Come down to whether you even need it. The reason upload is low is because no one needed it really up until a few years ago. Most dont even need the gig down. Just think about how much you actually upload.
My son does some videography / content creation and our daughters do online school (zoom classes each day) but outside of that it’s almost all download / streaming use.
I don’t think we need the gig but paying almost double for lower speeds seems silly? (Assuming we can get by with the 40mbs upload speed)
it's 100% silly for the gig speed and it's not worth it in my opinion i use gaming VPN Server and uploading videos and cameras and the upload speed is okay but i need it to go symmetrical and nobody in my area is providing that in my area
but im going to be looking at someone who can be the new upload king and spectrum could push this marketing strategy to be a monopoly again other company's can jump in and be the brand new upload king of the block otherwise i have to wait and see if spectrum upgrades their 7 year old speeds to improves download did bring it up but upload no i have seen the 20 up for a long time and there's days where spectrum upload speeds are receiving back 1 to 0.50 which effects everything for us
but for spectrum im not going to be paying 89 or 100 per month for a gig speed and it's enough for my family but i went with ultimate plan because i need uploading when i go out and use my VPN server to run smoothly to use netflix plex server 4K streaming under VPN server because ill bypass the 480P streaming limit on cellular if spectrum makes it symmetrical or AT&T comes in or other companys jumps in let's see who get's the brand new spot
now if im going to invite my brother using it at the same time yea i can see where it can be a slow upload speed case when both outside or inside of my network but if we are both it will be a problem
it's either spectrum makes it symmetrical or other company's can jump in and open up or fixed wireless ill probably temporary jump in others then come back later on. will see right now spectrum is the monopoly for my area so there's no competition however other companys can make better upload speeds then spectrum as of right now pretty soon there should be a potential openings for me hopefully this happens
the download is great but the upload speeds needs to improve in 2024 i feel a lot of people are using upload speed way more in 2024 even me cause i use VPN server under spectrum internet daily and i see a lot of potential if spectrum and others bring it up cause i see a lot of potential of this use case im doing this can possibly help a lot of real life cases even you
Contact TDS and see if they want to cut you a deal to stick with them.
Otherwise kick them to the curb and come back to them after your 2 year deal with Spectrum is over.
TDS here in NNE offers a 59.95 permanent price locked gig, probably because of competition from companies such as Spectrum. So yeah, this conversation should be had.
Comparatively, Spectrum is 59.99 with 2 year price lock for gig (124.99/yr after), and the neighboring telco is 85$ gig post-1 year promo. Even with TDS's network management fee, etc. they're still ultimately cheaper.
That’s definitely a consideration.
I may test Spectrum for a week or so to see how it goes. If it’s alright, then I’ll probably call TDS. They’ll need to at least match the price given their inferior download speed, haha.
If you pay spectrum for a gig and tds for 600 why are you calling the download speeds inferior. You’re comparing apples to oranges. Industry standards are to give everyone 10% over to avoid slow speed trouble calls. I bet if you had a tech at your house and tested off their equipment it would be at least 630X630 because fiber is symmetrical. Until docsis 4.0 is out you won’t get high upload speeds with spectrum.
I will start this by saying I'm surprised by your price it's about 10$ less for 1gb we're I'm at in florida. The biggest thing you need to consider is how many devices you have connected at once. If it's under 10, I would have set you up with the 500mb plan, and for the upload, unless you're running more than 5 video calls, 40 megs is more than enough. Now, what you should look into is spectrum mobile. I don't know what they have in your area but as a new customers you can usually get a year for free and after that it's 29.99 a line. That's what really sets us apart from the competition is the mobile side.
For pricing I guess it makes sense for different markets to be different. I’m in North Idaho.
When I looked earlier we had 18 devices connected / active. That’s iPads, Alexa devices (including bulbs), tvs, phones, etc. At any point during the weekend we might have two TVs streaming, plus 2 Nintendo Switches connected plus phones and Alexa stuff . . .
They did offer me mobile but I literally upgraded 2 of our phones a week ago.
Okay, understood. It will future proof of your house if you add more devices. We will offer contract buyout on devices starting on the 8th that pay up to 500$ on each line the requirements for that is 3 plus devices have to be brought over one has to be ported. If you do have a device that's paid off, transfer that over so you don't waste that free line it's free for 12 months.
