I feel the need for speed, cable modem?

“I'm looking into tossing my 56K dialup for a cable modem from Cableone, the cable outfit in my area.
For $50+ I can get up to 500Kbps.
For $60+ I can get up to 1000Kbps.
Speed can go down as more users come online.
What kind of real speeds do you folks with service like this get?
Is the 1000Kbps a real speed?
What other hardware would I need for a firewall?”

“Another thing, DSL (my first choice) is NOT available for my address!”

“Hello. Anyone?”

“I'd turn my brother in as Sadamm for Cable i-net..go with the 60$ set up..and firewall...overrated..lmao”

“I think that was the monthly price.

I'd go for double the bandwidth for $10/month more.

But both those seem pretty high to me. I think I could get full-speed (about 1.5Mbps) for $40/mo, if I took digital cable TV at the same time.

But I'm waiting for a crowbar to come down from the sky, prise open my wallet, and pay for the upgrade to DSL.

I'm about 150 yards from a C.O., lol....”

“I'm waiting for a crowbar to come down out of the sky and hit my wife in the head to confuse her into thinking I need DSL”

“I have had cablemodem for a couple of years now and would never go back, unless they jack the rates up again. In my area, it's cheaper for me to go with cable TV/modem combo, than with another cable TV provider and modem. I can download a one meg file in under 15 seconds. There's a site that you can use that will test your speed. I'll have to post it later, it's on my upstairs 'puter.

Now, firewall.....It's said that my provider has one in line. However, I used Zone Alarm (free) and it worked out great, but slow my connection down. When I installed a second 'puter in my dinning room, I went with a router and it has a firewall built in, so I don't use Zone Alarm anymore. The firewall gives out a generic IP and the theory is that it takes a lot to hack. It's doesn't respond to the probes that hacker use. at least that's the story. Do you need a firewall? I'd say it depends. One of my 'puters is used for bill paying and money related stuff, so I used one. If yer ust surfing and don't have anything of importantance, I'd say prolly not. If someone did hack into a 'puter, it'd cause anoyances tananything else. The most important thing I can think of right now is be very CAReFUL about what you open in your email. No firewall in the world can protect you from a virus sent in an email.”

“Well, you're not the only one you're protecting when you have a firewall. Computers with always-on Internet connections and no firewall are being used by hackers to launch DDOS attacks. So this is a case where you should use a firewall (or firewall software, or something, for Pete's sake) for the greater good.”

“Cableone is the only game in town. Dang! I dropped cable TV several months ago because I was tired of Cableone price increases and got a minisat dish, so no discount for TV. Man, I hate to go back to those crooks.

Hey bit, do your kids really need to go to college? DSL or the kids, easy choice!”

“I wonder about that everytime I see a new piece of gear I want. Damn kids, my folks didn't pay for me to go to college, why should I pay for them? lol....”

“Next question! May be a stupid one. ;)

Is my old cranky HP home computer fast enough to handle cable speeds?
I think I'm still at 500MHz and running Windows 98, 2nd edition.”

“Oh yah, plenty fast enough. If you were wanting to fill a 100Mbps link, you might be a little slow. But that box will easily handle a 1Mbps feed.”

“Dang bit!
I was hoping you would say "He11 no, it's time for a new computer!"
Then I could get that crowbar to open my wallet!”

“You didn't ask the right question, SS!

The right question is, "Now that I am planning to get my super-fast Internet connection, will my PIII500 handle some of the new, online gaming that I want to participate in?"

The answer to that question is emphatically no!”

“Poot, I don't have the hand/eye for those games! ;)”

“Sorry, SS, I tried!”

“Thanks for the try bit!

Come to think of it, I HAVE been getting a few to many memory errors lately, and programs shutting down.....”

“Well, it sounds like you need to upgrade to XP. And that PIII will be a real dog running XP...”

“my mom just got a dell p4 2.8 40 gig hd old style 17 inch monitor for 400 bucks”

“Good Broadband reference

Good speed test

I just tested my cable connection and got 6528 Kbps. Fast downloads? Ummm...yeah.”

“I have DSL and I get speeds between 685Kbps & 785Kbps which I think is fast and I don't shair bandwith.

8)”

“Cable modem here: 2181.8 Kbps per Skiracer's test. Damn that's nice...maybe I'll see what the link at work comes back at...”

