BHN speed increase

[a_d_drummer]

Speed has jumped from 10/1 to almost 15/2. Anyone else see this?

[CANDY76MAN]

mines still 6 down and less than 1 up

[skottey]

Lovely.... so what this means is that those of us paying $105 ($89 for me since I am a reseller) for 15/2 with a static IP are now paying $60 more than a residential account and the only difference is a static IP?

I have no problem with your speed increase but I am paying twice what you are paying and the only difference now is a static IP. They really need to up my speed too. I can't justify reselling a package with a static IP for OVER twice that of other customers, for the same speed. THIS IS BS.

[skottey]

I just emailed my contact as a reseller. I'll let you guys know what they say.

Check the main page of the Tampabay BHN site and you'll see this interesting link,
http://tampabay.mybrighthouse.com/uploadedFiles/Divisions/Tampa_Content/ProductsAndPricing/ComboPackage/IADPostcard_RRTurboWebsite_Apr18.pdf

[djkilla]

I noticed the speed increase yesterday (Thursday April 17) but forgot to post about it here. I've now got 20mbps and have tweaked my connection to take full advantage of the speed. Email has been sent by Brighthouse today to announce the new speeds. Best part is there's NO price increase for the speed increase.

-D j K i l l a-

[skottey]

From their website-
"Choose Exactly the Speed You Need
Premium speeds of 15 or 20 Mbps are available with Digital Combos
- 15 Mbps for Digital Combo and 20 Mbps for Digital Combo Plus. "

It looks like you still need to have digital combo or digital combo plus, which means you have to have digital cable packaged their way and digital phone to take full advantage of the speed increases of 20/2. I say, you have to have digital cable packaged their way because, you can actually at times get a better deal on all your channels if you have premiums and do not use what they call the digital combo of RR and digital cable. Never mind that I have all the premiums, I have argued with them about this in the past. "Sir, you don't have the digital combo, so you can't get the higher speed." And of course I don't have their digital phone service. Vonage, which has way more features and can be taken anywhere in the world you take your box, where as BHN digital phone stays at your house, blows BHN's digital phone away. So that throws out the idea of using them for phone.

I ended up getting a VO account a long time ago.

The bottom line is that if you want 20/2 you must subscribe to the digital cable packaged their way, RR, and their more expensive than Vonage phone service, with all it's limitations.

If you want 15/2 you must subscribe to RR and digital cable bundled their way OR digital phone.

If you had DirecTV let's say and you just wanted BHN for RR, you'd be paying the $44.95 a month and getting only 7/512 (it might be 7/768 ). Unless of course you pay way more for a VO account.

This is all about them trying to entice you into using them for cable, phone and Internet.

At first this sounded like everyone got a speed increase that has non-lite RR residential. But that is not the case.

They just went from 10 or 15, depending on your combination to 15 or 20.

[FTBoomerIII]

I just ran a Speakeasy test and I'm getting 19 down and 2 up

[djkilla]

Did a Speakeasy speed test and got 19,570/1,931. Anyway, I do have cable with only the digital package (channels over 100) and NO premium packages, phone and internet. My total cost is $142 (including all taxes) for everything each month. Before everyone jumps me for such a great price, I took advantage of every promotion and haggled to get the cost to where it is.

-D j K i l l a-

Edit: I forgot to mention I have the HD package. If I ever drop it then that would bring my bill down to $135-136.

[skottey]

Did a Speakeasy speed test and got 19,570/1,931. Anyway, I do have cable with only the digital package (channels over 100) and NO premium packages, phone and internet. My total cost is $142 (including all taxes) for everything each month. Before everyone jumps me for such a great price, I took advantage of every promotion and haggled to get the cost to where it is.

-D j K i l l a-

Edit: I forgot to mention I have the HD package. If I ever drop it then that would bring my bill down to $135-136.

You don't need premiums for the "digital combo," so that is why you are getting the 20/2. I mentioned premiums because back in the day when they first offered 10 or 15 for an extra price, I called to inquire about paying extra and getting the extra speed. The only way they would be able to get me into the digital combo meant I'd lose my premium channels for the prices I was paying. The meager $5 or $10 a month extra for 10/1 instead of 7/512 meant I'd actually be paying $22 more a month after losing my premium channel promotions. F**king insane! No way was I going to pay an extra $22 and get in their "digital combo." My argument was, "I have digital, I have 3 HD boxes, and I have all your premiums." I was told that I "Don't have the digital combo." Having digital cable doesn't mean you are automatically in their crummy digital combo. It is really stupid. I get digital cable, but not the exact package they want. Silly, really, it is just silly.

