Internet Cap

[Xplorer4x4]

So my girlfriend and I live in an apartment complex, and like alot of apt complexes, atleast here, they contract out to certain companies to provide residents with TV,phone and internet. On the "cable" side it is a Dish Network sub contractor named Blue Top Communications. We have a bunch of dishes installed in one location and fed to all the apartments. Imagine what great picture quality we get![/sarcasm] Dont even get me started on customer service..lets just say they left us with out a box for 3 weeks..Now the internet side is handled by ATT. They rip us off by charging us $40(it was $37 but they just raised the price) for 6Mbps when my cable company sells 10Mbps for $35. Now they want to cap there internet at 150 GBs a month. For us thats just not enough since we do not have TV.

We have been trying our best to manage the internet this month as to try to get used to staying under the 150GB cap as we have 3 strikes to go over before we get charged overage fees.

We looked in to getting the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. We have no need for a Tablet but we were thinking that it would use a $30 unlimited package like my D2G and her iPOS 4. When I realized how much of a rip off the data packages were we scrapped that idea quickly.

Just wondered if any one has any ideas on how we might be able to get around the cap in some way? I am waiting till Monday to look in to getting an ATT Small Business DSL plan. Its $5 more a month then residential plans but well worth it if they do not cap us. Plus it would get us the advertised price for 1 year which is actually what we are paying right now since we are not on the advertised price and ATT knocked us down to $30 a month when I threatened to cancel my service because of the cap. Moving MIGHT be a possibility but I probably wont know till Monday at least but just trying to come up with ideas just in case.

 

[joeshell20]

So my girlfriend and I live in an apartment complex, and like alot of apt complexes, atleast here, they contract out to certain companies to provide residents with TV,phone and internet. On the "cable" side it is a Dish Network sub contractor named Blue Top Communications. We have a bunch of dishes installed in one location and fed to all the apartments. Imagine what great picture quality we get![/sarcasm] Dont even get me started on customer service..lets just say they left us with out a box for 3 weeks..Now the internet side is handled by ATT. They rip us off by charging us $40(it was $37 but they just raised the price) for 6Mbps when my cable company sells 10Mbps for $35. Now they want to cap there internet at 150 GBs a month. For us thats just not enough since we do not have TV.

We have been trying our best to manage the internet this month as to try to get used to staying under the 150GB cap as we have 3 strikes to go over before we get charged overage fees.

We looked in to getting the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. We have no need for a Tablet but we were thinking that it would use a $30 unlimited package like my D2G and her iPOS 4. When I realized how much of a rip off the data packages were we scrapped that idea quickly.

Just wondered if any one has any ideas on how we might be able to get around the cap in some way? I am waiting till Monday to look in to getting an ATT Small Business DSL plan. Its $5 more a month then residential plans but well worth it if they do not cap us. Plus it would get us the advertised price for 1 year which is actually what we are paying right now since we are not on the advertised price and ATT knocked us down to $30 a month when I threatened to cancel my service because of the cap. Moving MIGHT be a possibility but I probably wont know till Monday at least but just trying to come up with ideas just in case.

You should consider yourself lucky that you have a 150gb package at only 40$. I live just outside the city limits of a small town, where only 3g broadband is available. I pay Verizon $80 per month for only 10gb. He'll, 150gb per month is an ass load of data compared to what I have. On top of that, I am lucky to get maybe 40 -60kbs. Going to get off the soap box now. Just thought I would mention to give you a little perspective.

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[mcj30606]

This line of questioning is toeing the ethics line however I will offer a general observation as it does not explain how to do anything unethical. Mods please remove my post if you disagree.

The fact that the apartment complex is able to monitor bandwidth usage by unit number indicates to me they are likely monitoring each switch port on their end or using some sort of authentication system like some hotels use. Since this is the case, changing anything up inside the apartment like MAC addresses on router would have no effect. Short of finding an alternative service or doing some seriously illegal stuff you will probably have to live with it.

Monthly cable service is cheaper than attorney's fees.

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[*22899]

I'm paying 70 a month for no cap but 4mbps speed via radio communications. Honestly I have no clue how it works but its all I got and it a giant rip off. The internet is defiantly not everywhere yet as some would assume.

 

[Xplorer4x4]

@joeshell20 I am well aware some people are far worse off then I am. Not trying to rub it in just trying to get ideas. I know Comcast has a 250 GB cap I believe but allow you some leeway to go over a little bit. My buddy in New Zealand has 40mbps downloads, but if he hits his cap(not sure how much it is) he is throttled down to nearly dial up speeds for the rest of the month. Don't mean to sound like a whinny b!tch but its a big change for us and something that is going to be difficult for us to adjust to.

@mcj30606 Ok first, your totally misunderstanding here. Maybe I worded it bad. I dont mean how can I get around this by hacking or something but more like alternatives. Like say we could get a tablet with unlimited data. Then my girlfriend could watch all her youtube vlogs on there. Maybe pay for Hulu Plus when it comes to android. This would take all video streaming off the DSL service and put it on the tablet. Of course no one offers this but just an example.

ATT is the one doing the monitoring. The APT complex only comes in to play because they almost have us locked down completely to the providers of there choice. Supposedly with renters insurance we could get another provider, but then there are so many loop holes to do it that we cant really do it if we wanted. I think part of it is how the installers have to ground things. Supposedly its really complicated. Supposedly people have tried before but failed according to a former employee here.

And since you mentioned cable, as much as I hate to say it we may have to pick up our "cable" again. Even though they over charge you $10 on the advertised Dish Network Price and $5 over the non-advertised price, like what you pay after the promo price term is over. Plus you can call Dish directly for support. Tried that and it was a miserable fail.

@*22899;1519742 Radio communications? Interesting, I will have to look in to that just on the principal of the geek in me. I know the price per speed isnt that great but its new technology so what do you expect? Heck it might be worth it for us.