Internet providers near Westwood Village

[buddhahead]

I just moved into a new (for me) home a few blocks south/east of Westwood Village. Anyone have experience with either Comcast/Clear Wire/ Quest Century linK? There seems to be lot’s of opinions about all of them, so tell me your stories ;-)

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[JoB]

we use comcast because that is the only high speed reliable service available to us just north west of Westwood.

we are reasonably happy with them.

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[Bonnie]

We are west of Westwood Village and use comcast. Nothing else to compare to since we’ve had comcast for years.

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[miws]

I’m southeast of Westwood Village as well, and have had Comcast, for cable TV and wireless internet, for the last seven months or so.

I have not had any other providers at this location, so can’t offer any comparisons to Comcast.

That being said, I’ve been satisfied overall. The Wi-Fi might be a tad sluggish at times, but not enough to make it maddening.

The only outage I’ve had so far, (both TV and Wi-Fi) was the evening of July 4th for about two to three hours.

I missed seeing the Lake Union Fireworks on TV, which wasn’t a huge deal for me, just a little disappointing.

The one very positive thing that stands out, was when I called to arrange my service, (I hadn’t had cable at my previous apartment for about ten years or so) was the Agent that took the call was very pleasant to deal with.

I called knowing exactly what I wanted, but not how to describe it by a “package” name.

I told the Agent (in a non-demanding, just confident tone) that I wanted to be able to get additional channels such as History, A&E, etc, but didn’t need any extras/Premium Channels like Encore, HBO, etc, and that I also wanted Wi-Fi.

He told me what I could get, in a non-salespersony tone of voice, and the only thing he offered, (and it sounded like a service offer, to make me aware, as opposed to an upsell) was their landline phone service.

I explained my Cell was sufficient for me, and he accepted that.

So, yeah, I know Comcast has had their share of complaints, just like all providers have had, but I’m satisfied (lucky? ;-) ) overall.

Mike

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[trickycoolj]

With Comcast you can purchase your own modem and wifi router and save at least $7 on rental fees (at least that’s what I paid over a year ago). A modem will set you back about $70 which pays for itself in less than a year. Plus you’ll be buying nicer equipment than Comcast provides and will likely end up getting faster speeds than they actually advertise for the package you choose (I got blast speed with a lower package). Search for the Motorola Surfboard SB6121 at your favorite electronics retailer, it’s about $70 on amazon right now. All you do is have it on hand for your set up appointment or call them after you get the new modem and read them the number on the bottom of the device.

Wifi routers can also be had for $30-$100 (in an apartment you can go with the cheapest one) and they are so simple to set up these days, the software walks you through everything with pictures!

Watch out with CenturyLink and Clear they will charge less per month but put you in a multi-year contract with far lower speeds and if you’re in an apartment i.e. not long term address you might not want to pay fees to get out of the contract if the service isn’t up to par for your needs.

Another thought: if you plan on using VPN to work virtually you’ll need Comcast the others are not fast enough.

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[JoB]

We tried clear for a while .. and it was ok until they decided to move and redirect towers without letting us know.

we had a miserable couple of months documenting outages and when they finally sent out a tech it was only to verify and map the outages in our area…

they did finally terminated our contract after i told them that i had already contracted with Comcast because their tech had verified that we had no coverage at all…

but they didn’t send me a check for the 2 months we spent with intermittent service at best.

Their customer service was just about as bad as it gets…

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[JanS]

while I don’t use this, I have seen the commercials. It’s available in the Admiral District, may be available where you are, too. Anyone out there have this yet?

http://www.hughesnet.com/index.cfm?page=Plans-Pricing

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[trickycoolj]

Hughes Net is satellite based so you’re subject to all of the same limitations as satellite TV, which can be difficult in an apartment situation if not all together banned in the lease (my previous place restricted them). Hughes is really only geared for people who live in extreme rural areas that are not served by broadband or DSL with dial-up being their only internet option. My grandpa actually still has dial-up because Hughes is so expensive.

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[JanS]

I, too, found it interesting that we can now get it in West Seattle. I thought it was for rural areas, too.

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