We currently have Verizon DSL internet service at a cost of roughly $30 per month but it will increase to about $36 per month after one year. I think we have a two year contract on it. In order to have Verizon DSL, we need to have dial tone on a land-based telephone line, which means we need to also pay for local telephone service. We have the no-frills telephone plan so it costs us less than $30 per month. Then we have our three cell phones through Verizon Wireless at a cost of about $70 per month. With all three phones together, we are using about 130 minutes per month on a 500 minute plan. I think we can go to a 700 minute plan for about the same cost.
Here’s the rub: I would love to eliminate our land line and it’s monthly bill and just use cell phones. Are there equivilent cost high speed internet options out there that do not require dial tone? The City of Rochelle offers a wireless internet access package for about $75 per month, too rich for my blood, so I’d like to stick with something more reasonable. Many folks have Comcast but I’m not exactly sure what that is, something to do with cable.
I’ve looked at VOIP (Verizon has their Voicewing) but I’m back to the foundation of how I hook to the internet. VOIP wouldn’t work for us because with DSL, I still need to pay for the land line to get dial tone so why pay for telephone service twice?
What are you all doing for communications in this day and age?
Eventually, we’ll probably all have phones implanted in our brains and we’ll just think of a number to dial for it to work. No more bulky cell phones to carry around. Now if I could only think the vacuuming done…
I have comcast which is really fast… supposed to be 4 Mbps, but I can usually burst a little faster than that (meaning it’s even faster for small files such as web pages). Upload speeds suck though, as they do on pretty much every “home” connection. Comcast is like $58/month. DSL is cheaper, but is slower (and was not available in my area), though without a phone is probably not all that much cheaper. Speakeasy’s cheapest DSL without a phone line is $56/month (which probably has more taxes on top). There may be some smaller local phone companies that can offer you a better deal than what you get through the company that owns the lines that go to your home.
I have no landline… I use my cell phone and vonage VoIP for phone.
You all are getting jacked. For a while now, SBC has been running deals for $15-20/month DSL with a year contract out here in California. Granted, it’s not the fastest, but it’s cheap. I guess something has to be cheaper in California!
DSL:
Speed is highly dependent on your physical distance from your local telephone switching station. In my case, a little too far. My DSL speed was a little less than three times my dial-up speed, at about 48kbps. Hardly worth the extra money.
Cable:
Usually offered at a discount if you get the company’s cable TV also. More expensive if you don’t want the TV. Generally faster than DSL, sometimes a lot faster. It would be at least 10x faster at my house. As for Comcast, I’m not a fan, having had them in the past for TV, and hated their (lack of) customer service. What do you mean an 8-hour window for service at your house? And somehow they still manage to arrive early or late…
Fiber:
That’s what I have, but not yet available in most areas. Extremely fast (sorry, don’t know how fast, but faster than cable). In my case it’s offered along with phone and/or cable TV service. Bigger discount if you get all three. But we’re not happy with the TV part (from SureWest Broadband), so will probably change. Probably not back to Comcast.
WIMAX(?):
Not sure if that’s what you call it, but it’s when your town or other local company offers wide-area wireless broadband. Eventually it may be what everybody uses (at least in populated areas), but right now it’s pretty expensive and perhaps more rare than fiber. No hassles with wires.
Satellite:
Only a viable option if none of the others is available in your area. Expensive and potentially slow.
The current issue of PC Magazine had a big feature on customer satisfaction with various broadband (and other) Internet providers. Comcast did not fare well, but speeds were reported to be very good. You might be able to find some of that info at PCmag.com.
WiMAX is a specific specification that allows a wide-area wireless network. Right now, I don’t think it actually exists except in one of two places in the US. Most city wireless networks use wifi which requires access points to be closer to the client.
