[Rickanvic]

Originally Posted by Boilerman

I’m curious about those who pay for these plans with higher bandwidths. We stream multiple TVs with 4K, phones, laptops etc. and have never has an issue with quantum fiber 200 mbps. Is it gaming? Special work needs? Just curious

We signed up in July. When it became available in our neighborhood. My son is in IT and though he told me I will probably never need the 1 GB, for the difference in what I was paying and the fact that supposedly it's locked in for life he suggested I go ahead with that one. He said that we never know what the future holds. He said remember when people were buying computers and thought they would never use up the memory that they came with. Honestly, he's a big gamer and I think he wants it for when he comes to visit. But again I changed from Xfinity to Quantum and I'm saving $30 a month. So I was okay accepting his recommendation.

[Boilerman]

Originally Posted by jrref

We have 1GBs service because my wife and I do a lot of work on our computers and just want our uploads and downloads and overall access to the internet to be as fast as possible. Also, we got in on that special $35/month deal two years ago that I don't think we will ever see again. But I agree, for the average Villager the 200Mbs is totally adequate and the 500Mbs service is more than they will ever need unless they are running a home business where they are uploading and or downloading very large files, etc.. Even when someone goes from 1GB cable to 500Mbs fiber the service will "seem" faster since you have a dedicated vs shared connection. When I help sign-up someone here in the Villages, unless they are very price sensitive I recommend the 500Mbs service to lock in the price so they will have no issues in the future if more internet bandwidth is needed. In the new areas where Quantum is being installed, you can get up to 8Gbs so they must know something will be happening in the future or why would they even set up that infrastructure especially in the Villages? We don't know what the future holds but if history tells us anything, we will need more internet bandwidth for streaming and other internet access in the coming years.

Update: last time we discussed this necessary speed question If I remember correctly there was one person who said all he needed was 100Mbs and proved to us why. Fortunately for him, Xfinity offers a super cheap service that provides these slow speeds. Its called Xfinity Now and it's $30/month for 100Mbs, I don't think there is anything cheaper here in the Villages.

But the price isn’t really locked in. I signed up for $30 a month a few years back and then they raised it to $40 about 6 months ago. Still a bargain, I think, but I wouldn’t put too much stock in their price for life.

[Pugchief]

Originally Posted by CarlR33

Price for life? Would you (if you had a company) provide a service for the same price for life? Just asking.

No, *I* wouldn't. But since they do, they should either honor their promise or not offer it in the first place. Anything else seems like false advertising.

[Boilerman]

Originally Posted by Pugchief

No, *I* wouldn't. But since they do, they should either honor their promise or not offer it in the first place. Anything else seems like false advertising.

Agree

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Boilerman

But the price isn’t really locked in. I signed up for $30 a month a few years back and then they raised it to $40 about 6 months ago. Still a bargain, I think, but I wouldn’t put too much stock in their price for life.

Right, I remember that now that you mention it. They offered a $30/month service for a short period then increased it to $40 but that was the only increase I've seen in 4 years with Quantum. They were also migrating from their Wifi 6 customer equipment to the new Wifi 7 equipment at that time.

As far as locking in the price, here is an example of what I mean. Many have the 500Mbs service for $50. Recently they increased the price for that same service to $55 for new customers in some areas of the Villages. None of my old sign-ups at $50 got that $5/month increase. Another case is where about two years ago there was that 1Gbs service for $35/month offer that lasted about a month. Again that service is now $65/month and none of the $35/month customers price changed. Technically you are correct. They have wording that says the price can change but it's been pretty stable and I expect it to stay that way. Even if AT&T aquires Lumen, their pricing on fiber internet is not too much different. Nothing is guaranteed but as you said, the cost is "still a bargan" if you can get it.

[Mrprez]

From the FAQ at Quantum Fiber.

“ It means your internet service monthly rate stays the same for as long as you keep the same plan at the same address, remain in good standing, and don’t make any changes to the plan. Your internet service monthly rate subject to continued plan availability and your offer may also terminate if we discontinue your internet plan due to network, equipment, or technology changes or upgrades. Price for Life means no promo rates that jump later, no surprises—just a monthly rate you can count on.”

