Who do Illinois DTv subscribers use for phone and internet?

[grantsa4]

Hi,
I was wondering who Illinois DTv subscribers use for their Internet and or phone. I am moving soon and am keen on becoming a D* guy, but need to figure out my most economical choice for internet(DSL or cable or FIOS) as well as phone.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[jcmo34]

Hi,
I was wondering who Illinois DTv subscribers use for their Internet and or phone. I am moving soon and am keen on becoming a D* guy, but need to figure out my most economical choice for internet(DSL or cable or FIOS) as well as phone.

Thanks in advance for any advice.


I use AT&T(SBC) for DSL and phone. Not sure what I pay for phone, but the INternet is around $19. You need to make sure you can get DSL in your new house.

Good luck

[Earl Bonovich]

Very Very highly dependent on where "EXACTLY" you move.

I have no choice then to use Comcast as my Internet Provider... as there is no other option except for SAT based (too slow for the cost) or Dialup.

Other areas have the choice of a dozen or more DSL companies.

As for phone... right now I use VoIP (Vonage), but will be switching back to AT&T once my CellPhone plan is up (so I can take advantage of the combined price)

[grantsa4]

Am going to be in the Western burbs - probably Naperville

[rlnoonan]

I'm in the Northwestern metro area and I use AT&T for DSL and phone. Just like someone above mentioned, I don't know my phone bill price, but my DSL is $18/mo for 3Mb DSL.

[grantsa4]

is it reliable - are you happy with it?

[rlnoonan]

is it reliable - are you happy with it?

I am a telecommuter working out of my house, so I use my DSL all day, every day with a VPN tunnel to my company always running too. Surprisingly enough, it has been about as close to rock solid as possible. I've had this DSL for around 4yrs (was SBC, but really same company. Was 1.5Mb, upgraded to 3Mb about a year ago) and I would say I can count on one hand the number of times DSL has died on me. Even those times it was only out for a max of about 4 hours (usually much less). Not perfect, but better than I expected. I imagine, like anything, your mileage may vary and how close you are to the CO or RT makes a difference (there is a RT in my subdivision). Definitely check out http://www.dslreports.com/ (now it is called Broadband reports). There is a ton of information out there and the tech support in the forums is fantastic (at least it was for the AT&T Midwest forum). Much better than calling tech support (there are some good AT&T techs that monitor the forum). I actually haven't visited there in a very long time because I haven't had any problems in so long, so I hope what I've said is still the case.

Speed is basically what you'd expect. 2.5Mb/s down and 450Kb/s up on most speed tests. Again, YMMV.

If you go that route (really any broadband route) I would suggest getting a router and not installing their software. Let the router do all the PPPoE work for you.

[grantsa4]

Thanks for the advice