Internet woes

[Melalvai]

Mostly just a long rant, but if you have any experience or suggestions regarding internet I'd appreciate the insight. Even if your suggestion is along the lines of "happy place, go to your happy place"!

Before we moved to our new house two weeks ago, we called CableOne hoping we could get internet set up before we got here. They said we're out of their area. We are just on the other side of the city limit sign. So, we thought we'd have to go with DSL from AT&T.

When we got here we learned that all of our neighbors, even those to the south (further outside city limits), all have CableOne. So it can't be that we're out of their area and I went by to talk to them in person. They sent a tech out (again) and this time said "Your house is too far back from the road."

AT&T sent a tech out and said the same thing. "You can't have DSL but you can have dial-up." I don't think so.

I talked to CableOne's tech and I'm waiting for him to take measurements and call us back with an estimate on what it would cost since we are so far back from the road. We took some measurements too--maybe 30 feet further back than our next door neighbor. Bah.

I also looked into satellite internet, and had a real adventure. I called Hughes Net, just to get information. To give me a price, he had to know my area. He also required two forms of id--a credit card number and a SSN. I wish I'd gone with my first instinct and said "Sorry, if you can't do business with me without my SSN, then you can't do business with me." I got all the info, and said thanks and I'd get back to him with our decision. Next thing I know they are calling me to schedule an installation appointment! I said "I never placed an order" and she said "I have an order right here for the lease-option". (I had to keep asking the first guy for the purchase-option info, as I am definitely not interested in fleece-options, but he only wanted to tell me about the fleece-option.) She said "Call this other phone number to get your order cancelled."

I spent a long time on the phone, mostly on hold, and got passed up the chain to "someone who has the authority to cancel your order" (so why did you just waste my time asking me all these questions??) and before I got it cancelled I was YELLING at them. They really didn't want to cancel. They wanted to put my order on hold for 30 days. So that I wouldn't lose out on the rebates. Whatever.

The next day I called my bank and cancelled the card, explaining to them what was going on. I've been checking my account daily and so far no charges from Hughes Net have showed up, so it looks like they really did cancel my order.

Satellite is about the slowest high speed internet available anyway.

I'm not worried about Hughes Net anymore, but I am worried about our internet situation. We are renting the house, and if we had known about this it would have been a deal-breaker. I don't remember for sure if we did ask, but if we did, I'm pretty sure the agent said something like "Oh, it's probably CableOne."

Other than the internet, we love this house. I'd be interested in buying it at some point, but it is not for sale. The owner got out-sourced and got a job elsewhere, and they intend to retire into it. They built it themselves. They are very friendly landlords, quite a shock after the nightmare-bankrupt-landlords we've had lately. However, if we can't get high speed internet, we'll have to move when our lease is up (or before if we can find another tenant).

Other than that, and some vagaries of the last (bankrupt) landlady from the place we moved out of, this move has been very positive and about as stress free as moving a family with a large collection of books and electronics can be. Which is to say, very stressful, but it could have been, and has been, SO much worse!!

[OakLeaf]

That's weird.

We're half a mile from the road, and we got DSL as soon as it became available in our area.

We're in your situation as far as cable - our next door neighbor on our same lane, who's maybe 100 yards closer to the road than we are, can get cable, but we can't. So we were on dialup until five or six years ago.

We tried satellite, but couldn't get reception through the trees. It's plenty for TV, but not enough for internet apparently.

Might be worth looking into wireless. Everyone seems to be making tethering more feasible.

[fastdogs]

yeah, watch hughes net. We had that, and my husband was supposed to have cancelled it. We ended up paying several months because they just suspended it for a while, then automatically started it back up again. No matter that you dont' have the equipment for it, they will still charge you for it.
We can't get DSL or cable where I'm at. Our only choice is satellite or what we have now with at&t- not sure what it's called, but it involves a router and a "wan device". It's lousy, not really much better than hughes net was.
vickie

[Trek420]

We're half a mile from the road, and we got DSL as soon as it became available in our area.

It's the distance from your central office (where your dial tone comes from) not the road. With DSL urban or rural doesn't matter, it's all just loop length from the c.o. And to make things more entertaining it's as the wire turns not as the crow flies. You do see these orders "I'm across the street from your &*^ c.o and I can't have it :mad:" and waaaay out in the boonies who can. Sometimes there are other line conditions that if I explain my head'll explode :rolleyes:

Your house isn't moving, the c.o's not either so maybe someday a remote terminal and then you could have any speed. I imagine similar for cable but don't know anything about cable.

Till that happy day arrives: satellite, wireless or dial up.

oh, the fine print I'm supposed to say that the following is the opinion of an att employee and not necessarily reflective of the management.

