Which internet would you choose?

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Just curious what you guys would pick out of these choices? I live in a small town and it's either att dsl which is 2.5m down and 1m upload for 30ish dollars or the local cable company which is faster but more costly. The dsl connection is unstable sometimes which is why I'm looking to switch. The cable co options are:
1. $80 30m down/3m upload
2. $70 18m/3m
3. $60 10m/1.5m
4. $50 6m/1.5m
5. $40 3m/1.5m
Also there is no contract with the cable company.

 

[Nograts]

Is there a porn data cap at all?

 

[Attic]

I'd go option 1.

That's expensive.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Is there a porn data cap at all?

No cap at either company but I'm not a power user of teh porn so no worries anyways.

 

[lxskllr]

I don't watch much video, and I'm pretty much the only user, so the lower tier packages are more interesting to me, especially considering the uniformly shitty uploads. I'd go for 4 or 5. Probably start at 5, and see what I thought. It can always be bumped up, and it seems like spending more money is less likely to incur billing screwups than saving money is.

 

[Imp]

I'd go for 10/1... because I have 10/1 and it costs CA$ 35/month.

Plenty fast for my YouTube watching. Only "problem" is uploads that I make a few times a week. Otherwise, every few months I buy something from Steam and 30 GB takes a while. Damn you, Fallout 4.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I picked option one, which is what I have basically.

 

[SearchMaster]

I voted option 1 though I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference between it and option 2. I say that because I'm on shitty DSL as well (cable company wants over 2 grand to run a line up my street) and for the most part, it works out ok. We used to have spotty reliability but when we switched from FastAccess to UVerse they switched out the outdoor line and gave us different equipment which seems to have stabilized it.

We can stream Netflix, play games, and surf the web and while imperfect, it does what we need at 6mb/768kb. I'd love to have 30/3 for $80.

 

[nsafreak]

It depends on your usage as to what you can deal with. I do a lot of streaming of Netflix and some of the games I download have patches that run up to 40 gigabytes. For me I'd go with option number 1 (current service is 125/15) even though it looks like prices are inflated in your area as I currently pay $50 for my level of service.

 

[wabbitslayer]

I'd always go with the fastest available unless it were 2x the price of the next fastest.

Currently have a xDSL line advertised as 12/1 but I get 15/1.5 speeds. Only time I really feel we need "more" is if downloading a large file or if everyone in the house (5 people) is online watching youtube or something.

 

[Matthiasa]

Well the only real option in modern society is 30m/3m but they are over charging by significant amounts for all of them.

 

[Jumpem]

I would get the 30. The others are too low for 4K streaming.

 

[natto fire]

I have 30/3 right now, but it costs me about $30 a month. I am lucky in that I have two cable companies. Just got rid of Time Warner after they disabled wi-fi in the modem/router I bought.

Funny that I grew up with dial-up, but now that websites are so "content-rich" I think I would be frustrated with anything less than a 5mbps down speed.

Another quick tip, especially on high latency connections, is to modify your browser so as not to be making numerous connections to tracking sites, which themselves can be hosted on crappy internet.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Is there a porn data cap at all?

Yeah that is probably more important than speed. I'd take the fastest uncapped package you can get out of those choices.

If they're uncapped then I'd take the fastest one in that list, as it's only 10 bucks more for near double the speed of the other one, and the ones below are too slow.

 

[natto fire]

Ok, to the people that would choose the 30mbps plan for the ridiculous price of $80 (I'm assuming that is before fees and taxes). What do you pay for cell phone data? 4G can deliver that speed, but of course there are caps through most cell carriers.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Ok, to the people that would choose the 30mbps plan for the ridiculous price of $80 (I'm assuming that is before fees and taxes). What do you pay for cell phone data? 4G can deliver that speed, but of course there are caps through most cell carriers.

It's more of a value thing, you can pay $40 for 3/1.5, or pay double for 10x the speed. The steps in between are also too small to warrant paying more, but that last jump makes it worth it. But let's say the 80 one is capped, then I'd stick with the 40 one and just deal with the lower speeds.

Cell phone data usually has ridiculous caps so I would not even consider that an option for day to day internet. Typically the caps are lower than a GB or in the low GB range if you have a really good ($$$$$$) plan. I just checked my firewall and I used about 20GB in the past 24 hours, that would blow away any cell data plan. That's just general internet usage, nothing really much.

 

[scooterider]

And it's worth every penny of it, relatives come over and everybody has a device and still enough bandwidth to go around, not to good for conversation tho, young folks sit around and text each other, us older people surf and play games, things sure have changed since early 90's.....Happy New Year

 

[scooterider]

Go big and be happy, I love the speed, beats the heck out of 14 Kbps

 

[KeithP]

I would start at #3 (10m/1.5m) and then test it to see what you actually getting. If the line tests at close to the advertised speed then I would step up #2 (18m/3m) to get the faster upload speed.

You may find that you are getting faster than the rated speed. If that is the case, and upload speed seemed to be in the 2-2.5 range then I would just stick with #3.

It all comes down to what you do with your internet connection. Since you have given almost no information in that regard, most of the responses won't be of much use.

-KeithP

 

[olds]

#1

 

[Carson Dyle]

I would start at #3 (10m/1.5m) and then test it to see what you actually getting. If the line tests at close to the advertised speed then I would step up #2 (18m/3m) to get the faster upload speed.

You may find that you are getting faster than the rated speed. If that is the case, and upload speed seemed to be in the 2-2.5 range then I would just stick with #3.

It all comes down to what you do with your internet connection. Since you have given almost no information in that regard, most of the responses won't be of much use.

I'd take this same approach, but not with the same reasoning.

Start at a lower speed/cheaper service, and see if it meets your needs. Video streaming, gaming, uploading large files, whatever you do. If not, kick it up a notch. It makes no sense paying for a service level that you don't need.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Ugh what poor choices.

I do feel that internet faster than 15mb has a rapidly declining value. I'd probably go the 10mb route.

**this assumes you won't have a ton of people on it or streaming a huge amount of video.

 

[DigDog]

50mb DL, 11mb UL. twenty five quid a month($37), and by no means the best available around here.

 

[rh71]

I can't stomach more than $50/mo. for internet. Luckily I'm getting 50/50 for it. Still, I'd do your $50 only.

 

[Rakehellion]

I've never seen internet for less than $80. Where do you guys live?