Dumped TimeWarner cable modem for Clearwire wireless internet

[KC0KEK]

If you think you're being throttled, track your usage over the course of a month. Clear subs average 7 GB/month, and that could be the threshold where throttling kicks in, if that's actually what's happening.

[cknab1]

I'll look into the month to month with Clear.  We are probably heavy users.  My wife does a lot of genealogy research and I would be streaming movies and sports.  I just want to try something that if it doesn?t work, I?m not stuck with it for 2 years.  I think TWC has a trial period also.  I'm in this concrete building but have a corner unit and there is plenty of open area across from me, so I hope the windows will help with the reception.

[KC0KEK]

There's a WiMAX operator in Russia called Yota. A few of its subs are using 1 TB/month each, although the average is 10 GB.

[bobbyhawks]

Not really. In mobile, we've had a few firsts in terms of commercial launches (e.g., EDGE). And for all of the hoopla over Google Fiber, the take rates for anything over 15 Mbps are very, very low in this country. In NYC, for example, Time Warner Cable's 50 Mbps service adds about 2,000 subs per quarter versus 75,000 for the slower tiers. A lot of people say they want higher speeds, but when it's available, few are willing to pay $99-$130/month for the extra speed. Plus it's overkill for most people. I work from home and routinely upload and download large files. 50/5 Mbps service is available in my area, but 15/2 is more than adequate.

I think the point that was being made was that we are behind other countries.  This doesn't necessarily always mean speed alone, but speed for an accessible price.  By that metric, we aren't really making great strides.  And to say that what we have is adequate, in any form of technology, will only hinder future growth of services and possibilities.  While people in South Korea pay half what we do for probably 3 to 10 times the speed, we work within our limitations.  South Korean companies can distribute easily downloadable 3d blu-ray quality movies, xbox and Playstation games, and HD tv to cell phones without worry.  We often forget that the reason things are the size they are is now because of our broadband limitations.  Storage is cheap enough now that the biggest problem is how to have access to that media everywhere.  If broadband were better, music files would be 10x as large as they are now.  If BB were better, streaming would be irrelevant and HD movies would download in entirety to be played back instantly.  I think it is wrong to call this overkill.  It is just something that needs to be adopted or available cheaply before its possibilities can be exploited.

http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/201 ... ration.ars

[ignatius]

The US is a huge sprawling country so it costs a great deal more to cover people per sq. mile, even more costly to provide high bandwidth so spread out.  That's what it pretty much boils down to.  Is a lot easier and cost effective to deploy wireless in very dense Europe/Asia.  IE, they can deploy higher speeds since they can concentrate it in smaller areas.  Another factor is that while competition is good in the US, many other countries have a monopoly of all users on one companies infrastructure, so they get better economies of scale.

[KC0KEK]

I think the point that was being made was that we are behind other countries.  This doesn't necessarily always mean speed alone, but speed for an accessible price. 

So how do you propose that we get the price down to an "accessible" point?

It costs about $110/foot to run a fiber lateral. (That's a national average. It will be higher in NYC than in Olathe.) A base station costs $100K-$250K, not counting OpEx. Unless the telcos, MSOs and wireless carriers have people beating down their doors to pay $100/month for 4G and fiber speeds, there just isn't enough revenue coming in to fund an aggressive build-out. Are the feds willing to chip in more taxpayer money to expand broadband speeds and coverage while bringing down the retail price? We'll see, I guess.

[bobbyhawks]

Are the feds willing to chip in more taxpayer money to expand broadband speeds and coverage while bringing down the retail price? We'll see, I guess.

I don't think the current iteration of Government is willing to, but since you can tie broadband access back to national security, to intrastructure, to small business success, to large business success, to competitiveness with companies abroad, etc., etc.  I understand that it costs money, but in this day and age, broadband saturation and availability are an important enough goal that I think our Government should be interested in making us competitive.  It cost a lot of money to lay down our current lines, and without incentive, I could see companies just trying to make do with what exists, particularly in those areas with 15mbps max already.  Meanwhile, other areas of the world continue to build out better infrastructure (including very large countries like China). 

[mlind]

I don't think the current iteration of Government is willing to, but since you can tie broadband access back to national security, to intrastructure, to small business success, to large business success, to competitiveness with companies abroad, etc., etc.  I understand that it costs money, but in this day and age, broadband saturation and availability are an important enough goal that I think our Government should be interested in making us competitive.  It cost a lot of money to lay down our current lines, and without incentive, I could see companies just trying to make do with what exists, particularly in those areas with 15mbps max already.  Meanwhile, other areas of the world continue to build out better infrastructure (including very large countries like China). 

