dslreports logo

Review by Nightfall See Profile

  • Location: Grand Rapids, Kent, MI, USA
  • Cost: $100 per month
  • Install: about 7 days
Fast speeds! Great reliability!
Tech support could be improved. Extra cost for non-CATV subscribers.
Awesome connection! If you have CATV, then it is worth the price.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

When Grand Rapids first got ATT@Home, I was excited to be one of the first to get it in my new apartment. My wife and I just got married, and having fast internet access was a must for both of us. She was taking college courses online and I am a techie that likes to use the internet heavily.

@Home came out and installed the cable modem within 14 days of me calling and setting up the appointment. The install tech was courteous and the service worked without a problem. The first couple months, the service was flaky to say the least. I was down on average 1 week out of the month for the first 3 months. After that, the line was stable and the speeds were top notch.

I moved into my new home a year later, and since then I have been using ATT@Home. My line went down maybe once in a three month span. I always got blazing fast downloads. Needless to say, I was happy. The main selling point of this technology in my opinion has to be the reliability of the connection. The speed is up there, but being able to get on all the time is simply a huge plus for me.

Now, I am on Comcast after the move from ATTBI and @Home. I am still not disappointed with the service. I am looking forward to the tiered pricing that Comcast is going to introduce sometime this year.

8/11/02 Update - Connection is still rock solid and speeds are very nice. Highly recommended!

11/05/02 Update - Still as solid as a rock. Fast speeds and virtually no downtime.

3/14/03 Update - Getting some sparse outages on occassion where rebooting my router will fix the problem. Otherwise, top notch speeds! Comcast is doing work in my area which could be part of the problem.

3/26/03 Update - Found out my router was the problem. Replaced the router and no downtime so far. Will report back later next week.

5/31/03 Update - Only downtime I had was due to a power outage in my area that lasted for 3 days. Otherwise, life has been good.

6/16/03 Update - Still rock solid. Nexland fixed the Comcast issue in a firmware update. Going to put the Nexland back in place and start it back up in the next week or so. Otherwise, I am just glad the packet dropping and other issues were router related and NOT ISP related.

7/14/03 Update - Still going with no downtime!

10/01/03 Update - Comcast is still rocking and rolling for me. If you can, prepay for a year of service to save even more money. Instead of paying $42.95, I pay $467.45 for a year and I get a free month. If you leave anytime during that time, you get your money back. A good deal to say the least.

11/10/03 - Still working. No downtime. Fast connection. Nuff said!

1/12/04 - This connection is still totally rock solid. However, Comcast has caught up to me. Since I went with Directv about four months ago, I found out that prepaying for a year of service will keep my internet the same price and I could ditch cable TV. This has now changed. Now, I have to keep at least basic cable TV which is $13.50 plus taxes. Either that or my internet goes up to $61. Let me see...$61 or $56 a month. I still prepay a year in advance which saves me a little money, so it brings the cost down to $53 a month as the total price per month. I have decided to try out SBC DSL this month sometime. I will go for the $37 package which includes 1500 down and 256 up. If it works out well, and it may since I am less than 7,000 feet from the CO, it will lower my internet cost by $16 a month. Don't get me wrong, I love Comcast cable internet. If SBC DSL sucks, you can bet I will spend a little more and keep the Cable internet. My hope is the DSL service rules! I have already gotten input on DSL in this area and it does look promising. I will report back on this review later.

2/17/04 - I called and canceled Comcast cable internet about one week ago. I am up and running on SBC DSL. Comcast was excellent in my area, and if not for the price increase for non-cable TV subscribers, I would have stayed. The $26.95 price tag is all I could qualify for, but I am getting 1500/256 which is excellent speeds for the price. Reliability so far is equal to Comcast cable internet. Latency is the same, which is excellent. I get nice steady pings in the 30-40 range which is excellent. This is my final review on Comcast, but it was a very positive experience for me. If you can get it in your area, give it a try.

6/28/06 - I finally budgeted out to get dual broadband lines in my house. Since I have SBC DSL for $15 a month, I decided to take the plunge and get Comcast again. I had a very favorable review of Comcast in my area so I was hoping nothing had changed. I found a offer online for Comcast HSI for $20 a month for 6 months with a $100 cash back offer. In order to get that lower price, I had to pay $13 for basic cable TV which sucks, but there isn't much I can do about that but complain. I placed the order on 6/22. Install was set up for Saturday 6/24. I opted for the basic install since I had all the equipment. Saturday came and went with no installer coming out to the house. I called Comcast and they explained that the installer was running very late on a few other installs and they would need to reschedule. They even gave me free installation to make up for the trouble. The new install date was 6/27 and it went through without a hitch. Modem came right up and internet speeds were top notch at 6000/384. I put both lines in my dual WAN router and just stressed the heck out of them both last night. So far, 1 day later, connection is as solid as it was when I left Comcast a few years ago. Aside from the installation reschedule and the fact I have to pay $13 a month for basic cable TV, I am very happy.

