
Ting Gigabit Fiber Internet - tux
https://ting.com/internet
======
lawl
> _Crazy fast_

How fast is crazy fast? Symmetric Gbit?

How much does it cost? Can you use your own router? Net neutrality?

This page really sucks. They should learn from fiber7[0] feature list and what
to put on the website.

[0]
[https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=h...](https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fiber7.ch%2F&sandbox=1)

(disclaimer: i'm a very happy fiber7 customer)

~~~
freejack
symetric, $89/mos, use your own router, NN before it was cool.

(oBDisclaimer: I work for Ting)

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MrFoof
Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, explore the idea of
deploying in Boston proper.

The state refused to give Verizon tax breaks years ago, so they abandoned
their plans to ever deploy FiOS within Boston city limits. Surrounding
communities have it, but we don't -- only Comcast. Now, to be fair to Comcast,
I've never had a service problem save for 1-2 days in the past 6 years. They
were also very quick on IPv6 and 6-to-4, and they actually deliver the
bandwidth I pay for. Yet I would gladly pay for yet more bandwidth.

~~~
theg2
Cambridge is all but stuck with Comcast and their ever rising rates for
degrading service...meanwhile Arlington just north of the city/Cambridge is
still serviced by Fios fiber.

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brajkovic
Somerville at least has RCN to fall back on to, and they've been good to us.
Still, more competition can never hurt!

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devsquid
I would like to say, having used Ting for a while. Its customer service was
amazing. You called, someone picked up immediately. They worked for ting, and
it was not outsourced. So they resolved my issue within 5 minutes and I got a
email transcript within the hour detailing what happened. It was awesome. Plus
Ting was cheap af, I would spend like 10$ a month for a smart phone. Its data
service was extremely slow, which is why I left it... but still I have fond
memories of Ting. :) Enough to want to post this review. I have many family
member on Ting. It makes sense for older folks who don't really use their
phone number, but still want data when they need it.

~~~
freejack
If you feel like giving us another chance, we've got Ting in GSM which might
resolve the Ting on CDMA data issues you experienced.

Thanks for the kind words about our customer service. Our team thrives on
great feedback like this :)

~~~
Draft_Punk
Would Ting ever consider being the back-end provider of an Open Access
Network?

~~~
freejack
It all depends on the details and the market, but yes - like I said in another
comment, we're really open and flexible about how we deliver our service and I
could see a few different types of arrangements where we might end up doing
exactly that.

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danellis
In a few years, the US will have Internet speeds of a few years ago!

Seriously, though, I hope they're laying fibre that will give them plenty of
room to deliver at least 10Gb.

~~~
vegardx
It's basically just the hardware you connect it to thats the limiting factor
with optical network. Which incidentally is also why actually getting optical
fibers to everyone is so damn cool.

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jplahn
I see the service has launched in Charlottesville. As a Virginia Tech Hokie,
it's hard to stomach that the Hoos are getting if first, but in all
seriousness, I think this is a great thing.

That being said, there's a lot of information that seems to be missing. I'm
not sure how excited to be about this until I see pricing.

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shitlord
I live in Charlottesville and I, as a student, don't know anyone who is
dissatisfied with their ISP. This is mostly a college town, and I think the
students are the ones who would benefit most from higher bandwidth. To me,
they don't seem dissatisfied enough to switch.

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jplahn
That's intersting. I know in Blacksburg, if this was to come to town, people
would switch en masse. Other than internet on campus, the quality is terrible.

~~~
ISL
I can recall fiber proposals from the late nineties in Blacksburg, back when
bev.net was a big thing. The proposals to route fiber around the town died in
process; I don't recall why, but it surely involved who would pay for it and
who would profit.

~~~
jplahn
Surprisingly, there actually IS fiber in Blacksburg. At one of the co-working
spaces downtown, they got gigabit internet two years ago. But sadly it hasn't
extended from there and the project itself barely got funded.

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joshmn
If you guys want to fuck up Comcast, head to the Twin Cities. We're one of
their biggest markets, and there's a reason why we have a few fiber
competitors here already making them sweat. One is CenturyLink. Another is a
local ISP.

Yes, I said it, local ISP.

~~~
pennig
CenturyLink installed FTTH here a few days ago. When I called Comcast to
cancel, it sounded like they intended to put up a fight until I mentioned the
word "gigabit." Immediately took the wind out of the poor rep's sails.

~~~
FireBeyond
Funny, CenturyLink launched Gigabit in Seattle - 50 miles north of me, yet had
people door knocking to "tell me about it, since I've probably seen the
trucks". So I looked online, just to see if it was stealth. Nope.

I called, because the database online sometimes sucks. Nope.

And then the rep was "but we do have 24mbps at your address", "No, thank you,
I have 150mbps with Comcast", and the rep replied, "What do you really need
that much for? I'm pretty sure you don't and are just overpaying."

I didn't even bother beyond "I work from home. I need it. Thanks. Bye."

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kirk21
In the Netherlands x% of a community had to sign up before they would roll out
the system (to make sure that the ISP could recoup their costs). Am wondering
if they plan to implement a similar system.

