New to Frederick -- Comcast/ISP advice please (Brunswick, Rosemont: rental, how much)

[homeonthelittlemountain]

Hello,

I'm looking for advice. I'm moving to Frederick next month and need to set up internet service. It appears that my new neighborhood uses Comcast. I currently have Verizon FIOS, switched from Comcast about 12 years ago. Comcast was a nightmare down here in lower MoCo. I hoped that's changed.

My questions:

1). Is there a perceptible difference between 75 Mbps and 25 Mbps? My husband will be using his laptop and phone for work and I usually use my iPad or laptop. There is a significant price difference between the two speeds.

2) should I buy my own modem?

3) in pursuing the Internet, I understand Comcast is instituting a data cap of 300 gigs monthly? Did I understand that correctly? And how much data is 300 gigs monthly? I've no idea if I'm likely to go over the cap or not.

4) I'm reluctantly signing up for the minimal TV pkg. we don't watch much except an hour of news at night. But we do use the DVR. Is Roku and Hulu something we should consider instead of cable....keep in mind we want to watch local news so I don't know if that will work. Obviously I understand little about that option.

Thank you in advance for any advice you're able to offer.

[MidValleyDad]

Okay - I live in Frederick County and have used Comcast for years (since back when it was Frederick Cablevision and owned by the Newspaper)
1) I think I have one step up from the bottom level of internet service. (I think called Boost) It does fine for me the only problem has been when everyone is snowed in and beating the crap out of the bandwidth with online games, movies, etc. I will say I think my area got a hub upgrade last year and it did not seem as noticeable this week.

2) As far as buying a modem I would say yes if you are planning on keeping the service for longer than a year. I believe DOCSIS 3 modems run about $70 Backchannel me and I can look at the one I am using and get the model number if you would like. Another option would be to start with their modem and buy one once you are sure. You can return the rental any time (At least I have)

3) I think I've heard something about that but nothing firm.

4) Can't help here I have several Tivos. I also have one Comcast box. My wife uses the Comcast box for on demand (I think there is a way to get On Demand to work on Tivo but I haven't figured it out) I use the Tivo to record off many channels. I don't even know exactly what is part of Basic, Expanded, or any other particular package.

I know every year or so whenever my current 'deal' runs out I call their 800 number and talk to the customer retention people. This results in some kind of deal for one or two years that we can live with. I have found there are two kinds of phone support people with Comcast. Most of the time I get courteous, reasonable people who are helpful. But I sometimes (especially on weekends, holidays and late at night) I get someone that is hard to understand, seems to be reading from a script and wants to get me to put my problem into terms that fit his/her predetermined answer. Funny thing is members of this group sound a lot like the ones from 'Microsoft Tech Support' that randomly call me saying they have found that my computer is infected with a virus :-)

I will admit that I try and call at times I have a high likelyhood of getting people from Group 1.


Hope this helps

[homeonthelittlemountain]

Yes, this is the kind of info I'm looking for. Thanks so much. Good idea to start with the Comcast modem and then change it out. We're going to have a lot going on that first month. We are looking forward to leaving hectic lower MoCo and living in Braddock heights. Thanks again.

[boswellbaxter]

We'll be moving to Brunswick next month. It looks as if the main options for ISP service are Verizon and Xfinity. Any advice? I work at home and am online constantly, so a reliable, reasonably fast connection is essential.

[tw71]

Hi there!
We're residents of Brunswick (owned a house in the main part of town for a little over 2 years now).

My advice is, go with Comcast Xfinity. Verizon only sells DSL as "broadband Internet" here and it tops out at 6mbits speeds (awful by today's standards).

Right now, we pay around $85 per month for Comcast for a "bundle" that includes 150mbit Internet service and a basic TV package. (No HD channels without a $10/month additional fee for HDTV, but gives us something like 50-60 channels including all the locals, and HBO too.) I purchased my own cable modem, going with the Motorola SB6183, which cost somewhere around $100. (Best Buy will price match the lowest price you can find online from Amazon or B&H Photo.)

Now, just for the sake of being complete? There's something VERY weird going on in Brunswick when it comes to FiOS service. I've heard from several people who live in the newer Brunswick Crossing development that they actually had FiOS service (and verified they weren't confused and talking about DSL). And weirder still, a couple of Brunswick locals I know who live in the old/main part of town swear to me that they, too, have FiOS installed. Yet if you call Verizon and try to order it here, the official story is that it's unavailable in our 21716 zip code.

Every time I press one of the people in the main part of town for details on how they managed to get it, they get "dodgy" with me and start saying things like, "Well... that all depends on who you know and talk to." So my only conclusion is that our Verizon central office is capable of providing FiOS service and the Crossing development must be wired for it. But anyone who has it elsewhere was done as "special cases" and perhaps only as favors because they were friends with someone at Verizon?

Originally Posted by boswellbaxter

We'll be moving to Brunswick next month. It looks as if the main options for ISP service are Verizon and Xfinity. Any advice? I work at home and am online constantly, so a reliable, reasonably fast connection is essential.

[MidValleyDad]

Unless I saw FIOS actually working in someone's house (looked at the equipment, etc) I wouldn't believe it. Every time I check with Verizon I get told there are no plans to expand the current coverage zone. The last thing I heard ( several years ago) is that there were no plans to expand FIOS into Frederick County 'in the next 10 years' at other times it has been 'not in the forseeable future'

[tw71]

Everything I've read about Verizon FiOS indicates that the entire service was really created as a Federal subsidy grab. They knew they could capture a big portion of the funding earmarked for ISPs expanding broadband to rural areas by selectively rolling out FiOS in the Northeast, but never intended to expand it beyond the strategic areas written into a 10 year plan.

Without the aid of govt. funding, FiOS is a very costly service to roll out to a new community. (I remember reading one time that the boxes they have to place in your garage or outside your house where the fiber terminates cost them around $800 each. That's before you're even talking about the gateway router/modem device and any set top boxes for TV.) Initially, they were losing money on installations where customers didn't wind up keeping FiOS for at least 1-2 years. I believe that's why they push for 2 year contract deals now.

That said, it seems to me that Verizon has done a little bit of "dabbling" with extending FiOS service out past the originally designated areas, but probably only when all the conditions are right for it. And they definitely don't advertise it when they do it. (For example, despite being repeatedly told that FiOS isn't available anywhere in Frederick, I understand they have FiOS service in places like the Senior Living Center off Rosemont Ave.)

With Brunswick Crossing being a new development AND on pretty much flat land, I can see how Verizon would have been tempted to pull fiber there. (And yeah, while I was hesitant to believe it without seeing it first-hand, I'm pretty convinced they do have it as an option. The first person who said they had FiOS was a new resident who claimed he "tried it for about 60 days, but decided to get rid of it and go to Comcast" because at the time, there was some kind of exclusive contract still in place where Comcast retained sole rights as the cable television provider for Brunswick. So he had to pay full price for FiOS but only got the Internet portion of the service, or optionally the IP telephone part, but not the TV portion. Later, another guy told us on Facebook that he was subscribed to FiOS and they finally had permission to offer the television part too. Wanting to verify we were really talking about the same service, I asked him if he could describe what his setup looked like, and he talked about the big box they put on the side of his house that had a backup battery inside it, etc.

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

Unless I saw FIOS actually working in someone's house (looked at the equipment, etc) I wouldn't believe it. Every time I check with Verizon I get told there are no plans to expand the current coverage zone. The last thing I heard ( several years ago) is that there were no plans to expand FIOS into Frederick County 'in the next 10 years' at other times it has been 'not in the forseeable future'