Alternatives for High-Speed Internet in Jefferson County

[LazerFlash]

I'm reaching the end of my rope with Comcast and have decided that the time may have come to ditch the cable all together. It seems like there's little difference between DirecTV and DISH Network, so I'll probably just pick whichever one is running the best deal on the date we drop Comcast.

The fly in the ointment is broadband access to the Internet...

My last home non-cable Internet hookup was a dial-up connection and we're obviously not interested in that. I know that Frontier has a DSL bundling agreement with DISH, so that might be a deciding factor, but I'd so like to not get back into bed with Frontier. I've heard about high-speed satellite Internet, as well as wireless (mobile) broadband through carriers like Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. So, what does everyone else on S&B use? To you real tech gurus, if you had your choice, how would you go?

{Apologies for what seems to me like a repeat query; I know I put something out here previously, but as near as I can tell, that was about a year ago and I can't find it to resurrect it.}

[LFE]

The DSL I have with Frontier is way slower then the Time Warner cable access i had in NY.
It is fast enough for most down/uploads so long as I am not talking on my cell phone (got one of those cell modems hooked up as well).

Although even slower, you might want to consider a data plan over cell and tether or get one of the cards (a card is just a cell signal so trying one first makes sense to make sure it will work for you).

[Tony]

Good Luck. Until there's some kind of wireless broadband (Wimax or LTE, whatever), the practical choices are limited to about ONE in Jeffco. Comcast. I'd mention Frontier's DSL, but they haven't made a single step to improve it in like 10 years now.

[lar]

I formerly complimented Frontier dsl, but I think I have decided it is slow. By the time my laptop boots up, does virus scan etc. I'm out of battery, and the waiting time is ridiculus. Now my computer might be gunked up too, I'm not a guru so I don't know. I also "heard" Dish has less channels than DirectTv.

I am getting ready to run out of my promotional period with DirectTv, does anyone have any suggestions or has anyone had any success getting further discounts for the second year?

[Chutney Daftcraft]

I am very satisfied with my Frontier DSL.

DirecTV... Call them to cancel. They will send you over to the retention department, and they will offer you a 'retention plan'. We did, and while I don't want to say what they offered us, I will say that it was certainly significant because not only did we stay, but I don't think we will ever shut it off for what we're getting it for...

[chipgallo]

From time to time I have used the Sprint AirCard in Blue Ridge Acres. We're on the fringe of the 3G coverage but I was able to use the internet when our DSL was out for several days. Somebody I know was raving about the speed of Sprint's 4G but I suspect his testing was flawed (you need to test with a large file that cannot be "turboboosted" by caching which is a way of storing commonly used files near the user on the network).

Somebody (Willis?) should organize a Test Your Wireless Internet Day where people with wireless technology drive around and map the good spots on the mountain for different carriers. I would help out with the Sprint one.

[lar]

Good advice Chutney, I'll do it in October.

[Kensey]

I formerly complimented Frontier dsl, but I think I have decided it is slow. By the time my laptop boots up, does virus scan etc. I'm out of battery, and the waiting time is ridiculus. Now my computer might be gunked up too, I'm not a guru so I don't know.

Yeah, the long boot sounds like you have a ton of crud in there -- that can affect browsing as well regardless of your Internet speed. At a minimum run something like Spybot and Ad-Aware to clean out the worst of it. If you have Symantec or McAfee antivirus, consider dumping it for something leaner like NOD32.

[Tony]

(...you need to test with a large file that cannot be "turboboosted" by caching which is a way of storing commonly used files near the user on the network). Somebody (Willis?) should organize a Test Your Wireless Internet Day where people with wireless technology drive around and map the good spots on the mountain for different carriers. I would help out with the Sprint one.

Testing with a large file might only make sense if you normally need to transfer large files. Otherwise, things like streaming and web surfing are designed to be sent in smaller increments.

What equipment is required to map coverage? I can't imagine the bars on a phone (held where?) would be responsive or accurate enough.

[chipgallo]

Testing with a large file might only make sense if you normally need to transfer large files. Otherwise, things like streaming and web surfing are designed to be sent in smaller increments.

I don't have much time to spend looking up a brief reference right now but this thread covers it. My interests include streaming video and large file uploads so ISP caching to boost speed is not what I need.

What equipment is required to map coverage? I can't imagine the bars on a phone (held where?) would be responsive or accurate enough.

The Sprint AirCard software shows the signal strength and G2/G3/G4 availability. It isn't test equipment or calibrated but could show blackout areas and ones with healthy signal. I don't have access to a G3/4 cell phone.

[LFE]

I have a sprint card (just got the new 4G/3G usb one in fact)...
Although I have no clue how much better 4G might be, I an tell you that uploading large files really sucks.
Regular email and surfing is fine... youtube type streaming is not so great.
One day I'll try on-demand netflex with it... maybe (just not that into movies and spend to much time in front of this thing as it is).

[bignerpie]

I just canceled our Sprint card and went back to Comcast. It was terribly slow. Like dial-up slow.

LFE, I wouldn't recommend it for Netflix. I tried, and the movie would have to pause every 5 minutes for several minutes to "retrieve." Also, unless you're in an area with 4G coverage (which we do not have here yet), the 5GB limit on the 3G will get eaten up in 3 or 4 movies.

[treespirit]

I called comcast to cancel our cable. They said that the internet alone would be $70 a month which is just crazy. We currently get a "bundle" deal for having cable and internet. I wanted to cancel the cable and just have internet, but that isn't an option through Comcast at that price. We wanted to sign up for the Netflix streaming.

Does anyone participate in the Netflix streaming? Does it work for you? We live at gate 2. What other alternatives are there for internet other than comcast and frontier? Is wireless available?

[Tony]

What other alternatives are there for internet other than comcast and frontier? Is wireless available?

Read back a bit. Basically, none. 3G is useless and way overpriced. Two way satellite is too expensive and laggy. Netflix streaming (or Hulu, or whatever) is something you get after you have fast broadband like Comcast, not in place of it. Of course at that point you might want to just use Comcast's own streaming service.

[treespirit]

that's what I figured. Our goal was to replace cable with netflix streaming. I def don't want to do both. I guess we will just stick with Comcast for now. Thanks for all the info.

[Chutney Daftcraft]

HughesNet is offering free installation on satellite broadband. I remember it used to be very expensive, but it seems more reasonable in price with the expansion of traditional broadband access coming to rural areas. The beauty of satellite broadband is that if you have a generator, you can get a signal, which is good for the folks who cancel their phone service to go with Vonage or another VoIP provider.

At this point, we remain happy with our Frontier DSL. However, I am beginning to notice that the AirRave seems just a tad choppy...

[LFE]

http://www.expertsatellite.com/inter...-internet.html

I also found this solutions for internet access for RV's to be somewhat interesting:
http://www.your-rv-lifestyle.com/RV-...et-access.html

[OzGirl]

Does anyone participate in the Netflix streaming? Does it work for you? We live at gate 2. What other alternatives are there for internet other than comcast and frontier? Is wireless available?

Yes and it works really, really well - love it. We have comcast and are between Gate 1 & 2

[Kensey]

We need the Digital Donkey.

[Fuddy]

I'm very happy with my Frontier DSL.