Which ISP should I choose? (i wanna get out of dial-up)

ok, so i'm tired of using dial-up (i'm using NetZero). i wanna go broadband. but I'm not very familiar with Cable or DSL prices or what equipment i have to buy or what's the catch.

So, what's a good, cheap broadband service? Verizon? Road Runner? or any other? is $29.99/month the cheapest broadband can get?

ok, so here's the thing, i might not be here for another year so i can't use those one-year contract things.... my last resort is to use accelerated dial-up like NetZero Highspeed but i really dont wanna do that...

so... any advice?... anyone??

hopefully i posted this in the right place....

 

If you can afford the $45 a month, go with Road Runner; you get 3x the bandwidth for a third more in price over Verizon.

 

well, most cable companies have an advertised price that is super low for like four or five months. i have comcast myself, and find it good, but then again, i have nothing to compare it to.

as for comment about going to accelerated dial-up, you have to keep in mind you will still be constricted my the analog cables, so it wont be that much faster. most of those "accelerated" things just cache the pages so it will load from your harddrive rather than the internet.

 

earlthemailman,
About those advertised prices that stay low for 4 to 5 months... i think u have to sign something like a one-year contract, right? i mean, u can't just stop using it after about 4 months, right?

and thanks for clearing things up about the highspeed dial-up

Shadow,
i assume u have roadrunner? so roadrunner doesn't have area restrictions like DSL, right? and do u have to buy any equipment?
i know i should be researching these things by myself but i'm too lazy plus MG seems like the right place to ask for help in these areas...

 

Yes, I use Road Runner. No you don't have to buy any equipment, unless you want your own cable modem. Time Warner will give you a cable modem which is included in the monthly fee, or as I said before you can buy your own cable modem, cost about $70.

 

If you are looking for the cheap solution and you don't mind only marginally faster service, you can do what I just did. I signed up for DSL at 256kbps for only 24.99/month. This was only about $10 per month more than I was paying for dial up and is about 5x faster.
I am incredibly cheap so this was a good match for me. I don't need blazing speed, I don't online game or download feature length movies so 256 is fast enough right now.
Check around a lot of companies are offering this kind of deal (Where I live it is Centurytel, our phone company)

 

i'm intersted in that.. i just want my web experience to be faster, not download tons of music or movies.... but it's not a one-year contract thing, is it?

i'll look into it, thanks!

 

May be this can Help, DSL or Cable Internet, what should I get?

 

The 24.99 per month deal is kind of a one year contract. If you do it for a year it is actually 19.99 for the first 6 months and 24.99 a month after that. The DSL modem is included free. If you back out before the year, you have to pay the difference between 19.99 and 24.99 for the months used so far and reimburse for the modem otherwise you can quit whenever you want. So, for me this was a good deal. It is actually costing me the same as what I was paying for dial up for the first 6 months. I also got to set up a wireless network in house and I am no longer tying up the phone line when I am cruising E-Bay. Good luck.