Choosing an ISP

Technology and Gaming
#1

I’m getting kind of fed up with my Clear service. Up until now it was actually pretty good - it was a breeze to set up, I got good download speeds, and I was happy. But now for the past few days my service has been all over the place - sometimes my speed is way more than I should be getting, but mostly it’s way less, with terrible ping. And it’s been making me think it’s time to switch ISPs. I was just scraping by in online games with my ping anyway, and my service goes out whenever it rains (the time I’d probably most want to use the internet), so I was thinking I should go with a physical connection this time. With that I ought to get better pings and have better reliability, only I’m not sure which ISP to go with. I know if I were to heed the warnings of every person on the internet I’d end up with no internet at all, because it seems that every ISP is the devil.

So, I guess I’d just like some input on my decision before I make it. I know I don’t have Comcast or Verizon FiOS in my area. My main options are Time Warner, AT&T, Grande, and Clear, I think. I can’t think of any others, if you know of any that service my zip - 78209 - let me know. Right now I’m leaning towards TWC since they have a 15M/2M service for $40 a month, which seems to be the best value of any plan I’ve seen so far.

#2

Go with someone who supports IPv6

#3

If Verizon FIOS covers your area then get that. They don’t monitor pirating and the speeds are incredibly fast.

#4

With the options you say you have, your best bet is Time warner.

The speeds are good, so you’re looking at dl speeds of an estimated 2-5 megabtes per second, if its from a reliable source (For example, Steam) and ping shouldnt be a problem. Port forwarding would boost the two greatly.

Also, time warner isn’t a tattle-tale on piracy, so that’s always nice(:

Edit: And TWC Supports IPV4, and i’m not aware of any ISP’s moving to IPV6, as i believe it is still in its alpha development, even if you could find an ISP with that, it would be stupid, considering it doesn’t work with IPV4.

#5

If an ISP supports IPv6 IPv4 will still work fine. And all ISPs should be very close to rolling out IPv6 as in about 10 days the global IPv4 allocations will be bought out and in about 10 months there will be no more IPv4 addresses left.

#6

where i live, Verizon charges me the same price that cable does at 15mb/s down for 50mb/s, although i only really get 35-40Mb/s. FIOS is still the best bet, at least till Google has an ISP.

#7
#8

does that mean everybody with no router running just XP will have no internet?

#9

Not right now, because the majority of companies will still keep their old addresses, with an option to move to the new IPv6 for those who want to. However, in a few years, then people might be forced to upgrade.

#10

steal a neighbors wifi

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