techies...broadband question

[Rock'n Robin]

We've had cable modem for a few years. However, our cable bill just went up $40. Seems a special promotion our city has had for 2 years (brought in when some competition surfaced) expired.
We can cut channels--the encore channels, digital channels--or get rid of our digital box which we thought cost $5, but now know has a "high-def gateway pak" that is another $13 a month. Get rid of the high-def, get rid of the DVR box--and bye-bye turner classic movies.
He did offer one option--my broadband is 5.0, and I can go to 1.5 and save $15 per month (still a big increase). If I'm used to 5.0, will 1.5 drive me insane being slow?
We are also calling that competition (adelphia) tomorrow and seeing what they offer.
Robin M.

 

[Towncrier]

First off, Adelphia is gone. You will either be talking to Comcast or Time Warner. And secondly, you probably won't notice the drop from 5.0 to 1.5 service unless you are downloading LOTS of files or using a digital phone service (like Vonage). The increase in download times probably won't effect you because oftentimes that occurs in the background. Web pages will load just fine at 1.5. You won't miss the bandwidth. There may be some loss of voice quality in digital phone conversations. I'm not certain what the bandwidth requirements are for Vonage. But that's not an issue if you aren't using it.

 

[jsmith]

What town crier said-your NIC card on you PC cant really support 5.0 anyway-its not that fast. Not being a huge fan of most commercial IP telephony i dont know that much about vonage anyway-but but based on what i do know about VOIP it will impact the quality of service on an IP phone pretty signifgantly-other than that-you shouldnt notice

 

[Rock'n Robin]

You're right Towncrier, once I looked up Adelphia on the internet it directed me to Time-Warner "coming soon" to my area (not available now). isn't Time-Warner one that people complain about a lot?
DH said he'd rather give up the digital DVR box than the cable modem. Of course one option is to switch to their phone service for $100--digital cable, cable modem, and their phone service. But I've had ATT, etc. for so long I don't know about this and am worried about who will fix what if something goes wrong outside the home.
I'm calling later to get more options. I imagine once they found out that our city currently has no other options for cable, our promotion was gone that very day.
Robin M.

 

[jennyl772003]

We have Time Warner and we have no problem with them what so ever.

I would also try calling your cable provider back and telling them you are thinking of switching since the price has gone up. Ask what they can do for you. You may be surprised. Sometimes one CSR will be more helpful then another. Also, if there are any "new customer" specials going on right now, ask for them. Even if you are not a new customer, they may give them to you.

 

[erinch]

one of the questions to ask about broadband is what the "Upstream" and "downstream" speeds are. In other words, they may give you a faster speed for downloading, but even slower than 1.5 uploading. If you upload lots of files, that part could drive you crazy.