1/5/07 - Running Comcast HSI and SBC DSL on my dual wan router and it is a match made in heaven. I love the redundancy, but not that I have had to have it. I use both lines of upload bandwidth quite heavily, which is very nice. Service is solid.

10/25/07 - Service is still solid. No outages at all to report. The service just works and I love it. Still have both SBC and Comcast on my dual WAN router and both services work great.

1/28/08 - After a few years of running with a dual WAN connection, I have dropped Comcast once again. My DSL service is $25 a month while Comcast is much more expensive since I don't get their cable TV. Its a shame actually cause their service here rocks. Maybe I will pick it up again later. Right now though, I am happy with DSL and to save the money over a dual wan connection.

11/21/09 - After about a 2 year hiatus, I have returned to Comcast. My DSL connection was tapped out at 4000/768 and after some flaky connection issues, I decided to give Comcast another go. I am proud to say that Comcast is still great in this area. I will be monitoring the connection to see how it goes.

12/09/09 - The install went as expected. I had my own modem and Comcast wanted to charge me for installation. I got that charge removed though. Still, billing should know when they see a "self install kit" on the billing information that a "install technician" should not be billed. Ah well, at least the line was installed and working quickly. I got introductory pricing at $19.95 per month for six months with no cable TV, phone, or additional costs. My Comcast line is up and running at 8000/1000 and working great. No problems to report at all. My line monitoring service has not detected any issues with the line or quality so I am pretty happy. I am also gaming on my comcast line with zero problems.

11/21/10 - Comcast cable internet is awesome here. I currently have the blast internet along with digital cable service. The extra speed is nice. With Directv, I was spending $85 a month. Now, with cable internet and TV, I am spending only $99 a month which is much better than then $85 + $43 I was paying before on the basic package. I know that my price will go up later, but I will call to renegotiate. The key here is that I have good service.

4/14/11 - Comcast service continues to be rock solid. I did have a couple issues about a month ago where my internet service would stop working and I would see a "No Ranging Response Received" in my modem. Rebooting my modem and resetting it to defaults both did not fix the problem. I used the Comcast Direct forum here and put my trouble ticket in. With help from the techs there, the problem has been fixed and life is good again. I also updated the price I was paying to the full TV + HSI package I am paying for.

11/30/11 - Comcast service continues to be solid. I had a couple issues a few months ago with some service issues. My modem would say that there was a timeout of some kind but the service would never drop off the cable modem. Comcast looked into it and sent a tech out to look at the problem. The tech checked my signal levels, did some tweaking, and I haven't had any issues since. Awesome job Comcast Direct and Comcast!

6/11/12 - Comcast continues to set the bar high. The service is solid with virtually no downtime. We had a power outage in our area about 4 months ago, and our comcast internet service was still running while we were on the generator. I can't see any reason to move away from them.

12/24/12 - Another 6 months of solid service. No downtime. My blast speeds are incredible. I am very happy!

10/3/13 - It has been about 10 months since I updated this review, but things are still very good for me on my Comcast connection. I enjoy the 50/10 blast connection very much, and my internet is rock solid. I had an instance of downtime on a Saturday about a month ago and that was because someone hit one of the comcast boxes in my area with his car. Within 5 hours, the connection was restored and all is good. I get about 55/14 on my connection when I test it, and that is great for me. TV is still very good as well. I have no plans to move on.

4/9/15 - Solid as a rock. That is the best way I can describe my cable modem service. It is always up. I always get the max amount of speed available. Now I have upgraded Blast service with 100/20 speeds and it always tests out to the max. Gaming on this connection isn't a problem because the latency is very low. I don't get lag spikes or missed pings on any of my games which is a great thing. I did have to buy a nice ASUS RT-N66U router in order to get those speeds though as my older router wasn't cutting it. I have had a couple instances of downtime, but in every instance, when I check online it tells me that there is a problem in my area and gives me an accurate ETA on it being repaired. Do I spend a little more for this connection? Absolutely. At the same time though, I have no plans to move away from it and go with Uverse just to save a couple bucks. I don't mind paying a little more for something I know is going to work.

