Help! I need high speed internet in Belltown (Seattle: renters, condo)

[Ath3na]

Hi,

I'm moving to Belltown the beginning of May. I want reliable bandwidth. When I put a deposit down on the place they gave me a flier for Broadstripe and said they get a great deal with them. This sounded like exactly the type of thing I avoid...LOL.

So I had a nice chat with Comcast and they said my address has the note "right of entry denied". Yeah, they're super expensive, everyone hates on them, but at least I know they have big pipes. In the past, they've emptied my wallet but provided good bandwidth and very reliable service. Better the devil you know.

So it sounds like perhaps the apt mgmt did some exclusive deal with Broadstripe. Now I see that apparently certain providers have monopolies on certain buildings? WTF? It's bad enough dealing with providers who don't service your area, but when they can come to your doorstep, but not in your building, this is really sucks. I've never lived in a city where they did this kind of thing, so I didn't know to check for it.

I'm actually willing to pay for good internet service. I don't need a $19.99/mo deal for unreliable slow service. I'm out of luck for upscale services like CondoNet and CascadeLink. They only service the big name buildings and I'm in a funky old one. ATT U-Verse says not available in my area. CenturyLink offers my address 12 Mbps (and why do I think I'll rarely get it?) and only DirecTV. Somehow I can see the apt mgmt not wanting everybody putting dishes on the roof. Not that TV is that big a deal. I can find a lot to watch online. But if I can't purchase anything other than $20/mo low bandwidth internet, I'd probably at least look at a TV package to save bandwidth.

Does anybody have any ideas or advice? Does Broadstripe suck that much? Does anyone get anything near 15 Mbps down?

Sorry for the long venting message.

...Athena

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Ath3na

Hi,

... I want reliable bandwidth. ... Does Broadstripe suck that much? Does anyone get anything near 15 Mbps down?Sorry for the long venting message.

...Athena

I wish you the best,,,

Does Broadstripe suck that much? Does anyone get anything near 15 Mbps down?

How does an UNRELIABLE 9Kbps suit you!! on pay-by-the-byte dialup.?
Yep, 20 minutes from Portland, but in WA in Columbia Gorge, it's WONDERFUL.

I get pretty good coverage on my unlimited Broadband card while in Belltown, but it is $49/mo. I don't do TV.

[Ultrarunner]

At least it is available... too many areas of Washington only have Dial-Up or Satellite...

A friend moved and assumed she could just get Comcast... nearly fell over when she was told $12,000 to run the line to her new house.

[Hemlock140]

The City of Seattle is among the most "wired" cities in the country but yet there are many renters forced to limit their service to what the landlord has chosen to "deal" with. Renting requires an additional step in asking about internet service before signing a lease. There are many people that work from home with internet business that have been forced to move to get decent speed.

[Ath3na]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

I wish you the best,,,


How does an UNRELIABLE 9Kbps suit you!! on pay-by-the-byte dialup.?
Yep, 20 minutes from Portland, but in WA in Columbia Gorge, it's WONDERFUL.

I get pretty good coverage on my unlimited Broadband card while in Belltown, but it is $49/mo. I don't do TV.

I feel sick. Where's the nauseous smiley?

I generally don't do TV either. I haven't owned one in years, but I do watch movies and other things online. If I've got the bandwidth from hell I'll go nuts.



...Ath

[Ath3na]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

At least it is available... too many areas of Washington only have Dial-Up or Satellite...

A friend moved and assumed she could just get Comcast... nearly fell over when she was told $12,000 to run the line to her new house.

My parents in semi-rural northern Maryland went through that... 7 years ago. Eventually Comcast wired that general neighborhood and let my Dad trench and even buy the cable wholesale from a friend. They do live very far from the street.

Charter cable told me they'd serve me here, then did the $12k thing at the last minute. I DO live in an industrial park outside of a small city in Northern CA, so it's not a cable hotbed. ;-> I've been suffering with 5 Mbps ATT DSL. The bandwidth is pretty reliable (I do actually get 5 Mbps most of the time) and in the past year I've had only one short service interruption.

And I've been complaining.

I am SO spoiled.

[Ath3na]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

The City of Seattle is among the most "wired" cities in the country but yet there are many renters forced to limit their service to what the landlord has chosen to "deal" with. Renting requires an additional step in asking about internet service before signing a lease. There are many people that work from home with internet business that have been forced to move to get decent speed.

I had no idea I had to ask about such things! I know some areas could perhaps not have cable service at all (though to be honest I didn't expect that at all inside the city). I asked at every place. This place seemed pretty excited about the Broadstripe deal but never told me I was stuck with them. I didn't know to ask if Comcast or any other high-bandwidth service provider would be denied entry.

And this is cable and they still manage to #&$% it up? They don't even have the distance from the CO or hub excuse DSL providers do. Though I originally had 1.5 Mbps here (admittedly this was all that was advertised and promised)... but tough cookies, I wanted more! I Moderator cut: language (er, nicely cajoled) and magically I had 5 Mbps the next morning.

I can't believe this crap is legal. Maybe there's a loophole somewhere. Short of sleeping with a Comcast tech. I don't know if I'm overreacting or not. I've read some people saying they actually get okish bandwidth and reliability - they could be Broadstripe employees .

Can you mux 2 cable connections? I remember doing that sort of thing in the ISDN days. Though tech/physical considerations aside... 2 x 0 = 0. If they're down half that time it'll be of no use. I'll be stuck tethering off my @#$%ing iPhone.

Well at least there's no contract. I guess I'll have to give it a try first. Then either work on the legal end with Comcast, or camp out at the ButtSwipe office until I get some action. I will not go quietly into the dialup zone! I'm gonna kick some serious ButtSwipe A$$CII (though drama aside, I usually try the more-flies-with-honey approach first).

And dslreports.com is even offline. <sigh> I need a drink.

Thanks,
...Athena