Ask HN: How can I get decent internet speeds in my apartment?
I live in a dense metropolitan area (Hollywood, Los Angeles), surrounded on all sides by buildings with fiber and high-speed cable. Yet I can’t get any wired internet service in my small, old 5-unit building.
Right now I’m forced to use Verizon 5G Home Internet. Download speeds are fine, but latency is bad and upload speeds are abysmal (5 Mbps), which is a real problem for my work (large uploads, remote collaboration, etc).
Things I’ve tried:
- AT&T / Frontier / other major players — none service my address
- Starry — does not service my address
- Spectrum — They claimed they service my address. The technician showed up and searched around the building for ~1 hour. Then said they’d need approval from their boss to install a box. The next day, their boss calls and says it won’t be possible — something about construction being too expensive / not feasible. (This is who recommended I try Starry)
As far as I can tell, I have:
- No fiber
- No cable
- No DSL
Is there any realistic way to pressure or incentivize an ISP to wire a small building? Or is there a creative solution I’m overlooking?
It feels absurd to have to move homes just because I’m stuck with cellular internet in 2026 in the middle of Los Angeles.