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HAHA I wish I could think of one that would make any difference! No, all I was thinking was that some other carrier might do better.
But the numbers you show above are awful also. How do you work with that?
Before the FCC shutdown hi-power OTA broadcast we used to be able to get 3 channels on our TV. The stations were in different directions, so we had to shift around the antenna [up on a pole] to aim at each station. But once they shifted to low-power digital transmission, folks in our town can only get one channel now.
My Dw and I both use laptops for surfing online and for viewing media.
I suspect that a big screen is going to consume a lot more bandwidth to fill such a huge screen. We are okay with our small screens. We can both watch shows on Netflix at the same time, and there is no buffering.
So we just want internet...Wife and I contacted Comcast they wouldn't budge on the Triple Play for think 25MPBS they were going to charge us $100. So we said screw that contacted Frontier. They almost didn't budge but did offer up internet but had to get phone or the price would be ridiculously high.
Sooo we are paying $60 for phone and internet with Frontier. Have yet to cancel Comcast.
I read in the Wall Street Journal that COMCAST is soaking people who want standalone internet.
My guess is you are getting this service:
Internet Plus + Voice Service $45 /mo for 24 months. Equipment, Internet Infrastructure Surcharge, other fees & taxes apply. Max speed of 18 Mbps
Unlimited calling within the US, Canada, and now Mexico!
Even though it is advertised at $45 it is not uncommon to pay $15 in Equipment, Internet Infrastructure Surcharge, other fees & taxes .
=============================================
I am not sure what you are paying for your cell service, but it's not uncommon for people to be paying $90 for two people.
If you are paying ~$90 cellular + $60 Frontier communication then you should consider as an option:
AT&T Unlimited &More℠ Premium Price after discount with autopay and paperless billing.* $150/mo. for 2 lines
Unlimited talk, text & data
HD Streaming: (1080p quality)
Mobile Hotspot: 15GB/line
Live & On-Demand TV: 30+ channels, live & on-demand*
Mexico & Canada – Unlimited talk, text & data included
Premium entertainment - choose 1 on us: HBO®, STARZ®, SHOWTIME®, CINEMAX®, Amazon Music Unlimited®, or Pandora Premium®
Live & On-Demand TV: 30+ channels, live & on-demand*
Well, my speeds of 9, 10, or 11 download have decreased to 4 or 5. I finally got a real person on the phone (had to do the phone thing because I could not get the computer up load up any sites, it was so slow) and she is sending a tech out next week.
I really suspect the modem, since things were better at first, then a couple/three weeks later they started to deteriorate and are very spotty now. Now I could clean up the kitchen after dinner while the computer is starting up and getting ready to get a search page up. And even then most of the time the answer is "no internet." If I just leave it and go do something else, the page eventually loads up.
Well, my speeds of 9, 10, or 11 download have decreased to 4 or 5. I finally got a real person on the phone (had to do the phone thing because I could not get the computer up load up any sites, it was so slow) and she is sending a tech out next week.
I really suspect the modem, since things were better at first, then a couple/three weeks later they started to deteriorate and are very spotty now. Now I could clean up the kitchen after dinner while the computer is starting up and getting ready to get a search page up. And even then most of the time the answer is "no internet." If I just leave it and go do something else, the page eventually loads up.
I'll report back after he comes.
I've had similar issues when both the modem and the router were bad, so hopefully that will fix your issue. I finally just bought my own modem and I've always had my own router (but I'm on the 3rd or 4th one over the past 20 or so years). One reason I did that, other than to stop renting theirs, is that they always brought out a used one and it didn't seem to last very long.
You might want to buy your own modem. I paid something under $70 for mine, and my provider was charging $7/mo to rent theirs. So the purchase paid for itself in 7 months. I didn't notice if you said if you were using Wifi, but if you are you want to make sure you have a decent router.
Before the FCC shutdown hi-power OTA broadcast we used to be able to get 3 channels on our TV. The stations were in different directions, so we had to shift around the antenna [up on a pole] to aim at each station. But once they shifted to low-power digital transmission, folks in our town can only get one channel now.
My Dw and I both use laptops for surfing online and for viewing media.
I suspect that a big screen is going to consume a lot more bandwidth to fill such a huge screen. We are okay with our small screens. We can both watch shows on Netflix at the same time, and there is no buffering.
That shouldn't be the case. The bandwith required depends on the video resolution, not the size of the screen. An HD signal at 760p and 1080i will take more bandwith than a standard definition signal at 480p, and a 4K will take even more bandwidth. But the size of the screen shouldn't matter. I suppose it might use more electricity than a smaller screen, but that's a fairly negligible amount anyway.
Regarding your television reception ... I see you're in rural Maine, so there's probably not much there. Do you have a good outside antenna?
Updating this thread. We just got Comcast in a Texas Gulf coast location and the speeds are abominable - highest is 11 mg, mostly 8 to 10 on the download. I'm paying an extra $15 for supposedly higher speeds, but am interested to know if this is normal. It's the slowest we've had anywhere, including another Comcast location. Have reset the router several times, had the "chat" people reset it, no change. Is there anything, anything at all else we can try before issuing an ultimatum. (And don't know what I'd do anyway if they said, well sorry that's all we can do for you).
