City Highlight: Moving to Atlanta

Summer is almost officially here, which means that the time for people to start moving is fast approaching or already underway for some people. One of the more stressful parts of any move is connecting all of your utilities and home services. Getting everything set up can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you're new to the area and don't know what's available.

Last month, we did a piece highlighting the best deals on home services in the Chicago area. This time, we wanted to do the same thing for another destination: Alanta, Georgia. Hopefully this list will be helpful for anybody moving to or in the Atlanta area.

Check out the list below to see the best specials!

How to Stream Movies and TV Shows with Netflix

High-speed Internet packages seem to be getting faster and faster every month. Remember back in the day when a 1.0 Mbps connection meant you were some sort of super-geek and had the quickest connection in the neighborhood? Now, 1.0 Mbps is what we recommend for "normal people."

So, what are we using all this speed for? There are endless ways to use your megabits from video-gaming to video-chatting, but for most people the need for speed is based on their desire to stream things quickly.

Back in the day, you had to download almost everything you wanted to watch. Remember the Internet before YouTube when to watch the latest hilarious viral video you had to download a huge .wmv or .mov file? It could take hours for just one cat video, even with a speedy connection. These days though with our super-fast broadband connections, it's all about streaming. We even now have the ability to watch HD movies and TV shows over a streaming connection with no endless buffering and interruptions.

City Highlight: Moving to Chicago

Over the last few months, we've incorporated a variety of unique topics and features into the blog, including WhiteFence 101 tutorials, FAQs, and Provider Highlights. One of the new things that we want to start doing is highlighting specific cities around the country, and show what deals are available for each of them. This should be of great use to anyone moving to that area or even people that already live there and want to save some money on monthly bills.

Our first city on the list? Chicago. I admittedly don't know much about Chicago, but I have friends that live there or are from there, and they seem to be mostly alright people, minus that bizarre love of socks, bear-like animals and bulls. But regardless of whether or not I've been there or understand their fascinations, I've been able to do some digging around inside the WhiteFence engine to find some great deals for Chicagoans.

If you live around the area, you'll definitely want to check these out and see where you can cut some spending out of your expenses.

The Best Deals on WhiteFence Right Now

Our providers often run promotions to persuade you to choose their services over the competition's. These promotions can add up to some pretty significant savings for the savvy consumer, so it pays to keep an eye open for them.

Here are some of the hottest deals available on WhiteFence right now:

• Get a $200 AT&T reward card on select AT&T U-vesre bundles.
• Save over $20 per month with select Frontier bundles.
• Get $150 back and save $5 per month for 24 months on select Verizon bundles.
• Lock in your price for life with select Windstream bundles.
• Get a $100 Visa gift card when you order home security service from ADT from Security Choice.

These promotions are running as of the date of this blog, but could be removed at any time. Not everyone will qualify for each of these deals. To check availability in your area, just visit WhiteFence.com and enter your address. More details available once you have entered your address.

WhiteFence Provider Highlight: Comcast

It’s WhiteFence Provider Highlight time again, when we elaborate on some of the cool features one of our providers offers. Today we’re talking about Comcast, one of the largest communications companies in the country.

Comcast offers a wide variety of products including home phone, high-speed Internet and digital television services. Instead of being satisfied with just the basics, Comcast strives to deliver innovative new features and products. Here are some of the cool things Comcast customers have access to:

• iPhone App – With Comcast's iPhone app, you don't have to be at home to control your services. You can check your Comcast e-mail, listen to home phone Voicemails, manage your DVR and watch on-demand content all right on your iPhone!

• PowerBoost – Ever start downloading a file and wish you could turn up the speed dial for just a second? With Comcast's PowerBoost, you can! PowerBoost is a cool new feature that allows Comcast Internet users to experience faster connection speeds when downloading and uploading large files.
  

• Triple Play Bundles – With Comcast, you can get your phone, TV and Internet services bundled together to save both time and money. Instead of dealing with three different bills each month, you can get all of your communications products together on one bill. And as Eddy found out when he put bundles to the test, they really do add up to big savings.

• XFINITY – As technology continues to evolve and the lines between television and computer start blur, people are getting comfortable with watching shows on their computer. With XFINITY, you have access to almost 20,000 programs on-demand, meaning you can watch your favorite shows ehen you want, how you want.

Ready to compare offers from Comcast? Just head on over to our Comcast page and enter your address to get started!

Note, these features are not available on all Comcast packages.

Picketology: Choosing the Right Internet Speed

In the world of home services, there are always new ways to save when it comes to your billing. One of the best ways to shave a little off the top is to be informed about what services you are signed up for, and how much of them you are actually using.

