no internet!

My crap DSL connection stopped working altogether during the night. Tech support is stumped. changing service but not until Wed. Typing this on my friggin phone. Ack!! I am adrift in meatspace. No Netflix tonight. Will have to read a book.
Q: FiOs or Xfinity? Which is better?

By next Wednesday you may be saying "why in hell did I ever want all that horseshiite". Or not.

Dave ,
I went 8 months with out home internet …honestly I was a happier person in a lot of ways ….
I spent all the time I would have spent on line playing my guitar , learning the piano , & learning a little bit here and there from some groove 3 videos I had purchased that are stored on a HD ….
 
If you really have a Bad internet Jones you can always take a trip to the library w a laptop if you have one w wifi …
That would give you unlimited internet access during library hours ….They do not meter you if you bring your own ..
If you don't have a laptop w wifi you can always use one of their desktop machines for a couple of hours ….
all you would need is a library card …..
One cool thing that i learned going that route ….the wifi is OK , but the machines they have for public use are hardwired ….I was able to download a few gigs of updates in much less than an hour using their machines and it was much faster than what I had at home when I was last connected ….
All I had to bring was an external flash drive ….
I mention that because I remember you had some past issues w download speeds at home when you updated your Sampletank ?
Sorry can't offer you much help as far as  FiOs or Xfinity? Which is better? …..
I thought of Fios but I don't have a phone plan that qualifies to keep the cost down ….
I'm using Xfinity at the moment…
 
good luck your a tough dude you can ride it out for a few more days if you have too,
 
Kenny
 

I had an internet-free month a while back. I was panicking and rushing to the library with a laptop every morning..for about 3 days, then I realised I wasn't actually doing anything constructive online. It's just a habit.

If you have unlimited on your phone and a usb cord. You can set up a mobile hotspot. If your phone doesn't support that without an app, I think Tether me is free. I've streamed Netflix like that once but did have a few dropouts.

jamesg1213
I had an internet-free month a while back. I was panicking and rushing to the library with a laptop every morning..for about 3 days, then I realised I wasn't actually doing anything constructive online. It's just a habit.

+1 James , 
 
Kenny

Yes. It goes into detail about gear and production techniques.

craigb
Bapu gets the shakes at the mere thought of not having the internet up and available. 

Did you see that new shake at Burgerville?????????

bitflipper
Day one internet-free is going better than expected. I trimmed my beard (once a year whether it needs it or not), did laundry, took a walk, called my granddaughter, finished reading the Todd Rundgren biography. Burned 10 minutes typing this on my phone. I think I'll do ok.
Will check out Destroyermen but I have to do kindle 'cause of my bad eyes. Maybe a trip to Starbucks is in order.

You talk to your granddaughter on the same phone you internet on?

Going without mod cons for a while is an enlightening experience. I went a step further than no internet and had no power for a week after Hurricane Sandy. At first it was very traumatic, then as the week progressed I became more and more comfortable with the simplistic lifestyle I'd been thrown into - long walks outside, guitar and books indoors (by candlelight and torches).

On the last day, as I sat by the window reading a book, I thought to myself that this was the beginning of a new era of life. I was going to drastically reduce my dependence on digital and lead a more organic, analog life. It was then that I heard my fridge go on and mass cheering outside. The power was back. Within half an hour I was sat at my computer with every light in the apartment blazing and about 50 tabs open in Chrome. What am I, a caveman?

1) FTTH - best (fiber to the home) (some FIOS areas but not all)
2) HFC (hybrid / fiber Coax - Xfinity - 2nd best)  can get slow during busy hours as the Bandwidth is shared.  However this has become less of an issue since upgrades to back bone.  (lots of 10 G and 100 G Ethernet now)
3) FTTC - fiber to the cabinet - Most FIOS areas -  third best - last mile is the same copper pair your phone works on (using VDSL)  If uyou are really close the cabinet you will get good results.  Farther away not so good.  But very easily degraded by RFI, grounding etc.
 
So ask FIOS what the last mile is.  If copper go with Xfinity, if fiber, go with FIOS.
 
I have Xfinity and have had not issues at all for 10 years.
 

sharke
Going without mod cons for a while is an enlightening experience. I went a step further than no internet and had no power for a week after Hurricane Sandy. At first it was very traumatic, then as the week progressed I became more and more comfortable with the simplistic lifestyle I'd been thrown into - long walks outside, guitar and books indoors (by candlelight and torches).

On the last day, as I sat by the window reading a book, I thought to myself that this was the beginning of a new era of life. I was going to drastically reduce my dependence on digital and lead a more organic, analog life. It was then that I heard my fridge go on and mass cheering outside. The power was back. Within half an hour I was sat at my computer with every light in the apartment blazing and about 50 tabs open in Chrome. What am I, a caveman?

Good post I like it …I'm from NYC originally and I remember once going w out electricity for a couple of weeks …
Wound up taking long candlelit bubble baths and blasting away using a  Pignose I had at the time ….fun times ….
 
I have to admit , Dave has me wondering about his once a year beard trim … it may be I need to try it 
trimming mine every couple of months means I keep effing it up and then I have to start from scratch …
 
Kenny 

Thanks for the info, auto. I assumed that FiOs was optical right up to my house. Guess I'd better ask.

Got my FiOS cable run yesterday. Real plastic all the way up to the house.
 
But I won't get the actual service until October 8th.
 
The old DSL line is still non-functional. A tech was supposed to come out last week, but another tech closed the ticket so I had to open another one. They're supposed to be out today. So far, I've not been impressed by Frontier's technical chops. But everyone I've spoken to has been very nice - after a few hours on the phone, you naturally form a rapport.
 
So for now I'm tethered to my cell phone for internet access. In one week I used up all my data allocation and had to buy more, just checking email and reading forums. It'll be a big phone bill this month.
 
On a positive note, lack of internet access means there have been no software purchases this month. Closely monitoring G.A.S. levels, which hopefully will not reach critical levels before October 8th.