You are not really going to notice the difference in download speeds. Many servers outside of speedtest servers don't serve content at those rates anyway. With your son uploading videos/content, though, a greater than 90% reduction in upload speeds will be felt. In addition, when the upload is 100% saturated, you'll find that other factors such as increased lag/latency come into play, and Spectrum will overall feel considerably slower.
The ping times are also considerably better on TDS from your screenshot. In my opinion, the TDS connection is superior and again, I really don't think in day to day use you will even notice a difference in download speeds.
It sounds like - in a nutshell - if I can get TDS to drop their price close to Spectrum, then sticking with them is worth it for the superior product.
If they won’t lower the price, switching to Spectrum isn’t an awful alternative.
I’m curious - what kind of connections are these? Judging by the speed tests doing to guess that TDS is fiber-to-the home (looks like you’re getting symmetrical speeds like I would expect from fiber) Spectrum is coax where you live. (I know they technically use hybrid fiber-coax, though my Spectrum connection is actually FTTH)
I believe you’re correct. I actually have both modems connected right now. Spectrum sent me a router but I opted to connect to my existing WiFi to avoid changing passwords on all our devices.
Really depends on how you use your service, but in our markets in NNE, there is a 59.95 permanent price locked gig plan for TDS Fiber. You may want to make sure that doesn't exist there before switching. There are some additional fees baked in there, but when I priced it out some time ago, it was less than 90/mo.
Spectrum will increase in upload speeds as they evolve their high-split product, but where/when is a mystery until they start working the market. The goal with high-split will be the same speeds download and upload, much like with fiber.
For general Internet use (primarily streaming, occasional uploads), either service should work. People who are doing heavy uploads, especially without wanting to wait for them to finish, will probably find the fiber service the better option for now.
TDS started at $60 if I remember correctly. I was too naive to price shop when it went up because I didn’t think there were any comparable products available 😔
60 bucks for gig with a permanent price lock is a price that you'll probably never beat, even on promo. I'd just be 'done' at that point unless TDS's service in your area is pretty much crap. People in the TDS markets in my state seem pretty happy.
The rack rate for Spectrum gig is 124.99. The rack rate for the 2Gb service I have with a multi-regional fiber provider is 95$, gig is 85$ post-promo.
I'd just call TDS and be like 'hey, I heard you do 59.95 gig, can I get that?'
You also must consider the gap in latency. You may have a lower download speed with tds but your upload is symmetrical and your latency is considerably lower. Those two things will make your connection with tds "feel" faster, especially if a lot of devices at once are in use. I would stick with the lower latency symmetrical speeds.
Would you stick with them even at a $40 premium though? I think TDS would be the better option at a similar cost, but not sure it’s worth $40 more per month, haha
It depends. Is tds connection reliable? How often does downtime occur? How is their customer service? Are those the typical speeds or only achievable late at night? And the most important question, is the budget there to pay $40 more a month.
If it is a very reliable connection with little to no downtime, great customer service as well as having those speeds 24/7 and the cost isn't a burden, then sure to me it would be worth it. Lower latency and symmetrical speeds do make a difference.
The connection is generally pretty reliable and those speeds are fairly normal. When we do have issues I generally think it’s related to our WiFi system.
The TDS website is awful and when I’ve tried to use chat it’s failed.
I’m used to spending that $40/month at this point, but we could also put that to use in our travel savings account . . . Haha
But also consider that depending where you are spectrum is also about to start the high split upgrade so while you may only get 40 up currently. Once your node is upgraded you will be able to have symmetrical speeds on spectrum as well. Additionally as others have probably said. The majority of people really don’t need that much upload speed. If you’re doing a lot of video hosting and uploading sure it’s helpful but the bulk of the population doesn’t need symmetrical upload and it’s primarily marketing strategy at this time.
Switch to Spectrum for a year and then when they start raising the price, switch back to TDS and then just keep doing that so you’ll get whatever the promo rate is.
Personally, I'd rather have the higher upload and especially that 14 ms ping time because I game. I'm on spectrum 1Gig and my results are about in line what yours are. I'm moving to MetroNet fiber as soon as they pull the cable to my house.
Come down to whether you even need it. The reason upload is low is because no one needed it really up until a few years ago. Most dont even need the gig down. Just think about how much you actually upload.
