Internet: Two Providers?

[Leta]

We use the internet for everything: Netflix & Hulu, Pandora & LaLa, Picasa Web Albums, Google Docs, magicJack, plus regular web things. We don't have TV or traditional home phone.

We've been getting dry loop DSL from AT&T for $20/mo for about a year. The nice thing about is that it's $20- no taxes, no fees. But because we do so much with it, it's time to speed things up. We've already gotten a wireless, 4 outlet router/modem.

The other speeds of DSL are 1.5Ms for $35, 3 for $40, and 6 for $45.

The other ISP in our area is Charter Cable. I won't get anything other than their "basic" plan, because that is the only one that stays the same, cost wise- the others all have intro rate that expires after 6 months.

Anyway, with Charter we'd have to buy a cable modem and pay for the installation ($50), but their basic plan is $20/mo for 1M.

I'm starting to think the cheapest way to configure our household network with maximum bandwidth would be to hook the magicJack's thin client and the wireless router up to $20 DSL (768K), and then hook the TV/surround sound up to the $20 cable (1M).

Is this a dumb idea?

[JamieCatheryn]

But for the same $40 a month you could get 3M, more than the both combined And when AT&T DSL says __mbps you actually get about that fast, cable you don't tend to at all. Does magicjack have to have a dedicated line or something? Also keep in mind you'll have taxes on each service.

[cschick]

You really haven't given complete information here.

First, you want to know the upstream/downstream speed of each connection rather than just the downstream (which is what you've quoted above) and you have to make decisions on what's important to you. For hulu (which is going to a primarily paid service sometime this year, are you aware?) and other video downloads, you want good downlink/download speeds. If you're more annoyed by the time uploads are taking, you need to look at upload speeds.

For example, the naked dsl loop you have is 768K/384K. The $35 AT&T option is 1.5M/384K, which if you're experiencing slow uploads to Google Docs, Pisca and etc may not offer you any improvement.

The $40 AT&T plan is 3.0M/512K, and the $45 is 6.0M/768K.

But, at least with those plans, those speeds are somewhat guaranteed. DSL is not a shared line (well, it gets into some more complication if your DSL line is connected to a remote DSLAM rather than the central office for your area, but the backhauls from the DSLAMs to the central office are usually pretty high-volume).

Cable internet, on the other hand, is shared with all the other subscribers in your area. That's why Charter advertises using the phrase "up to 1M". It's not guaranteed to run at that speed all the time . . . that's the top speed you're going to get under great conditions. If you tend to use hulu/netflix in the evening, I would NOT hook the tv up to the cable internet. You're going to probably see worse downstream availability on the cable connection than you've been seeing over the DSL. Cable internet connections often max at half their advertised rate (so here, 500K) during the internet "rush hours" (7pm-11pm).

But again, that depends on how many subscribers the cable has in your area. Our subdivision is in a weird position where probably 90% of our neighbors have told our cable company to go screw themselves and gone with DirectTv+wireless/satellite Internet (the cable company is horrific, and we're in a non-compete area). But we only use them for cable, and when the service is actually functional, we generally get the full advertised speed . . . because nobody else is using them anymore.

[Leta]

See, though, that's the thing, we have no taxes at all on our DSL. Our bill is $19.95 a month. Not even sales tax. This single fact was a major reason we ditched the landline- supposedly, we were paying $40/mo, but after taxes and fees it was $60 (just too much!).

No, MJ doesn't need a dedicated line, but with 768K DSL, if we were watching video and talking on the phone, we'd get hiccups. If we had DSL *just* for home phone and wireless, I don't imagine we'd have any problems.

That's good to know about cable speeds. I've never had cable internet, so I wouldn't know.

[Satori]

I would get the 3mb from AT&T, right now we have the 1.5mb and can stream movies to 2 computers with little buffering delay.

[Leta]

Ha ha, problem solved! I called AT&T, told them that Charter was offering 1 Mbps for $20, and now I have DSL (1.5Mbps) for $20/mo for a year.

Next year, we may go up to 3 for $40, but we have 12 months to figure out what we need.

So I'm happy!