TARWMSRK Posted October 21, 2002 Report Posted October 21, 2002 Well, I decided its time to upgrade my connection to DSL since 56k just isnt cutting it anymore. But here is my problem--- who should I go with?!?! I looked at BellSouth fast access DSL. Saw it was around 60 a month so I thought, ok.. But then-- I looked at AOL's broadband offer (im already an AOL user and if you are going to flame then STFU in advance) it says $31* a month. Now of course id go with AOL but I have this gut feeling that I will be cheating myself- though id get the interface with fav places personal portfolio and e-mail but I still feel that AOL is out to rip me off-- like it wouldnt be very fast or something like that.. I really need others input on this *the $31/month for AOL is added on to the cost im already paying for it which is $24/month [ 10-20-2002, 10:16 PM: Message edited by: Carl Burning ]
Raven Posted October 21, 2002 Report Posted October 21, 2002 Well darling, I wouldnÔÇÖt get AOL myself, but perhaps IÔÇÖm terminally prejudiced.
Epsilon 5 Posted October 21, 2002 Report Posted October 21, 2002 Hmm - perhaps if you can get Nova to reply here, I know he's on AOL broadband. Personally I have Bell / Sympatico service. i don't know if it's the same plan as the one offered by Bellsouth, but I love my internet. My only problem is that I have a download, which I hate. I'm trying to get approval to get the Sympatico ultra service (3x faster, 2x size cap) but I'm waiting for my mom's approval, and for several reasons it's starting to look like bureaucracy (been 3 weeks since I asked her)...
Guest Grayfox Posted October 21, 2002 Report Posted October 21, 2002 ahhh the advantages on being out on your own... the only persons approval i need is my good ole uncle benjamin... and he says its ok, so i should be getting my cable back by next month when my rig arrives. as for your dilemma, i would go with the bellsouth option... thats just because im prejuidiced. but its nice to see aol has a broadband thing going on.
Wolferz Posted October 21, 2002 Report Posted October 21, 2002 Carl, If you go with Bell, you will very quickly discover that AOL and PPPoE do not play well together. Go with Bell and make double sure they are going to give you an external modem. The internal ones are tempermental. Heavy emphasis on the mental.
AllenKG2001 Posted October 21, 2002 Report Posted October 21, 2002 quote: *the $31/month for AOL is added on to the cost im already paying for it which is $24/month That's alot, I only pay out £10/month for my broadband (with external modem).
Epsilon 5 Posted October 21, 2002 Report Posted October 21, 2002 quote:That's alot, I only pay out ┬ú10/month for my broadband (with external modem).That must be a CRAPPY access! I have enough people who told me their broadband costs, and I know that Qu├®bec has the cheapest broadband access in the world, while being reliable ... Modem location included, I pay 45cnd (about 28us) a month for a 1200/160mbps access. I want to get sympatico ultra which is about 70cnd a moth, or 45us, and which offers 3000/800mbps access [ 10-21-2002, 01:15 PM: Message edited by: Epsilon 5 ]
AWells Posted October 21, 2002 Report Posted October 21, 2002 I think the bill through AT&T is about $120 US a month for broadband, digital cable, and digital phone service. Broadband alone is like $40-something...
Eclipse Posted October 22, 2002 Report Posted October 22, 2002 att broadband for the new england area (and most of the US except for the standard cable price) should be 45us a month and if you have it bundled with DTS or TV services is should be about 40us a month... of course that was what it was as of august when I quit working for their tech support. I can't remember what the savings was if you had your own modem though.
AllenKG2001 Posted October 22, 2002 Report Posted October 22, 2002 quote: That must be a CRAPPY access! Yes it is!! BTW, I made a mistake, it's £15/month I pay. Anyway, this is just what my mum had when I came back home. When I move away again I'll look for something much faster.
