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[Transcendant]

I called a popular internet service with good package.

Their website says I can get it; their call center reps say I can't.

Specifically, they are telling me they don't service my area because there aren't any other connections within 500 feet.... That's insane. I'm surrounded by houses and practically right off the main street of my town (population about 60K).  What the heck? Anything I can do?

[nenjin]

Not really, to my knowledge. If the cable provider isn't willing to lay 500 feet of fiber op from the nearest main.....then you're kinda screwed.

That said some cities actually own the rights to where the fiber is laid, not the cable companies. So you could inquire with your local city/county utilities services, see what they say.

We just had a new cable provider move in to town a couple months ago and they've basically done nothing but go around town and lay new cable alongside the lines run by Spectrum/Time Warner. So you may have competition in your area to do what the nominal ISP won't. But it also wouldn't surprise me if they have a monopoly in your area on cable service, that was the situation here for many many years. To the point a township about 10 minutes outside of town had to wait over a decade before they'd run cable out there.

[Tellemurius]

I called a popular internet service with good package.

Their website says I can get it; their call center reps say I can't.

Specifically, they are telling me they don't service my area because there aren't any other connections within 500 feet.... That's insane. I'm surrounded by houses and practically right off the main street of my town (population about 60K).  What the heck? Anything I can do?

Ask them how much would it cost to dig cable to your house and bring a quote to your neighbors. If they are also interested in the service they can split the costs, If the company see theres alot of interest they might cover the costs for the construction in order to provide service. Otherwise theres not much else you can do. If you live in a very flat area you could build yourself a relay tower and be your own isp.

[Transcendant]

I get it, physically, but it's time warner cable spectrum. They've serviced this area for years. My parents are getting this service less than 20 miles away in a much lesser populated area. They have locations literally north, south, and west of me....

I'm not living in the middle of nowhere. either I'm living in the land time forgot right in the middle of 60K people, or WTF?

If I'm somehow screwed (I.E. they're not making it up), I know the last person living here had dish network. Can you get decent internet through them?

[Tellemurius]

I get it, physically, but it's time warner cable spectrum. They've serviced this area for years. My parents are getting this service less than 20 miles away in a much lesser populated area. They have locations literally north, south, and west of me....

I'm not living in the middle of nowhere. either I'm living in the land time forgot right in the middle of 60K people, or WTF?

If I'm somehow screwed (I.E. they're not making it up), I know the last person living here had dish network. Can you get decent internet through them?

Dish uses wireless towers however their service can be spotty and normally these ISPs will charge for a data cap. At that point its better to be the ISP yourself.

[Transcendant]

Crap.

I actually really want spectrum, because they have no data cap and are the fastest option. Sucks that they have it all around me.

Oddball question, is there any chance the prior owner of the home was somehow banned? I just got into this place like less than a month ago? Wishful thinking that they're making it up. Otherwise I'm hosed.

[eerr]

Why don't you ask your neighbors?

[nenjin]

It is a little weird if everyone around you has service. I'd talk to your neighbors and see if they can give you the story. I can appreciate Spectrum not wanting to run ~4 miles of fiber op into the country and/or build a new main to service a town of less than 300 people. But if you literally have people down the street....

It may be the previous owner refused to let them run cable out there, or something. Perhaps they did something to the lines like tried to steal cable and Spectrum was just like "Fine, fuck that house." Usually the reason they won't extend coverage is because demand < cost. But still. They're so huge and you're in an in town neighborhood, this seems like a weird oversight.

Do you have Allo in your area? They're the competitor that moved in to my town and is fucking up all of Spectrum's shit. (And digging up people yards across the city for the last six months laying new cable. Often without even talking to home owners before going on their property.)

If worst comes to worst I suppose you could also talk to a local political rep like a city council member and ask them wtf is with you being refused service by the only cable ISP in town. That can tend to make things happen.

[Transcendant]

Why don't you ask your neighbors?

I'm almost sure I'll get "that's the way we've always done it.... Also fact is, it's not the most wealthy area. That said, Spectrum is about 60% of the cost of the local cable company once you factor in the difference in service speed, no data caps, etc.

If they're not BSing me (I can hope and beg in my own head maybe), and there really is no line access within 500 ft (despite being smack dab between two main roads), that'd probably be $10,000 to run a line. At that rate, I'll end up paying the local company less. My neighbors can't afford that cost anyhow. 

With that in mind, I'm going to have to call up AT&T, and the others around here, praying they service my area. (Jesus, within 500ft?).

