Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with internet and broadband

Experience with Sprint / Nextel MiFi?

bamassippi — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:04:59 -0800

Experience with Sprint / Nextel MiFi? Moving into an area of Seattle with a cable/Internet provider with a poor reputation and performance. My wife and I are considering the MiFi 2200. We both work from home and I wanted to ask the MeFi-ers first to see if anyone has had any experience with this device/service.

We need something that can handle everything from running reports through VPNs, to watching videos, to downloading large files. What should we need to know (or be concerned) about? How does it compare to a top-of-the-line high-speed broadband service?

Montreal move in two weeks and so disconnected

nosila — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:42:54 -0800

I'm moving to Montreal (!) from the U.S. and need help with the tech-side of my move. Specifically, I'm seeking internet/cell phone provider recommendations. I'm having a hard time choosing an internet and a cell provider in Montreal. Can anyone with experience recommend either or both? I'll be there for at least three years and am willing to sign a contract for cell/internet if the terms are good. I would like to spend no more than about $75/month for either one, and cheaper is, of course, always better.

Internet: I do a lot of uploading/downloading because I collaborate with people on audio projects via the internet, so I use sort of a lot of bandwidth. I'd say 50 GB/month is the minimum. For the same reason, I require a pretty fast connection to maintain my sanity. I don't plan on having a land line, so cable is probably my best option, though I'm open to others.

Right now I'm thinking either Skynet, which looks pretty great, or Vidéotron, whose website is currently down for maintenance. (This does not bode well for them.)

Cell service: Is anyone in Quebec happy with theirs? I will probably be using Skype to call the U.S. and make calls at home, but I definitely need a cell plan as well. I don't need tons of minutes; 250-500 or so should suffice. I'm thinking of getting a Blackberry or, more likely, an iPhone, so info on good data plans would be nice also.

So far, Fido looks like the best option for me. Does anyone have experience with them? Other recommendations? I've read forum threads, etc., but I trust you guys the most.

Any other helpful info on moving to Montreal, logistical or otherwise, would be a lovely bonus. Thanks so much!

BT Broadband Hell

nam3d — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:54:05 -0800

I'm currently with BT "Total" Broadband, who are by far the shitest ISP in Britian. We currently pay £24.46 their option 3 "unlimited" package. And it's crap, please help me pick an alternative ISP. While we do get "ulimited*" bandwidth they cap the speed so much that whilst trying to watch a 5 minute YouTube clip (not even in "HD") it stopped and started over ten times.

So what options do I have? Which ISP has the same sort of plan (between 25-50GB p/m) but doesn't make you pull your hair out because it's so bloody slow.

I would class my self as "moderate to heavy" internet user.

Any suggestions as to which alternative ISP I should use would be great.

Thanks,

William

---
For anyone interested here's what BT are currently giving me:

Down: 0.93Mb/s
Upload: 0.37Mb/s
Ping: 66ms

What are my options for mobile Internet in Europe?

nitsuj — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:27:33 -0800

What are my options for mobile Internet in Europe? I'll be spending roughly three months in Europe very soon, and I'm hoping there's a single solution for mobile Internet that works in several different countries.

Here in the States, I have a Sprint Mobile Broadband card for my Macbook Pro that works pretty much anywhere I can get a cell signal. Is there something similar that will work in Europe?

I'll most likely be in the following countries: Ireland, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and a few other (mostly) Western countries in Europe.

Ideally this will give me 3G-like speeds or better in Metro areas, under $100USD per month, and offer unlimited bandwidth with no contract (or one that isn't impossible for visitors to use).

So, is there a single solution for me? Or should I expect to have to find a new device and plan for each country I'm in?

How to get internet service for an office in a location without wired broadband capability?

Outis — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:41:53 -0800

What is the best way to get broadband internet to a warehouse with offices that isn't capable of it via landlines? My dad bought a building for his company to relocate to (in Northern Virginia) and while it's a great building in a great location, internet is difficult to obtain there. Verizon is the phone company and the only form of internet they provide is a T1 line, no DSL or Fios. The T1 line is a fortune (not to mention overkill) and my dad's not looking at spending 4 times more than he is with Cox at his current location. Been speaking with Cox and they want into the new building's area badly, since they'd pull in all of Verizon's T1 customers, but the permits are constantly being upheld since it's an I-5 zoning with dangerous things.

Is it possible/feasible to get a Sprint Broadband card and connect it to an office router for use of 6 computers? The only internet used is e-mail, the Nextel website to send texts out to the technicians, and the GPS website to determine location of vehicles. The office network is self-sufficient so the important stuff is on the server in the building. However, it does back itself up via the internet nightly but that can be done in house.

