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Today Comcast announced HDTV digital cable service in the Eagan area. This is what I have been waiting for to make the switch from Satellite to cable TV. I like satellite except they are currently trying to ram too many channels down their limited bandwidth and the picture quality hasn’t been the best. HDTV on satellite also requires the purchase of a $700 receiver, but from Comcast no purchase is necessary. This brings me to the question of should I get cable internet instead of DSL…….
After seeing Mikes 20-30ping last night I am about sold on dumping Qwest. I ordered cable internet for a trial deal at $20 a month for 6 months to see if I like it. Anyone with cable have any recommendations on a router to buy? Dammit and I just got that 678 router from ebay – guess I will need to resell it.
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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I got a toshiba pcx100u from best buy 1 1/2 years ago and no problems! If you have both cable tv and cable internet they give you like a 5 dollar discount on internet. Its not much but every bit helps. Make sure when your 6 months is up you ask for the discount.
Posts: 486 | From: Eagan, MN | Registered: Oct 2000
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Thanks for the tip I will call them when the 6 months is up.
The thing that really surprised me about Comcast is the cust service person actually knew what she was talking about. She spent 30 minutes on the phone with me going over different plans and promotions. Then had a manager override a couple fees and called me back with confirmation. So far so good - installation next wednesday might be a different story.
I looked at the box for that wireless gateway I bought a couple weeks ago and noticed that it is also a cable router, so I will try that first. If that dosen't work I will get a Toshiba or Linksys router.
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Comcast is running a 99$ special right now for digital cable, cable internet, and home phone...just fyi then you could dump usworst all together!
Posts: 486 | From: Eagan, MN | Registered: Oct 2000
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I've been going through Timewarner for a couple years now for tv and internet. I've noticed for the last couple months that I've been gettin stalls alot when playing cs so I wouldn't really recommend them. I do ping well when I play and don't notice any realy choke/loss exept when I get these stalls. Hopefully you'll have better luck with comcast. Posts: 208 | From: Chaska MN | Registered: Aug 2002
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I have a toshiba pcx 2500 modem that we got free through Tiome Warner. For the most part I have not had any problems with cable. Every once in a great while I get glitchs, but not very often and usually just due to high web traffic.
-------------------- "Rarely has it been so clear how much we, the ordinary people of this country, are better than our rulers. I hope that lesson is not lost on anyone, of any political persuasion." Posts: 520 | From: Shakopee, MN USA | Registered: May 2002
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Well cable guy was here at 5pm sharp for the install. I showed him the patch-work of cable and satelite we have strung all over the place and he figured it out. Plugged in the cable modem in my room and the signal light came on right away. He left me to self install after he left. HDTV install took awhile but he got it working and it looks AWESOME! HDESPN is up and running so the Vikings game is on for Sunday night.
After he left I installed the internet after a bit of fucking around (no connection to Comcast all of a sudden worked) and got it to work on one computer. Plugged the cable modem into my D-Link router/wireless access point and it connected to Comcast first try. Set everything up in the router for the LAN (DHCP, Gateway, DHS, etc) and it works like a charm....
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Yeah the Download speeds where we are at Scott will blow your socks off!! Usually we can bury the speed test sites and max them out too. Kinds funny most only go to 2mb/sec.
Posts: 486 | From: Eagan, MN | Registered: Oct 2000
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I just think it is funny how you are so amazed at the ease of set-up. We have been trying to get you to switch for along time now. And the download speeds are amazingly fast, at least twice that of DSL. I'm sure you will enjoy cable more than DSL.
-------------------- "Rarely has it been so clear how much we, the ordinary people of this country, are better than our rulers. I hope that lesson is not lost on anyone, of any political persuasion." Posts: 520 | From: Shakopee, MN USA | Registered: May 2002
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I have never had good service when it comes to "cable guys" - they always fuck something up. Att was known for their bad service.
As far as Cable vs DSL....
