It's confirmed-I have crappy phone lines!

[Jenni]

My brother came over today and cleaned all the connections for my phone lines, bot inside and out. Since we got no connection improvement, he then called Bellsouth. The rep told him that I live pretty far away from the nearest switchbox, and confirmed that I should be getting in the teen-26k range, so I guess I am lucky to get the consistent 26400 connection that I do get. She said there is nothing Bellsouth can (or will...) do to improve my connection. She gave him 2 numbers, 1 for ISDN and 1 for DSL, that are supposed to be available in this area. Cable is going to be available here soon. It is only going to be $8.00 more a month than what I currently pay AOL. I haven't called the DSL/ISDN numbers to see what kind of prices they get.

[madthumbs]

DSL is also affected by the lines and distance from the ISP. I would try cable modem first.

[glc]

DSL requires that you be less than 18000 feet from the switch, and ISDN is very expensive. Hold out for cable, or get a satellite dish - Dish Network has a decent 2-way service now, but its $70 a month and locks you into MSN.

[Jenni]

Cable is available in the Gulfport cable system, but not in the Long Beach system where i live. But since they have it there, I have a feeling it won't be long until I can get it here. Since I already have cable through them, I can get their "10x residential" service (280k d/l, 128k u/l) for $34.95. I currently pay AOL $26.95 a month!

[madthumbs]

Cable is definetely the way for you to go, satellite is best for long downloads, but not gaming due to it's high latency. Gaming on cable modem is awesome, but it took Road Runner cable months to get the cable stable here.

Lucky you!... I'm paying $50 a month for cable!

[SARGE]

Cable has its members by the short-hairs, offering the only game in town (CATV) with underpaid and untrained techs. If it works, good for you. I've seen and heard the crap they tell their customers - could outdo a used car salesman everyday.

[HAL9000]

Just the opposite here SARGE, you should hear the garbage the phone company here spews out. They actually tell their customers that they do not have to worry about security on their systems because they have their own NAT in place. When we had it installed at work, poor guy didn't know what to say when I showed him how to hack through it with a wide open hole that they cannot close without downing their system. Cable company here outright tells you that security is your problem, but gives you your options on how to deal with it.

[DinerGuy]

I agree with cable. I recently got @Home cable service. With my minirouter I've been averaging a 3.5 Mb connection and downloads that can approach 500kbps on a good day. Can anyone say WOOOOHOOOOOO.. Nothing like downloading entire 700 MB folders from work in under a half hour... It also helps that i live in a commercial area, so few others share my loop of wire.

[Smoke24]

Jenni,
I thought you lived in Ocean Springs but you must be on the other end between Gulfport and Bay St. Louis. Seems you could already get cable internet there, especially since you have cable TV. Who is your cable provider and what kind of quality is their service? Cable is the way to go if you have a reliable provider. We have two here and I am firing Knology tomorrow due to a slow and sometimes unusable connection and getting AT&T @home. Hope you get it soon.