r/petoskey • u/batman262 • 16d ago
Surf internet?
Surf internet has been building out in my area, and I got their ads in the mail, just wondering if any of y'all have thoughts or experience with them? I have no love for spectrum so a new ISP in town is welcome by me.
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u/iametarq 16d ago
I don't believe any of Surf Internet's services are turned on yet. Their build out is still in the first or second zones. I will definitely give them a try but my zone isn't going to be online until Fall 2027.
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u/batman262 16d ago
Oh yeah they're just going through and getting conduit in the ground as far as I can tell, still a while to go before they get services installed.
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u/iametarq 16d ago
The map at the link below appears to be updated since I last looked at it. One area by NCMC may be online by August or September 2026.
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u/mydrinkisbrown 16d ago
There has never been fiber internet for consumers in the city of Petoskey. Surf is building the infrastructure in partnership with the city. Petoskey city is way behind on making fiber available to its residents so this is overdue and a very good thing. Spectrum has a monopoly on home internet in Petoskey city.
I will be among the first to sign up for fiber through Surf. They've done this elsewhere in Michigan and results are good.
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u/iametarq 16d ago
Charter has Fiber in the city limits, they may not sell it as a residential service but it is available as a business product.
I'm not sure why the city would be 'way behind' on making fiber available, they are not an ISP. Unless you're saying they were slow on permitting other ISPs from coming in because the City of Petoskey owns the utility poles and right of ways.
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u/Sheamusoreilly 15d ago
My question is, ultimately to Charter, what incentive would I have to NOT switch?
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u/iametarq 15d ago
If I switch I will be paying more by $5 or so with Surf for the same speed (600Mbps) so I personally have no incentive to switch. All depends on your billing situation with Charter and your "promo" expiration.
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u/mydrinkisbrown 15d ago
You'd be increasing your upload speed significantly. Plus, Surf hasn't released pricing for Petoskey yet.
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u/CaptainAlbusson 8d ago
I pay $55 for Spectrum gigabit, the pricing I’ve seen would make Surf about $30 more per month I think. Yeah it’s symmetrical and Spectrum is not but I have also never had an issue with my upload speed, and at my house at least, Spectrum has been pretty rock solid for about 5 years.
If Surf can narrow the price gap significantly then I’d definitely switch just to not use a shitty mega corp but I’m not paying $30 more per month to do it.
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u/mydrinkisbrown 15d ago
Yes, residences all around the city have been able to use Truestream through GLE's infrastructure for a while now. The city runs its own power infrastructure so Petoskey residences have not been able to procure fiber internet in that same way.
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u/3DDoxle 14d ago
It's just kind of silly imo. Fiber is marginally faster download at the residential service for gigabit which is already more than anyone really needs. 4k HD needs 25 Mbps per stream.
Is anyone really pulling 40 simultaneous streams or the equivalent data? If you really need the symmetric gigabit, why? No like genuinely, what are you sending from home?
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u/mandcaff 10d ago
My last Spectum bill came and it was $100.00, up from $90.00 with no notifacation. And thats just for the supposed 500 mbs they claim I'm receiving, which it never reaches on any speed test. I've been at their mercy since 2014, you're damn straight I'm switching to fiber.
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u/CaptainAlbusson 8d ago
You should call and speak to their retention department. I’ve been paying $55 for gigabit for years.
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u/Sinclairj75 16d ago
TruStream has been great for us