I've run the anti-virus, done CCleaner, so I don't think it's our laptops. Both DH and mine are SLOW SLOW at the start - can't get anything to work at all for about 10 minutes, and then they seem to perk up after about 10-15 minutes, but never to more than the above speeds. I'm at a loss right now.
If anyone has any ideas I'll try them.
It could be as simple as faulty cabling inside or outside your house. If the signal is weak, you will get reduced performance. If you also have cable TV and have splitter/s, that will degrade performance. In those cases an amplifier is recommendable.
Well, the Xfinity man's been and gone. He closed off several other cable outlets that we were not using, saying that they would slow things down a bit. So the only "live" one is the one to the modem (we don't use cable TV). He also replaced the fittings outside, as they were corroded and painted over, etc., so we have nice new connections.
He and we tried speed tests on our phones (his and 2 of ours). We got lovely numbers like 60 and 100 and such (had been getting 7 and 8 and 4). Then we went onto the laptops and tried the speed tests there. I got 13 and the husband got 7. He concluded there was a lot of junk on our laptops and left. OK.
We don't go onto porn sites, don't download movies or youtube stuff, don't watch crazy websites, mostly do email, look at the occasional google maps site when researching a real estate site, I do FB and this forum. Lots of the popup ads come from a site called mapsfox which I think I have learned comes when you download google maps these days. They pop up everywhere, on your bank site, everywhere. DH gets them mostly. I have been on these two laptops today constantly since 3 hours ago, trying to delete everything I can think of to get more room on the computers, but of course it's like a kindergartner trying to solve an algebra equation. I don't know what I'm doing and after all this flailing around on both laptops have not increased the speed one jot.
I think I'm in line for a professional cleanup unless any lovely person out there can think of something else I can do.
Well, the Xfinity man's been and gone. He closed off several other cable outlets that we were not using, saying that they would slow things down a bit. So the only "live" one is the one to the modem (we don't use cable TV). He also replaced the fittings outside, as they were corroded and painted over, etc., so we have nice new connections.
He and we tried speed tests on our phones (his and 2 of ours). We got lovely numbers like 60 and 100 and such (had been getting 7 and 8 and 4). Then we went onto the laptops and tried the speed tests there. I got 13 and the husband got 7. He concluded there was a lot of junk on our laptops and left. OK.
We don't go onto porn sites, don't download movies or youtube stuff, don't watch crazy websites, mostly do email, look at the occasional google maps site when researching a real estate site, I do FB and this forum. Lots of the popup ads come from a site called mapsfox which I think I have learned comes when you download google maps these days. They pop up everywhere, on your bank site, everywhere. DH gets them mostly. I have been on these two laptops today constantly since 3 hours ago, trying to delete everything I can think of to get more room on the computers, but of course it's like a kindergartner trying to solve an algebra equation. I don't know what I'm doing and after all this flailing around on both laptops have not increased the speed one jot.
I think I'm in line for a professional cleanup unless any lovely person out there can think of something else I can do.
Download the free version of ccleaner. You can run it with its default settings and then tailor it later. I'd not clean the registry unless you understand what you're doing.
... the size of the screen shouldn't matter. I suppose it might use more electricity than a smaller screen, but that's a fairly negligible amount anyway.
Our home is on solar power, so every watt is important.
Quote:
... Regarding your television reception ... I see you're in rural Maine, so there's probably not much there. Do you have a good outside antenna?
In the transition to low-power digital broadcast, we set up a telephone pole with radioshacks highest dB gain antenna, signal amp and coax. All that effort got us one channel.
Well, the Xfinity man's been and gone. He closed off several other cable outlets that we were not using, saying that they would slow things down a bit. So the only "live" one is the one to the modem (we don't use cable TV). He also replaced the fittings outside, as they were corroded and painted over, etc., so we have nice new connections.
He and we tried speed tests on our phones (his and 2 of ours). We got lovely numbers like 60 and 100 and such (had been getting 7 and 8 and 4). Then we went onto the laptops and tried the speed tests there. I got 13 and the husband got 7. He concluded there was a lot of junk on our laptops and left. OK.
We don't go onto porn sites, don't download movies or youtube stuff, don't watch crazy websites, mostly do email, look at the occasional google maps site when researching a real estate site, I do FB and this forum. Lots of the popup ads come from a site called mapsfox which I think I have learned comes when you download google maps these days. They pop up everywhere, on your bank site, everywhere. DH gets them mostly. I have been on these two laptops today constantly since 3 hours ago, trying to delete everything I can think of to get more room on the computers, but of course it's like a kindergartner trying to solve an algebra equation. I don't know what I'm doing and after all this flailing around on both laptops have not increased the speed one jot.
I think I'm in line for a professional cleanup unless any lovely person out there can think of something else I can do.
I assume you were using wifi on the laptops. Do you have anything else using wifi? Junk files do not slow your internet down, they may slow down your computer but not your internet connection, at least not the way you describe it which explains you not making any gains. If your phones got 60 and 100, that tells me nothing else is slowing down your internet connection. Check your laptops to see at what speed they connecting to your router. I don't know what version of windows you are using but you can do that from network and sharing center. Next to "Connections" you should see something like "Local Area Connection: click there and you should see the speed.
One more thing, when you ran a speedtest from your phone were you on Wifi or on 4g?
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