Internet choice in the lower price tier

[PandaBear]

Do you not have gigabit ethernet service available in your area?

I have, just that I don't think I need it nor I want to pay for it. 140mbps is fine and 300mbps is more than enough. If anything stability so my team / zoom call don't drop is my bigger concern. I think they are around $120/mo or so, no need really but if I insist I can get it.

 

[PandaBear]

unless you have special needs(gaming, running a server, lots of streaming), my vote is 5G..

Also if you have lots of neighbors, another random consideration is which option's junction box is closest to your house....ATT didn't bury the fiber deeply, and a neighbor cut my brother's fiber last week as his fiber runs through 2 other yards. While the Xfinity access box is at the corner of my lot.

credit to ATT, the service guy arrived the next day....maybe it was because my brother has the highest tier, lol

ATT recently did the trench in my area, so ATT's "box" is probably about 25 feet and Comcast's "box" is about 30. TMo tower is about 500 feet on a high voltage powerline's frame.

 

[y_p_w]

"Silicon Valley" would explain it.

but thank you for sharing your experience as I am shocked to learn this.

For the most part they've added more lines to distribute the load. I'd also think one big thing is people working from home where video (up and down) uses quite a bit of bandwidth. But it should be much better than it was before with more lines.

 

[y_p_w]

I have, just that I don't think I need it nor I want to pay for it. 140mbps is fine and 300mbps is more than enough. If anything stability so my team / zoom call don't drop is my bigger concern. I think they are around $120/mo or so, no need really but if I insist I can get it.

I've been playing around with my parents' Sonic fiber internet when I'm visiting. Don't have the equipment to get near 10 Gbit/sec, but I have tested it over 900 down, although maybe 800 up. The price is really good too.

 

[rijndael]

no one runs gigabit ethernet to your house.
its fiber or cable. to a modem or ONT then ethernet from there to your router (if separate)

Fiber can be Ethernet too.
Fiber (OMx and OSx) and Copper (CATx) are Layer 1, Ethernet is Layer 2.
My original FTTH, 23 years ago, was a fiber dropoff on 1310 and was Ethernet..

As for the OP's problem, 5G would be my last pick.

 

[ZZman]

I tried T mobile 5G but had too many issues with slow speeds, freeze ups etc.

 

[Rand]

Fiber can be Ethernet too.
Fiber (OMx and OSx) and Copper (CATx) are Layer 1, Ethernet is Layer 2.
My original FTTH, 23 years ago, was a fiber dropoff on 1310 and was Ethernet..

As for the OP's problem, 5G would be my last pick.

of course, my point was you dont go calling up the ISP and ask for Gigabit Ethernet.

 

[PandaBear]

I've been playing around with my parents' Sonic fiber internet when I'm visiting. Don't have the equipment to get near 10 Gbit/sec, but I have tested it over 900 down, although maybe 800 up. The price is really good too.

Yeah my parents pay like $60 or $70 / month and get 600/600.

 

[wwillson]

Fiber can be Ethernet too.
Fiber (OMx and OSx) and Copper (CATx) are Layer 1, Ethernet is Layer 2.
My original FTTH, 23 years ago, was a fiber dropoff on 1310 and was Ethernet..

As for the OP's problem, 5G would be my last pick.

Correct, PON carries Ethernet frames at L2, but is PON at L1. Same with DOCSIS, it carries Ethernet frames at L2 and is DOCSIS at L1. L1 defines the rules for accessing the physical media like fiber, copper, or coax.

 

[dbias]

With having three options I would call xfinity and tell them to cancel your service. They will automatically transfer you to the loyalty department to try and save your account. This is where you will get the best deal.
I’ve had xfinity for 30 years at my house and have paid around $80 for 300 mbps for years. Frontier fiber installed in my neighborhood lat year and left a flyer on my door for 500 mbps for 39.99. I went on my phone to xfinity website and chatted with the person to cancel my service. They asked if I was moving and I said no I was getting a better deal with frontier. They immediately offered to match the 500 mbps for 40 dollars and throw in some free streaming services, which I will not use, and I agreed. So I cut my bill by half just by doing this.
Two weeks ago my internet was acting up and I chatted for a service call. They set it up ( lightning had struck way too close ) and notified me that the deal they gave me last year was getting ready to expire and offered to extend it for another year. Tech came out and replaced the modem and all is good. Play them off of each other for the best deal.

 

[PandaBear]

After some thoughts, I have decided to the the Xfinity NOW 100mbps / 21mbps for $30/month with no data cap.

There is no contract and if I need more speed in the future I can always switch to ATT. I do think a physical connection is safer than wireless in terms of possible congestion, and having to mount it in one of the window facing the tower is going to cause some cosmetic issue. I like my current setup even if it means slower than before for half the price.

Thanks for all the suggestions and feedback. I don't think any of the 3 choices are bad, any would likely work well.

