As my assigned question in web pub class, the first thing I did was go to http://www.google.com then typed my question in the search bar.
Once there, the top 3 links were advertisements for Comcast (who has no Austin-area service… interesting!), followed by Verizon DSL (which is what I use) & Time Warner’s road runner service.
Then below this, there are links to other sites. First one was http://www.costhelper.com that compares the costs of dial-up, DSL, & Cable. According to cost helper, the cheapest internet service is Juno at $10/month. The most expensive is Comcast hi-speed internet, at $45/month. THey also give you tips on how to effectively shop for internet service & their respected websites.
Back to Google, the 2nd link below cost helper was for http://www.superpages.com. There they list different names of internet service providers. In addition to the above mentioned, they did list Charter hi-speed internet for only $19.95/month. The name sounds unfamiliar to me, so I checked out the website. I typed in a friend’s physical Austin address to see if their offered in the area. They were not, but sent me a link to time warner. Superpages also listed Direct TV, Dish Network, & CLEARwire internet services (the latter being new to Austin & heavily advertised). According to this site, roadrunner hi-speed costs 34.95/month, Direct TV satellite internet is $29, & CLEARwire costs $25- The cheapest price thus far!
Back to Google, the third link was for a blog posted by Jeremy Zawdony titled Comcast Cable and Internet Service Pricing which can be seen at http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/001897.html. He blogs about Comcast internet & how they’re ripping him off for his internet services. Very interesting read but since it has nothing to do with the Austin area, I felt like I was wasting valuable time….
Back to Google, underneath the blog link is a google map of downtown Austin hotels with hi-speed internet. Sigh.
Underneath that link is an article by Directory M articles, seen at http://articles.directorym.com. They posted a list of local ISP’s. The list can be found here http://bit.ly/dos9ci
After this is some more ISP information such as AT&T U-Verse. The very bottom has articles for Austin, Nevada & Austin, Arkansas because Austin is not just in Texas!
After leaving Google, I did a quick bing search to see if anything was different, & several of the google articles I came across were found on Bing as well.
All in all, the search was pretty easy but did get monotonous & kind of frustrating.
My Google search can be see here: http://bit.ly/bWLDKF
My Bing search can be seen here: http://bit.ly/bWHO04
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