[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by azcindy

Thanks. Shows not available Maybe because I am on an island, kind of (Linden Isle)

Did it fill your address in for you? When I search mine I enter the number and the first few characters of the street. Then the page lists some matching addresses and I select mine. When I tried some addresses in Linden Isle the Quantum page didn't seem to know any of them. Could be because they don't provide service there or could be because they haven't entered those addresses into their database yet.

I also checked a Linden Isle address on the Spectrum page. The particular address I queried already has a Spectrum account. You might give them a try.

[azcindy]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Did it fill your address in for you? When I search mine I enter the number and the first few characters of the street. Then the page lists some matching addresses and I select mine. When I tried some addresses in Linden Isle the Quantum page didn't seem to know any of them. Could be because they don't provide service there or could be because they haven't entered those addresses into their database yet.

I also checked a Linden Isle address on the Spectrum page. The particular address I queried already has a Spectrum account. You might give them a try.

It did not fill in automatically. When I forced the address in by typing the whole thing out, it said service not available (there). I am going to check out both Spectrum and Xfinity. I can't remember why you said you prefer Spectrum over Xfinity?

Cindy

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by azcindy

It did not fill in automatically. When I forced the address in by typing the whole thing out, it said service not available (there). I am going to check out both Spectrum and Xfinity. I can't remember why you said you prefer Spectrum over Xfinity?

Cindy

I've only had Xfinity. Posters on here have said good things about Quantum. I don't remember the comments about Spectrum but the Search function could help you find them.

Spectrum looks really, really good if it's your only option.

[bopat]

Starlink

[westernrider75]

We have Spectrum and are in 32163. Their customer service is excellent and they have been very responsive on the few occasions I have had to call to either change my service or make an inquiry about something. I have heard nothing but bad things about xfinity’s service but they are running a locked on 5 year deal right now. Quantum is not available in my area.

[SeanInFlorida]

Centric is great with near 1g Download and Upload speeds (mine is around 980) (great for uploading my YouTube videos). At 68.00 a month a great deal and the customer service there is top notch. I called them once and they came out that day (within a few hours of my call). It was actually my router causing the restriction (QOS setting). Before I actually moved to TV I submitted an online question and one of their techs called me that day. I had comcast up North, calling them was a chore. On hold, long wait times.

[rsmurano]

If you can get fiber, that’s your best option. Go with either copper network if you can’t get fiber.
I worked out of my home in high tech and had 1G speeds fiber. In retirement, I have 1G speed using copper. Do not go with the 100, 300 or even the 500Mb speeds if you do a lot of data during the month because there are caps on how much data you can download/upload. Your faster speed networks usually have no data caps.
Also remember, all copper networks (non fiber) have the very slow upload speeds (I have 1G down and 40Mb upload with spectrum) so if you do any large file transfers at the same time do zoom calls, your upload bandwidth could be degraded. If you get the slower speeds like 100, 200, etc, your upload speeds are even slower.
When I worked from home, they wanted me to backup to the corporate servers which take all of the bandwidth of the slower copper cables.
Also, you will need a good lan/wifi setup in your house to get reliable access to your computer. If you work in front of the router, no problem, but if you work in a Bedroom and the router is in the kitchen, get somebody to build you a robust network in your house, preferably using a wired connection to your router

[La lamy]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

Xfinity, just don’t confuse reliable internet service with good customer service.

Agreed. XFINITY has been a great, reliable internet for me. But I've got to go into the stores to negotiate renewal prices. Prepare for quite the wait there! Their customer phone service is unfortunately abhorrent IMO.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

No.
Copper cable can be just as reliable as fiber. There are physical limitations and mitigations with both.

Availability, service reliability, price, and support all matter more than the particular technology being used.

Sorry, Copper cable is susceptible to water, moisture, and all kinds of buried environmental attacks. Also, it's also susceptible to all kinds of emi/rfi interference expecially from lightning and cable systems need to be periodically powered from your home to the ISP which fiber does not. Known fact, fiber, overall is more reliable or Internet providers would still be deploying copper cable which they are not. In fact, just the opposite.

Now are you saying Xfinity or Spectrum is just as reliable as Quantum? Different question. All three companies are very reliable just with the cable companies you are always getting promotions that you have to constantly re-negotiate. And the technology is totally different.

As mentioned, when people reach out to me for help connecting to Quantum, a significant number say they are tired of the buffering at prime times, and this will vary depending on where you live here in the Villages, along with the need to reduce their monthly costs. The reduction comes with the internet service and getting rid of cable and moving to streaming.