On a sidenote: the largest telco dropped the price A LOT to compete with the
FTTH provider but this pissed ppl off because they knew they had been ripped
off for several years.

~~~
rayiner
> In the Netherlands x% of a community had to sign up before they would roll
> out the system (to make sure that the ISP could recoup their costs).

In most U.S. cities, this is illegal.

In fact, Google got crucified when they did that originally for Fiber in
Kansas City and a bunch of minority/low-income communities didn't make the
list: [http://www.wired.com/2012/09/google-fiber-digital-
divide](http://www.wired.com/2012/09/google-fiber-digital-divide).
Embarrassingly, the sign-up map was divided right along the road segregating
black from white neighborhoods.

Even after Google lowered the sign-up requirements so more poor neighborhoods
qualified, the sign-up rate for gigabit service was only 10% (and only another
5% for the free service). [http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-fails-to-close-
kansas-cit...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-fails-to-close-kansas-citys-
digital-divide-1412276753). In most places, 30% is more like the target for
what justifies build-out.

~~~
georgerobinson
Can you explain why this is illegal in the US? It in the UK, there are a
number of companies investing in rural fibre broadband for communities where
1. the area is not expected to receive FTTC from BT Openreach and 2. there is
sufficient demand from the local residents (i.e. how many people have signed
up).

~~~
jauer
Because there was a time when services were deployed in a discriminatory
manner:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining)

So because of historical discrimination it's common for government to require
providers to serve everyone in a area instead of just the profitable areas
(e.g. people that would buy $100 IP+TV packages instead of basic 5Mbps
internet).

~~~
rayiner
I think its more of a matter of class-warfare politics. Cities would rather
have nobody have fiber than just the people who could afford it.

~~~
throwaway9324
If there's anything that is class-warfare it's not adopting the very proven
model of municipality networks. Of course government doing something good
doesn't sit right with 'those who can afford'.

~~~
rayiner
Proven? [http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/25/golden-
hamme...](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/25/golden-hammer-
chattanooga-chokes-too-much-fiber/?page=all)

Chatanooga's system cost 5-8k per subscriber household for fiber and smart
grid. It has resulted in little to none of the projected economic growth. And
the revenue stream in no way makes up for the capital investment. The market
values the NPV of a Comcast customer at only $2,500, and cable customers pay
quite a bit more than $70 per month.

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mikerichards
Do these guys actually lay down fiber? If so, isn't that crazy expensive, and
how does that work since it seems there's a limited amount of conduit space
that can be used in cities, towns, neighborhoods, etc.. In other words, not
everybody and their brother can just lay down fiber.

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freejack
Yup, we're laying fiber. We're also partnering and a number of other
approaches as well. Charlottesville is primarily our own fiber.

~~~
teammatters
I live in Westminister, MD. Will you guys be hiring and if so for what type of
positions?

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freejack
Yeah, I expect we'll have a few more openings there. Right now we're hiring a
City Manager for Westminster - details are here:
[http://www.tucows.com/careers/](http://www.tucows.com/careers/)

~~~
teammatters
Cool ... I'm dev/product guy, so city manager isn't a good fit.

I'm excited to potentially use/sign up. Not sure if Kate Wagner Rd and Ct is
on your list. Fingers crossed!

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sschueller
How much does it cost? Are they going to bill it like the phones on a per
gigabyte basis?

~~~
freejack
$89/mos for 1000/1000 and we'll also have an entry level option as well. Not
billed like we bill for mobile service, no ;-)

We've been around the internet long enough to know that its different than
mobile ;-)

~~~
cheapsteak
Heads up - update your open graph tags.

When I share this on Facebook it's still showing mobile copy "Ting is a new
mobile phone service..."

~~~
freejack
Good catch, thanks. I'll pass it along...

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tux
related blog post @ [https://ting.com/blog/bringing-gigabit-fiber-to-
charlottesvi...](https://ting.com/blog/bringing-gigabit-fiber-to-
charlottesville-va-its-happening/)

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smutticus
It's an ISP. Am I missing something?

~~~
sfall
they are know for low cost cell phone service, and they are expanding into isp

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sp332
Looks like Tucows is using the Ting divisions to do their next ISP project.
They just bought an ISP.

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sitkack
I wouldn't be surprised they don't white label some ISPs (CenturyLink,Google
Fiber) ? They execute pretty well.

I am ting customer.

~~~
freejack
Everything we're working on now runs on our own infrastructure or muni-
infrastructure. Nothing white-label in the works, although I wouldn't count it
out (we're an ISP, we like to provide service, we're pretty open about how we
get it to your house).

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pswenson
Century Link has 1 Gigabit available in Denver now, but it's $150/mo :(

Everyone needs at least two choices..

~~~
Blackthorn
I don't think I'd jump on that even if it was cheaper. My experience with
Century Link is even worse than Comcast.

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dzhiurgis
> Norton Secured

Ruuuun!

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amendor
Can't wait to see this in more cities.

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tux3
I'm not sure how I feel about the logo and link to foxbusiness.com on their
page.

