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[The Chicken]

I am looking at what service providers are available in Monroe.  Zip code 48161.  I am mostly interested in how fast is the internet available and can you watch streaming video. 

I have netflix and actually believe I could do without cable TV.. there are enough on air TV channels and frankly, having hundreds of channels ticks me off because most of the channels play the same crap over and over..

Unless you buy a premium package, because in my opinion, the shows I like are originating from HBO and Showtime.. but I watch them on netflix I am just a year behind everyone else.. lol but for 7.99 a month..

The best price package for Internet and TV from ATT is like fifty bucks a month.. but the internet, their highest speed, is just a broadband.. It has been years since I have had DSL..

So how fast is it.. Does anyone here have the premier ATT internet service?  How does it do with HD video?  Or say watching a movie on Netflix?  The TV service is Direct TV.. which is OK unless its raining hard or a snow storm.. especially if the snow collects on the dish..

The other one I see is Comcast..  They do not have a bundle package for just TV and Internet.. I see they have fast Internet, must be cable.. but wow, they can be pricey and even if I break out just internet,  it is as much as TV and Internet from ATT..

So how do people like Comcast?  I am pretty sure their internet is fast..

Is there another provider that I don't know about.. This is south west Monroe..

Tell me any features one may have over the other, or if you know if upgrades are coming..

I was surprised that AT&T has not put in fiber optic cable like Verizon has done in Tampa and other Cities.. I thought that was what they were doing that in Monroe..

If anyone has info please share...

[T-M-T]

ATT actually offers U-Verse in much of the county now and I’m pretty sure that is fiber-optic.  I’m in Monroe Township (48161) and can get Comcast or U-Verse.

I have Comcast, because it’s cheaper with the number of TV’s I have and has the programming I like. The internet service is plenty fast.  Netflix works great through their internet, either online, through the Wii or an Apple TV.   I’ve looked into U-Verse a few times and can’t make the numbers work.

Some areas of the city and Monroe Township actually offer a choice of ATT U-Verse, Comcast or Charter, but the more rural areas often have only one choice (if that).

[Baby Hitler]

The area you are going to be moving into is Comcast country.

You can also probably get ATT, but I would advise to get Comcast over ATT any day of the week, and twice on Sunday,

[The Fuzz]

I've had both Comcast and ATT in the 48161 area....switched to ATT about 3 years ago and have had less issues with uninterrupted service.  I also work with some pretty large design files in Catia format and had much better speed and success in downloading files with ATT.

No big issues with Comcast, just found them to be more reliable in my situation.

[Frenchfry]

We have the 6 Mbps/512 Kbps AT&T DSL here. No problems
Just did a speedtest and it was that fastest ever.....5.05 Mbps/.065 Mbps

Started with the 768 Kbps/128 Kbps that used to cost $10 if you signed up online
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19305115/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

It was $15 if you just called them ($20 today) but videos were terrible...had to pause 'em to let 'em load for smoothness.

Worked for me but my son wanted to play his PS3 games online so we ordered the highest package available from AT&T.....listed online @ $42.95/month....we may pay a little less, too tired to trek to the file cabinet to peek at the bill.

Had Charter cable at first.....I think reliability was an issue as well as their higher cost....plus there are plenty of free Over-The-Air TV programs to watch so cutting the cable was easy.

Years later I still see the cable trucks slowly go by while peering in the windows....I suspect they're looking for an illegal connection so they can seize whatever is attached to that service.
I've heard some horror stories.

I love that Monroe County sits between Toledo and Detroit....two major broadcasting markets to increase our viewing pleasure....plus a couple of Canadian stations come in crystal clear as well but they're still on the older analog spectrum.

Back to the ISP....I think one has to be within a certain distance from the ISP for DSL so it may not be an option for everybody.

[zero]

"ATT actually offers U-Verse in much of the county now and I’m pretty sure that is fiber-optic." - T-M-T

Not quite.  City of Monroe and nearby areas of Monroe and Frenchtown Twp.  That's about it for them.  And it's not completely fiber -- they have fiber that runs to a "node" and then it's copper to the home, same as cable.  There are no fiber-to-the-home providers in the county (bummer, but that's rural Monroe Co. for ya).

Charter is the bandwidth king for right now (60 Mbps down) until Comcast upgrades to DOCSIS 3 sometime this year.  Poor AT&T will be stuck at 24 Mbps (Uverse-only), unless they can "pull a rabbit out of their hat" to squeeze more bandwidth out of their existing infrastructure. 

Don't know what D&P Communications offers, but it's better than nothing and I believe Buckeye Cable serves Bedford area. 

That's about it; pick your poison

[Frenchfry]

We have the 6 Mbps/512 Kbps AT&T DSL here. No problems
Just did a speedtest and it was that fastest ever.....5.05 Mbps/.065 Mbps

Started with the 768 Kbps/128 Kbps that used to cost $10 if you signed up online
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19305115/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

It was $15 if you just called them ($20 today) but videos were terrible...had to pause 'em to let 'em load for smoothness.

Worked for me but my son wanted to play his PS3 games online so we ordered the highest package available from AT&T.....listed online @ $42.95/month....we may pay a little less, too tired to trek to the file cabinet to peek at the bill.

Had Charter cable at first.....I think reliability was an issue as well as their higher cost....plus there are plenty of free Over-The-Air TV programs to watch so cutting the cable was easy.

Years later I still see the cable trucks slowly go by while peering in the windows....I suspect they're looking for an illegal connection so they can seize whatever is attached to that service.
I've heard some horror stories.

I love that Monroe County sits between Toledo and Detroit....two major broadcasting markets to increase our viewing pleasure....plus a couple of Canadian stations come in crystal clear as well but they're still on the older analog spectrum.