The local cable company seems to be offering the following: Thoughts?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

For reference Spectrum (That I can't have): $44.99/month 100Mbps; 6Mbps Upload; no data cap/ 12 months price, after that $70/month

Local Cable Company:
1.) $95/month 100 Mbps Download; 5 Mbps Upload; 1 TB Data Cap; 3 Months of Free EPIX (12 months free 100 channel cable, after that $201/month, ro $115 if you cancel the Cable TV portion.)
2.) $60/month 50 Mbps Download;  3 Mbps Upload 250 GB Data Cap Unlimited Data! (12 months price, after that $86.99/month)
3.) $30/month MOST POPULAR; 50 Mbps Download;  3 Mbps Upload; 250 GB Data Cap (12 months price, after that $56.99/month)

I like the idea of streaming, netflicks or hulu or something, lots of video usage, etc. I also like playing online games, Starcraft II, and hopefully lots of others. I don't really understand what all of these mean. Would one of you more technically savy people please explain this to me a bit? Am I completely nuts, or does a 1TB data cap/month seem odd to the point that you might as well do unlimited if you're the company? Also the $95/month for 12 months and then $201 after that deal, is due to the cable package?

It is a little weird if everyone around you has service. I'd talk to your neighbors and see if they can give you the story. I can appreciate Spectrum not wanting to run ~4 miles of fiber op into the country and/or build a new main to service a town of less than 300 people. But if you literally have people down the street....

It may be the previous owner refused to let them run cable out there, or something. Perhaps they did something to the lines like tried to steal cable and Spectrum was just like "Fine, fuck that house." Usually the reason they won't extend coverage is because demand < cost. But still. They're so huge and you're in an in town neighborhood, this seems like a weird oversight.

Do you have Allo in your area? They're the competitor that moved in to my town and is fucking up all of Spectrum's shit. (And digging up people yards across the city for the last six months laying new cable. Often without even talking to home owners before going on their property.)

If worst comes to worst I suppose you could also talk to a local political rep like a city council member and ask them wtf is with you being refused service by the only cable ISP in town. That can tend to make things happen.

Thank you. Spectrum has like 3 offices within a 15 to 20 mile radius of me, on most sides. the closest office is 10 miles away. Maybe I can beg them to know what's going on. I don't know the old owner, but I can imagine things going south. If there is a grudge or something, I'm praying they'll look at me and realize I'm clearly new here.

[nenjin]

Well if you've got a local cable company that is basically being outpriced by Spectrum, there could be other reasons. There could be a main there owned by the local cable company and Spectrum simply isn't allowed to link to it, and you. If you've got alternatives to Spectrum in town, political weight probably isn't going to help you. (You have options, and they might be in the tank for the local cable company. It was actually the opposite case here in my town when Time Warner got really big.)

For reference through spectrum, I think we're paying $180 for I think 100meg down and 1 to 1.5meg up, the full suite of digital TV channels and an HBO subscription. If we had none of the TV shit, it'd still be $90 on our current plan. (I believe they're also doing the $44.95 plan here but it's JUST internet and my friend needs his HBO ><.)

So the (eventual) $85 plan doesn't sound that bad to me, but it looks bad on paper. Your down speed isn't great but your up is better than mine. And no datacap. That's always the deal breaker for me.

I could live with that plan even if I wasn't happy about it. I think it's still worth talking to another Spectrum rep that isn't frontline support, see if you can find out what the deal is. The distances are so small it should definitely raise some eyebrows.

[Starver]

Out of interest, are we definitely talking about something better than Fibre-To-Exchange, and is it Fibre-To-Cabinet, -Curb, -
Home or even -Desk? And are the ISP assuming you're wanting more fibre than they actually provide, when all the other examples you know of are actually quite happily using copper POTS over the final mile, or something?

(I ask mostly out of interest. The US system seems to have had a different developmental philosophy than the UK one. But if I can untangle your problem while I'm at it, all the better!)

[Tellemurius]

(I ask mostly out of interest. The US system seems to have had a different developmental philosophy than the UK one. But if I can untangle your problem while I'm at it, all the better!)

Alot of it is just permit based and existing infrastructure.  Companies can argue the cost of laying down new lines when they can already provide service. Most cables underground are privately owned and even own the land around them so competitors have to get permission to dig.

[martinuzz]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

For reference Spectrum (That I can't have): $44.99/month 100Mbps; 6Mbps Upload; no data cap/ 12 months price, after that $70/month

Local Cable Company:
1.) $95/month 100 Mbps Download; 5 Mbps Upload; 1 TB Data Cap; 3 Months of Free EPIX (12 months free 100 channel cable, after that $201/month, ro $115 if you cancel the Cable TV portion.)
2.) $60/month 50 Mbps Download;  3 Mbps Upload 250 GB Data Cap Unlimited Data! (12 months price, after that $86.99/month)
3.) $30/month MOST POPULAR; 50 Mbps Download;  3 Mbps Upload; 250 GB Data Cap (12 months price, after that $56.99/month)

Dayum, son, internets are expensive in the US. Top notch glassfiber connection over here is about 40 euros per month (including a phone landline), data limits do not exist here except for mobile phone internets.

[Antioch]

I get unlimited 1Gbit Down and 1Gbit up for 15eu a month.


But I guess that is one of the pro's of living on a university campus

[Tellemurius]

I've paid 70/m for google Fiber, I don't know much about euro setup but with Google we had direct lines towards the junction box to the trunk so I hardly ever get throttled.