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Am I cursed to never have good internet?

Distinct Lunatic

By Distinct Lunatic
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Distinct Lunatic

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Like, for my whole life I've been fucked over when it comes to good internet.

Starting from the beginning, like most kids back in the day we had dial up, but for us we pretty much had AOL until around 2009. I had pretty good internet at my grandparents house, which I used the shit out of until my gramps died in 2010, and my grandma sold their house, her not getting internet for her new place.

Around 2009 we started using some cricket wireless internet, that was somewhat better than AOL although couldn't really watch videos. At the end of 2010 we switched to Sprint, back when wifi was becoming a big thing, I had to buy $400~ smartphone (the HTC Evo) in order to get unlimited data, cause apparently it was a case where if were getting 4g coverage then it'd be unlimited, but I've always (still to this day) have garbage coverage from Sprint despite living in the center of 3 towers (them all being within 2-3 miles of my house), we got unlimited data with 3g by buying that phone, and the experience was dogshit to say the least. I very rarely had more than 1 bar of signal, and the speed was at best half a mb a second.

Then at some point in 2011, all the mobile carriers got rid of their unlimited plans, we ended up switching to AT&T, where for just two phone lines with 5gb of data on each, our phone bill (for just 2 people) was close to $300 every single month.

Then in late 2012 or early 2013 we got rid of AT&T, I ended up getting Hughesnet (cause my house can only get wireless or satellite internet). With the hughesnet I was paying around $120 a month I believe for 15gb a month. The speed was pretty good, but the problem was rationing out that 15gb to last the month. It was possible to watch videos but they had to be 360p-480p. What really pissed me off was in cases where in the first week where my mom or step-dad would burn through a large chunk of my data, it still being a case where once the data ran out it was basically dial up speeds. What I ended up doing was using my phone data (I had a big discount through t-mobile by then because of the job i had back then), and in addition to that I was paying for a wireless hotspot through cricket in which I was getting around 8gb a month. So I'm not shitting you when I said I was spending close to $250 every month, just for what amounted to around 28gb of data.

It wasn't until Dec. 2014 that I finally got a break, I started paying some guy that I met through ebay $120 a month for a grandfathered unlimited data verizon account, only then did I have internet that was fast and without data caps or throttling... in then in 2016 or 2017 apparently verizon changed their policy to where if you used over 100gb or 200gb on those accounts then you'd either have to change to their new "unlimited" plan or they'll end your service. Fortunately my internet guy was able to switch me over to a grandfathered AT&T account that he had, and that served me better than Verizon up until most of 2019, though the price went up to where I was paying around $150 a month.

Which brings me to now. For the last few months I've been getting garbage service with AT&T, it went from running very fast (70mbps and above) to at best 30-40, more commonly around 20. And then there was a full day where for some reason they cut service to me. And then over a month ago where I was pretty damn sure they started throttling grandfathered accounts cause my download speed was around 0.5 mbps, while my upload was over 10. After a day or two, it went away but then I was getting around 10-15 down at best. I then decided to look into this one service provider called a007, where they offer unlimited internet that runs off Sprint, T-mobile, and AT&T's network. When I switched to them I got the plan that ran through AT&T cause I figured it'd run best in my area... which it didn't, I was still getting sub 15 down speed. So I figured AT&T was a no go, so I called them up and switched to the plan that ran through T-mobile. And again I was getting the same speed, which made me investigate the cause, and apparently it's because for my motherboard on my pc there's a program called Lan Manager, I turned that off and my download and upload speeds immediately shot up.

The problem I then noticed with the service is while my download speeds weren't throttled and data wasn't capped (with the AT&T I tested that one by downloading a 120gb game, and while it was slow because that one program, it was never throttled by my ISP. And with T-mobile I downloaded a 60gb game which ran between 40-60mbps the whole time), so it's a weird case where downloads aren't throttled in any way, but for video streaming it runs like shit. If I used a VPN then even 4k videos would load immediately, but without it anything above 480p didn't work. And the problem with using a VPN is that (at that time) could only be used on my pc, while all the smartphones and smart tvs in my house would be SoL. I then switched back to AT&T cause I figured without that lan manager program I should be getting good speed with them... and no, I was still only getting 20-30 at the best. Also video quality was still capped... which made me come to the conclusion that (I'm pretty damn sure anyway) that my ISP is just reselling (for the most part) the unlimited plans that sprint t-mobile and at&t offers. Cause the details for those mobile carriers unlimited plans all state that video quality is to be capped at 480p. I don't think they're full on reselling those plans cause from what I've gathered, a007 is a reputable business, so my assumption is maybe they have business agreements where they buy those services through the providers, but without talk and text, but the unlimited data without deprioritizing, but because the way those plans work video streaming is still throttled. I talked to my ISP and they said they don't throttle video streaming, and it's more than likely my area that's the problem.