My dad's desperate to move in the next two weeks. Verizon went back and forth saying they had DSL and didn't and Cox was hoping to but not able to provide at the moment. Frankly, he can't stand Verizon and the run around they give on the phone and they're telling him he has to get a T1 line and it'll be a month before they install it.

Satellite has been brought up, but the guy that deals with his IT isn't a fan of reliability.

Or, does someone have a better suggestion?

Websites for a 78 year old

low_horrible_immoral — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:52:15 -0800

Help an old geezer make the most of broadband. My 78-year old dad just got broadband and to celebrate I want to send him a list of interesting websites that he couldn't access on dial-up (especially ones with lots of vids and pics).

His rather eclectic tastes include Marlene Dietrich, card games (patience mostly), Elmore Leonard, Judy Garland, old films (especially musicals and westerns), John Updike, Jean Cocteau, Mary Renault, Doris Day, country and western, Sinatra and Rudyard Kipling.

Can anyone recommend some sites that he might like, covering the subjects above - or any sites for old geezers in general?

WiMax: yea or nay?

cyrusdogstar — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:04:30 -0800

Looking into potentially getting WiMax, specifically from a company called TowerStream, at my place of work. Has anyone here used a commercial WiMax provider (TowerStream or otherwise)? Our primary goal is getting better upstream (we currently have 768Kb); all asymetric solutions cap out around 2Mb, and symmetric solutions are typically very expensive. We can get a WiMax symmetric connection of 8Mb for almost half the $/Mb of an equivalent bonded T1 or partial T3, which is why it's pretty darn appealing.

Trying to find anecdotes and/or potential pitfalls with migrating to WiMax providers, as I don't see any obvious drawbacks just by thinking about it (weather: apparently not a problem; connectivity: multiple potential antennas are available in our area so we get decent redundancy; otherwise comparable to T1/T3 in terms of SLAs, etc).

How much postage on a webpage?

Solomon — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 11:28:14 -0800

Do you use Post Office broadband as your UK ISP? And if you do, what are they like? I've been reading lots of reviews online, but I can't seem to find out what the surfing experience is like. All of the reviews I've read so far seem to have come from people inexperienced with PC/DSL problems. I can find lots of people slating the customer service helpline, and that side of things, but nobody is talking about the surfing speeds, the ping times, and such. What are they like?

FWIW, I already have broadband (have had for several years), a router, etc. I'm reasonably sure I can deal with most problems like SMTP passwords myself. I hopefully shan't have much need of customer services at all. I just want to know what the day-to-day surfing experience, and the change from one ISP to another, etc, is like.

Erratic network behavior

Gyan — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:39:51 -0800

My net connection has dropped like clockwork around midnight over the past few days. What's up? For the past 4 or 5 days, around midnight, give or take 10 minutes, I lose my net connection and don't get it back till morning. It doesn't happen during the day.

At first, I thought it was my router Netgear WGR614 v7 since it has been flaky before. But I bridged my LAN/WAN cables together (my ISP has a switch in the building and I get a CAT-5 direct from there) and the issue persists.

So, I try to ping the gateway but can't, and Wireshark shows other customers trying to get the gateway's MAC via ARP. BTW, I am assigned a static private IP i.e. behind a NAT, due to "scarce IPs".

So, today morning, with my connection on, I note down my gateway's MAC. An hour ago, my connection dropped momentarily. When I checked my gateway MAC, it was different than in the morning. When I flushed ARP and checked again soon after, it was different again and was a 3rd set of numbers, this time I could resolve names but not connect anywhere; this one also happened to be listed twice i.e. for another IP as well. I noted all numbers, and tried each as a static entry. The first one (morning) worked but was erratic (dropouts), the middle one seems to work normally (so far), and the final one doesn't.

What seems to be going on? Local or remote?

My OS is XP SP2. This is in India.

How to get temporary broadband as a foreigner in Germany?

gmm — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:27:14 -0800

Berlin / Germany internet installation: I might stay a few months in an apartment in Berlin, where there currently is no internet connection installed. What (if any) are my options? I need broadband in my daily work, running to cafes might cut it for a few days but not for longer periods of time. I'm not German, but Norwegian.

Could I as a foreigner order a broadband (or other highspeed) connection, personally, for only a short period of time?

(My broadband experiences from France and Norway is several months from order to a functional installation, and the subscriptions run for 12 months minimum.)

I'm happy to hear any suggestions or experiences, thanks in advance.

Why can't I open webpages?

k8t — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:49:00 -0800

ADSL working but HTTP not working. I just got an ADSL connection (in Armenia, provider is Beeline, only documentation is here and is in Armenian. 256k though. Woo!)

