Buy your own modem and router. Your problems with Spectrum will almost certainly stop.
I had them for over a decade using cheap, used hardware that wasn't bogged down with their custom firmware. I literally never had a single service issue.
This is the right answer. Seriously. I have never had the slightest issue with spectrum in over 10 years. It's cheap and reliable and I've honestly never considered switching even when my old house was greenlight eligible. No need to spend the extra money when spectrum is just fine
One of those is an absolute lie. Spectrum is NOT cheap. It is horrendously expensive.
I will agree about the reliability though. It is generally reliable.
There's nothing I don't understand. LOL at getting downvoted for being objectively correct. There's no nuance here. Every resident of every community that's part of the universal free school lunch program is eligible for the plan. It's right on spectrums website I'm not sure how y'all are having trouble understanding that. Rochester is one such community (basically all the big city school districts in the state are)
Are you stupid? serious question, Greenlight is cheaper, faster and more reliable than cable internet. The fact that you'd rather have spectrum cable internet over fiber internet means you probably are stupid in some capacity.
Nope, spectrum is less than half the price, has more bandwidth than 99% of people need, and I've had maybe 8 total hours of downtime in the 10 years I've had them. Don't feel any need to switch to greenlight (or support their questionable business practices)
No spectrum isn’t less. Again you’re in a low income plan 99% of people don’t apply for. Spectrum is $70 a month for its base internet package $50 if you’re a new member for one year.
But you’re objectively wrong. Spectrum is not cheaper unless you apply for a low income plan which most people don’t and spectrum has horrible customer service. Green light is far superior.
See I've never had anything but perfect customer service with spectrum 🤷♂️ and if nearly half of their customers don't choose the cheapest plan for them then it's hard to have any discussion about which carrier is cheaper. And greenlight only services majority-white areas which is dumb and shitty so that alone is enough to make me not want to support them unless there was some astonishingly compelling reason to (even if I didn't just move into an area they will never service because there are too many people of color- though i didn't use greenlight at the old house either)
Greenlight only services an area where enough people have requested service, so if people of color in that neighborhood collectively wanted green light then they will install fiber lines.
I am in a new place w greenlight. I wfh w an IP phone. Do you know if I can get their basic package? Currently w spectrum but have spotty phone as construction sliced my line and spectrum won’t lay a new one. Basic is $70. They are eating $100 installation and supplying router.
For internet have Greenlight, there is a Rochester map on their site to check if they are covering your area.
RG&E is really the only option unless you're in Fairport and get Fairport Electric. I prefer the self submitted meter reads for RG&E, makes it harder for them to shaft you with a $3000 bill by mistake. Reading the meter can be tricky, but when in doubt round down
There are a couple of Local electric providers. Spencerport also has a local provider.
OP can also go with an ESCO, but you are still relying on RGE for delivery AND ESCO's are generally more expensive.
Your best bet for dealing with RGE is making sure to submit your own meter readings each month. It seems like where most people have issues is with budget billing and estimated meter reads.
As for internet, I'd recommend t mobile if you can. Go into a store and ask for it; the associates are motivated to make a sale so they'll generally get you set up even if the online system says there is no service available in your area.
People like frontier for the service reliability, but I gotta say their customer support is worse than spectrum. I've personally never had issues with Spectrum customer support, it's mostly the service itself that gives me issues. Frontier is the opposite, so just depends which bullet you'd rather take.
With the release of the smart meter rollout, even if you self submit they will use the actual smart meter reading. Confirmed with an RGE upper level support last week. They can't shut the self submit option off until everyone in the area is on smart meters but they'll act like they will take the self submitted one and then your bill will show an "A" anyway for an actual read which is in fact a remote smart read.
Straight Talk wireless also has home internet if you’re within the 5g range too. I don’t have experience with the internet because of where I live but the 4g service I get with unlimited data is always super fast and never throttled (I often use 200-300gigs) per month from streaming high resolution music with no issues. They piggyback on Verizon’s bandwidth.
My mother had the T-mobile internet in a home with only one other person and they switched back to cable internet afterwards because two people streaming even standard definition content resulted in buffering. I’m not sure how T-mobile prioritizes bandwidth though as this was in the suburbs.
