Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Internet Service

[Robert Heinich (robert]

Dirk Herr-Hoyman said "I am recommending our cohousing have individuals do 
their own internet directly with these [ISP] service providers."

Dick, there is a hybrid model.  Here at Eno Commons, our HOA entered into a 
bulk agreement with Time-Warner.  So all units including the Common House are 
receiving cable speed (5 Mbps) at a DSL price ($29/month).  The downside is 
that this service is bundled with standard cable TV service but only a third of 
us connect to it.

All houses and the Common House are connected to both cable internet and 
standard cable TV service but we use the creative financing model of "trust 
your neighbor" of having households tell our treasurer what services they are 
using.  They are charged only for that service.  It made renting a room in the 
Common House as an office viable and so with the rental income of the office, 
the package is a revenue stream for the HOA (which pays for the construction 
cost of finishing the Common House upstairs).

Time-Warner also offers a la carte features on their cable TV service so those 
who want more from their cable TV can get it at an additional charge.  The 
folks who elect to do this option get one bill from the HOA for the cable 
internet and standard cable TV service and another from Time-Warner for the a 
la carte services they chose.

It is working better that the wireless neighborhood network I had before.

However, I am still intrigued by the lower cost Great Oak Cohousing achieved 
but wish to avoid bandwidth problems Sharon's group is experiencing.

So those who can offer insights, please respond.

-Robert Heinich
 Eno Commons Cohousing
 www.enocommons.org
 Durham, NC
 where having internet service to the Common House reduced our phone 
 cost from $50/month (landline at a commercial rate) to less than 
 $10/month (internet phone service from Lingo).