Chicagoland guys - What broadband internet provider do you have??

[swoody]

Well, I'm in the NW suburbs, and have learned to truly hate AT&T over the years (currently have DSL with them, and am looking to get rid of it). I want to go with a different company, but I can't seem to find any other internet service providers in the area besides Comcast. I never had my house wired for cable TV, and the sales agent with Comcast said it would cost quite a bit for installation. So, I'm trying to see what else is out there as far as ISP's go before I bite the bullet with Comcast. What other Internet Service Provider do you use, or do you know of any in the area? Thanks much for the input!

Woody

[castlefox]

Bump

My dad currently is using At&T dsl, and yes it sucks. I would also want to upgrade but not with comcast.

[Nburnes]

I live about an hr from Chicago if that matters and my father can only get At&t here or Comcast :( He has been complaining about it for a while now.

[swoody]

Yeah nburnes, I know how you feel :(

However, I did just put in an order for Comcast! I'm so excited now! going from my crappy 768Kb/s DSL to 15MB/s cable should be a *very* nice improvement. You may want to have your dad look into Comcast a bit more. I am ditching AT&T and DirecTV for Comcast TV and internet, and with much better TV programming, and MUCH faster internet, I'm only going to be paying $10 more per month. If you figure I break even between my DirecTV package, and the new package with Comcast, then I'm basically upgrading my internet connection to one that's ~20x faster for only $10 more per month. That's a hell of a deal if you ask me ;)

[shaolin77]

Hello Everyone,
While I'm new to Ubuntu...I'm not new to Linux I've been on & off with Linux and hoping now to permanently be a Linux user ...just found this Chicago & Illinois Team Forum...and I live in the NW suburbs as well. I just found out there was a gathering near my area and I missed it!!...I've been wanting to go to a gathering and I missed it!!

Anyways...I've been with AT&T for about 2 years now..I initially had Earthlink (which sucks in every way) then after having so many issues I went with AT&T DSL and just recently
I switch to their AT&T U-verse package which is a vast improvement with Speed...the nice part U-verse is that its fiber-optic from the node to out...I get my TV and Internet service all in one instead of having to pay TV, Internet and Phone...since DSL does require to have an active home phone.....which I don't even use.

I'm actually saving a few dollars off my total bill now and they gave me $100 gift-card for switching to their U-verse package.

Now, I don't a need a home phone.. and I have better speeds than DSL....you might want to check if they have U-verse available in your area...just a thought.

[swoody]

Well welcome to the forum shaolin77 ):P

It's nice to see another member from the NW burbs! Also, we do have another get-together coming up soon for the Karmic Release. It may wind up being in the city, but from what I hear, public transportation is supposed to be pretty readily available near the venues we are considering. It would be a really great chance to meet some fellow Chicago/IL members, and is always a great time :D

To keep in touch, you might want to join us on IRC at #ubuntu-chicago, or you can subscribe to the Chicago Loco Mailing list, and introduce yourself:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-chicago

There's also a nice wiki page for the Chicago Team:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ChicagoTeam

Again welcome, and I look forward to seeing you around :)
-Woody

[rr72]

Hey guys!

We have Comcast and am also in NW burbs. It is just alright, it is much better now that they increased our "levels" for the area. They did some system checking and skipped our block, we noticed certain HD channels not working at all. I don't think it is optic or anything fancy.

We use viatalk for phone service and as mentioned before have comcast cable for tv but not a bundle package because it is actually cheaper for internet and cable tv seperate.

[rasmith3530]

I got rid of our land line several years ago and went to a dry line solution with AT&T. I don't really like them, but I like Comcast even less, and that seems to be the game up here in southeastern McHenry County. Satellite is just too sketchy for me as well.

[swoody]

Yeah, that's what I have now - a dry line with AT&T. I looked into satelite too, but the prices are just crazy for the offered speeds.