High Speed Internet

you pretty much covered it there, but if you search "cable" you'll find that this has been covered before.

Can anyone give me an idea of what the price difference is between Optimum Online and Verizon DSL? I know their advertised base prices but I'm wondering about added fees. Like my Verizon phone bill which is $8.95 for basic service, and comes out to about $30 a month with all the shit they tack on.

I hate them and I'm looking for an excuse to get Optimum instead. Anyone?

Verizon DSL pricing varies with the speed of service. I pay $29.95 for the 3 MBPS service + $50 for unlimited LD and local calling + call waiting and caller ID

Subject: Re: High Speed Internet

Jodi wrote: I really hate Time Warner Cable and want to cancel with them, but I can't figure out any other options for internet service. I don't have a landline and I don't want to pay for one just to get DSL So that's not realy an option. Direct TV/Comcast/RCN don't offer in this area. Are there any other options or am I stuck with Time Warner?

Verizon DSL or Time Warner. Those are the only two companies that will put a wire in your house and give you high speed internet in Park Slope.
Franchise rules. If you lived across Flatbush Ave in Prospect Heights it's either Optimum or Verizon.

Sorry. The companies can only put so many wires out there.

http://www.speakeasy.net/home/onelink/

OneLink DSL is designed for customers who want the benefits of DSL but
don't need or want conventional phone service from their local phone
company. OneLink works like any other DSL, includes all the same features,
but removes the shared telephone requirements associated with other DSL
services.

I resold speakeasy for years. The reason I stopped was that if you need service done, dealing with a covad company can complicate matters. On the other hand, dealing with verizon can drive you crazy.

I'm always amazed by the complaints on here about TW. I must have hundreds of customers on TW, and I have never had one complain about a slowdown issue like Miriam describes. I think for the most part Time Warner has that under control. I imagine some of those complaints are people on wireless who have not secured their networks, and at certain times some people are using them heavily.

Well, I haven't in a few years, but it was just a commission thing. basically if you came to me and wanted DSL, I would sign you up with speakeasy and they cut me a check for 45. once the install was done. I'm actually still in the program, but I mostly recommend Time Warner. Speakeasy would only be somthing I recommended under certain circumstances.

Subject: Re: High Speed Internet

doctorj wrote: [quote=dw438][quote=Jodi]I really hate Time Warner Cable and want to cancel with them, but I can't figure out any other options for internet service. I don't have a landline and I don't want to pay for one just to get DSL So that's not realy an option. Direct TV/Comcast/RCN don't offer in this area. Are there any other options or am I stuck with Time Warner?

Verizon DSL or Time Warner. Those are the only two companies that will put a wire in your house and give you high speed internet in Park Slope.
Franchise rules. If you lived across Flatbush Ave in Prospect Heights it's either Optimum or Verizon.

Sorry. The companies can only put so many wires out there.

Not true. On both sides of Flatbush, you can choose a variety of retail DSL providers, including those who work with the wholesaler Covad. Verizon will be involved in the installation, since by default they have control over the last section of copper and are required to hand it over, but that's it. I've had a premium non-Verizon DSL service installed on both sides.

You can always get yourself a dedicated T1 too, bypassing both copper and cable, though that'll be more expensive. Or pay for a microwave link or sattelite rig. Or if you can see them (which I can) you can buy bandwidth on brooklynwifi.net (on Eastern Pkwy / museum); that's probably the cheapest option.

But for most people's needs, the simple options are as you say, Verizon or TimeWarner || Verizon or Optimum.

Yep, goes back to the original idea. Yes, there are many different -service- providers out there, but the WIRES are owned and maintained by either Verizon, Time Warner or Cablevision. It's like getting electric or gas from an alternate service provider, but the people who maintain the wires and pipes are still from Con Edison.

Subject: dry cleaning...need clarity

i have twc now and its okay, but slow at times, e.g right now/evenings. i've looked into verizon dsl, but everytime i call they say that my neighborhood is not wired...and yet i live right in the heart of park slope, across from ps321. are they lying to me? what has the happen to be wired for dsl?

Subject: Re: dry cleaning...need clarity

breukelyn wrote: i have twc now and its okay, but slow at times, e.g right now/evenings. i've looked into verizon dsl, but everytime i call they say that my neighborhood is not wired...and yet i live right in the heart of park slope, across from ps321. are they lying to me? what has the happen to be wired for dsl?

