I got new internet service in the past month. Frontier ran fiber into my neighborhood and I’ve been enjoying the benefits ever since. As you can see I have symmetric gigabit.
New Router
This change did require that I get a new router. Previously I had a Netgate 3100 which was supposed to be able to handle faster than gigabit speeds but in reality it didn’t. It was even worse when you used VLANs, maxing in the ~600Mbps range. I found at least two different threads asking Netgate about this and both with unanswered. Interestingly this device appears to no longer be for sale. I wonder if lack of performance is why.
I really liked pfSense as my firewall and so I elected to get a Protectli FW4C. It has 4 2.5Gbps ports which are each individually addressable and can be assigned as I see fit. I kept pretty much the same configuration as I had last time and took advantage of pfSense+ being free to home users. This device caught my attention because it can actually route 2.5Gbps at least without VLANs being used so it should provide some measure of future-proofing.
Cancelling Cable
After a bit over a week using fiber, I called to cancel my internet service with Suddenlink/Altice/Optimum/Whatever is the name du jour. I had been a customer for 15 years and over those years I had seen the price hold steady with occasion increases in speed under Suddenlink. Then when they were bought by Altice, we stopped seeing increases in speeds but instead increases in prices. Then, when I called to cancel, suddenly I can get all these special offers which amounted to less than half of what I was paying for the same service. So I had to insist that I was really cancelling and I was transfered to another person who gave me a cheaper service rate than the last. I finally had to ask them where were these offers before I called to cancel? Among all the mailings and every communication I received from them, I was told about numerous offers for additional services (like phone and TV) but never once an offer for a better price on my current service.
Lastly I told them that if they wished to retain me as a customer, they needed to price-match the competition before I had a choice. They didn’t and only attempted to do so when I was already leaving. It was too little/too late and I was done with them. Interestingly, the offers they quoted still didn’t actually match what I got from Frontier but it didn’t matter since I was resolved to leave before I ever called.
The Future
In the coming years, we will be getting fiber from two more providers. MetroNet told me they are about 2 years away from my neighborhood and Altice/Optimum is supposedly putting in fiber. I doubt I’d go back but their presense should help to keep prices down with competition. For now, I’m happy to have at least 1 provider.