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Will I be better off with these speeds?

14 years ago

I'm having a customer service nightmare with my broadband provider. I ran a speed test the other day that showed 5315Kb for download and 361Kb for upload.

Centurylink (previously Embarq) says they have a download speed of 10Mb and an upload speed of 896Mb. I think that sounds better. Will I be better off and is there something they're not telling me? I should probably re-phrase that and say are there any other questions I should be asking. :)

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Comments (4)

azinoh
14 years ago
Are you getting rid of cable and getting DSL? If the current service is working properly and the "nightmare" is just a billing problem or similar, IMHO that alone is not a really good reason to switch. Everybody wants faster speeds, but DSL is a little more techy to deal with than cable (I know-I have DSL). Unless you have a really good signal-to-noise ratio and attenuation, 10 Mb is stretching the rubber band a little too tight for my comfort. If your SNR-Atten margins aren't stable (are you in an older house?) you may need some rewiring done and that could cost time-$. Try to get a telco service man to test your margins at your telephone box before you make the switch. Might save some headaches later.
kudzu9
14 years ago
If you only use the Internet for surfing and aren't uploading and downloading huge files regularly, the difference in your experience may be modest, since both 5.3 MB and 10 MB are pretty darn fast. It's like saying you can tell me the difference between 1/10 of a second and 2/10 of a second. Yes one is twice as fast, but not significant. Also, is this cable or DSL? DSL speeds are typically fixed speeds while cable speeds can slow down depending on how many other folks in your neighborhood are online with this company at the same time.
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ravencajun Zone 8b TX
14 years ago
I have had dsl, fios and now cable. I would not go back to dsl. LOVED fios, and so far the cable has been very good.

As stated if you do not move a lot of huge files like movies and stuff then you should be fine with the speed you have if indeed that speed is fairly consistent.
Since we do not know what kind of problems you are having hard to say much more.
Also how much price difference will there be? any problems getting out of a contract? pay for equipment? etc
pfmastin
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks everyone. The problems I'm having are unreliable connections. Since Time-Warner sold more rural areas to Windjammer a few months ago I've had to call 5 times in six weeks for outages and no connections. They finally decided I needed a new modem on Sunday but yesterday and today were both "no shows" with the technician. "I don't know what happened, but there is no tech today".

I think I've decided to switch over to a bundled package through CenturyLink (was Embarq). There are no other options for me...Suddenlink doesn't serve my address. I use the internet to connect long distance for my work and can't afford not to have a reliable connection.

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