best broadband in milwaukee?

[ndlindberg]

Hello,

I'm moving back to Milwaukee after 10 years and I was wondering what the best HD offering was, but more importantly, what was the best broadband in Milwaukee?  I know of Roadrunner and AT&T DSL, and I know both of those can be bundled with HD... but I can't seem to find reviews on either.

Also, I come from the DirecTV HD fanclub-- only thing I could get in Minnesota if I didn't want to have to deal with Charter-- so, what's the best around here?  DirecTV?  Time Warner?  AT&T?

Thanks everybody.  I'm going to be working from home remotely for IBM, so I would love the best, fastest broadband I can find.

Nick

[klwillis45]

I believe AT&T offers the fastest residential broadband, 18 down, 1.5 up.

[ndlindberg]

Interesting.  I'm also looking into Verizon FiOS which I believe goes from 12 all the way up to 20 [optimal] but I'm not sure on their Milwaukee offerings, and of course-- their website location checker is broken.

I'll let you know when I call.  Ya know, somebody-- maybe me-- should really start a chart where we can post where we live, and post what internet we have and at what speeds.  I

[klwillis45]

I'm pretty sure there is no FIOS service in Milwaukee.

[ndlindberg]

You were right... FiOS hasn't made it here yet.  Too bad too, they offer 20 down and 20 up, which would be great for my VPN.

Now it's just between roadrunner cable and AT&T DSL.  Probably depends on where your house is located, eh?  Not sure which is supposed to be better, anybody have any ideas?

Thanks-
Nick

[RLJSlick]

You can try TWC Road Runner Business Class Powerboost, I think that is 22 down and 2 up.
I think this is the fastest I've seen outside of a business.
http://www.timewarnercable.com/centraltx/products/internet/rrpremium.html

[ndlindberg]

You can try TWC Road Runner Business Class Powerboost, I think that is 22 down and 2 up.
I think this is the fastest I've seen outside of a business.
http://www.timewarnercable.com/centraltx/products/internet/rrpremium.html

Intriguing.  I can't tell from on-line if it's available up here... but I'll call about it tomorrow and and report back here tomorrow.

Thank you so much for the suggestion.  That sounds like exactly what I need!

[basshive]

As much as I loathe TWC's tv offerings, I think their broadband is top notch. I have the turbo package, always have max speeds available to me and little to no downtime. At this time I have not come across any port issues, packetshaping, etc. They did try a packetshaping setup some time ago but no issues for me since.

[duncantuna]

Just a comment from a network guy.  While I enjoy RR at home, 8 down, 512k up, we use a single T1 at my workplace, 1.5 up, 1.5 down, shared with a few dozen websites (mostly using up) and 80 (eighty) people.  Imagine, 80 people sharing 1.5?

I'm always amazed that our puny T1 can yield a good internet experience for 80 people.  To be sure, there are times when we need more bandwidth, but easily 99% of the day, surfing the internet is snappy.

So .. when I hear consumers wanting bigger and bigger pipes into their basements, I want to ask:  Why?    There are legit reasons, of course.  Do you have one?  Do you download 100meg+ files with regularity?  

Or is it just the testosterone factor, where you want that 600 horsepower fast car, even though you're surrounded by roads and traffic that limit you to 65mph and will almost never go above 100.

Generally speaking, 90% of every home wouldn't even notice if their service was Roadrunner LITE, which I think is $23/month .. 1.5 down, 384k up (those numbers could be off, but close.)

And let's not forget, it's not $23/month for lite, and $45/mo for regular.  It's really $276/year and $540/year.  

In this recession .. do you really need to spend an extra $250 for speed you'll almost never use?

Just sayin.  As I said,  people indeed do have legit reasons for large downloads.

[ndlindberg]

I agree.  

I'm a computer engineer for IBM working remotely and have some pretty bandwidth intensive applications that must run in conjunction with remote access.  This unfortunately includes big files occasionally.

Your point about the T1 is a good one, but I can't help but wonder if they give you a much fatter 'pipe' for your T1 in order for 80 people plus 12 websites to sustain 1.5 up/down.  In fact, I'd prefer 1.5 down/up to 8 down/.5 up [most of my VPN performance is based on upload rates]

I'll probably end up going with RR Turbo.  [Plus, IBM is paying for it.]  Probably will keep DirecTV though, even though CBS not in HD is a huge bummer...

Thanks all.

[basshive]

So .. when I hear consumers wanting bigger and bigger pipes into their basements, I want to ask: Why? There are legit reasons, of course. Do you have one? Do you download 100meg+ files with regularity?

I can certainly agree to this to some extent but in other ways the logic presented is very old school. The days of "just surfing" are long gone. Today we stream, we tube, we download movies, tv shows, music, ppv, and use voip. Households shifted from single shared pc homes to homes where dvrs, multiple computers and other devices are on the network.

When I look at the rrd graphs from my households usage alone its pretty staggering at times and thats with 5 people.

Generally speaking, 90% of every home wouldn't even notice if their service was Roadrunner LITE, which I think is $23/month .. 1.5 down, 384k up (those numbers could be off, but close.)

Sure but those 90% wouldn't come here to a technical forum asking about something either Would most people notice 1-2mb vs. 8-15mb, not when they are web surfing, no.

[ndlindberg]

Looks like I'm gonna go with the Time Warner Roadrunner Business broadband.  It's 15/2 down/up, and with a 3 year contract, $49/month.

Thanks--
Nick

[ArgMeMatey]

Looks like I'm gonna go with the Time Warner Roadrunner Business broadband.  It's 15/2 down/up, and with a 3 year contract, $49/month.

Don't forget that's the max you'll get. Actual speeds vary by neighborhood.  Before you commit to three years, you might want to see if AT&T UVerse is available at the place you are moving to; their Milwaukee coverage is expanding rapidly but still is very spotty.  

If you need the fastest possible, and you're broadband literate, consider getting both, averaging your speed tests, and canceling the loser within the money-back period, whatever that is.

[Bebop]

A TW technician whom came to replace my modem told me RR Turbo speed is guaranteed. He volunteered the info when we were talking about ip address..  I don't remembered reading any where about the speed being guaranteed. But, every time I do a speed test. The speed is always close to the advertised speed. Maybe there is truth to it?

This was for residential. I'm sure business class has priority over that.

[duncantuna]

Looks like I'm gonna go with the Time Warner Roadrunner Business broadband.  It's 15/2 down/up, and with a 3 year contract, $49/month.

Thanks--
Nick

Who do you call to get that price?  We looked into TWC, and they quoted us like $300/month!