[colug-432] Comcast and connectivity alternatives

[Rick Hornsby]

On Feb 15, 2014, at 21:40, Jeff Stebelton <jeff.stebelton at gmail.com> wrote:

> I can get UVerse 45 Gbs for less than I'm paying now for RoadRuner Turbo. Anyone have experience with it? I'm loathe to deal with AT&T again but I’m looking to get off RoadRunner and its my only option besides DSL. And it sounds like a good deal if they deliver whats promised.
> 
Last I knew, UVerse is DSL and unless you have a DSLAM on your front lawn I find it highly unlikely that you’re going to get 45Mbps (what I think you meant).  It appears from the UVerse website they are in fact advertising that speed for $65/month.  Before you commit to a contract that they’re going to give you all kinds of hell to get out of and keep billing you for even after you cancel or try to charge you an ETF for, make them show you the actual speed at your house, and/or make them show you where you have X days (30?) to cancel the contract if it doesn’t live up to the promise.

What tends to happen with DSL is that you pay for 45Mbps, and they say “up to 45Mpbs” but it turns out you’re hilariously far away from a CO or DSLAM and you can only get 10 or 15, or 3 Mbps.  Hey, they promised “up to” and that’s what they meant.

Check the other fine print as well.  The prices offered are specials, and could get jacked way up in 12 months.  I’m seeing things here on the ATT site about monthly transfer caps, $99 installation fee, activation fees, $180 ETF, etc.

On a side note, the marketing terms these guys come up with are more and more ridiculous.  In order of slowest to fastest speed, they’re calling it basic, express, pro, elite, max, max plus, max turbo, and power.  Also the little graphic that says how fast you can download something is shown on an evenly spaced scale with markers at 2s, 25s, 5m, 1h, and 12h.  In other words, 2, 5, 300, 3600, 43200.  Because they can, I guess.

Uverse is an alternative to Comcast, etc yes.  Just be careful.  ATT can be really shady about the fees they charge, the actual speed, and their contract terms.  One advantage to the DSL is that you’re not sharing an aggregate link with a bunch of cable subscribers.  Your speed should be very consistent, whatever it is.

The 3/1 internet service I had a few years back was sufficient.  The TV product I finally gave up on after 3 tuner boxes.  In the winter it was fine, but in the warmer months when the room’s ambient temperature went up, a component in the device would squeal loudly and annoyingly.  They replaced the box twice, and all behaved the same.  Putting a PC case can on top of the device stopped the squeal by keeping it cool, but then it was the noise of the case fan.

Just my advice - I wouldn’t cancel TimeWarner until you’re sure you’re going to switch and you’re satisfied with ATT.  Keep track of what the installer does to your house’s RG-6 lines, so that you can put them back the way they were if you decide to cancel ATT.  The lines coming into your house are completely different for each service (TimeWarner comes in on RG-6, ATT comes in on a copper pair usually through your telephone box and terminates in the ATT DSL modem, where it breaks out into ethernet for your internet and RG-6 for your IPTV), but IIRC ATT will re-use the existing RG-6 wiring in your house and disconnect TimeWarner in the process.
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