About the internet in the USA

tainauke

tainauke

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Hi all,

I live in France for the moment, but will be moving to the USA beginning of next year and was wondering about the internet over there.
I believe that the service is really more expensive in the USA than in France.

In France we have, for about 45$, unlimited, no caps, wifi vdsl2 internet, unlimited phone calls, and the box comes with blue ray player.
For 20$ more, we have unlimited phone calls, texting, and 3 gigs of internet (with caps) for cell phone.
The unlimited calls include, France, the USA, Canada, most of Europe and other countries...

Does an equivalent exist in the USA?
If not, what would be a good alternative that wouldn't cost an arm?

I will seem strange to use the internet with limits when used to such freedom... How do you guys get along? Am I worrying for nothing? :confused:

How am I to watch and rewatch UU+ videos if I'm limited on the internet? It seems so unfair!!!!
 
tainauke said:
Hi all,

I live in France for the moment, but will be moving to the USA beginning of next year and was wondering about the internet over there.
I believe that the service is really more expensive in the USA than in France.

In France we have, for about 45$, unlimited, no caps, wifi vdsl2 internet, unlimited phone calls, and the box comes with blue ray player.
For 20$ more, we have unlimited phone calls, texting, and 3 gigs of internet (with caps) for cell phone.
The unlimited calls include, France, the USA, Canada, most of Europe and other countries...

Does an equivalent exist in the USA?
If not, what would be a good alternative that wouldn't cost an arm?

I will seem strange to use the internet with limits when used to such freedom... How do you guys get along? Am I worrying for nothing? :confused:

How am I to watch and rewatch UU+ videos if I'm limited on the internet? It seems so unfair!!!!
Click to expand...

Hi There,
In the US, we are billed based on maximum speed for the internet at home. Currently there are no limits to the bandwidth used. Speeds vary widely depending on where you live. The service providers (could be telephone company, cable TV company, satellite TV provider, sometimes even the power company) often bundle VOIP for an additional price. Many people do this out of convenience, but you can actually get service cheaper from a VOIP provider.

In terms of cell phone, it depends. There are a few plans that will bundle home and cell service at a discount (if your home service is from Verizon or AT&T), but it will very likely be more than a $20 up-charge. Cell data is often capped or throttled once a threshold is reached. That said, wifi is everywhere and often free.

With more details, I could help more. What city are you moving to? With the major decrease in taxes you will save moving here, the minor difference in service cost won't be noticed. ;)
 
Tigeralum2001 said:
Currently there are no limits to the bandwidth used.
Click to expand...
That depends on the provider. Some have instituted caps, but they really don't affect any but the most egregious of users (like those who torrent 24/7). I seriously doubt watching UU+ videos repeatedly could put you over any limit.

It also depends a lot on where you live. In the part of Los Angeles where I am, the fastest internet available is cable and there's only one cable provider. :(
 
If you haven't committed to a specific address yet, make sure you do a little research before choosing where you live. Some neighborhoods are wired for high speed internet, and others are not. For cell phone, you might check out the Virgin Mobile unlimited plan (about $30 a month) and maybe T-Mobile. Ting is a very interesting alternative as well.

–Lori
 
I agree with you that it will be more expensive in the USA than in France. When I lived in France, I was very frustrated with the slow internet service. I thought it was inexpensive, but poor quality.

As mentioned, different regions of the USA have different levels of service available; different cities have different levels of service with different costs.

In the USA, I pay $80/mo for unlimited internet service (cable service, not DSL) and I pay $3/mo for unlimited phone calls in USA & Canada (using VOIP service). My mobile phone is a separate service/bill that is about $90/mo for unlimited internet, 500 text msg, and 300 minutes of talking in USA.
 
Thank you all so much for your replies.

I am planning on moving to Florida, more precisely the Tampa Bay area.

I am worried, because a friend of mine went to live in Montreal and she got internet over there, with a pretty big provider (forgot the name though). As she was used to unlimited internet, she got a big plan, 150 gigs / month for 80$ with additional (paying) wifi.
After only 1 month, she had a bill of 700$!!!!!!!! Apparently, she had downloaded more than 150 gigs (which I doubt, I mean she doesn't play games on the internet, doesn't use Netflix, might have downloaded a few things on the iTunes, but nothing big).
When she called her service provider, they assured her that she hadn't been hacked.
The following month, she hardly used her internet at all, just went on to check her emails, the weather and little things like that. Whenever she would leave the apartment, she would unplug her internet and wifi, and still had gone over the 150 gigs, and had to pay 140$ of internet.