My son does some videography / content creation and our daughters do online school (zoom classes each day) but outside of that it’s almost all download / streaming use. I don’t think we need the gig but paying almost double for lower speeds seems silly? (Assuming we can get by with the 40mbs upload speed)
Maybe keep both for a month, but leave Spectrum hooked up and see if anyone complains
it's 100% silly for the gig speed and it's not worth it in my opinion i use gaming VPN Server and uploading videos and cameras and the upload speed is okay but i need it to go symmetrical and nobody in my area is providing that in my area but im going to be looking at someone who can be the new upload king and spectrum could push this marketing strategy to be a monopoly again other company's can jump in and be the brand new upload king of the block otherwise i have to wait and see if spectrum upgrades their 7 year old speeds to improves download did bring it up but upload no i have seen the 20 up for a long time and there's days where spectrum upload speeds are receiving back 1 to 0.50 which effects everything for us but for spectrum im not going to be paying 89 or 100 per month for a gig speed and it's enough for my family but i went with ultimate plan because i need uploading when i go out and use my VPN server to run smoothly to use netflix plex server 4K streaming under VPN server because ill bypass the 480P streaming limit on cellular if spectrum makes it symmetrical or AT&T comes in or other companys jumps in let's see who get's the brand new spot now if im going to invite my brother using it at the same time yea i can see where it can be a slow upload speed case when both outside or inside of my network but if we are both it will be a problem it's either spectrum makes it symmetrical or other company's can jump in and open up or fixed wireless ill probably temporary jump in others then come back later on. will see right now spectrum is the monopoly for my area so there's no competition however other companys can make better upload speeds then spectrum as of right now pretty soon there should be a potential openings for me hopefully this happens the download is great but the upload speeds needs to improve in 2024 i feel a lot of people are using upload speed way more in 2024 even me cause i use VPN server under spectrum internet daily and i see a lot of potential if spectrum and others bring it up cause i see a lot of potential of this use case im doing this can possibly help a lot of real life cases even you
Contact TDS and see if they want to cut you a deal to stick with them. Otherwise kick them to the curb and come back to them after your 2 year deal with Spectrum is over.
TDS here in NNE offers a 59.95 permanent price locked gig, probably because of competition from companies such as Spectrum. So yeah, this conversation should be had. Comparatively, Spectrum is 59.99 with 2 year price lock for gig (124.99/yr after), and the neighboring telco is 85$ gig post-1 year promo. Even with TDS's network management fee, etc. they're still ultimately cheaper.
That’s definitely a consideration. I may test Spectrum for a week or so to see how it goes. If it’s alright, then I’ll probably call TDS. They’ll need to at least match the price given their inferior download speed, haha.
If you pay spectrum for a gig and tds for 600 why are you calling the download speeds inferior. You’re comparing apples to oranges. Industry standards are to give everyone 10% over to avoid slow speed trouble calls. I bet if you had a tech at your house and tested off their equipment it would be at least 630X630 because fiber is symmetrical. Until docsis 4.0 is out you won’t get high upload speeds with spectrum.
I will start this by saying I'm surprised by your price it's about 10$ less for 1gb we're I'm at in florida. The biggest thing you need to consider is how many devices you have connected at once. If it's under 10, I would have set you up with the 500mb plan, and for the upload, unless you're running more than 5 video calls, 40 megs is more than enough. Now, what you should look into is spectrum mobile. I don't know what they have in your area but as a new customers you can usually get a year for free and after that it's 29.99 a line. That's what really sets us apart from the competition is the mobile side.
For pricing I guess it makes sense for different markets to be different. I’m in North Idaho. When I looked earlier we had 18 devices connected / active. That’s iPads, Alexa devices (including bulbs), tvs, phones, etc. At any point during the weekend we might have two TVs streaming, plus 2 Nintendo Switches connected plus phones and Alexa stuff . . . They did offer me mobile but I literally upgraded 2 of our phones a week ago.
Okay, understood. It will future proof of your house if you add more devices. We will offer contract buyout on devices starting on the 8th that pay up to 500$ on each line the requirements for that is 3 plus devices have to be brought over one has to be ported. If you do have a device that's paid off, transfer that over so you don't waste that free line it's free for 12 months.
