Internet under $40? (Freedom: apartment, house, to buy)

[BMan_152]

Hello!
Just wondering if anyone knows of internet service that is under $40.. Below are the only internet options I know of:

#1 - Verizon FIOS - Available on my street, but not my building (isn't apartment living fun??).. The DSL they offer is 1-3MBPS for $44.99 (aka very overpriced)

#2 - Comcast - Just canceled today.. My offer of 25MBPS for $39.99 expired, and the only offer they are willing to give an existing customer is 3MBPS for $39.95.. I feel like this is highly overpriced based on what they are now offering new customers.. "New customers" get $29.99 for 25MBPS...

#3 - Mobile - Living in a basement apartment at the bottom of a steep & narrow (only large enough for the street + buildings on 1 side) valley is very non-conductive to mobile networks.. I tried:
AT&T - 1 bar by window.. none elsewhere.. 1x data
Verizon - 3 bars.. 3G data.. intermittent LTE data
T-Mobile - 2 bars by window.. none elsewhere.. intermittent LTE data

I guess my questions are:
1 - Is this really the going rate for an internet connection? I feel like this is extremely overpriced...
2 - Is this the cost of internet in other cities of our size? (nationally and internationally)
3 - Are there any alternatives to the 3 mentioned above?
4 - What can we (as individuals & communities) do to fix the monopolistic nature of the industry?
5 - Does the state/city have laws limiting the possibility of introducing competition into the ISP industry? I think it would be cool to protest the comcast/verizon monopoly by building a bunch of massive (city wide) ISPs (possibly some crowd funded, some municipal funded, some privately funded) with an actually honest pricing scheme. What would be involved in building an ISP?

Sorry for my ranting... Just upset at the monopolistic nature of the service & their horrible pricing schemes...

[Catia]

I agree with the rant.
I hate the internet/cable pigs. While Comcast & Verizon appear to be competing--they are just 2 sides of the same coin, & both exploit us because they can. They probably own much of each others stock lol.

I would love to have a viable solution that offers reliable & lower costing internet.

Though I am not sure, I think the monopoly exists because they have the rights or right of way for where the lines can be, or are already run.

I don't think satellite internet wouldn't work for me here very well due to terrain/signals/materials my house is constructed from.

[guy2073]

DSL Broadband from Juno - The Simple DSL Solution my brother has this, but he can't get cable where he lives and the satellite service is too expensive. Not sure about the speed

[BMan_152]

Thanks for agreeing
You have to wonder if there is some sort of price fixing going on between them..

I've been thinking a lot about viable lower cost internet solutions... Here are a few possibilities that I have come up with:

1. - LIFI - Since the city is going around and replacing all of the street lights with LED, why not make them capable of transmitting internet signals.. Put a receiver on each fixture as well to create a "mesh network".. The infrastructure would be completely self contained within the fixtures... no wiring needed (aka the fixtures themselves would be "wires")..

You would be able to connect anywhere in view of a street light.. If you wanted to connect your home, you would place a receiver/transmitter on the outside of your house (in view of a street light).. This would be a great municipal internet possibility..

Pros:
-self healing network
-mesh network
-cheap
Cons:
-replacement of all street light fixtures (or pro depending on how you look at it)
-The technology is still super new/experimental...

2. - Create a WIFI network
Pros:
-cheaper than full cable
Cons:
-still requires cables on telephone poles

3. - Create a typical fiber/cable network
Pros:
-reliability/security
Cons:
-expensive
-requires running cables on telephone poles

Totally forgot about satellite internet lol.. may have to check it out

[BMan_152]

Originally Posted by guy2073

DSL Broadband from Juno - The Simple DSL Solution my brother has this, but he can't get cable where he lives and the satellite service is too expensive. Not sure about the speed

Ahh cool! I have never heard of Juno before... Will have to look it up

[guy2073]

Originally Posted by BMan_152

Ahh cool! I have never heard of Juno before... Will have to look it up

They have been around forever, I used them as a dialup provider in the mid 90's. I still use their email.

[SuburbanPioneer]

Originally Posted by BMan_152

isn't apartment living fun??

Apartment living is actually very benefitial in this particular case. All you need is to find an apartment above a coffee shop and you get your internet for free. Or cooperate with someone else next door and split the bill.

[shadowfax]

I use Freedom Pop. They start out at $Free for 500 mg per month which is really not much. You want to be sure to disable the automatic top up to ensure you don't get any surprises. This seems to be the most common error/complaint with their customers and it is very preventable. I pay $23.99/month for their 10 gig package which for me is plenty. I have one day left in my plan for the current cycle and have only used 6.89 gig over the past month. I spent quite a lot of time on the internet each day and watch a few Youtube videos and the occasional TV show.

You have to buy the WiFi router but those don't cost that much from them. But then yu own it and you can plug it in and go pretty much anywhere you are that has a decent Cell tower connection. I have been using this company for the past 11 months and have had no complaints. The speed of you connection does depend a bit on your location. The service uses 4G technology. Still I live in a basement and don't get a very strong signal and the speed is acceptable. If you are not really needing huge amounts of data or very high speed they are a great company.

https://www.freedompop.com/