I recently moved… and because my internet connection was DSL, I had to change it, either to move the service or start a new one of some kind.
It had been a while since I’d looked around, so I thought over my options:
- Stay with my current ISP
DSL from Launchnet (based in California) and connected by Covad
6mbit down, 2mbit up, and 5 IPs for a not cheap price per month - Some local, cheaper DSL provider
- Fiber optic: super fast for cheap
- Cable: faster and cheaper
- WiMax: portable
First I checked in with Launchnet and Covad separately and found out some bad news: my new house would cut my download speed in half. 3mbit is the fastest I could get from them or any other DSL provider. Hm. Also I’d have to buy a new modem and be locked in for a full year (or was it 2 years?). The other DSL providers could indeed be cheaper but they wouldn’t be better or faster. Next I checked to see if Verizon has gotten fiber into the area. Nope. Has the city done anything with all the fiber they strung up and down the city limits? No. Okay so cable internet. I had high hopes that cable companies other than Comcast had begun providing in the area but they all turned out to be ones that sold ONLY to tenants of the giant sky-rise appts/condos downtown. For WiMax all there is, is Clear, who used to be called Clearwire.
So now from 5 potential options I’m down to 3 actual options:
- 3 mbit DSL
- 20 mbit Comcast for about the same price
- 3-8 mbit Clear for slightly less
I had a thought then about the companies themselves, about their evil factor, so I looked up their history:
- Launchnet is small and ambiguous but Covad is now owned by Megapath, who has a history of buying providers and ruining their good service at the expense of consolidation profits. Megapath in turn is now owned by Best Buy. What are they like? Well the most I could find is some financial crimes.Evil Factor: minor.
- Clear has the most sordid origin, which was started by seed money from such evil forces as Goldman Sachs and the Texas Rangers. Later it had some semi-shady deals to get it’s wireless spectrum and gain more investment and shareholders like Intel, TimeWarner, and oddly enough Comcast. Currently it’s mainly owned by Sprint though. Evil Factor: not good.
- Comcast is just as evil as they’ve ever been. They spend millions of dollars lobbying legislators to push internet and media policies that are diametrically opposed to my world view. They have the worst customer satisfaction rating of any U.S. company or organization (including the IRS). They block service, they discriminate, they cap, and they attempt to buy every sports team and media company in the country. They even had the gall to try buying Disney. They’ve been caught multiple times for filling federal hearings with randomly hired people off the street, just to keep opposing citizens from testifying before Congress or the FCC. Evil Factor: absurdly evil.
The info on these companies can be found in many places but most of it is already summarized well on Wikipedia.
Faced with this information I was twisted in a dilemma: Should I choose the least evil for the highest cost, slowest service, and most inflexible contract? Or the middle evil for questionably better service? Or the cheapest, fastest service who will use all the money I give them to undermine every internet/media policy I stand for?
In the end, I ended up trying out Clear since it seemed the easiest to back out of if it didn’t work well. It certainly wasn’t a clear winner (bad pun) but it seemed like the only balance between evil and connectivity in North Seattle. It shouldn’t have to be this difficult.