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Alternative Cable ISPs
Mud Husky asks: "
I've held out getting high speed access because Comcast had been the only option in my area. Now, Knology is about to start offering cable internet access in my area. Comcast has been the subjects of many Slashdot stories like this and this and so on... I'd like to know if Slashdot users would be willing to share their experiences with Knology (good and bad) and other smaller ISPs.
"
They have a fast website. That says something for the company.
Knology.
The 1st hit is entitled "Beware of Knology"
The ISP can be no worse than Comcast. Between the web tracking fiasco of a few weeks ago and the absolutely terrible speed of the new network they have constructed, I would be willing to switch to any other broadband service available and take my chances. If I weren't planning to move in a few months, I would make the switch in a heartbeat.
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ive herd of att, roadrunner, comcast, time warner... but not this one.
could be a good thing that i havent heard of them.
Don't know anything about Konology, but in Hartford, CT, there is an ISP called Netplex which is offering ISP services over cable. They're a local company which offers dialup, DSL, and frame relay services. I currently use them as my DSL ISP, and their services are absolutely top-notch. I would consider getting them for cable, since the bandwidth is the same but the price is about half, but I live outside the area where their cable service is offered.
They (and all their friends) eventually switched because the service was so bad. Now, that was a year ago, and maybe they've changed, but then, maybe not. It took BresnanLink (later bought out by Charter) 5 years to get cable modem access right up here, and it *still* occationally screws up.
Electric_Boy banned: Banned by Metallica: See http://infringe.napster.com/metallica.html
The city I am from has two cable companies:
http://www.hbci.com/
http://www.charter.com/
When HBCI came, charter became a much nicer company to deal with and their prices dropped a lot.
I have knology and they are OK. I have had problems at times, but they usually get to them quickly. And they have given me free access when it took more than a few hours to fix problems or if problems continued over a period of time.
They are associated with ITC DeltaCom and have relatively quick connections, depending upon your neighborhood.
They don't seem to care about what you do, they support NetGear and LinkSys routers without question. They don't block ports, or watch what you do with few exceptions. I do have a friend that got a call from them for doing a port scan against his work network from home, but I know of no other problems.
On the negative side, I was getting probed heavily on PC Anywhere ports and they provided no help in getting it stopped. They didn't even issue warnings during Code-Red or Nimda, that I know of.
Would I recommend them? I have to several friends in the Huntsville, AL area.
I have no sig, does anyone have one to spare?
Now that Cox@Home has switched over to their own internet service, the news service sucks. I still don't want to switch over to DSL, the only other high-speed connection in the area, so what should I do? What other news services could I tap where the operators don't mind my sucking out their bandwidth?
Me being a Comcast Employee and seeing how they run things know what it's potential is. So here it is. @Home was a flop and was run poorly. They were not Comcast contrary to belief. Now that we are starting our own service we are making sure we do things right. We have just started our own service and things are always a little rough in the begining. But we are NO longer tracking customer web site. I gave my supervisor the third degree as soon as I got wind of that. The servers are fast and are only getting faster. If there is one thing I have learned about the Comcast building I work in is that it revolves around making the customer happy. I can't speak for other offices but I noticed a great improvement in service since the switch to Comcast High Speed Internet access. My connections are more stable and there are a lot less port scans being done. If you are displeased with the internet service complain to your local office. I know that if there are enough complaints we do what we can to fix the problem. So be specific. Let's face it. Cable broadband is still the best. Downloads of up to 1.5Mbps for about $40 is still better than DSL rates without having to sign a contract. Sorry I didn't put a name on this message but I would not like people at work getting wind of me making comments about the service and giving me grief. If there are questions post them and I will do my best to answer them or attempt to find an answer for you.
Comcast Tech
All I can really say is that NJ is far behind our systems where I live. We give the option in my area for a static IP. If you got a static IP you should be able to set up a web server. It is something that we don't "support" but is easily done. The caps are set there for that specific reason. Comcast doesn't want servers to be run from our systems without a business account. I have not figured out how yet but I shall. Mark my word. I shall find a way to bust those caps open. Now with cable service your internet is ~$40 a month. That's the cost in my area. If you want to setup a network get a router. That would allow you to set up as many connections as you need providing you had enough ports to the router. I have never heard of any of our techs not allowing someone to specify their own DNS server. It's the internet it gives you access to the world. If there is another DNS you would like to use it should be a ok. Just specify it in your settings. Now I must say that you are good at twisting peoples words around. For a request like static IP for running a server which we don't "support". If they are reasonable requests we will do what we can to make it happen. Talking to the techs who install it might be able to help you a little more than going through the office though. And finally I said that your get downloads of UP TO 1.5Mbps It's not guaranteed. Different ISP's go through different servers to get to an address. Which explains your speed difference. Not all servers run at 1.5Mbps for each user connected to them. The system is new and is constantly being updated for stability and speed. What's that DSL cost for a competative speed. I noticed you didn't give that. And do you have to sign a contract or pay for a modem up front with DSL. I personalaly have never gone slower than 1Mbps on my cable speed tests.