 

[97prizm]

no one runs gigabit ethernet to your house.
its fiber or cable. to a modem or ONT then ethernet from there to your router (if separate)

Also Gigabit service from cable is usually a tiny fraction of gigabit speed upload..
for example my "spectrum gigabit" is 1100Mbit/s down and 40Mbits/s up.

fiber is usually symmetrical 500/500 1000/1000 2000/2000 etc. although some arent.

My municipality started offering gigabit internet several years ago. It's way cheaper than comcast or other companies.

 

[Rand]

My municipality started offering gigabit internet several years ago. It's way cheaper than comcast or other companies.

Is it fiber or cable?

 

[Cropduster172]

Xfinity offers kind of a secret deal that they call "Now Internet" which is $30 total per month for 100 mbps or $45 for 200 mbps, which includes a free modem/router that they give you to use. They won't tell you about this deal over the phone or list it online with their other plans. You have to know about it and specially seek it out to get the deal.

I've had it for a little over the year and it's been good. Definitely worth checking out before giving up on them.

https://www.xfinity.com/now/internet

This must be limited to markets that have competition and several choices...cable, 5G, fiber. I checked availability for our beach house...not available, yet Comcast is the only cable available. No fiber, but Verizon and T-Mobile 5G. I pay $78/month after it increased in June by $8/month for 600 mbps.
I would have thought that when 5g service became more available, Comcast would back off their close to 20% annual increases... silly me.

 

[97prizm]

Is it fiber or cable?

Fiber. The early adopters got locked in for $40 per month for life it's now $80 per month for gigabit.

 

[Brons2]

Most of the wired carriers still have a "secret" $30 plan left over from the ACA days where there was a $30 government subsidy, making it no cost to households that qualified for the subsidy. They were required to offer the same service to anyone else for a payment of $30, but of course they did not advertise that much if at all.

My mother in law has this, you have to make no more than 200% of the poverty line in your area and AT&T requires you periodically send in your tax returns. MIL is 71 and not sure how much longer she can keep up with cleaning houses, once the grandkids have grown up, she'll probably go back to Brazil. She is a US Citizen and all things equal would rather stay here, but it just costs too much for her to have the kind of life she could have in Brazil.

As for the OP: fiber all day every day. Cellular home internet is for people who don't have better options. It's not worth saving $20 a month over fiber.

 

[mk378]

I meant ACP not ACA. But yes I think some of the companies are still offering it themselves even though Congress cancelled the government money.

And totally agree you can't beat fiber. I use T-Mobile because that is all there is in my neighborhood. It's very reliable though not fast.

 

[alarmguy]

...

Choice 3: ATT Fiber to home 400mbps down / 397mbps up / 14 ms latency, $55/month, regular plan price so they can change whenever they want
I like the fast upload speed, I can use that to stream security camera footage to my parents' NVR without worry about speed. I like the latency too, but I just don't trust ATT won't raise prices mid-way unlike Xfinity and TMo with their 5 year guarantee.


What would you choose? $20 more for fiber vs 5G? or keep the savings?

I would choose this without a thought for $55 a month ATT fiber. Good price and will be very dependable with no throttling.

Best part is if they do raise the price (since you dont trust them) At that time, if it happens you can try out T-Mobile for a month, while maintaining the ATT fiber service. After trying it out, you can decide whether it is right for you and select what works best for you.

I do think, with the tower only two blocks away you will have very satisfactory service. I dont know your area though and you might run into issues during peak times, so a monthly trial is a must before cancelling anything. TO the best of my knowledge of what "used to be" these cell based internet services are not priority data. Meaning you can get throttled, that might be critical if your speeds are borderline as it is while watching a movie or anything data intensive.

We have fiber from our local Co-op very annoyed. $57.95 a month 300/300 but like everything we are being pushed into 500/500 and raised $10 to $67.95 a month. I do not need 500/500 that is the equivalent of using premium gas in my regular gas car. I will not notice any improvement. Service providers are doing this all over. Knowing people will not need high speeds, push them into higher speeds and collect more money/profits.
I will call them doubt I will get anywhere, they arent offering 300/300 anymore. We have a T-Mobile Tower that I can get 500 MBPS off of on my iphone when I drive 2+ miles to where it is. However at my house it degrades to pittyfull. We are in a huge community that does stretch closer to that tower and those people at that end are very happy with T-Mobile (last I heard)

I also tried T-Mobile in my last house before most people knew it existed. Once again, just a bit too far from the tower that I got 700 Mbps on my iPhone off of when driving close to it. Also there was significant slow downs during peak times, late afternoon and evening.
T-Mobile engineers worked with me but they could not get it to be reliable. They then took my community "off the map" until recently I just heard, I suspect a much closer tower has now been upgraded. One that I can actually see during winter months when the leaves fall.