Internet/Cable Service Providers

Omeks

Alright, so I'm basically in home-buyer 101 mode right now. I'm closing on a house and moving in about two weeks. I've never had to pay for my own cable/internet and whatnot, so this is a first and I'm trying to figure out the best option for me at this point.

The safe choice here is probably Comcast, as I'm used to Charter and those two providers are fairly similar. However, I have been looking into DirectTV and satellite in general. Some of my friends have also been talking about AT&T's U-Verse, but haven't' had any experience with them and my dad also says to stay away from AT&T (I don't think he really has a reason to be honest). Anotehr popular suggestion people have sold to me has been getting DirectTV and bundling it (which apparently DTV can do) with AT&T U-Verse internet, or a third party internet in general. I've heard U_Verse's internet is great, but their TV kind of sucks, so this gets me the benefit of DTV and U-Verse's internet all at once.

Of course, I could also use help on how to deal with the salespeople and their attempts to sell you on packages. For example, I went to Best Buy today to look at TVs and was talked at for what must have been half an hour by a DTV rep. Since I'm interested in DTV, it wasn't a total waste, but I know that these people will also try to tell me anything to sell me into a contract and then I'll be hurting later when it turns out they "forgot" to say something or told me something untrue.

Any other suggestions or advice would be great.

Tox

Uverse Internet is solid. I can't speak to their TV service, as I don't have it, but friends of mine do and they recommended it.

I will say that with AT&T you should be prepared to get the run-around pretty heavily with regards to billing and money and similar things. They can be pretty.....archaic...in their billing systems.

Honestly, I wouldn't sign a contract. That's a personal thing, though. I don't like locking myself into a service for any length of time, because I prefer the freedom to change my mind whenever, without a fee.

Beazle

When I had U-verse in Dallas it was pretty solid, had both TV and internet. I've had and dropped Time Warner cable because their DVR sucked and they could not give me the channels I wanted when we moved. Currently use them for internet and it is OK. We don't haver a lot of heavy users on our node so speeds are not to bad. Currently have DirecTV with two DVRs and a HD box and like it a lot. Channel transition is a little slow but they have all the channels I want. I would have gone back to U-verse but it is not offered in my current area.

MushroomStick

I have U-verse in the house here and it is the best internet/cable I've ever had. Directv will have an installer to your house within a half hour on Christmas morning, but after that the customer service takes a sharp decline and their 2 year contract sucks hard. Comcast is good enough for internet, but I would only use them for tv if my only other option was Directv. Stay away from AT&T high speed dsl (its not affiliated with U-verse.)
I don't know where you are, but if Wide Open West happens to be available in your area, they were almost as good as U-verse is now when I had them. If you can get U-verse, you're probably not in a Fios area, but if you are, they are supposed to be pretty good.

Tox

MushroomStick wrote:

If you can get U-verse, you're probably not in a Fios area, but if you are, they are supposed to be pretty good.

err....U-Verse is FiOS

Omeks

For reference, I live in Eastern Tennessee, and my house will be in Knoxville. U-Verse is available in the area I'm moving to, I'm pretty sure.

I'm wondering, though, how U-Verse can be so great when AT&T high speed DSL is so terrible. I think this might be why my dad was disgusted when I brought up the possibility of getting AT&T, I think he's mostly got a bad image of them in his mind because of other divisions of the company doing things badly. I'll admit, too, when I hear AT&T, I think of how awful their cellular division is (though that's unrelated here, I know).

You guys think it's smart to just go with U-Verse with both TV and internet? I have a friend who is doing DTV and U-Verse, but the only reason I think he's doing that is because he wanted to dump Comcast and he's waiting for U-Verse to become available in his area, thus he had to get DTV in the time being. I'm guessing he would have gone with both TV and internet though them if it had already been available.

Tox

DSL uses standard phone service, U-Verse uses Fiber Optic cables that were laid in the 90s during the dot-com bubble. FiOS is much higher speed, and higher quality.

For history, when the bubble burst, most of that infrastructure got lost in the buy-up that followed during the recession. Nobody really noticed FiOS existed, instead the telecomms were more focused on cellular/mobile phone services, which had become pretty popular (and cable had the high-speed internet anyway, so they didn't see a point in competing there when they could cash in wholesale on mobile phone services).

Now that cable companies have started offering digital phone service, the telecomms have decided to jump into high-speed internet more seriously. It helps that companies have merged and changed their approach to offering services.

And AT&T's billing department can be pretty atrocious, so that sours a lot of people as well as their cell phone service reputation.

I will say this for combining services with U-Verse, you get a discount (so you can get more for your money, or just save on what you were going to get anyway).

Beazle

Tox wrote:

MushroomStick wrote:

If you can get U-verse, you're probably not in a Fios area, but if you are, they are supposed to be pretty good.

err....U-Verse is FiOS

Sorta.... U-verse is fiber to the node and copper to the house (FTTN) in most older areas. In newer areas it is sometimes fiber to the house (FTTP). FiOS is Verison's version of (FTTP).