So in the end I ended up having to pay around $120 for 3 years of NordVPN (I had PIA, but that one wouldn't have worked) cause my internet modem has it where I can set my internet to run through their service, so with that all the devices in my house can use video streaming sites normally, but now because they block VPNs I can't use Netflix (although to be fair I barely ever used it even when I personally had it), and online sites like Kissanime and Kissmanga won't let me visit them. The only real solution I have to all this shit is to move somewhere else. Things are finally looking up for me with my workplace, where I'll finally be hired full time in the next month, which means going from $10 an hour to $17 an hour (with annual raises for the next 3 years of around $2.40 each), and with that I plan on buying a new house by Summer time next year.

Edited by Dread Pirate Roberts
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Ginguy Freakin Mutant

Ginguy

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15 minutes ago, Dread Pirate Roberts said:

Like, for my whole life I've been fucked over when it comes to good internet.

Starting from the beginning, like most kids back in the day we had dial up, but for us we pretty much had AOL until around 2009. I had pretty good internet at my grandparents house, which I used the shit out of until my gramps died in 2010, and my grandma sold their house, her not getting internet for her new place.

Around 2009 we started using some cricket wireless internet, that was somewhat better than AOL although couldn't really watch videos. At the end of 2010 we switched to Sprint, back when wifi was becoming a big thing, I had to buy $400~ smartphone (the HTC Evo) in order to get unlimited data, cause apparently it was a case where if were getting 4g coverage then it'd be unlimited, but I've always (still to this day) have garbage coverage from Sprint despite living in the center of 3 towers (them all being within 2-3 miles of my house), we got unlimited data with 3g by buying that phone, and the experience was dogshit to say the least. I very rarely had more than 1 bar of signal, and the speed was at best half a mb a second.

Then at some point in 2011, all the mobile carriers got rid of their unlimited plans, we ended up switching to AT&T, where for just two phone lines with 5gb of data on each, our phone bill (for just 2 people) was close to $300 every single month.

Then in late 2012 or early 2013 we got rid of AT&T, I ended up getting Hughesnet (cause my house can only get wireless or satellite internet). With the hughesnet I was paying around $120 a month I believe for 15gb a month. The speed was pretty good, but the problem was rationing out that 15gb to last the month. It was possible to watch videos but they had to be 360p-480p. What really pissed me off was in cases where in the first week where my mom or step-dad would burn through a large chunk of my data, it still being a case where once the data ran out it was basically dial up speeds. What I ended up doing was using my phone data (I had a big discount through t-mobile by then because of the job i had back then), and in addition to that I was paying for a wireless hotspot through cricket in which I was getting around 8gb a month. So I'm not shitting you when I said I was spending close to $250 every month, just for what amounted to around 28gb of data.

It wasn't until Dec. 2014 that I finally got a break, I started paying some guy that I met through ebay $120 a month for a grandfathered unlimited data verizon account, only then did I have internet that was fast and without data caps or throttling... in then in 2016 or 2017 apparently verizon changed their policy to where if you used over 100gb or 200gb on those accounts then you'd either have to change to their new "unlimited" plan or they'll end your service. Fortunately my internet guy was able to switch me over to a grandfathered AT&T account that he had, and that served me better than Verizon up until most of 2019, though the price went up to where I was paying around $150 a month.

Which brings me to now. For the last few months I've been getting garbage service with AT&T, it went from running very fast (70mbps and above) to at best 30-40, more commonly around 20. And then there was a full day where for some reason they cut service to me. And then over a month ago where I was pretty damn sure they started throttling grandfathered accounts cause my download speed was around 0.5 mbps, while my upload was over 10. After a day or two, it went away but then I was getting around 10-15 down at best. I then decided to look into this one service provider called a007, where they offer unlimited internet that runs off Sprint, T-mobile, and AT&T's network. When I switched to them I got the plan that ran through AT&T cause I figured it'd run best in my area... which it didn't, I was still getting sub 15 down speed. So I figured AT&T was a no go, so I called them up and switched to the plan that ran through T-mobile. And again I was getting the same speed, which made me investigate the cause, and apparently it's because for my motherboard on my pc there's a program called Lan Manager, I turned that off and my download and upload speeds immediately shot up.Epstein didn't kill himself.

