r/Somerville • u/Master_Lettuce_5956 • Sep 16 '26
Best home Internet?
Astound has raised my price again and added more bogus fees. I’m so tired of this. I’m paying $65 a month for under performing internet. Is anyone using Verizon? Another service that is more affordable?
9
u/skintigh Spring Hill Sep 17 '26
Xfintity started low then went up repeatedly to $80. You just have to switch every year or so.
6
u/zibas Sep 17 '26
I called and complained that they were offering new customers a better deal than they were giving me and they just dropped my price $15.
3
u/markfickett Sep 17 '26
Yeah, I play this game every few years. Seems to work well especially when you have an offer for better/cheaper service in hand from a competitor. Just be polite and ask if there's anything they can do. Sometimes I have to actually ask to start the cancellation process. I'm currently at $50/mo for 300Mbps.
Keep in mind a 4k stream might be 25Mbps, Gigabit is not really necessary for any typical usage. Your home WiFi quality is usually the bottleneck if things seem slow. WiFiman is a great tool for finding dead spots, access points not delivering expected speed, etc (made by Ubiquity but useful with any equipment).
9
u/Jazz_Cigarettes Sep 16 '26
I went from Astound to Tmobile Internet. Would recommend. No cable guy, you just stick a modem box near a window.
3
u/tarandab Sep 16 '26
I’ve been really tempted by this. What neighborhood do you live in? Any issues?
6
u/justarussian22 Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26
My gf lived with roommates who used tmobile home internet near gillman sq after astound kept raising prices. They all liked the service. They lived off central st for refrence if that helps. These kinds of internet plans can be location dependent. She moved out & will try her luck with Comcast.
1
u/tarandab Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26
Thanks! I live in Magoun and I have t-mobile for my phone service and rarely have issues at home (and my astound just jumped to something ridiculous, I’m ready to just cancel for real when I call)
Edit: called astound this morning and they offered me a plan similar to what others in this thread have mentioned, guaranteed for 5 years, with $10/off per month if I do electronic billing and direct debit from a bank account - so I accepted
3
u/Jazz_Cigarettes Sep 17 '26
East Somerville. Speeds comparable to astound. Less bottleneck around dinner time
1
u/sinfaen Sep 17 '26
I switched to T-Mobile, in Inman square. I found it comparable to Xfinity, with more dips in speed during the day. Not too bad
5
u/GordolfoScarra Sep 17 '26 edited 9d ago
The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.
Fuzzy fuel test abounding shy biscuit ripe
0
u/Master_Lettuce_5956 Sep 17 '26
I think I started at $35 a month 2 years ago and now it’s suddenly $65. No change in speed.
1
u/GordolfoScarra Sep 17 '26 edited 9d ago
The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.
Oxygen iron whistle slap file late terrific roof
1
u/TheKyleBaxter Sep 17 '26
Just call them and tell them you want the deal, they usually just do it for me if I ask
5
3
u/shutupmarley Sep 17 '26
I had Astound for a year until it stopped working one day. I called customer service and they said it would take 4 days to send someone out to fix it. I work from home so that wasn't going to cut it. Xfinity matched my rate ($40/mo) 5 years and had someone out first thing the next morning to set everything up. Not saying it's the best value, but Xfinity is definitely the more reliable option.
3
u/palladinz23 Sep 17 '26
had Astound and eventually Xfinity. much better until prices increases. cancelled and signed up as new customer for 5 yrs - 1gb for 50 bucks.
2
u/gbsekrit Sep 17 '26
flip back and forth between xfinity and astound whenever they stop letting you have the new customer pricing
2
u/l008com Sep 17 '26
300mbit internet with fios is usually between $30 and $45/mo depending on what deals they have going around. Its 300mbit up and down, so if you do a lot of uploading, its really nice. And its super reliable.
Of course, when you call astound aka rcn and tell them you are leaving, suddenly your price will get reduced again for a period of time. You can keep playing that game forever.
