AT&T Wireless Internet or Spectrum

[pb4uski]

The other thread on in internet caused me to look at other alternatives.... which I had in mind to do anyway.

Currently with local phone company DSL... 7 mbps for $64/month... we have had this for years and it meets our modest needs but the cost has crept up. They generously offered to upgrade me to 25 mbps for $55/month for first 12 months and $67/month after that.... but they offer the same service to new customers for $40/month.

Only other traditional option in our rural area is Spectrum cable internet. $65/month for 100 mbps... they supply the modem but I will use my existing wi-fi router. $50 one-time installation fee. $20/month promotional credit for first 12 months so a net of $45/month for the first 12 months.

The other possible option is AT&T Wireless Internet using their 4G network and a hotspot that I would plug my wi-fi router into. 10-14 mbps speed. $40/month for up to 50GB of data (I don't think we would exceed 50GB, but if we did 100GB woud be $80/month). Plus either $200 up front for the hotspot or $10/month for 20 months.

Thoughts? I'm leaning towards Spectrum... $20/month less for the first 12 months and ultimate cost is the same as what we currently pay and speeds are blazing. If money was a factor (it isn't) then I might lean towards AT&T. but I'm not sure that the speed would be acceptable.

Does anyone have experience with AT&T Wireless Internet?

 

[Texas Proud]

I hate AT&T so I would go with Spectrum....


You would be surprised how even simple things improve with speed...

 

[Sunset]

We used to have 30 mbps and went to 10 mbps when switching to comcast for $19/mo.
Everything works just fine.
We only noticed it slowed down once when I was downloading 3 separate ISO's each of a few gigs size at the same time as doing intensive 20 tab browsing.

So I find 10 mbps is fast enough.

OP - Given your choices I'd go with Spectrum, and next year you can take the phone company DSL offer of $40/month since you would be a new customer.

 

[Katsmeow]

If I was you I would do Spectrum. In a year if they won't do something I liked I would go back and get DSL as a new customer. Personally I couldn't tolerate the low speed of DSL (yes, I've tried it).

 

[braumeister]

I have Spectrum cable, internet only. It was Time Warner when we got it, a little over three years ago.

It started at $55, next year went to $65, then $80, now $85. So you have to be aware of the rate creep.

When we moved here, I went with this because the only other option was DSL, which we had at our previous home and hated. That is still the case.

Service is excellent; we rarely get an outage and then it's a very short time.

Speed is excellent; we have the "Extreme" level and it routinely tests at around 225 down, 25 up.

I used my own modem (they publish the brands that meet specs on their website) which is an Arris. That connects to my own wifi router.

 

[eytonxav]

Keep in mind there is rate creep with all providers. I would opt for Spectrum for the bandwidth if it was me.

 

[Sunset]

OP - if you do go with spectrum, check to see but I'm sure they are going to rent to you the modem and frankly you can buy one cheaper than a year's rent, then you have it or could even sell it later as used.
Spectrum will have a list of compatible modems.

You might even want to keep the modem as every odd year you flip back to Spectrum for a better deal or bargaining position.

 

[pb4uski]

OP - if you do go with spectrum, check to see but I'm sure they are going to rent to you the modem and frankly you can buy one cheaper than a year's rent, then you have it or could even sell it later as used.
Spectrum will have a list of compatible modems.

You might even want to keep the modem as every odd year you flip back to Spectrum for a better deal or bargaining position.

A cable modem was included in the $45/$65/month. While there was an option to use your own modem if you wanted, it doesn't change the price.

At our winter condo, there is a $10/month modem rental, but we bought our own and avoid the $10/month cost.

 

[pb4uski]

As a followup.... I decided to change to Spectrum for internet.... it is scheduled to be installed next Friday... they could have done it earlier but I had some scheduling conflicts. It's going to be 5x faster for the same money after the promotional credits expire and I'll save $240 with the promotional credits in the first year.

 

[pb4uski]

Spectrum installed on Monday.... I had to reschedue from tomorrow due to conflicts. Initially was slow (30 mbps).... but I replaced the router today, upgraded the router softwre and just ran a speedtest... 115.2 mbps down and 11.6 up. This is fun!