The problem I then noticed with the service is while my download speeds weren't throttled and data wasn't capped (with the AT&T I tested that one by downloading a 120gb game, and while it was slow because that one program, it was never throttled by my ISP. And with T-mobile I downloaded a 60gb game which ran between 40-60mbps the whole time), so it's a weird case where downloads aren't throttled in any way, but for video streaming it runs like shit. If I used a VPN then even 4k videos would load immediately, but without it anything above 480p didn't work. And the problem with using a VPN is that (at that time) could only be used on my pc, while all the smartphones and smart tvs in my house would be SoL. I then switched back to AT&T cause I figured without that lan manager program I should be getting good speed with them... and no, I was still only getting 20-30 at the best. Also video quality was still capped... which made me come to the conclusion that (I'm pretty damn sure anyway) that my ISP is just reselling (for the most part) the unlimited plans that sprint t-mobile and at&t offers. Cause the details for those mobile carriers unlimited plans all state that video quality is to be capped at 480p. I don't think they're full on reselling those plans cause from what I've gathered, a007 is a reputable business, so my assumption is maybe they have business agreements where they buy those services through the providers, but without talk and text, but the unlimited data without deprioritizing, but because the way those plans work video streaming is still throttled. I talked to my ISP and they said they don't throttle video streaming, and it's more than likely my area that's the problem.

So in the end I ended up having to pay around $120 for 3 years of NordVPN (I had PIA, but that one wouldn't have worked) cause my internet modem has it where I can set my internet to run through their service, so with that all the devices in my house can use video streaming sites normally, but now because they block VPNs I can't use Netflix (although to be fair I barely ever used it even when I personally had it), and online sites like Kissanime and Kissmanga won't let me visit them. The only real solution I have to all this shit is to move somewhere else. Things are finally looking up for me with my workplace, where I'll finally be hired full time in the next month, which means going from $10 an hour to $17 an hour (with annual raises for the next 3 years of around $2.40 each), and with that I plan on buying a new house by Summer time next year. Eric Ciamarella is the whistleblower

Fascinating story, and I like the optimism at the end. I'm sure things will pick up for you when companies start to expand infrastructure for 5g.

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Distinct Lunatic

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1 minute ago, Ginguy said:

Fascinating story, and I like the optimism at the end. I'm sure things will pick up for you when companies start to expand infrastructure for 5g.

I see what you did there...

but yeah, realistically for this house here the only way it will ever get good internet is either 5g taking off (assuming that it's unlimited or at the very least a data cap in the 100's), or if Elon Musk-senpai comes through with his Starlink service

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Distinct Lunatic

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25 minutes ago, Vela said:

I read your whole thing...and it made me want my own tower even more.

I've legit always considered the idea of seeing how much it would cost to have AT&T or Charter run a broadband internet connection out here, but each time I disregarded that possibility since I don't own this house, and I've always intended on moving somewhere else.

I do wonder how much it would cost, if I had to guess I'd say a couple grand at the minimum, I guess it depends really. There's this one animal shelter that's like a 30 second drive away from my house, the people that run it have a house built a little aways from it, and I've been told they had internet ran to their place, so if AT&T or Charter were to extend off that connection it might not be as expensive as it could be. but then again these are major corporations we're talking about, so I'd imagine the minimum cost would be 2-3 grand.

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Vela Megastar

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16 minutes ago, Dread Pirate Roberts said:

I've legit always considered the idea of seeing how much it would cost to have AT&T or Charter run a broadband internet connection out here, but each time I disregarded that possibility since I don't own this house, and I've always intended on moving somewhere else.

I do wonder how much it would cost, if I had to guess I'd say a couple grand at the minimum, I guess it depends really. There's this one animal shelter that's like a 30 second drive away from my house, the people that run it have a house built a little aways from it, and I've been told they had internet ran to their place, so if AT&T or Charter were to extend off that connection it might not be as expensive as it could be. but then again these are major corporations we're talking about, so I'd imagine the minimum cost would be 2-3 grand.

AAAAARRRRRRG!  This day and age!!!  Should be FREE!!!!

 

 

*sigh* Mark, yen, a buck or a pound...that clinking, clanking, clunking sound.

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