Yes, they're lying to you. They can do it but for whatever reason they can't be bothered with you at the moment. If you inquire about your address with another DSL provider you'll probably get a yes, and it's the same wires.

Subject: Re: dry cleaning...need clarity

breukelyn wrote: i have twc now and its okay, but slow at times, e.g right now/evenings. i've looked into verizon dsl, but everytime i call they say that my neighborhood is not wired...and yet i live right in the heart of park slope, across from ps321. are they lying to me? what has the happen to be wired for dsl?

this is bull. they did this to me too, as well as others in my building. you need to ask for supervisors and really push it. and i believe you can tell them they have to come install the copper wiring.

steve wrote: I'm always amazed by the complaints on here about TW. I must have hundreds of customers on TW, and I have never had one complain about a slowdown issue like Miriam describes. I think for the most part Time Warner has that under control. I imagine some of those complaints are people on wireless who have not secured their networks, and at certain times some people are using them heavily.

Indeed. I and my neighbors that I know that are with TWC don't have any of the problems described previously. Steve, aside from your hunch about wireless issues could it also have something to do w/customer location? (We're in the very southern tip of the Slope.) Just curious...

Subject: Re: Can I escape Time Warner? I hate them

D-Mac wrote: Is there no way i can get away from Time Warner?? Without getting DSL that is? Even if I get Optimum, the company that manages the lines in PS is TW? I hate them with a passion...I've scheduled twice to have a technician come to give me a new modem and no one showed up either time...I took a half day off work, i cancelled all sorts of plans and waited around a total 8 hours and they didn't have the courtesy to call. Someone please tell me how I can have cable internet service in PS (Montgomery Place) without dealing with TW...
Thanks

Sorry. where you are (or anywhere in Brooklyn for that matter) the public telephone lines are owned and maintained by Verizon. Where you are in the Slope, the cable wires are owned and maintained by Time Warner. You cannot get the Optimum service sold by Cablevision on this side of Prospect Park. It's that simple.
The way the law reads, many providers can give you service (telephone, DSL, etc.) through the Verizon wiring, but bottom line is that Verizon maintains it.
And as the law pertains to cable, only Time Warner can provide CABLE television services through their wires, and their own VoIP phone service. TW does have a small selection of internet service providers on their service, such as EarthLink.
Bottom line:
If there's a wiring problem, it all goes back to those who string those wires on the poles or underground. It costs a lot to string and maintain those cables, especially those that are fiber-optic, like most of Verizon and Time Warner or Cablevision's lines in Brooklyn. It costs a lot to get land easements for those wires to cross property lines.
Having three sets of lines in any one area (Con Ed, Verizon, cable) is a very capital-intensive operation, regulated by many layers of government from the Feds on down. So I don't forsee anyone stringing up a 4th set of lines anytime in this century. Especially when the cost and speed of satellite delivery will eventually come down to reasonable levels.

Also, like many other cable service providers in other areas of the nation, TW has walk-in centers where you can bring your equipment in for exchange. One of them is near Green-Wood Cemetery, just south of the Slope.

Check out the website for Verizon FIOS. Se if it will be available in your are anytime soon.
http://www22.verizon.com/content/landing/fioslanding.asp

Verizon FiOS is having problems getting a NYC franchise. It's something that's going to be kicked around for awhile ... will Verizon subsidize community studio space like TW does ... offer government channels such as NYC TV as TW does ... Like when the outer boroughs, and some parts of Manhattan didn't get cable tv until the late '80's due to political squabbling ... Everyone's going to try and get their own piece - though the city department that handles cable tv (Dept of Information Technology and Telecommunications) and a good handle on the situation.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/html/business/business_cable.shtml

The other problem with FiOS is that in NYC, unlike in the suburbs where the first homes are being fitted with a fiber optic connection all the way into the home, it's been written that FiOS will be just like any other cable tv service in the city ... fiber to the pole/copper into the home. So there's not much difference, if any, in picture quality. And pricing will be similar to the cable "triple play" already in effect (phone, internet, tv). And if Verizon handles FiOS like it handles its DSL business ... why change?