Internet Provider? (Austin, Howe: how much, houses, live)

[maknme01]

We are moving to the NW Austin area in 10 days. I've been researching internet providers online but would like personal opinions on what might be the best for service, less down time and overall coverage. I've heard good things about Clear but noticed it's also relatively new?? Has anyone had experience with them? Are there better options that are also cheaper?
Thanks!

[LittleCityATX]

U-Verse is your best option.

Time Warner is ok.
Clear is ok but reception can be spotty depending on where you live.

[RooCeleste]

We've had Time Warner for over 5 years and I think it has gone down maybe twice, total, in the two houses we've lived in. I have absolutely no complaints about their internet service!

[Willsson]

Clear Internet is a 4G WiMax venture between Clearwire Internet and Sprint. They provide your internet at a tower, just like a cell phone. Your reception is your issue.

My experiences with Clearwire are mixed. Once used and moved to other city, sent them a copy of change of address and got my deposit back.

Second experience the rep wouldn't even discuss disconnect even though I said I was moving to city with no Clearwire. Took three separate contacts to their Customer Service to finally get the service... and billing... stopped. But that was ClearWIRE.

I would suggest my poor experience with Clearwire plus other poor experience with Sprint Customer Service would leave my desire for further experience lacking.

Should you request the service you WILL be held to the terms of the contract. Your use of the service will constitute your acceptance of the contract.

Far as I'm concerned, ClearWIRE and Sprint can burn in hell.

[CptnRn]

I had been with Time-Warner (TV & Internet) for over 10 years, with AT&T for phone service, but changed to AT&T U-Verse 2 months ago (for TV, internet and phone) when I realized I could save over $1,000 a year by doing so.

I had numerous problems with TW services, and many difficulties getting problems taken care of during those previous years.

I had no problems with AT&T phone service during that time.

Now that I'm on AT&T U-Verse the television image is sharper, internet service seems faster, the U-Verse Digital DVD recorder options are much better.

I have had no problems with any of their services except some adjustments to work with our burglar alarm system, which I had not previously considered.

[verybadgnome]

Not available everywhere in Austin but Grande is competitive on prices and has very good customer service.

[rickc007]

I've had nothing but problems with Time Warner.

Outages are VERY FREQUENT, but usually resolved in about a half an hour

I work from home, and am online all day.
A LOT are during the day, I notice very little outages in the evening.

[yaxzone]

I think the main question here is how much do you use your broadband connection for? In our case, we stream netflix and hulu in some case simultaneously, these, while my wife has a vpn connection to her work and when i work form home I also vpn in. That alone we couldn't do with Road Runner on peak times. It was just miserable, this with their fastest connection. Remember, with Road Runner you are sharing one big pipe. With clear it will depend where you live and I have not tried with this many connections running all at once. If you use it heavily like we do you need fiver optic connection to the house and U-verse from AT&T or FIOS from Verizon otherwise a DSL connection that at least give you a 4000 Kb/s for the download will be good.

We do a lot of video conferencing via skype and for that you need a good broadband connection. So, bottom line, it depends on how much you use it for. Hope that gives you an idea.

By the way, we now have U-Verse from AT&T but they were a pain at the beginning and I had to call their service line multiple times to get it installed. The have so many people to do different little jobs for everything that is just ridiculous. The only reason this company exists is because they are so big and customer satisfaction is foreign to them. Once it is setup, it works.

[atxcio]

I've been using Time Warner for 4 years now, it's been pretty good. I can't get U-Verse for the same price as my cable/digital phone/internet bundle with TWC. However, with TWC you do need to call them every so often to make sure you are on the cheapest (non-contract) plan.

Service is pretty poor if you need to call in. But that's a problem with AT&T, too. The biggest problem I used to have with AT&T DSL (and maybe it's better with UVerse) is the number of problems that could not be solved immediately; these issues required days of downtime waiting for a tech appointment. Most TWC issues seem to be solvable with a tech over the phone; or if not, you can usually get a next day appointment, or bring in your cable box or internet router to one of their storefronts.. even on the same day.

The basic RoadRunner plan I believe is what I have for internet; it's consistently 7Mbps downstream according to DSLreports.com. Their more expensive service is much faster. I have had a few outages recently, which is more than normal. Maybe once a month in the past several months. But they usually are short, and late at night.

Neither TWC, UVerse, or Grande is anywhere near the speed of FIOS, which unfortunately we don't have here yet. I don't know anything about Clear, but I'd be worried that any wireless connection might disconnect periodically when it thinks you are idle, which isn't great for many of the applications I run.

[maknme01]

Thanks, everyone! You've been a big help