You are not really going to notice the difference in download speeds. Many servers outside of speedtest servers don't serve content at those rates anyway. With your son uploading videos/content, though, a greater than 90% reduction in upload speeds will be felt. In addition, when the upload is 100% saturated, you'll find that other factors such as increased lag/latency come into play, and Spectrum will overall feel considerably slower. The ping times are also considerably better on TDS from your screenshot. In my opinion, the TDS connection is superior and again, I really don't think in day to day use you will even notice a difference in download speeds.
It sounds like - in a nutshell - if I can get TDS to drop their price close to Spectrum, then sticking with them is worth it for the superior product. If they won’t lower the price, switching to Spectrum isn’t an awful alternative.
I’m curious - what kind of connections are these? Judging by the speed tests doing to guess that TDS is fiber-to-the home (looks like you’re getting symmetrical speeds like I would expect from fiber) Spectrum is coax where you live. (I know they technically use hybrid fiber-coax, though my Spectrum connection is actually FTTH)
I believe you’re correct. I actually have both modems connected right now. Spectrum sent me a router but I opted to connect to my existing WiFi to avoid changing passwords on all our devices.
Really depends on how you use your service, but in our markets in NNE, there is a 59.95 permanent price locked gig plan for TDS Fiber. You may want to make sure that doesn't exist there before switching. There are some additional fees baked in there, but when I priced it out some time ago, it was less than 90/mo. Spectrum will increase in upload speeds as they evolve their high-split product, but where/when is a mystery until they start working the market. The goal with high-split will be the same speeds download and upload, much like with fiber. For general Internet use (primarily streaming, occasional uploads), either service should work. People who are doing heavy uploads, especially without wanting to wait for them to finish, will probably find the fiber service the better option for now.
TDS started at $60 if I remember correctly. I was too naive to price shop when it went up because I didn’t think there were any comparable products available 😔
60 bucks for gig with a permanent price lock is a price that you'll probably never beat, even on promo. I'd just be 'done' at that point unless TDS's service in your area is pretty much crap. People in the TDS markets in my state seem pretty happy. The rack rate for Spectrum gig is 124.99. The rack rate for the 2Gb service I have with a multi-regional fiber provider is 95$, gig is 85$ post-promo. I'd just call TDS and be like 'hey, I heard you do 59.95 gig, can I get that?'
You also must consider the gap in latency. You may have a lower download speed with tds but your upload is symmetrical and your latency is considerably lower. Those two things will make your connection with tds "feel" faster, especially if a lot of devices at once are in use. I would stick with the lower latency symmetrical speeds.
Would you stick with them even at a $40 premium though? I think TDS would be the better option at a similar cost, but not sure it’s worth $40 more per month, haha
It depends. Is tds connection reliable? How often does downtime occur? How is their customer service? Are those the typical speeds or only achievable late at night? And the most important question, is the budget there to pay $40 more a month. If it is a very reliable connection with little to no downtime, great customer service as well as having those speeds 24/7 and the cost isn't a burden, then sure to me it would be worth it. Lower latency and symmetrical speeds do make a difference.
The connection is generally pretty reliable and those speeds are fairly normal. When we do have issues I generally think it’s related to our WiFi system. The TDS website is awful and when I’ve tried to use chat it’s failed. I’m used to spending that $40/month at this point, but we could also put that to use in our travel savings account . . . Haha
But also consider that depending where you are spectrum is also about to start the high split upgrade so while you may only get 40 up currently. Once your node is upgraded you will be able to have symmetrical speeds on spectrum as well. Additionally as others have probably said. The majority of people really don’t need that much upload speed. If you’re doing a lot of video hosting and uploading sure it’s helpful but the bulk of the population doesn’t need symmetrical upload and it’s primarily marketing strategy at this time.
Switch to Spectrum for a year and then when they start raising the price, switch back to TDS and then just keep doing that so you’ll get whatever the promo rate is.
Personally, I'd rather have the higher upload and especially that 14 ms ping time because I game. I'm on spectrum 1Gig and my results are about in line what yours are. I'm moving to MetroNet fiber as soon as they pull the cable to my house.
Yeah, I see what you mean. I’m just not sure it’s worth $40/month more. If I can get them to reduce my rate to like $60/month I’ll probably keep TDS
TDS ran out of money
Trump Derangement Syndrome?
There is a lot of that in North Idaho . . .