What - Who - do you use for internet connection?

[Eden]

Over the years we've gone from having regular modem access to ADSL, first from Earthlink, from whom we also used to get land line phone service. Now we've dropped the land line completely and have gone to the source for the DSL and get it from a company called MegaPath. Earthlink was just contracting their facilities anyway, charging us more and throttling our speeds..... (especially upload). Megapath's customer service has been quite good.

Earthlink was a seriously, seriously frustrating series of call centers where the people were 1/2 way around the world, reading a script out of a book and really had no idea what they were talking about. When we changed our phone land line to them we had already been using their DSL for several years. They screwed up and did not connect our new service properly. We were without internet or phone in our house for nearly 2 months trying to get it straightened out, during which time they were changing us for service and then they charged us a cancellation fee because in order to straighten out the whole mess they had to basically terminate our service and start over like we were a brand new customer. When after hours on the phone one guy told me that the problem was that they just didn't offer ASDL in our neighborhood (we'd been using them for the last 5 years.... all we were trying to do was add the phone!!!) I just about lost it.... I believe my phone number was actually blacklisted from the call center. I finally ended up being able to speak to someone in this country who cleared up most of the mess, though I don't think they *ever* properly credited me for the 2 months that we did not have service and the cancellation fee that I should not have been charged (not to mention all of my cell phone minutes because I didn't have a phone... ATT was quite prompt at cutting that off when they were asked to...).

We have wifi - but that is something you set up in your own house. you don't have to pay to run it, beyond buying the wifi transmitter - we're a Mac household so we have an Airport Express (PC's can use it too though)

[ny biker]

I get internet through the cable company.

When I moved to my current home in 2004 the people at Verizon offered me DSL while I was in the process of arranging to move my landline account to the new address. I said okay, they said they would send me the equipment, but they never followed up. A few months later when I was on the phone with them again for some reason, they again offered DSL, I again said okay and again they never followed up. So much for Verizon DSL.

Next I tried Earthlink, but had problems getting it to work with my router and their customer service just passed the buck to the companies that made my pc and router (who passed it back to Earthlink -- I think I spent about 24 hours on the phone to various customer service numbers over the course of several days trying to get things to work.)

So I gave up, returned the equipment to Earthlink and went with the cable company (Comcast) instead. It is expensive, but I have few problems with it and the tech support is surprisingly good.

My sister and parents get internet from their cable company (Optimum) and they also don't seem to have problems with it.

I know several people who have Verizon Fios for tv and internet and they're happy with it. Fios is not currently available in my neighborhood.

[Catrin]

I do not have cable, I have AT&T Uverse - internet only I do not have Uverse television. The Uverse modem is wi-fi and I bought a Sony Internet Media Streaming Device (that is the actual name) with which I stream Netflix directly to my hi-def television - and there are a lot of other services that I can stream to my TV from the Sony device - not all of which comes with a charge. I have rabbit ears for local channels which I rarely watch outside of the news and that suits my needs. I did bump up my internet speed to support the streaming video - but it is still far, far cheaper than having both internet and cable.

[nscrbug]

We use AT&T for everything...internet (I guess it's DSL), land line, and cellphone provider...except cable TV, which is Comcast. We have wi-fi at home, using an Apple Airport with our iMac and Macbook. No real complaints with the internet service...it's been fairly reliable, overall. We do end up replacing our DSL modem about every other year or so, because they just don't last forever (what does these days?)...but we just run out to Best Buy and pick one up for about $60, and we're back in business.

Linda

[badgercat]

Computer-science-grad-student fiancé and I have Cox Cable at our house, for internet (no land line--cell phones only--and we have a small digital antenna for the rare occasion we want to watch live TV). We have the cheapest/slowest internet service and it almost always suits our needs fine--e.g., we can stream Netflix movies etc at good quality with no problem, but we're watching the stuff on laptops and not high-definition TVs.

My parents (about 30 miles outside of town) use Cox with a bundled package for internet, TV, and digital phone, and have had issues with TV quality (they get a lot of "digital noise" and occasional "freezing" of their TV picture) and customer service (e.g. when they moved in, my mom was talked into a higher-cost digital cable package with the promise of On Demand programming, which mysteriously then wasn't available in their area for MONTHS, and they fought her when she asked to be refunded the difference for service she wasn't receiving). However, as far as I know, their internet service and phone has been overall fine (with the exception of a couple days where the voicemail service was down, but they forwarded all calls to my mom's cell phone for free). There are some cool perks of everything being bundled together--e.g., if the phone rings while they're watching TV, the caller ID information displays on the screen. I have no idea what they pay for their package, though.

[snapdragen]

I do not have cable, I have AT&T Uverse - internet only I do not have Uverse television. The Uverse modem is wi-fi and I bought a Sony Internet Media Streaming Device (that is the actual name) with which I stream Netflix directly to my hi-def television - and there are a lot of other services that I can stream to my TV from the Sony device - not all of which comes with a charge. I have rabbit ears for local channels which I rarely watch outside of the news and that suits my needs. I did bump up my internet speed to support the streaming video - but it is still far, far cheaper than having both internet and cable.

I didn't know you could do this! I need to check into it, I've got AT&T DSL right now.

