Internet Providers for the Delridge area

[MissK]

Hello,

I live in the Delridge area and am shopping for internet service. I had ClearWire, but the reception was awful and their “contract” was pretty shady on that fact. I digress…

I don’t want to get roped in with Comcast.

Do I have anymore options available to me??

Share This

[Ken]

Qwest and then choose your isp for dsl.

I use a former employer as an ISP since I helped build the network and all I want is 5 ip’s and the bandwidth I pay for and otherwise leave me alone unless the check is late.

You might need other stuff depending on how much handholding you feel is necessary.

I run my own servers and as many computers as I feel like running. I fled comcast as soon as I could get a clean pair for dsl.

Qwest will push MSN or whatever their current cash cow is, and will do so with gusto and ignorance both real and strategic.

hehe I was looking for the page that lists all the possible isp’s available on qwest, when I think I found a link to my current isp’s signup page:

http://www.wolfe.net/sign_up_forms/zform_res_dsl.html

The founder of Wolfe.net was a fairly well known Vashon Islander.

This should be the link to all the possible isps for here via qwest. You may have to choose the state after opening the page since it uses javascript in the state link.

http://www.qwest.com/residential/internet/isp_list.html

Share This

[Franci]

I use Qwest for the line and Drizzle for my ISP. I’ve been happy with the service, its very reliable.

Share This

[MissK]

Ken and Franci

How much have you been paying out each month?

Share This

[Franci]

The fee for drizzle is around $20 a month.

I think my Qwest dsl fee is around $30. But I really don’t remember what the dsl fee is exactly – its bundled with my landline, long distance and other line features that I use.

I’ll try to remember to check it out and I’ll post if its significantly higher than that.

Share This

[Ken]

ummm…

I would have to open the bill, but I think qwest is about 26.00 a month and I get the resellers rate from the isp (even though I only sold a few companies that called me for network consulting)

my current rate is 5.95 a month for 1.5m. I think the standard rate is 14.95 a month for that.

Note: 1.5 was the speed of the single T-1 we started Wolfenet with in 1994. It was nearly 3000.00 a month. :)

BTW it is currently listed as Accretive technologies on the Qwest isp list.

Also my phone package is a bundle too. I don’t dare change it since they charge quite a bit more now for the bundle I have “grandfathered”. But the dsl is not a big part of it.

Share This

[MissK]

Im sorry I thought I was up on the whole internet thing. I may sound stupid, but I have no landline, no cable tv, and just want access to the internet. I don’t want to host or run other sites, just for getting online. So in order to use Wolfenet or Drizzle I must have Qwest dsl?

Share This

[credmond]

MissK

–

yes, you must have some presence in your house. You were using ClearWire, whose presence was in the form of radio waves passing through your walls. To use anything else you will need an actual wire coming in from the street. Your choices for wire are Qwest (digital subscriber line – DSL) or Comcast (digital cable with internet riding free on what is basically a cable TV wire).

–

Without the wire, your choices are limited to what can enter through the walls of your house and right now that’s only ClearWire.

–

Technically, you could use a cell-phone patch cord to your computer but the service would be slow and you couldn’t use your phone at the same time. If this is of interest, there are plenty of road-warriors who can help you (I’m assuming some of them even read WSB). I’m not one of those road-warriors, though.

–

Or, if you’re close enough to someone else who’s running an open WiFi system, you could use that but most such personal systems are locked with a code.

–

Alas, no super wide WiFi yet.

Share This

[Ken]

DSL rides on your existing landline, assuming you have an existing land line.

When you order dsl you will get a router (which most people insist is a modem, erroneously) with wireless capabilities. Comcast may also have a wireless option on their cable modem (which actually does something like demodulate, but it is not quite a real modem either.

However, if your computer aquires an ip address that does not start with 192.168 or 10 10 then chances are your computer is hanging out directly on the internet like a seasick passenger hung over the aft rail.

Routers that do NAT (network address translation) at least hide your computer a bit from all the malicious bits of code being spewed by zombies, rebots and worms out on the net.

[rant deleted since I slipped into jargon and only belatedly realized it would just further confuse the issue]

Good luck with your ummm Qwest, quest.

