My options are Verizon FiOS and Comcast Xfinity. Considering Comcast is basically evil incarnate, it's an easy choice.
Switching from analogue DSL to digital - what does that mean?
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I got an email today from Verizon saying that I could get their Verizon Wireless-At-Home service, "for people who have few service choices." It was nice to know someone was noticing, but unfortunately, the price they quoted was steep for what was offered and what I need.
The service speed was anywhere from 5-10 Mbps, but the bandwidth limit was 10GB per month. I can use that up in a week, depending upon updates, and video uploads. That doesn't count Netflix and Hulu. The monthly price was $60.
I'm preparing to switch from DSL to a cellular connection in the near future using a Cradlepoint router. I should get about four to five times the speed I'm currently getting with DSL.
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Oh yeah, it can be, depending upon where you are. Where I am, I'm just on the fringe of the service area. In downtown Cincinnati, you can easily get speeds of 20-50 Mbps. I am nowhere near that. I practically have cows as neighbors.
I wish our ISP wouldn't charge us the same price that, in Cincinnati, would otherwise get you speeds of up to 20 Mbps. Just because we live further away doesn't mean we should be gouged. I mean, if we're getting 5 Mbps, charge us for what you'd pay to get 10 Mbps. Then again, part of why we get charged so much is because they haven't upgraded our equipment out here. I got promises all last month saying that we'd be getting 10 Mbps speeds for about the same as what we're paying for 5 Mbps speeds, and that any day now it would be done. Well, it's all done everywhere else but here. Right now, there are people getting 1 Gigabit speeds in Cincinnati, 100 Mbps speeds 5 miles south of here, and we're still stuck with 5 Mbps speeds, and still paying out the nose for it.
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Oh I agree I'm stuck on ADSL up to 8Mb at the moment not even ADSL2 which is upto 16Mb, and the cost of fibre when it eventually comes (which will hopefully be in the next few months) won't be much more for up to 40Mb. Yes I might live in a more rural area (and due to how the market works in the UK, I can't get any of these great deals providers offer because my telephone exchange is classed as Market 1 which is a BT only exchange non-LLU which means I can't get deals which I could if my exhancge was a market 2 and LLU) I sort of resent of having having to pay more for an inferior service. Esp when for the last few years the price BT can charge my provider has con down by something like 8% Year on Year below inflation, yet my charge didn't come down to reflect that.
Ofcom the UK regulator should have impossed charging restrictions on ADSL vs ADSL2 something like if the cost for upto 16Mb ADSL was £20/m, then providers could only charge £10/m for ADSL1 customers.
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Amaris
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I sympathize, I really do. Right now I'm getting the same speed my friend does, except he has a mobile phone, and he also has an unlimited plan, and it still comes out to less than what I pay per month.
As I work in Retail for an ISP I can tell you that what they mean with a switch from analog to digital is the phone line part of the connection.
It used to be that a DSL line had a dual use of sorts between an analog phone line and a digital internet connection.
This is changing now with most ISPs.
They make a switch to 100% digital where your phone calls are transported over the internet instead.
Your router digitizes the call.
Since this is more or less mandatory soon you have 2 choices, either agree to a different contract or get a cancellation notice in the near future probably...
It used to be that a DSL line had a dual use of sorts between an analog phone line and a digital internet connection.
This is changing now with most ISPs.
They make a switch to 100% digital where your phone calls are transported over the internet instead.
Your router digitizes the call.
Since this is more or less mandatory soon you have 2 choices, either agree to a different contract or get a cancellation notice in the near future probably...
Thanks for the explanation.
It seems my ISP is using this as a pretext to get people to agree to contracts that are a bit more expensive in the long run and also run longer but don't have unlimited data volume. I think I'll be switiching providers instead at some point.
It seems my ISP is using this as a pretext to get people to agree to contracts that are a bit more expensive in the long run and also run longer but don't have unlimited data volume. I think I'll be switiching providers instead at some point.
I sympathize, I really do. Right now I'm getting the same speed my friend does, except he has a mobile phone, and he also has an unlimited plan, and it still comes out to less than what I pay per month.
That's the real rub isn't it, paying more for less.
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It really is, but there are no real choices around here.
I sympathize, I really do. Right now I'm getting the same speed my friend does, except he has a mobile phone, and he also has an unlimited plan, and it still comes out to less than what I pay per month.
That's the real rub isn't it, paying more for less.
