience on the all-in-one Comcast service?
* Does inclement weather in the Seattle area ruin satellite service very often?
* Any other general pieces of advice?

Cable Alternatives

mhaw — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 12:15:08 -0800

DSL vs Cable Internet... what are the differences in term of performance, reliability, price, etc? Can anyone given an evaluation of the pros/cons. Bonus if you can comment on the advantages/disadvantages of satellite TV over digital cable or vice versa. I've been a digital cable subscriber for the past two years, I'm generally happy with the content and service, but I'm unhappy with the high price... nearly $140 a month for full digital cable and internet through Comcast. So are there equivalent, cheaper alternatives?

If it makes a difference I use Tivo.