Share This

[karen]

We’ve got Clearwire and the service was horrible for quite a while. However they must have upgraded something recently because the last couple of months have been satisfactory.

Since I have no real idea about how this stuff works (I like to think little internet fairies fly back and forth with my information – makes as much sense to me) I’m not sure what has changed.

It seems like all the services are pretty close in monthly cost. What else is there to consider? Of course I don’t want slow, do want to send pictures or download music. Does every provider pretty much work the same way?

Share This

[Ken]

I might get too technical but I will try to simplify by being imprecise :)

Clearwire could have improved service just from a percentage of their customers going elsewhere.

All internet service is based on a trade off between bandwidth and usage.

Comcast for example can have degraded service in blocks or neighborhoods where they have oversold service without upgrading capacity. That means too many of your neighbors are trying to use the internet at the same time that you are through a limited size wire or fibre optic cable.

Qwest service bottlenecks are more often at the Central office connections between the phone company and the ISP. Each ISP can over sell their service the same way that comcast or clearwire can oversell, just in a different place.

The difference is, qwest isp’s can more easily upgrade the bandwidth between their network and qwest, often with just a phone call and a slightly larger bill, than Comcast can string new copper or fiber or clearwire find locations for more wireless distribution antennas.

DSL is based on the capacity(limited by distance due to voltage drop per foot) on a single actual pair of wires between your home and the central office. No amount of users will effect your signal getting from your house to the central office since the only user on that particular wire is you.

Qwest used to routinely oversell the capacity of their network from the point where your wire entered their network and the early ISP’s since they were in direct competition with those companies, or at least felt that way. Their lawyers would pay fines to state regulators rather then open their networks or allow independent local exchange carriers (ILEC’s) to rent space in their central offices.

That has pretty much been worked out now that most of the ILEC’s were crushed or bought out by the telcos.

But remember, every internet connection, just like every phone, be it wired or wireless, is based on the premise that not everyone is going to send an email, surf a web page or make a call at the exact same moment.

After the earthquake, phone and cell service was not disrupted by damaged antennas, lines or cables. It was overwhelmed by everyone in the state trying to call someone to see if they were ok, and several million people from other states trying to call into WA to check on relatives and friends.

So.

I choose DSL since I want access to the net that is not effected by my neighbors choices.

The particular ISP I chose was based on inside info since I know their network structure and the other businesses they sell service to. Hint: their other customers use vast amounts of outbound traffic, so the inbound traffic I use is like a bb rattling around in a big empty culvert sized pipe.

If interested in where packets go when they leave your computer, take a look at http://www.seattleix.net/intro.htm

where there is a list of current networks which trade packets locally (the Westin building) to keep from moving them all over the country when they are just going across town. The history page is long gone but one of the companies that started the first exchange of free peering traffic was wolfe.net. (I was one of the guys who threw a wire over the wall and plugged it into a hub.)

Share This

[Bikefor1]

I use Qwest DSL and Seanet as my ISP. Seanet is local, too. :-) I’m quite happy with both.

My downstairs neighbor had problems with Qwest DSL and is now happily using ClearWire.

Go figure.

Share This

[Aim]

Ken: I knew someone else who worked at Wolfenet in the Westin back in the day.

I later worked with him at MindSpring in its early days.

I wish I could remember his name. Punk kid, but that probably doesn’t narrow it down at all.

You still in the business? Or did you burn out on the 18 hour days like I did?

Share This

[Ken]

Aim:

I burned out on the 24/7/366 on call, but after I went down with the ship, (company bought out by a national which crashed and burned within 2 years due to Enron type accounting irregularities) I and several others, got a job rebuilding the network and automating it (the same thing I had been trying to do for the original owners with no cash) and the team from Wolfenet did such a good job that the entire network is now run by a couple of people.

I still do occasional consulting for several companies and fix computers (mostly for free) but I have pretty much given up on getting a job that involves convincing a 25 year old HR manager that I actually do have 25 years experience with computers and 20 with networks and that I can do any of the laundry list of work involving computers.

I suspect it is the gray hair. And the fact that the young’uns don’t really believe there were computers in the 1980’s. For all I know, they think they were steam driven.

Share This

[Author]

Posts