OpenRange

by Mark WardFeb 15, 2011Tech4 comments

I live in Taylors, SC, and around here my best option for Internet service has always been BellSouth/AT&T DSL. I didn’t want television or phone service, just fast enough Internet to perform common tasks. That meant I was stuck at paying about $40 a month—more before I discovered (they didn’t tell me) that I could cancel the obligatory phone service.

But just today I got my package in the mail from the new WIMAX provider OpenRange. So far I’m happy with it, and the numbers tell the story:

My download and upload speeds are slightly better than those I had with BellSouth.

BellSouth:

Screen shot 2011-02-12 at 7.32.28 PM.png

OpenRange:

Screen shot 2011-02-15 at 6.17.32 PM.png

(Not sure why the ping is different—perhaps someone can enlighten me.)

Also, I don’t have to have a separate wireless router, something which has caused hassles for me in the past. There is a wireless router built into the OpenRange device.

We’ll see how it goes over time, whether bad weather will affect it or even an increase in other subscribers. Right now I’m happy to be saving $5 a month. Every little bit helps.

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4 Comments

Luke Seelenbinder on February 15, 2011 at 8:52 pm

Not bad.

The ping (the round-trip time for a single piece of data) is most likely higher because OpenRange is wireless. It’s tough to beat wires for end-to-end transmission latency (ping), even if the effective throughput (Mbps) is slower for the wired connection.
Chris H. on February 15, 2011 at 9:05 pm

I switched about 3 months ago to OpenRange from Charter — had been paying for Internet + Basic cable, since when I’d signed up they had “required” me to get basic cable — then never told me when they started unbundling. Had been paying close to $70 a month. Soooo happy now with OpenRange. 🙂 Saving $35!
Mark L Ward Jr on February 17, 2011 at 8:01 am

Thanks for the input, guys.
Stephen Smith on March 8, 2011 at 1:48 pm

Mark,

FWIW, when I was in G’ville, I used ATT DSL but hooked up to their dry-loop or naked dsl service, which didn’t require my to pay for additional phone service I never used. The best part was that all the taxes and fees are always applied to phone service, not to the unregulated (for now) internet; when it was all said and done, I paid $19.95 a month on 756k DSL (it was something like $27/month for 3mb).

Just an fyi, I guess, now that you’re using OpenRange and happy with it. =)