DSL and Cable.....How much?

[Chris Roane]

Hi,

I have been wanting to get DSL or Cable for a while now, but I am not sure how much either of them cost. I am guessing that Cable usually costs around $30 and DSL costs around $50 (US Dollars). I am not sure about those prices, though.

Can people let me know how much they are paying for their cable or dsl access? I mostly want to hear prices coming from the US, but feel free to post how much you pay per month for your access, wherever you live.

I live in Billings, Montana, and if anyone happens to know the prices hear, I would really appreciate it if you would tell me.

Thanks in advance!

Chris Roane

[Owen]

DSL from PacBell is $30 month ($50 if you want to get a "free" compaq PC by paying $20 extra a month.)

Owen

[Chris Roane]

$30 for dsl?! Dang, that is a lot less then I had expected. I wonder if that is a pretty accurate price for DSL.

Chris Roane

[mjames]

I think price all depends on your location. If you're father out from a big city or populated area, high speed Internet access will cost more at first than it does somewhere where it has been for a while. Heck, it's still not available where I live...

[Owen]

I'm sorry. I'm having a bad time with numbers tonight. The price is REALLY $39 a month and $59 for DSL+PC (and only $200 shipping. what a deal!) It costs $30 if you don't want an ISP (you find a 3rd party ISP. A hassle, but can save some money) While I'm at it, here is the URL: http://www.pacbell.com/DSL/content/1,2546,11,00.html Cable modems here are also $39 a month. http://www.rr.com/rdrun/ If they cost the same then go for a cable modem...

Or try http://www.freedsl.com

One problem is that you have to be within 2 miles of the Central Office for DSL. I don't know how close you are. I know cheap ($39) satellite access (speed comparable to DSL) is coming soon (less than 2 month if you believe the rumors) so you may want to hold out for that...

Check out http://www.dslreports.com/ - click "get dsl" to get pricing and reviews for your area.

Owen

[jumpthru]

DSL is 20 dollars here. It is 30 though if you want a static IP. There USwest website says that our area has dsl but that are lines dont qualify. AH! dsl here comes with free installation i belive and a free modem usually durring there promotions.

CAble is avaible and that is 29.95 a month plus 10 a month for a modem unless you buy one for 300. But you still have to pay for a second phone line because they only have one way right now. but they said two way should be coming soon.

BTW i live on bainbridge island, washington. it is a small island off of seattle. i just read in the local paper that bainbridge isn't a big enough market to build a line under water from seattle and that the closet town by bridge is under control of sprint. so we are screwed. i want broadband so bad!!!

[jumpthru]

I qualified for beta testing for aol sattelite broadband. but they said you had to aggree to a six month contract after the beta test was over, which i didn't feel like talking my paretns into. but then halfway through they say that they changed it to a one month contract. actually i think i can still get it...it includes free installation and equipment...hmmmmm

[Owen]

Originally posted by jumpthru
DSL is 20 dollars here. It is 30 though if you want a static IP. There USwest website says that our area has dsl but that are lines dont qualify. AH! dsl here comes with free installation i belive and a free modem usually durring there promotions.

jumpthru - this is EXACTLY why you should never trust your phone company. DSL IS $20. DSL is useless without an ISP... I checked at their website, but I already knew from PacBell

"No matter what you're into on the Internet, you'll get more out of it than ever before. You can get a MegaBit Select connection for just $19.95 a month. Better yet, you won't have to pay for an extra line, and you can subscribe to your choice of any Internet Service Provider supporting Qwest DSL."

Can isn't right. Must is more like it. At least $10 more anyway. Be careful... Also installation is only free if you plan to keep it for 2 years... Sigh.

Owen

[prequel]

funny you should mention it... actually today i am getting cable net access installed at home

the cable guy just finished dragging the cable to my house... and all i need is the pc tech guy to come and finish the rest of the installation... do installations always require 2 people ?

i am in Australia and use Bigpond Advance cable http://bigpond.com.au/advance/

AUD$99 installation for 18 month contract and AUD$73/month for 512kbs/128kbs

[jumpthru]

Originally posted by Owen

Originally posted by jumpthru
DSL is 20 dollars here. It is 30 though if you want a static IP. There USwest website says that our area has dsl but that are lines dont qualify. AH! dsl here comes with free installation i belive and a free modem usually durring there promotions.

jumpthru - this is EXACTLY why you should never trust your phone company. DSL IS $20. DSL is useless without an ISP... I checked at their website, but I already knew from PacBell

"No matter what you're into on the Internet, you'll get more out of it than ever before. You can get a MegaBit Select connection for just $19.95 a month. Better yet, you won't have to pay for an extra line, and you can subscribe to your choice of any Internet Service Provider supporting Qwest DSL."