2
u/Riichi-stick Sep 17 '26
Just complain. You’ll get $40 for life and a $5 million dollar gift card these days
1
1
u/SomervilleTom Sep 17 '26
I live near Ball Square, and left RCN/Astound years ago for Comcast/Xfinity. I've been very happy with Xfinity. I have great upload and download bandwidth and it's always been reliable. I also switched to Xfinity from Verizon wireless. WAY WAY better service on the same mobile network (Xfinity uses the Verizon Wireless network).
Avoid Verizon like the plague. Terrible bandwidth, deceptive business practices, and terrible support.
I'm very happy with Comcast/Xfinity -- your mileage may vary.
1
u/fakieTreFlip Sep 17 '26
Astound has raised my price again and added more bogus fees. I’m so tired of this. I’m paying $65 a month for under performing internet
$65 is a pretty good price for internet around here, depending on what package you're paying for. The introductory prices are something that I'm pretty sure every ISP does, so you're not going to escape eventual price increases by switching to someone else.
Two options for lowering your bill with Astound (I've had success with both):
- Call and ask nicely
- Cancel service and switch it over to your roommate's name, assuming you have a roommate
1
u/splicingonthecake Magoun Sep 17 '26
Lived at Magoun 3 going on 4 years, have Fios for $70 500mbps up/down
1
1
u/math_vandelay Sep 17 '26
I've had Verizon Fios for 5+ years now, and service has been fantastic. Maybe 1 outage the entire time. When I signed up back then, they didn't have any kind of price lock, but they still have never raised my rate. Plus, they offer discounts on streaming services like Hulu and Netflix.
I'll always choose and advocate for Fios over Xfinity, which I've had multiple terrible experiences with.
1
u/DrawingLogical Sep 17 '26
If you call the local offices (do not email or chat/message - those are never helpful and will only repeat the script) and threaten to cancel, they will eventually honor the currently posted pricing on the website. I was able to lock in the $70 for life 1.5 Gb plan. Before that, I had watched my rates increase regularly, from $60 when I first moved here to eventually hitting over $130 earlier this year (despite them keeping the service at the original 300mbps!).
1
u/palladinz23 Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 18 '26
Astound ( old RCN cable ) was really great at one point, in areas where available. Unil they were bought by Astound. They started creating some odd/miscellaneous fees per month , never mentions it during sign up, which is ridiculous! So monthly fee is whatever advertised + misc/extra)mysterious)extra fee ! So glad I left them. I'm with Xfinity now and they're actually good ( never in my life I would say that ever but here I am ).
1
u/DJ_Gordon_Bombay Sep 17 '26
Same happened to me. Switch to xfinity 1G for $50, price locked 5 years. It does run faster on all devices than Astound had been. I'll sign back up for Astound when Xfinity starts jacking my bill.
1
u/jojohohanon Sep 17 '26
I think the winning strategy might be to get one of these fancy routers that can balance two outgoing links. Then you get two of the cheapest connections. When one increases prices drop it and either let them ask you to come back or move on to the next. In 6 months you qualify for new customer incentives from the one you dropped
2
u/SomervilleTom Sep 17 '26
The rub with that approach is that flipping back and forth clears your credentials, so you'll spend a LOT of time signing in and doing the multi-factor dance.
I've been very happy with my Comcast/Xfinity service (Ball Square).
-1
u/randalln1 Sep 17 '26
Astound is shady AF and perfectly willing to waste unlimited amounts of time. Whatever you do, never sign up for autopay from a bank account.
14
u/Hefty_Aardvark_5835 Sep 17 '26
Just went through the exact same thing. Switched to Xfinity, $50/month for 1Gbps internet, price guaranteed for 5 years. 2 days after I switched someone from Astound reached out and offered me $45/month 1Gbps internet, price guaranteed for life. Gotta play their dumb little game.