[OakLeaf]

OIC.

It was definitely "distance from the road" with cable. Didn't realize it was different for DSL. I guess the cable company pays for the line, just like the phone company did.

We could have gas too, but we'd have to pay for that line. Simpler just to get propane twice a year.

[artifactos]

I was in that situation when I lived in Virginia. We were only 3 miles from town, but down an unpaved road, so no cable or DSL. We all just got air cards, and I still have mine from Sprint since it's too convenient to just cancel.

[Trek420]

OIC.

It was definitely "distance from the road" with cable. Didn't realize it was different for DSL. I guess the cable company pays for the line, just like the phone company did.

We could have gas too, but we'd have to pay for that line. Simpler just to get propane twice a year.

well, the lines and poles are a little different. Yes sometimes engineering gets involved, new development and there are no poles, no line to the home. With DSL (as opposed to uverse, or Verizon's Fios, or Cable ....) whether you can have it and what speed if is available is determined by distance from your home to one of these wonderful buildings :):

http://www.thecentraloffice.com

In other words you could be close enough to the c.o. to have DSL but still not have a drop (line down from the poles or up from underground wire) to your home. Of course if that's the case ... run the line to your home and you're up and running.

If there's no c.o. close enough sometimes there's a "mini c.o" aka remote terminal

normal disclosure follows.

[uforgot]

I would get in touch with the Attorney Generals office and make a complaint about HughesNet. That is ridiculous and you could keep someone else from going through that. I had a problem with an outfit called Cricket and they were terrific. They even followed up with a call.

As for internet...it happens all the time here. I have friends who can only get dialup or satellite. No high speed or DSL options even available to them, and it really makes no sense as to who can or can't. I have friends WAY out with no cell phone service that have high speed internet and another who lives a couple of miles out of town who can't get high speed.

Then again they could be jerking your chain too. Centurytel told me that no way could I have high speed internet without paying for a land line too. I said, "Well, then, just drop all of my services". (I have it at school and I wasn't paying 60+ a month just for internet in the evenings). Well, they called me a couple of weeks later and guess what? I COULD get it without a land line. $29.99. Wow, funny how that worked when they knew I was serious.

[Trek420]

Then again they could be jerking your chain too. Centurytel told me that no way could I have high speed internet without paying for a land line too. I said, "Well, then, just drop all of my services". (I have it at school and I wasn't paying 60+ a month just for internet in the evenings). Well, they called me a couple of weeks later and guess what? I COULD get it without a land line. $29.99. Wow, funny how that worked when they knew I was serious.

I don't think they're kidding her about it being available although I do have one thought bubble or idea. Generally if you can have DSL you can have it with or without a land line. YMMV, some exceptions apply yada yada.

If your rep is good when the order's placed the line's tested and retested, then goes through a whole lotta stuff in the background including my buddies in the c.o. before a tech even goes out. Trust me, phone companies & ISP's are cheap and don't want to send a tech if they don't think the order will fly. ;) So I'm a little puzzled that the tech went out and said it wouldn't complete. :confused: Coulda been pair gain or something that sometimes does not test till they are out ...

We finally got my Mom off dial up and to DSL through her small local ISP. She ordered one of the top speeds but it wasn't performing well, lot of dropped connections etc. I helped her to get it escalated, her ISP got an ATT tech out who was great, he found that she could have DSL but not the higher speed she requested. Got that changed and it's much better now.

So I gotta question if the service could be provided (rep tested and was able to place the order, passed all our preliminary tests, dispatched out ...) but not at say elite speed your tech shoulda woulda coulda said that and coordinated the speed downgrade. So that's my thought bubble I had above, Melalvai. I can't touch or look at your order in any way but you might ask if you could have the service at a slower speed.



I would get in touch with the Attorney Generals office and make a complaint about HughesNet. That is ridiculous and you could keep someone else from going through that. I had a problem with an outfit called Cricket and they were terrific. They even followed up with a call.


For the Hughesnet if they are billing you for a service not provided I'd contact your state PUC (public utility commission) or the FCC.

insert standard disclosure here, just my humble opinion.

[bmccasland]

because DSL isn't available in my neighborhood, yet. But the AT&T guys are in the process of installing fiber optic lines in my neighborhood. Still when I go to the website to check availability, I get the "not available" response. After Hurricane Katrina, if you had phone service in your area, lucky you, all plans for upgrades went out the window. So now they're finally catching up. S l o w l y.
Other option is satellite, as other have stated, not really a viable option. Or Cox Cable, but since I have satellite TV, and do not want to bundle my service - that isn't much of an option either.

