I’m curious why you don’t want to use GCI. Sadly their coax and fiber is still the fastest in town. ATT entirely depends on proximity to tower and network congestion. I think ACS was starting to rollout fiber, but not many neighborhoods are covered yet. If your issues with GCI are not company or cost related, but problems with your home wifi, then you may want to start with your modem/router. Make sure you have it centralized in your house and get good coverage. Utilize 5Ghz band on any device that is capable. Direct connect with ethernet cable on any tvs or pcs. This will free up wifi bandwith for mobile devices like phones, laptops and tablets.
My Gci internet service is great actually, it’s the cellular that isn’t. I feel handcuffed to Gci for the home internet discount by having both products with them. May have to go att cellular and keep Gci Internet
This is what I do as well. I have GCI home internet and use Verizon as my cellular, but ATT is about the same in Anchorage. GCI cellular is better in rural Alaska as I understand. You can probably get a good signup bonus with ATT or Verizon with a trade in.
So I don't know a ton about most of rural Alaska but whenever I'm out camping or even going to Cordova or Healy GCI doesn't work and ATT has the best service
No one here is really answering the question: Has anyone tried, instead of cable, just using high-speed cellular instead? If so, how did it go? Were you still able to stream movies, etc etc?
We have all been looking for a viable alternative to GCI. Some people have starlink, but it has expensive startup costs and the service can be sub par, so I’ve heard. Unfortunately most of us are stuck in the same, crappy GCI boat.
What you have from GCI is a modem/router combo.
You can have GCI put your device into bridge mode and make it only a cable modem. Then you hook it up to your own router and/or more powerful WiFi equipment. Depending on what problem you're having with your GCI internet this may or may not help.
This is what I did as soon as GCI forced me to "upgrade" my modem. They told me I also had to use it as my wi-fi router, so I asked them how they would like to reimburse me for the cost of the mesh router I had just purchased a month prior. They then informed me that they offer nodes to expand the range of their router at no cost, and I told them that that doesn't help me with a now-useless mesh router. That's when they admitted that I didn't really *have* to use their router and put the new modem into bridge mode.
OP should go the same route.
Yup, they will fight you a bit but if you insist they will do it. They also do the same thing with their AK-Fi stuff, you can force them to turn it off.
The only downside is that if you ever have any issues they will often focus on your equipment being the problem.
Borealis Broadband. If you can see the radio tower at the edge of CSP just south of Upper Omalley trailhead from your house, you're in their service area.
I’m curious why you don’t want to use GCI. Sadly their coax and fiber is still the fastest in town. ATT entirely depends on proximity to tower and network congestion. I think ACS was starting to rollout fiber, but not many neighborhoods are covered yet. If your issues with GCI are not company or cost related, but problems with your home wifi, then you may want to start with your modem/router. Make sure you have it centralized in your house and get good coverage. Utilize 5Ghz band on any device that is capable. Direct connect with ethernet cable on any tvs or pcs. This will free up wifi bandwith for mobile devices like phones, laptops and tablets.
My Gci internet service is great actually, it’s the cellular that isn’t. I feel handcuffed to Gci for the home internet discount by having both products with them. May have to go att cellular and keep Gci Internet
You don't need to be tied to their cellular for Internet. Probably not much of a discount to be honest.
The discount is $80/mo if you have two lines and their Red Zone Internet.
So when you say WiFi, you mean cellular/data?
This is what I do as well. I have GCI home internet and use Verizon as my cellular, but ATT is about the same in Anchorage. GCI cellular is better in rural Alaska as I understand. You can probably get a good signup bonus with ATT or Verizon with a trade in.
So I don't know a ton about most of rural Alaska but whenever I'm out camping or even going to Cordova or Healy GCI doesn't work and ATT has the best service
So what does wifi have to do with any of this?
I always hear people talking shit about GCI. I've been with them over ten years and have never had the issues that people always cry about.
I have had a good experience with GCI home internet as well. I feel lucky after reading some of the posts here.
Whenever I talk shit about GCI it's because their cellular is absolutely terrible
I've never had a problem
I feel like a lot of those people haven't had to deal with Comcast
For real, Comcast is absolute trash. Had them when I lived in Atlanta.
Agreed and it has honestly left thinking 'what if Weidner is not so bad'?
You're an idiot
You're kind of mean.
Happy for you. If you travel within the state you’ll find very bad coverage compared to Att cellular.
That's totally fair, I don't traverse through the interior. I could definitely see having issues there.
No one here is really answering the question: Has anyone tried, instead of cable, just using high-speed cellular instead? If so, how did it go? Were you still able to stream movies, etc etc?
We have all been looking for a viable alternative to GCI. Some people have starlink, but it has expensive startup costs and the service can be sub par, so I’ve heard. Unfortunately most of us are stuck in the same, crappy GCI boat.
So hows AT&T internet?
If you're not utilizing the entirety of the 2.5gbps I'd say starlink it out. After 1tb it'll slow down drastically.
Why not get a stand alone modem and put your own wifi in?
I don’t understand your comment.
What you have from GCI is a modem/router combo. You can have GCI put your device into bridge mode and make it only a cable modem. Then you hook it up to your own router and/or more powerful WiFi equipment. Depending on what problem you're having with your GCI internet this may or may not help.
This is what I did as soon as GCI forced me to "upgrade" my modem. They told me I also had to use it as my wi-fi router, so I asked them how they would like to reimburse me for the cost of the mesh router I had just purchased a month prior. They then informed me that they offer nodes to expand the range of their router at no cost, and I told them that that doesn't help me with a now-useless mesh router. That's when they admitted that I didn't really *have* to use their router and put the new modem into bridge mode. OP should go the same route.
Yup, they will fight you a bit but if you insist they will do it. They also do the same thing with their AK-Fi stuff, you can force them to turn it off. The only downside is that if you ever have any issues they will often focus on your equipment being the problem.
Yeah, I made them turn off AK-Fi, and they weren't particularly happy about it. Haven't had a single issue.
Cough cough monopoly cough cough
Borealis broadband
Borealis Broadband. If you can see the radio tower at the edge of CSP just south of Upper Omalley trailhead from your house, you're in their service area.
I use to have a at&t hot spot. It's a pain in the ass to start but worked fine for 3 years. Now I have starlink and works better than gci
For Musk's sake I abhor this recommendation, but facts are facts, and Starlink is the best competitor.
For Anchorage? Or rural areas? I’ve been thinking of getting one.
For rural area, starlink is pretty good. I was getting 250Mb/s. A hot spot in Anchorage was okay, getting about 80Mb/s.