Now, I'm thinking that either the provided "lied" to her, and it wasn't really 150 gigs, or there is something really weird going on.
She has since returned her box and wifi to the provider, and only uses free internet in cafés or malls...

Her experience really scared me off, and I don't want this happening to me... I mean a 700$ internet bill!!!!! This is madness!!!! Right? :confused:

80$/month for unlimited internet is more expensive than what I pay now, but still seems reasonable compared to other prices I glanced...
 
Yeah, that's a pretty outrageous story! While I'm sure there are bad providers everywhere, my experiences here in the US are nothing like that. In my areas (Philadelphia suburbs) there are several broadband providers, and a basic internet plan runs around $40-50 month. For example, my provider, Verizon, has 15/15 plan that runs about $50/month and includes unlimited usage and they even provide a router for you to use. That's enough bandwidth for most applications, as long as you don't have a family of 4 all streaming movies at the same time. I have the 35/35 plan, which is only a few dollars more, and that's been fine, even with computer, Netflix, iPad all going at the same time.

There are several members from the Tampa Bay area here, so hopefully they can help you out. Plus, you get one of the best ukulele festivals in the country, or so I hear... :)
 
That horror story from Canada is really strange! I pay $30/month for 15 Mb down/5 up, fiber optic direct to my home, no caps. The provider includes the wireless router at that price. My TV, BluRay player, and three laptops (on wifi) are all connected. Our home phone is through our cell provider at $10/month.
 
Thanks for all the info, I'm reassured.

Just wondering though, what is the 15/15 or 35/35 plan RichM wrote about? Is it just the name of the plan? Or something else?

I also hear that the Tampa Bay Uke Fest was really awesome! Can't wait to check it out!!!!! :D
 
tainauke said:
Thanks for all the info, I'm reassured.

Just wondering though, what is the 15/15 or 35/35 plan RichM wrote about? Is it just the name of the plan? Or something else?

I also hear that the Tampa Bay Uke Fest was really awesome! Can't wait to check it out!!!!! :D
Click to expand...

15mb per second download speed, 15mb upload speed. 35/35 is the same, only faster. bbycrts noted he had 15/5; some plans have a lower-bandwidth upload speed than the download speed. For casual users, this is no big deal, since most of us don't upload that often and can deal with a somewhat lower bandwidth.
 
tainauke said:
Thank you all so much for your replies.

I am planning on moving to Florida, more precisely the Tampa Bay area.

I am worried, because a friend of mine went to live in Montreal and she got internet over there, with a pretty big provider (forgot the name though). As she was used to unlimited internet, she got a big plan, 150 gigs / month for 80$ with additional (paying) wifi.
After only 1 month, she had a bill of 700$!!!!!!!! Apparently, she had downloaded more than 150 gigs (which I doubt, I mean she doesn't play games on the internet, doesn't use Netflix, might have downloaded a few things on the iTunes, but nothing big).
When she called her service provider, they assured her that she hadn't been hacked.
The following month, she hardly used her internet at all, just went on to check her emails, the weather and little things like that. Whenever she would leave the apartment, she would unplug her internet and wifi, and still had gone over the 150 gigs, and had to pay 140$ of internet.

Now, I'm thinking that either the provided "lied" to her, and it wasn't really 150 gigs, or there is something really weird going on.
She has since returned her box and wifi to the provider, and only uses free internet in cafés or malls...

Her experience really scared me off, and I don't want this happening to me... I mean a 700$ internet bill!!!!! This is madness!!!! Right? :confused:

80$/month for unlimited internet is more expensive than what I pay now, but still seems reasonable compared to other prices I glanced...
Click to expand...
First of all that story is out of Canada...not America:)

When I lived in GA we had unlimited highspeed cable internet. i don't know the specifics of our plan except that it cost me $60 a month and I had no issues with my speed (often times, my wife and I would both be using wif-fi and have no issues).

Now I live in Alaska and I pay an outrageous amount of money for a plan that only offers me 15 gigs? or megabite? I know that I can basically download or stream about 12 movies a month on netflix and be maxed out. If I go over my plan, I have to pay. But I am in a remote location and there are no other options.
 
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