Question for AT&T Internet Users (looking for a new Internet Provider)

[romantico]

So, I am switching next week to Dish. I have put up with Comcast for as long as I could and am starting the year off by canceling my service with them for good.I had a bundle deal (internet,cable,and phone/voice) I'm switching to Dish. I am seriously considering buying a Magic Jack Plus. However, for cable I am uncertain. Thinking about going with AT&T. I watch a lot of movies online with Netfli streaming) so it would have to be high speed. I am just curious if anyone here is either happy with AT&T internet and if not, can you suggest another internet provider I should look into? Thanks!

[GoCubsGo]

1. I have it, and it has been good.

No outages or other problems. I have intermediate speed for Internet, and it does okay with web streaming. If I was to get Netflix, I would upgrade to the fastest speed package. They have some reasonable bundles. BTW, if you don't have your heart set on Dish, ATT has bundles that include DirectTV.

I don't know much about Magic Jack, but I am partial to the landline for couple of reasons. One is that it is always there, even during power outages, provided one has an old-fashioned corded phone. I also like the Caller ID function.

[UTUSN]

2. Been with Dish for 15-20 yrs, started with the HUGH plates TurnerVision or something

Can't even remember what the original Neanderthal company was named, them being bought up until they turned into Dish.

Used to get brief time-outs if there was a storm, didn't get an upgrade to the equipment until a year or two ago and haven't had a stoppage since.

Now that said, and remembering the horrible saw that DirecTV is owned by MURDOCH, almost every year at renewal time I think about finding something else, but usually by that time it's too late and the saying is that it's cheaper than cable or Direc blah blah so I have stayed on and on. The 120 channels comes out to $45/mo or so, but I shut off most of the stuff in the Favorites list -- I'm sure lots of people wouldn't: the sports, the kids, the shopping, the religious, and most of the music channels. So essentially I'm down to a de facto Basic list, but "have" to take the 120 option just to get one of the news/political channels, can't remember which, that we DU/political junkies find essential. Plus, the few music channels that I let onto my list I don't listen to.

As for ATT, I have no idea what the companies are like now, just remember how one of our big battles of the '70s was against "Ma Bell." I'm with a local/city-level internet provider and a cheapo cell phone company. I never grokked how all the supposed breaking up of the big companies didn't seem to turn out benefitting us as promised, and especially how they suddenly re-melded into what sure looks like monopolies: I'm a registered LowTech, and started out with a local internet company; and tried one of the Bell companies that turned out to be sub-letting from Ma Bell, so I switched; then my little internet company was bought by what seemed to be a consumer/hippie national company, fine; but then all of those got bought by Yahoo(?); then Yahoo melded into (who? another humongous thing).

So, I'm a confused person.

[MilesColtrane]

3. AT&T instituted monthly broadband caps last year.

Your monthly fee only allows you 150GB of activity per month with DSL - 250GB with Uverse. After that, they charge you $10 more for an additional 50GB.

Story:

http://gigaom.com/broadband/sxsw-bummer-att-implements-broadband-caps/

ATT broadband faq:

https://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB409045#fbid=71lmJeAHs0Y

I average about 2 hours of Netflix a night, and with that, my average usage per month is around 50GB.

I've never exceeded 70GB in any one month period, but then again I'm not streaming HD content.

Personally, I'd advise against using AT&T if you have other options.

[bigwillq]

4. I liked ATT better than Comcast

But I like Comcast. It just seemed like our internet service was faster with ATT.
But I am one of the few that likes Comcast for both cable and internet.

[Denninmi]

5. I switched to AT&T DSL last year.

It is infinitely better than dial up. I'm pretty happy with it.

[suninvited]

6. I have DirecTV and AT&T Internet

happy with both!

I had Mediacom (this areas cable, comparable to Comcast) and am really saving money by switching.

I don't have mine bundled, I have them separate.

[OriginalGeek]

7. We switched to AT&T U-Verse last year

and my wife told me tonight she thinks she wants to switch back to Brighthouse.

The internet speed is fine, the HD picture and channel selection are fine, the whole-house dvr thing is neat

BUT Brighthouse now has all of that too and is cheaper. (When we switched BH didn't have the whole house dvr thing).

2 big negatives:
1. The UVERSE box does not have a clock on it. It's just absolutely annoying to look for the time and not have it right there on the cable box like Brighthouse did.
2. There is no sleep timer on the Uverse box. I like to go to sleep watching TV and I used to use the sleep timer on the Bighthouse box to turn everything off if I fall asleep before I turn it off myself. My bedroom TV is an old set that we lost the remote for long ago and there no physical controls for that on the set but it didn't matter with the Brighthouse box. We tried several alternate universal remotes but none would do the sleep timer.

just did a speedtest for ya so you can see the speed here anyway. ymmv.

[romantico]

8. Thanks

Thanks for the info. Comcast is not bad with the internet,however, it seems like all my neighbors have Comcast and certain times of the day are slower than others regarding internet speed. I just can't take Comcast's monthly price hikes. Not one rep from Comcast can explain why my bill has gone up each month since last April. I compared my bill with a couple friends and their jaws dropped when they saw what I was a paying per month for all three internet,phone, and cable.

[AsahinaKimi]

9. I also use AT&T ..had them for years..

Last edited Sat Mar 23, 2013, 02:24 PM - Edit history (1)

No problems. They have been helpful when ever my system went down and their prices stayed fairly constant. I don't use them for my mobile phone, just home and internet. Good luck with your choice!