We are thinking of changing our cable to Direct TV; however, we get our internet through Suddenlink so we need some options. What are our options in B/CS for high speed internet? We don't have a home phone line.

You can have Verizon 'dry loop' dsl which is DSL w/out a home phone line. It cost $10 extra.

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that. I have that and love it.

Thanks. $10 extra on top of what?

Is that in BCS? We had already tried Verizon and were told it wasn't available in our area. Tried again after seeing your suggestion and it still said not available.

[This message has been edited by montegobay (edited 4/18/2010 6:43p).]

Just curious, but why are you wanting to do that? We have DTV and Verizon number/internet. DTV is expensive and does go out when there is a storm.

I was going to research Suddenlink to see if I wanted to switch to it. Not really because of expense but because of storms. Verizon internet I am pretty happy with, it has only gone out once in 3 years.

they told us that too.
we then told them the switching station is just down the road and they (there) said we could most def. do it.

that changed the reps tone and suddenly we now could have a dry loop @ 7MB.


don't trust what their customer service reps say.

myname - We are wanting to switch because of cost. We can get more channels at half the cost by switching to DTV. The problem is with our internet being bundled with the cable, if we get rid of the tv part of suddenlink, the suddenlink internet goes up to $65 a month almost completely negating the savings of the cheaper tv.

We were told by dtv that we couldn't get Verizon or ATT in our area.

You got your wired DSL via phone or cable. You got your wireless DSL via several providers in town including Wickson Wireless & CyberCom. You can always go cellular with Verizon or AT&T, although you're limited to 5 gigs/mo. on their "unlimited" plans. Satellite is even more restrictive, something like 250 megs/mo. That about sums it up.

Add Texas Communications to the list of local "wireless DSL" providers - we've been very happy with them. Unfortunately, all wireless DSL providers are more expensive than regular wired DSL.

They'll need to do a site survey to make sure your home has line of sight to one of the towers where they have equipment; I believe this is free (it was for us). The receiver they put up looks similar to a small satellite TV dish.

We looked at a few options when we moved south of town. We ended up going with our phone company because the other options through Dish or Direct were not good for online chatting. My wife is in a PhD program and does online chats for her classes and also video conferencing. We were told by the Dish rep that their option would not be best for us.

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We were told by dtv that we couldn't get Verizon or ATT in our area

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You didn't ask Verizon directly?

Yep- we asked Verizon. They said we can't internet with a phone line or without. No Verizon on our street. ATT said the same thing. Looks like our options are Suddenlink, Verizon Wireless internet, or one of the satellite services which charge for installation.

I was told the same thing as graves by Verizon. First, "you're too far out" (Shenandoah Subdiv), then "we don't offer it in your neighborhood"... but a friend the next street over has it. Then "we're at capacity in your area", but checking addresses on their website showed that any of my neighbors could get it.

After beating them over the head with it repeatedly for about a week, they finally actually sent someone out to check, and decided that I could have DSL at my house.

It was a pain in the butt, but at least I don't have to deal with Suddenlink any more. Sure seems like poor business practice to make your customers have to work to buy something, kinda like:

"Hey Cmac, I want a burger"
"Sorry, we're not selling them today"
"But chucktheaggiejewler just got one"
"That was our last one"
"But I can see a dozen more patties being made"
"Okay fine, you can have a burger. Come back and see us again!"

what medic said.
we ended up getting something like three months free and if we ever call for help we can go straight to the level 3/4 Americans who should know what they are talking about.

again, we talked to the people who work at the verizon substation here on northgate. they said wed should have 7MB dry loop. called up verizon, the rep said we couldn't get it; wed then told her what the people just up the road said. after sitting on hold for about 2 minutes she coem back on and let us know that yes, could get what we were asking for. we said "no sheet!!!!! how about that!!!!". they then took a long time in getting our connection up and going, and we ended up with a several day break in service. we tried to complain, but nothing get worked out. at the end we got it where any time we call for help, we speak to a native english speaker with actual power, and we got three months free.

Where you live really matters, even within a half mile your options are different. I live in south Wellborn by the river. Our only option is satellite because Verizon doesn't want to upgrade lines for only 40 hours and the line of sight options require 120 foot towers at my elevation....

My mother lives off Koppe Bridge Road and she gets the Verizon DSL for $10 and it's way better than my $70 satellite. However, I have no problem using various chatting programs via the satellite.

Ask neighbors what they use.Verizon told my mom they didn't have DSL at her place, but I noticed many of her neighbors had wireless home routers without Wildblue or Hughesnet satellite receivers. If your neighbors have a router showing up, congratulate them (or chastise them) on the router security and then ask them what kind they have. Internet is one of the reasons the Wellborn folks want to incorporate because then we could get a partial grant/loan to build the infrastructure.

My Dishnetwork seldom goes out and usually only for three or four minutes right before a huge storm. The techs on the phone are nice and when I've worn out a reciever (I've had Dish for 12 years) they just send me a new one the next day no questions asked.

Texas Communications provides great service and we have never had a problem with the internet going out during storms.

Did somebody say Google Fiber ?

Join the club, or facebook page, or email city council....

How much (including taxes and extra fees) is the cheapest option for Verizon DSL, assuming you already have landline service through them?

montegobay- if you havent already switched to DirTV, let me know and I will refer you and we will both get $100 off ($10 off your bill for 10 months).

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How much (including taxes and extra fees) is the cheapest option for Verizon DSL, assuming you already have landline service through them?

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My last payment to Verizon was $51.47, which is basic home phone service (for my home office fax) and basic DSL. There were probably some long-distance fax charges on there, but that's a ballpark figure. I'm not too concerned with the price as long as it's not outrageous, because that that bill is a tax write-off at the end of the year for my business.

If at ALL possible, avoid the satellite Internet connection. We endured Wildblue for over two years (and heard even worse things about Hughes Net). When TX Communications added their transmitter to a nearby tower, we jumped to their operation.
A rooftop mount was all that was needed; your location will dictate how easy/challenging.
No cheaper, but very reliable, and routinely faster than satellite.