Internet Providers in Calvert Co

[calvcopf]

Thinking about getting rid of cable and home phone with Comcast. They still want $86/month just to keep my internet. Are there any reputable internet service providers for Prince Frederick area that are good and not as expensive? I looked at Verizon and they seem just as expensive?
Who do you have and how much per month? Thanks!

 

[calvcopf]

Can I have Direct TV and comcast for internet? Seems like they would both need to use the telecable in my house. Not sure how that would work?

 

[Smith]

Comcast pretty much has the monopoly on cable internet in Calvert. Verizon offers FiOS, but only in a very few selected areas. Elsewhere, they only offer DSL which they have the nerve to call "high speed". I have Comcast's Blast Plus package which is next to impossible to find on their website. It includes 105 Mbps Internet and Digital Economy TV channels for $86.95.

All of the internet/TV/phone providers try to push you into triple play bundles. I bought my own cable modem so I don't have to permanently rent theirs, and I have an Ooma device for phone.

 

[calvcopf]

Comcast pretty much has the monopoly on cable internet in Calvert. Verizon offers FiOS, but only in a very few selected areas. Elsewhere, they only offer DSL which they have the nerve to call "high speed". I have Comcast's Blast Plus package which is next to impossible to find on their website. It includes 105 Mbps Internet and Digital Economy TV channels for $86.95.

All of the internet/TV/phone providers try to push you into triple play bundles. I bought my own cable modem so I don't have to permanently rent theirs, and I have an Ooma device for phone.

Good to know. If I get my own cable modem, is it just plug-n-play, or more to it than that? Would I have to call Comcast, do this or that, etc?

 

[Smith]

Good to know. If I get my own cable modem, is it just plug-n-play, or more to it than that? Would I have to call Comcast, do this or that, etc?

It's not too difficult. There is an activation website you can try, or you might have to call Comcast as I did if the online activation site doesn't work.

Here are the instructions:
http://customer.xfinity.com/help-and-support/internet/activate-purchased-modem/

The webpage above also has a link to the list of cable modems they support.

 

[Clif.Bridegum]

In Calvert County your only real high speed choice for residential access is Comcast. I have the Blast Plus Internet and Digital Economy TV package (40+ channels). My internet speeds usually clock in at 120 Megabits or greater. My bill is just over $75 a month with a 2 yr agreement. I bought my own modem and have no TV boxes as I use a their free Cable Card instead which plugins into my HDHomeRun network tuner. I tried to get rid of the Cable package and just use the Internet as we don't really watch much TV but it was actually cheaper to keep it - seems strange but I called multiple times to verify this.

 

[BernieP]

Comcast pretty much has the monopoly on cable internet in Calvert. Verizon offers FiOS, but only in a very few selected areas. Elsewhere, they only offer DSL which they have the nerve to call "high speed". I have Comcast's Blast Plus package which is next to impossible to find on their website. It includes 105 Mbps Internet and Digital Economy TV channels for $86.95.

All of the internet/TV/phone providers try to push you into triple play bundles. I bought my own cable modem so I don't have to permanently rent theirs, and I have an Ooma device for phone.

For DSL service you must be within a certain distance to the switch. The highest data rate is 3Mbps, rated between 1 - 3 Mbps (per Verizon's website)
I think DSL aka broadband service is around $50, but you can bundle it with other services and they offer like a $10 "Triple Play" discount.
The did offer DirectTV as one of the three services. But DTV is now part of the AT&T Corp so it will be interesting to see if Verizon drops them in favor of another service.

 

[Hodr]

The highest data rate is 3Mbps, rated between 1 - 3 Mbps (per Verizon's website.

Damn, that is unconscionable. I had an 8Mbit DSL connection (over telephone line, not ISDN) in 1996, almost twenty years ago. Current tech can get you 100Mbit downstream at basically unlimited distance as long as they are willing to put in loop extenders (which are relatively cheap).

 

[BernieP]

Damn, that is unconscionable. I had an 8Mbit DSL connection (over telephone line, not ISDN) in 1996, almost twenty years ago. Current tech can get you 100Mbit downstream at basically unlimited distance as long as they are willing to put in loop extenders (which are relatively cheap).

If I recall Verizon only promise 3Mbps, between 1 and 3, I was getting 1.2. Let's face it, the lines down here are old, they are strung on poles next to the SMECO wires.
If there is any question about the EMI coming off those SMECO lines, have your radio on when you stop in traffic on a rainy day, you'll love the noise.
Before Western Shore went to digital (or was forced to go to digital by the local TV stations) their analog antenna was near a SMECO transformer. Tech told us one time, the noise on our TV was there at the receiver, there was no way to clean up the signal.

 

[Hodr]

I appreciate that there's an impact from the quality of the lines, and that EMI from the adjacent power is likely an issue, though the EMI is mitigated through the use of twisted cable pairs and wire transposition.

The fact that you could get signal at all means the interference is likely much less an issue that your distance to their POP and the equipment they are using.

The orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing used in modern DSL standards were specifically developed to deal with poor quality conductors, frequency skew, EMI, etc. They work by multiplexing many many "slow" streams (at differing frequencies) which in aggregate provide you a fast connection. If you can get 1.5Mbit, that means the lines are "good enough" and extra speed is more or less a matter of the symbol rate and the number of channels that can be bonded.

I am fairly confident that if they were promising you between 1 and 3Mbit, and you are getting 1.5Mbit that they are using ADSL. Should they upgrade their equipment to VDSL2 you should be able to get between 25 and 50Mbit with the same quality lines.