So the savings is not as much. I have 4 computers always connected to the internet, so 10 MB is needed. Anyone have any ideas of other providers that can save me money?

Vinnie

The DSL options are pretty bad in Nampa, I’ll give you that. Also, as I stated at the beginning of this post (and it is pretty dated) it is about non-business accounts. CableOne business accounts offer persistent IPs and don’t have the restrictions on some TCP ports that I was mentioning. I haven’t dealt with CableOne residential service in about two years now, but I doubt that has changed.

1) Newer subdivision (approx 2004/2005) across from the Idaho Center. For the past several years I kept hearing “No, we don’t offer fiber but your neighborhood is slated for it within the next few months”. FAIL

2) I have been a customer for several years, and i do mean several paying for a business account complete with static IPs and supposedly higher use. I was somewhere in the neighborhood of around $70 to $80 per month for Internet Access and the static IP.

3) 1.5 was the best connection I could get and their Qwest speed test was all too quick to tell me I was getting exactly that speed on the nose. Yet every other speed test in the entire world including my own internal monitoring gear said Qwest was full of it; DSLReports, CNET, etc. etc. told me that I actually got up to 512k once. More frequently the 1.5Mb Qwest stated I was getting was usually around 128k to 384k according to all of the other reports including my own. Equally as frustrating and proof that I truly was not receiving what Qwest promised was watching movies on Hulu. It was a painful experience which reminded me of dial-up in the 90’s. 50 to 60 seconds of buffering followed by about 30 seconds of playback. Try that more than a few times and you quickly realize it isn’t worth the hassle. Downloading a DVD from my Microsoft Technet or MSDN account was an all night affair. Start up the file transfer, go to bed and pray nothing hiccups before waking up the following day. FAIL.

4) Whoever told you Qwest doesn’t have caps has flat out blatantly lied. I’m living proof that Qwest does in fact have caps. As a professionally paid developer/programmer I am frequently on and downloading from my MSDN and Technet accounts. I have NOT ever downloaded a single pirated movie, song, game or illegal anything but sure enough after several days of downloading from my 100% legal Technet account, was greeted to a message in my browser insisting that what I was doing was wrong, taking advantage of the wonderful service they’re offering and my Internet Access was therefore suspended. After informing the tech from Qwest later on the phone that I was 1) a business customer paying twice what residential customers pay, 2) received no notice 3) was doing nothing wrong and 4) There was no mention of any caps at any point at any time when Qwest was happy to sign me up and take my money, I was forced to digitally sign an online document acknowledging that I was in fact taking advantage of them, they were aware of my behavior and next time my account would be canceled. Of course, it was a take-it or leave-it non-negotiable and wholly unilateral arrangement. I’m a software programmer paying for a business account (which in and of itself denotes heavier usage) who makes my living on the Internet and they sever my artery by cutting the wire?!?! FAIL

Then the Tech points me to some obscure URL containing Qwest’s “fair use” policy. 1) This policy was updated AFTER I signed up for service. 2) Was never disclosed to me EVER nor did I agree to any terms for being capped. 3) Obscure and by several person’s own admission in these comments and the author himself is unknown by just about everyone. FAIL

Approximately 7 days later I receive a snail-mail letter reiterating that I had been taking advantage of their resources, they would be explicitly watching my account and activity but I could rectify the whole situation by choosing to upgrade my account to a more expensive package; which they would be more than happy to assist me with. FAIL

Roughly 10 days later, Qwest rates increased anyway. FAIL

5) ActionTek DSL Modems? Seriously? That’s scraping the bottom of the barrel. And their “Best we Offer” line is Motorolla? Ummm, Qwest hasn’t heard of little companies like Cisco or NetGear which offer real hardware? I’m willing to bet that the only company using ActionTek is ActionTek. Also having been a Qwest T1 customer happen to know that they themselves use Cisco; not ActionTek… FAIL.

