Arrr... Head about to explode.

[PushHands]

Boy, after years of wanting broadband, I now have the opportunity to but the task of choosing who my provider seems so daunting. I live in Sacramento, CA and I've check dslreports to availability and spent an hour or so reading reviews and such. But now it all seems like a huge puzzle jumbled in my head.

So this is somewhat a rant and cry for guidance

 

[Evadman]

What are your choices? If you list them, people will say "I had them and they suck" or "I had them and they rule"

 

[0ops]

find companies that give you 1 month free offers and try them all out.

 

[Kadarin]

Depends on what your requirements are. Do you just want high speed downloads at low cost? Are you planning on accessing your machine or network from a remote location? Are you planning on running any kind of filesharing client? Do you need to use any kind of VPN software? Do you have a certain bandwidth requirement, either upstream or downstream? Do you need more than one public ip?

Well, I guess that explains the exploding head.

 

[PushHands]

Originally posted by: Evadman
What are your choices? If you list them, people will say "I had them and they suck" or "I had them and they rule"

After doing a zip code search from the main page of dslreports, the few that seem possible are and have decent reviews:
*Pacific Bell
*DirectTV DSL
*Earthlink
*SureWest Internet

Seems that ATT Broadband is available but people seem to suggest that others avoid it like the plauge.
BTW, my zip is 95825

 

[Ulfwald]

Directtv dsl is good, My brother uses them, static IP is also a good thing.

I use Earthlink/Mindspring, I have enjoyed the service. I pay extra for a static IP, but with that I can run a web server.

 

[PushHands]

Thanks guys for your comments. If I were to go the route of DirectTV DSL, would I need one of those little satellite dishes that I see people have or is just like what Pacific Bell does?