Charles Lindsey Posted October 22, 2002 Report Posted October 22, 2002 Got that same postcard. Bellsouth DSL is $50 a month here. $45 if you subscribe to their "complete choice" plan. Add that to your phone service and you're looking at $100 a month if you have complete choice. Basic service and DSL should be about $75. AOL broadband is $55 according to your figures. Add your basic or complete choice phone service and you are still paying $75-$100 a month. My parents have Charter cable modem and complete cable service for $100 a month. Add your phone service and that's $120 - $150 a month. But don't forget to figure your cable bill into the above two figures now. Now Charter cable is advertising Cable modem and HBO for $69.95. Keeping phone service you are still in the $100 range. It just depends on what you want to do. I'm an AOL user myself. I've outgrown the chatrooms and the like. But they still have good content if you care to take advantage of it. On the other hand I'm a tad upset that I pay for this service and they see fit to put ads every where. As for AOL ripping you off I believe that myself. Not only am I paying to be advertised to the service is not as fast as it should be. They tell you (if you watch the sign on screen intently) that you're signed on at 45333 (whatever) but it just don't seem like it. Just for fun and when AOL decides to go south I also have a free juno account. Once you get past the mandatory email download the surfing seems faster that AOL. At the same advertised bit rate. Hmmmmmmm. I have several choices. The cable combo so I can have internet and get rid of the rabbit ears on my tv but possibly put up with congestion on the cable network. The DSL phone service combo but keep the rabbit ears and only see local station. Or I can get cable, ditch my land phone line, and just use my cell phone. Whatever I do it's about time to say good bye to AOL.
AWells Posted October 22, 2002 Report Posted October 22, 2002 quote: Whatever I do it's about time to say good bye to AOL. And whatever you choose, if it involves saying good bye to AOL it's probably a good choice
DraconisRex Posted October 22, 2002 Report Posted October 22, 2002 AOL is okay, but I use Comcast for my high-speed connection. I'm changing that soon, as they are limiting my up uplink to 115K, which is slow for cable. So, I'm changing to 960K up/down through a local DSL, and spending only $40 for the service, which is 8.35 times faster for $5 less... I run a BBS server, with POP/SMTP, Finger, Gopher, and NNTP - although I can receive at 1.5MB/second, sending speed through Comcast is too slow.
CommanderJohnson Posted October 25, 2002 Report Posted October 25, 2002 1. I hear AOL and Earthlink/Mindspring are the worst Broadband providers? Is this true? 2. If so, what do you think is the best? 3. Is Bellsouth any good?
Wolferz Posted October 25, 2002 Report Posted October 25, 2002 Check out this link for all you need to know about Broadband... www.dslreports.com
goaliejerry Posted October 26, 2002 Report Posted October 26, 2002 My apartment complex is installing T1's for us all. Two words: Boo - Ya!
Cmdr Nova Posted October 26, 2002 Report Posted October 26, 2002 omfg, I posted somethign here, but I think my connection crapped out or something, and it didn't post, and I didn't feel like rewriting it. quote:If you go with Bell, you will very quickly discover that AOL and PPPoE do not play well together. OMG SO NOT TRUE. quote:1. I hear AOL and Earthlink/Mindspring are the worst Broadband providers? Is this true?I'm getting DSL through my phone company (Southwestern Bell/SBC), and getting AOL Broadband as a side, with their "bring your own access" plan. I tell you--if you're a multimedia freak, or a heavy music fan or something (like myself), AOL Broadband has the biggest pool of streaming multimedia, and it's damn fast. I hate them being my main ISP, but as a multimedia provider, they're nearly second to none, considering they own a TON of the entertainment biz. Bellsouth runs under SBC (the Bell thing), and their DSL broadband access, I think, should be listed as Yahoo! SBC Broadband or something, as all the Bell companies are. I love my SBC DSL right now, and it's been very very reliable. You should have similar results. I get probably about 130-150KB/s down and about 13KB/s upstream most of the time. I've had no encounters with downtime, except during horrible bad weather when I wouldn't be using my computer anyway. As for Charter. I had Charter Cable before I got my DSL. It was good, and freaking fast back in the day, when no one else had it, but their reliability was kinda iffy. THen again, I had it back in the day when broadband all over the map had sucky reliability. If you can't afford $50/month + modem for the 1500/150 DSL, or you can't get it from where you're at, then try Cable out. It's better than not having broadband at all, and it's somewhat cheaper. I personally love cable, because of the faster upstream speed, and I've had some really positive reports from friends of mine with cable. Charter Pipeline uses Earthlink as your ISP, sorta. (Or they used to.) Charter would provide the line, and then Earthlink would serve as your ISP and everything. You'd be billed by Charter. You'll have an email address at Earthlink. Like I said, it was a while ago when I had this, so it may have changed. I think Earthlink did a very very nice job, however. Note, you should ONLY get Cable internet if you're a cable subscriber to that company. They'll give you some surcharge if you're not, because you're using the cable lines you'd use if you had their service. If you've got some more questioning about AOL, I'm probably the guy here who's been aroudn the AOL block way more times than anyone else. (And being in the AOL Beta program kinda helps, too.) So, yeah.
Epsilon 5 Posted November 1, 2002 Report Posted November 1, 2002 w00t!! I got sympatico ultra! 350ks downloads and 80ks upload! freaking cool!
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