Which is were I think regulators should come in with price capping in areas where there is no competition/or areas with exchanges aren't upgraded. i.e they have to provide the service at cost or below cost, until they either upgrade to provider faster speeds or competition comes in to drive down prices
Why would competitors want to enter a market where they can't be expected to make money?
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Erm if there is competition then there would be no need to regulate the price to cost or below, the whole point of doing that is to make it an incentive to upgrade the exchange so you can make a profit.
Take for example in the UK sky might advertise a deal for X which is great unless you are on a Market 1 exchange in which case you can't get that deal. Many Market 1 exchanges were never upgraded from ADSL to ADSL2. So slower speeds at the same cost and due to them generally being more rural BT didn't want to spend the money on upgrading them.
Take for example in the UK sky might advertise a deal for X which is great unless you are on a Market 1 exchange in which case you can't get that deal. Many Market 1 exchanges were never upgraded from ADSL to ADSL2. So slower speeds at the same cost and due to them generally being more rural BT didn't want to spend the money on upgrading them.
In Denmark you theoretically have a choice of about half a dozen providers for internet. However, several of them are owned by the same company so it would be like saying Google and Youtube were both competing with each other. In practice many areas don't have DSL that is very good. It can take up to 6 weeks to order DSL when you move in. Most people end up going with the service setup by the local homeowners association or apartment association which basically buys access in bulk from one of 3 or 4 different cable companies. The cable companies offer similar services to the US. There are also a group of about a dozen electric utilities that started offering fiber optics service in parts of the country. Where this service is available it has taken a lot of the market share due to having faster bandwidth and lower prices.
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That's interesting about Denmark. As I've said before, I thought Europe was pretty well wired, but it seems not as well wired as I initially thought.
You're still in Berlin, CZ? Depending on where you are in the city, you may have fibre options available.
Its all relative. Compared to the US, Denmark is much more connected with between 99% and 100% of citizens using the Internet, while in the US there are about 25% of the citizens who do not use it. Estonia and South Korea are some of the world leaders in internet connectivity. For the most part people in Denmark are happy with the Internet they get and the price they pay. In the US people are not happy because of frequent price hikes and problems with slowdowns along with usage based pricing 'trials' in some areas.
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Add in the recent net neutrality debate, and you've got a huge sector of unhappy people. Of course, since there is essentially a monopoly in the U.S., people have no real choices.
^That's true of other countries, take for example whilst fibre-optic broadband is being rollout out to many rural parts of the UK via the BDUK program many are still stuck on the option of ADSL or ADSL as they haven't been upgraded yet and may not be for at least another two years even then they'll have the choice of either ADSL or VDSL as rural areas for the most part don't get cable. Sure there are more expensive options.
Just a bit of experience from my point since you also live in Germany.
I can really recommend Telekom as the ISP. They are a bit pricier than others, especially the regional providers but their stability and tech support is top notch. The only downside is that if you live a little bit outside the major cities you may not be able to get their full service because they didn't not upgrade their tech enough in that area.
Their general customer service sucks balls though as do all customer services of all companies but they sometimes take the cake. Don't expect to really be ready on the date they promised and i'd keep all documents and order confirmations handy until everything is settled and works.
Ages ago when i switched to VDSL i had to rent all the equipment (didn't have the 300+ Euro they would charge if i bought it all) and they still tried to charge me for the rented equipment as if i had bought it. Despite me being able to prove that i only rented it it took nearly 6 months and a lawsuit threat before they paid back the money.
However once you pass all these obstacles it's easy sailing.. i've been with them for more than ten years and i can count the instances on one hand where the internet broke down due to a technical fault on their side. Whenever i had a technical problem on my side their tech support was always able to help me and was very friendly.
I have a 50mbit line from their T-Home Entertain offering with a 500GB HD recorder, a Wlan router and a wireless connector (so i don't have to lay a cable across the entire room to the TV). This package includes a Flat rate for the phone inside Germany, an internet flatrate of course (true flatrate.. no lowering of speeds or such shenanigans) and TV through internet with a movie package.. i pay around 65 Euro for all that (though i may get things a bit cheaper since i'm a longstanding customer).
You can have that cheaper if you don't need a 50mbit line, i believe they're offering 16 and 25 too.
A good alternative would be to look for a local provider who tend to provide similar services but for less money usually and maybe not such a stellar support service.
I pay the slightly above average Telekom price because i appreciate the stability of their service and their very good tech support.
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