SBC DSL vs TWC RoadRunner

[StarvingForHDTV]

Originally posted by Gregg Lengling
But then again you'd be suprised what they'll do for you if you call them.  I've had SBC DSL for a couple years and when I saw all the new offerings I called them up and told them that I thought I was being ripped off by paying 49.95 a month.  They then re-rated my account to the $26.95 per month rate with only a few minor disclaimers:   First you just signed a 1 year contract, and if you cancel before it is over you are liable for a $200.00 cancellation fee......End of story.  

Needless to say, I've got great thruput (256k upload) and now I'm only paying $26.95.  They were very knowledgeable (different than some of the other providers) and very friendly and helpful.

I'm one happy camper.

So are you "saying" that I could expect to keep the $26.95 price forever?

Starving

[stevenq99]

The big thing with DSL is it is very distance sensitive. The further you are away from the C.O. the slower it is regardless of what package you have.

 The other disadvantage is DSL user the frequencies above the normal voice range but are still audible.  You get noise filters with your modem but sometimes the noise gets through.


The disadvantage with cable at least in the Madison area is the customer service or lack of.
 
The other problem with cable is the variable speeds.  I am rated at 2000k but are very rarely close to that.

I agree with Greg that unless you are doing a major download anything above 256k is ok.

Steve

[SugarRay]

Originally posted by StarvingForHDTV
So are you "saying" that I could expect to keep the $26.95 price forever?

Starving

Yes. That is what SBC told me.  I check with a buddy of mine at work who has SBC DSL and he said that he called them up in mid contract and asked them to match the current special and they did.   I would stay with TWC RR if they did that, but I just ordered my DSL package,etc.

[kjnorman]

I have Roadrunner and find the service reliable, however the price does annoy me.  While the speed is great, I do not need a 3Mb/s line.

I wish they could tier their pricing.  I would much rather have a 1.5mbs or 1mbs line for $30 per month rather than a 3mbs line for $45 per month.

I called SBC Yahoo about their DSL and they said that they did not cover my house.  I find this strange as other DSL providers will, but their costs are no better than Roadrunner, so why switch?  I suspect that SBC will not give me DSL coverage because I have cancelled all phone service with SBC and use Sage instead (for a much lower cost).

Kerry

[Gregg Lengling]

It is interesting that TWC doesn't have tiers of service.  When I got my mother hooked up with Charter Pipeline a few weeks ago they do have tiers...plus their prices are lower than TWC.  For the first 6 months she gets 2Mbit for 29.95 and then it goes to 39.95.  If she wants to keep it at 29.95 they reduce the speed to 384k, which in my estimation is fast enough for almost anyone.  She's 83 years old and spent the last 5 years on dialup and hated it, now she loves it.  Maybe TWC will get smart and have tiers such as Charter and SBC have.

[Bebop]

No. You can't call 911 or fax. Thats' not a concern for me.

[The Law]

Vonage will allow calls to 911 and will route to the correct PSAP.  Faxing is also supported.

Vonage

[Gregg Lengling]

Just one little note I thought I'd make about Voip.  My daughter is in the National Guard and has been deployed to Iraq since last May.  For the longest time she either used a Sat Phone or an ATT Payphone with a calling card.  On both of those there was a lot of latency and echo, it was very disturbing at times because you waited 4 seconds (2 secs each way) for the conversation to change and echos were persistant.  2 weeks ago they moved out of Baghdad central to south of the city and it's now a mile to walk to an ATT phone so she went with the VOIP phones they have at the camp.  Besides being cheaper the actual data routing seems to be much better as there is almost no latency in the call and the audio quality is much superior.  

So we've come along way since the original VOIP calls to todays age and it works very very well.

Just a little info.  BTW in a couple weeks she'll be able to view this site a little more often.  They have 3 PC's for 400 soldiers and it's always a long wait to get on line....but on the bench with the pc's is a lot of extra space and LAN Hookups which very few people are using.  So on Sunday I bought her a laptop and set it all up and shipped to her, hopefully she'll get it before Christmas.  BTW it was a really good deal.  It's an HP with DVD/CD/R/W combo, 2.1g processor, 256meg and a 40gig drive.  After rebate the total cost came out to $699.00.   Boy I remember my first laptop and it was 4 times that.

[The Law]

I wonder if the VoIP calls are going accross the sea bed.  I think typical latency accross satellite links is 250-400ms.  VoIP functions best at below 150ms which is easily attainable accross land wire (half that with SLAs - I'm sure the military is looking at 60ms - although for personal stuff...who knows).

And when she views this site......Well Done and Thank You!

[Paul S.]

IMO DSL sucks. I had Roadrunner and I loved it- I switched to SBC DSL because it was cheaper. Now, my uploads take waaaaaaay longer to complete.:bang:  Downloading isn't too bad (still slower than cable). I'd say take Roadrunner

[StarvingForHDTV]

Originally posted by Paul S.
IMO DSL sucks. I had Roadrunner and I loved it- I switched to SBC DSL because it was cheaper. Now, my uploads take waaaaaaay longer to complete.:bang:  Downloading isn't too bad (still slower than cable). I'd say take Roadrunner

Thanks for the tip.  I decided not to switch when SBC declined my request to give me the rates after the year was up in writing.

Starving

[Paul S.]

Originally posted by StarvingForHDTV
Thanks for the tip.  I decided not to switch when SBC declined my request to give me the rates after the year was up in writing.

Starving

Yeah, right now (until June) its 29.95 a month for me. You can bet your behind I'm switchin back to RR!!

[kwinrich]

The thing about DSL is that they only have to provide the stated speed to the CO.  You will find many times that at the CO they are providing a smaller pipe to the real world.  Therefore your speeds may end up slower than "advertised".  

Check your speeds with something like DSLreports.com, or something out side of your provider.

I have had SBC DSL and RR.  I LOVE Road Runner.  No down time at all.

I have had clients on SBC and the speeds were incredibly slow, with tons of latency.

Billing issues with SBC have been a friggin NIGHTMARE!