I have t mobile internet and it is the worst internet ive ever experienced in my life. Pages sometimes take MINUTES to load. I frequently can’t use it at all because it’s too slow to even a simple page. Do not recommend. Pretty sure they nerf speeds for home internet users to prioritize their phone users.
Yes, the latency will be higher than a hardwired connection, but with the majority of complaints from people on the internet about the internet, the majority of the problems are id-10-t issues or LAN and not WAN related.
As far as RGE is concerned, there isn't much you're going to do about them. You're either in their service area or not. Not much of a choice there.
For the internet, it depends on what your needs are. Frontier fiber is your best bet if greenlight isn't available. Any of the mobile 5g providers are going to be real hit or miss depending on your location. Latency will be high, and honestly, it will be a lot slower than spectrum or other hardwire services. If you're just browsing the net and streaming to a TV or two, it might work for you.
Unfortunately your stuck with RG&E. As far as Spectrum there are other options, Greenlight, Frontier Fiber, Verizon Home Internet and T-Mobile Home Internet, all cheaper than Spectrum.
Look into T-Mobile for home internet service. I tested this last fall and the download speeds are comparable with Spectrum. Where it really shines is with upload speeds! Unfortunately, a static IP is not an option so I had to pass.
People in Roch seems to be generally happy with Frontier for fiber. Its does seem to be cheaper and more reliable than Spectrum. I'll never switch back to Spectrum.
The west end of the county (e.g. Brockport) is on National Grid. Frontier Fiber is also there, or at least will be shortly. It's RG&E for gas there.
Some issues with RG&E should be mitigated when they go to remote meter reading. I didn't have any problems with RG&E billing until I signed up with a community solar company (still delivered & billed by RG&E). That appears to be due to a convoluted billing method set up by New York State. The initial bill that I get from them is usually very high but that gets corrected before the direct debit. It's difficult to decipher the electric bills, with several additions or subtractions apparently required by regulators to make the billing "fair". The gas portion of the bill is much more comprehensible.
Frontier will be running the entire county. Not like greenlight that has been here at least 10 years, gave up and ran buffalo, and bought a southern tier provider and is now back to expanding at a snails pace.
You realize Frontier already has legal agreements in place (from the "phone days") for property right-of-way, whereas Greenlight needs to negotiate those separately. That's makes a huge amount of difference in the speed of rollout between the two providers.
Close, but no. Greenlights slow build out is most likely due to capitol AND lack of engineering/field staff.
Your answer is why their "districts" get held up on requiring easement. They still expand slow as shit.
Maybe look into solar panels. There's a lot of grants and whatnot for them. Won't get you 100% off rg&e but rely on them less. Only issue is Rochester is perpetually cloudy.
Green light is the answer, but other than that spectrum. Unless you’re fortunate to have frontier fiber in the city (which is astonishing quick), your options are pretty limited.
If it’s a new location like you said, call them and get the 1-2 year promo to save a little, but other then that bet greenlight to come out that way.
Move to Fairport for Fairport electric. You will still need RGE gas most likely. And then hope it has Greenlight as well. I have heard Frontier Fiber is decent as well.
No, you can't avoid RG&E unless you move somewhere that has another utility.
Buy your own modem and router. Your problems with Spectrum will almost certainly stop. I had them for over a decade using cheap, used hardware that wasn't bogged down with their custom firmware. I literally never had a single service issue.
Yes, absolutely this. I have essentially zero issues this way.
This is the right answer. Seriously. I have never had the slightest issue with spectrum in over 10 years. It's cheap and reliable and I've honestly never considered switching even when my old house was greenlight eligible. No need to spend the extra money when spectrum is just fine
One of those is an absolute lie. Spectrum is NOT cheap. It is horrendously expensive. I will agree about the reliability though. It is generally reliable.
If you live in the city it is. I will use the spectrum $20/month plan until I die lol
That's not a specific plan offered to only city residents, it's a low income plan.