[Pugchief]

Originally Posted by Mrprez

From the FAQ at Quantum Fiber.

Your internet service monthly rate subject to continued plan availability and your offer may also terminate if we discontinue your internet plan

LOL, exactly. They make a minor tweak and your price lock is gone.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Pugchief

LOL, exactly. They make a minor tweak and your price lock is gone.

True, but they haven't in 4 years since I've had the service. Infact, they have lowered the price without unlocking the service twice in those 4 years.

If you look at what we are paying for state-of-the-art fiber service compared to the rest of the country, we are very fortunate to have very low prices.

When I mean state-of-the-art, I mean we all have at least G-PON service and in the newer installs Quantum Fiber utilizes XGS-PON, which is a next-generation Passive Optical Network (PON) that enhances bandwidth for communities.

XGS-PON: Provides symmetrical bandwidth of up to 8 Gbps, allowing for high-speed internet access without modifications to existing fiber infrastructure.

Eventually we will all be upgraded to XGS-PON since it uses the same fiber only different equipment at the hubs and at the central office. Quantum already installed the latest Smart-NID at my home in my low voltage cabinet to support this newer infrastructure so I can test it when available. It looks like the same Smart-NID everyone has only with a newer faster processor and 10Gbs ports.

[jrref]

I went to the Quantum web site this morning to look at the explanation of Price for Life since they have updated their web site. At a high level they are basically saying as long as you don't change your service and your current service meaning speed tier is not discontinued, your price will not change. But, they then go on to say any taxes, fees or equipment costs could increase and change your price.

That said the taxes and fees only apply if you get a phone from them or you live in an area in the country where local taxes and fees for internet may exist. We don't have that here in the Villages. But remember when they raised the price of a service from $30/month to $40/month as one poster mentioned? I seem to remember that's when they migrated to the new Wifi7 equipment as I mentioned. So, maybe that was an equipment increase because since then, except for some services increasing by $5/month, I haven't seen any other increases.

The other change is they used to give you up to 4 remote pods at no cost but now you only get 1. Not a big deal since I'm findind you are better off not using a remote pod if you can get adequate coverage with just the main wifi pod. As I mentioned, if the main wifi pod is installed in the right location, here in the Villages "most" homes will not need a remote pod. What I like to do is mount the main pod over the kitchen cabinets and hard wire the office if the home has one. I also discovered you can use a standard wifi extender like from Netgear and it will work with the Quantum Wifi main pod. You might not get all the features if is has anything special but it will extend the signal.

Either way their wording covers them if for whatever reason they need to increase the price.

[Boilerman]

Originally Posted by jrref

We have 1GBs service because my wife and I do a lot of work on our computers and just want our uploads and downloads and overall access to the internet to be as fast as possible.

So I understand faster uploads and downloads, but does more bandwidth mean you have faster response times to, for example, normal loading of web pages?

[Boilerman]

Originally Posted by jrref

I went to the Quantum web site this morning to look at the explanation of Price for Life since they have updated their web site. At a high level they are basically saying as long as you don't change your service and your current service meaning speed tier is not discontinued, your price will not change. But, they then go on to say any taxes, fees or equipment costs could increase and change your price.

That said the taxes and fees only apply if you get a phone from them or you live in an area in the country where local taxes and fees for internet may exist. We don't have that here in the Villages. But remember when they raised the price of a service from $30/month to $40/month as one poster mentioned? I seem to remember that's when they migrated to the new Wifi7 equipment as I mentioned. So, maybe that was an equipment increase because since then, except for some services increasing by $5/month, I haven't seen any other increases.

The other change is they used to give you up to 4 remote pods at no cost but now you only get 1. Not a big deal since I'm findind you are better off not using a remote pod if you can get adequate coverage with just the main wifi pod. As I mentioned, if the main wifi pod is installed in the right location, here in the Villages "most" homes will not need a remote pod. What I like to do is mount the main pod over the kitchen cabinets and hard wire the office if the home has one. I also discovered you can use a standard wifi extender like from Netgear and it will work with the Quantum Wifi main pod. You might not get all the features if is has anything special but it will extend the signal.

