[Leaplist] Brighthouse or Embarq?

[Kyle Gonzales]

Cable modem service compared to, say, a T1, is way different.  For the
speed you get with a cable modem, it is insanely cheap.  But the
service is completely best effort.  Most DSL is as well.

We have grown to expect more out of residential internet connections.
The speed has gone up, for sure, and the prices have come down.  Those
are the two main things people look for when shopping for an internet
connection.  Fastest speed for the lowest cost.  Reliability costs
money, and isn't purchased.  Generally, residential services are
mostly reliable, but if you want more you need ISDN/T1.  Even
Speakeasy, one of the highest rated providers out there, only
guarantee 99% uptime on business DSL.  That allows for nearly 3 days
of downtime a year.

To me, I believe the issue with the connections is that people have
generally unrealistic expectations of reliability for these services.
It would be easier and waste less energy for people who believe
reliability is important to have redundant cheap connections.  Fast
cable modem for primary, backup DSL (cheapest available) if they have
an extended outage.  Another option is to buy a router which can use a
EVDO card as a backup internet connection.  This would allow them to
sustain connectivity using a backup that might be their main
connection while traveling.  You can also just pop in the card if you
are having a bad cable day and keep on working.

If those options are too expensive, well, I would recommend that the
next time the internet goes "out", you reboot the modem, and get
another cup of coffee.  That is what I do. ;)

On Dec 20, 2007 9:02 AM, Jeff Iddings <jeff at iddings.us> wrote:
> Wouldn't matter if we paid more. I've had constant problems with my
> BrightHouse service. The cable light goes out on the modem several times
> a day for just long enough to disrupt everything.
>
> When I tried to purchase BH Commercial Service, I was told by my sales
> person that it wouldn't make it any better, it's all the same lines and
> same technicians.
>
> http://heliosj.iddings.us/brighthouse_sucks
>
> Jeff
>
>
> Kyle Gonzales wrote:
> > With cheap service comes cheap tech support.
> >
> > On Dec 20, 2007 3:36 AM, John Simpson <jms1 at jms1.net> wrote:
> >> On 2007-12-18, at 1835, John Simpson wrote:
> >>> when i filled out their contact form to ask what had happened, their
> >>> answer was "We apologize, but we are unable to provide the
> >>> information that you have requested regarding the outage that
> >>> occurred this morning. We are sorry that we can not provide this
> >>> information."
> >> they've sent another reply... this time they admit that they're just
> >> tech support, that the network guys only told them that there WAS an
> >> outage and that it's now fixed, and that's all the information they
> >> have.
> >>
> >> my next two questions will be "why not just say that in the first
> >> place, instead of throwing a brick wall in my face?" and "why don't
> >> you pass my question along to the networking guys, so THEY can answer
> >> it?"
> >>
> >> customer service seems to be going downhill across the board these
> >> days...
> >>
> >>
> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> >> | John M. Simpson    ---   KG4ZOW   ---    Programmer At Large |
> >> | http://www.jms1.net/                         <jms1 at jms1.net> |
> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> >> | http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173 |
> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
>
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-- 
Kyle Gonzales
kyle.gonzales at gmail.com
GPG Pub Key: 9C3FBD51

Read My Tech Blog:
http://techiebloggiethingie.blogspot.com/