[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Sporin

My main point is that I wish I had a choice from Cable internet in my neighborhood, Comcast charges a mint.

Apples vs Apples, you're not saving any money if VTEL drags fiber to your house. Everybody charges the same for the video part because they're middle men. The content providers get most of that money. The biggest chunk of your cable TV bill? ESPN. The Red Sox/Bruins get a couple bucks. VTEL isn't the moster Comcast is so they're not in a very good bargaining position buying content and they don't own NBC/Universal and all that captive content. I have a VTEL ONT on the outside wall of my place. I compared side-by-side and Comcast is cheaper unless you sign a contract. We all know what happens when that contract is up.

[tkln]

We have Comcast and I have to say I was THRILLED when I found out they came to this neighborhood (only because the alternatives for high speed internet were mediocre at best and working from home as a graphic designer, it's a must for me). We were in a contract for a TV + internet bundle, and the rate did in fact skyrocket when it was up.

Until I called them and asked them...."you do realize I can get 90% of the content you provide on the internet for free? What is preventing me from ditching your TV service and doing that?"

I got an even better package than last time, $20/month cheaper, with more stuff. I'll have to repeat the game in three years lol, but I can deal with that.

[Sporin]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Apples vs Apples, you're not saving any money if VTEL drags fiber to your house. Everybody charges the same for the video part because they're middle men. The content providers get most of that money. The biggest chunk of your cable TV bill? ESPN. The Red Sox/Bruins get a couple bucks. VTEL isn't the moster Comcast is so they're not in a very good bargaining position buying content and they don't own NBC/Universal and all that captive content. I have a VTEL ONT on the outside wall of my place. I compared side-by-side and Comcast is cheaper unless you sign a contract. We all know what happens when that contract is up.

I have the most basic of basic cable only, and only for the last years or so. It only raised my previously-Internet Only cable bill by $7/month.

I nether want, nor need, any Television via cable or fiber, or whatever. I need and want fast, stable interent that doesn't cost me an arm & a leg every month. Comcast is $100/month for internet and they have ZERO competition in my neighborhood. I think that's kind of crazy but maybe that's just me. I'm just a fan of choices. The more good choices, the more you can shop around and find what fits you best at your budget. And competition drives costs down (usually).

I'm also a work from home freelance graphic designer so I NEED solid, faster internet. I can deduct a portion of it from my taxes as well, which is nice.

[Soup Nazi]

One of my coworkers was on the board of ECFiber in its infancy. I too worked from home and was looking forward to another choice for broadband besides Comcast. I do not subscribe to any video service so all I am ever wanting is stable and affordable broadband. Unfortunately, Windsor chose not to be one of the participating towns when ECFiber started but when you look at what ECFiber charges for their service, even the lowest priced plan (only 10 Mbps!) is $66.00 a month, hardly a bargain. I have Comcast performance now (25 Mbps) at $65.99 a month; ECFiber charges $91.00 for the same speed. Granted, ECFiber's service is synchronous, but unless you have the need for greater upload capacity, you won't see any difference.

When I sold my house in Windsor, I rented briefly in Hartland, where I had VTEL's fiber service (1 GB synchronous) for a great introductory price. The downside was that you have to use their combination modem/router, which sucked royally and constantly went offline, and was also not easy to configure once you managed to convince VTEL to give you the username and password to the router.

It looks like VTEL is expanding using wireless access points, where you install a small receiver on your house that receives the wireless signal from a nearby tower. I have a friend who lives in a very remote area of Vershire that has no broadband other than VTEL's wireless offering, and he has found it fast and reliable, so that may be an option for some towns in the future.