Mike, Steve, and I were one of the first residences with DSL back in 1998 before cable. It was a nightmare to set up because it was new to everyone. After all the kinks got worked out it was fine until the day we moved out. Was fast and dependable, we even ran a Team Fortress server for a year.
I moved into my house and wanted to get DSL or cable but I wasn't covered by either. I kept calling Qwest and finally they said they would try it but I might be too far away. It worked great until I upgraded the speed so we could do a CS server. The new DSL was rate adaptive (always seaching for a faster speed) and it seemed to add 40-60ms on to my ping. The server was shitty even though we had enough bandwidth (678up).
It wasn't until the continued lag spikes during internet games that I considered switching to cable. Things I will really miss about DSL:
Static IP address (I like to host an ftp and connect to my computer using remote desktop from work) Fast upload - I don't like the upload cap of 256k on cable. Originally cable did not allow more then one computer to be hooked up.
Cost is about the same.
So yes I will be happy with cable. Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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In my area i have a choice between 3-4 speeds of charter cable (notoriously unreliable) and 1 residental speed of DSL. (there are buisness options avaliable.) at faster speed.
I pay 50$ per month (40 for the line and 10 for ISP) for 1meg down and 256 up ADSL.
Charter is offering 3 levels of their notoriously troublesome service in my area.
1. 256kD 128kU for 34.95 2. 768kD 128kU for 44.95 3. 1.5MD 128kU for 59.95
My DSL has been flawless now for over a year. It was troublesome at first but now is excellent.
I have no intentions of switching to charter ever.
Though charter does have a good digital cable package pricing with their internet acces.
Between all the people i know that have cable and thoes i know that have DSL, i have found that in my situation cable is not much if any faster than DSL down and certanly slower up. (I have clocked up speeds on my dsl as high as 512.)
And in most situations DSL is as easy to set up and much more reliable, especially when using a cisco router. Further it is basically cheaper in my area.
Cable is not apropriate for a buisness like ours that is uploading large files to internet servers on a daily basis almost.
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Comcast only has one speed: 1.5m+ down 256up $44 (discount if you have cable also)
DSL was: 256 Deluxe (always connected) $28 ISP $15 768/768 Deluxe business class DSL $60 ISP $15
Comcast also has the deal where it's $22 a month for 6 months, pretty much the reason I switched. Of course I think the "modem" is leased at like $6 a month. Qwest's leased the modem/router/switch thing for $5 a month.
The real reason I switched was because Comcast won the war to get HDTV service for cheap. Dishnet is nice except the $700-$900 equipment purchase to get HD is fucking stupid.
Brad have you given any thought to Time Warner cable HD? They have a bunch of HD channels now - well ahead of Comcast.
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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We have had cable internet (No cable TV, well not paid for it anyway) ever since I got out here, year & a half now, and it was originally AT&T at $42.00 per/month. When they switched to Comcast that price jumped to $56.00 now!! Same service, same connection speed, just have to pay more. Luckily "the Good Dr." can turn this in on an expense report and get reimbursed for it but the price increase sucks. So I guess what I'm saying is watch what they hike the price to after the special deal period is over...
Posts: 44 | From: Forest Lake, MN | Registered: Oct 2002
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I was one of the first customers to have cable internet in California when I lived there. I had graet luck with it then and still have good luck with the cable internet I have here in MN. I paid $50 a month for cable internet back in 1998!
Chad, I agree with you about Charter cable. When I worked at BestBuy in Apple Valley, everybody complained about Charter. Stay with what works.
We are probably going to get the TimeWarner HD, also.
-------------------- "Rarely has it been so clear how much we, the ordinary people of this country, are better than our rulers. I hope that lesson is not lost on anyone, of any political persuasion." Posts: 520 | From: Shakopee, MN USA | Registered: May 2002
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Mike - Call Comcast and tell them you want to upgrade to the new higher speed cable internet. It's free and doubles the speed to 3M down/384k up. You don't have to do anything except ask them to do it....
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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