If Comcast could stay up more than 24 hours at a time, I might think of taking them back but my FIL still uses them and they suck. It wasn't really apparent to him until he got his echo. He wasn't on the computer that often but now the echo will have a red ring in top when the network is down and he sees it at least once a day. Their TV service is a little better but I am still over there every couple of weeks to "fix" his TV, to find out it is Comcast. Now I have him call them first and he usually gets the recorded message. "Yes we are sorry, we know we suck but what are you going to do? We hope to restore service in an hour or so". (or words to that effect). DSL may be slow (10mb) but it is reliable. We are just waiting for Hotwire to extend their fiber down here. It is a mile away now.
Most have "effectivel abandoned" all the copper already. The "main trunk" runs along the back of my property and to replace it would require tunnelling through a LOT of tree roots (almost a mile, end to end across numeous properties) All the "spare pairs" have been used and they cannot provide me (along with numerous others) a "clean line". The phone was noisy and DSL was as low as 1MB so I switched to Rogers (cable) and an OOMA box. Would have used the cheaper Magic Jack but I could not port my existing phone number.
All depends on the system. Here in NJ cable is fast, reliable, and the best bang for the buck. That's the only choice I have. Some places have choices, eg Verizon Fios as an option. That got close to where I am, but then they curtailed the deployment. That was maybe ten years ago, IDK what they are doing now, just that it ain't here. I had DSL briefly, before the cable company upgraded and had internet available. It cost more and was a few hundred Kbps.
It must depend on the system, and maybe where you are at in the system.
I am well pleased with Spectrum for the internet. I get the 200 mb service and it is almost never down. About 3 miles up the road and closer to the main equipment several are complaing about bad and poor service and being out much of the time.
I also have the phone over the cable by their modem. Sometimes it breaks up vrey badly, but unpluging it for about 30 seconds and it is good to go for another week or more.
Before that about 3 years ago the service would go down here about every
6 months and I would have to get a man out and most of the time they said a fuse had blown up the line. Once they did replace the cable from my house which is under ground to the above line at the pole that is about 200 feet away from the house.
A few days ago we had a lot of rain (been that way for months) and some wind. There was no snow or ice. I think the temperture was in the 60's. The power went out, but when I got the generator up and running the internet was up. The power stayed out for an hour after I got the generator going, but the internet stayed going.
I am out in the country so it is either cable or whatever Windstream (the telephone company ) offers. If I lived in the city I could get the fiber. It is a small town of maybe 30,000 people . The local government got on the band wagon at the start and the system is very fast or can be if you want to pay for it, the fastest in the state. I got a tour of the fiber building and it is impressive inside. They also have 2 big generators that can power not only their equipment, but if needed the emergency services of the county.
I got Spectrum when we moved here 14 months ago. I was not happy for the first few weeks and three visits, but one properly set up, it has been perfect. When I wanted to swap out equipment I was amazed at how fast and easy it was too.
Have you seen their commercials for cell phone service? I feel bad for Joey going for the pineapples.
Ours are generally in the utility and road right of way and the utilities generally deforest that whole 66' swath here in Florida. There was a rumor 30 years ago that Sprint dropped fiber in the hole in front of my house with the copper but these days they only mark two lines. They used to mark 3 on a locate so I suspect the fiber may have been damaged or simply abandoned. They bored the line to my house 30 years ago when the overhead drop was removed. It is a 3 pair flooded cable.
We have the gas, hydro, and water underground in the boulevard and first 3 feet of lawn. The telephone and cable run along the rear property line. Ours is all burried. In some areas it runs above ground
-(even in some with burried power) - while where the power is overhead on the street, phone and cable sometimes share the poles. The power goes up to the house under the edge of the driveway- about 2 or 3 feet from the grass, while the water goes about 3 feet out from the other side of the driveway (with the drainage/sewer) and the gas is about 15 to 20 feet farther over - in line with the corner of the house. Gas meter on one end of the house, electric on the other end (on garage wall) and water meter in the center of the house undeer the front step (in the cold room)
The county owned right of way is 66 feet wide in front of my house, typical for a Florida residential street. 24 feet on each side of the
18' road is grass and that is where the utilities go. A lot of people are shocked to find out they don't own the first 24 feet of their yard. This is not an easement, the county just owns it. They can cut down "your" trees, dig up "your" grass and generally tell you what you are allowed to do there. Lawn sprinklers are always an issue. If they dig them up, tough shit. Legally all you can have is a mailbox and with a permit, a driveway across it.
OTOH, you can make them mow it if you want. Just don't expect it to happen often or get a very good job.
Here it's about 3.5 feet in from the sidewalk - about 15 feetfrom the kerb where there is both a sidewalk and boulevard. Hewre if you don't mow it they will - and add it to your tax bill- - - - -
When sprint took over the mom and pop phone company here they replaced the whole "plant" and our lines were clean. I also knew the "data" guys well at the telco and had a way of getting a clean line if I made enough "noise" even on the old system. At the end of the day they are still a government regulated utility and you can push down from the top if you have to. It helped that I had better tools to assess their line quality than they did tho.
Sounds like communism. Why should I have to mow a government lot for free? People do it here, and maintain the grass, just for the illusion that their yard is bigger than it is. I do too but I also maintain about an acre of FPL right of way behind my house, just for my own enjoyment of having a good off leash place for my dog to run. It is also a sort of wildlife preserve for me.
In real life if I didn't I could complain and they would have to do some minimal level of maintenance themselves. I don't because the resulting jungle north of me makes my little acre a private park, only I can get to.
The Telco does OK here if you are on fiber but copper is pretty much stuck with 10-25mb internet only plus a POTS line that is virtually free (<$15) and has all of the calling services. (free LD, call waiting, conferencing, caller ID, voice mail and a bunch of other stuff I never use) If you like to talk long distance a lot I suppose it is a great deal.
"Not an easement, the county just owns it"...is that a Florida thing? I ask because I'll be moving there eventually. Everyone does. :)
I've owned homes in Mississippi, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and Montana, not all at the same time, and my property line has always been the curb. The sidewalks cross my property but are owned and maintained by the city, except for snow removal which was my responsibility, and there is always a utility easement of about 15 feet, but it's just an easement.
One of the utility companies here has a high voltage line running along the back of my property with a 100-foot easement, 50 feet of which is on my side and 50 feet on the next guy's property. In the fine print, though, it says that they've agreed to repair any fences that have to come down in case they need access to their lines. They don't have to replace trees, shrubs, or outbuildings of any kind. It really shouldn't be an issue, though. They have at least 3 ways to get back there without crossing any private property.
I have a long term dislike for them too. Several years ago I had a billing dispute with them and it got so bad I almost took them to court. When it got resolved I dropped their long distance service and dropped their credit card.
I did continue with them with a business land line replaced by fiber. In spite of it being a VoIP line they charged old land line prices without long distance service, caller ID etc which required extra charges.
Verizon today with their FIOS internet still retains traces today of the old AT&T telephone company mentality of being the only game in town.
I got in on the first credit cards that ATT sent out.
It got to where I could not get the bill back to them before they added a late charge. After twice mailing the check to them the same day I got the bill and it still getting there too late and a late fee was charged I cut it up.
Here "fibre" isn't necessarily (or even generally) fibre to the door. The main trunk is fibre here - but the last half mile is 50 year old buried copper.
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