Reader Asks… – IOTW Report

Reader Asks…

Ramona asks,

Does anyone have reliable internet service that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg?

Been on the phone with AT&T and Hughes Net – rape fest.

~~~~~~~

Reliable AND low cost????  Hmmmm.

What do you guys recommend?

 

33 Comments on Reader Asks…

  1. I have Charter Spectrum here in St Louis, $40 a month. It replaced my AT&T which was half again more expensive and the bandwidth is big enough to stream movies on multiple devices. That being said I canceled my Dish at the same time & just watch Amazon prime. Net savings per month is $100.

  2. I have mediacom. We don’t have all the channels but have a good amount. Most importantly it runs 200mbps cable modem and they even throw in phone service, which we don’t use.

    $88.47/month

  3. I have ViaSat (formerly Excede) and they are not too bad. More speed and bandwidth than Hughes Net for a little less.

    However, in cannot recommend any satellite-based internet provider if you have an alternative. Currently, all satellite providers use satellites in geosynchronous order, like satellite TV. Folks the speed of light is not infinite and those satellites are 22,800 miles up. That means every time you click a link, mouse over something on a web page or, heaven forbid, you want to log into your computer at work and work remotely, there is a built-in propagation delay of slightly less than a half second. This makes doing certain internet-based things quite maddening. For example, just typing into this comment field, each letter takes slightly more than about 1/2 second to appear. That is because when I type, each letter goes up 22,800 miles, then back down 22,800 miles then the web site echos it back and echo-back goes 22,800 miles up then down and finally to my computer, about 91,800 miles and the speed of light is only 186,282 miles per second.

    I live in a very rural area and satellite internet is my only option.

  4. Spectrum? Damn near killed ‘em!
    If you live in an area that has competition rates can be quite low – about $30/service (video, internet and phone)
    Without competition they can charge Almost whatever they want. The key is competition.

  5. ” each letter goes up 22,800 miles, then back down 22,800 miles then the web site echos it ba..”

    The comments section here is a form on an already downloaded webpage. You can type in the comments box with no internet connection. The website doesn’t see any of the characters you type until you press “Post comment.”

    If indeed your characters are flying to the sat one by one creating madding delays, I would have your computer inspected for a virus.

  6. I’m not sure where you are but there’s a group called ACN Direct (acndirect.comacndirect.com) that represents cell and internet companies at a discounted rate. They can only offer the cable internet providers that operate in your area.

    Otherwise, an unlimited data cell plan may be the way to go. You can always tether your computer to your cell.

    As far as cable TV goes, I cut the cord more than a year ago. It happened that AT&T was offering all the channels over the internet with DirectTVNow for $39 per month which is what I use now.

  7. We hotspot or tether our verizon junk here with very acceptable results for our very rural area. Satellite is our only other option except we use around 100g a month per device (lots of tv streaming and online gaming) so the vz unlimited really is our only option.

    From a cost saving angle, even if they dropped a T-1 line down the 3 dirt roads to get here we would not change how we do things. Gotta pay for the phones any which way we go.

  8. I have a 39/month internet service here in my winter home in AZ. It is an over the air type. I could pick from 2 in this little town. I found i dont miss cable tv at all. You can get fox biz or fox news on youtube (or dam near any thing you want). I get all the movies i want to watch on netflix or amazon. Amazing how much i dont GAS about cable tv.

  9. I have CenturyLink.
    Phone and Interwebz – sometimes I can download, say, in about 30 minutes, a 2-minute video.
    And it’s only ~$120/month!
    Give it a shot – tell em Tim sent ya!

    izlamo delenda est …

    Oh, when I *clicked* POST COMMENT I got:
    Service Unavailable
    The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

  10. Thanks, all! I could care less about TV, but Hubby is retiring and won’t give up his Dish. Hughes is what Dish offers and it’s more expensive than AT&T. We’re considered a ‘rural area’ and options are limited. Thanks Big Fur. Really appreciate the input from the great folks here.

  11. @willysgoatgruff – Nex-Tech is great. I get i-net, digital cable TV, and a land line for telephone all coming into the house on one fiber optic line. $100/month or so. And customer service is local and awesome.

    I am more than satisfied with dl/ul speeds.

    Helluva a good deal

  12. @Claudia Here in Northeastern Illinois AT&T is $52/mo. Just got off the phone with ‘Raj’ and he told me to check out AT&T’s ‘access program’. Yeah. If I was on food stamps, I could get the same service for $10/mo. Blood boiling.

  13. @Cinic – HAhahaha!
    I keep telling my neighbors to secure their wifi. Dumbasses can’t figure out how to do it. There is at least one car parked in front of their house on a perpetual basis. I drive by and see people behind the wheel with laptops…

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