ISP (Internet Service Provider) talk

[3602]

Is this allowed? Anyway please don't talk about downloads of the "file sharing" nature here unless what you do is legal, such as torrenting a Linux ISO.
I'm simply curious about the service quality, including but not limited to the: speed, stability and service of your ISP, also a general money/speed/capacity ratio.
I use Videotron here and it costs $50 a month for 8Mbps (note Mb; not MB nor MiB) down and 1Mbps up. I get 50GB capacity combined but if I surpass this limit, they'll charge for each extra GB until it reaches a cap of $50. So basically I get unlimited traffic for $100 a month, 8Mbps down.
Videotron has their customer service in Tunisia. However their agents seem rather well-trained as the few times we talked, they understand well and speak clearly, albeit with an accent.

[pricetech]

Charter. I have a bundle so it's nigh impossible to say what I pay, or would pay, for Internet by itself. 12 megs download, not sure what my upload is. Just switch to 1 meg down to cut costs. I don't worry about speed. My concern is reliability. Charter has served me well over the last 5 years.

Your mileage, of course, will vary.

Here at work we have Comcast. Had chronic issues when we first hooked up, but once they finally got that ironed out, it's been great. Speed is 12 megs or better. Cost I can't say since it's not my turf.

Again, your mileage may vary.

[JustinR]

Qwest
Download: 40MB/s
Upload : 5MB/s

Unlimited, no caps.

It works remarkably well and reliable, I don't remember how much it is per month, $70-100.

[sisco311]

RDS
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1346241432.png

unlimited traffic, 2 mobile phones, a landline phone (unlimited in-network calling, mobile & landline), a mobile dongle (up to 7.2Mbps download speed) and cable TV (70+ channels) for 69RON=$24 :P

[Spice Weasel]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1346268216.png

I pay for 10 Mb/s. Unlimited. Just internet access, no TV or phone included.

It's a bit overpriced, IMO. £21 ($34) a month. They host high speed mirrors (http://mirrors.virginmedia.com/) for Linux (and BSD) distros as well as some software, which is kind of nice but a bit limited and the Slackware one isn't set up properly. :)

Stability - I have had a few problems, but nothing recent. Mostly after downloading big files (DVD ISOs) on their "unlimited" service.

Service - Their technical support is horrible.

[sydbat]

Telus.

6 up, 1 down, 50 total, $30/month (part of a bundle...$35/month separately), service=meh.

[scouser73]

Virgin Media ISP - download up to 50Mbp/s & upload up to 5Mbp/s.

£37 per month.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1346287615.png

[babybean]

BT, with them for quite a while now. On an up to 8Mb plan with unlimited (turned out to be unlimited as long as you use less than 100GB :() usage. Was happy until around 9 months ago now. The hub that we had broke around a year ago and we entered a new 12 month contract and got a new one. 9 months ago the speed jumped from 6Mbs to 2 Mbs overnight. Support is horrible and have not gone over 4Mbs since. Drops out now and again but mostly at night.

So overall a good ISP if everything is working. If not good luck getting it fixed.

[3602]

Anybody use Dish? Heh... Anyone living in Dish?

[handy]

Internode.

I'm on a plan that gives me the fastest speed they can manage on ADSL 1. with a 60MB monthly limit, after which I'm throttled back to 256Kb. It costs $60/month.

They give great reliable service. My download speeds on average would be around 500K/s.

I live out in the sticks, where we don't get as well looked after as the city folk when it comes to a variety of services beyond those of the communications industry. I'm 5->6Ks away from a small exchange as well.

Whenever I have had to speak with them they are friendly & knowledgeable. They also happen to run their servers on Gentoo with multiple virtual machines running on top of that.

I've been with them for years now & even though there are cheaper providers available I have no intention of leaving Internode.

[wolfgangmcq]

LocalNet. Dialup (not my choice!). $9.95/mo, cheaper of you get it for a year or 6mo at a time. They also provide 5 or 6 email boxes, which is nice, and some sort of "Web 2.0" something that's supposed to speed up the connection, but it's a Windows program, so I can't use it.

[3602]

It's really interesting as in 2011, my local electronics store stocks both the PlayBook and several models of 56k modems. Of course, the 80's didn't reach Canada until like '95 so there's that.

[jerenept]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1346348937.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

D/l up to 5 Mbps, U/l up to 1 Mbps.

[sydbat]

It's really interesting as in 2011, my local electronics store stocks both the PlayBook and several models of 56k modems. Of course, the 80's didn't reach Canada until like '95 so there's that.Speak for yourself! :p

Here in Alberta (Calgary specifically), we've had a fibre network since the mid 80's.

[3602]

Quebec.
Rectified.
Also, Canada was in the 90's when everyone else is in the 80's. I guess that also sorta works...?
Anyway... Bell has that Fibe thing, how is it (no intention to actually switch)?