Internet service

[higelj2]

talked to Verizon today, I can get high speed internet and phone for $45 month with no contract.....which means I can activate it when I'm there and put it on vacation when I'm gone. that sounds like a good way to fly! anybody doing this? happy with Verizon?

[MikMal]

Originally Posted by HarborRat

.......Whoever you end up with look into buying your own modem. All the companies charge about $7 a month for the rental, but you can buy one for under $100 new. I bought mine for $1 at a yard sale...yep, one dolla...saves me $7 a month.

Can you buy a modem if you have phone service through Comcast as well or is the modem only good for TV/internet?

[vacoder]

I have Comcast and I get 28MPS download and 5 MPS upload. It is rare that I have ever lost connectivity. I conduct all my work over the internet so I do at least 60 hours a week on it. I don't like their customer service but they have the fastest option available to me in PGI.

[higelj2]

I'm planning on using the same wireless router I used last year when I had Earthlink.

[sware2cod]

Originally Posted by higelj2

talked to Verizon today, I can get high speed internet and phone for $45 month with no contract.....which means I can activate it when I'm there and put it on vacation when I'm gone. that sounds like a good way to fly! anybody doing this? happy with Verizon?

Verizon has Fios high speed (fiber optic) service in some areas and DSL in others. I had both and have been happy with both. Very rare for service outages. If you have to call them for any kind of service they can be a pain because they are so big that they often give wrong info or canned responses that aren't helpful. For example, I once had an internet outage for a few hours and called them about it. They had a custr srvc rep from India walk me through troubleshooting/resetting my router and running outside to the Point of Interface box. It took a long time and the issue was never resolved. They simply said they were putting in a ticket and it was to be resolved by next day, I think. A few hours later internet was up and working normal. I called them to inform them it's back up and to close my ticket. They didn't properly close the ticket and a technician rang my doorbell the next day..he was there to work the ticket. Also the next day I read in the newspaper that a Verizon line was cut as part of some earthmoving going on in a new subdivision and something like half the town didn't have service for several hours. You would think when I was on the phone with the person from India that they would have known rather than spend an hour on the phone with me resetting my configuration too identify whether the problem was on my end. The service was already out for quite some time when I called so surely thousands of other people had the same issue all in same area.

Regardless, I am happy with Verizon because outages are very very rare and the speeds are good for internet.

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by MikMal

Can you buy a modem if you have phone service through Comcast as well or is the modem only good for TV/internet?

Sure, I have phone service also. The modem I found at a yard sale was the exact same RCA modem I was renting from comcast, but other brands are ok too as long as they are on the compatible list on the Comcast website.

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by higelj2

talked to Verizon today, I can get high speed internet and phone for $45 month with no contract.....which means I can activate it when I'm there and put it on vacation when I'm gone. that sounds like a good way to fly! anybody doing this? happy with Verizon?

That is a great deal if it is FIOS, but for that price I'd bet it's dsl. I believe their dsl is about 6mbps download, compared to 30+mbps for their FIOS. Still fast enough for most people if you are not planning on streaming too much at a time (netflix, games etc). Just surfing the web, you won't even know.

[higelj2]

DSL will be fine for me....no streaming for me yet.

[casco_schooner]

I work from home (software eng) and need 100% reliable fast internet. I am on my 2nd season with Comcast and so far so good. 30mbs you get what you pay for