Back to the ISP....I think one has to be within a certain distance from the ISP for DSL so it may not be an option for everybody.

AT&T told me 6 Mbps is the highest speed available around here in the beach area...U-Verse isn't an option.

Wasn't interested anyway since all I need is internet access.
Turns out I must have signed up for a 12 month special @ $25 because the bill just jumped to $40 without any warning.

I'm thinking about dropping 'em and the phone as well....that will free up about $70 to find a faster and better ISP.

Saw that Verizon would start 4G in certain areas in June....not near Monroe though.

Verizon Wireless said today it is expanding its fourth-generation network in Metro Detroit as well as in Lansing, Grand Rapids and Flint.

The service will be offered along major road corridors including Plymouth, Walled Lake, Brighton, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, the nation's largest wireless carrier said in a statement.

In particular, the coverage areas in Metro Detroit will include:

—Between Novi and Brighton along Interstate 96.

—Between Brighton and Ann Arbor along U.S. Route 23.

—Between Canton Township and Ypsilanti along Michigan Avenue.

—Between Romulus and Ann Arbor along Interstate 94.

"Michigan is a very tech-savvy state, and there's been tremendous pent-up demand for the advantages our 4G LTE network brings," said John Granby, president of the Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky region for Verizon Wireless, in a statement.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110523/BIZ/105230409/Verizon-growing-4G-networks-in-Michigan#ixzz1NxMPFqOk
http://detnews.com/article/20110523/BIZ/105230409/Verizon-growing-4G-networks-in-Michigan

The battle for 4G dominance is ramping up this year, and it looks like AT&T may have a heck of a contender with its LTE 4G network.

AT&T showed off its LTE 4G network performing wicked fast with 28.87 megabits per second downloads and 10.4 Mbps uploads in a supposed “real world” scenario, reports GigaOm, which got an exclusive look at the network this week at AT&T’s Foundry innovation space in Texas.

In comparison, Verizon advertises download speeds between 5 Mbps and 12 Mbps, and upload speeds of around 5 Mbps, for its LTE 4G network.

The test was run using a MIMO antenna together with the 700 megahertz swath of spectrum the company bought at auction, and the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum it already owns. Purchasing T-Mobile would give AT&T an extra bounty of AWS spectrum, which would make rolling out its LTE 4G network even easier.

Realistically, AT&T’s 4G speeds will certainly drop when it’s shared on a cellular tower, but it’ll be interesting to see if the company can still remain faster than Verizon. AT&T said previously that it expects to launch its LTE 4G network in the middle of this year, which still gives Verizon a half-year head start since it launched its 4G network last December.
http://venturebeat.com/2011/05/20/att-4g-lte-speed-verizon/

Doubt I'll be able to afford either service....but 4g sounds promising.

[Frenchfry]

Color-coded map of broadband service in Monroe County (Includes part of Washtenaw and Lenawee as well:
ftp://ftp.connectmi.org/CMIPublic/Connect_Michigan_Mapping/County_Maps/County_Broadband_withTownships/MI_Broadband_Townships_Monroe.pdf

Other interesting maps as well:
ftp://ftp.connectmi.org/CMIPublic/Connect_Michigan_Mapping/County_Maps/County_DownloadSpeed/MI_DownloadSpeed_Monroe.pdf

ftp://ftp.connectmi.org/CMIPublic/Connect_Michigan_Mapping/County_Maps/County_Density/Density_Monroe.pdf

ftp://ftp.connectmi.org/CMIPublic/Connect_Michigan_Mapping/County_Maps/County_ProviderDensity/MI_ProviderDensity_Monroe.pdf

ftp://ftp.connectmi.org/CMIPublic/Connect_Michigan_Mapping/SpeedTest_Maps/MI_SpeedTest_Download.pdf

ftp://ftp.connectmi.org/CMIPublic/Connect_Michigan_Mapping/ProviderSpeed_Maps/MI_Statewide_MaxDownloadSpeed.jpg

Broadband Providers for this Area
http://www.broadbandmap.gov/internet-service-providers/48162/lat=41.9480522/long=-83.4003037/wired/

Connect Michigan Awarded $3 Million Grant to Further Implement Broadband Initiatives in Michigan
Connect Michigan, a statewide broadband expansion initiative, was awarded $3 million in additional funding under the State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program (SBDD) to further implement broadband initiatives over a five-year award period. The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced the grant on September 28, 2010.

The additional funding will allow broadband mapping efforts under the SBDD program to continue for three additional years. The program also focuses on projects that relate to broadband planning activities, such as the identification of barriers to the adoption of broadband service and information technology services, the creation and facilitation of local technology planning teams , and the establishment of computer ownership and Internet access programs.

Connect Michigan will continue to engage in broadband data collection activities that will capture complete and up-to-date datasets from the state's broadband providers and will result in regularly-scheduled updates and further enhancements to the state's interactive broadband map. The Connect Michigan initiative released its first iteration of the map in May, 2010 at www.connectmi.org. The additional funding will allow the state to prioritize and track progress over a longer period of time. This data will also be used to populate the comprehensive, interactive, and searchable national broadband map that NTIA is required by the Recovery Act to create and make publicly available by February 17, 2011.

As the designated entity for broadband mapping in the state of Michigan, Connect Michigan is a public-private partnership between the Michigan Public Service Commission and Connected Nation to unite local governments, businesses, and citizens in the goal of increasing broadband service in the state's underserved areas. The MPSC is an agency within the Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth.

To learn more about this grant please visit http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/grantee/connected-nation-michigan.
http://www.michigan.gov/broadband/0,1607,7-250--244318--,00.html