Internet in the Country

[edkemper]

If you really think AT&T local and AT&T Wireless are in some conspiracy together you are sadly mistaken.

If only that were true. AT&T js all about themselves. One part of the company not knowing what the other part is doing is an interesting concept.

 

[kcflhrc]

If only that were true. AT&T js all about themselves. One part of the company not knowing what the other part is doing is an interesting concept.

Maybe things have changed since I worked there, doubt it though. Local, Long Distance, and wireless divisions had no idea about what the other was doing. It was the same way at Sprint.

 

[paulharvey]

Maybe things have changed since I worked there, doubt it though. Local, Long Distance, and wireless divisions had no idea about what the other was doing. It was the same way at Sprint.

Ok, local maintanance has no idea what local engineering is doing; and local construction is same. Seriously about 2 months ago, we just finished relocating a fairly major phone line under US-90 in Jacksonville FL for a DOT project. One evening, AT&T maintainer tied a couple trouble pairs back into the old line to fix a "trouble"... there is no master evil plan, there is worn out infrastructure, poor plannning, short sightedness, and Vast increase in demand.

Trust me, the local engineering guys for AT&T can't tell you what there own crews are doing half the time.

Edit: this isn't just AT&T or even telecoms; every utility I deal with (several dozen) has problems with old facilities, limited budgets, constant need to move/change, and generally not knowing exactly what they have/own where. It is very common to find a Buried Phone (BT) and all the providers say it isn't theirs. Gas, water, sewer, power, etc are all in the same boat.

 

[California]

Ultrarunner, call Sonic.net. They serve various parts of the East Bay.

They recently got rights to resell ATT's Uverse, which is 24mbs DSL from your neighborhood box, that is fed from fiber. I just got this, several miles west of Santa Rosa. The rural version is claimed 11 mbps and I actually see over 13mbps. I'll write about it here, after a few days experience.

Ok, followup.

It works! Sonic.net is doing it right.

20 ms ping, 13.5mbps download. (replacing the 2mbps DSL that was all we could get until now).

Now Roku is usable.

I think this Sonic.net package is a great deal. It consists of re-sold ATT Uverse, internet and phone, no ATT-TV. $53 per month including modem/router rental. That's not an introductory price, its constant indefinitely. Sonic sells several alternatives for the same $40/month + router rental: DSL, Uverse, in some locations fiber like Google's.

I'm a happy customer.

 

[ultrarunner]

Thanks for the update... good to know there are options... were you able to keep any of your old email addresses?

 

[California]

Thanks for the update... good to know there are options... were you able to keep any of your old email addresses?

Yes, this upgrade was Sonic DSL to Sonic-provided Uverse so it kept everything in my customer profile and it preserved my same old PacBell phone number on the house phone. But the house phone is now VOIP (with no backup battery in the modem to maintain VOIP).

The only apparent difference is download speed.

I never did use the PacBell email/webspace that came with their DSL, or the Sonic versions when I started Sonic DSL a few years ago to escape the Pacbell/SBC/ATT speed cap and their continual price increases. Leaving Pacbell/SBC/ATT at that time didn't lose anything.

But more responsive to your question - at our house in town I did have to download and save some old pages I had hosted at Pacbell/SBC/ATT years ago, mostly pre-Facebook family website stuff, kids soccer tournament photos etc, when I switched that house to Sonic a couple of years ago. I had only used that @Pacbell email as the contact point for a few things like my TBN user id, so providing new contact info to a few sites was easy.

In summary this update from Sonic DSL to Sonic-provided Uverse was easy. Simply an hour for the tech to visit the ranch and configure it. Next, I'll change over the family home in town. Sonic says expect Uverse there to run twice as fast as my rural version so 20mbps or more. For $53/month.

How do these speed/price figures compare with what others have?

 

[cqaigy2]

And their population density is 104 people per square km (per: Population density (people per sq. km of land area) | Data | Table), almost three times the population density of the US.

Aaron Z

I sure as heck don't have any answers but, maybe we shouldn't have interstate highways, railroads, telephones, electrical power grid, to name a few, because our population density is too low to support them. It's the same argument against mass transit, that had my parents a little confused, as they said they remembered mass transit when they were younger. Seemed one could easily get to different cities and move around within them using mass transit systems that were in place. Maybe what is different now vs then is that we are missing the drive and ethical responsibility to future generations. Most of us want to get our bucks now and aren't concerned with what we leave our children and grand children.

 

[CCWKen]

I'm on wireless broadband. Personally, I think they should limit internet access to 3Mbs for everyone until the infrastructure is in place to allow everyone equal access. If you need more speed then it should be priced at a HUGE premium, say $100/Mbs over 3, to help pay for the infrastructure needed to service all. "For the betterment of the masses" say the liberals. If you feel the necessity to watch videos, movies, games, etc. streaming off the internet, then that should come at a much higher cost. Because you have it now limits my access to the internet and it's not fair or equal. My access totally dies (packet loss) or slows to below dialup starting about 7:30pm and lasts to about 11:00pm. I can only guess that it's because of the "video crowd" and has nothing to do with actual work or home contracting services. Even if it were, then you should be paying commercial rates and not home access rates.

Fair is fair.

 

[kcflhrc]

I'm on wireless broadband. Personally, I think they should limit internet access to 3Mbs for everyone until the infrastructure is in place to allow everyone equal access. If you need more speed then it should be priced at a HUGE premium, say $100/Mbs over 3, to help pay for the infrastructure needed to service all. "For the betterment of the masses" say the liberals. If you feel the necessity to watch videos, movies, games, etc. streaming off the internet, then that should come at a much higher cost. Because you have it now limits my access to the internet and it's not fair or equal. My access totally dies (packet loss) or slows to below dialup starting about 7:30pm and lasts to about 11:00pm. I can only guess that it's because of the "video crowd" and has nothing to do with actual work or home contracting services. Even if it were, then you should be paying commercial rates and not home access rates.

Fair is fair.

That would be a particular carrier issue and not the norm. I pay $85 a month for 3mb and consistently get 6mb. But to limit everyone to 3mb is a novel idea, good luck with that. Carriers will always over sell what they can actually deliver.

 

[Oaktree]

It's the same argument against mass transit, that had my parents a little confused, as they said they remembered mass transit when they were younger. Seemed one could easily get to different cities and move around within them using mass transit systems that were in place. Maybe what is different now vs then is that we are missing the drive and ethical responsibility to future generations. Most of us want to get our bucks now and aren't concerned with what we leave our children and grand children.

Not quite sure I get what you're trying to say. Where was there mass transit when your parents were young that there isn't now and what time frame? Are we just talking inter-city bus routes? Yeah, at one point every little one-horse town had bus service (maybe train too), but as more and more people got cars usage declined to the point where it just wasn't profitable anymore to maintain.

I don't believe that people are any more (or less) short-sighted today than they were at any other point in history. Remember, it wasn't all that long ago that people just dumped their trash "out back" or dumped it in a river, etc.