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saltthefries OP t1_ireuvnr wrote

Reply to comment by pinteresque in More fiber optic internet availability in Lowell by saltthefries

So, there was a flurry of Verizon trucks along Nesmith a few weeks ago as they set up the main line, and everything is attached to the poles above ground. I think more of the wiring downtown is underground so it probably isn't economical to dig up streets just to run fiber unless it's to a large complex. Your best bet is probably nagging some combination of building management and city government to try and facilitate the build out.

I thought some of the buildings around downtown like Mill No 5 had FiOS for a while, but I'm not sure.

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thenickpeppers t1_irfx1pl wrote

None of the Mills that I'm aware of do and with half the construction going on downtown it's so dumb they didn't lay fiber down at the same time. Literally the train station on Thorndike has fiber and I could spit from my condo onto the station but it's still not available. Guess I'm stuck with Cumcast "Gigabit" which over copper isn't really gigabit and I only get a consistent 500mbps 90% the time. Only during the most dead hours would I see 800-900+ mbps consistently.

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pinteresque t1_irga76f wrote

My problem with Comcast isn't even the service, it's the price - 110/month for 600mbps, a tv plan I don't use, and hbo I barely do. If I go down to internet only, I save 5 bucks...at least so far as I can tell, you can't actually check the comcast website for any deals cheaper than your own, like, if you go to "channel maintenance" all it lets you do is add them.

...and then the fees bring it up to 140.

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thenickpeppers t1_irj3zil wrote

I use to do the trick where you can call in to downgrade your internet plan to the next lower tier, keep it for a month, and then call in to upgrade back to receive the promotional price again. Haven't tried that with Comcast yet though and in my case I only have internet.

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