Moving to Atlanta
 

It is finally time for us to make the definite move from Switzerland to Atlanta. We bought an apartment already a while ago, but never bothered to inquire about TV and internet.
We are interested in getting cable as well as the fastest internet connection possible as well as overseas TV channels.
Do you know any providers in ATL?
Thank you for a prompt answer as we leave September 6th.

Try entering your zip code here:

http://www.dslreports.com/town

It looks like Atlanta has Comcast, which offers 3-3.5Mbit cable. You'll find plenty of reports on DSL and other broadband there.

Thank you ScottC,

Are there providers with 10.0-20.0Mbit like we have here in Switzerland or is it wishful thinking?

Sure there are, but they are several thousand a month.

But why would anyone need 10-20Mbit unless it's for a corporate office?

However, I think you must be mistaken, 20Mbit on DSL doesn't exist, and neither does 10Mbit (correct me if I am wrong), providers like Bluewin offer up to 2400kbit/s in Switzerland, what Comcast offers is 3500kbit/s which is considered on of the fastest options there is, even most DSL providers in the US don't even reach half that speed.

Well, I actually have a LAN connection with a small provider called Lula. The transfer rate right now shows 11.2 MBits/s.

The total cost is CHF 28.- a month or $ 21.98 at today's rate. The modem did cost CHF 200.- or $ 156.98

I am not dreaming, on the other hand I am no computer specialist.

According to the Lula website this is their fastest offering:

Geschwindigkeit (UP/Down) bis 2048/1024 Kbps

But as I said, 3.5Mbit should be more than enough for any family, even if you do a massive amount of downloads...

You won't find a fast provider in the US for that price, Yahoo/SBC DSL would probably be the cheapest but at $29 a month for 512kbit/s it's not an awesome deal...

If you want overseas channel, you have to get a Dish Network Sattelite System... They have the most International channels in the US....

Thank you very much for your help, I'll start some hard looking around.

Welcome!
 

Welcome to Atlanta! I've lived there for just over 5 years now, and still enjoy it. Hopefully you selected somewhere in-town, and not out in Cobb county like so many of the ATL'ers on the Delta board ;)

The two biggest choices for Internet in Atlanta are Comcast (www.comcast.com), and BellSouth's FastAccess DSL service (www.fastaccess.com). For television, your major choices are again Comcast, or DirectTV (www.directv.com - also available through BellSouth in package deals) or Dish Network.

I personally use BellSouth FastAccess and DirecTV. I used Comcast (which was formerly AT&T Broadband) at my previous residence with fairly spotty results, though others have reported to be have better success now that it's Comcast.

BellSouth offers three levels of FastAccess -- FastAccess Lite, FastAccess Ultra, and FastAccess Xtreme (I hate the names!). THe Xtreme is the fastest, offering 3 MBit/second downloads, which are comparable with what cable Internet offers. I've been able to push this 3 MBit/sec limit with real downloads, and it is pretty zippy, and the latency is quite low which is also nice (that was one of the big problems I had with cable... many times, while I would have high throughput, the latency was higher than what I would experience with dial-up!).

From the television perspective, Comcast is wired (though if you're in an apartment, they may have a contract with an alternate service provider, so Comcast may possibly not be an option) and DirecTV and Dish Network are satellite providers. I've not used cable in a long time, but I could just about guarantee that your international television options will be much greater with DirecTV or Dish Network.

I hope you enjoy Atlanta, it's a unique city with a lot of interesting things to explore. There's some very good cuisine in-town. My personal favorite area is the area I live in, the Virginia-Highland neighborhood, lots of cool restaurants and bars and boutiques.

Hope this info helps, if you have any other ATL questions, don't hesitate to drop me a PM!

Cheers,
Chris