Remember, cable is a "shared" connection with good download but terrible upload speeds where fiber is a "dedicated" connection with the same download and upload speeds.

The need for speed was mentioned. In many cases, cable subscribers sigh up for the higher speeds so when they sometimes get "slow-downs" during peak times they still have enough speed to do what they want. With fiber there is no need for that.

Finally, did you know, one of the most common ways an induced lightning power surge can enter your home and damage and or destroy your sensitive electronic devices is through the copper cable line? It happens a lot and most do not know or install any surge protection on the incoming cable line to their home. In fact, many aren't even properly grounded. The protector costs about $29.95 on Amazon. With fiber there is no need to worry about this.

Amazon.com

[jrref]

Originally Posted by rsmurano

If you can get fiber, that’s your best option. Go with either copper network if you can’t get fiber.
I worked out of my home in high tech and had 1G speeds fiber. In retirement, I have 1G speed using copper. Do not go with the 100, 300 or even the 500Mb speeds if you do a lot of data during the month because there are caps on how much data you can download/upload. Your faster speed networks usually have no data caps.
Also remember, all copper networks (non fiber) have the very slow upload speeds (I have 1G down and 40Mb upload with spectrum) so if you do any large file transfers at the same time do zoom calls, your upload bandwidth could be degraded. If you get the slower speeds like 100, 200, etc, your upload speeds are even slower.
When I worked from home, they wanted me to backup to the corporate servers which take all of the bandwidth of the slower copper cables.
Also, you will need a good lan/wifi setup in your house to get reliable access to your computer. If you work in front of the router, no problem, but if you work in a Bedroom and the router is in the kitchen, get somebody to build you a robust network in your house, preferably using a wired connection to your router

I forgot, if you go with Xfinity internet, unless you get their highest cost package or Infinity Now which is their slowest, there is a data cap. Totally ridiculous. They do this because they are not upgrading their cable infrastructure here in the Villages. Up North, there are no data caps with Xfinity and Spectrum has no data caps which is why I prefer Spectrum if you had no other choice.

[Switter]

Originally Posted by Coop63

Moving to the villages soon, work remotely, and NEED a reliable internet provider. I notice we have some choices, including fiber. Do you have any you would recommend, avoid? Thanks in advance.

I recently switched to fiber in my current location. Upload speeds are great, but my main need is adequate download speed and reliability.

Fenny area

I am a remote worker and chose quantum fiber. It has worked well for me. I went with the 500 mb because it's only $50 a month and I didn't notice a significant performance decrease from the 1gb, which I started with. I think people tend to overestimate the band with they need.

I've only had two outages since hooking it up 2 1/2 years ago. The first lasted of a couple hours, the most recent one (yesterday, as a matter of fact) lasted about 30 minutes. You can cancel anytime, no contract, no data caps.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Switter

I am a remote work and chose quantum fiber. It has worked well for me. I went with the 500 mb because it's only $50 a month and I didn't notice a significant performance decrease from the 1gb, which I started with. I think people tend to overestimate the amount of bandwidth they need.

I've only had two outages since hooking it up 2 1/2 years ago. The first lasted of a couple hours, the most recent one (yesterday can believe or not) lasted about 30 minutes. You can cancel anytime, no contract.

I think everyone had that outage yesterday. First one for me in 4 years.

You are right people tend to overestimate the amount of bandwidth they need and part of that comes from using cable. As mentioned, since cable is a shared service, some get more speed so when they get a slowdown, there is still adequate speed available to do what they need. Also, unless you get the most expensive cable internet package, the latency/delay is relatively high. Less latency will "feel" faster. With fiber no matter what speed you get, the latency is the same about 4ms. Very fast, so there is no need to get more speed than what you believe you need.

[wayneman]

In Fenney, using Quantum fiber. For $35/month it is awesome compared to comcast.

[diatom]

Originally Posted by azcindy

Why Spectrum over Xfinity? Also when I go to the Quantum Fiber site it says it is available in 32163, but others have told me it is not available in all of 32163 (you can't enter a specific address on their site). Does that mean Quantum would have to dig up the yard to install it or is it even more than that (newbie question, I know)?

Cindy

I live in the Fruitland Park section of 32163 and have had Quantum fiber for about 3 yrs. They installed a nested wireless configuration and I paid no install fee. It has been very reliable and much cheaper than Spectrum which I had previously. I pay $40 per month and nothing extra on top of that. It includes equipment rental, taxes, and any fees that others might add on to their base charge.

[Jimmay]

I live in 32163 and have had quantum fiber for a year, no issues