Price and speed of your internet?

[LisaR]

There are always a lot of threads on here about cutting the cable cord to save money, but we are all stuck with paying for internet. Curious what everyone does in that regard: slowest speed, fastest, or somewhere in the middle?

I just called to check our rates:
15 Mbps - $54
35 Mbps - $75
75 Mbps - $90
150 Mbps - $100

We have the 15 for $54. With a gamer in the family and Netflix, we probably should pay for the faster speeds, but we never have issues with Netflix and only occasionally complain about the internet speed.

 

[Nayan]

I have the 75Mbps - $90. It does make a huge difference when gaming and streaming, especially if both are going on at once. I also have Sling, which is live streaming and with the higher speed I never have any buffering, stuttering or freezing problems. I do complain about the price though!

 

[Albort]

200 mbps for $73. About to go 300mbps for $83.

Was also paying $35 for 12mbps too.

 

[bcla]

I've noticed there's a difference between what they claim and the speeds that you can get. I've had Comcast cable internet for years. They've always claimed tiers of 6 Mbit/sec or 8 Mbit/sec with fast initial burst speeds, but I can variously test my speeds. Just with a 100 MBit/sec wireless router, I can consistently get (off-peak) up to 60 Mbit/sec wired, 20 Mbit/sec (2.4 GHz 802.11n) wireless, or 30 Mbit/sec (5 GHz 802.11n). The wireless speeds are with WPA2 encryption which slows things down. I'm thinking I could even get faster speeds if I switched to a gigabit router.

I think right now we're paying about $40/month plus taxes. We also own our own cable modem (cost maybe $60).

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

100 down and 10 up for right at $50.00 a month.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Have no idea, I don't think you are getting a good speed no matter what you pay.

 

[tvguy]

24 up
2 down
$25.50 a month.

My son does IT. He spends a whole lot of time fighting with IPs who are charging his clients from speeds they aren't getting. Anything above 50 seems to be the point where he starts seeing people getting a lot less than they are paying for.

 

[LisaR]

24 up
2 down
$25.50 a month.

My son does IT. He spends a whole lot of time fighting with IPs who are charging his clients from speeds they aren't getting. Anything above 50 seems to be the point where he starts seeing people getting a lot less than they are paying for.

Aren't you in CA? So much for "everything in CA is so much more expensive." You pay less than half what I pay and get an extra 8 Mbps! I just called AT&T because they are the only other choice we have and they are even more expensive than Brighthouse.

 

[Albort]

Aren't you in CA? So much for "everything in CA is so much more expensive." You pay less than half what I pay and get an extra 8 Mbps! I just called AT&T because they are the only other choice we have and they are even more expensive than Brighthouse.

have you tried to get AT&T to price match? I called and complained once. i asked why I'm paying $50 for 12mbps when on twc, I'm paying $70 for 200mbps. They dropped my overall rate by $40...

 

[SEA333]

Whatever the highest speed you can get, is what we have, from Comcast in the Chicago area.

We are bundled with cable and landline, and we pay $240/mo. It's sick.

BUt DH and I both work from home on a regular basis and need a fast, reliable connection, otherwise, we can't work from home. So we suck it up and pay.

 

[tvguy]

Aren't you in CA? So much for "everything in CA is so much more expensive." You pay less than half what I pay and get an extra 8 Mbps! I just called AT&T because they are the only other choice we have and they are even more expensive than Brighthouse.

This is ATT u-verse. They wanted $56 for 8 Mbps when my contract expired. That was "the best they could do" until I asked to speak to the retention department. Then suddenly they found if I upgraded to 24 Mbps, they could get me service for $25.50 a month.
Funny, my son thinks I am paying too much!

 

[LisaR]

This is ATT u-verse. They wanted $56 for 8 Mbps when my contract expired. That was "the best they could do" until I asked to speak to the retention department. Then suddenly they found if I upgraded to 24 Mbps, they could get me service for $25.50 a month.
Funny, my son thinks I am paying too much!

I called AT&T and said, "I'm a Brighthouse customer. I'm moving in a few weeks to an area that has both Brighthouse and AT&T. I have never had Uverse. This is your chance to sell me!"

This is what she gave me:
18Mbps $52 Brighthouse is 15Mbps for $54
45Mbps $72 Brighthouse is 35 for $75

BUT: Brighthouse includes installation and no equipment fee. AT&T was $100 for install and $7 a month for the modem. Plus, AT&T is a one year commitment (which I don't love in case the service is horrible). After a year, those prices go to $69 and $79 plus the modem.

I told her she didn't sell me. I asked if she had anything better or if maybe someone else could offer a better price and she said that was the best they had. I guess I'm sticking with Brighthouse. Oh, and Brighthouse is giving me a $50 credit for transferring service even though they originally said that was only if you upgraded your service.

 

[lauradis]

I have 50 mbps for 72 with tax a month.

