Internet

[rekees4300]

I have Frontier Vantage internet, which is fast when it works. But the big problem is...when it works. I am on my 6th different service guy this year. He is mystified at the issue of just dropping out. But he has tried more than anyone else has.

I have had this service 3 years, I am guessing it has been out close to 4 - 5 moths total in 3 years.

So I am looking for a replacement, just not much to chose from where I live

Have you checked Verizon Wireless 4G? They cover almost all of the USA. I have a Frontier landline phone and it goes out every time there's a heavy rain. Reliability seems to be a universal problem with that company.

 

[Rich B1]

Odd thing is, phone uses same wires as the internet. Only time the phone has been out was when someone shot one of router boxes. Prior to going fiber optic, the phone was constantly a problem.

The service guys are mystified. The current one is local, he claims my install is the single most problematic install in the area. They have no idea why, are now going to replace major pieces. I know the people up the road have had 1 outage in 2 years, other neighbors claim to have never had a problem. I am lucky to go 2 1/2 months without an outage.

On a good day, I have 2 bars of Verizon service here. So not sure that is an option, but have used the phone hotspot a lot with 2 bars.

 

[rekees4300]

Odd thing is, phone uses same wires as the internet. Only time the phone has been out was when someone shot one of router boxes. Prior to going fiber optic, the phone was constantly a problem.

The service guys are mystified. The current one is local, he claims my install is the single most problematic install in the area. They have no idea why, are now going to replace major pieces. I know the people up the road have had 1 outage in 2 years, other neighbors claim to have never had a problem. I am lucky to go 2 1/2 months without an outage.

On a good day, I have 2 bars of Verizon service here. So not sure that is an option, but have used the phone hotspot a lot with 2 bars.

My Verizon Internet hotspot is a MiFi 7730. It also gets 2 bars and on good days can download 25Mbps. If you want that as a backup to Frontier you're probably looking at around $75/mo. Good luck getting your fiber optic to work. At least it sounds like Frontier is making an effort to fix it.

 

[TnAndy]

I think I'm going to try these guys: Holy Wireless

It's expensive and I'm a little concerned because it's an area I don't understand well. These guys come out an install a tower that allows you to hop on their fiber system. I'll let you know how it works. I've talked to a few people that say it works well but most people aren't willing to pay for the tower.

Wow....that is high ! $100/mo for 10MB up/2MB down. I built a tower on my place and lease it to local WISP. Their residential 20MB down, 10 MB runs $45/mo, and installs are 50 bucks. Fireball Internet - Residential Services

 

[kcflhrc]

Odd thing is, phone uses same wires as the internet. Only time the phone has been out was when someone shot one of router boxes. Prior to going fiber optic, the phone was constantly a problem.

The service guys are mystified. The current one is local, he claims my install is the single most problematic install in the area. They have no idea why, are now going to replace major pieces. I know the people up the road have had 1 outage in 2 years, other neighbors claim to have never had a problem. I am lucky to go 2 1/2 months without an outage.

On a good day, I have 2 bars of Verizon service here. So not sure that is an option, but have used the phone hotspot a lot with 2 bars.

With DSL, yes, it uses the same pair of wires but that's it. Different devices for phone and DSL. So when the DSL goes out the phone can work just fine. And vice versa. The phone dial tone from the CO is wired into a port on the DSLAM and then the out side of the DSLAM is wired to the cable pair to your house. Think of DSL as a garden hose connected to one of those T-Splitters, 1 input 2 outputs. DSL rides on a different frequency than the phone and that is why you have to have a filter on the phone side.

 

[PILOON]

I'm in poor reception area as well.
Fiber optic line is about 1/4 mile from us but they claim it is for phone lines only and cost to upgrade to internet would be costly. ?
Installation is bell owned.
A private company has brought internet to us via wireless technology with decent service and decent prices (2 up/down @ $50.ish/M) which satisfies most of my needs.
Also no caps on usage. Only problem is 'line of sight' but in many cases he overcomes it with repeaters.
Have used this service going on 7-8 years with rare outages that he is fast at correcting.
When he came to install me he pointed to a location that would be ideal for a repeater that I'd need and lucky me it was my daughter's house so 24 hrs later I had the net.
In return she got free service in exchange for providing the service to others.
Now the provider is not getting wealthy but makes a fair living at it and seems to forever growing.
Now he takes the net hookup some 15 miles from us and has probably 5-6 repeaters en route as the system is all 'line of sight' and we are very hilly.
With the current virus situation many folks worked on line and so far there have been no complaints.
As I understand it, his repeaters are all programmed that he can reset them from his home as long as he is awake, LOL.
About the only negative is w/e's when kids all go on line watching HD films as that uses a lot of available space but then he has increased the flow at moderate cost.
I know of 3 people that have carried on business on line without any snags, and that non stop 8 hrs/day so we can't complain.
All to say it can be done.

Oh, as in a few mornings, early logons slow as I guess many wake up to check emails 'first thing' but it soon clears up to normal speed a half hour or so later.

 

[Jlblake]

Wow....that is high ! $100/mo for 10MB up/2MB down. I built a tower on my place and lease it to local WISP. Their residential 20MB down, 10 MB runs $45/mo, and installs are 50 bucks. Fireball Internet - Residential Services

it is very expensive...this is after $2,800 for a 60' tower. I'm not impressed with their follow up service. Still don't have internet and they haven't even brought the drone up on my land yet...been almost 3 weeks. Still looking for alternatives. Haven't heard back from Ubifi yet.

 

[Dftodd]

It would really depend on how much internet you use and the speeds you can get or will find acceptable. And what your doing with the internet.

I have windstream DSL. The main selling point at the time was unlimited data. I could deal with the super slow speed when we first got it. I believe it was 1MBPS.

Our other options were satelite or an internet card from our cell provider. Both satellite and the internet card were limited to total usage and the price went up or you got your speed throttled. After a few high bill's from the cell company, I tanked the internet card and switched to DSL.

With teenagers at the house the internet usage was extremely high. Kids and wife were face booking, and I perused the occasional forum so video quality wasn't a priority. If the kids complained, they were told to stuff it or pay the difference in price :laughing: :laughing:

Since then they installed fiber optics in our area. Updated the lines. They had a special program for existing customers dealing with the slow speed, so they bumped us to 50Mbps download speed for the same price I was paying for the 1mbps service to begin with.

I got a letter the other day that they upped the speed to 100mbps speed and continuing to honor the same price program that bumped me up in speed to begin with.

 

[ultrarunner]

It does seem to be the wild west when it comes to plans and pricing.

One of my tenants just did a two year with Comcast at $99 per month business for 200megs.

Another did a deal for business with ATT for $240 per month for 50megs.

Same building both within 60 days.

A lot of the services like TMobile 5g home not available at my home location...

How can one know they have the best deal?

 

[ponytug]

You can try to do lots of due diligence, but even then, if you get a motivated seller, they will give you unlisted deals to make quotas. So you can never tell. Talk to other tenants and owners to find out what they have gotten.

AT&T is not worth the premium in my opinion, and especially because many plans have no guarantees of uptime performance, etc. That is ok for home use to my mind, but not for business use. We have one location that they quoted $500/mo for 50Mbit, twenty four month commitment.

Comcast business can be a good deal, but be very careful at renewal not to let them auto renew, as they have had a tendency to really drive up the rate at renewal. You do have to watch what you get quoted, 200Mbit down and how many up? 10? 200? Symmetric service is worth a great deal more to many business, unless they are just providing web surfing for customers in a waiting room.

I have had much better experiences with local tech savvy resellers; yes, it is the same product, but you pay the same or less and get great service.

All the best,

Peter