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First, this is not to degenerate into a flame fest or b*tch session. First hand experience and technical discussion are welcome though.

Background: I am currently an AT&T DSL customer. I've had the same DSL plan through several providers, going back over 10 years. I've upgraded speeds along the way and am currently at the top tier of AT&T's consumer DSL plans. In the quest for more speed, I have a couple of options.

1) AT&T U-Verse
2) Time Warner cable

In both cases, I would be getting the business class connections, not the consumer ones. Both are under $100 a month with static IPs and no other services required. Both would save me money as I would be dropping my land-line. While I know that network congestion and such are highly variable from area to area, I am curious about people thoughts on the two options. I'm quite aware of the technical differences between the two technologies and what-not.

Anyway, begin discussion and thanks for the feedback.

--SS

To be honest as long as those two companies do not throttle your connection or impose a download limit (doubtful in both cases as you will be on a business class connection) I don't really see a downside to either. I would place my hand in Time Warner simply because I have a dis-like of AT&T, but I've come to understand TW can be just as bad. It's a bit like picking the lesser of two evils I suppose.

How's your current service with AT&T? Many times you can tell what kind of service you will have based on the regular consumer in the area, especially in cases of non dedicated connections. So if AT&T is working out well right now, I would probably upgrade with them. I would also suggest seeing what your neighbors say about TW.

The thing is, the business-class experience can be entirely different from what consumers see from the same provider, so the folks you need to poll are the ones who are subscribing to business-class connections.

The forums at DSLReports.com can probably give you useful information, and anecdotal reactions, about those two providers.

A lot of it depends on your location... For example, I've used TWC here in NYC, but switched to Verizon's FiOS many years ago because it gives me better connection stability, better speed and better customer support compared to TWC. In your location some of these things may be opposite... I suggest going to DSLreports' forums and reading up about both of these providers, how they operate in your service area.
Also, who is your cellphone provider? If it's AT&T - you might get additional discounts if you sign up for U-Verse with them...

Philldoe wrote:

To be honest as long as those two companies do not throttle your connection or impose a download limit (doubtful in both cases as you will be on a business class connection) I don't really see a downside to either. I would place my hand in Time Warner simply because I have a dis-like of AT&T, but I've come to understand TW can be just as bad. It's a bit like picking the lesser of two evils I suppose.

No throttling is the reason for going with business class service. That and the hard sell for bundling seems to be a bit less. I have no love for either Time Warner or AT&T and I figured I could find pretty balanced dislike for each, hence my request that this not devolve into a hate fest.

thecoldanddarkone wrote:

How's your current service with AT&T? Many times you can tell what kind of service you will have based on the regular consumer in the area, especially in cases of non dedicated connections. So if AT&T is working out well right now, I would probably upgrade with them. I would also suggest seeing what your neighbors say about TW.

My AT&T service has been pretty good until recently. I've had three or four outages in the last 8 years. Their support is pretty useless until you make it through to the second level tech guys. Nothing unusual there. I've never been without service for more than a day. Of late I have started to see some inconsistency in my connection throughput. Most of the time I get advertised rates (5Mb) but from time to time it will drop off greatly. Not really an issue when surfing, but Netflix and Amazon Instant Video really don't like it. Because it is so intermittent, I don't have a whole lot of hope regarding getting AT&T support to help me troubleshoot.

JohnC wrote:

A lot of it depends on your location... For example, I've used TWC here in NYC, but switched to Verizon's FiOS many years ago because it gives me better connection stability, better speed and better customer support compared to TWC. In your location some of these things may be opposite... I suggest going to DSLreports' forums and reading up about both of these providers, how they operate in your service area.
Also, who is your cellphone provider? If it's AT&T - you might get additional discounts if you sign up for U-Verse with them...

I'd love to get FiOS, but I'm not "served" by Verizon. I've wandered through the DSLReports forums to some degree and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a lot of current input from the DFW area for some reason. Who knows, maybe I haven't looked hard enough. While input from other areas does help with the overall trend, as you note, service and support vary greatly by region.

Thanks to all for their input.

Just to comment on variety of service...

My mom works from home and has AT&T. It is always slow, and she's been through several gateways.
I had Time Warner in college. It had several outages over the course of 9 months.
I have AT&T now and don't recall any outages. I get solid speeds at all times.
My girlfriend has Time Warner and has never had any issues either, and her speeds are good.

I would say you should only switch providers (or threaten to switch) if either your service starts getting crappy or they try to jack prices up. My dad goes through a dance with Comcast every six months to keep his rates down. I am also sure that you get snail spam, so you can keep your eyes peeled there to see if/when anyone else might be coming to town and offer better service or rates.

Does Cox provide service in your area? We had them in Kansas for years and were never disappointed with the service or support.

I'd probably go with TWC if i had to pick between those two.

DancinJack wrote:

Does Cox provide service in your area? We had them in Kansas for years and were never disappointed with the service or support.

I'd probably go with TWC if i had to pick between those two.

Nope. I get exactly one DSL/"telephone" based option and exactly one cable based option. I won't go down the rat hole of "internet provider competition" other than to say it is annoying to hear two high speed business class providers advertise on the radio every morning and I can choose either one of them.

For those that have UVerse, how big is the "gateway" they provide, sans UPS? I have a distribution rack in an upstairs closet that feeds the house with POTs, network, and coax for cable/satellite/FM/digital TV. I'd like to be able to just mount the new gear where my current DSL modem is.

--SS

I can change this to a plain URL if this is too big, but here is my gateway with LotR for reference.

Thanks superjawes. That thing is pretty big. I'd have to get a shelf for the distribution rack as it doesn't look to be easily wall mounted.


One small benefit with going with Time Warner would be that I wouldn't have to go without internet during the transition. I can have them do the install, make sure everything works, then cancel my DSL. Its a convenience really, but something I'll have to consider.

--SS