6/10/15 - My price jumped up to $140 a month today. I called Comcast right away and asked to speak to retention. After a pleasant conversation with my agent, I told him the issue with the price. I can get Uverse in my area for $80, and after discussing that with him, we agreed on a great double play package. Digital Preferred with Performance internet at 50/10 for $90 a month for 2 years.

12/11/15 - Another 6 month update on my service. It just works. I never have to call to get something fixed. I get my full speeds that I pay for. My internet is never down unless there is a serious problem in my area. I love this service!

11/1/16 - Ok, a yearly update this time. The service is still solid. I have constant uptime and the speeds are incredibly fast. I am currently paying $100 a month for TV and internet right now. I feel that is a very fair price to pay for the Blast internet and preferred cable TV package.

member for 22.6 years, 7519 visits, last login: 289 days ago
updated 7.3 years ago


LiLTizz
Back with comcast
Premium Member
join:2001-11-11
Ypsilanti, MI

LiLTizz

Premium Member

Comcast Rocks in Michigan

Glad your getting great service also, I haven't had an outage in A year! my node got overloaded back in Sept. speeds went down to about 500k for about A week until they split the node back5kbs a sec, speedtests I average 1450-1750dn/223-252 up,pings 10-20ms advertised speeds are 1500/256 and 1500/128 but the cap is set at 1800down so we can maintain ad speeds.
When comcast took over with the transition 12/29/01 there were problems and so many people put comcast down when they didn't have to buy excite's network and we would been left with dialup.They hadn't planed to start there own network for another year ,so they did a good job by taking us on and speeding up there own not even ready network.
jimbos76
join:2002-02-04
Marlton, NJ

jimbos76

Member

Re: Comcast Rocks in Michigan

If your router is a linksys it is not uncommon to have to reboot it and the modem from time to time. That router makes dhcp requests every minute and sometimes the modems lock up because of it.

LiLTizz
Back with comcast
Premium Member
join:2001-11-11
Ypsilanti, MI

LiLTizz

Premium Member

Re: Comcast Rocks in Michigan

i've never once had that problem

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall to LiLTizz

MVM

to LiLTizz
I had a linksys but I moved to a Nexland about 8 months ago. I found out a few days ago that my Nexland router was having a problem with packet loss. Their tech support said it was only a problem that surfaced on the ATTBI/Comcast network about a month ago and the problem is being worked on.

I replaced that router with a SMC for the time being and everything is working fine.
NosX8
join:2003-02-18
Country Club Hills, IL

NosX8

Member

Comcast is good in Illinois

Comcast is good in illinois but my Microsoft Wireless Adapter (it then connects to the MS Wireless base station upstairs)sucks have to keep on rebooting the pc and windows deletes the adapter and i have to reinstall it again , i have another pc thats hookup usb to ethernet and no problems must be ms cant make adapters for crap

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall

MVM

Re: Comcast is good in Illinois

It is always good news to hear about Comcast service. I hear so many complaints and not enough praise for the service they provide. However, the laws of marketing are in effect.

When 1 customer is happy, he will tell 1-10 other people about his good service. When 1 customer is upset, he will tell 10-100 people about his crappy service.

skullz5
join:2002-06-17
Clayton, NJ

1 recommendation

skullz5

Member

Comcast Rocks

2003-06-01 15:14:39 EST: 1709 / 247
Your download speed : 1709225 bps, or 1709 kbps.
A 208.6 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 247096 bps, or 247 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!

LiLTizz
Back with comcast
Premium Member
join:2001-11-11
Ypsilanti, MI

LiLTizz

Premium Member

Re: Comcast Rocks

Alright still going rock solid same here in Ypsilanti Mi. I was never @Home or ATT here untill the comcast transition 12/29/01 I was mediaone cable roadrunner 1500/300 speeds are better now with comcast 1650-1780 I get consistantly 242-252 up the static ip was a plus with roadrunner that's about it and the slightly higher upload.
comcast rocks!

oh did they turn traffic shaping on there like they did here and most places? actually seeing even more of an increase and consistancy in speed since they did a few weeks ago. hmm ic someone got 2nd spot on me but look at there upload

LiLTizz 48198 comcast 1719/489 1500/256 13th 17:xx ypeast01.mi.comcast.net
comment: 'nice'
anon 48198 1713/188 14th 22:xx ypeast01.mi.comcast.net
LiLTizz 48198 comcast 1708/472 1500/256 1st 11:xx ypeast01.mi.comcast.net
LiLTizz 48198 comcast 1708/472 1500/256 3rd 15:xx ypeast01.mi.comcast.net

[text was edited by author 2003-07-14 23:12:21]

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall

MVM

Re: Comcast Rocks

I don't know about traffic shaping personally, but I can say the service has been spectacular in my area and it keeps getting better. With bandwidth being increased to 3.0 down and hopefully 384k up, it is becoming more worthwhile to stick with it.
jeling
join:2000-05-26
Wyoming, MI

jeling

Member

Fair speed and reliability - news service sucks.

