Pro tip for those unhappy with their ISPs: You get what you pay for.
If you pay for a consumer, price-oriented package, expect price-oriented service in return. There is a reason your office doesn't use consumer Internet, and that a 1.4 Mbps T1 costs $400/month, while low-end 6 Mbps DSL costs $30/month -- 4x bandwidth for <10% of the cost, what a deal!
I shouldn't have to say this on Hacker News, but what you pay ISPs for is quality of service and support. If you want that at home, pay for a business-class service. Comcast offers business-class to residences, for example; we've used it many times and the services and support have been excellent.
Is there really a reason that a crummy T1 still costs $400/month? Other than all the existing places that have a 10-year-old T1 where that used to be the fastest option, and the phone company doesn't want to drop prices.
Business class Comcast service does not get higher QoS on its congested links. I've seen Netflix degrade to the lowest bitrate and frequently pause to buffer on a business class connection before Netflix began its payments.
If you pay for a consumer, price-oriented package, expect price-oriented service in return. There is a reason your office doesn't use consumer Internet, and that a 1.4 Mbps T1 costs $400/month, while low-end 6 Mbps DSL costs $30/month -- 4x bandwidth for <10% of the cost, what a deal!
I shouldn't have to say this on Hacker News, but what you pay ISPs for is quality of service and support. If you want that at home, pay for a business-class service. Comcast offers business-class to residences, for example; we've used it many times and the services and support have been excellent.