I can use all sorts of applications pretty well (iTunes downloading podcasts, Flickr uploader, Outlook for mail, gChat, etc.), but I can't do anything HTTP. I open Firefox and can sometimes get a mobile page to load and I can search Google or Yahoo and see the results, but I can't open "normal" webpages at all. I tried IE and Opera but the same problem occurs.

I tried getting into the configuration page for the DSL modem, but doesn't look like it'll work well.

Also, suggesting updating firmware for DSL modem or something isn't possible. I am on really bad dialup otherwise.

Why would this be? (And yes, I've called tech support. They are less than impressive. They only introduced this service this month and aren't exactly supporting it.)

I am running Vista. I have tried to turn off all firewall-related stuff that I can possibly think of.

Any other ideas?

Best mobile internet service for telecommuting in U.S. and Canada?

beccyjoe — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:11:30 -0800

I'm telecommuting from the U.S. and Canada and am wondering what my options are for mobile broadband/internet. I've done some research... and so far have found:
* Sprint: cheap and unlimited plans but want me to commit to two years and don't provide service while in Canada
* Telus (Canadian company): per GB plans, provide option to allow you to use within U.S. without paying high roaming fees but still more expensive than U.S. companies
* Rogers (Canadian company): provides portable internet service. Cheap but I'm pretty sure you can't use it in U.S.

Any experiences or ideas would be great! thanks!

Download speeds on AT&T high speed internet?

psmealey — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:43:16 -0800

Just switched to AT&T "Elite" Internet service from Comcast cable modem in a cost saving measure. AT&T promises download speeds of 3-6M Bps for this service (as opposed to 2-3 for their Pro service, which is a few bucks cheaper), but I'm only seeing a whisker above 3. Is this normal? Anything I can do? The nice folks at AT&T say that this is within the level they promised, so is there anything else they can do for me today? Is 3.5Mbps typical for this, or should I just downgrade and live with Pro? Not the biggest deal anyway, but seems like if you advertise for 6 MBps, the actual speed should be closer to that, and not the lower end. Or, does this vary by time of day, like cable does?

Wireless router woes

juva — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 01:32:34 -0800

Is there any way to connect a USB ADSL modem to a wireless-G broadband router? My roommate and I want to share an internet connection so I went out and bought a Linksys wireless-g broadband router in haste. It turns out we have an ADSL internet connection and our broadband internet comes in through a speedtouch 330 ADSL modem which is connected to her computer via USB. The modem doesn't have any other connectivity options, just USB.

The router doesn't have a USB port, only ethernet cable so I can't connect the modem to the wireless router.

I later saw another wireless router which is an ADSL modem at the same time but it's much more expensive and I already bought this one.

What are my options? Is there an adapter that will let me connect the USB modem to the router's ethernet port? Do I need a new ADSL modem (not a USB one)? Am I condemned to getting the expensive wireless router/ADSL modem in one?

The cheaper the solution, the better.
Thanks guys!

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.

Cheap Broadband in Albany, NY?

cahlers — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:47:35 -0800

Can someone suggest cheap ($15/mo) broadband in zip 12208? Verizon DSL 768kbps is unavailable there. I'm looking for DSL at 768kbps download speed in Albany, NY, comparable to what's offered by Verizon Online for $14.99 in other markets. Apparently this package is not offered in the zip code where my parents live (12208). They have never had broadband before, and now are looking to obtain it, after using dial-up for many years. However, they have a limited budget and could not pay more than around $15/mo. They do not need download speeds of higher than 768bps; however, I don't think paying $10/mo for 50 hours of Verizon dialup is worth it.

My parents do not need DSL per se, only broadband. However, they do not have cable TV, so bundling w/ cable is not an option. If a company offered cable broadband at around $15/mo, that would work for them too.

I have searched DSL Reports and Google without success.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Should I replace my Comcast internet service (cable) with wireless broadband?

bchaplin — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 05:55:08 -0800

Should I replace my Comcast internet service (cable) with wireless broadband? I'm considering replacing my Comcast cable internet service with broadband wireless (either the one offered by Cingular or Verizon). It might be slightly cheaper, since both services offer a 15% discount through my work. And I'd have the advantage of an internet connection via the laptop when I travel within the US.

Can broadband wireless reliably substitute for my cable internet? I do some downloading (a few songs and TV shows via iTunes), but most of my internet surfing is for email, shopping and research. I am on the computer a lot. I would be giving up the TV part of my cable service if I make this switch, but that's not a bad thing, as I already do most of my TV watching via Netflix and iTunes. FWIW, I have both a Mac laptop and intel iMac.

I do have decent Verizon and Cingular signals in my home.

