So I have finally decided that I need to get DSL because my dial-up is soooo slow. What do ya'll think is the best DSL service provider in Houston? Please help me!! ------------------ Poopy!
I have EV1 and it is great but they are not providing new service because their provider, North Point, filed chapter 11. Bummer. I've heard PDQ is good, but DO NOT go with Southwestern Bell. They are awful. Also, you could always go with Roadrunner cable service if DSL doesn't work. Good luck. ------------------ "You know what they say about the music business. Here today, gone TODAY! - Chris Rock at the MTV Music Video Awards
I wouldn't necessarily suggest SWB either. That's what we got (last March) . . . at first, it really sucked. They capped the bandwidth, and sometimes the service would go down for a day or more. However, now, there are no problems. No more capped bandwidth or anything. The Houston area SWB customers filed a class-action lawsuit, and I think SWB finally realized it needed to pull it's head out of it's ass. Since about September, we have had no problems. But that doesn't guarantee that new customers won't have the same probs. we had. ------------------ What can change the nature of a man?
Go to www.dslreports.com and see what others may have to say about ISPs. You can even check by zip code for reviews. Also, have you checked to see if you're able to get DSL where you live? If not, you can see if there's a CO close to your location at dslreports.com as well. ------------------ "I was arrested for sexual assault involving an elderly man and I was out in 35 minutes." -- Achebe - programmer by day, geriatric ass grabber by night. As(s?) a side note, he did state he was cleared of charges.
If you get Roadrunner do you have to buy the TV cable package too? I just want it for internet purposes. I read their site but it doesn't address that question. ------------------ "Relax... kids swallow quarters all the time. If she craps out two dimes and a nickel then start worrying!" -Grumpier Old Men
Yep, outlaw's right. Plus, they make you buy the modem now too. Personally, I'd rather buy an ADSL modem than a cable modem, which is why I switched when they started doing that. ------------------ My dream job is to be a Houston Rockets towel boy.
I had RoadRunner during the summer in Houston. RoadRunner with Cable came out to $80 (about $40 for RoadRunner and $40 for Cable), and RoadRunner without Cable came out to $75. Yeah, it is something like $5, but why not get Cable with it. Here are the prices for RoadRunner in Austin: It doesn't say anything for non cable subscribers but I guarantee it will not be $39.99 a month. http://www.austin.rr.com/twaustin/pricing.html [This message has been edited by Smokey (edited March 04, 2001).]
Readin the RoadRunner site they say it costs $39.95 plus cable. I guess that's not entirely accurate. Well I have a Dish so that's why I was askin about the TV cable. I'm thinkin of switching over to DirecTV because as any Dish Network customer knows the sports packages STINK. Does anyone use the DirecTV internet thing? I live out near Katy and unfortunately we don't have DSL here yet. ------------------ "Relax... kids swallow quarters all the time. If she craps out two dimes and a nickel then start worrying!" -Grumpier Old Men [This message has been edited by Timing (edited March 04, 2001).]
Ive heard nothing but nightmares for high-speed bandwidth for the houston area. I lived in the middle of clear lake and I could not get either. The promised a couple months but I never saw it happened. I ordered Bellsouth, received everything free, first month free, no contracts, free dialup and they were only two weeks off from their promise date for the service to be hooked up in my area (But UPS was a b**** to get my modem delivered to the right address) So far the service has been good ...an occasional drop in service for a brief moment but thats about it. ------------------ Nice guys finish last ... and im surely not going to finish last!
That's true. It can be a nightmare. I'm fortunate in that I live about 3/4 of a mile from the phone company. ------------------ "You know what they say about the music business. Here today, gone TODAY! - Chris Rock at the MTV Music Video Awards
No, I have Roadrunner and connect at around 3000Kbps! Smokin'!! I also have Digital Cable T.V. and my bill is around 96 bucks. Without cable it'll be 44.95. Not bad! ------------------ Whatever you want to do, you have to do something else first.
http://www.dslreports.com is da bomb! Do not use WINFIRE. They suck. They only offer web based email. You can only connect with this sorry @ss winfire toolbar running on your desktop. It has a proprietary MP3 player that doesn't work and it doesn't allow you to use WinAmp. I'm pretty sure it could be my system but I'm sure this BS dsl proprietary crap has a lot to do with it. If I had any idea how bad this service was designed and actually how it worked, I never would've done it. It was a pain in the @ss to install, software-wise. Winfires internal modems were on permanent back order and after almost 4 months of waiting I opted for an external modem and offered a free month of service. The service is 34.95/mo. and I'm not sure yet of the terms of service. On the bright side, I've connected as high as 1.03Mbps and as low as 300,000 Mbps. Still trying to tweak my system using DSL reports.com. One cool thing about DSLreports.com is they have a message board similiar to Ultimate BBS. Well see ya online, with my crappy DSL service. rH ------------------ Homecourt will always be 'The Summit' to me!! Until we move downtown!! The Psychedelic Groove House of Rockets Basketball Love! Come and chat with us on game nights in CC.net chat!
