High Speed Internet Service Providers Reviewed

According to an article published last week at consumeraffairs.com, the FCC has taken the initial steps to provide funding to pay for the expansion of high-speed broadband service to rural America.  The article said that FCC representatives propose overhauling the Universal Service Fund, a fund set up many years ago to expand telephone service to rural American communities.  Julius Genachowski, Federal Communications Commission chairman, spelled out the details in a speech given recently in Washington.  He proposed an $8 billion subsidy that would make broadband as commonplace as landline telephones.  Genachowski said:  ”High speed broadband has gone from being a luxury to being a necessity if our rural communities hope to enjoy full participation in society and the global economy.”  Currently rural communities are dependent upon dial-up or satellite services, such as Wild Blue Internet, to get high-speed broadband.

The Veterans Administration wants to use the Internet as well as social media to end its  reputation as antiquated, overwhelmed and obstructionist, says an article in today’s edition of the Washington Post.  Accordingly they have hired Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, an Army Veteran, to produce a 4-minute video designed for VA employees.  Officials of the Veterans Administration hope the video will be a reminder to employees to provide excellent service to vets.  The film is designed to show employees exactly what the VA system looks like to the veterans just returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq:  usually daunting, time-consuming and confusing.

The VA has also hired Alex Horton, creator of the blog  named Army of Dude. Horton’s job will be the VA’s official blogger and he has been commissioned to continue pointing out the department’s shortfalls. While Horton has ruffled some feathers in Washington, his new blog, VAntage Point, is read widely by both VA vets and staffers. Still another new way the Internet is helping people.

There are several good reasons why HughesNet Satellite Internet is the #1 provider of satellite Internet in the USA today. Here are just a few:  It is available to everyone, no matter where they live in the U.S.  The connection is so fast you can flip through web pages just like you turn the pages of a book!  It works with both Windows-based and Mac systems.  Dial-up is never necessary, so your phone is always free and never tied up with the Internet. Installation is done right by a HughesNet installer, the secure network is constantly monitored and expert customer service is available from friendly agents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! HughesNet is provides satellite Internet to over 100 countries, so you know they have the expertise to back up their service — after all Hughes has been a major provider for more than thirty years!

I recently took a look at the Internet service providers in my area to see what was available to our household.  Our family lives in the far northwestern suburbs of St Louis. We are fortunate to have Charter cable, which we use and works great. But unless we went to a satellite service, cable is really all we have available to us as a high-speed broadband connection.  AT&T is heavily advertising Uverse in the St Louis marketplace, but when we checked on its availability we were told that CenturyLink has most of the infrastructure under contract in the St Charles County area — which is where we live.  Even at that, CenturyLink does not offer DSL anywhere near our wooded subdivision. So for the time being we feel we are very fortunate to a have high-speed cable connection, because there are still some outlying areas very near to us that are not wired for cable and are too remote for DSL — even though they are still considered a part of the greater St Louis metropolitan area.

Comcast has been making quite a splash with its Internet Essentials Program around the country.  According to an article in today’s Sacramento Bee, CenturyLink has come up with a very similar program they are calling Internet Basics. The idea behind the program is to get folks who live in low-income households online by offering a discounted monthly rate of $9.95.  And while the Comcast program offers a voucher for a free basic computer, CenturyLink is offering families an Internet netbook computer for a deeply discounted cost of $150.00. “The Internet has become a basic part of daily life for most people in this country but there are many who still are not connected due to cost. CenturyLink is very happy to make affordable high-speed Internet service and inexpensive computers available to those who need the financial help to get online.” said Glen Post, President and C.E.O.  CenturyLink, one of the nation’s leading Internet service providers,  is additionally offering free technology training through the Internet Basics program.

According to a report released today on the PR Newsire, Verizon is continuing to change how families enjoy and interact with their televisions.  This week the company delivered a new version of the Verizon FiOS Interactive Media Guide to subscribers living throughout Delaware, New Jersey and the greater Philadelphia area.  Currently FiOS boasts that nearly 3,000,000 households are signed up in the tri-state area.  FiOS, first Introduced back in 2007, was the first broadband program to bring together content from broadcast television, the Internet and the personal media of each subscriber into one system that manages all of it.  Since that year, FiOS has developed into an interactive TV experience which comes with several special and unique applications — such as remote DVR controls, multi-screen viewing, mobile viewing, intuitive search, Internet video, social networking, high-def music, personal media streaming, and on screen account management.

It used to be that buying a car was something everyone dreaded.  Of course we all liked the idea of having a new car — but shopping for it was akin to getting a root canal.  Pushy salesman, game-playing over price with the sales manager, deals being changed at the last minute — it was a nightmare.  Today, however, you can buy a car right on line.  Most dealerships have their entire inventory on their website. Most even have Internet managers to work with you who are NOT commissioned sales people. Just find the car you want, negotiate a price by email and never even talk to a sales person!  If you are purchasing a new car, you can contact several dealerships in a single afternoon! And without having to pay a huge sales commission, the dealerships can give you much better prices.  Of course, if your Internet connection is not up to speed, you may have a problem.  There are, however, many Internet service providers in your city that will help you to bring it up to date.

There was an article published last week in the Manchester Guardian, a major English newspaper, about the use of the Internet in treating patients in hospitals. According to the article, about 80% of the British population now has access to high-speed broadband at work, in their home, or both.  Even so, it is still difficult to find working examples of telemedicine, Internet-enabled health care, in Great Britain.  While face-to-face medical doctor visits remain important, telemedicine has the potential to form the backbone for the way health services will be accessed in the future. The reason is simple: Many specialties have only a single unit to cover an entire region.

