Local ISPs & cable vs. fiber

Local ISPs & cable vs. fiber

We all know how much fun it is to hate the folks that provide us internet service. My experience is probably much the same as others, speeds at less than a 10th of what I pay for, service windows that require missing an entire day of work, off shore call centers that say the problem is with my equipment... the list goes on and on.

Well a new player entered the game and I made the switch. Real competition can make some big waves when they are trying to get customers and it looks like this new service is using some smarts to get them. I switched from asynchronous cable (300/50) to true synchronous gigabit fiber and the results are not exactly what I expected.

The speed tests using the test sites (speedtest.net, fast.com, testmy.net) show a dramatic improvement in bandwidth, which is expected and very nice for most use cases. However, due to the way the internet works, that doesn't always translate into big gains for all the things we do on the internet. For most people, this wouldn't be the case. Streaming movies and music, reading email and surfing the web aren't things that see a big change

I've broken down the speed tests I ran using both services for a few months but the data isn't quite ready yet, I want to give it a bit more time before I post the results. This is mostly due to not being on top of everything right now but also because I want to make sure all the creases are ironed out with the circuit and my network.