[Tfug] Providers?

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Nathan,

On 11/17/2012 10:39 AM, Nathan Hruby wrote:
> Cox and Comcast (aka: xfinity) have different, non-overlapping markets.

Ah, that makes sense.  Hard to imagine how they would be able to
effectively share a single distribution system!

> IIRC, Cox handles Tucson proper (and maybe south-ish) while Comcast serves
> the outside metro, at least to the north.

OK.  So, I need to sort out who handles this part of town.

> I live on the northwest side and have xfinity.  Service has been OK, most
> outages I have been related to the construction on Cortaro Farms cutting
> wires so I belive very localized to my specific neighborhood.

 From past complaints from neighbors, that seems to be the case, here.
E.g., a back hoe pulling up a feed line, city employees driving the
stake for a street sign *through* a cable, etc.

> Before
> moving closer to the construction I had 0 outages for the 8 months before
> moving.  After moving to to the current house and we started having
> outages, the comcast line techs and service folks were a tad slow, but very
> professional and very thorough.  They replaced our direct bury line from
> from demarc to plant since it was old, rechecked every connection in the
> house, including the attic, and replaced the cable modem.

I notice many homes with *unburied* cable (I've never checked to
see if it was CATV or TelCo.  No doubt a rush to get service
restored (i.e., revenue stream maintained) while not caring
much about aesthetics...  <frown>

> None of that was
> the direct problem, but they wanted to do that work to remove the extra
> entropy, just in case.  Thumbs up for that.  The outages haven't been a
> large problem since I also have a 4G MiFi from work to cover this sort of
> problem.
>
> I do rent the modem, mainly because I've moved around a lot in the past and
> it's always a crapshoot if an old modem will work reliably with new
> provider.

Understood.  Hard to understand the rationale between why model X
works and model Y doesn't -- esp when both have similar specifications.
(I suspect they install custom firmware from the upstream side
and don't *have* firmware for the different models)

> Given the lifespan of an average cable modem the average cost of
> ownership tends to be about the same, anyway.  I also think the ability to
> just have the modem replaced whenever it's busted is a bonus.

I've been pretty good at repairing hand-me-downs from neighbors, etc.
Most folks seem to "want new" all the time, anyway, so often a
hand-me-down is perfectly functional.

(I "re-distribute" a laptop every month or two from some neighbor
who's tired of it to some other neighbor's kid, etc. who is in
*need* of one.  Ditto wireless routers, etc.  Folks always
*vaguely* claim "its broke" when, in reality, they just wanted a
new one... :> )

> I have the large data package since I telecommute and it's plenty fast in
> terms of upload speed and latency.  The upload cap is still asymmetrical,
> but to date I've not been able to saturate the upload and cause any of my
> ssh connections to lag (vpn + ssh + voip call + G+ hangout + downloading
> patches == still works).  I think on windows, if you install their crappy
> software, you get some kind of caching / boost thing.  I don't have a
> windows machine so wouldn't know how well this works.

I am wary of installing *any* software on a machine that I'll then
have to maintain.  The ubiquitous:  "try reinstalling windows" solution
offered by all tech support guys once they are in over their head...

> We also have cable + extended cable + hd + hbo + dvr.  We don't watch a lot
> of TV, but there are several shows we do enjoy (SNL, some cable news,
> several HBO shows).  The DVR is stupid and I hate the UI, but it does
> work.  Picture quality and video uptime is pretty good.

Yikes!  For folks who "don't watch a lot of TV" you've sure *got*
a lot!  :>  I doubt we "watch" an hour a day.  Radio sees more use
(you can "do something else" while listening to the radio... kind
of defeats the purpose to do so when it comes to TV!).  OTOH, we
watch a fair number of movies (DVDs) -- though many of those tend
to end up as "sound only" experiences.

> Cable cast is ~$120/month for all that, and calling every yearish tends to
> allow them to re-bundle your service to a package that costs a buck or two
> less.  FWIW we've been paying about that price for cable service for 15
> years and the amount of service we get for the money seems to steadily
> increase.
>
> We use Vonage for phone service, and have done so for many years.  It works
> as reliably as it ever has.  We're on the original $24.95/month plan which
> is still a bargain since it allows my wife to call her sister in Ireland
> whenever for free.

<frown>  With the low usage, here, it's almost cheaper to use a
(traditional) pay phone (25c/3 min).

(sigh)  Life was easier without all these choices!  :>  OTOH, I
don't miss the $300/mo phone bills!!  :-/

Thanks for your comments.  I'll check on the comcast/cox issue
and see where that leads.

--don