[colug-432] Comcast and connectivity alternatives

[Joshua Kramer]

FiL, your experience with CenturyLink is interesting.  I also have
CenturyLink, and I've only had a problem once - when I upgraded from 3mbps
to 10mbps, they connected me to a bad line card in the DSLAM, so I was
without internet for a couple days.  And they forgot to re-enable my static
IP address after they fixed that.  (It's worth noting that if you have a
static IP address on your account, they bump you right to level 2 support
more often than not.)

I get a consistent 9.5-10mbps and I have never had an extended outage aside
from the upgrade incident.  On the other hand, neighbors who have TWC are
always having outages of some sort.


On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 4:35 PM, FiL Farris <philipfarris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Legal fee's alone in trying to accomplish something like this would be
> massive.  In the end you would just be dealing with a higher level,
> probably less responsive, service provider anyhow.
>
> I have never had a worse experience with a service provider then I did
> with Century Link.  They are the only wired service available in my area
> (rural) and it became so bad & unbelievable I go without rather then use
> them.
>
> Unix is basically a simple operating system.  But you have to be a genius
> to understand the simplicity.  D.R.
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 1:06 PM, tom <thomas.w.cranston at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>  On 02/13/2014 09:58 AM, Angelo McComis wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 10:09 AM, Rob Funk <rfunk at funknet.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>  > http://www.cablemover.com/   Type in your address only (not email!),
>>> and it
>>> > will search and scan and tell you what is available in your area.  This
>>> > assumes you're expecting to bundle cable and internet service.  As a
>>> > standalone service, DSL is really the only other option, and it's never
>>> > above 5-10mbps, which you might as well sign up for a 4G LTE hotspot
>>> and
>>> > call it a day.
>>>
>>>  Heh, that site just confirmed that T-W is my only cable option. I like
>>> the concept though. It just needs to expand to other transport media.
>>>
>>>
>>   That's kinda where the speedtest.net site comes in handy - It tells
>> you what other ISPs are in the general vicinity - you can then see which 3
>> or 4 (sadly, only 3 or 4) other players are in the area, and do some
>> calling around. Unfortunately, right now, it's a menu with only one option
>> on it for a lot of us.
>>
>>
>>
>>>  > Keep in mind, Comcast is not going to come in and pull out all of
>>> TWC's
>>>
>>> > finished work, fire all their people, and replace with their own.
>>> (yes, some
>>> > of that will happen in the spirit of "economy of scale" like in HR,
>>> Finance,
>>> > management... goes without saying)  They're likely to keep the @
>>> x.rr.com
>>> > domains because people don't know how to migrate their emails, they're
>>> > likely to keep all the set top and modems and such will all stay the
>>> same.
>>> >
>>> > I believe (and I hope I'm correct) that all we current customers will
>>> see is
>>> > just a new name on the envelope for sending the bill to each month.  At
>>> > least for the first 3 or so years after the deal closes.
>>>
>>>  I'm more concerned about corporate policy, particularly in slowing or
>>> blocking things they don't like or things that compete with their
>>> products. If we can persuade the FCC to reclassify them as telecom
>>> services then I won't be too concerned, but until then I can't trust
>>> them.
>>>
>>> And yes I have the same concerns with T-W, but less so because T-W is
>>> smaller (less powerful) and doesn't also own a huge media company.
>>>
>>>
>>  Really - the same concern we all share with regard to network
>> neutrality.
>>
>>  With all of the constant investment being done by carriers as they
>> refresh and upgrade their POPs, seeing the Netflix index of ISP is very
>> chilling.  Why are the speeds going down, when everyone is investing and
>> building better/faster/stronger?
>>
>>  http://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/
>>
>>  It could be this... although as it points out, it's difficult to
>> prove...
>>
>>
>> http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/02/verizon-could-be-throttling-netflix-and-amazon-but-theres-no-actual-evidence-of-it/
>>
>>   With Comcast owning NBC, there's definitely some concern for
>> preference over allowing NBC and their programming/advertising to have
>> unfair programming advantage.  I felt the same about TWC up until they were
>> spun out from under the media conglomerate in 2009.
>>
>>   Angelo
>>
>>
>>
>>  Not to speak of proposed Comcast Time Warnermerger. Freepress.net among
>> others are making motions to oppose that.
>>
>>
>> Tom
>>
>>
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