Eventually I went on to get a static IP with a VO account, which is on a separate account and used for web hosting and everything. It is a business expense. That is the only way they "allow" me to have 15/2 without changing my cable package, and it works out better for me with my business.

I just think they should offer the 15 and 20 speeds to all the RR customers. If they aren't bundled, make them pay extra for it. But as it stands if you just subscribe to RR and no cable/phone, you don't even have the faster speed option for even a price, on a residential account.

I have said this before that I may actually get a Verizon Fios account as a secondary Internet provider when it comes to St. Pete. I'll do all my personal stuff and gaming on the Verizon line and use the static IP and RR account for business services and web hosting.

This whole digital combo plus things is just about as bad as not allowing somebody to subscribe to just HBO without all the other crap. If I am willing to pay for the digital access fee and DVR, I should be able to get just HBO and other premiums for a price without getting basic + standard + digital. In fact I believe the court overturned the cable companies not allowing you to do that. I am not sure if BHN allows a la carte cable services yet but they are required by law to allow it now, I do believe. This digital combo plus BS should be challenged in court too. If somebody is willing to pay $80 a month for 20/2 and not subscribe to anything else other than RR, they should be allowed to. BHN is discriminating against people that do not want certain services by offering faster speeds to just a certain group. It won't hold up in court.

[FTBoomerIII]

Did a Speakeasy speed test and got 19,570/1,931. Anyway, I do have cable with only the digital package (channels over 100) and NO premium packages, phone and internet. My total cost is $142 (including all taxes) for everything each month. Before everyone jumps me for such a great price, I took advantage of every promotion and haggled to get the cost to where it is.

-D j K i l l a-

Edit: I forgot to mention I have the HD package. If I ever drop it then that would bring my bill down to $135-136.


I have internet 20\2, Phone, and full cable with HBO\SHO\HD Pack, HD DVR, SD DVR, Standard cable box = $139

[djkilla]

I have internet 20\2, Phone, and full cable with HBO\SHO\HD Pack, HD DVR, SD DVR, Standard cable box = $139

Damn! I thought I was doing well in pricing with what I got. I have three HDTV's in my house but only one has the HD-DVR. I definately wouldn't mind at least one premium channel/package thrown in for the price I'm paying now.

-D j K i l l a-

[CANDY76MAN]

I have the digital combo (tv/phone/internet) and still only getting about 7 mbs down 500 kbps up. I'm in the Tampa area. Are you guys that are getting 10 and 20 mbps down paying about 45 a month for your internet connection?

[FTBoomerIII]

I have the digital combo (tv/phone/internet) and still only getting about 7 mbs down 500 kbps up. I'm in the Tampa area. Are you guys that are getting 10 and 20 mbps down paying about 45 a month for your internet connection?


Yes $49

[Kendo]

Competition is a wonderful thing isn’t it… Believe me if it wasn’t for FiOS, BHN wouldn’t have upgraded their speed. Everyone on both sides of the fence in the Tampa Bay area can look forward to more.

[CANDY76MAN]

Competition is a wonderful thing isn’t it… Believe me if it wasn’t for FiOS, BHN wouldn’t have upgraded their speed. Everyone on both sides of the fence in the Tampa Bay area can look forward to more.

except me apparently? I'm surrounded by fios fiber but they won't run it down my street so thats not an option and I have seen none of these "free" speed increases that BHN seems to be giving other people since they bumped it up to 6 down a few years ago.

[skottey]

except me apparently? I'm surrounded by fios fiber but they won't run it down my street so thats not an option and I have seen none of these "free" speed increases that BHN seems to be giving other people since they bumped it up to 6 down a few years ago.

Call and bitch about it to BHN. How new is your modem? As an independent computer repair person I have gone into people's homes and after a call by me to RR about crappy speed or connection, it turns out they have an older modem, "the modem should have been replaced with a newer one a long time ago." Well, they don't exactly call you up and say, "hey candyman, we have a new modem. Would you like us to schedule someone to bring it out or will you take it to one of our local offices to swap it out?" They don't do anything about it if you don't. I doubt those first generation Motorolla modems can achieve the faster speeds on their network, yet I have seen them out in people's homes as recently as a year or two ago. It is worth a call. Just ask them, "why am I still only testing out at 6 down?" I know they totally revamped the network and there shouldn't be any of those old modems out there but you never know with them.

[CANDY76MAN]

thanks...I have the latest modem though since I have BHN phone service. I guess I could call and ask about it but I hate doing that.

