DSL Monopoly
 

Moving into a new place, regular apartment complex type-thing.

Now, I've a list of utilities and I'm told that the internet service is 'Ygnition'. They've a special offer at the moment, but like most things it's one of these 'cheap for a few months', then whacked up to some high price with a contract that you can't break without forking over a big sum.

Thing is this 'Ygnition' is a bit pricier than a lot of other DSL deals I've seen out there ($50 a month for 1MBit!). Now, I haven't a phone number yet so these 'checker' pages I can't really reliably use. I've tried the 'reception' phone number of the complex and it passes some DSL guys check pages, but not others.

Now, my question is I guess is whether DSL here is a monopoly, and I can only get service from Ygnition at my apartment... Or whether it's like the UK, and if my exchange is DSL enabled, I can go with pretty much any ISP?

Cheers.

Re: DSL Monopoly
 

Re: DSL Monopoly
 

Ah, not good. :(

I'm pretty sure my complex though uses Ygnition DSL rather than Ygnition Cable (the company offer both types of broadband), and I think some of the comments about 'no alternative' may be the cable guys'.

Sounds bollocks as well as far as P2P downloading goes. I was used to caning my ADSL in the UK. :(

Re: DSL Monopoly
 

Looks like a bad choice. But if they've got a monopoly on the complex, it's going to be difficult to avoid. The DSL looks so bad, in fact, that it might be better to just used a 9.99 dial-up service!

Generally, cable rules here! No contract, $40/month gives a 6Mbs/512Kbs here in Phoenix. The up's a little slow for maintaining your ratios on membership bittorrent sites but livable with.

Look to see if the Verizon wireless broadband is available chez tu. It's not a cheap option but it's nice and fast. One problem is that it is intended for laptops and, AFAIK, the only interface is a PCMIA card, something that would prevent you doing a few things such as using VoIP for your home phone. Maybe worth a look anyway.

If you're just using it for browsing occasionally, just hang a wi-fi antenna nice and high and you'll get a non-secure signal from some local idiot. Wouldn't use it for my banking, though!

Re: DSL Monopoly
 

Yeah, seems pretty good but it's a hefty $80 a month... I'd consider it if I travelled on business, but I don't do anything like that.

Yeah, was hoping there would be one of these. I just got here and tried it out, and lo and behold a strong signal unsecured one. Nice to tide me over until I get stuff sorted anyhow. It downloads at a healthy 90-100KB/s from microsoft.com, so whatever the guy's using it's not that bad I suppose.

Re: DSL Monopoly
 

Get to meet the neighbors and speak to them about who they use.

With any provider, you will have a group that love it and a group that hate it.

My ride with Bellsouth was rough at first but I'm actually enjoying their DSL Xtreme now.

Re: DSL Monopoly
 

I used to use dial-up in my apartment because Comcast were the only company who could provide broadband and they were expensive.

You could perhaps get to know the neighbours and setup a little wireless community, say 3 apartments all using one connection and sharing the cost.

That might be against the ISPs usage policy but its unlikely they'll find out.

Re: DSL Monopoly
 

Have you tried sonic.net?

Re: DSL Monopoly
 

Just got off the blower with Verizon, got DSL at home for $14.95 p/m (1 year contract).

Also bought a wireless router for $14.95 so no more wires running around the bedroom.

Could of had the Fios (fiberoptic faster than shit off a shovel) service for $34.95 but I'm a tight wad!

Re: DSL Monopoly
 

[QUOTE=

Could of had the Fios (fiberoptic faster than shit off a shovel) service for $34.95 but I'm a tight wad![/QUOTE]

WORTH EVERY PENNY MATE!!!

Re: DSL Monopoly
 

Couldn't agree more ....Verizon FIOS kicks butt over the other offerings here in the DFW area. I have Verizon FIOS TV too now and would strongly recommend that to anyone looking for an excellent picture quality.

Re: DSL Monopoly
 

Managed to get service through SBC in the end (same company that does my phone). So I guess if you've DSL, it doesn't matter who you go with... Cable is probably a different case though!

Was $34.99 a month (once the 6 month much lower rate has passed anyhow), that's for 1.5Mbps, compared to Ygnition who were $49.99 for 1Mbps!