Hmmmm. Just got a “NOW AVAILABLE IN YOUR AREA!” brochure from Comcast regarding broadband.
Hmmmm.
Of course, it could be just a tease. But wouldn’t that be loverly?
$43 per month — plus modem, which appears to be $3/mo, or $50 outright. Of course, what I’d like to do is get it hooked into a router that communicates by WiFi to my and Margie’s PCs. Although we could hook the current access point into a normal Ethernet port, and then use the two antennae from each of our machines …
Yeah …
The question after that will be, drop the Earthlink connection? Not immediately, until we find out how reliable it is. Of course, without Earthlink, I’d have to use my work’s VPN dialer to dial up online — but the only time I ever have to dial up is when I’m on a business trip.
On the other hand, Earthlink does high-speed access. Can I go via Comcast’s connection to them? For how much more?
And what about the second phone line. I’d hate to drop it, only to discover that the cable connection is flaky. Or, alternately, to then have to balance using the fax with using the normal land line.
In other words, I’m not 100% certain the saving touted would occur, at least at first.
And I need to find out if I can VPN across it to my office. That’s not 100% of a show-stopper for me, but it could be for Margie.
Still — 1500Kbps down, 256Kbps up. Hmmmmm …
I have Earthlink internet access through Charter Cable. They recently changed their arrangement, and I now have to pay an extra $5/month to keep my EL services. I elected to do that rather than have to change to a Charter e-mail address, especially since I have no idea how Charter’s newsgroup service performs.
I find cable modem access to be quite reliable. The uplink speed is pretty poor. (Of course, I could improve that for a small increase in my monthly fee…)
I have a very flakey dial-up connection. Reading the data transfer numbers in your post almost made me weep.
I love the beauty of where I live, but oh how wonderful it would be to get DSL here.
You city slickers are so freakin’ lucky …
Well, recall that this “city slicker” is only now getting the opportunity for broadband … 🙂
That said, while I admire, even envy, the beauty of where you live, I am much more suited for a suburban environment.
Comcast is finally available, eh? I may be able to answer some of your questions being a former Comcast subscriber.
The price is standard for Comcast so no big suprises there. If you go with Comcast then I’d suggest looking into buying your own cable modem as it’d pay for itself within a year. $60/year for modem rental vs $50 if you buy it outright and there are other manufacturers our there who may have cheaper models. I think there’s even some Cable Modem/Router combo models out there you could choose from.
As for Earthlink through Comcast I’m not sure if that’s doable or not. It’d be an extra charge if it is. Earthlink does have deals with some cable and DSL providers to act as the ISP in which you’d pay for everything through Earthlink, but I don’t think they have that sort of arrangement with Comcast. Here in Michigan they offer DSL service (I used to have it back when I first dropped Comcast) and it’s actually SBC’s DSL making it a rather painful experience trying to get support as I’d have to call Earthlink which would in turn call SBC which in turn wouldn’t give a crap about my problems because I was paying Earthlink.
The VPN issue is a good question. Part of why I left Comcast was because they started restricting VPN access for their standard cable modem service in Detroit and wanted me to upgrade to their “Pro” service for VPN which would cost $99 a month. As I was still a PC Technician at the time I would often VPN back into work for various things. I’ve since heard that it is possible to VPN with Comcast’s standard broadband, but I think officially they want VPNers to use their pro service.
OK, hopefully that helped a little.
Yes, it does. Certainly VPN access is one of the things I’m going to be asking about with Comcast. I don’t do it much — once or twice a week, if I had to — and I could do without if need be, but it sure would be nice for when I do need it.
My main thought in doing it via Earthlink is (a) maintaining my existing backup e-mail account, and (b) having dial-up access when I can’t hook into broadband. Neither is a deal-killer, though.
Interestingly, the Comcast materials don’t push the modem issue any. On the one hand, it keeps them from having to prominently flag the add-on price to their service price. On the other hand, it makes me also think that they won’t mind so much. Which means doing some research into decent cable modems or modem-routers or modem-router-firewalls or stuff like that.
I was considering looking for a WiFi-compatible modem/etc.. It occurs to me, though, that I could just hook up our existing Access Point to it, and have both machines use the WiFi antennae we already have. That keeps me from having to run more cable anywhere, which is always a good thing, and I think we have the space up in the entertainment center.
Knowing several people who use Comcast and have bought their own cable modems I can assure you that using your own isn’t a problem as far as Comcast is concerned. It’s one less thing they have to support if you do.
Interestingly enough there’s a new Wireless Broadband provider in Michigan called SpeedNet that appears to be part of a national chain that my Dad is considering using cause he’s stuck “up north” where the only other option until recently was Charter Pipeline which used to be ridiculously expensive and insisted that you have their cable TV service or they’d tack on all sorts of extra fees.
The same day my Dad got an ad for SpeedNet in the mail he got one from Charter announcing that they no longer charged extra if you didn’t have their cable TV service and installation would be free, etc. etc. etc. Amazing what a little competition will do for a company’s motivation. Now he’s deciding which route to go.
Yes, competition is a wonderful thing.
The Comcast modem is $3/mo, returnable any time. Once everything’s in place and running, I can look at new modems more carefully.