Cable/Internet options in Minneapolis (Apple Valley, Lakeville: charter)

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by gweilo845

ISPs don't sell wifi. They're just trying to get you to buy or rent their overpriced routers. You can go to any Target, Best Buy, etc. and buy a cheapie router for around $30 that'll do exactly the same thing.

Yes, dont rent their routers. When I lived in a small town and had to get internet from the small phone company in the town, they charged 90 bucks for their DSL boxes, or you pay 5 dollars a month to rent them, but that 5 dollars didnt go to the cost of the router, if you wanted to purchase it some time down the road, you'd still have to pay 90 bucks.

Bottom line
Buy your own

[DamienMcK]

I'm in the same boat, moving up in two weeks and looking at either Comcast or Qwest. Comcast seems expensive compared to what I'm used to (Brighthouse in Orlando, FL), especially as the internet service is $15 more per month if you don't also get one of their other services. Qwest looks good, gets better speeds for slightly less money, but I don't like how you have to be on a one or two year plan to get the good rate, otherwise it seems to be about $20 more per month, i.e. a ripoff. I'm going to be renting an apartment for a year and next year would be looking to buy a house, so not wanting to get stuck with a crazy-expensive bill after the first year seems unfeasible? Any thoughts? Are there other local ISPs that can provide service on Qwests lines (the apt is rated to 40mb/s downstream) for maybe a better deal, contract-wise? Thanks.

[Danie123182]

I bought Comcast HSI for 29.00/mo for 16 meg line but it usually downloads at 30. I don't know why but I'm not calling them to say anything about it.

Comcast also offers 50meg as well if your willing to pay for it. The twin cities is a test market for Comcasts docsis 3.0 roll out.

[comcastisamonopoly]

Comcast is a monopoly in Minneapolis and can do whatever it wants cause you have no other choice in cable besides dish which wont work on a lot of houses/apartments. Someone needs to come in and give them some competition to lower these damn prices!!

[DamienMcK]

FYI I went with Quest as they offer 5mb *upstream*, which is a) rare, b) great for VPN and Skype use.

[Kid Cann]

i live in the metro and have Charter, I don't know why people keep saying Comcast has a monopoly. I know people with Comcast and Charter. Honestly though, you're better off with DirecTV or something because Charter is pure garbage of a company. Absolutely horrible. I have never had a good experience with them

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Kid Cann

i live in the metro and have Charter, I don't know why people keep saying Comcast has a monopoly.

Many areas of the Twin Cities have one (and only one) cable provider available to them. That would be a monopoly.

When I lived in Bloomington and in Eden Prairie, that provider was Time Warner, but Time Warner in the Twin Cities was bought out by Comcast, so the choice now is Comcast. Period. Same with my parents' house in Minnetonka.

[moving123456]

Originally Posted by Kid Cann

i live in the metro and have Charter, I don't know why people keep saying Comcast has a monopoly. I know people with Comcast and Charter. Honestly though, you're better off with DirecTV or something because Charter is pure garbage of a company. Absolutely horrible. I have never had a good experience with them

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Many areas of the Twin Cities have one (and only one) cable provider available to them. That would be a monopoly.

When I lived in Bloomington and in Eden Prairie, that provider was Time Warner, but Time Warner in the Twin Cities was bought out by Comcast, so the choice now is Comcast. Period. Same with my parents' house in Minnetonka.

I have Mediacom cable in the western suburbs, but I don't have a choice of another cable provider either.

[Isabel_009]

Can you tell us how much you have to pay a month? Did you get a bundle? I am with Comcast right now and although the internet is pretty reliable, I hate that I'm paying $60 a month and that they took a $100 deposit from me that they now say they will not give back until I cancel the service. (That's not what they said before.) I find their customer service is really terrible. I'm just worried about switching and not having a good connection. (I use Skype a lot.)

Originally Posted by DamienMcK

FYI I went with Quest as they offer 5mb *upstream*, which is a) rare, b) great for VPN and Skype use.

[valader]

Does anyone have experience using Verizon's mifi device in the Minneapolis area? Is the Verizon wireless network reliable in the downtown area or is it overloaded?