As an example, the Royal Hospital for Children in Bristol began using a telemedicine system last month to do remote fetal and pediatric consultations on patients at the Royal Cornwall Hospital and the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. If patients in either of these hospitals were required to see their specialists face-to-face in Bristol, it would require a six hour trip. On the other hand, according to Doctor Andy Tometzki, the lead consultant in pediatric and fetal cardiology in Bristol, the use of telecardiology provides high definition images on both ends of the broadband link. The interaction is done in real time and is quite natural and simple for both doctor and patient.”

An alliance in Northern Florida, called the Florida Rural Broadband Alliance is promising to bring high-speed Internet to an eight county area in Northern Florida.  The alliance is made up from two not for profit business advocacy groups.  Its aim is to create more jobs, improve health care, and improve the business climate in the region. “This will allow businesses to have a faster and more reliable Internet connection, which is particularly important in today’s global economy”, said Rick Martin, the executive director of the FRBA. “When compled with Internet phone call providers, this new high-speed Internet will make doing business overseas much simpler.”  Currently the area relies mostly on DSL. Those living in the area can look up their local DSL providers by zip code to see if this new service will be available to them.

According to an article posted on today’s Bloomberg Businessweek, people who type in incorrect email addresses may now become a target for spam.  Spammers are setting up websites with URLs that are very similar to legitimate businesses. They then set up an email address at that website that automatically responds to incoming emails.  As an example, an Associated Press reporter was trying to send a note regarding Verizon Internet Service to verizonwireless.com.  He mistakenly left off the letter “m” in .com.  Someone set up a website at verizonwireless.co — and, of course, that is where his email ended up.  He received a response that said:  “I’m not in the office right now.  I’m on my dream vacation and I promise to get back to you when I return.  In the meantime, you should check this site to see how I scored the very best travel deal for my vacation.”  Obviously the person owning the site had an affiliate relationship with the travel company he had provided a link to — and was looking for a big fat royalty.  Owners of these sites are now being referred to as typeo squatters.

Were you aware that the Internet is being used to get staff community outreach?  Many churches are now using Internet programs to reach people who would like to volunteer to help others in need.  One minister in Texas has actually developed software that will help pastors who are striving to match volunteers to services that are needed in the community. The program can be used on church websites to help members learn about others with needs.  He said that since he has started using the program that it has been very effective in mobilizing church members to recognize that their are sick are elderly in their congregation that need assistance. He mentioned that many in his congregation had just signed up for ATT Uverse, a high-speed Internet service that was recently introduced in the area, and that this has put more congregation members online, which has also been helfpul.

In a press announcement made yesterday, Cox Communications was named the provider which offers the fastest Internet service in the United States according to a survey done by PC Magazine. Cox speeds averaged 18.51 Mbps download and 4.80 Mbps upload, 44 percent faster than the average ISP.  The survey adds still another distinction to Cox’s award winning broadband data portfolio. “Third parties making independent surveys consistently have recognized Cox as the broadband leader” said Allen Roberts, Vice President of Cox Operations in Virginia.  “We will continue to aggressively increase our speeds and offer new features and services in order to deliver the capabilities our customers’ needs.”  To see if Cox is available in your area, try doing a web search for Internet providers by zip code, a trick that has worked very well for thousands of consumers.

Last week we ran across a comment that was posted on an Internet related blog.  The reader just tried AT&T Internet service by way of their new program AT&T Uverse.  He said it first came to their area a while back, but it was more expensive than his current bill from his cable company.  After receiving a call at his door by an AT&T account manager, however, he said he was offered the Fairfield County Discount. The deal offered him the U200 package with more channels than he got on his current cable system, a higher Internet speed, free in-home wireless, and free DVR service.  The price was good for one year with an option to renew for another year.  This individual said that the installation went without a hitch and he was kept advised every step of the way what to expect and when to expect it.  He said everything works just as advertised.  He was particularly enamored with the online channel guide because it is searchable.  He also said managing his DVR from online is a real plus!

According to an article in the St George Daily Spectrum, Qwest customers in Southern Utah should begin gaining access to higher speeds on their Internet connection.  The increased speed is a direct result of the takeover of Qwest Internet by CenturyLink, back in April of this year.  CenturyLink is planning for a buildup of the infrastructure around Saint George and Cedar City.  Fiber connections should start being installed, bringing Internet speeds up to 40 Mbps to areas as remote as Enoch and Hurricane.  Also, the change should help create new jobs in the area.  Jackie Lalor, spokeswoman for CenturLink, said they are “crazy busy.”  She said there will be no decrease in the work force whatsoever.  Demand is huge for the speed fiber optics provides.”  Very soon customers will begin seeing the Qwest logos being replaced by CenturyLink at both retail locations and on their monthly bills.

It doesn’t matter where you live these days. The best Internet providers are available pretty much anywhere. So if you are looking to improve your Internet connection, you won’t have to look far. A quick web search should bring up plenty of choices — even better if you search by zip code. Whether it’s for business or pleasure, we all have need of the Internet daily and deserve fast service at a reasonable price. Whether it’s to print up some recipes for that upcoming family reunion, figure out how to replace your car’s brake pads, or explore the latest at Etsy, the Internet is a part of most people’s daily routine. No one should have to settle for second rate when the best Internet providers are available in most major cities.