🚀 go-pugleaf

I don't know, satellite might be another option but the prices and
hours/month may not be that great there either. We're too far from the CO
to get 56K or DSL, I'm not sure I want the cost of ISDN and 2 year contract
to avoid some up front expenses, and our far SE corner of Dallas is not in
TCI's service area so we can't get cable modem from them (which I
understand is a blessing anyway, given our past experience with TCI cable
and their reputation in general), but the local Friendship Cable in Balch
Springs (near us) was bought out by Classic Cable and we can now get
ClassicNet so I'm looking into it. We could also see if when PrimeStar
converts us to DirecTV they can make us a good deal on DirecPC but the
hours/month are lousy judging by their web site. There's also The Beam here
in Dallas but again all these satellite services (plus Classic Cable for
another 1-2 years) still require tying up the phone line for upstream.
Anyone else have any insights? Are there any satisfied ClassicNet users out
there in the Dallas area?

--

Robert M. Pritchett, President - RMP Consulting Partners LLC
http://rmpcp.com - rmp@rmpcp.com - Dallas, TX - Member ICCA
"Quality means doing it right the first time!"
Contractors: tired of hearing "W-2 only"? Join us and let us help you get
that same contract on a 1099 as a self-employed independent contractor!


Steve Thompson wrote in message <38A425C6.23B85274@neo.rr.com>...
>At this point, I have RoadRunner from Time-Warner.  And to put
>some cost to it, we'll say it costs me $30/mo (actually more
>because it is bundled to their cable-TV service).  They do this
>via a cable modem (10Mb/Sec down, 1Mb/Sec up - when the system
>ain't real busy).
>
>I have talked with the local Telco (GTE) about ADSL (among other
>options).  They want $30-50/mo (I can't get a definite rate yet)
>for a 56K bi-directional connection.  With a standard phone line,
>the best I can do is 28000.
>
>Here in Ohio, ISDN is charged by the hour.  You can't get a fixed
>monthly charge figure (ok, for the purists, you do get a fixed
>charge for some small number of hours and then the hourly rate
>starts).  However, with my ISP, there is a service charge for the
>ISDN usage (because they are getting the same per/hour problem
>with the state tariffs too?).
>
>So, since I do 90% of my work by telecommuting, I am affected by
>connection speeds.  And, I am affected by loss of service,
>whether the whole system quits, or, the email servers quit.  This
>is why I keep a backup ISP (in this case, Mindspring -- two
>reasons (1) they provide connection support as in how to fix
>settings, (2) they seem to always be functional).
>
>Here in Ohio, the cable companies (e.g., Time-Warner/RoadRunner)
>are not PUC regulated.  And so, if you have problems with them,
>you can't go to the state to file a complaint.
>
>Financially speaking, since GTE can't seem to get its act
>together with its local CO (central office), there is no way I'm
>going to sign up for ADSL.  Further, ADSL will cost me more for
>less connection speed.  ISDN is priced out of my budget,
>considering how long I am connected when "dialed" into a
>customer's mainframe (8 hrs a day, 3-5 days a week for up to 6
>months).  RoadRunner, at 1Mb/Sec is faster and cheaper than the
>other options (at this point).
>
>So, here are some questions:
>
>1) If you have your internet service by a non-Telco, who can you
>file complaints with when you can't get service issues addressed?
>
>2) If you can't get proper service from a Telco, how can you
>bring pressure to bear to get things corrected?  (I ask this one,
>because of problems that I have w/ my local Telco, and the
>problems they have caused one of my customers.)
>
>3) How can one get better options for connectivity w/o going
>through a Telco, or, are there any?
>
>These things are becoming more and more important to my company,
>because, we keep suffering from lost connections, email server
>failures, etc., from RR.  And, we can't seem to get them to
>respond (AOL didn't need to buy these people out to screw up
>their support -- it was already at AOL's level as far as I can
>tell).  In fact, their help desk/Tech Support [RR} was totally
>unaware of the "loss of service" attacks that have been taking
>place this week, and so didn't realize that their email server
>crash could have been related.
>
>--
>Steve Thompson
>OSP LLC
>330/335-9907 office
>330/334-2097 fax
>
>Remove "_" in email address to contact me -- anti-spam measures
>in use
>