On 1/21/06, Kirk Lapray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Last night I downloaded the Linux kernel at an average rate > of 1MB/s. It only to about 40 seconds to download the entire file!
1MB/s - Nice. > I am currently paying $44.95 a month for the first 4 months, after > this it will be $62.95. As for any taxes, it doesn't look like I am paying > any. They might only have to charge taxes if you get their cable TV > services. I was paying $46.95 (+taxes, fees, etc. which I never took the > time to figure out) for my 1.5Mbs/768Kbs DSL connection and ISP. $62.95 is $5.37 more than what I pay now for slower DSL throughput: $36.37 Qwest Standalone 1.5Mbps/384Kbps DSL ($33 + $3.37 taxes) $21.21 ISP Charges (Veracity/Off Campus Telecommunications) ------- $57.58 current monthly charges (from December 2005 - my wife said Qwest bill is normally $41) I called the Orem Best Buy @ 801-225-4922 (Menu Option 3, then 1 for Computer Dept) and talked with 2 sales folks. The Best Buy in-store offer sounds pretty good: $79.99 Motorola Comcast "modem" (bridge I think) $15 fee for "self install kit" Mail-In Rebates & Promotions: $79.99 mail-in rebate on Motorola "modem" $50 mail-in offer for Best Buy Gift Card $15 mail-in rebate for "self install kit" So the Best Buy in-store offer would be $95 + tax out of pocket. Then I'd pay $52.95 /month for a 4Mbps/384Kbps connection, with a discounted rate of $29.99/month for the first 6 Months. $52.95 is $4.63 less than the $57.58 DSL monthly I pay now. I'd also get the extra 2.5Mbps downstream, which would be nice for downloading the TV shows I care about. I could opt to pay the extra $10 and have the 8Mbps/768Kbps speed that Kirk enjoys, but that would exceed my current monthly charges. Choosing analog cable tv would add $28.99 in "installation" fees. Quotation marks added because I'm not sure what install work would be required (on the phone Comcast said they'd need to have a tech come out to "turn on" the cable tv connection) even though the previous owners of our home installed Comcast Cable tv(digital, I think). Analog cable tv changes the monthly price to ~$57.15, a la Barry's Internet + analog cable tv, minus the extra IP. So I'd pay 4 bucks more than Comcast standalone internet and get analog cable tv, but still pay less than I pay now for DSL. I'd also save $60 with a discounted rate of $19.99/month over the first 6 months instead of $29.99/month. Comcast also ups the downstream from 4Mbps to 6Mbps for customers who pay for a cable subscription. I think I'm going to go with the Best Buy Comcast offer, skipping the analog cable tv. The extra install cost annoys me. I might change my mind after I think about it for a few days, but I'm definitely leaving Qwest behind. I'll continue to use Vonage for my VoIP service, and upgrade to the latest beta of BSD-based pfsense firewall (pfsense.com) - I've been running an alpha successfully for several months. Last time I rebooted the pfsense firewall it had ~90 days of uptime, and pfsense allows for QoS traffic shaping to keep my VoIP packets happy. Thanks Walter, Kirk, Barry, Wade, Ross, "Gill", and for the Best Buy info, Jesse! -- Lars /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
