thanks, we live on a busy county lake road which is paved, i believe the lines are buried. i know like i said that on the other side of the road they get cable, and our neighbors who live just east of us get it as well, so we are borderline on it all, although i have to say i don't know of anyone who has cable internet, just the tv service ut i could be wrong. Our provider is just a very small town company who sells computers and internet service, phones and phone service, and DirecTv so it isn't a large company that anyone would recognize the name or anything. My mom only lives 15 miles from me and she gets comcast so i need to check on that. i did check on satellite internet last night and didn't think the speed or price was any better than what i have now, and we have issues here with our satellite signal going out in bad weather even though it says it has 99.9 % strength. I have also checked with alltel and verizon in the past, and although their upload speeds sound impressive, the people i know who have their service hate it and have a lot of outages. So basically i just need to call Monday and see what my options are i guess. I appreciate all the advice and help. I am spending my day today researching routers and trying to figure our which one i should get and i am wondering if the transmission speeds noted on these have anything to do with how it will affect my internet speed. i am so tired of reading reviews and specs and need to just make a decision already because i have already spent way too much time on this, but there definitely does not seem to be one that has all good reviews, i just do not want to get something that will slow me down even worse if there is such a thing.

Linksys seems to be the most popular, followed by Dlink. There are many others that are just fine & some way much better for way much more money. Usually the $40 deals are discontinued or obsolete models... which are quite usable for most people. There is a new wifi which isnt quite mainstream yet but eventually will replace the 802.11G with 802.11N which also do G for people with old stuff. Being that you are new to wifi, $40 sounds fine - however; if the isp supplies a router it may be programed such that you may not be able to hook another router to it and then you would want a wifi access point that doesnt do routing, maybe a network switch too,,, depends. ~ In a home with multiple computers usually the isp supply's a combination modem/router,,, if they know you have a laptop they would normally supply a modem/wifi_router. Free at install with no monthly rental provided you agree to an annual contract... which usually have a provision for a $100 or so early cancellation fee with return of the modem/router.

I'd strongly suggest you check with your neighbors, in your area. Have a feeling that FIOS service and satisfaction may be regional. I've had Comcast for almost 20 years and have had maybe 3 problems with it over that time. A number of our friends, neighbors and relatives have tried FIOS--most have had nothing but trouble. Comcast comes out and installs everything, staying until you're up and running perfectly. FIOS? They send you the stuff and you have to do your own install--loads of problems there, and most people I know who have tried it have received USED boxes and it took several (one person had to go through 6 of them until they found one that actually worked). My DD tried to get FIOS in her condo, there were so many problems with them BEFORE she even got it installed, that she cancelled--do you know, for MONTHS they were trying to charge her for equipment she never even recieved? Of all our friends/family/relatives who have given FIOS a try? Only one still has it--I'm not sure if it's because they really love it, or because he used to work for Verizon, and still does contract work for them. And let me just remind you of my Verizon experience last week. My phone went out Monday morning. I called immediately to try to schedule a repair (and told them we were senior citizens, with health issues)--they couldn't schedule us till Wed. I sat home all day Wed, they never came out--even though I was called twice to tell me they'd be there between..... My phone wasn't finally fixed until late Thurs. And in the meantime, they tried to tell me I'd ordered FIOS and they were switching me over!!! No such thing--FIOS is the LAST provider I'd ever use given the experiences of so many others I know. Apparently they're having so much trouble selling their service, they've resorted to slamming--one of the V. employees I spoke to admitted that that was happening to a lot of customers (the company was switching them without their asking for it). Fact is? I'd happily pay three times as much for Comcast, because I've found you can count on them, their products and their repair services--and I've never encountered any unethical, illegal selling practices with them. BUT I allow that things like that can differ greatly from one region to another--which is why I started out by suggesting you talk to as many people in your area as you can, to find out how Verizon is handling things there.

An electrician needs to do interior wiring. In most homes, the cable company only delivers to a central location (sometimes in the basement if there is one). At least that's how ours works. Then the TVs in various rooms need to have wiring to connect. At least now. It's a little complicated, though, because TV, internet and phone are on some systems. Others just have TV and internet. But not every computer in the house needs to work off a wired connection because the companies provide a wireless router to send the signal through the house. The success of that often varies with the house -- in our former apartment built in 1928 the signal would not work at all. Too much in the walls. Then there are satellite providers like Dish -- no idea what that requires in terms of wiring. Cordless phones and other bluetooth devices work wirelessly and the frequencies sometimes need to be adjusted so everything works together. The confusion results from the various providers and modes. F.ex. we formerly had 2 landlines in the house -- conventional wisdom being that those work best and in any emergency. But earlier this year we converted one of the landlines to Verizon wireless using a router. That service is 100% better, no buzzing or interference, it can survive a power outage by being connected to a backup generator outlet and no wiring is required at all plus it's half the price. Our cable provider OTOH was touting phone service as well but couldn't port our number. If there are alarm systems in the house there may be a landline requirement -- we need to keep one for that and to monitor our backup propane tank. It's confusing and a lot depends on where you live and what the various providers provide and what you need.