Moving house. Cable/satellite/phone/DSL questions

[..]

Do you have to have to have full phone service to be able to get DSL. My current DSL provider does not supply phone service. Is wireless internet acces a viable alternative?

Are there rabbit ears that will pick up local TV staions? I really don't want to pay for 50 shopping channels and the other rubbish ust to get a few channels I want to watch.

Is Dish better than Charter cable and the other cable providers? Where I live now the Dish service has been excellent. No loss of signal unless there's a REALLY big storm in the line of sight to the satellite.

Any other suggestions welcomed.

[Steve K (IA)]

Do you have to have to have full phone service to be able to get DSL. My current DSL provider does not supply phone service. Is wireless internet acces a viable alternative?

Are there rabbit ears that will pick up local TV staions? I really don't want to pay for 50 shopping channels and the other rubbish ust to get a few channels I want to watch.

Is Dish better than Charter cable and the other cable providers? Where I live now the Dish service has been excellent. No loss of signal unless there's a REALLY big storm in the line of sight to the satellite.

Any other suggestions welcomed.

Answer to the first question is "No".  I used to have DSL and phone...dropped the phone and just kept the DSL.

Wireless / satellite internet...never had it but was told it was very expensive.  May have come down in price.  You'll need to check or someone here may have first hand experience.

[GA Mike]

You could eliminate the phone service and go with Majic Jack. I believe it's $20 yr. If I didn't need the 911 feature, my phone service would already be history. You can get internet connection through Comcast for about $45 mo. I switched from AT&T (DSL) to Comcast (cable) and so far, I like it better. I do use Dish for tv only because the wife likes all those channels. You wouldn't even need Majic Jack if you have good cell reception in your area.

[Michvalk]

Cable can go out even if your electricity isn't. I don't know about sat. internet except it is very expensive. I have an internet hookup through my cell phone provider to use with my laptop and am very satisfied with the speed and useability. I could have it as my home service, but I have phone service and dsl on my home system. (I have three towers I can see from my house) My internet through my cell phone is only 25.00 a month through alltel. One downside is no use of your phone while on the internet

[Varmintmist]

IF your local phone co offers naked DSL they you can go without the phone line, or get the land line without LD service and features, and you have a backup to your cell that wont run a arm and a leg and working 911 service. Depending on where you are, the speed can vary. If you are >6Kfeet from a serving co you can get 10-16+ meg. 24000 feet like I am, it is "up to 768K"

I run a antenna and get enough digital TV channels to wear the up down arrows off of the remote. I have better things to do than watch TV for the most part but if you need the non local stations then you need to get sat or CATV.

Dish is partnered up with some local telephone companies so the cost is the same for their services as the CATV co.

Sat internet is expensive and a chunk of non refundable change up front. If there is bad weather, then it will slow down to dial up. If you are into gaming then it is worse than a good dial up because there is 250 milliseconds lag up and 250 down from the sat, plus the lag over land. Still the fastest option for boondocks high speed internet.


Magic Jack and such are just VOIP. As long as you have a connection, a fast connection, they will work. No idea how they tap 911.

All of the CATV phone things are VOIP and work ok from what I have seen as long as the connection is good. The service is fast until the bandwith gets used up. When school lets out there is a speed drop. They use (locally) old style 911. You call and tell them where you are.

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

My wife and I both have cell phones so we dropped our home phone and we have AT&T DSL Lite for $19.99 a month. Have a wireless router hooked up and no problems surfing anywhere in the house or on the back porch. 

[2tonevalk]

I have cable/internet/phone thru Time Warner Cable.  Whole package runs me an HD (Hundred Dollars) a month.  I have absolutely no complaints.

ride safe
Robert and Glenda