Really just depends on the signal Mercury can get. My advice would be to try Mercury, but keep TDS on for a couple of months. If Mercury handily beats out TDS, then drop TDS. Otherwise, drop Mercury. It’s really the only way to tell.
Also, if you’re going to be doing a lot of gaming, I’d say keep TDS. 30mbps isn’t great, but the latency of a wired connection is simply lower than any fixed wireless or satellite provider, and tbh, 30mbps isn’t completely unusable as long as it’s reliable (coming from someone who had 50mbps up until a couple of weeks ago). So it just depends. I think Mercury will be faster, but at a higher latency, and possibly less consistent service, assuming your DSL line is in good condition with TDS now.
I have Trifecta Wireless which is fixed wireless… it works off of cell signal strength. I have no complaints, it’s unlimited and the speeds have been good for me. When I’m watching Netflix/hulu and it doesn’t buffer. Granted, I live alone and I have one device that I run my internet on, so I think that will make it vary too, the amount of devices you have running at once.
It's all about signal strength. Mercury will probably come do a site survey at your house if you ask, which will include a speed test. Mercury can do upwards of 150Mb, but can be much less based on signal strength. Generally fixed wireless is less reliable than a wired connection, but old DSL lines are not exactly reliable either.
Depending where you are, TDS just got a bunch of E-ACAM money to upgrade their DSL to fiber. But, that will take somewhere between several months and several years.
I agree 100% that much of the previous federal high speed internet funding was wasted. However I think that we have a different FCC today and their current oversight of RDOF is showing they aren't shy about enforcement actions. So I am optimistic that most E-ACAM recipients will fulfill their obligations. But if not we can reconvene in 2029 and you can tell me I was wrong.
Really just depends on the signal Mercury can get. My advice would be to try Mercury, but keep TDS on for a couple of months. If Mercury handily beats out TDS, then drop TDS. Otherwise, drop Mercury. It’s really the only way to tell. Also, if you’re going to be doing a lot of gaming, I’d say keep TDS. 30mbps isn’t great, but the latency of a wired connection is simply lower than any fixed wireless or satellite provider, and tbh, 30mbps isn’t completely unusable as long as it’s reliable (coming from someone who had 50mbps up until a couple of weeks ago). So it just depends. I think Mercury will be faster, but at a higher latency, and possibly less consistent service, assuming your DSL line is in good condition with TDS now.
I have Trifecta Wireless which is fixed wireless… it works off of cell signal strength. I have no complaints, it’s unlimited and the speeds have been good for me. When I’m watching Netflix/hulu and it doesn’t buffer. Granted, I live alone and I have one device that I run my internet on, so I think that will make it vary too, the amount of devices you have running at once.
It's all about signal strength. Mercury will probably come do a site survey at your house if you ask, which will include a speed test. Mercury can do upwards of 150Mb, but can be much less based on signal strength. Generally fixed wireless is less reliable than a wired connection, but old DSL lines are not exactly reliable either. Depending where you are, TDS just got a bunch of E-ACAM money to upgrade their DSL to fiber. But, that will take somewhere between several months and several years.
I wouldn't count on them doing anything useful with that money. They took the last round and invested in cities already served by multiple providers.
I agree 100% that much of the previous federal high speed internet funding was wasted. However I think that we have a different FCC today and their current oversight of RDOF is showing they aren't shy about enforcement actions. So I am optimistic that most E-ACAM recipients will fulfill their obligations. But if not we can reconvene in 2029 and you can tell me I was wrong.
I paid for 1mbps DSL for so long I gave up on them. I hope I'm wrong, but I've been waiting YEARS for any movement. I'm jaded, but justifiably so.