RCN v. Comcast v. Verizon v. ?

[juldea]

Set up gas and electric to be switched upon moving, today. Now we must choose an internet provider. RCN is currently in the lead, losing to Comcast (more expensive for lower bandwidth), Verizon (slightly less expensive for quite a bit lower bandwidth), Charter and Speakeasy (both not available in our area.) Can anyone recommend any other high-speed internet services we should check out, or share RCN experiences?

Comments

[tpau]

RCN ws pretty ok, though had a large ammount of down time fopr my liking.

comcast is slightly cheaper, and has nto really ahd any downtime that was their fault. i have not noticed the bandwidth difference in any way at all.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

It is not cheaper as of the quotes I got this morning...

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Meh. No noticable difference for me between Comcast and RCN. The former's cable modem keeps rebooting, the latter's network would go out occasionally. So, one mild inconvenience every two months or so; nothing terrible. (RCN early on had significant problems with uptime, but solved them.)

Customer service from both is mediocre. Comcast has abused and then fired most of my friends that worked there, so they're getting a black eye with me; I don't know anyone who works for RCN, though.

Speakeasy gets high ratings from my friends that use them.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'll call Speakeasy to make sure that what their website says is right... Thanks for the tip!

[snarkyman.livejournal.com]

I have no argument with Comcast except for the price and the dorky self promotional ads they run on cable. Right now, we pay $110 per month including taxes for 4 Mb down / 384 Kb up plus digital basic cable. For some reason last month, they only charged us $85. Service has been good, except for a few DNS outages, which I knew how to get around (I used Genuity's DNS server 4.2.2.1).

If you know Diego, ask him about his experiences with RCN.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, where I live now we have Comcast, and that DNS crap got annoying.

Diego as in diego001? I wouldn't expect you to know him, but hey - small world.

[snarkyman.livejournal.com]

No. Diego as in Godith and Diego.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Oh. I don't know him, no.

[diego001.livejournal.com]

Yes, well, I've had no experiences with RCN other than as a nuisance to my telephone service about 4 years ago. ;)

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

AceDSL offers a similar service to Speakeasy. I couldn't get them (or any DSL), so I don't know whether they deliver it well.

Comcast is the local monopoly and RCN is the local aspiring monopoly; usually you get better service from the local aspiring monopoly, because they're not a monopoly yet. (Comcast is a true monopoly where I live; I will soon roll over and be their bitch to the tune of $200/month, because I'm really regretting not having any ability to run servers at home.)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Argh, the problem with all the DSL companies is that their websites want a home phone number to see if they can service my area (YOUR MOM can service my area!), and I don't have one of those. I have a cell phone. It is my phone. I know I'll have to get a LINE if I want DSL, but I don't want phone service. Bleh.

endrant

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

I do not have a home phone, but I successfully initiated contact with AceDSL. (Only later did they find out that, since phones in my neighborhood are fucky, NO DSL FOR ME ANYWHERE EVER HATE HATE HATE.) Speakeasy will also now sell you "dry" DSL. You just have to call them up or email them.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but that involves calling and talking to people instead of using nifty online no-contact methods... stupid person-to-person interaction. ;)

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

Actually, I might be lying. I think Ace made me get a VZ phone and I caved.

[flyingindie.livejournal.com]

Wow. It must be nice to have a choice.

[43duckies.livejournal.com]

RCN wasn't an option in my building, which is why I have Comcast. I didn't sign up through the website, though; I got a flyer from my realtor when I signed the lease, and it had a salesman's name on it. When I spoke to him about the options, and hesitated about it, he said "are you looking at other companies?" I knew that I didn't have many options, but I answered "You're my first call, but..." He said "As long as you tell me you're looking at other companies, I can offer you half off the cable for the first six months." So. Just a tip. Many times salespeople will leave flyers in buildings that can access the service; that's how rufinia and I got Comcast at the last place.

Mind you, if/when RCN offers service at my building I will certainly look into it. After all, I have to pay full price in a few more months (I'll probably downgrade the cable when that happens).

I have not had any problems with Comcast. I have to reboot the modem occasionally (very occasionally--less than at my old place) but Comcast has never been down when I wanted to access it. Good thing, too...I get very poor radio reception in my apartment (basement, as you know) so I listen to NPR online.

My parents, on the other hand, have RCN, and are also very happy with it as far as I know.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the info. Perhaps the reason RCN is currently winning in the pricing war is because they were the only ones I called and spoke to someone, and of course I did tell her that I was just looking for pricing and was going to talk to other companies too. ;)

[idonotlikepeas]

We used RCN until very recently (moved out of their service area by moving, like, three blocks.) No outages of any noticeable length. Never had to call tech support, so don't know what their level of clue was. Download speeds quite decent. Usenet support is shitty, but you probably don't care about that.

Currently using Verizon (and have also in the past). Tech support is hit or miss - they had a big reform recently, though, and are much less shitty than they used to be. Download speed is eh, kinda ok. A lot better than a modem, anyway. Regular web browsing probably won't detect the difference, but you'll notice on peer-to-peer.

Comcast sucks. They were actually completely unable to deliver service in one of my previous apartments, and dealing with their tech support people was a horrible nightmarish hellscape.