When I tried it, the cost was $50/mo.

For the 5G home internet providers (Verizon and T-Mobile), that's going to be a solid "It depends." That's probably why they're both non-contractual and have no-cost return windows, so it doesn't hurt to try.

It depends mostly on the coverage level in your area. For both, but especially for the Verizon offering, it can also depend on where you place it in your house.

Verizon's service can use Ultra Wideband 5G (Which is the "Real" 5G we were promised starting back in like 2018) which can churn out some insanely fast connections. But it's super limited in range, really struggles to connect inside houses, and is deployed mostly in the mass affluent neighborhoods in the city (Canton, etc).

T-Mobile's service is much more widely available and has much longer range, but suffers from slower speeds, congestion issues during busy parts of the day, and high latency. Good enough for your general internet use most of the time, but online gamers would not last long with it.

Bot T-Mo and (iirc) Verizon's networks are based on IPv6, which is the future of the internet but still has some possible mild compatibility issues these days.

> Yet, others have plenty of problems with Xfinity. I’m sure some of it, probably a majority, is user error.

Everyone reading this: This is 100% true, and in my experience it mostly comes from the conflation of "WiFi" and "Internet" that people make. As you said, WiFi and Internet are two separate things. Anyone who is having complaints with their Xfinity download speeds should definitely reassess their router/wifi situation.

There are definitely problems with lots of coax installs in the city, but Baltimore's Xfinity coax deployments are - for the most part - pretty modern and robust. We're actually supposed to be one of the initial markets for multigig and DOCSIS 4.0, which will be a pretty huge evolution - so much so that consumer electronics are mostly not even ready for it yet.

But having said all that, there are also loads of old amps and out-of-spec splits that have been installed and forgotten over the years. If your service is spotty and you're confident with your in-home setup, it's worth asking Xfinity to send a tech to check your SNR. If you often have problems when the weather is bad, ask them to inspect the housing and installations of amps/splits to make sure water isn't causing issues, etc.

FWIW Verizon has 5G service in lots of neighborhoods - and they offer 5G home internet over it. Baltimore is, oddly enough, one of the only places in the world that has real UWB 5G coverage (The super 5G). If you've noticed weird pods on top of lampposts and poles popping up over the past year or two, that's what those are.

Oh this is interesting! I'm curious if your building that had Fios was built/rehabbed around the mid-2000's. As far as I was aware, Fios halted new buildouts in the city around 2008~2009.

Hey OP! I'm an IT guy that also happens to be more knowledgeable than most about internet services in the city (I've seriously entertained the idea of starting a small local ISP). Happy to answer any questions to get your setup working well!

You and /u/MeanMrBiter sure about that?

From Wikipedia:

> Although he maintains apartments in New York City and (since 2008) in San Francisco's Nob Hill, as well as a summer home in Provincetown, Waters mainly resides in Baltimore.

And from a 2018 Interview with Baltimore Magazine:

> ###What is it about Baltimore that’s kept you here? Everything—the sense of humor and the extreme style. Everything I wrote about, everything that informed me was always about taking what some people think is a negative thing and exaggerating it, turning it into a style, and having a sense of humor about it. Baltimoreans have always done that. I like living there now more than I ever did because it’s the only place left that has a bohemia. It’s gotten more expensive, but it’s still cheaper than anywhere else. And kids can still live there and start, you know, bohemia! And the music scene there, the people who have had national success—they stayed. They bought houses. I think that’s very, very important, to stay in Baltimore.

And for funsies, here's an article from NPR a few months ago, where the writer interviewed him at his home in Baltimore.

Hey, I’m also a software dev in Baltimore who likes games, anime, and cycling! I’ll send you a DM.

Hey OP, sounds like you’ve got a consensus already but just to add my anecdote: Yeah I’m never worried walking around there.

I’m not blind, I know there are real issues. I don’t want to be dismissive of real victims of real crimes, but I’ll also say the doom and gloom on TV don’t accurately reflect reality. People are scared of the city, and that’s fine, but it’s exhausting to a lot of us.

I’ve lived here for almost a decade. I’ve regularly walked and biked in neighborhoods across the spectrum, and I’ve never had to dodge bullets. For some reason (Fox 45 running “CITY IN CRISIS” banners 24/7) people outside the city are shocked at my survival though.

MARC is a friggin gem, it's so nice. It also has a fun little sub-culture. If your commute has a consistent schedule, you'll figure out which cars are quieter if you want to sip coffee and read on your laptop, which cars are louder if you want to make friends on your commute, and if you like games you'll find people to trade/battle pokemon with, etc.

Don’t forget Station North!

