Internet Service Provider Options

[TornadoContest]

Originally Posted by rrtechno

In most places where TWC is available, you can get just internet and/or phone without getting the cable TV part of the bundle. Of course NEW subscribers with all 3 parts get the best rates.

Yeah, I priced out a package on their site and it came out to be about twenty bucks cheaper than Cincy Bell for about the same services. TWC has the edge on upload speeds and all the phone services, but they want a modem rental fee and when I went to their sales/tech chat page to ask if my current modem would work with their service the application wouldn't work at all on my iPad which would really annoy me if I needed help with my actual service.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by TornadoContest

Yeah, I priced out a package on their site and it came out to be about twenty bucks cheaper than Cincy Bell for about the same services. TWC has the edge on upload speeds and all the phone services, but they want a modem rental fee and when I went to their sales/tech chat page to ask if my current modem would work with their service the application wouldn't work at all on my iPad which would really annoy me if I needed help with my actual service.

When you say they want a modem rental fee, just what kind of modem is that? Is it a cable to Cat-V Internet conversion modem? I don't recall ever paying anything extra for a cable modem, but that may be prior to the minimum come-on current pricing. I would think a basic cable modem is included in the fee.

I always have used a router of my own chosing in the internet hookup. Part of that is because the wife and I both have computers connected. If it was just one we would have a war. The router maintains both of our connections and also shares our printer. When I installed CB Fioptics obviously they also had to install their router. It is part of the standard installation, regardless of how much you protest. Pure ****, within one day I put my own router back in. I am hardwired but my router also has Wi-fi pickoffs. This is convenient when the kids and grandkids come to visit with their laptops. But they are always disturbed when I have to provide them the password to connect through my router.

[TornadoContest]

When you say they want a modem rental fee, just what kind of modem is that? Is it a cable to Cat-V Internet conversion modem?

I have no idea because I couldn't access the support/sales chat on my iPad and I didn't feel like calling after discovering that inconvenience. I couldn't find what the price of rental fee was, either, on the site; it was just marked with an asterisk and below the incomplete price they noted it.

The router maintains both of our connections and also shares our printer. When I installed CB Fioptics obviously they also had to install their router. It is part of the standard installation, regardless of how much you protest. Pure ****, within one day I put my own router back in.

Yeah, I have my modem/router hardwired to my old G5 which doesn't even have an airport card and my laptop, iPad, printer/scanner/copier/fax and iPhone are hooked into the network via wireless. My guests get annoyed by needing the password, too, but usually because I make it something so long and ridiculous that it's nearly impossible to type it in correctly. It's great being able to access media on hard drives connected to one machine on any of the others.

The first modem/router I got from ATT, branded by them, was total garbage, too. I can't even tell you how many hours I wasted on the phone with tech support who were all reading off the same unhelpful script and I had to have them send out a ground tech 3 times before they replaced the garbage router with this decent one. The Cincinnati Bell support/sales chat person claims I can use this router with their service. You think they'll still foist their bad one on me and charge me for it?

Do you use a WiFi extender? Is there anyone cheaper than ATT to get basic landline phone service from? I only need it for my fax which gets used very infrequently most of the time and for when I misplace my cell phone and have to call myself to find it in couch cushions or on an illogical shelf. I don't think I can route my fax through my Google Talk number or anything like that.

[rrtechno]

I have TWC and have never paid a modem rental fee. The modem is theirs, but I have always provided my own router. I have a PC that is hardwired, as are my 2 Airport base stations. My HP laser is connected via USB to one of the airports. My G5 and Laptop are wireless. The only issues I have, are if we have a brief power outage and the rare times that I need to reboot my airport with the printer connected, I have to check the IP address on the base station. If it picked up a different IP address, I have to go into the printer settings ON MY PC and change the port settings. The Macs see everything fine - regardless, but the PC can't find the printer on its own.

[kjbrill]

rrtechno... I understand what you are saying. I never paid a modem rental fee either. But if you look at the current come-on pricing ads they all quote a price plus equipment. I assume this includes any desktop TV convertor boxes, internet modem, etc. Just another way for them to quote prices which are lowballed.

[TornadoContest]

My HP laser is connected via USB to one of the airports. My G5 and Laptop are wireless. The only issues I have, are if we have a brief power outage and the rare times that I need to reboot my airport with the printer connected, I have to check the IP address on the base station.

Nice to see another G5 hold out here. Do you use the Airport as a WiFi extender or am I misunderstanding you? I'm a little concerned about power outages. I never have them here because we have no weather, but I remember the power going out in the house I'll be moving into on a regular basis during storms. Is there anything beyond a surge protector I can get to protect my external drives during outages?

Just another way for them to quote prices which are lowballed.

All these companies sound pretty slimy. I ran the options by my mother who lives in Cincy to see if she leaned in any particular direction and she's apparently still holding a grudge against TWC for a crummy two months of service she and my dad had with them over 30 years ago!

[rrtechno]

I just got the G5 myself. It belonged to a lady who had bought it new. It wouldn't keep the network connection so she finally bought a new MacBook Pro. I took the G5 as partial payment for setting up her new laptop, put in an Airport Extreme wireless card I got for free and it's working fine. I use it mostly for apps that won'y run properly in the newer OS.

I originally was using the Airport as my wireless base station as the original router I bought when I got the TWC cable modem years ago didn't have wireless capabilities. My new router has the wireless built in, but I still use the Airports as I didn't really want to reconfigure my network. It was just plug them into the new router and go.

The only complaint I have with TWC (I am currently in NW Ohio, not in Cincy metro area) is the fact that longtime existing subscribers have no options for special rates without making changes in your package.

[kjbrill]

My wife had an apple product dating all the way back to the Apple IIe. I was a computer programmer professional, but not with PCs at that time, rather with mini-computers. At that time, a mini-computer was like a ferrari against a Chevy corvair.

The wife loved her IIe and the Macintosh's which followed it. With very little input from me, which she did not want anyway, she did her own thing on the internet including constructing and maintaining her own web paqe. She did this with no formal instruction, just driving the Apple service people nuts over the phone.

Finally her last Mac, I do believe a G5 went belly up. I took it to our local rapair depot and when they gave me the price to just diagnose it I said forget it. I went over to their retail outlet and bought an out-of-the-box HP system with Windows 7 preloaded and drug it home. I hooked it up, got online and purchased a ful copy of Microsoft Outlook and downloaded it. After a little time configuring her email to our internet provider I pronounced her ready to go. She bitched for months since everything was not keystroke compatible. But after some time now I notice she is using it to about the same proficiency of her Mac.

Having started out in computers during the early 60s I was used to things always changing. I recognized the Mac OS was a Unix based derivation, compared to Windows. I worked with Unix on several computers which were a step up from the average PC.

My wife said she hated windows compared to Apple's OS-10X. But now I notice she is having no problem manipulating her PC and would likely have problems going backward.