Can isn't right. Must is more like it. At least $10 more anyway. Be careful... Also installation is only free if you plan to keep it for 2 years... Sigh.

Owen

Ok, fine. So it is now 40 dollars a month. Now subtract the 28 dollar second phone line and the 21.95 dollar aol, and you are now paying 5 cents more for a THREE BILLION times faster connection. Now I know I just exagerated there but I just did a connection speed test and it said I am speeding along at 25.3 or some crap like that. And everyday I start hating aol more and more and more and more and more.

So the moral of the story is that DSL is good and AOL is bad.

[Owen]

It IS nice never having to wait (very long) for anything to download.

Owen

[Sparklit]

Here in canada cable is $40 CND ($27 US) and DSL is $40 - $168 depending on the plan speed and #ips.

So I got them both and load balanced them Haven't had any downtime yet...

[jumpthru]

You got them both and loadbalanced them? VERY VERY SWEET.

I forget to mention that with DSL the 19.95 of 29.95 (for a static IP) is for the load end on the speed. For more speed the price just goes up from there.

Also, how does the new ARIN changes effect static IP's for DSL users?

[Chris Roane]

Hi,

I am pretty sure Cable access is $30 here. I just found that out.

I am probably going to just go with Cable, but we will see. Right now I download at about 5K/second, which isn't bad for a 56k Modem.

I actually saw an add for "satelite internet access". It sais it can be as fast as DSL. I might do more research on that, to see how much it cost and if it is worth it.

Thanks everyone for all your help. I really appreciate it.

Chris Roane

[Elledan]

If you decide to use Satelite internet, you still must have another ISP, since you can't send requests to the satelite

This means that you'll need to have another connection, like with a modem. That's the reason I don't want to have Satelite internet

[jumpthru]

I dont think so. Your satelite dish sends a request to the satelite in the sky which sends it to the satelite company which then gets what you want from the internet...or sends your request to a isp and then back to the satelite company and to the satelite in the sky and back to you.

I dont think you need a modem and phone line.

[Elledan]

Well, that's what everyone always told me and besides: I don't see how the dish can send a signal to the satelite because:

1. it has no transmitter
2. the signal would be too faint

[jumpthru]

Oh I see what you are saying. So you are saying that the sattelite dish can only receive.

[Elledan]

Precisely!

[Owen]

That's what's so exciting about the new satelitte dishes. I'm sure the lag is a tad long (oh, only 26,000 miles), but it is certainly 2 way.

It's from MSN and AOL. The MSN offering is two way. Read about it at, guess where: http://www.msnbc.com/news/451080.asp?0nm=T11N (Nice of them to mention AOL anyway.)

Owen

Originally posted by Elledan
Well, that's what everyone always told me and besides: I don't see how the dish can send a signal to the satelite because:

1. it has no transmitter
2. the signal would be too faint

[Aidan Bahta]

Cable access here has gone down from (I think) $48/month a couple years ago to $38/month.

I have no idea why my parents don't want me to have it...rediculous!

[Justin S]

I can get DSL for $59/month which includes Bell's bill and my ISP's bill combined. It's around $200 for installation also. I know it can come a little cheaper, but oh well...

[jumpthru]

Yea i know that dsl has gotton much cheaper here too. Hopefully i will be able to get it soon.

[RussellG]

Hey I didn't know I could get cable access...

I'm from Australia and still on a dialup...

[qslack]

Damn...

I'm paying $90/mth for 412kbps of DSL service. No static/public IP. If I wanted a public IP I'd have to pay an extra $20/mth and that'd only give me 2GB of transfer.

And the DSL has been reeaally shaky for the last week or so.

I think I'm getting ripped off....