Bay Area Internet Providers?

Groundhog66

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Jan 23, 2007
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Bay Area, CA
I have Comcast Broadband Internet, I am looking to make a change. They raised my monthly rate to $62 and change because it's the only service they provide me:thumbsdow, I switched to DirecTv prior to the beginning of the NFL season last year. So my question is, where can I get the best deal on high-speed internet in the Bay Area?


Edit - I should mention that I am out in Livermore, which usually means fewer choices.:sigh:

Tim
 
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jufam44

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Sep 29, 2007
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CA
We use SBC, and their DSL, while a wee bit slower than comcast, is also under 25 bucks a month. For 5 dollars extra, they almost double your speed to 1.5 mbps. That's who I would recommend, both as a former AT&T customer and as a current SBC customer.
 

TigerhawkT3

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The same thing happened to us. A couple years ago, Comcast raised the rates of our cable internet (we didn't have cable TV from them), so we switched to AT&T/Yahoo!/SBC/etc. DSL. The Comcast service was often down for as much as a few days at a time, but our SBC/etc. is almost never down. I get DL speeds of about 3-400KBps and UL of about 50-60KBps.
 

Groundhog66

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I tried to see if AT&T is available out here, but their site was unavailable to search right now. If I go DSL, don't I have to have a hard line phone hooked up in my home? I currently have Vonage, I wonder if that works with DSL or if it requires broadband. I guess I better start some research.
 

gadget_lover

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Vonage should work with DSL too.

My DSL has worked well for the last few years, except for yesterday when it was down for 6 hours.

We have DSL and Comcast broadband, and the DSL is marginally more reliable.

There is a good chance that DSL is available in your part of the Livermore area. The question is how fast they can go in your neighborhood.


Daniel
 

Groundhog66

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Jan 23, 2007
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Bay Area, CA
Vonage should work with DSL too.

My DSL has worked well for the last few years, except for yesterday when it was down for 6 hours.

We have DSL and Comcast broadband, and the DSL is marginally more reliable.

There is a good chance that DSL is available in your part of the Livermore area. The question is how fast they can go in your neighborhood.


Daniel


Comcast does have me quite spoiled, but I just cannot see paying $62 monthly.
 

hopkins

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Nov 15, 2007
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Vonage let's you choose a new area code and number. With Vonage, you're never tied to a local area code.
 

HarryN

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Jan 22, 2004
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Pleasanton (Bay Area), CA, USA
If you are using primarily a laptop and want to keep things as portable as possible (meaning away from home sometimes), seriously consider sprint's evdo boardband setup. It is $ 75 / month, which is high, but it works everywhere I have been on business in the US - so far. Actual experienced speed is comparable to my sbc dsl + wifi - (basic plan rate). (yes, I have both). Upload speed is faster.

If you go that path, get the Sierra wireless USB card - not an internally included card - for better reception. BTW - I don't use sprint for my cell phone service, but their data card performance / reception is far ahead of the cingular / att cell data system for my use.

Our SBC DSL has been ok, but I would not give them a "great experience" comment either. In the afternoon, it slows way down, and it goes down hard at least every 6 months. By down hard, I mean it takes me a lot of time on the phone with India, then finally to a level 2 tech who actually can diagnose the problem. Somehow, the level 2 techs can rebuild the circuit and / or put our account back on the server all remote control. Once I get to the L2 techs, life is good, it just takes several hours to get there.
 
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