[dorkbotpdx-blabber] best internet service provider?

[Mykle Hansen]

FYI, some people have real strong opinions about Cable vs. DSL.  Know  
this:

If you want Cable Internet in Portland, your options are Comcast,  
Comcast
or maybe Comcast.

If you want DSL, it comes in two parts.  Qwest, the local telco,  
provides the
DSL line and charges for that; but you can have them hook that DSL  
line to any
of a couple dozen local ISPs.  Qwest of course would rather you  
signed up
with their ISP, but you have other options.

(If you live far enough from central Portland, your telco might be  
different
than Qwest, but the same situation applies.  I don't know of anyplace
in the wider Portland metro area where you actually have a choice of  
local
telco.)

I have had DSL via a small local ISP, Spiretech, for close to a decade.
Qwest customer support sucks, but Spiretech's is great.  I can always
get someone on the phone, and they're usually willing to push problems
through Qwest's support dept on my behalf, if necessary.  Uptime is  
excellent.
Spiretech is also very specific about not filtering or adjusting or  
munging
any of their clients' traffic.

fyi,

-m-

On Jul 7, 2008, at 11:42 PM, Jared Boone wrote:

> I've been with EasyStreet over Verizon (Beaverton) or Qwest (NE  
> Portland) DSL for nearly ten years now and I've been happy. That  
> is, as long as I don't need to call Verizon/Qwest technical  
> support... The support staff's understanding of third-party ISP  
> configuration is almost non-existent. There's one woman with Qwest  
> in Utah who knows her stuff. Everyone else blindly reads from a  
> script. EasyStreet support staff is very skilled and can often  
> twist the right screws for you if Qwest isn't being responsive enough.
>
> I second what Don had to say about Qwest making more of an effort  
> to block government intrusion, and I'd expect EasyStreet to do so  
> as well.
>
> I have recently observed EasyStreet downplaying their residential  
> device, so I fear they may be trying to get out of offering that  
> service. I hope if you decide to use EasyStreet as your ISP, that  
> they're still an option.
>
>         - Jared
>
> On Jul 7, 2008, at 10:48 PM, Matthew White <mtw at vne.net> wrote:
>
>> I've been using EasyStreet DSL for about 5 years now.  No problems  
>> at all.
>>
>> -mtw
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 07, 2008 at 05:48:08PM -0700, Simran Gleason  
>> (fermatslasttheremin at yahoo.com) wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Hello dorks,
>>> I just moved to portland (well, just finished buying a house.  
>>> haven't quite moved yet),
>>> and need to get it set up with hot & cold running bits.
>>>
>>> What's the best internet provider? Speakeasy. qwest, verizon,  
>>> comcast? others?
>>> Do you have any horror storrrries to warn us away from any of them?
>>> Warmfuzzyohyeah recommendations?  Are there small local companies  
>>> that do a good job
>>> of competing with the big bandwidth-limiters?
>>>
>>> We're in SE (very S, medium E).
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Simran
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>> -- 
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