MushroomStick

Tox wrote:

MushroomStick wrote:

If you can get U-verse, you're probably not in a Fios area, but if you are, they are supposed to be pretty good.

err....U-Verse is FiOS

When I type fios, I am referring to Verizon FiOS.

zepherin

Verizon FIOS is simply the best commercially available widely deployed internet available. Comcast is pretty good too. However FIOS tech support is worlds better than Comcasts. Comcast is more lenient on billing though. With FIOS I do about 5 meg per second downstream maxed out on off peak hours whereas with Comcast it's about 3. If U-Verse is on par with Verizon FIOS then I would get that.

Djeet

My experience with U-verse from a service delivery perspective was really good. Their Internet never went down (this was not the case with Time Warner Cable), and their dvr boxes were slick (interface, responsiveness, and general capability, though I did have to open it up and disconnect a fan to get rid of an annoying whine).

DSL experience can be totally different from non-DSL experience. Your experience is mediated by distance from the local CO and the exact DSL tech that is used for transport (some are notorious for oversubscribing customers to a DSLAM).

The satellite boxes I've played with have always been a bit sluggish, though their HD channels seemed to have an edge over cable on PQ. Can't really make the comparison with U-verse as I had a 720P TV when I had U-verse, though PQ seemed good enough.

As for package pricing, I've found the guys at the stores to offer the worst pricing. Do your research online and find the best online deals for whichever provider. Then call in and see if you can get them to offer you something better by playing them off one another on their online deals. The best deals I've gotten are as a new customer switching from another provider. Used to be you could get really good deals from threatening to cancel, but that seems less the case now; I think at this point every who wants TV has got it and the providers are fighting over customers by luring them away from one another with a good deal and hoping you won't notice or will consider it too much a hassle to switch when the bill goes up by $60 when the deal ends. So to get the absolute best deals you basically need to switch everytime your contract (or lock-in) expires.

Shogun

Omeks wrote:

For reference, I live in Eastern Tennessee, and my house will be in Knoxville. U-Verse is available in the area I'm moving to, I'm pretty sure.

I'm wondering, though, how U-Verse can be so great when AT&T high speed DSL is so terrible. I think this might be why my dad was disgusted when I brought up the possibility of getting AT&T, I think he's mostly got a bad image of them in his mind because of other divisions of the company doing things badly. I'll admit, too, when I hear AT&T, I think of how awful their cellular division is (though that's unrelated here, I know).

You guys think it's smart to just go with U-Verse with both TV and internet? I have a friend who is doing DTV and U-Verse, but the only reason I think he's doing that is because he wanted to dump Comcast and he's waiting for U-Verse to become available in his area, thus he had to get DTV in the time being. I'm guessing he would have gone with both TV and internet though them if it had already been available.

Surprise! You live where I do!

Ok so I had ATT DSL before I switched to U-Verse. The basic DSL service was fine until about 3 months ago. They began pushing U-Verse hard in this area and the DSL service fell off the table. Daily disconnects, rebooting my modem multiple times a day, etc. I spoke to many ATT tech nerds that gave me varying answers. One guy even claimed that ATT was directly interfering with DSL service users in order to get them to switch to U-Verse. I have no proof of that and I'm not sure I believe it. All I know is the DSL was essentially unusable. They were also charging me for the 6mb package while I was getting the 3mb package. But I digress.

I cut off the home phone and ported my home number to a magic jack plus. You can get U-Verse internet only by doing the 'build your own bundle' on ATTs website. I'm paying the same now for 12mb fiber that I was paying for their 3mb DSL. You do have buy their gateway. $100 upfront. I've had U-Verse for two months now and I must say I'm enjoying it. I get consistent download speeds of at least 1MB/s. Your other options in this area for broadband are Comcast (they do throttle around here), Charter (I've heard good and bad), and Knology. Don't know much about Knology but I've heard their broadband is pretty good. Its only available in certain parts of Knoxville. I'm unsure if that means the metro area or the county surrounding as well.

Good luck, and nice to meet another local PAer!

edit: this is an addendum to what some others below me posted about U-Verse. When I was picking out my speeds and shit I really wanted the 18 or 24mb service but then there is a $150 professional installtion. With the 12mb its a self installation that costs nothing additional and then you can bump your speed up. On that note despite being a self-installation ATT still came and ran a fiber wire to my residence. He was here for about 2 hours.

Tox

Also FWIW, I randomly test my connection (Internet Speed Test), and at least 10% of the time, I can get download speeds that actually exceed the advertised top speed of my connection with U-Verse.

MushroomStick

Tox wrote:

Also FWIW, I randomly test my connection (Internet Speed Test), and at least 10% of the time, I can get download speeds that actually exceed the advertised top speed of my connection with U-Verse.

I would also like to point out that with U-verse, these speeds are sustained and aren't just a "power boost" of bandwidth for the first 30 seconds or so of a download like with comcast.

a5ehren

MushroomStick wrote:

Tox wrote:

Also FWIW, I randomly test my connection (Internet Speed Test), and at least 10% of the time, I can get download speeds that actually exceed the advertised top speed of my connection with U-Verse.

I would also like to point out that with U-verse, these speeds are sustained and aren't just a "power boost" of bandwidth for the first 30 seconds or so of a download like with comcast.