That's why we're introducing Picketology, a new WhiteFence video series about the science behind your home services. In this first edition, we cover the different ranges of high-speed Internet, and how you can choose what's right for you. In addition, you can find out what the difference is between the different packages. Also, a fake rundown of Internet history.

What speed do you have in your home, and why did you choose that? Feel free to tell us in the comments!

Megabits Matter: Our Fastest High-Speed Packages

It's funny to me that not too long ago, I had never really experienced high-speed Internet on my home computer before. Within the past decade, we've seen crazy leaps and bounds in terms of what we can do on the Web, at speeds most of us probably didn't think were possible in the 90's. The crazy thing is, as fast as my home high-speed connection is at 6.0 Mbps, there are even faster speeds out there.

Have you ever wondered about the fastest possible high-speed Internet package you can find? Lately, I've been curious about this, thinking about the best connection I could actually find and get hooked up in my home. Granted, I think about things like this because I'm a nerd, but I'm sure you are not a nerd, so you probably have more valid reasons to be pondering this idea. Regardless of why you've considered this question, I did a little bit of research into WhiteFence's providers to find the fastest high-speed Internet packages offered.

While most providers offer packages ranging from 1.0 Mbps to 10.0 or even 12.0 Mbps, there are some that go far beyond that. Check out the interesting results below.

Time Warner Cable Brings out the Wideband Internet

I remember that before I went to college, I had no idea that high-speed Internet was even a thing that existed. For me, dial-up was just fine (if kind of slow) and the Internet was where I went to check e-mail occasionally. However, once my friends and I ended up in college, downloading music and playing video games together online became a very regular thing. These days, I feel like I take for granted just how fast everything I want online can be at my fingertips.

The thing is, that doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon, especially given Time Warner Cable's recent announcement of Wideband Internet. Wideband Internet is their new high-speed plan which uses DOCSIS 3.0 technology to provide incredibly fast Internet. While it is currently only available in NYC, the 50 Mbps download speed and 5 Mbps upload speed are certainly something to keep in mind for the future of high-speed. It almost seems comically fast. What can one man do with so many megabytes? I'm now imagining the Enterprise, with Scotty shouting that he's giving the Internet connection "all she's got, Captain".

The thought of using speeds like that to do multiple bandwidth-hogging activities (playing games, streaming video, etc) makes a geek like me excited for the possibilities. It's hard to believe that something like that could be available at my home some day. And if you're in New York, then you're already in luck.

To read more about Time Warner Cable's Wideband Internet technology, visit Time Warner Cable.

Decoding Bundled Services

I have always been a big fan of puzzles. Not the lame kind where you put together a picture of a fruit basket at your Aunt Betty's house because she doesn't have a color TV, but the kind of brain teasers that get you thinking or guessing. Except for Rubik's Cubes. I have always been bad at those, probably because I am not a super smart Rubik's Cube solving robot. But can't a man dream?

Even though many of us enjoy giving our minds a work out, I'm sure that like me, you don't appreciate it when ordering home services feels like a brain teaser. Knowing what you want and what you can afford isn't exactly easy to figure out, given the myriad of options available. What makes this even harder is that providers are often promoting bundles of high-speed Internet, TV or phone for one monthly price, but it's not always apparent if this is a good deal or not. Many providers advertise bundles as a way of saving money on your bills, but is that how it often works?

Fortunately, the answer is "yes".

Blast From the Past: How the Internet Was Supposed to Fail

The great thing about media is that you don't always need a DeLorean (or Christopher Lloyd) to take a quick jaunt across time and space to a simpler, less cluttered era in the online universe. With the advent of the tubes that make up these great and exciting Internets, we can instantly go back and look at things that were said in the past, and promptly laugh at the foolish less informed prophets of yesteryear.

Take this recent article from Newsweek that's been making its way around the blogosphere in the last couple of weeks. The article in question is titled The Internet? Bah!, and happens to be a writer's take on why the Internet will fail. Did I mention that this was written in 1995? It sure was.

It really is interesting to take a look at what folks believed the status of the Internet was going to be in the future, and how some people seemed to discount that thought. Some of the more memorable sections:

"Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works."

"How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it's an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can't tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we'll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Intenet. Uh, sure."

That second one makes me laugh. He goes on to talk about how social interaction online is limited, which is the biggest disconnect of the Internet. It's hard not to read that and think about the success of online social networks and how they are revolutionizing the way people communicate, spread information and even make purchases online.

So, how does this bit of time travel make you feel? Amused? Queasy? I honestly can't believe where the Internet has come in the last 5 or 6 years, let alone since 1995. What things can you do on the Web that still surprise you, even in 2010? What are some things you hope for in the future? Tell us in the comments!

Source - Three Word Chant and Newsweek