Comcast goes through a third party news service and limits you to 1 gig in transfers.

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall

MVM

Re: Fair speed and reliability - news service sucks.

I don't use usenet to be honest with you. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen one ISP with an excellent usenet news service. If I was going to use it, I would purchase a side service to use.
JerryTimes
join:2002-01-09
Clinton Township, MI

JerryTimes

Member

new speeds

In the next couple of months Comcast High Speed will be going up to 3 mbit download. In Eastpointe its allready up to those speeds. You need to power cycle the modem for this to go into effect though.. I just ran a test and it showed 1.6mbit down, power cycled (unplugged and plugged back in) tested it and it was at 3.1mbit down.

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall

MVM

Re: new speeds

I will be watching for this, but so far it hasn't happened in my area.

siortuth
@comcast.net

siortuth

Anon

Too bad you left, comcast just upped the speeds!!!

I live near Seattle Washington, and Comcast rolled out the 3000/256 basic rate speeds on 2-17-04.

Sorry to see you leave Cable just when Comcast is completing the nationwide speed increase.

An increase that is FREE, I might add!

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall

MVM

Re: Too bad you left, comcast just upped the speeds!!!

As I said, it really all came down to price.

I was getting charged about $55 a month for those speeds since I don't have cable TV. That was the kicker. With my DSL I am getting charged $27. That is almost a $30 difference. I had the higher download speeds here in MI, but it just wasn't worth the extra cost. I can wait an extra couple minutes for those big downloads. Web browsing, music streaming, and gaming are the exact same as my last connection.

Comcast was great in this area, don't get me wrong. But the price was just a little too much.
siortuth
join:2004-02-19
Auburn, WA

siortuth

Member

Re: Too bad you left, comcast just upped the speeds!!!

Can you break out your DSL prices?

Here the Telco, QWEST, charges $28.95 for 1.5m/786k RDSL connection or $19.95 for 640k/256k ADSL. Then you still need to buy a package from an ISP that usually runs between $15 to $20 a month and don't forget the taxes, including the Universal interconnect hookup fee which is $10 bucks.

Add that up, and Cable service is Cheaper and Faster, at least in my neighborhood.

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall

MVM

Re: Too bad you left, comcast just upped the speeds!!!

In my area, my telco is SBC DSL. It costs $26.95 for 1500/256. I am going to be upgrading to their Expert Plus soon and that will give me 6000/608 for $44.95

Comcast costed me $42.95, however, since I don't have basic cable they wanted to charge me $13.50 per month for basic cable or $17 if I didn't want cable. That would bring the cost up to $56.50 or $60 a month. Speeds here are 3000/256

On a pure cost issue, $27 is better than $56.50. For $30 less I get a little slower download while the upload is the same. Can't beat that price. Even if you look at a speed issue, I can get 6000/608 for $45 and that is still cheaper.

As I said before, nothing against Comcast, but DSL fits in better with me. No matter what plan I take, it is a win/win.
chgo_man99
join:2010-01-01
Sunnyvale, CA

chgo_man99

Member

glad

it works for ya. I have docsis 3.0 in my area, but I still sit on docsis 2.0 and must say its quite stable and I get constant speeds.

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall

MVM

Re: glad

said by chgo_man99:

it works for ya. I have docsis 3.0 in my area, but I still sit on docsis 2.0 and must say its quite stable and I get constant speeds.

I really wish I had DOCSIS 3.0 in my area. We don't have it yet either, and they are saying Summer of 2011 before we get it. That being said, their Blast tier is incredibly fast, and I am happy to have that plan for now.

You are right though, this service just works. Just like any ISP though, you have to look at the level of service in your area. I am very fortunate to have cable internet with a great signal.

jc
@sbcglobal.net

jc

Anon

billing department full of shit

it show on my credit that i did not pay comcast for the amount of $200 dollars and it show up on my credit report i dont remember that i owe them money i ask them to take my service out due there cable tv is a peace of shit they even send me a refund for the last month then they said that my account is delinquent