Depending on how one uses it, cable internet runs rings around other services.
My mid-level service is sort of expensive at $68. But I get 250Gb of download and 50Mbps speed.
DSL from the phone company offers only about 12Mbps speed. [I don’t recall what they downloading is, but it is significantly less than cable] for around $40 per month.
Most wireless offers, at most, 10Gb of downloading for around $50.
Most satellite offers around 10Gb of downloading for around $90.
I gripe when cable does their 2x-per-year price increases — only a $1 or $2 per service — but over the years that adds up.
I watching a lot of streaming — Netflix, HBO Go, and network channels via Plex, so I like the 250Gb of downloading.
I’ve been a Comcast customer for quite a while, and have been a Frontier customer too.
The Comcast X1 platform was released too early. It doesn’t work very well, but when it does, it is good. Never used the ‘voice search’ thing, because its not out yet, not really.
They got WAAAY out ahead of their skis on X1.
The other issue with Comcast is maintaining signal strength in some neighborhoods. The resolution of their HD is iffy a lot.
As for internet - by far and hands down - the fastest service both up and down. On their non-premium service, I’ve had speeds approaching a Gig a second.
What’s more is that it is clear they are experimenting with increasing download speeds without publicizing it. The increase in download speed just in the last 3 months is astounding.
I do quite a bit of uploading too, and again, fastest I’ve experienced. Skype, GoToMeeting, and other applications work with zero latency and no line reflection or SWR (echo, basically).
Last but not least, they are willing to deal. I have nearly every premium movie channel there is, and I don’t pay for it. I joined as a triple-play customer, on which they reap decent margin.
The cable cord cutting is real. People are being driven in the spirit of Linux to cutting the cord to keep the costs down. It’s a definite trade off, as you might imagine. I helped my BIL cut the cord, and he’s doing OK. I have a business partner doing the same thing. Major trade offs.
When contract renewal comes up, I can pretty much talk them back down to the price discounts I’m getting today, plus almost all of the premium channels.
HBO and the rest are starting to wake up to the idea that they’ve overplayed their hands with price increases. They are basically getting a ride on DISH’s coattails, as they have been very aggressive in holding the line on content costs.
I have no download caps, and no throttling. Netflix flows through all the boxes and computers.
And then there is the free wifi - which is available all over the place. Comcast (xfinity) started installing wifi in public places, and it is available in the house through my boxes. It is incredibly fast, and there are no caps.
All of my home network wifi is now completely locked down by passwords, and guests now login to the xfinity wifi with a simple password.
Comcast appears to realize that they are racing against their own debt load. They are trying to sell off infrastructure assets, and they are trying to whittle it down to the profitable core.
To that end, they know they can’t afford to lose customers in droves. That was an option when there were only two or three in the box. They know the wireless companies are on their tail, and so it is a buyer’s market.
I pay about $190 for everything, the premiums, wifi, home phone (I love still having regular home phones), and the greasy fast internet.
Aside from the kinks with X1, which are getting better, and having taken other people off the ‘grid’, being a Comcast customer has been worth it in terms of the hassles I don’t have to worry about.
All customers, everywhere, lost a big benefit when they took POTS offline - your home phone used to work in a power outage. Bell wired their own circuits with 24V. We used to maintain our phone connectivity (including the modem) through major power outages.
I miss that. We still have analog phones lying around the house, and I know how to access a dial tone through the RJ9 jacks if need be.
Anyway, that’s been our experience.
Yes, DSL has physical limitations mainly due to distance to the phone company central office. FIOS or fiber optic is a joke because all the fiber terminates to copper in someones home. Copper just throttles it back down to what cable gives you. Now if you had fiber through your house that would be awesome but that would require special NIC’s and fiber cable pulls. It’s coming...1Gps will be slow in the near future.