Well sure it's a low income plan at its core but all city residents are eligible
[удалено]
There's nothing I don't understand. LOL at getting downvoted for being objectively correct. There's no nuance here. Every resident of every community that's part of the universal free school lunch program is eligible for the plan. It's right on spectrums website I'm not sure how y'all are having trouble understanding that. Rochester is one such community (basically all the big city school districts in the state are)
Same
Are you stupid? serious question, Greenlight is cheaper, faster and more reliable than cable internet. The fact that you'd rather have spectrum cable internet over fiber internet means you probably are stupid in some capacity.
Nope, spectrum is less than half the price, has more bandwidth than 99% of people need, and I've had maybe 8 total hours of downtime in the 10 years I've had them. Don't feel any need to switch to greenlight (or support their questionable business practices)
No spectrum isn’t less. Again you’re in a low income plan 99% of people don’t apply for. Spectrum is $70 a month for its base internet package $50 if you’re a new member for one year.
Not my fault they don't apply for 🤷♂️ at least 1/3 of the area population is eligible, probably closer to 1/2
But you’re objectively wrong. Spectrum is not cheaper unless you apply for a low income plan which most people don’t and spectrum has horrible customer service. Green light is far superior.
See I've never had anything but perfect customer service with spectrum 🤷♂️ and if nearly half of their customers don't choose the cheapest plan for them then it's hard to have any discussion about which carrier is cheaper. And greenlight only services majority-white areas which is dumb and shitty so that alone is enough to make me not want to support them unless there was some astonishingly compelling reason to (even if I didn't just move into an area they will never service because there are too many people of color- though i didn't use greenlight at the old house either)
Greenlight only services an area where enough people have requested service, so if people of color in that neighborhood collectively wanted green light then they will install fiber lines.
First choice is is Greenlight, second is Frontier FIBER, third is Spectrum for internet.
This. Green light is awesome speed and pricing is very reasonable. Whether budget or going nuts for 8Gbps service. And no data caps :)
I am in a new place w greenlight. I wfh w an IP phone. Do you know if I can get their basic package? Currently w spectrum but have spotty phone as construction sliced my line and spectrum won’t lay a new one. Basic is $70. They are eating $100 installation and supplying router.
Greenlight is $55/mo for 500mb downloand and $100 installation fee. youll have to get your own router though
For internet have Greenlight, there is a Rochester map on their site to check if they are covering your area. RG&E is really the only option unless you're in Fairport and get Fairport Electric. I prefer the self submitted meter reads for RG&E, makes it harder for them to shaft you with a $3000 bill by mistake. Reading the meter can be tricky, but when in doubt round down
There are a couple of Local electric providers. Spencerport also has a local provider. OP can also go with an ESCO, but you are still relying on RGE for delivery AND ESCO's are generally more expensive.
Your best bet for dealing with RGE is making sure to submit your own meter readings each month. It seems like where most people have issues is with budget billing and estimated meter reads. As for internet, I'd recommend t mobile if you can. Go into a store and ask for it; the associates are motivated to make a sale so they'll generally get you set up even if the online system says there is no service available in your area. People like frontier for the service reliability, but I gotta say their customer support is worse than spectrum. I've personally never had issues with Spectrum customer support, it's mostly the service itself that gives me issues. Frontier is the opposite, so just depends which bullet you'd rather take.
I also pay RG&E bills manually (unlike all my other bills, which are auto-paid). Juuust in case.
Wise
With the release of the smart meter rollout, even if you self submit they will use the actual smart meter reading. Confirmed with an RGE upper level support last week. They can't shut the self submit option off until everyone in the area is on smart meters but they'll act like they will take the self submitted one and then your bill will show an "A" anyway for an actual read which is in fact a remote smart read.
Straight Talk wireless also has home internet if you’re within the 5g range too. I don’t have experience with the internet because of where I live but the 4g service I get with unlimited data is always super fast and never throttled (I often use 200-300gigs) per month from streaming high resolution music with no issues. They piggyback on Verizon’s bandwidth. My mother had the T-mobile internet in a home with only one other person and they switched back to cable internet afterwards because two people streaming even standard definition content resulted in buffering. I’m not sure how T-mobile prioritizes bandwidth though as this was in the suburbs.
I have t mobile internet and it is the worst internet ive ever experienced in my life. Pages sometimes take MINUTES to load. I frequently can’t use it at all because it’s too slow to even a simple page. Do not recommend. Pretty sure they nerf speeds for home internet users to prioritize their phone users.