Thank all of ya'll for your replies. Just know that whatever you are currently connected at it is sure to be faster than my 28.8 bps dial-up! ------------------ Poopy!
I want to apologize to CC.net and the BBS, since I've found out about the http://www.DSLreports.com message boards. I've been blowing up their forums... rH ------------------ Homecourt will always be 'The Summit' to me!! Until we move downtown!! The Psychedelic Groove House of Rockets Basketball Love! Come and chat with us on game nights in CC.net chat!
I have DSL through Southwestern Bell and love it. I've had it for about a year. The only complaint I ever had was when they installed it. You do get the standard SWBell "We'll come and install it when we get darn good and ready" response. (They gave a day, with a probably in the afternoon appointment.) When the guy came he said that the apartment phone wiring was below current code, and would have to be replaced for the DSL to work properly -- 1-2 hours at $78 dollars an hour. I said forget it, and he offered to actually test the line with his meter -- and found it had one of the best connections he's seen. (Apparently I'm 1/4 mile from the switching station.) Other than that, I've had no problems and have not had to call once. I get consistently very high connection speeds, much faster than my friend down the street with Roadrunner. I went with SW Bell because at the time, when I researched the other companies, ALL of them leased time on SW Bell equipment -- similar to what they do with the phone lines. So you are actually using SW Bell connections, with the same service problems, if any. I felt it made sense to cut out the third party. I love the fact that I only get one bill -- it's on the phone bill -- which you can pay by mail or at the grocery store. ------------------ Stay Cool...
dc sports, You are correct that almost all providers will be using some phone company's phone lines, but that's only half the equation. There're 2 main connections when you're talking about DSL. One from the phone company to the provider and from the phone company to you. If the ISP's service sucks, you can be assured that you will feel the hit no matter how good the phone company is. It's also the ISP that sets your terms of service. For example, I use DirectLink.net here in the DFW area and I have 2 static IP's and unlimited bandwidth, and can run web, ftp, or email servers if I want. Other ISP's would have you kicked off if you run servers. That's where the choice of ISP is important. Also, people that think the phone company knows what they're doing any better than anyone else is fooling themselves. I've talked with SWBell and GTE/Verizon reps and they are clueless. ------------------ "I was arrested for sexual assault involving an elderly man and I was out in 35 minutes." -- Achebe - programmer by day, geriatric ass grabber by night. As(s?) a side note, he did state he was cleared of charges. [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited March 05, 2001).]
Hey Dr... you should check out the bulletin board on dslreports.com for all the winfire stuff going on! I post under groovehouse. Here's the link: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/freedsl what a mess. Winfire went bankrupt and those of us that are "using" winfire are clueless. No one know's who's providing our service. I'm thinking about returning my modem and cancelling my service. I mean what can they do? They're freakin' out of business. What a mess. Have fun on their message boards. late rH ------------------ Homecourt will always be 'The Summit' to me!! Until we move downtown!! The Psychedelic Groove House of Rockets Basketball Love! Come and chat with us on game nights in CC.net chat!
I had SWBell DSL in my last apartment, and it always worked well for me. Of course, at the time, there wasn't much choice DSL-wise (and I couldn't get cable there because the cable company hadn't gotten around to servicing the area where I lived. They started telling me in the Summer of 1998 that it would be six months at the most for them to start servicing that area. Last I heard, they still don't service that area). I have cable now, and I like it. The main reason why I preferred it over DSL was that it didn't take a month to get the service installed. I went to the cable company office, and they gave me the modem, etc. I just went home and hooked it up, and I immediately had cable modem service. With DSL, I had to wait nearly a month for the guy to come out and hook it up (I understand that SWBell only does self-installs now, but they still take longer). ------------------ Houston Sports Board The Anti-Bud Adams Page
Most installations being done now, at least by Verizon, are "splitterless" (it's really not) installations (aka G.Lite standard). You basically plug a microfilter into your phone jack and hook up any analog devices such as a phone or a fax to it. The DSL modem is usually then plugged straight into the wall. It's a pretty painless process. It's not like the oooold days where they had to mess around with your phone jacks and everything else to get the thing to work. Oh, and by the old days, I mean 1998'ish. ------------------ "I was arrested for sexual assault involving an elderly man and I was out in 35 minutes." -- Achebe - programmer by day, geriatric ass grabber by night. As(s?) a side note, he did state he was cleared of charges.