Testing the health of a broadband connection

hodyoaten — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:36:40 -0800

Is there a software program of some kind that will automatically monitor and analyze the health (i.e. transfer rate and up/down status) of a broadband Internet connection? Ideally like to see statistics graphed over the course of a week or so, tested every 1 to 15 minutes, so I can see what kind of quality I'm getting. I'm not sure if any software like this exists.

Is my T1 slow?

plexi — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:17:22 -0800

I get 3800kbps down on my cable connection at home, but I'm only getting 1300kbps down on my office full T1. How is this possible? Should my office get a better pipe?

Are Comcast broadband resellers legit?

ldenneau — Mon, 21 May 2007 14:42:01 -0800

I'm trying to get my parents set up with high-speed cable Internet on top of their cable TV service. They're in the Tucson, AZ burbs and their cable provider is Comcast. Google searches return "broadband resellers" who offer special deals (e.g. free cable modem+free router+$19.95/mo for six months) that don't appear on Comcast's official site. Are these resellers legit? Has anybody used them? Anything I should be wary of? [Comcast offers a combined cable/phone/internet package, but that's not available to my parents since digital phone is not yet supported where they live.]

Got broadband - now what?

obiwanwasabi — Mon, 21 May 2007 02:59:39 -0800

After an eternity with dial-up net access, I've finally made the move to (24Mbit / 20gb month) ADSL broadband. What should I do with it? I video chat with my mum in Florida, which is cool, and I'll get around to hooking up the VOIP thingy. I installed Google Earth, and was briefly amused by zooming in and out of various international locations, but I don't really get what the fuss is about. I watched a couple of trailers at Apple. I had a look at YouTube, but it seems to be cats all the way down. I don't have Usenet access, and I'm scared I'll get sued if I download telly with torrents.

It's just a bit...well, underwhelming. Has anything changed since the last time this question was asked back in 2005? What am I missing? Intel Mac and an old Win2K laptop, if it matters.

Mobile Broadband Questions

worker_bee — Tue, 15 May 2007 07:00:31 -0800

I will be traveling for work later this year, but to keep down costs I will be staying with relatives that do not have internet access. Is there anywhere that rents broadband cards for a PC and access to a network for just a few weeks? Alternatively... If I get a Sprint Broadband card and their $39.99 Flexible Data Plan, in reality how much can I do on the Internet with their allocation of 40MB of usage, and what time period does the 40MB of usage cover? A day? A week? The Sprint website doesn't go into much detail. Thanks for any help on this as I have never used a mobile broadband connection before.

Gauging Bandwidth Use

Gyan — Sat, 12 May 2007 03:50:07 -0800

I'm considering downgrading my cable broadband from 512kbps-800MB/month to 256kbps-uncapped. I'd like to estimate the real-world hit in terms of casual web browsing and more intensive applications. So, I downloaded FreeMeter, a bandwidth monitor. The baseline downstream (in absence of any web clients, even hidden ones like AV updaters) registers at 120-130kbps!! How come? When requesting a page, say metafilter.com, via Firefox, the downstream shows a few large spikes of 600-800kbps, a few small spikes of 300-400kbps and then settles down to baseline. Mostly as expected. But this does make me wonder on how exactly does an ISP throttle bandwidth. A few weeks earlier, I had downloaded a large torrent from mostly European peers, and to my surprise, the average speed amounted to ~192KB/s i.e. 1536kbps. So, if I switch to 256kbps, what's likely to be the real-world difference and how is it enforced? Three different scenarios would be regular browsing i.e. email, metafilter..etc, multimedia browsing i.e. Youtube, radio..etc and finally, large data downloads.

Note that this is in Mumbai, India, and as per government regulations (TRAI), the ISP "must" guarantee 80% of the advertised speed.

Internet connectivity options in Seattle?

tristeza — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 13:50:38 -0800

I live in Seattle, and I want an internet connection in my home. I don't have a landline, or cable TV. Is Clearwire my only choice? Does anyone know of any other companies that provide the same sort of service as Clearwire? I need a service that does not require me to have a phone or cable TV, and I'm a bit of an idiot about stuff like this.

I've been reading not-so-great reviews of Clearwire, but am stuck for other options, and it's getting to the point where if I don't get Web access at home, I'm going to have to go move into a Tully's.

I'm in the Cap Hill/CD area if it matters. Thanks, gang.

What are my choices for Broadband Internet service in Toronto?

chunking express — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 08:30:31 -0800

What are my choices for Broadband Internet service in Toronto? I just dumped Rogers Extreme; they started throttling bit torrent traffic again, which I find a bit annoying. Is my only other option now to go with Bell? If so, are there any Bell plans that are particularly good?