[Kendo]

I’m assuming you’ve already checked for spyware.

You stated you’re testing at 6, are you running your bandwidth test over a wireless connection? On FiOS in my Den I get 20.5 wired, but over my wireless I only get 18 in the next room and 16 on the other side of the house.

Have you tried to optimize your connection with a product like Dr.TCP (adjusting the MTU)?

At that point, probably your only solution would be to contact BHN.

[Drain]

I currently support 3 local businesses that have the Basic $89.95 package which gets the 7M Down, and 512K up. Any idea if they are going to move to 15/2 anytime soon?

Dave

[LonghornXP]

I just recently ordered the 20Meg service from BHN and thus far I'm very happy with it. I'm getting on average about 19 down and 1.8 up but I have yet to try any tweaks yet which I know will help up the speed a bit.

My only issue (I'm okay with it) is that I had to pay 17.95 extra per month instead of the 15 bucks a month because I have discounted standard cable included in my apartment rent each month. The extra speed though is well worth the extra 18 bucks IMO. Just in case you want to know my bill I'll post it below.

50.05 - Digital Combo Plus (my rent includes the cable TV part).
34.95 - All Premium channels.
6.00 - HD Pak.
24.00 - DVR Service (8.00 x 3 boxes).
1.90 - additional outlet x 2.
20.85 - HD DVR Smartbox (6.95 x 3 boxes).

137.75 - Subtotal.
15.20 - All taxes.

152.95 - Grand total.

These prices above don't include the new 20 Meg internet charge. Also my premium channels will increase on my next statement to 39.95/month because my six month promo runs out this month.

So with premium channel and internet increases next month my total bill will be 177.07 which is what they quoted me. They also gave me the new speed increase free for the next 15 days or so of my current statement instead of prorating it which was nice. I never even asked for it either.

Because my cable TV is included in my rent if I was paying for everything I would be writing a check to BHN for over 225.00/month and all I can say is that BHN is getting a very large amount of money so I do kinda expect more from them like a bit more HD channels.

All in all considering all the DVR issues I've had BHN has done so much more to fix issues in both time and credits that I cannot deny that I believe customer service is much better than before. Some of the services aren't quality (8300HDC boxes etc) but customer service IMO is light years better than I ever remember it being.

So BHN put out a good HD lineup and a good working DVR box and keep the good customer service and you will do more than fine. Prices could be lower but I do feel like I'm getting quite a bit for my money including a few things not many companies are offering at any price today.

Sorry for the long post but I just needed to say some of the good things I've noticed from BHN lately because I think they are quite important to the future of this company if the trends continue.

[skottey]

I currently support 3 local businesses that have the Basic $89.95 package which gets the 7M Down, and 512K up. Any idea if they are going to move to 15/2 anytime soon?

Dave

I still see no sign of business or VO speeds increasing. I have several business customers on that 7/512 business package myself and that upload speed is a major bottleneck! One of my customers with two business locations in the Tampa Bay area and we have a VPN between the two sites. That 512 upload is going to be the death of us all. The pricing for RR business is way more than residential. To get 15/2 in each of the sites I am talking about it would be $370/month per site. Yes, I understand that is cheaper than T1 and faster as well, but the fact that RR is so cheap for residential proves that business is subsidizing that division. They are making the bulk of the money off businesses. The least they could do is throw a business a bone and increase the speeds for the same price. If nothing else VO should get the speed increase.

[DSquare]

I got the email today from BHN stating that on April 17th they increased the speed from 15/2 to 20/2.

[pilotbob]

To get 15/2 in each of the sites I am talking about it would be $370/month per site.

Can you get FiOS at those business locations. You can get:

15/2 for $60/mo
15/15 for $100/mo
30/15 for $200/mo

Those prices are for DynamicIP and 2year contract. Here is the price schedule...

http://www22.verizon.com/content/businessfios/packagesandprices/packagesandprices.htm

Why pay $350 a month for a T1 when you can get the above prices? I don't understand it.

BOb

[skottey]

Can you get FiOS at those business locations. You can get:

15/2 for $60/mo
15/15 for $100/mo
30/15 for $200/mo

Those prices are for DynamicIP and 2year contract. Here is the price schedule...

http://www22.verizon.com/content/businessfios/packagesandprices/packagesandprices.htm

Why pay $350 a month for a T1 when you can get the above prices? I don't understand it.

BOb

$239.99/month for 30/15 and a static IP is a great price but FIOS is not available in any of St. Petersburg and many Tampa business locations at this point.