[Chicago] Broadband in Chicago

[Carl Shimer]

Speakeasy support is better but IMO not worth it for a number of 
reasons.  Let's do the math: 1 year of speakeasy 6.0/768 DSL will run 
you about $1200 / year.  This is *significantly* more expensive than 
going with Comcast ( or another DSL provider) where you can get the same 
basic service for around $50 a month.  Comcast allows you to run servers 
(mail, web, https, etc) with an IP address that is almost static.   And 
that problem has been trivialized by services like everydns.net that can 
automatically update your DNS records whenever your IP changes.

Despite the charming phone service from speakeasy they have ZERO control 
over line quality or anything going into the central office.  I had 
speakeasy for a year or so because I thought I needed a "professional" 
connection since I was working out of my house and needed a static IP to 
hook up my VPN box back to the home office.  I then upgraded to their 
"onelink" program that allows you to drop the phone line from SBC and go 
straight through speakeasy - reducing your monthly bill by about 
$15-$20.  Unfortunately this meant that SBC had to set up a new line 
into my house.  The quality on the new line was very poor.  SBC visited 
my house several times but could not fix the problem (or wasn't willing 
to do anything about it).  Speakeasy can't do a damn thing because they 
have no control over the local connection.  When I tried to escalate 
this issue with speakeasy they simply said that line quality is out of 
their control and that I simply was "unlucky".  Going back to my 
original phone line would mean another truck roll from SBC and more 
charges from Speakeasy.  no thanks.  Oh, and speakeasy makes you sign a 
one year contract.

Speakeasy does offer better upload performance (768K) but I believe you 
can now purchase comparable upload bandwidth from Comcast (if you need it).

If you want to play the DSL roulette and pay $600 / year for great 
support then by all means go with Speakeasy :)

Carl


Atul Varma wrote:
> I've had the same kind of experience with Speakeasy as Brian... Every
> time I've had to call Speakeasy, the customer support reps know
> exactly what I'm talking about and actually sound like they're happy
> with their jobs (amazing how much of a difference that makes).
>
> I subscribe to their OneLink DSL plan, which gives me DSL without
> having to get a landline from SBC, and it's worked very well for the
> past 1.5 years that I've had it.  I get the impression that you have
> to pay a little more than the competition when you go with Speakeasy,
> but I think it's worth it... I had a very annoying time dealing with
> SBC back when I lived in Hyde Park.
>
> - Atul
>
> On 5/8/06, Brian W. Fitzpatrick <fitz at red-bean.com> wrote:
>   
>> On 5/6/06, Brantley Harris <deadwisdom at gmail.com> wrote:
>>     
>>> So I just moved into a new apartment in Andersonville and I am trying
>>> to figure out what sort of broadband I want to get.  I like the idea
>>> of bundling with cable because I want it anyway.  But, on the other
>>> hand both Comcast and RCN leave a lot to be desired.
>>>
>>> Does anyone have any suggestions on the matter?
>>>       
>> When I lived in Andersonville, I had RCN, and aside from the
>> occasional outage. I had pretty good luck with them.
>>
>> I now live in Irving Park and have Speakeasy DSL and I'm *ecstatic*
>> with them.  Their uptime is above average, and their tech support has
>> been the best I've ever had with *any* ISP.  Even their level 1 techs
>> actually seem to know what they're talking about, and they really seem
>> to grok geeks.
>>
>> -Fitz
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