My broadband situation sucks at the moment. I’m currently subscribed to AT&T’s U-Verse VDSL service, which has been great up until the last week or so, when they’ve started making a lot of changes to the service. I’ve spent a few hours tonight researching alternate providers for broadband here in Houston. There are three choices from two different companies here in my part of town, and all of them seem to suck one way or another. Let’s look into this a bit more:

AT&T DSL

Price: $34.99/month plus $14/month for phone line (required)
Speed: 6016/768

Pros:

  • No limitations whatsoever on bandwidth usage. I’ve pissed away 1TB/month before — no issues.
  • Consistent broadband speeds. Service does not slow down at all during peak hours.
  • Good official support on DSLR.

    • Cons:

  • Slow speeds. I was able to order 6mbps service back in 2003, and they still can’t do any better than this!?
  • Phone line required. This adds $15/month to an already bloated bill.
  • No IPTV service available, have to get satellite TV, which is a bit of a pain in the ass.

    • Overall:
    Great service, but it feels “so 2003″. The packages haven’t changed at all, the speed is crappy at best, and the service itself just seems like it’s stuck in the bowels of time!

    AT&T U-Verse (VDSL)


    Price: $ I have no idea, because at the time of writing I can’t even log in to my account to check the bill — all because the site is “down for maintenance”!
    Speed: 6144/1024

    Pros:

  • Static IP address
  • Consistent Internet speeds, just like DSL.
  • No bandwidth limits, just like AT&T’s DSL service.
  • Fastest upload speed in town. That’s nothing to brag about though, since 1024kbps isn’t all that fast. This should probably be a con.
  • “High tech” — well, at least higher tech than the DSL service. AT&T’s new U-Verse service at least has more room to grow than antiquated ADSL, which has a protocol limit of 8192/1024…
  • No POTS phone line required!

    • Cons:

  • Awful TV service. They took away all the west coast feeds, the DVR is choppy, the interface (while better than Comcast’s) still needs a lot of help.
  • Weekly outages for “maintenance”.
  • Disorganized call center staff — you’re better off just going to bed and hoping that the service will fix itself by morning.

    • Overall:
    U-Verse used to be great, but now it feels like it’s starting to go to hell. The Internet speeds were never that great to begin with, but the TV service (I really loved having west coast feeds!) really made up for it. Now that those are gone, I’m having a really tough time finding something I like about this service.

    Comcast Cable


    Price: $54.99 without TV, slightly less with cable TV bundles.
    Speed: 8192/768

    Pros:

  • Fastest downstream in town. 8mbps with temporary 16mbps boosts.
  • DHCP IP address, which won’t change unless you swap the modem.
  • No POTS phone line required!

    • Cons:

  • Dealing with Comcast. Imagine getting kicked in the testicles by one of those football players who does the kick-off or whatever it’s called. That’s how bad talking to Comcast is.
  • The downstream means nothing. Comcast will shut you off if you’re one of the top users in the area — heavy NNTP, P2P users beware!
  • Crappy upload speed.
  • Much more expensive than the other options, even though you get only slightly ‘better’ service.
  • Cable TV service is expensive, interface is crappy, outages are frequent in my area.

    • Final Words


    As you can see, all three of the major options here in Houston suck badly one way or another. This brings me to the question I’ve had on my mind for a few years now: How hard could it be? I’ve spent a lot of time browsing AT&T’s and Comcast’s sites, only to read things about free virus protection and free access to over 10,000 wireless hotspots. Frankly, I don’t give a damn. I don’t want Comcast’s bloated security software, and I don’t want to sit at McDonald’s like an idiot with my laptop, using my free AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspot service. I have no need for “state of the art anti-spam” or a “best rated Internet user portal”. I want an ISP that gives me a fast Internet package (let’s say 15mbps down, and at least 2mbps up), a static IP address, and maybe (if I should be so lucky) IPTV service that doesn’t suck.

    Essentially, I want an ISP that wasn’t designed for absolute idiots. I want common sense from my ISP. I want good, honest, reasonable service. I just want… things to work.

    How hard could it be? :(