Recommendations for new ISP

[Pteroduck]

I heard now that major ISP's like ATT and comcast are "capping" their users with amounts like 250GB then adding ridiculous prices like 5$ per 10GB or something like that. That is too much for me as i have ATT

I'm looking for a new ISP thats reliable and doesnt have a cap.

I game a bit and also stream, Can someone recommend me a ISP with decent upload and download for a not too bad price and that doesnt have caps? Or one that doesnt raise the bill by 5 or 10 bucks every month *cough*AT&T*cough*

[Coors]

Depends on your location. Most people only have one or two...maybe three good options to choose from depending on where they live. I have Charter and have been happy with it. No cap afaik...if there is i've never downloaded enough to hit it.

[Pteroduck]

I live in the united states, texas area. The major ISP's are no go for me

just looked up charter, looks great! too bad its not available in my area :/

Edited October 13, 2012 by Pteroduck

[AkakmanH]

I live south of Dallas and the only 2 options in my area are AT&T DSL or Charter.

Charter does not offer internet and their service sucks. Just try navigating their WEB site.

So, I have been on AT&T DSL for a little over 3 years.

Speedtest.net says that I average a little below 3 mbps.

I have never had a throttle problem. I do not know if this attitude is universal for AT&T.

[Pteroduck]

I live in houston, i have a wide arrange of ISP's but theyre mainly the major ISPs, time warner,att,comcast,etc

I have At&t, 1mb up .2 mb down, its not throttling im worried about, its the cap and how AT&T deals with their customers

they keep raising my bill every month and i have to call them to lower it. It gets annoying, thats why im switching, plus to not get into a internet cap

[bishop245]

I know suddenlink has a lot of texas covered but they too have a 250 cap atleast in the enid OK area

[Pteroduck]

I read the reviews on suddenlink, they seem a bit shakey in my area, lots of disconnects and whatnot :/ and the cap is a turn off. Cox i heard has no caps, but are they any good?

[Mikesnow]

cox is pretty good, I only have 2 options were I am North of houston so I have both. I really can't complain about suddenlink, they do have outtages and maintenace like all the rest, which is why I have 2 isp and a router set up for failover. Not sure if you can get clear were you are that might be another option as well. Also on the suddenlink cap thing it's not retardely expensive if you go over like it is for others, and the faster the connection you get the more they give you. I download stuff and stream on like 4 tv with netflix plus games going and like 12 pc's all at the same time day in and day out and I never been over the cap for my 108mbps connection.

[Pteroduck]

Which one is better? In terms of reliability for gaming and such? And mbps/money rate?

i looked at clear, it said they only have mobile interntet, not home internet

How much do you pay for your internet? I'm looking to spend about 40 a month on decent internet thats reliable for gaming and such

[Mikesnow]

Which one is better? In terms of reliability for gaming and such? And mbps/money rate?

i looked at clear, it said they only have mobile interntet, not home internet

How much do you pay for your internet? I'm looking to spend about 40 a month on decent internet thats reliable for gaming and such

I spend 140 on my cable line and another 80 for my dsl line. The cable would be cheaper if I used thier tv service as well, then it would go to 80 same cost as the dsl, but I use Direct Tv for my tv service so just internet 108mpbs down, 5mbps up is 120ish then another 20 in taxes and stuff. Not sure what you'll get for 40 bucks a month that wouldn't even get you internet were I live. If your closer in to the city with more options this is likely more competitive then out here. Like I said both my services are pretty reliable, but just regularly i'd say at least 1 day a month one of them is down for maint. If it storms one will randomly go out for a few mins then come back and vice versa. This is why I use a pfSense box I made for my router, so I can have both isp feeding 1 router in a failover so when one goes down the other takes over. and I have everything on battery backups so even if power goes out it satys on and stable, which is a must for me since I use VoIP for my telephone at home as well.

 

EDIT - One thing that may be important is the difference. DSL when it works it works as it is intended if you get 20mbps down you get 20mpbs down as long as the link is working. With cable your link can be 50, 80, 100mpbs and even though it's working it can vary between 20, 30, 40, all the way up to your max even though theres no issues with the line itself. Others useing the service in your neighborhood will effect your link speeds, like typically in prime time you'll notice a slow down of speeds while people are watching tv later in the evenings the speed will return. It really depends on the speed if your on a say 3mpbs link you prolly wouldn't notice, but on the faster ones you will.

Edited October 14, 2012 by Mikesnow

[fire_storm]

Most ISP's with the exception of a few have bandwidth caps nowadays.

 

If your looking for an ISP without a cap I would suggest looking into an ISP business class internet packages because a lot of ISP's usually don't have bandwidth caps on there business class internet connections.

 

The only downside is business class internet can cost any ware between $30-$300 or more then residential internet connections.

Edited October 14, 2012 by fire_storm

[Mikesnow]

Most ISP's with the exception of a few have bandwidth caps nowadays.

 

If your looking for an ISP without a cap I would suggest looking into an ISP business class internet packages because a lot of ISP's usually don't have bandwidth caps on there business class internet connections.

 

The only downside is business class internet can cost any ware between $30-$300 or more then residential internet connections.

Yes I looked into Buisness lines and they are totally not worth it unless your needing the Static Ip. For example My Suddenlink connection is 108mbps down / 5mbps up it costs 140 a month, and they block several ports like http, https, and remote access port numbers just to name a few. (There are ways around this problem for alot of things however) The buisness line would be a static IP with all ports open they start at 350 bucks a month and thats for 4mbps down / 4mbps up. My DSL line is a 20mbps down / and 1mbps up it's 80 bucks a month and really has no port restrictions but still isn't a static ip. To go up to a buisness dsl line it costs once again the cheapest is 300 bucks a month or so it gets you static ip, and the speed is 4mbps down / 4mbps down. In my opinion it wasn't worth the extra money for the static ip's when I can spend the same amount for 2 seperate isp's (or less) and I can use Load balancing and or Failover to resolve any issues with either service. One the things that tends to make the buisness class lines more expensive is all the extra stuff they make you get with it, like 10 different phone lines and such. Also if your ISP supports MPPP you could get like 4 of thier DSL lines and bond them and get more speed for less as well.