Internet Breakdown Lane: So close....

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

So close....

A mile or two east of my house, area residents have access to internet service through LiveAir Networks, a wireless internet company. Their specialty is bringing high(er) speed internet to rural areas that otherwise only have dial-up over unreliable phone lines. Read more about the company by clicking HERE

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The Players

AT&T
otherwise known as The Phone Company. Once Southwestern Bell, the discarded child of Ma Bell, it grew and collected millions upon millions of customer dollars through the Texas Infrastructure Fund Reimbursement. Rather than use the millions of dollars collected to make improvements to the infrastructure, AT&T prefers to put its name on pro sports stadiums and high rise glass office buildings.

In a confusing Sybil meets Oedipus and eats the siblings tale, Southwestern Bell (sometimes called SBC), bought other Baby Bells and then went after its parent company, AT&T. Southwestern Bell was so pleased that it took Ma's name, AT&T.
Norman Bates couldn't have been more proud (or confused).

Clear
Love child of Sprint and Clearwire, the company provides Wimax/4G broadband in large cities and along major interstate highways. Rural areas need not apply.

Skybeam
Skybeam, one of the JAB Broadband companies. They don't seem to build networks, instead they buy them. Once they takeover a company, maintenance suffers and outages are more frequent. If you call to complain about your (lack of) speed, the helpful tech support person will have you run a test of your equipment. No matter the cause of the outage, they will insist on you testing your router, even when they tell you that the equipment on the tower has failed. Independent speed tests show abysmal up, down and ping times. Skybeam's own speed test nearly always shows higher speeds.

Sprint
Offers unlimited* 3G/4G data service but won't tell where one ends and the other begins. See Clear maps for info. *Unlimited is limited to 5GB per month.

AT&T Wireless
Offers 3G service. The iPhone has overloaded their paltry network. It does't have unlimited data plans, instead having limited and really limited. The company is not offering the higher data plans to new customers or new contracts. That should fix the problem. The new must have item, the iPhone 4 will only cause more trouble for the weak AT&T Wireless network.

T-Mobile
Says its unlimited data plan is truly unlimited. Apparently it isn't. They offer a 10GB sorry, 5GB plan. Claims a Blackberry can be tethered to your computer. Contact Madame Cleo for setup instructions.

Cricket
Offers Unlimited* wireless internet via a USB modem. *Unlimited is limited to 5GB per month. Runs off the Verizon/Sprint CDMA network.

Virgin Mobile
A virtual mobile network operator, meaning Virgin doesn't really own anything. They run off the Sprint and Verizon networks, using CDMA technology. A Broadband 2GO USB modem costs $40.00 per month for honest to goodness unlimited usage.
Strike that, Virgin announced a 5GB, no, now it's a 2.5GB per month limit. If you weren't already a Broadband2Go customer, then the most data you can get is an unlimited* 2.5 GB limit plan for $50 bucks a month.
Sorry!

Hughesnet
Offers satellite internet. Hefty upfront price, high monthly charge, two year contract. Speed varies from bad to abysmal. If you use too much bandwith they cut service to a crawl.

Wild Blue
See Hughesnet.

Internet Breakdown Lane

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

So close....

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The Players