Either way their wording covers them if for whatever reason they need to increase the price.

Not meaning to nitpick but
1) I pay a 32 cent a month for a Facility relocation cost recovery fee. So my bill $40.32
2) with the new equipment, they only sent me one pod but I asked for a second pod and they sent me a second no charge.
3) when my bill increased from $30 to $40, is still showed that price for fiber service and the equipment was still free.

I’m happy enough with quantum that I didn’t even call to complain when they raised my price in spite of their lifetime guarantee.

[wlasowicz]

I have quantum also. You should understand the price is not for life but "life of the plan " Hopefully they keep the plan but if it changes so will the cost

[wlasowicz]

On the question of speed general thinking is the faster the better. I lot depends on your hardware/equipment. Easy way to think of this is you have a car that will only 60mph max but you paying to drive on a road you can go 100mph max Yes you can go faster but your limited because your car will only do 60 mph.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Boilerman

So I understand faster uploads and downloads, but does more bandwidth mean you have faster response times to, for example, normal loading of web pages?

Download speed is how fast data can get from the internet to your computer. It would not affect how long it takes before a page first begins to load but it would affect how long it would take a page to finish loading once it had started.

If a page contains a very large amount of data such as a very large high-definition image then you might notice it.

Download speed is most important for streaming and gaming. Each 4K video stream can take about 30Mbps. I normally only stream one or two shows simultaneously so my 200Mbs is more than adequate. I believe four streams would fit in my 200Mbs but it is unlikely that I will ever be watching four shows at once.

Some games require a huge amount of data delivered in a very timely manner so very good upload and download speeds can be important. I don't game so others will have to speak to what makes sense for that.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by wlasowicz

On the question of speed general thinking is the faster the better. I lot depends on your hardware/equipment. Easy way to think of this is you have a car that will only 60mph max but you paying to drive on a road you can go 100mph max Yes you can go faster but your limited because your car will only do 60 mph.

Responding to the question of response time, you are right and gave a great example. A fiber connection will always be faster and will "seem" quicker assuming your PC or internet device can keep up like most have mentioned because you have a direct connection not a shared one like cable which will vary especially during peak hours. It's not only about speed it's also about the latency or response time of the system which includes the link speed and having enough servers at the ISP. As to your analogy, with cable they can offer you a "deal", 1Gbs for $40/month but you will be on a 100MPH highway with bumper-to-bumper traffic at peak times and enough traffic most other times where on average where you will be moving less than the full 100MPH because there are too many cars on your highway. Depending on where you live in the Villages and how many left cable for fiber will effect your specific experience.

Have you ever wondered why the cable companies can give you internet service for prices that seem incredibly cheap? It's because they don't guarantee any minimum speed or latency. They just give you "Typical" values and from experimenting with both at my house the cable varies all over the place most of the time and the Fiber is dead-on full speed all of the time. Cable companies just keep dumping more and more customers onto their network and do very little or no expansion at least here in the Villages.

For example: For my home here in Osceola Hills

Xfinity 1Gbs $85/month
Speeds Provided with Plan
Typical download speed 1167.49 Mbps
Typical upload speed 41.01 Mbps
Typical latency 13.77 Milliseconds

Quantum 1Gbs $35/month (regular price $65/month)
Download speed 940 Mbps
Upload speed 940 Mbps
Latency 4 Milliseconds

Although the download speeds are similar, the minimum latency is about 10ms+ with cable and it's usually more from my testing.

So, at the end of the day, many don't care about this difference but these are facts. Now, I do want to also point out, if you live in the North East or some other metro area, cable has newer infrastructure and can approach fiber but we don't have that here in the Villages and if we did you wouldn't be paying $30 or $40/month for internet. You will be paying a premium.

I'm sorry for the long response but after I retired from Verizon, I sold internet in NY for many years and in this day and age everyone should have a choice of internet providers and fully understand what they need and don't need and choose the service that best suits their individual needs. Fortunately most have a choice of providers here in the Villages.