Internet service speed – Dsl, cable, fiber, and alternatives

My wife and I are looking at houses and we have seen a few we are interested in. We have our list of requirements, one of which is decent internet speed. Our previous experience with internet service started with dsl back in the day, and our current place is fiber 100/100. The dsl worked ok for use way back in the day, and the fiber works well for us these days.

My wife works from home for a major corporation and their current minimum requirement for internet speed is Dsl. Her work phone is voice over internet. In addition to that we use the internet for streaming TV as we can pick and choose content, and time-shift viewing based around our schedule.

We also use the internet for education, research, financial, recreational opportunities, and probably other stuff I’m forgetting. The above usage is done via the various computers, tablets and tv throughout the house with 2-3 people.

Most of our new house requirements are straight forward and easy to quantify – 3+ bedrooms etc. However, when it comes to internet service/speed I’m a bit uneasy on how to quantify it. More is better is likely the best route to take, but on some of these homes they may have only dsl, or maybe cable.

For example, I have no idea how cable speeds stack up against fiber speeds, and I don’t fully understand the units of measure used for this. Is mbps (mega bites per second) the standard unit of measure? I have heard horror stories of people purchasing homes based on service provider promises that cable or fiber will be available ‘in the area soon’, only to have the schedule pushed back years.

I realize everybody’s usage is different but I’m wondering what you have for internet and has it been satisfactory? If you were buying a new home today, what would be your minimum requirement?

Finally, one real-estate agent said he has heard of cellular used as internet solutions. I assume this means using a phone/device as a hot spot and providing internet to the house via the cell signal. Anybody have input on this or other possible alternatives?

Thanks

map40
Explorer
Mar 06, 2018
We have comcast and 150mb. It does clock at that speed, rearly goes down.
AT&T does not work too good on DSL, but Fiber is better. FIOS is good, but for us, Comcast is still the best.
As far as Mobile, Verizon gives me between 30 to 80mb. The throttle down after a while, but not too bad.
Wrace
Explorer
Mar 05, 2018
Thanks for the replies, very helpful.
wnjj
Explorer II
Mar 02, 2018
Wrace wrote:
wnjj wrote:
Nobody has mentioned wireless. Our internet comes over the air since we are rural and have no cable. DSL wasn’t available either although I think they pushed it out to within reach now.

We’ve had it for over 14 years. It’s nowhere near the fiber and cable speeds but is better than nothing and less expensive than satellite or cellular. We have speeds of 3/1 but could pay for up to 10/3. Again, not fast but enough for general use, VPN to work and watching videos. Our provider is a smaller, local company.

You might see if there are wireless options where you are looking to move. Larger wireless providers likely offer considerably higher speeds.

When you say wireless, are you talking about systems like the verizon system a couple of posts above?

No. I realized I wasn’t very clear. Wireless is a dish-style antenna that points toward the provider’s tower and not cellular. It’s the same technology you use inside your house just with more power and better antennas. Google search for “wireless internet providers” in your area and then start calling them. Most if not all are smaller regional companies. For example, my provider is whiz.to but they only serve the area west of Portland.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2067283/meet-wisp-the-wireless-future-of-internet-service.html

Good luck with you house purchase. Rural living is awesome.
APT
Explorer
Mar 02, 2018
Download the SpeedTest App from your Apple or Google Play store and test it at the house. That will give you good indication if that will be enough for you.

We are a family of 5 with about 25 internet connected devices, although not all at once are used. We stream all "TV" related content through two Rokus, plus various tablets, phones, game systems, and computers. We have 75Mbit cable service from Comcast and typically get 85-90Mb download and 12Mb upload when checking via Speedtest. This plan includes 1TB of download data per month and Comcast claims we typically use 300-600GB. I would expect that you will be using similar amounts as my family based on similar uses.

Cost: data is expensive via cellular in the amounts you plan to use. Check the fine print on cell provider unlimited plans. Many are speed limited at a lot lower than 100GB/mo uses.
2oldman
Explorer II
Mar 02, 2018
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Wrace
Explorer
Mar 01, 2018
The house we looked at this weekend was nice. We were the second offer received 24 hours after listing. The first offer was contingent on the buyers selling their house and they were not going to list for another week or so.

We put an offer in on it with a contingent that we would need to educate ourselves and have time to verify if there was high speed internet available there. This was on a Saturday and 4 other offers came in before end of day Sunday. Owners were presented with the offers first thing Monday morning, selected one (likely one without contingencies).

What we found:

Previous owners used Dish to get tv.
There is no cable or fiber anywhere near the area.
Only one ota tv channel signal there and that was very iffy.
Century link confirmed dsl service there at 3 down, 1 up, could pay more to get 4 down.
Verizon map says there is coverage there for 4glte, but do you bet the bank on that working?

So it goes.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Feb 28, 2018
Fiber optic is somewhat negotiable as to speed. If you want they can put in more fibers and more bandwidth. But generally it is faster. MUCH MUCH faster. Than copper. any kind of copper (Twisted pair-DSL, or Cable).
Wrace
Explorer
Feb 28, 2018
wnjj wrote:
Nobody has mentioned wireless. Our internet comes over the air since we are rural and have no cable. DSL wasn’t available either although I think they pushed it out to within reach now.

We’ve had it for over 14 years. It’s nowhere near the fiber and cable speeds but is better than nothing and less expensive than satellite or cellular. We have speeds of 3/1 but could pay for up to 10/3. Again, not fast but enough for general use, VPN to work and watching videos. Our provider is a smaller, local company.

You might see if there are wireless options where you are looking to move. Larger wireless providers likely offer considerably higher speeds.

When you say wireless, are you talking about systems like the verizon system a couple of posts above?
wnjj
Explorer II
Feb 27, 2018
Nobody has mentioned wireless. Our internet comes over the air since we are rural and have no cable. DSL wasn’t available either although I think they pushed it out to within reach now.

We’ve had it for over 14 years. It’s nowhere near the fiber and cable speeds but is better than nothing and less expensive than satellite or cellular. We have speeds of 3/1 but could pay for up to 10/3. Again, not fast but enough for general use, VPN to work and watching videos. Our provider is a smaller, local company.

You might see if there are wireless options where you are looking to move. Larger wireless providers likely offer considerably higher speeds.
MNGeeks61
Explorer
Feb 27, 2018
Hank MI wrote:
Although fiber should offer the fastest service our cable runs in the mid 90's to over 100 mbps.

Verizon has been trying to get us to switch to fiber - not even sure what speeds, as the salesman couldn't give me a direct answer, but guessing at least 100 Mb/s. Our cable speed was 35/10 when we first updated from DSL 10/1, then 90/12, now with the companies competing we locked in for 2 years and got 275/15 for the same price as before. Then again, we're in a large metro area and seem to be spoiled for choice.

Many of our friends who live further out have fewer choices and some of them use regular DSL - we were lucky to get bonded DSL at our seasonal site too, for 25/12 Mb/s. What's annoying about DSL is the lack of choices in the modem/router, it's old technology even VDSL. If you want to split off the wireless router from the modem, the modem is still 12-15 year old technology.

Wrace wrote:
but on some of these homes they may have only dsl, or maybe cable.

Don't completely discount a house because it has DSL, for example. It depends on your needs and possible growth. I can survive on 25 Mb/s (won't like it much!) but not everyone. Also depends on whether you'll be down/uploading large files - that can make things frustrating.