Eh...the difference between 12 and 15 (or 20 and 25 if you're on the 2nd tier plans) isn't that much in practical use. U-Verse has less variance than a cable network though, since they tend to put more bandwidth to each node, but on the downside their bandwidth drops off much quicker over range than cable's. To get speeds better than normal ADSL2, you have to be within (IIRC) 900 meters of the node.

I can't wait until everything is FTTP and then we don't have to worry about it anymore :P

MushroomStick

a5ehren wrote:

MushroomStick wrote:

Tox wrote:

Also FWIW, I randomly test my connection (Internet Speed Test), and at least 10% of the time, I can get download speeds that actually exceed the advertised top speed of my connection with U-Verse.

I would also like to point out that with U-verse, these speeds are sustained and aren't just a "power boost" of bandwidth for the first 30 seconds or so of a download like with comcast.

Eh...the difference between 12 and 15 (or 20 and 25 if you're on the 2nd tier plans) isn't that much in practical use. U-Verse has less variance than a cable network though, since they tend to put more bandwidth to each node, but on the downside their bandwidth drops off much quicker over range than cable's. To get speeds better than normal ADSL2, you have to be within (IIRC) 900 meters of the node.

I can't wait until everything is FTTP and then we don't have to worry about it anymore :P

Back when comcast first started doing the whole "power boost" thing, a few people at work thought their 6Mbit connections were downloading things at almost 30Mbit because (I'm guessing) they would get the burst of bandwidth long enough to get the high numbers in a speed test, even if they couldn't really keep that pace up for a large download. In my area, an 18Mbit connection is like $50 a month through U-verse and with comcast you only get 6Mbit for that money.

Omeks

Shogun wrote:

Omeks wrote:

For reference, I live in Eastern Tennessee, and my house will be in Knoxville. U-Verse is available in the area I'm moving to, I'm pretty sure.

I'm wondering, though, how U-Verse can be so great when AT&T high speed DSL is so terrible. I think this might be why my dad was disgusted when I brought up the possibility of getting AT&T, I think he's mostly got a bad image of them in his mind because of other divisions of the company doing things badly. I'll admit, too, when I hear AT&T, I think of how awful their cellular division is (though that's unrelated here, I know).

You guys think it's smart to just go with U-Verse with both TV and internet? I have a friend who is doing DTV and U-Verse, but the only reason I think he's doing that is because he wanted to dump Comcast and he's waiting for U-Verse to become available in his area, thus he had to get DTV in the time being. I'm guessing he would have gone with both TV and internet though them if it had already been available.

Surprise! You live where I do!

Ok so I had ATT DSL before I switched to U-Verse. The basic DSL service was fine until about 3 months ago. They began pushing U-Verse hard in this area and the DSL service fell off the table. Daily disconnects, rebooting my modem multiple times a day, etc. I spoke to many ATT tech nerds that gave me varying answers. One guy even claimed that ATT was directly interfering with DSL service users in order to get them to switch to U-Verse. I have no proof of that and I'm not sure I believe it. All I know is the DSL was essentially unusable. They were also charging me for the 6mb package while I was getting the 3mb package. But I digress.

I cut off the home phone and ported my home number to a magic jack plus. You can get U-Verse internet only by doing the 'build your own bundle' on ATTs website. I'm paying the same now for 12mb fiber that I was paying for their 3mb DSL. You do have buy their gateway. $100 upfront. I've had U-Verse for two months now and I must say I'm enjoying it. I get consistent download speeds of at least 1MB/s. Your other options in this area for broadband are Comcast (they do throttle around here), Charter (I've heard good and bad), and Knology. Don't know much about Knology but I've heard their broadband is pretty good. Its only available in certain parts of Knoxville. I'm unsure if that means the metro area or the county surrounding as well.

Good luck, and nice to meet another local PAer!

edit: this is an addendum to what some others below me posted about U-Verse. When I was picking out my speeds and shit I really wanted the 18 or 24mb service but then there is a $150 professional installtion. With the 12mb its a self installation that costs nothing additional and then you can bump your speed up. On that note despite being a self-installation ATT still came and ran a fiber wire to my residence. He was here for about 2 hours.

Hi-Five!

Yeah, I think I'll go with U-Verse. I've literally heard nothing bad about it so far, and the only thing I've found negative about it is by searching for "U-Verse reviews" on Google, which of course is going to net the few bad people that have had a bad time with it.

I've had Charter for years until now (I live in Maryville for the time being at least), and they've been decent enough. But I think they and Comcast are pretty similar, and U-Verse of DirectTV sound like nice changes of pace.

Shogun

Hah that's hilarious my current residence is actually in maryville. My mates on sutherland ave got the u-verse tv with internet and I thought that shit was terrible. I don't have any sort of television outside of the digital over the air stuff so I'm biased I guess. While U-Verse has been pretty good, ATT has been notoriously bad for many other things including billing. Watch your bills closely and I wouldn't even bother signing up for paperless billing. I did and I still get multiple things in the mail from them every week trying to get me to sign up for tv and home phone service. They vary in size from huge booklets to standard small envelopes. Saving trees they are not.