Phone & Internet Options in Minneapolis (house, neighborhood, living in)

[MNNative]

After we moved to Mpls we discovered that we are no longer in Qwest's DSL service area, so we felt our only option was Comcast.

I'm now trying to figure out whether there are any other options out there for phone and internet (our bundle expires soon and I can't justify paying Comcast's regular prices). For convenience sake, it'd be nice to have both from one company but I'm more interested in price & quality. To be honest, I don't really feel a difference between Qwest's DSL & Comcast's High Speed. I had no complaints with DSL so I'd definitely be open to comparable options.

I know about USI (the wireless option in Mpls), just mostly what I've read on this site, and though I saw many legitimate concerns in earlier posts it seems that the more recent posters are sharing positive experiences. Have they ironed out their kinks? I've determined that we are in their service area (not in what they dub the "Challenge Areas") but how do I know how far from their transmitter-thing we are? <~That seems to make a difference in quality of reception. Also, how does their 6Mbps service compare to Qwest's DSL?

I'm not interested in Dial-up...so what are my internet options? Aside from Qwest, Comcast & Popp Comm, are there any other land line options?

Your feedback is much appreciated!

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Why don't you try calling up USI? I called the number on New Year's day and received an operator (that's right, no automated message) with no wait time. The rep was very informative and friendly so you should have no problem getting all your questions answered.

[MNNative]

I did do that; he was helpful and actually even looked up the locations of quite a few nodes/radios near our property.

I'd still be interested in knowing about experiences as of late (Slig, did you end up getting the wireless? How do you like it?) & about phone company options though...I know land lines are going out of style but someone on here must have one.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

I got the modem installed but we use laptops and they connected it in the kitchen where the strongest signal is so I'm going to need to hook up a wireless router before we start really using it. I won't be able to fairly evalutate it until that takes place.

[silkmouse]

Hi. I have been searching for high speed and also found that qwest does not service the area we are living in. Their page referred me to Wildblue which was $$. Any thoughts on this? Is comcast the only option?

Thanks!

[jaalbee]

I've been a USI wireless customer since 2006 and I've used it extensively for work since 2009. I have to say that I've not been impressed. The service hasn't improved that much since i started using it for work 2 years ago. I probably have to call them with issues once a month and 1 out of 3 of those times usually requires someone to come out to my house and look at things. I acknowledge that this could partly be a problem with my location (South Minneapolis) but it has been a VERY frustrating experience to say the least. My signal is frequently low even though I'm sitting directly in front of a window that faces the street and there is a node less than half a block away. I also have an external antenna and that has helped some but it still isn't extremely reliable service. The only reason I've stayed with them so long is because of the price. They are only 14.95 per month if you sign up for the annual payment plan which is half what Qwest charges. My annual payment is up in March and i'm seriously considering switching providers so I'm curious if anyone has any ideas.

[QuantumIguana]

I had USI Internet. You can't beat the price. But I found it to be inconsistent. It could be very unresponsive, I had to cycle the power on the wireless modem a lot. I had someone come out and fix it, and it worked well for a while, but then the performance began to degrade. I got frustrated and switched to Qwest. I might consider trying USI again if they got some of their problems worked out.

They do have pretty good service though, you get to talk to a local technician, rather than someone across the planet reading irrelevant things from a script.

[DaPerpKazoo]

Clear is also an option. They recently rolled out 4G service in the Twin Cities, and it is very fast. It is about as fast as Comcast's higher-end service, depending on how many people are on your cable node, and it is signifcantly cheaper than Comcast's comparable service. It also has no data cap (unlike other 3G/4G providers, and is much cheaper than Verizon or AT&T (other companies we looked at). The one drawback with Clear is that, as a wireless service, the latency is pretty high. Our Comcast service had excellent latency (18-25ms for local servers), but Clear's was just terrible (generally upwards of 150ms, often as high as 250ms, even for nearby servers). While this has minimal effect on the average internet user (you may or may not notice it while browsing, but it won't affect downloads), it makes any sort of online multiplayer gaming all but impossible.

BUT-- This varies widely based on your area. The great thing about Clear is that they have a 10-day trial, no questions asked. I was skeptical at first, but we went out, signed the contract, paid the first month's fees, and took the modem home with us. 8 days later we came back, told them we couldn't deal with the high ping, gave them the modem, and two weeks later we got our money refunded. No paperwork, no hassle. If you are looking for high speed service, but gaming isn't an issue, I'd give them a try; there's no reason not to.

[audadvnc]

Where in Minneapolis do you not get Qwest DSL service? I live in the deepest depths of N Mpls, and my 1.5 mbps DSL works just fine - even better than my S Mpls residence last year. It's as fast as I need.

[QuantumIguana]

I only recently was able to get Qwest's 7 mpbs DSL service in South Minneapolis. They came through the neighborhood this summer installing fiber optics in the neighborhood, before that, only 1 mbps was available. So, the level of access can really vary depending where in the city you live.