“26.6 on the ole dial up. Sssssmokin!”

“I have cable, it kicks ass. Fast and allways on. I have used Timewarrner for over a year and had only one weekend of down time, for renovations to the system. I pay 40.00 a month ontop of my usual cable bill. 40+40=80.00 to timewarner.

I think my cable box was free. Cablevision's optonline will charge you 90.00 for the box...overall its worth it.”

“I went with the cheaper package there are two faster options for more money...but it is so much faster than dial up...I'm happy :) I was too far away for DSL too.”

“Well, I'm only pulling around 1,900Kbps with my cable modem (skiracer test), but I'm also paying a lot less than many of you - I think. Internet + cable TV package comes to $42.95/month (basic cable BTW). Unfortunately I'm at the tip-top of the tree for DSL so cable's actually much faster in my neighborhood. Bitpusher, you lucky dog...”

“I've never used a phone line myself but I've seen how slow they are. If I can't get Cable speed then I don't even want to surf the net. I'll pay the extra $$ for the speed.
GIVE ME CABLE or FUKC IT!!!”

“How common are outages on y'alls cable internet service?
So far, I was out for a couple of hours night before last and again this morning at home.”

“about 2 times a month. Could be more as I'm not home all day and everyweekend.”

“For the 5 years I had it at my old house, it was weekly once Comcast took over the system from @Home. My Dad's connection is only down briefly about once a month.”

“With the local Charter service, two or three times in the last 2+ years. Longest lasted a couple hours.”

“When I lived in Jacksonville, FL and had AT&T/MediaOne I had outages ALL the time. I switched to DSL because it was so bad.

Now that I'm back in B'ham and on Brighthouse/RoadRunner I don't think I've ever had an outage in 2 1/2 years.
last edited: 3/23/06 9:28:46 AM”

“Comcast will never get my $ again.

Go DSL - Verizon. No outages yet.”

“I don't think mine has ever been out. Some times it seems a little slow. I guess everyone in the area is on then.

When i had DSL it was out at least once a day and at the end they couldn't get it to work at all. After finally realizing that nothing was wrong with the computers or the wiring in the house, there were 4 different trucks out front plus a supervisor and no one could find the problem. They were so inept that I'm not sure they knew that I had stopped service a few days before and went to cable.”

“Twice that I can remember in last 4 years since switching to Comcast. When it was out I also found the tech support pretty good. You can leave your phone # with them & they'll call you once sevice is restored.”

“Been here since early Dec. No problems once Comcast could hook it up--that took 2 weeks after it was scheduled to start.

I agree, it is a tad slow at times, but that's high traffic time,

or when I'm streaming "The Underground Railroad!" j/k

I signed up for cable because friends said the DSL in the area "sukks." Guess we're too far away from the "whatchamacallit."”

“I have had Verizon DSL for nearly a year and not an outage. A few years ago, I had SBC and I once had an outage (DSL AND phone service) that lasted nearly a week while the yahoos putzed around trying to find the problem.

Cable internet is out of the question for me, as I have satellite TV. DirecTV is way cheaper than cable for what I get, so I'll have to settle for 3meg DSL. (god forbid)”

“Can't get DSL or cable where I live now. I love DirecTV and will never go back to cable TV, but would love to have high-speed access again. Still waiting on WiFi...”

“SS, could it have something to do with all the construction/ rebuilding in your area?”

“When someone can offer me high-speed internet access for $5 a month, than I'll switch from dialup. :D”

“I just got Comcast Business Service installed this morning. Stated (but not guaranteed download/upload speed - 6 MB/s / 768 kb/s.

My initial speed test after installation:



9378 kb/s download and 1355 kb/s upload

YIKES!

Price: $59.95 for 12 months and then $95/month after 1 year. $5 additional for fixed IP address. I was paying $39.95/month for internet through cable.

The added bonus is that I don't have to wait the normal 5 days for a technician to repair any problems. Now, it will be a normal 4 hour turn-around with a 24 hour maximum turn-around for both internet and cable TV.

I'm installing a Windows 2003 Small Business Server today. I need the fixed IP address, although I could have used a dynamic IP address and DynDNS to get a virtual fixed IP address. The fixed IP address is well worth the $25 extra a month...at least for me.
last edited: 9/24/07 7:00:31 AM”