And this would lead to jobs. 

[zlohban]

I'm like a kid in a candy store this morning.  I get to dump Time - Warner after also rejecting ATT uverse because it isn't any better........

Amazon, with a prime membership, which I already had, $79 a year, now offers unlimited TV and Movie streaming. I am set and ready to go, I had already hooked my TVs up through a computer to stream Hulu.

Now question? Has anyone tried the ATT basic DSL for internet without phone service? They have a plan that they never promote for $10 or $20 a month that they must offer after losing a class action law suit.

[mlind]

I had AT&T DSL (with phone service, although it's not required).  It never reached the speeds promised.  I changed to AT&T U-verse and it's a lot faster.  I bundled it with phone service because it was cheaper than 'regular' AT&T.  I didn't get the cable TV option because I'm watching The Wire on DirectTV (no HBO).

[smh]

Can any Time Warner customers in RM/downtown/CC/midtown please let me know what is your connection speed? I'm finally at the last straw with Clear and I'm planning to switch--much to my chagrin--to TWC for internet. I have had so many evening of <1mbps speed with Clear that I just can't take it. I bought an album off iTunes and it took nearly 30 minutes to download. Awful.

Anyway, if you're not sure of your connection speed but would like to find out, simply go to http://www.speedtest.net and click Begin Test.

Also, any Clear users who have not experienced connection problems, I'd really like to hear from you as well. This shit just irritates me to no end. Why are monopolistic service companies always so terrible? Oh wait.

[kclofter]

Can any Time Warner customers in RM/downtown/CC/midtown please let me know what is your connection speed?

Plaza, TWC.  3/17/11 20:53.

[smh]

Which plan are you on?!

[splash]

We switched from TWC to Uverse in August and have been very happy.  In the last year we were with TWC, we had a spotty internet connection and there always seemed to be an issue.  It's cost basically the same per month, but it's worth it to us to not have internet issues.  Granted, we have had a couple of internet issues in the past couple of months, but I think only twice we've confirmed it's been a problem with the connection itself and things were resolved within 30 minutes or so.  I've had problems occasionally over the past month connecting, but that's been with only a particular computer (I have no idea what the issue was). 

Overall, we've been VERY happy with Uverse.  Internet speeds have been faster and more reliable, plus we've basically tripled our dvr space.  I'm on the internet constantly, we watch a ton of movies/tv shows online, and my husband is a pretty dedicated gamer, so we are using our internet pretty heavily and haven't have any problems like we used to have with TWC.  We watch a ton of tv and I didn't have to start cleaning out the dvr until just before Christmas (I have a habit of watching and saving stuff instead of deleting it).

[kclofter]

Which plan are you on?!

Standard.  This speed is new - in the past, I've averaged 5-7 Meg.

[mlind]

I recently had a failure with U-Verse.  The technician came and it turned out there had been a software upgrade that had been causing problems with a lot of customers. 

The package included a back-up battery.  During a recent power failure, it beeped constantly - very annoying.

Otherwise, I have no complaints.  The speed is better and more consistent than AT&T DSL. 

[KCMax]

For those of you with AT&T cable service, do you get HD okay? My service guy said AT&T had an issue with compatibility with HDMI cables, and used a "composite" instead? The picture quality is good I guess, but its not HD quality. Are there any fixes?

[DaveKCMO]

i'm loving the new time warner app that let's you watch live HD channels on your ipad (only if you subscribe to their cable and internet services, and only when you're at home using said services). we have two ipads in our household, so it's like having two extra TVs without taking up extra space.

of course it would be better if it worked anywhere, but such is the state of content licensing.

[KC0KEK]

such is the state of content licensing.

Agreed. Here's another example: If you take an iPhone or iPad to AT&T Park and connect to the stadium's Wi-Fi network, you can watch instant replays and other stuff from the Giants' Digital Dugout service. But you can't do that over 3G, and the reason isn't bandwidth. Instead, it's because Wi-Fi is a local-area technology, and the Giants control the digital rights inside the stadium.

[smh]

We are officially moving from CLEAR to TimeWarner this weekend. The appointment has been made. I never thought I'd be so happy to subscribe to TWC, considering I joined CLEAR just to avoid giving TimeWarner any money.