"Is GTE really a cable provider in FL? I thought they were just a telco, possibly offering XDSL... If its not a typo, can you tell me how the competition is working out? Pricing, etc? Are you using one of these services? I notice that your e-mail address is @aol.com. Why in a world of free web e-mail and rare access to not one but two competiting fat pipes do you choose to still pay for AOL service?"
Sam,
No, it's not a typo. GTE really is a cable provider. More accurately, a MSO. They offer Cable TV service and high speed cable Internet access too. They are a CLEC but I'm guessing they knew they better do some real world testing, before they RELUCTANTLY spend hundreds of millions to go the xDSL route. I was lucky enough to be in their test market in Flordia. They also did another test in California.
As far as competing with Roadrunner, GTE was asking $50/month for cable modem service. I tried them both and am very familar with both services. GTE was fine, but I noticed the speed was only slightly greater than my dial-up 56K service. So I contacted them and found out why. They choke the speeds down to about 30% faster than 56K service (after advertising 10 megbit service!). God only knows why? I tried to explain to them it was, "stupid," but they would not listen. Why should I pay $50/month for that speed? I have to admit, the connection was, "perfect." My connections were quick and consistent no matter where I browsed, even on SI. But it seemed ridiculous to pay $50/month for that speed (ouch! to the readers who pay for ISDN or T1 service). The TV signals are of high quality. They trenched in very high quality, coaxial cables.
RoadRunner offers full blown 10 meg (although I've only seen 1 or 2 megs max) service for $40/month. But the problem is (in case you have not seen my other posts) is the connection is TERRIBLY unreliable. But WHEN it works, it works well. The TV signal is of acceptable quality only.
Now as far as why I still pay AOL $20/month on top of my cable modem service? I find that most novice users of E-mail figure out AOL very quickly. So in order not to have to re-train my employees on using other more complicated E-mail programs, I just simply tell them all to use AOL. Plus, AOL allows me to connect, literally around the world with the price of a local call. I travel fairly extensively and anywhere in Europe, Canada, or the US, I'm able to log on with the price of a local call and communicate with my office. I'll be going to Asia soon and I noticed they even have local numbers in Bangkok. GTE Americast and Time Warner RoadRunner are only local services.
Hope that helps,
MikeM(From Florida)
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