LEC is on my last nerve

[Orion]

YeeHaw So far cable rocks.

These were the best from each from my house, DSL and Cable:

DSL:
]

Cable:


That DSL speed was very solid, and didn't waiver much if ever. Now I've only hit that high on the cable so far once on DL, but it stays on average between 8-9 Mb. My wife downloaded some music (legally thank you ) last night and was blown away by the difference in even a small file as that. I can tell a HUGE difference when I get on my company's VPN connection, as well as a bit of difference in just browsing normal web sites that aren't bogged down with lots of media heavy crap. I'm really loving it so far.

The only downside is that when the house was wired up for Cable Co. service, it was only wired for one outlet (it's an older house. It only has one phone jack too) in the living room. So for now I ran CAT5 from the modem in the living room to the router in my office. A little bit of a pain, but it works for the time being. I'll get around to running some coax into the office to just hook the modem up in here.

Our phone co. starts their next billing cycle on the 9th. So I've got a few days just to make sure everything's going to be OK, but so far so good. I can't wait to tell them to bugger off.

Oh and I know that my cable speed isn't a drop in a hat compared to some of you guys living it up in the big cities, but for a guy who lives 10 miles outside of a small town to begin with, I don't think that's too bad. lol

[Lotus]

I hope it works well for you We've been happy with cable for about five years. It has been really stable for us.

[Big Vine]

I knew you'd love it!
BV

[Orion]

I hope it turns out to be really stable. It's been 4 or 5 years since we've had cable TV, but when we did have it, other than lousy picture quality, I can't remember a time it went out, even before I moved out on my own and was still with my parents. (we didn't get cable till I was about 6, and then it was only about 25 channels LOL)

Now the only thing that bugs me is that the cable modem is just a straight pass though, there is no security built in what so ever. Heh, and anyone who knows me knows that I hate to just toss out something that still works so the router I'm using is sorta old needless to say. So I figure it's time to upgrade. At least I can say my current router DOES NOT have a serial port to program it :P

[emmanuelchavez]

Originally Posted by brian1973

I changed from cable to DSL about ayear ago. I wish I had never done that. Cable is so much better IMO.

Wow, really?
I changed from cable to DSL over a year ago... and I've never been happier.
I had cable for a few years, they kept raising their rates, I kept getting disconnected, and they had horrible customer service. So I just got rid of them and went for DSL. I haven't had problems with them.

But then again, I hear some people have great success with that cable company I used to have. I think there's several factors that play into it...

[IDunnoWhy]

I've had both good & bad experiences with cable and DSL. Up until about a year ago I had Charter cable Internet (6 Meg service) it was extremely stable & reliable, however with constant rate increases & plain lousy customer service I switched to DSL......

I'm currently using Verizon DSL services, It's only 1.5 Meg, and I notice the difference, unfortunately faster service is still down the road a bit, Verizon's customer support staff says there should be 3 Meg service for me by the end of this year.

I too live in a smaller community, though I'm less than 20 miles from Madison, so you'd think I'd have better/faster service already. If Verizon doesn't get me at least 5-6 Meg within the next year or so, I may have to switch back to cable grrrrr.

Anyway.... /rant Glad to hear the cable is working out good for you Orion

[Orion]

lmao, one of the major reasons we went looking for greener pastures for video service years ago was because the local cable co. kept raising the rates. Right now, both top tiers from Cable and DSL are priced close to each other, and all the rest of them are fairly close. So I'm hoping that the little competition we have here in town will keep them from raising the rate of the internet service. The DSL top tier I think is just a tad cheaper for more speed ($49 a month for 12 Meg/1 up, I'm now paying $54 a month for 10 Meg/ 1 up), and both companies now no longer require anyone to have any other services to have internet. I was really surprised that I wasn't even asked about any TV package. I wouldn't change no matter what the deal was, but still it surprised me.

I've heard people complain around here about the price going up, but they also had the video as well. And good grief they like to up the bill about once every 6 months, or at least they used too. I'm really hoping that they don't do this with the internet!!! At least we're locked into this price for a year.

I keep enjoying hearing all the comments about how stable it is though

[Lotus]

We signed up for cable Internet through Earthlink, not the local cable company (Time Warner). So, although it's still cable from TWC, we get billed by Earthlink, and they don't seem to have issues. It's the same lines, etc., just a different billing company.

Luckily, our cost hasn't gone up since we've had it. Of course, now that I've said that, I'll get a letter in the mail tomorrow advising us of increases. LOL.

[Pure]

*sigh*

Funny. Just after my last post in this thread we started having issues with the cable. The internet went out and the box wouldn't reset. Called customer service and they informed us it would be 2 weeks before a tech could get out to see us. I'm not in a little city. 2 weeks is a BS SLA (service level agreement) and they need to be slapped for even allowing that crap. Well I muddled with the router until it finally reset, and that fixed the internet issues so I canceled the service call. Then about a week later the IP phones went out. This time there was no fixing it, the box has gone out. But yet again 2 weeks was the response time given to us for the next issue. At that point we told them to shove it! We've had problems with the cable for as long as I can remember. OnDemand and the movie channels don't work from 10AM to 3PM no matter what. Multiple service calls on this issue with no resolution.

So yeah we are done with cable. Direct TV was installed 2 weeks ago and the new DSL line was put in today. Vontage was signed up for the phones. We did have issues with AT&T scheduling the install. Basically we were told they would be out last Thursday so we had the cable internet shut off Thursday. Then AT&T was a no show. Called them up, they had no record of us ever calling them! Ordered everything again put a rush on the DSL modem shipment. Was supposed to have it by Sat. When I didn't have it by Monday I called them again. Yet again no record of us calling in. So a modem was overnighted and a tech dispatched for this morning. New DSL is installed. I can tell it's slower than the cable, it is a 6 meg but is coming in at about 6.8 making for a fast enough connection, just downloads take a little longer.

oh to add a little icing to my frustration cake. The DSL modem is faulty. I'm only getting 2 bars of signal strength 1 foot away from the WiFi. So a new one is being overnighted as we speek....if they can remember that I called in.

[Orion]

LMAO, way to add to my confidence in my new service man.

On the DirecTV, I think you'll love it. When we left cable for DirecTV for video service it was a difference between night and day. That's been the single best 'utility' move we've ever done. As long as you get a competent installer to come out and adjust the dish right, you should have very little problems.

Sucks to hear about your problems though. I hope if I ever have any issues that it won't take that long to get someone out here.