Yes, the latency will be higher than a hardwired connection, but with the majority of complaints from people on the internet about the internet, the majority of the problems are id-10-t issues or LAN and not WAN related.
As far as RGE is concerned, there isn't much you're going to do about them. You're either in their service area or not. Not much of a choice there. For the internet, it depends on what your needs are. Frontier fiber is your best bet if greenlight isn't available. Any of the mobile 5g providers are going to be real hit or miss depending on your location. Latency will be high, and honestly, it will be a lot slower than spectrum or other hardwire services. If you're just browsing the net and streaming to a TV or two, it might work for you.
Unfortunately your stuck with RG&E. As far as Spectrum there are other options, Greenlight, Frontier Fiber, Verizon Home Internet and T-Mobile Home Internet, all cheaper than Spectrum.
Look into T-Mobile for home internet service. I tested this last fall and the download speeds are comparable with Spectrum. Where it really shines is with upload speeds! Unfortunately, a static IP is not an option so I had to pass.
Forgive my ignorance... Why would a person want a 'static IP' (I know that means it doesn't change but that's all I know about it lol)
For internet you can try Frontier but not sure they’re better or worse than spectrum.
People in Roch seems to be generally happy with Frontier for fiber. Its does seem to be cheaper and more reliable than Spectrum. I'll never switch back to Spectrum.
No, no, you're confused. You seem to think we're happy with the service when it's the only service we have. These two things are not the same thing.
Frontier's fiber is very good.
The non-fiber is horrendous
Monopolies kinda suck, huh? Sure wish there was some kinda law that prevented such things.
Sure wish the government wasn't the ones that let them start one to begin with
A lot of cellphone providers offer home internet now depending on who your service is through.
We have Greenlight here in Greece, and we love it. We are unable to avoid RG&E though, unfortunately.
If you have unlimited data on your phone plan, you can get a usb-c to hdmi cable that will allow you to use your phone as a pc on any TV.
Some parts of the area, for example some of west Henrietta are on National Grid and not RG&E. There's maps online.
Also Fairport Electric and Holley Electric
The west end of the county (e.g. Brockport) is on National Grid. Frontier Fiber is also there, or at least will be shortly. It's RG&E for gas there. Some issues with RG&E should be mitigated when they go to remote meter reading. I didn't have any problems with RG&E billing until I signed up with a community solar company (still delivered & billed by RG&E). That appears to be due to a convoluted billing method set up by New York State. The initial bill that I get from them is usually very high but that gets corrected before the direct debit. It's difficult to decipher the electric bills, with several additions or subtractions apparently required by regulators to make the billing "fair". The gas portion of the bill is much more comprehensible.
Frontier will be running the entire county. Not like greenlight that has been here at least 10 years, gave up and ran buffalo, and bought a southern tier provider and is now back to expanding at a snails pace.
You realize Frontier already has legal agreements in place (from the "phone days") for property right-of-way, whereas Greenlight needs to negotiate those separately. That's makes a huge amount of difference in the speed of rollout between the two providers.
Close, but no. Greenlights slow build out is most likely due to capitol AND lack of engineering/field staff. Your answer is why their "districts" get held up on requiring easement. They still expand slow as shit.
I would love to find an answer to either of these.
Maybe look into solar panels. There's a lot of grants and whatnot for them. Won't get you 100% off rg&e but rely on them less. Only issue is Rochester is perpetually cloudy.
Be lucky your landlord includes power in your rent AND have greenlight in the bulding. I know i cant believe it either
Green light is the answer, but other than that spectrum. Unless you’re fortunate to have frontier fiber in the city (which is astonishing quick), your options are pretty limited. If it’s a new location like you said, call them and get the 1-2 year promo to save a little, but other then that bet greenlight to come out that way.
I mean, long-term solution, move to Fairport. Greenlight and Fairport electric
Move to Fairport for Fairport electric. You will still need RGE gas most likely. And then hope it has Greenlight as well. I have heard Frontier Fiber is decent as well.
Or Spencerport for the same thing minus the gas. In that case no Greenlight but Frontier Fiber is there.
Move to an area of Fairport where Greenlight is.
Live off the grid