Internet Connection

[Sir Blades]

For those who live in the u.s, what company offers the fastest internet connection? and does the modem play a key role in that connection.
Im trying to watch vids on youtube 480p and it takes hours to buffer, i rarely get to see 720p or 1080p even though my laptop is capable of doing so.

 

[Domo Genesis]

<div class="bbWrapper">I'd say Verizon Wireless, I have it and there's rarely any buffering. That is of course unless there more than one person connected to the Internet, but other than that it's pretty fast and it's rarely lagging YouTube videos.</div>

 

[Fodder#5]

Google fiber is the fastest. But that's only in like Kansas City or something. I have Time Warner and it's ok

 

[RoguePatriot]

Bright House >
I'm getting 30 down and 2 up atm. =D

 

[FitzChivalry Farseer]

Use Roadrunner. I guess its the best one

 

[Lazy Dan]

Stay as far away from Time Warner as possible. I have it and I get anywhere from 0.5 - 4 down. It's horrendous, and so is their customer service.

The fastest in America is Google Fiber, but it's only in Kansas City and Austin as of now. It's apparently 100x faster than everything else on the market. My hope is that Google Fiber pushes all the other providers to upgrade so they aren't left in the dust.

 

[7PointOh]

There are many factors in internet speed that can cause a slow buffering o video. At home I use Verizon DSL and I never have problems watching streaming vids at hd quality. Before you blame the internet speed, check your computer and how fast it can process that picture quality. How much memory does it use to run that process on the browser you are using? Are you the only one using that connection? Break your connection down to segments. With a simple ping test you can see response time from your computer to your modem. Then see the response time to the google. and so on. Lastly, see how many people are accessing that site the same time you are. The server that you are visiting and the connection that it has can also be a factor on you connection speed to that site.

 

[gamahiro]

Verizon has horrible support, and your privacy is nonexistent. Speeds for fios are great, but I wouldn't recommend Verizon to anybody.
Cox has decent support. The only privacy issue I had with them was dns hijacking, but after complaining they stopped. They now have a cleverly hidden opt out. Speeds are pretty good, but it all depends on your node. I'm currently using Cox.
Speakeasy was in the middle. I had a dry line. They basically resell bandwidth and use their own services and support. They were actually pretty good to me. 3 static IPs, domain hosted and a full news feed just from asking. Speeds aren't great and kind of pricey.