[Maine Mariner]

We are on the edge of DSL service for internet.
We are considering Time Warner cable for internet service only (no other packages). It looks like we can purchase a monthly service for $35.00 or a more deluxe version for about $65.00.

Any help from FREEPERS will be appreciated. We would also consider Dish or Direct TV or any other option.

[Misplaced Texan]

Go cable. I recently moved and the only option I have is Dish and it is horribly slow compared to cable. It also has outages due to weather conditions, but they also limit bandwidth monthly.

[Ouderkirk]

Time Warner Cable is acceptable for Cable and internet service and is generally reliable. If given a choice I would drop TWC for Verizon FIOS in a heartbeat. If you’ve never known the difference then it doesn’t matter. Once you’ve used FIOS for any lenght of time you see the clear advantage of fiber-optic over RF based cable.

[catnipman]

All else being equal, you’re gonna get WAY better Internet service from Cable than any satellite Internet service. In my opinion, satellite Internet service is useful only for those who live in the DEEP sticks and have no other option at all.

The problem with satellite Internet service is that geosynchronous satellites are stationed above the Earth at 22,000 miles, and it therefore takes about .5 seconds for a radio signal from Earth to reach the satellite, be repeated back down again to the requested web server, then back up again with a chunk of the requested information and then finally repeated back down to you, four trips equaling 88,000 miles, which as it turns out, at those distances, the speed of light is not really as blazingly fast as we have imagined, or at least not fast enough.

And while many such data-chunk requests can be in progress simultaneously like railroad cars strung out along a celestial railroad track to help compensate for that latency, every server and all of your clients have to be specially optimized for that to work well. Plus nothing can compensate for the latencies involved with starting and finishing many individual web pages, videos, file downloads and the like.

Additionally, your satellite dish has to have direct line of sight to the satellite and weather can affect the quality of the connection.

Go with cable and don’t think a second time about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_Internet_access

[outofsalt]

Happy with Dish till Fios got to our neck of the woods. If you get heavy weather keep the antenna where you can blow off the snow. They were reasonable in every respect.