I'm patiently waiting for DSL. and waiting, and waiting.. :rolleyes:

[OakLeaf]

You can get Earthlink cable without getting cable TV.

It probably would cost more than non-bundled service, but we've looked into it.

[lo123]

It's the distance from your central office (where your dial tone comes from) not the road. With DSL urban or rural doesn't matter, it's all just loop length from the c.o. And to make things more entertaining it's as the wire turns not as the crow flies. You do see these orders "I'm across the street from your &*^ c.o and I can't have it :mad:" and waaaay out in the boonies who can. Sometimes there are other line conditions that if I explain my head'll explode :rolleyes:

The other thing that can happen is that the local connector (DSLAM or something like that) can be full (was the issue here--new construction--until they added more capacity. Why they didn't do fiber here is beyond me, but whatever. I'm not stuck with the cable company anymore--woohoo).

[wnyrider]

... We all just got air cards, and I still have mine from Sprint since it's too convenient to just cancel.

I believe air cards are the same as what we have-- usb modems (wireless broadband). We have our internet through Millenicom.com--a reseller of carrier networks. Just pay a monthly fee. No taxes or contracts. We don't have cable available and heard how slow satellite was. We have used this service for over 2 years now and have been satisfied overall. Would tethering a cell phone for internet be another option for you?

[Trek420]

The other thing that can happen is that the local connector (DSLAM or something like that) can be full (was the issue here--new construction--until they added more capacity. Why they didn't do fiber here is beyond me, but whatever. I'm not stuck with the cable company anymore--woohoo).

True, that. Doesn't happen often anymore but could be. I know just enough about telco technology to be dangerous ;)

The DSLAM is a gizmo in your central office that connects up to 8 numbers (or in the case of HSI direct, the service without a phone line, one of those accounts) to a high speed internet connection. Ever wonder why if your service is down or slow for some reason, you may go "oh sod it, I'm going for a bike ride" and come back and it's fine? It might be one of your 7 DSLAM neighbors called it in, a problem was fixed and now you're all fine.

Back in the day sometimes all those "slots" would be full if demand exceeded equipment. Doesn't happen much anymore but depending on where you are ..... could be.

I had a friend who ordered DSL, lived a couple blocks from a c.o. in a slightly industrial area. A neighboring business had T1's. These high capacity lines are so powerful it blocked the DSL signal. Nobody along that loop could have DSL. She knew who the company was. She encouraged them to switch to DSL which was faster and cheaper for them.

But the hidden agenda was so she could get service. :rolleyes:

[pumpkinpony]

How far are you from your neighbor who has CableOne? It might be worth talking to them. You could offer to pay for part of their service cost and/or supply them with a wireless modem and use it.

My mom was in a similar situation - the house across the road had cable service, but they said she couldn't get it. My mom used their wireless signal for quite some time, until a competitor came into town and was able to run a line to her house. It worked just fine - we would have three to four computers working off it at a time.

[RolliePollie]

Oh my, good luck. I have dial-up and it's definiltey worth it to find something else if you can. There is no DSL where I live even though people less than a mile away have it. I can't do satellite because I live in the forest. And cable internet is $65/month and I just can't justify that expense. So I pay $10/month for dial-up and I can barely function online. But here I am on TE, so it works well enough to do a few things. I hope you can figure something out.

[Trek420]

Find out your speed, keep track of progress and issues that may impact availability in your area:

Communications Workers of America site:
http://www.speedmatters.org/

FCC official site:
http://www.broadband.gov/

[Melalvai]

That Communications Workers of America thing is really interesting.

I want to say thanks to everyone for all the feedback. I read it a while ago, but hadn't had a chance to respond. (Partly because I only have internet at work...)

AT&T (dsl) said the only option was dial-up. And we had been concerned that the higher speed dsl wouldn't be available to us...

I talked directly to the CableOne tech. I asked him what our options were, regardless of cost. He came out again and gave us an estimate.

The number is very high, but we are elated that there is at least a possibility. CableOne will probably pay half themselves.

I know some of you balk at spending $60 or more a month for high speed internet, but my husband just graduated in Computer Science. That makes it a high priority. Not that he can't have a career without internet at home, but it'll make things much more difficult than they need to be. On the other hand I'd feel better if he had a job in hand.

That's the monthly price (which is kind of high around here). As far as the initial start up, we considered another place in town that had internet capability and was $200/mth MORE in rent, and it was smaller. In less than a year, the initial start-up for getting cable at our house would equal the amount we would have paid in higher rent at that other place. Since we plan to stay in this house 3 to 4 years, it is worth it. The landlord might be willing to pay part of it. We haven't asked yet.

The trick is to pull together the initial start-up. Do we count this as an emergency and dip into our emergency fund?