apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I pay about 42 dollars a month for broadband or Wifi as we call it here, in France.

almost 50 bucks a month, but my company covers the cost since i work from home. so...NADA! the money i save goes right into stupid cable tv, though. ugh.

I pay 40$/month for 4mbps unlimited VDSL line, optic fibers cost from 19$/month for 1mbps and 42$/month for 10mbps, but aren't available everywhere. I'm from Slovenia, EU

I'm paying something like $120 a month here in Santa Monica for cable TV, a handful of HD channels, a crummy Tivo-ripoff DVR and 5mbps high speed internet service. The internet alone is about $50 a month.

It's a pretty lame deal, I think. I'm tempted to dump it and go back to DSL for $30 a month as I don't watch much television, but the local DSL provider (Verizon) is crap. Last time I was with them, the service was often down for hours . . . or days.

One of my apartment neighbors either unknowingly or willingly lets me use their wireless cable modem router. If I knew who they were, I'd send them a fruit basket for the money they're saving me ($45/month with Time Warner).

Zekko, What you're doing is illegal if you're living in the good ole' USA. Not that I care, of course, but you might want to google about what can happen to you for "stealing" wi-fi access. Personally, I think people stupid enough to have open-APs should get what's coming at them... but such is America. Even telling them about it could constitute "hacking" into their network and "unauthorized usage". Bleh.

I pay $40/m for Citescape wireless (somewhere circa microwave) access here in MN. Quite a nice price and I live in the boondocks. I shudder for the people using dial-up. Really, is it a question of cost (for those of us

$49/month from Road Runner of Time Warner Cable

I pay roughly $50/month for cable internet service here in Trenton, NJ from Comcast. However, I seldom get the advertised transmission speeds. In fact the speeds are so slow at times that my VOIP telephone service ceases to function. Alternatives here are limited, so after months of complaining to the company and various government agencies, I've concluded the whole thing is a giant consumer scam.

I pay $60/month for cable internet - supposedly I could be paying less, but I'd have to bundle it with something I don't want (cable TV, phone). I feel like I'm getting ripped off, but after reading the other comments here it doesn't look quite as bad as I thought - I just have to adjust from my formerly free DSL (roommate had a relative that worked at an ISP and hooked us up!)

In mexico the average cost of DSL or cable internet is 35 dlls a month.

I pay $29.99 for Verizon DSL. I think after a year though, it goes up to $35 or something like that.

I pay $14.99/mo for Verizon DSL, but you need a phone line as well, so in total, the bill comes to about $40/mo for DSL and the most basic local landline they offer.

phantomdata - I'm currently not at all bothered if my neighbours use my wireless (and I've, with her knowledge, used my next door neighbours once or twice in the past). So, I'm genuinely curious why I should be - thx.

Lesley -- The reason to worry would be that in the U.S., if a hacker uses your internet connection to cause mayhem, you could be held liable for the damage. That's the consideration that ended our experiment with running an open access point.

If your home system's firewall is crappy, you're also at risk for having your home files hacked into. While you not have any secret documents on your home computer, there's usually plenty of information for anyone who wants to steal your identity and start using your credit cards.

Remember, your wifi network doesn't just reach your neighbor, whom you know and like. It also reaches the guy parked in a car on the street, working on a laptop to spot vulnerable networks.

As with door locks, normal wifi security won't necessarily deter a determined criminal -- but most troublemakers will move on to an easier target because they didn't care about you specifically.

Thanks for that Wende. I'll give it some thought. It would only tempt fate for me to express confidence in my firewall. I've had my cards cloned from restaurant payments before, so I would never say never.

Just because I hope you find it interesting - as it suggests that here is maybe different from the US re open access points - here's a link which describes how we have free wifi for all here just 5-10 mins away (so I think it would indeed only be some sad sack criminal who was interested enough to trawl for parking space in my non-access street and then risk being fined for not having a parking permit from the council. But I do see your point Thx.) Anyway, the link:

http://digital-lifestyles.info/2006/02/23/islingtons-free-wifi-technology-mile-expands-to-4km