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We’ve made no secret of the fact that we don’t have cable, so we rely on Verizon’s DSL for our internet access. We signed up back in 2005 for the 3 mbps down/768 kbps up for $30 a month and never really thought about it again. Well not until that 3 mbps down starting being a little too slow for Netflix’s Watch It Now service, Hulu, online games through our PS3, etc.
So in January when Verizon offered an upgrade to 7 mbps down/768 kbps up for $10 more per month, we jumped at it. We averaged 6 mbps down, which was more than enough for our purposes and well worth the extra $120 a year. We probably should have left well enough alone.
But then in September we found out that Verizon had once again upped their DSL network speed, this time to a blazing (well for DSL) 15 mbps down/1 mbps up, again for a $10 a month increase. $50 a month just for internet access? This is getting a little out of hand. 15 mbps download speed is pretty fantastic, and if you add a wireless n router with an external hard drive attached, you can have a pretty nice little NAS in place for a reasonable cost. We were not even sure the higher speeds would be available to us, as seemingly no one commenting on Washington Post tech writer Rob Pegoraro’s blog said the service was available to them.
Well at that point it was a challenge. When we checked on the Verizon website they offered the upgrade in PQ, so we figured why not (aside from our now $50 per month DSL bill)? Three days after placing our order online, we recorded the speeds you see in the image above. Just shy of 15 mbps down, and again just shy of 1 mbps up. It’s been consistanly fast ever since.
We’re still not thrilled about paying this much per month to only get access to the internet. Comcast bundles offer many additional services without costing much more (at least during a special introductory period). But we’ve lived cable free for so many years now it seems a shame to give in. And who knows, maybe in the near future we’ll be getting our internet or TV options from somebody else.
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Comments
Actually, after reading this blog we signed up for Clear back in June when we moved into the neighborhood. We got 2 USB connectors for our laptops that we can use everywhere for around $55/month. It works better than Verizon 3G usb cards and there are no caps on bandwith which is huge for streaming movies.
No cable, no netflix, but we setup laptops HDMI to flatscreen and we use Hulu extensively, slingbox and streaming services. It works 97% of time for streaming video.
They got a 2 week trial, not sure if it would handle PS3 gaming, etc.
15 mbps down is pretty slick over copper wire. since Verizon’s central office (“CO”) is at 12th and H Streets and a 7,000 foot radius is 1.33 miles, that means that everyone in the PQ should be able to get 15 mbps. 3rd and H Street is 0.8 miles from the CO, well within the distance requirement. it also means that Verizon installed ADSL2+ hardware at the CO.
Yeah I am using Clear now, with mixed results. It varies b/w 4Mbps and .5Mbps for downloads. I pay $55/month for a home& on-the-go bundle, the on-the-go is pretty awesome even though they have an uneven coverage map.
I run this test also pretty regularly to see when the network degrades and on what days. I am on the basic Comcast cable internet. I don’t have phone or cable TV service with them. My average values since January 7, 2010:
19.40 Mb/s down
3.43 Mb/s up
18 ms ping
Of couse, Comcast is probably the least reliable ISP in the neighborhood I would think. And we all already know the benefits of DSL over cable. I am willing to take the hit on reliability (up to a point), for the crazy download speeds.
Well, I would like to try someone besides Comcast but I get speeds above 22mbs download pretty consistently. Great for Netflix movies on my bigscreen. I think its under $45 after 1yr and less than $30 during 1 yr promo with cable.
Just ran speedtest this minute….24.06 4.47
I’m very satisfied with Verizon’s reliability, we’ve had almost zero downtime in 5+ years. And now with 15 down we have great (albeit expensive) download speeds.
It is those upload speeds you cable subscribers have that make me jealous. Verizon should be embarrassed that 768 Kbps is the max norm for most subscribers. My increase to just 1 Mbps upload for $50 a month is crazy.
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I’m also cable free. Netlix and internet is more than enough at-home entertainment.