Hey OP, I used to do this! I lived in Station North and commuted on the MARC Penn Line. Everyone has different preferences but I loved the train. DC Metro was a bit of a shitshow though, so the quality of the commute depends on how close your office is to DC Union Station.

I deeply miss living in Station North sometimes. That said, it’s probably not the same experience that I knew anymore: The neighborhood’s businesses were relatively dependent on commuter foot traffic from the station, so it was hit fairly hard by COVID. Fortunately there seems to be a lot of hope with some institutions remaining, and long-anticipated new development of the Amtrak-owned land around the area seems to be in full swing. That is incredibly exciting.

Feel free to DM/Chat me with any questions! I’m more than happy to help or answer any questions you have.

Oh yeah, that's a great example!

For reaching out to community associations, that's definitely something we do to some degree. Neighborhood facebook groups are another good resource.

Unfortunately, adding different individuals and groups makes a complex web of communication. The idea of getting some level of communication or data directly from the city DOT, which can quantify, collate, and highlight trends is so exciting because it lets us get more meaningful data, that's higher quality, with some expectation of consistency, without needing to navigate a network of complaints and hearsay gathered from a network of different sources.

That's great! I'll stop bugging you after this, I promise, but I had one more thought.

What about publishing on https://data.baltimorecity.gov/? That would be amazing.

Interesting!

> Waze is constantly updating the map itself

I'm a part of that. For the past few years, I've been pretty active as a volunteer map editor for the city. I've added thousands of updates and additions, especially in East Bmore. One challenge is the fact that unfortunate routing problems are somewhat obfuscated from us. But if we were able to have broader insight into where we should mitigate these kinds of issues, it'd be great for Waze users and hopefully for city traffic in general!!

Oversimplified explanation: we have several different metadata we can apply to intersections and road segments which can impact how aggressive the routing algorithm will be with them. If we know about where there are likely problems with routing, we can work to improve them!

I don't necessarily want to add to your (likely considerable) burden, but I wonder if it'd be okay to suggest something like this: Would you guys consider sharing information regarding traffic patterns with the volunteers or reps?

> Well, this isn’t just a Waze update. Concrete barriers are being placed.

Yep, I totally got that (The "try not to drive through the concrete barrier" comment is the best thing to come out of official City communication channels in the history of forever). But more clarification never hurt anyone, so thanks for communicating that!

> But yes; we work very closely with Waze reps and traffic professionals. We have a partnership with them, and any and all closures (temporary and permanent) you see us announcing are getting uploaded to Waze so you can use it to navigate around them.

That's cool to hear. One note: Your answer specifically mentions road closures, but my question was more about mitigation of aggressive routing in cases where road closures are not done. Is that something you also work on with Waze reps?

Oh, oh! I have a question for you regarding Waze specifically: Do you guys communicate with Waze or any of the local volunteer editors? Aggressive routing like this can sometimes be mitigated by updating metadata of intersections on the map. Obviously it often makes sense to close through traffic like in this case, but perhaps sometimes there are map tweaks that can be made to help alleviate smaller routing problems.

I don’t disagree with what you’re saying, and neither does Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia: He, last month, literally gave the company away saying “earth is our only shareholder now,” and believes “every billionaire is a policy failure.” (Link)

He and the company have a long history of this.

I’m a different person but I also live in the city.

For context, I’ve been lucky enough to live in a lot of places, in different countries and here in the US. But nowhere i lived felt like home until i landed here in January 2014, almost nine years ago. I’ve lived here long enough to live in an apartment, then buy and sell a house in midtown (and I sorely miss living in midtown). And know what I did after selling my house in the city? I went and bought another house in the city.

I’m not blind. I know this city has problems. But I’ve experienced life in a broad range of places that, on paper, are “better.” Fact of the matter is everyone, everywhere has problems - and they impact people in myriad ways. Because of all that, and because I like living here so much, I do everything I can to stay involved and help make the experience better for everyone. It’s a lot of work but it can and does happen.

I’m sorry the experience of living in the city seems to have not worked well for you. But I really want to recognize that people can have full and happy lives here. And people who are happy with their lives are not “part of the problem.”

Yup!

Don't think so. As far as I know, it's Flagship Cinemas. ^[source]

> The seven-screen, 26,000-square-foot theater space will be renamed Harbor East Cinemas, the movie theater's landlord, Harbor East Management Group, announced on Monday. Flagship Premium Cinemas, a Boston-based company with five theaters in Maryland, will be the cinema's new operator.

I have had great experience with Flagship in other areas, so I'm stoked they're opening a crazy fancy-looking one in Harbor East. I'm definitely gonna go check it out.