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General discussion

Need a better ISP

Jul 26, 2016 8:08AM PDT

I am located in Tampa FL. We do have FIOS in my area but unfortunately it was recently sold from Verizon to Frontier Communications. If you are not familiar with Frontier consider yourself lucky. I have never ran into a more poorly run organization of this size. Previously we had Verizon Fios for as long as I can remember and they were EXCELLENT. But since Frontier took over it's been nothing but problems from service related issues to slower speeds to useless "customer service."

Anyway I didn't come here to complain, I am in need of a better ISP. After this mess, we are ready to cut the cord but we still need a good and reliable ISP to get this done. Unfortunately our current provider is the only FIOS provider in our area. I know technology is always advancing and I am certainly not up on all current tech so I would like some input on if there's anything else that would compare to the speeds we get from FIOS (when it's working) on a different platform.

It is my understanding that the only options in my area are:
Frontier Communications (current ISP and very bad)
Charter (just bought out Brighthouse and is DSL)

Neither of these options are very good and Frontier is the only one with FIOS. I am open to other suggestions, maybe there's another provider I'm not aware of or new technology on the horizon. Please help me get out from under this horrible Frontier Communication company. I am afraid that as bad as they are they are still the best option in my area when they are working.

Discussion is locked

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So why FIOS?
Jul 26, 2016 8:13AM PDT

I don't have FIOS but a normal cable TV ISP and it's over 30 megabit. Is there something about FIOS that you need?

I'm not in your state and since quality varies town to town I can't give a solid answer but here, FIOS is not a big selling point.

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Not tied to FIOS just not convinced there's a better option
Jul 26, 2016 8:49AM PDT

That's a good question. I am under the impression (possibly misinformed) that FIOS offers the fastest and most consistent speeds available. But I would really like someone to chime in with why this isn't necessarily true. We currently get 50mbps download/upload speeds and it really does work well when the service is functioning. I have been a long time FIOS subscriber and never had any service issues until Frontier took over down here. It's always fast, the speeds were consistent, and we can run all of our devices.

I've tried Brighthouse (now Charter) in the past with their cable speeds and they are ok but they do charge more per month for their package and there is a noticeable difference in speed. In order to get a package from Charter that compares in speed I'm looking at about $20 more per month.

I would love to be comfortable getting away from FIOS but I just don't know of anything better in my area, please feel free to make a case that FIOS is not the best. I'm certainly no expert, I'm just trying to get better informed so I can get the best service for our home.

As a quick reference this is what we would need it for:
2 laptops
2 smartphones
2 Roku boxes with streaming subscriptions

Being able to work with one to all of our devices at the same time is a must. Our current FIOS plan will accommodate this (aside from the ROKU boxes since we currently pay for cable but this will change soon).

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Just curious, so what does $20 more mean?
Jul 26, 2016 10:14AM PDT

I am in L.A. area and I paid $60/month for 20Mbps internet service. This is just internet only.

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Even at 30 meagabit
Jul 26, 2016 10:43AM PDT

At home we have 2 streaming boxes (Roku, Amazon Fire and another, only 2 used at a time) and a dozen other machines so 30 seems great here. I did take a reading of CNET's article on routers and opted for a newer dual core AC class router. We also did the dual 2.4 and 5GHz WiFi to spread the WiFi load.

The only caveat here are gamers. They tend to learn to get wired for best effect.