6) I’m also calling out the claim to their “wonderful” customer service and people always there to answer the phone. I triple dog dare anyone to try to get any information about a business account after Qwest office hours. Nope, Nada; Nobody’s home. FAIL.

7) After about a year the Motorolla DSL modem took its’ last breath. I called up and purchased a brand spankin new “top of the line” Motorolla. After it arrived I had zero connectivity. I literally argued with customer service for days that the phone lines in my five year old house hadn’t magically stopped working between the time the old modem broke and the new one being shipped they finally agreed to send me a replacement. Guess what… It wasn’t my phone lines. The stupid modem came broken; but that stuff happens. The gall to argue with me hellbent that it was my phone lines for days was insulting. Then to add insult to injury while I had paid for a brand new modem they replaced it with a used refurb. I was clued into this fact by the giant sticker on the bottom noting as such. After more days of arguing I decided it was no longer worth trying to recoup even a few dollars over them replacing the new modem I’d received three days earlier with a used one… FAIL

Shall I continue?

And please don’t misunderstand, I’m no fan of Cable One either. Like another poster above there are simply NO viable options in the Treasure Valley (Wireless/ClearWire/ and satellite aren’t viable for technical reasons which include upload limitations amongst other things. It comes down to, which is the lesser of two evils? To which I’d choose c) none of the above. That said, I have found Cable One to be less painful over Qwest. For roughly $80 a month I’m getting a business account, a static IP, a 12Mb connection which typically clocks in at closer to 14/15Mb, have NEVER hit their fair use threshold even downloading the exact same stuff Qwest cut me off for, never been cut-off nor been throttled to the half speed by reaching that threshold, Kids watch NetFlix on the Wii while my Wife and I watch Netflix on the 360 all the while the servers in the garage chug merrily away on Technet downloads, crunching out builds and deploying releases all while maintaining a site to site VPN to Japan which also carries the VOIP which hosts our 800 number. CableOne has been down a couple times and I still choose them over Qwest. At least until something better comes along.

I also disagree with the Author’s claim that you can only connect to CableOne mailboxes/port 25. I have zero problem connecting to my Exchange server sitting in Japan. I also have no issues using Microsoft Outlook to connect to my Gmail or MSN email accounts for either POP3 or SMTP access.

My standard disclaimer applies; Your mileage may vary…

ipconfig | findstr /c:”IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.3.1.”

enjoy.

He spent MORE IN HIS FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE than ALL the previous presidents combined. Going clear back to George W! Covering World War I and II, the Korean War, War of 1812, the War for Independance, the Civil War, the Viet Naum War, and the recent Iraq War that the Dems keep pouting about.
But, even if there WEREN’T WMD, we STILL needed to get the CREEP out of power. What he was doing was wrong — right? Clinton should have taken care of him when he bombed our servicemen. But, no, not a Dem. Leave it to a Rep to Kick Ass and Take Names….but Congress has to make the vote! And make excuses later … for years, and years!

One question about Obama… when is he going to Man UP and take responsibility for ANYTHING? The oil spill that happened on his watch … he handled so poorly — poured chems into the Gulf faster than the oil was spilling in. And took more vacations than you could shake a stick at.
And give money to the banks to ‘bail them out’ … but without any oversight or cavet as to how they spend it — no big payouts to the top guys should have been allowed, right? But, no, Obama never takes any responsibility for anything.
Even when he sticks his foot in his mouth, like with the cop and the college prof situation. Since the prof was black, he had to be in the right, right? But, when inviting people to the WH afterwards, why not invite the female that phoned it in? Isn’t he supposed to be aware that women are REAL people? Evidently She didn’t want to go, anyway! I sure wouldn’t.
I didn’t even go try to look at the fancy WHI plane when it was at the IF airport when Clinton was in office. I was scolded — told I should respect the office. I respect the office. Can’t always respect the man IN the office.
Clinton seems to be a better EX pres than a pres! Go figure!!