From what you said.. I would go to earthlink. It certainly will be much faster than your slow 768 and if not near the 7.1 they advertise or a step down, cancel after having Time Warner installed.

Earning your income from home you should invest in a nicer, oversized for long run time, voltage regulated ups. One that will have the 5yr battery life so it doesnt die in two years - for your modem/router and your computer(s).

I'd be curious why you said for secure, 'I can't use fiberoptic/digital'

DSL is limited by the distance between the user and the central office or remote terminal that serves him. If you're too far away, you just won't be able to get the fastest speeds. If you're far enough away, you won't be able to connect at all. It's a fact of life. If "all the slots are filled"-that probably means that the existing equipment is already handling the maximum number of users it can. Unless the telco wants to spend the dineros to upgrade-then the bus is full and you'll have to wait. Good luck with that-especially if you're in a small town. From what you posted, it sounds like TWC is your best option. The price may be higher than DSL, but the service is usually pretty good. If you're planning to work from home-it may be worth it.

mikie - That's just what someone from work told me. She said that she just had uverse hooked up at her house and she couldn't work from home with that, because it wasn't secure. She said other people can pick up the information you're transmitting with one of those. Is that not correct?

Laurie

One more thing I don't understand. Earthlink doesn't offer phone service on my street. If they have to use the phone line for internet service, how can they not offer phone service?

Laurie

I used dsl for a while and will NEVER use it again, go with cable it is fast and mine has been absolutely reliable only one down time for about 5 mins. I have comcast cable here. I had verizon fios fiber optic at my previous house and loved it also.
With DSL if you are too far from the nearest CO you will not get good results for speed and they likely will not spend the money required to help you get better service and if any of the lines between you and that CO are subpar that will totally affect your service. To many things can affect the quality of DSL.

One of my speedtests using my comcast cable.
{{gwi:1476747}}

that is not correct about fios and digital being less secure, they are just as secure, what matters is how the router is set up and what security is enabled in the router if you use wireless, if you are not using wireless then no problem.
You may have to use a VPN to work if they require that so that you have a secure work connection.
If you use a good firewall, good security programs and have a securely set up router and network it is secure and the same.

If you have any type of service and do not have a securely set up wireless router network then yes people driving by or neighbors could gain access to your network, but that can happen with any type of service, it is all about securing your wireless network properly.

reavencajun - Well if that's not true, then that opens up the options for faster internet. I will talk to my boss on Monday and find out more about their requirements. I do know they use a VPN. It looks like Time Warner Cable offers fios also. Out of that and Uverse, would one be any better than the other? Time Warner says that have up to 50 Mbps. Is that really possible?

Laurie

VPN eliminates the data while sending .. but not screwed up file share settings on your computer and router/modem.

DSL goes straight to telco office. Its not shared at all.

Cable and Fios is shared networking with lots of neighbors or other people. So you don't want to screw up network shares.

Your choice of internet connection is a function of what wires (or cables) come down your street. For most of us, that's the cable company or the telephone company and each technology has inherent limitations. My gut reaction is that you would get better speeds with cable than you are with DSL. FiOS and Uverse are two different technologies although the goal of both is to give you voice, data, and television over a single connection. Verizon's FiOS is different than Time Warner's as well (the later being a copper/fiber hybrid).

Remember that real world performance will likely be significantly slower than advertised "maximums".

I've been working from home for 3 years now using DSL. First at 1536/365, then 3072/768, and now 6172/768. I could probably get 12 mbps if I wanted it, but my margins would be quite a bit thinner and I really don't want to spend more. I didn't really need the faster speeds, I just took advantage of them when a better deal came along. The same speed from Time Warner Cable would be about $15-20 more a month, which is why I chose the DSL. If $ wasn't a factor, I probably would've gone with cable. DSL is a little bit more of a pain to troubleshoot when things go wrong, whereas cable is a bit more like set-it-and-forget-it. Fortunately, I've had very few service interruptions with my telco provider (Windstream). I plan to continue with them unless they give me a reason to leave.

As an aside, I would advise against a bundle with internet phone service. When our comcast occasionally and inexplicably went down (in Arlington, VA), losing the phones on top of disrupted internet was misery squared.

I do hope everyone gets what they wish, and they are happy with it. I did chuckle when I read this thread and its reported connection rates. My antique DUN is 5.0 kbps on its best days.

No cable available, no DSL available, and a dish is not cost effective for what I use the Internet for as I have work, family, a life, and interests which occupy most of my time. It's the only downside to living in rural America that I can think of.

DA

much of rural America is now being populated by cell towers though and with the use of an air card many that could not get any type of fast connection can now get much better than dial up using the cell connections.
My sister lives on a dirt road out by a lake in the bayous of South Louisiana and that is how she is finally able to get a connection, where as for years it was horrible dial up on old bad lines. So some progress is being made for the rural areas. If you can get a cell phone signal you can get a better connection for the pc too.

I definitely remember all too well the dreaded days of dial up!

I did not get my phone with comcast for the very reason I did not want everything going down at one time if at all possible, and my tv is Direct TV.

Thanks for the info everyone. I think I've decided to go with Time Warner cable for my internet. I can get a better deal on my phone through AT&T, so I'm glad to hear there's a benefit in going with two different companies insead of the bundle.

Laurie

I have one more question for those of you that have cable. When I had DSL, it was plugged into my computer and my son was able to pick up the connection without having anything plugged into his computer. Will I be able to do the same thing with cable or will I have to have the cable connected to each computer?

Laurie

If you are talking about your own wireless network, yes it will work just as well with cable as it did with DSL...assuming it is set up properly. Do you have your own wireless network??? If no, that puts a different spin on your entire question.