Review by ryanmcv 
UPDATED: 321 days ago
member for 8 years, 500 visits, last login: 263 days ago
 Lemont,Cook,IL
 $42 per month
 about 5 days
 "Speed, Content, Spam filter, No contract"
 "PRICE, Connectivity during peak hours, Reliability, Upload speed"
 "Worth the money, but there is room for improvement"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Update 12/23/08:
Exactly two years since my last update (definitely a coincidence). Speeds are capped at 6.6mbps/1.1mbps. Much of the Chicago area is being upgraded to the DOCSIS 3.0 speeds, but my area has to wait until early next year. My current speeds are nice, but I will definitely enjoy the 12mbps download speeds. No issues to report over the last couple of years. The service has been rock solid and I can't remember the last time I had an outage or connection problem. PowerBoost is a great benefit, especially when I download as many e-mail attachments as I do.
I recently added Comcast Digital Voice, and so far it seems great. A new eMTA replaced my old Motorola SB5100. CDV is a bit more expensive than other VoIP services, but I wanted to bundle all my services into one bill and take advantage of Comcast's Triple Play deal (all three services, $114.99/month for a year). Call quality is great and the features (Voicemail, call screening, etc.) make the service even better.
Looking forward to the impending speed upgrades, and hopefully my good service from Comcast will continue.
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Update 12/23/06:
Speed is now 6mbps/384kbps. I really don't understand why they can't make 768kbps the standard for upload speed. Download speeds are fine, especially with the new PowerBoost service enabled. I regularly see my speeds peak at 1 MB/s when downloading large files.
Prices are getting atrocious. Starting in January 2007, my monthly bill will increase by almost $15. And because Comcast goes almost COMPLETELY unchallenged in the Chicago area, the consumer is left with little-to-no choice in the matter. There is no other way for me to get high-speed Internet and Digital television service. DSL is not available in my area and I refuse to mess with a satellite dish. I can't wait to see next year's price hike.
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Update 1/26/05:
So Comcast is starting to upgrade its customers to 4mbps/384kbps. And as per usual, Chicago will be the dead last market to receive the upgrade. My connection has been horrible lately. Speeds fluctuate from 1/3 my cap to 50% over my cap. Upload speeds don't go over 200kbps. Something must change. Fast.
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Update 11/24/04:
I've had no problems with my connection whatsoever in over 7 months. I am extremely satisfied as of now.
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Update 2/3/04:
Comcast upgraded the Chicago area to 3.3mbps on Jan. 27. Here are my new speeds:
2004-02-03 16:20:15 EST: 3244 / 244
Your download speed : 3244625 bps, or 3244 kbps.
A 396 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 244738 bps, or 244 kbps.
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Update 11/30/03:
It seems Comcast has disabled traffic shaping here in Lemont (has been disabled for a month now). Hopefully they will enable it again when the 3mb upgrade hits us the second week of December. 
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I started off with AT&T@Home in 2001. That network was then transferred over to AT&T Broadband in 2002. AT&T then gave its network over to Comcast in 2003.
It seems like the service got progressively worse as the network was handed down. @Home was great: speeds around 3mbps+ and no connection problems. Then AT&T came along and capped us @ 1.8mbps. Along with that cap came some connectivity and reliability issues, but I was fairly happy overall.
And now, here I am with Comcast. Overall, Comcast is a good ISP. I constantly get speeds of 1.8mb/256kb for a great price ($42.95). The content on the homepage is great, much better than ATTBI and @Home. I have NEVER received a spam message in my inbox thanks to the great filter that Comcast has installed. I signed no contract, so if the service does go to the dogs, I can cancel without much trouble. I don't have any problems with Comcast 89% of the time.
But, Comcast's service can be very unreliable at times. For instance: last month, the entire Chicago area was receiving pings of 500ms+ during evening hours. This issue was resolved a MONTH later, but the "Tech" support refused to offer any type of credit for the poor service. Also, a few months back, I would lose my connection to the Internet at about 10:00pm every night and it would come back at around 1:00am. I haven't had this happen in a while, though.
Now, onto the tech support. Well, you can't really call it tech support. When I call the support line, I swear I am talking to a bunch of robots. When you ask if there is a problem in your area, they ALL say, "There is no sign of an outage or interruption affecting your area." When you ask for a credit, they say, "I am unable to issue you a credit at this time. Please call back if the issue persists and we can send a technician to your serviceable area."
I could sit here all day and point out 1,000 negative things about their support, but I think you get the gist of it.
I am now looking forward to the 3mbps upgrade! Bring it to Chicago, Comcast!!!!
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