 

[bcla]

This is ATT u-verse. They wanted $56 for 8 Mbps when my contract expired. That was "the best they could do" until I asked to speak to the retention department. Then suddenly they found if I upgraded to 24 Mbps, they could get me service for $25.50 a month.
Funny, my son thinks I am paying too much!

U-Verse is speed limited by the technology they use in a particular area. The original version was fiber-optic connections to a particular neighborhood, then a short-distance DSL line to the home. That was specifically 24 Mbit/sec max for all data into or out of the home. They could basically get those speeds because they could ensure the line was short. That max bandwidth included voice and TV. It's impossible for the speeds to be higher than the underlying technology. DSL is really just a traditional copper phone line using all sorts of tech to overcome the inherent problems of trying to pack that much data over simple copper. The main reasons for DSL were that they could reuse existing phone lines. A transmission line like cable internet or fiber optic lines are inherently faster. However, cable internet is a shared "pipe" to some degree, and fiber is really expensive.

I understand that in some areas, AT&T has upgraded U-Verse to use faster technologies. U-Verse Gigapower doesn't even use a DSL connection.

 

[LisaR]

U-Verse is speed limited by the technology they use in a particular area. The original version was fiber-optic connections to a particular neighborhood, then a short-distance DSL line to the home. That was specifically 24 Mbit/sec max for all data into or out of the home. They could basically get those speeds because they could ensure the line was short. That max bandwidth included voice and TV. It's impossible for the speeds to be higher than the underlying technology. DSL is really just a traditional copper phone line using all sorts of tech to overcome the inherent problems of trying to pack that much data over simple copper. The main reasons for DSL were that they could reuse existing phone lines. A transmission line like cable internet or fiber optic lines are inherently faster. However, cable internet is a shared "pipe" to some degree, and fiber is really expensive.

I understand that in some areas, AT&T has upgraded U-Verse to use faster technologies. U-Verse Gigapower doesn't even use a DSL connection.

Everything you just said was Greek to me! lol However, AT&T did emphasize the fact that my new area would be all new fiber optic and I would find that to be superior to the cable internet that I would get with Brighthouse. If I understand what you are saying, it sounds like there is some truth to that.

 

[sersee05]

Too much and slow. Comcast. Enough said.

 

[bcla]

Everything you just said was Greek to me! lol However, AT&T did emphasize the fact that my new area would be all new fiber optic and I would find that to be superior to the cable internet that I would get with Brighthouse. If I understand what you are saying, it sounds like there is some truth to that.

The basics of how AT&T rolled out U-Verse in a metaphor would be that it was the Autobahn leading to the neighborhood, but then a single-lane gravel road from that point to the driveway. They provided an insanely fast "backbone" to each neighborhood, but the speed to the home was limited by the fact that the last 1/4 mile of wiring was essentially old-fashioned telephone wire. That's basically what DSL is - a means of digital data transmission over old-fashioned telephone wire. It's not ideal, and the speeds go down as the length of the wire increases. Remember that telephone wire was basically only used to transmit relatively low frequencies. It's capable of more, but it took a lot of technology to get it to work.

Fiber is just so much faster, but also expensive to implement to each customer. There are various ways to make it cheaper. Original U-Verse did that by using inexpensive copper wire to each customer. The fastest would be if the fiber could end up at a decoder box inside the house. My understanding is that a lot of the newer rollouts (like U-Verse Gigabit or Google Fiber) actually send optical fiber to the home.

 

[nobellybutton]

I have Verizon Fios 75mbps up and down. $84.99 but I had a offer mailed and got it for $49.99 for 2yrs

 

[LisaR]

The basics of how AT&T rolled out U-Verse in a metaphor would be that it was the Autobahn leading to the neighborhood, but then a single-lane gravel road from that point to the driveway. They provided an insanely fast "backbone" to each neighborhood, but the speed to the home was limited by the fact that the last 1/4 mile of wiring was essentially old-fashioned telephone wire. That's basically what DSL is - a means of digital data transmission over old-fashioned telephone wire. It's not ideal, and the speeds go down as the length of the wire increases. Remember that telephone wire was basically only used to transmit relatively low frequencies. It's capable of more, but it took a lot of technology to get it to work.

Fiber is just so much faster, but also expensive to implement to each customer. There are various ways to make it cheaper. Original U-Verse did that by using inexpensive copper wire to each customer. The fastest would be if the fiber could end up at a decoder box inside the house. My understanding is that a lot of the newer rollouts (like U-Verse Gigabit or Google Fiber) actually send optical fiber to the home.

Thanks! That was a great explanation! I just did a live chat with AT&T. Their U-Verse GigaPower (that's what she called it) is not available in my area. I think I'll likely just stick with Brighthouse. It has been pretty reliable for us.

 

[Colleen27]

Comcast. Theoretically 50Mbps, $88/mo if I were to separate it out from my bundle. They're the only high speed available in my area so they don't have to step up their game on speed or price. My mother is in the suburbs and just got a notice that they're bumping everyone on the 50Mbps plan up to 105Mbps at no additional charge. I can't get that speed at any price.