[Crankin]

We have Comcast for Internet and phone (VOIP). Until about 3 months ago, we also had it for TV, but DH got pissed because they wouldn't negotiate a lower price for the cable. We only had basic cable, no HBO, etc. We mostly watch TV for the news, and a few shows we like on CBS. I haven't seen half the shows that are popular, because even when we had cable, we didn't have those stations, or I didn't know we had them! DH bought a fancy digital antenna and we get all of our local and some not so local (RI, NH) HD stations perfectly.
Then there was the issue of watching cycling. I also miss HGTV. We got 2 Apple TV devices, one for the bedroom and one for the kitchen, where we watch most of our TV. We probably will get one for the family room, where our big screen TV is, but we rarely go down there, as we go to bed early. The Apple TV streams things from the I Pad to our TV, so we have been watching the Tour of California each night. Do I know how to use this? No, but I'll learn if I have to.
We have no option but Comcast. Our town refused to put all of the wires underground and AT&T will not bring FIOS here because of this. THe Comcast service has been great, though. Our phone, Internet, and TV were back on within 6 hours after our big snowstorm/wind event last October.

[Catrin]

I didn't know you could do this! I need to check into it, I've got AT&T DSL right now.

I DID have the U-Verse TV at some point and simply dropped the TV portion of my package. I do not know if they will allow a new customer to do this, but it would be good information to post here if they do.

[rivergal]

Also did the full U-Verse package (TV, internet, voice) for a year at $99 for all 3, then dropped the TV and have internet and voice only. Got a good deal on the mid-range speed for a year. Would drop to just internet and keep my cell only, but can't until cell service improves at home.

We also use Netflix. I also have Amazon Prime, and get additional free streaming video there. Between these, Hulu, and broadcast channels (antenna) I have pretty much all the "TV" I need, and much cheaper than cable.

[Trek420]

I DID have the U-Verse TV at some point and simply dropped the TV portion of my package. I do not know if they will allow a new customer to do this, but it would be good information to post here if they do.

They won't. Or at least would not when last I was placing those orders. Might have changed since then. But what they probably won't tell you and your service rep is absolutely positively simply NOT allowed to suggest to you on pain of up to and including termination of my job was that you can sign up for TV/HSI/voice or TV/HSI and then if on a contract once that's fulfilled or if no contract whenever you want drop the TV.

I didn't know you could do this! I need to check into it, I've got AT&T DSL right now.

With many complex exceptions but usually if you're in a DSL area you might not have uVerse available and vice versa. But don't take my word for it call and ask a service rep. This also may have changed since I worked in a uVerse call center but with few and mind boglingly complex exceptions if you have DSL now, want to upgraded to uVerse you'll need to either order the uVerse TV and/or upgrade to one of the highest speeds. But again call and ask for current info. Might have changed. Hope so.

I was thinking about WiFi but I don't even really know what that is. I'm so technology impaired. I need a teenager! Help!

WiFi is simply any kind of wireless internet access whether in your home, at a business or location that provides it (coffee shop, airport) or anywhere you are (in the middle of nowhere) that let's you unleash from the cord regardless of whether the cord is to desktop, laptop, game stations, TV, iDevice, tablets, readers ...

To have Wifi in your home you need:
a) high speed internet connection whether through cable, uVerse or DSL. The DSL can be with a phone line or stand alone DSL sometimes called dry loop, or naked DSL, or high speed internet direct.
b) And you'll need wireless equipment aka a router.

Some routers are plugged into your existing modem or they can be one neat elegant classy little unit like AT&T's 2wire gateway.

If you're not wireless now make sure your PC is wireless capable before cutting the cord. If it's not, no worries. There may be an adaptor you can buy for the computer/laptop.

This is the set up let's me sit on the deck with my laptop, coffee and read TE.

Because I have phone & internet through the phone company, if I drop phone service I would probably drop internet because sometimes it, too, is really bad.

OK, so you like the customer service of your ISP. Does the ISP you like offer HSI direct? Then if your home is wired for 2 lines you could go for that. If it's not already wired for 2 ask me before you proceed.

That's who I have for landline and DSL and I pay over $70 Maybe I need to call & see if I can negotiate a lower price - but I doubt it. Maybe they'd prorate my bill for all of the times that my phone was out of service?

(I feel like I'm just b*tching about everything these days!)

That sounds steep. Call and see if you can get a better deal. Are you paying for a long distance plan that you don't need or would a new plan be better? Do you use long distance at all? Would removing it save you money? Do you have too many optional features (like caller id etc) or too few (as in add some and you get a better package) Are you paying for an international plan you haven't used in umpteen years or even flat rate when you could have a measured service?

I used to work in AT&T retention center and could almost always find a way to lower a bill

So call and ask them to go over it.

PS: what we have here is local home phone line, just a basic measure rate service, no features or long distance with a pretty fast speed of DSL on it and Netflix for TV. I also do a lot of iTunes downloads like podcasts.

Back in CA I had the same thing; measured rate for the land line, DSL and Dishnetwork for TV with the lowest cost plan (the one they don't advertise. Cost roughly like Netflix).

[Koronin]

We have Time Warner for internet. We had Century Link, but that was the most unreliable internet service and extremely slow. Dial up was faster than the DSL we had with Century Link, so we changed to Time Warner. We do still have Century Link for the land line and have Dish for TV. I actually need a land line because some of the work I do I need a fax machine.

[snapdragen]

I DID have the U-Verse TV at some point and simply dropped the TV portion of my package. I do not know if they will allow a new customer to do this, but it would be good information to post here if they do.

Checked it out online, looks like you can get UVerse internet only. Way cool.