The INTERNET

So, /tech/..

I've been thinking of getting a better connection, I'm interested in Fiber Optics, Cable, and well just about anything that can get me above 5+mb/s down and 2+mb/s upwards. But, one thing about them though, everyone I've spoken to who goes through companies in my area (southern california, only two companies I know of are: Verizon and Time Warner) say that their connections, although fast, aren't exactly stable. Sometimes going down for a few minutes, to hours, to an entire day or more before coming back up. As well as extremely slow speeds every so often (going from 800kB/s down and 80kB/s upwards to 10-40kB/s down and 6-20kB/s upwards) which can last a few hours to a few days.

Is there anything, as a consumer, that could be done to keep the connections more stable? A couple of the people I spoke to said that when they call the companies to get a status check, they say they'll send out a technician in 3-4 business days, which obviously isn't soon enough, even though the connection does return to normal eventually, only to get worse again soon after.

Do you suppose it could be partly their fault? Bad modem/router setups? Faulty/lack of encryption? Or are the companies really as bad as I'm told? Or maybe it's a mix of both cases?

>>1
P.S. Those technicians that they always promise to send in 3-4 business days, actually never do come. Even when they are pestered for it.
One person I know, told me how she actually got away without paying for 3 months of service with Time Warner when she brought this fact up, along with the occasional (constant?) poor connection.

>>So, /tech/

I don't know.

>>3
Eh, forgive me. I forgot what board I was on.

Anyone?

well basically, those two companies are the ONLY two companies available to us in southern california.

time warner bought out comcast and adelphia, so they're the only cable providers in the area. In this case, time warner really is as bad as you've heard. Comcast was decent, Adelphia was okay, but now with them gone it's either shitty cable or no cable.

And if you're looking into anything other than cable, no matter who you subscribe through, that company will be subscribing your connection through Verizon, since they own and operate all the phone lines anyways.

Verizon isn't actually bad though. We've never had any stability issues with it in the past. And when we do have trouble, it's usually our router's fault.

.

'-'

._.

>>7
I kind of figured as much with other companies subscribing through Verizon. So, I'll go with Verizon then, thanks for the input.

>>So, /tech/