Best value for Cable / Internet (San Jose, Santa Clara: 2014, apartments, month to)

[SoloTraveler]

Hello!

I'm looking for opinions from other locals about the best ISP in the south San Jose area. Are there any great deals out there? I'm looking for internet only and so far I keep running into Comcast and AT&T and frankly I can't distinguish b/w the two.

Is there anything else? Is it cheaper? Are speeds good?

And if there's a good joint TV - Internet package you know of right now that's a good value, please feel free to pass that along.

Thanks much!!

[vrhunski]

looks like very soon we will have option for google fiber.
Google Fiber next city: Nashville looks likely after franchise filing | BGR


just take comcast on month to month (without any contract) and then go with google fiber.

[darkeconomist]

Originally Posted by vrhunski

looks like very soon we will have option for google fiber.
Google Fiber next city: Nashville looks likely after franchise filing | BGR


just take comcast on month to month (without any contract) and then go with google fiber.

San Jose is huge. At best, a select few neighborhoods would get Google Fiber at some point in the future. It's a fair bet that any given person in SJ won't have it as an option by 2020.

To the OP: Comcast is expensive. $65/month for internet, even if you own your own modem. And their service is spotty--apartments can really load up their lines and bring down speeds and stability. Furthermore, their technicians and CSRs have a tendency to be apathetic or incompetent.

Sonic.net has gotten really good reviews, and the speed can be good (and more consistent!) if you're near enough to the CO.

[sonarrat]

Comcast is the only service that offers good speed for the money in this area. If you play online games, stream video, or anything of the sort then DSL is unusable.

[tehsquishmeister]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

If you play online games, stream video, or anything of the sort then DSL is unusable.

I don't really care either way, but this is most certainly not true.

Online gaming uses very little bandwidth and having low latency to the endpoint is much more important than capacity. DSL is generally better than cable for gaming, as latency tends to fluctuate much more with cable. Bandwidth capacity (cable is generally better than DSL in this regard) has absolutely nothing to do with latency (speed).

I currently have DSL and can stream Netflix to 2 TVs at the same time, 720p 5.1 no problem at all. I get 16 down and 1 up, which is more than enough bandwidth for pretty much any reasonable home use.

[jk88cal]

I have had Comcast and AT&T DSL & U-verse in past 5 years. Here is my take between them. I don't know about other providers.

Comcast cable is faster but pricey. Comcast has speeds that are not available from AT&T. If you need higher speeds, then you have to go with Comcast. Comcast will offer you lower rate for 1st 6 months or 1 year. After the intro rate, the cost goes up. Weird thing is that Comcast will not offer intro rates to existing customers, even if you threaten to leave. So after intro rate is over, you either switch or pay regular rates.

AT&T cost is lower but slower speeds. If you don't care for the fastest speed, you can get DSL for around $15 to $20 and U-verse for around $40. Note these prices are in the past 3 years, so not sure what is the current prices. I currently have U-verse Internet 12 mbps for $48. You do need to sign up for 1 year contract to lock in these rates. After 1 year, the prices goes up. But you can call AT&T and you can get intro rate again with additional year of contract.

I have played games on both Comcast and AT&T. When there is no issue, Comcast's ping is better. But I had friends with severe issue with Comcast. It is location (or neighbor) dependent. So if your location is good, you will enjoy Comcast. If you're in a bad location, you will know in couple weeks.

AT&T has higher, but consistent, ping. I did have major issue with DSL. Every 1-2 weeks, I have to reboot the DSL modem, because Internet stops working or slows down to extremely slow speed. And even when I switched to new DSL modem, problem continues. No problem with AT&T U-verse.

[cardinal2007]

After having Comcast for a while in Belmont, I came to the conclusion that the apartment is wired strangely and so the people working on fixing it for others would sometimes affect my service. I would have to call to get it fixed too often myself. AT&T's DSL was comparable at the time, and was more reliable, and cheaper. These days the speeds they offer on normal DSL don't compare to Comcast. I think the newer buildings in the South Bay would probably not have an issue, but I don't know about the older buildings.

Honestly neither have that great a customer service, find one that is reliable at your location, and stick with it, fixing issues is a mess, and you sometimes will have to call more than once.

Hopefully with Google fiber supposedly coming in a few years we will see triple-play packages from Comcast in order of $100/mo to stay competitive.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I used to switch between ATT Uverse and Comcast in Santa Clara to get better deals. I prefer ATT's customer service. I haven't been able to distinguish any real difference in speed between the two.

ATT is easier to negotiate a lower price at the end of the contract, usually. If not, I switch. Then switch back.