There are lots of options out there of course, and this is a somewhat impossible question to answer conclusively because different options will be available to different people in different locations at different speeds. Thats a lot of differences. So let me tell you some things to look for and some things to avoid.
First, the obvious.
Fiber Optic is the fastest form of internet, if you can get fiber to your house for a reasonable rate, thats the way to go.
Cable seems to be pretty much the second best option, and in some situations is faster than fiber.
DSL sucks. Don’t bother. I’m serious. I looked at AT&T’s rates and speeds and I get faster speeds on my smartphone’s 3g connection for the same amount of money. Yup, its that bad.
Comcast is the main cable guy. They now call their service “Xfinity.”
Verizon is the main fiber guy.
At&t has DSL but also some form of cable / fiber hybrid they call “u verse.”
What I've found simply looking in the east bay as well as the stockton area.
Verizon is not available in many places, so I have not personally used them. I have heard good things however. Some places however they still don’t get fiber directly to the home so speeds may not be that much if any faster than comcast.
My parents have comcast and I recently just got their service in my apartment. They are quite aggressive and are promoting fast speeds at good intro pricing. After the intro pricing however, they can be quite expensive, but no more so than anyone else. (at least with my limited research) They are reinforcing their backbone network with fiber to make it faster, and may eventually offer fiber to the home.
Gotta stay on top of them, it seems the best way to go about it is join for intro pricing then look elsewhere. If you switch (think in a year) you can hopefully switch back and get more intro pricing. Check to make sure there’s no time agreement with your contract.
AT&T’s DSL, as I mentioned before, is something I would recommend you avoid. Their U Verse, is quite different however. They have fiber backbone but ultimately its just cable coming to the home. That means the speeds are actually just similar to comcast. Furthermore, I found U Verse was not available in my area, so I was not able to try it. Prices seemed similar to comcast but not as many intro deals were available.
Second, the not so obvious.
Don’t rent the modem from the company. This may just be personal preference, but here are my reasons for doing so. Renting the modem will cost you an extra 5 dollars a month, which although doesnt seem like alot it means you are spending money on nothing…
If you buy a modem, buy this one.
I just found this one, it is a slightly newer model but I cannot find any differences so far. Does not seem to e worth the quite increased price.
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SURFboard®-SB6121-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B004J0DE0A/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1312509354&sr=8-9
User review suggests it is simply smaller. It mentions it is ip v6 compitible, I need to check and see if first modem is ipv6
Its DOCSIS 3.0, which is a relatively new standard that means it can accept the higher speeds cable companies will have if you willing to pay for them.
It will not work with verizon Fios service however.
At about $90, it will pay for itself in 1.5 years, making it worth it financially.
I would avoid the modem router combos. They tend to have more issues and less support. Furthermore their router abilities are usually not as good as a stand alone system. Finally, and the biggest reason, the life of a modem will vastly out live a router. WiFI technologies are constantly getting better, giving your router a lifespan of roughly 2 to 4 years. A docsis 3.0 modem however, unless you switch to fiber or something drastically changes, (which it always potentially could) will last 4 to 6 years.
If you must just get a combo, get this one, as its the only one I know of that has docsis 3.0 modem with a wireless N certified router.
I will admit it is pretty impressive to cram a dual band N router and modem in one package, and may serve some people quite fine while being simpler.
However, I think reviews show it will not be as good as a stand alone dual band router.
Also its quite expensive.
NOTE
I have not done research for hosting your own websites or for corporate stuff. I plan on hosting my own website soon so when i cross that bridge and talk to comcast about it i will let you know.
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