That's how I feel at this complex. Alienated. The complex is gorgeous and well kept. The area is convenient and sound is low. One Great thing is that the apartment is always cool. We rarely run the air conditioner (we're on the bottom floor so I can't say anything for the upper floors). All is well except for the link to the outside world.

Granted I've only lived at this complex for about 2 months, what I have to say and have experienced upon move in still may be found valuable to future tenants.

The internet and TV options at this complex are minimal at best. Prior to moving in we asked if high speed internet was available and we were told that it was, that Roseville telephone (Surewest) was THE service provider and they ran a Monopoly up in this area. Thinking that as long as we had internet we would be fine and figured that the pricing through their little monopoly couldn?t be that bad. Upon calling Surewest here is what I found:

1) The internet they provide is DSL which goes through the phone line. So in order to get the internet through them you have to have a phone line. Not a bad idea except that since they are a monopoly their prices are higher. For the phone line only they charge $18.50 per month where SBC?s monthly rate is $10.95, so by going with Surewest phone you would be spending about $30 a month after taxes and surcharges.

2) The speed of Surewest DSL is 1 Mbps. Not much slower than SBC?s 1.5 Mbps, but still slower and way slower than Cable?s 3 Mbps. SBC also has an additional speed option of 3 Mbps to compete with Cables 3 Mbps. Surewest has only the one option.

3) The price for the slower connection?.$46! The same price for cable speeds. SBC offers their 1.5 Mbps for $26 and their 3 Mbps for $36; way cheaper! So to conclude in order to get internet to your apartment you would have to spend over $70 per month for slower service and a phone line you probably won?t use enough to warrant the costs.

4) Also we were given a move-in deal with the apartment, 1 month free rent or you could spread that free month over the 10 month lease. So we spread the free month over 10 months to get it in our price range. But DSL comes with a 1 year contract so if we were to leave the complex after the 10 months we would have to pay $120 early termination fee and pay out the remaining months of the contract. Or we could pay $89 per month for a month to month.

So after laughing at the guy from SureWest I called SBC just to hope that they could be a service provider but unfortunately not. They said that ?SureWest kind of runs a monopoly up there.? But here is the interesting part I ran into someone who lives in the apartment complexes just across the street and find out that they have SBC. What?s with that!! Personally I think that the complex may be getting a little kick back from Surewest, and here?s why. After calling SBC I figure I should be able to get a cable connection so I call Comcast and they tell me that they don?t service that area, but they put me in touch with Star Stream Cable who does service this area. After telling him my address he checks availability and says ?sorry, we can?t service your apartment, your complex didn?t allow us to run our cable through the complex.? HA! WHAT CRAP!!

So since there are no cable lines through the apartment complex, guess what no cable T.V. The only options you have are to get your own satellite, which only works if your apartment faces south, or connect into the complexes Satellite which gives you a lot of channels, but I don?t know if you want about 10 spanish channels, 10 religious channels, 25 news channels and maybe only 5-7 channels you?ll actually want to watch all for $49 per month. Oh but you can pay extra for the channels you got included in your cable package.

Now granted there is a business center which has 2 computers connected to the internet for the entire complex to use. Well we?ve heard through the grapevine that the business center use to be open 24 hours a day, but a while ago someone had walked in and taken the computers. So instead of getting anti-theft cables the complex decides to make hours for the business center in which it is only open from 9am-6pm. The problem with that' Everyone in the complex doesn?t have internet in their apartment for the same reasons listed above so everyone has to use those TWO computers and within a time frame. Last time I checked most people were working between 9 and 5 and spent maybe 30min-1hr in traffic and now to get home only to see that someone else is using the computers or the center is locked up for the day. So consider the Business Center Useless!

Spare yourself some trouble and go across the street!

User Responses
From: willtalk916	Date: 11/14/2005
whats across the street?

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