Anyone using Roadrunner ISP? (Dallas, Fort Worth: apartments, houses, transfer)

[kazyn]

You guys are a vocal bunch, I figure you're the best to ask about this thing

I am going to be moving (probably to "The Village") in a few months and I'm very sad to find out that VZN FIOS isn't offered where we're thinking of moving

We've read that RR is as close to FIOS as I can get.

Has anyone used them? How do you like them? I've heard some news on data caps....but they were not implemented due to negative press?

I'm thinking of getting the 30/5 package.

[pappy97]

Had RoadRunner in California, it's not too bad. Caps are a problem for a minority of people, unless you have heavy (and I mean heavy, like downloading or uploads gigs via torrents and the such) usage, you won't hit the cap (yes RR has a Cap, I believe it is 250GB total transfer a month. It's not a hard cap, it's a soft one. Exceed it and your internet won't just turn off, you'll probably get a warning letter in the mail and then if you hit it again, they may cancel your RR account). 30/5 package sounds pretty good. I'd rather have RR than DSL, if that is what you are asking. To me RR vs. U-Verse is pretty much a wash for internet, it's not like U-Verse is offering good upload speeds like FIOS or anything...

As to where you are moving and FIOS, have you considered looking at areas that do have FIOS? When we moved to DFW, we only looked at areas that had FIOS, and in fact only viewed homes that we already verified before hand through the FIOS website had it. In fact, us ending up in Wylie, for the most part, is because Wylie is one of (if not the) least expensive place to buy a home in the DFW metroplex and have FIOS, definitely the least expensive on the "Dallas" side of DFW (Keller, first city in the nation to get FIOS, had some comparable homes but it was more extreme than Wylie in terms of commute).

Even if we move in a few years (or sooner?), we are only sticking to FIOS areas. Sure that rules out some nice places to live, but you can't beat the 25/25 no cap plan I have where I literally pay 46.64 each month and it never has outages and all that jazz...

[kazyn]

I might consider it depending on where FIOS is available. I wish I had a map of Dallas that showed all available neighborhoods/areas.

I absolutely love FIOS, you really can't beat it for the price, at all.

[pappy97]

Originally Posted by kazyn

I might consider it depending on where FIOS is available. I wish I had a map of Dallas that showed all available neighborhoods/areas.

I absolutely love FIOS, you really can't beat it for the price, at all.

A map is tough, but this is a general list of cities.

Texas Fios Availability - Fios Texas - Verizon Fios TX

Note that some of the cities don't have it entirely (like Frisco, for example). If you are looking for a house, you can go to the FIOS website and check availability for that address. When you are at a house, you can ask if they have Verizon FIOS. Apartments are much tougher. Even if the complex is in an area where all the houses have FIOS, the complex may not because they sign an exclusive deal with someone for cable or sat, and it's not always Verizon FIOS even though they have that option.

P.S. Most of Dallas, TX (proper Dallas, Texas) does NOT have FIOS. Dallas is on that list because some extreme parts of North Dallas may have it, but it's very very rare to find FIOS in Dallas, TX proper.

[Willsson]

Kazyn and Pappy, you won't find FiOS in area you might regard as Dallas and/or Fort Worth 'proper'. Verizon is the result of a merger of Bell Atlantic (principally the east coast) and GTE which, before becoming GTE, was Mom and Pop telcos around the country. GTE bought them up and made them into a single phone company. It almost seems as though the Bell companies implemented service in easy to service populated areas, leaving outlying towns to the small companies. Remeber, while all this was happening both Dallas and Fort Worth were not large cities. Even at the time of the building of DFW airport, neither D nor FW extended as far as Grapevine... not even remotely. Thus, DFW has Verizon telephone while Love Field is ATT.

So, those areas north of D/FW proper will likely have Verizon telephone services. However, Verizon has chosen not to implement FiOS in all areas, probably depending on populations, ages of central offices, local politics, other logistics, etc.

As far as RoadRunner, I had RR in North Oak Lawn for a few years with no trouble whatever. TWC has implemented fiber cable service in much of Dallas so your service may be comparable to Verizon's, if not your product selections.

I would be curious as to why you would choose the 30/5 broadband. The cable service is not dependent on the download capability of the RoadRunner Internet. I currently use RoadRunner in Central Texas with 10 meg down/1 up with Turbo. I stream news channels, programs and movies a good part of most days with no problems. That streaming is to my TV but at the same time, I'm surfing the net and occasionally viewing videos. Both functions are entirely Internet as I have no cable product, only the RoadRunner. Although, it is provided by TWC.

[pappy97]

Originally Posted by tofurkey

TWC has implemented fiber cable service in much of Dallas so your service may be comparable to Verizon's, if not your product selections.

Actually this is DOCSIS 3.0 service, and I wouldn't call it comparable to Verizon FIOS. First of all, it still has caps. The benefit is you get higher download speeds, but the upload is still weak in comparison, i.e. you can get up to 50/5 or 50/10 w/ TWC DOCSIS 3.0. Costs when you get to that level are very high too.

Sorry, I just take exception to saying that DOCSIS 3.0 is comparable to a Fiber To The Home set up like FIOS. Like I said, I get 25/25 from FIOS without caps and literally pay 46.64/month. I know for a fact that TWC is not offering any DOCSIS 3.0 product that even comes to that, whether it be the cap issue, upload speed, and price.

Places where the cable internet is DOCSIS 3.0 may be the best thing if you don't have a FTTH offering like FIOS, but I wouldn't call them comparable.

[Willsson]

Sounds good, Pappy. I guess when you can't get FiOS there's not much to compare. Other than OTA, of course.

[pappy97]

Originally Posted by tofurkey

Sounds good, Pappy. I guess when you can't get FiOS there's not much to compare. Other than OTA, of course.

OTA is fine for TV (I think it's very underrated), but for internet, I hear ya. If your only options are cable, DSL, and maybe that "Clearwire" crap, you are right, there isn't much to compare. (I personally don't use FIOS for TV, only for internet).

But like I said, when I moved to DFW, having come from an area without FTTH but should have it (Silicon Valley), I wasn't going to move to a place where I couldn't get it once it was set we were moving to DFW and we knew parts of DFW had FIOS. It would just eat at me inside to know that 5 miles away from me was FIOS and I could have had it if I just moved to that city which is still in the metroplex.

But that's me (or should I say, us, because my wife loves FIOS internet too). I realize many people wouldn't put so much priority on internet access, but then there are others who love (or would love) paying $46.64 a month for 25 up/25 down and no caps. It has come in handy for many purposes, including watching TV via slingbox when I have been out of town. That's an important time when upload speed of that amount comes into play.

People at work still don't get it: they think if I become mega rich I'll move away from Wylie and come very close to work (Park Cities). I'm like, "no way. If we become mega rich we may want a big time upgrade in home, but it has to be combined with FIOS. So in fact we will look at the Seis Lagos subdivision of Wylie and also Lucas and Parker, instead of coming closer."

Right now we see homes in Wylie/Lucas/Parker that are newer, huge (5000-8000 sq ft), sometimes with land, and most importantly, FIOS, less than a million. In the Park Cities (or near it like my boss who lives near Mark Cuban), spend more, get less, not newer, no land, and most importantly, no FIOS. No Thanks.

[BigT3x]

Take a look at AT&T Uverse. It's really the closest thing you can get to FIOS in the area. I switched from TWC to AT&T a while back and I've found the Internet to be much, much better.

[kazyn]

$63.00/mo for "up to 24 Mbps" is a little pricey for me, and they don't advertise their upload speeds.