Review by reelbigfish 
UPDATED: 342 days ago
member for 7.4 years, 1723 visits, last login: 3 days ago
 Boston,Suffolk,MA
 $33 per month (24 month contract)
 about 7 days
 "Reliable service, Quick Downloads"
 "upload speed, price"
 "Good service, Recommed over DSL, especially in this area"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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***Update 13-Dec-2008***
I've now had Comcast in this location for a year and a half. Things have been good in terms of the service. I'm able to play games any time I like and the downloads are quite fast. There are some issues in getting line speed to some sites during peak hours. One major issue is that the free Fileplant subscription with the Speed Tier, I've never been able to download at line rate during peak hours. I can get it from other sites like Microsoft or Nvidia, but not Fileplanet. The speeds were upgraded to 6Mpbs/1Mbps for the standard tier and 8Mbps/2Mbps for the Speed Tier. The speeds were then upgraded again to 12Mbps/2Mbps for standard and 16Mbps/2Mbps for the Speed Tier, essentially making the Speed Tier worthless as all it gives you is 4 more Mbps of download speed. With DOCSIS 3.0 they have also added a 22Mbps/5Mbps and a 50Mbps/10Mbps tiers. There is also now a 250GB cap. This brings the value of the service down. If I could switch to Verizon or RCN I would, but for now I'm stuck with Comcast. It is still certainly better than Verizon DSL in the area, and I highly recommend it over than. If RCN is available or Verizon Fios, I would go with either one of those.
***Update 27-May-2008***
It has almost been a year since I've had Comcast installed at my current address. I've been quite happy with the service and would have a hard time leaving given the quality I've received with the Comcast Triple Play. I've signed a 2 year contract for it, keeping the Comcast High Speed Internet at $33/month for 2 years. The download speeds of 6Mbps or 8Mbps for the $10 speed add on are adequate for what I use the service for. I feel the upload needs to be upgraded however. It has been in the neighboring towns of Boston, such as Newton. Their base packages are 6Mbps/768Kbps and 16Mbps/2Mbps. Here in Boston it is still 6Mbps/384Kbps and 8Mbps/768Kbps. The only applications I really would like more upload bandwidth for are uploading pictures to share/print and for use with Mozy, my backup client. I have about 40GB of data I would like to backup, but it has been 2 weeks since I started backing up and I'm not even half way there. It would be a great help to have more upload to get this uploaded. However, once it is done, since it does incremental backups, it won't take nearly as long next time. Overall I am happy with the service, but do desire a bit more on the upload side. I recommend the service over Verizon DSL any day. Against FiOS, it comes down to which is more important, Internet or TV. For me HD TV is more important which is why I will be sticking with Comcast for the foreseeable future.
***Update 09-Sep-2007***
So far Comcast has been acceptable. I dropped back down to the lower tier internet as the Game Invasion package become somewhat useless. File Planet's servers were so overloaded that I could only download at 400KB/s instead of 1MB/s with the 8Mb/s connection. The upload is still quite pathetic compared to all other cable companies and DSL providers. In CT there is now UVerse available and most cable companies would win many customers with their speed, but not Comcast. With 6Mbps/1Mbps being the highest package, the better upload and similar download makes it a better package. Comcast really needs to step it up with the speed. Fortunately for them FiOS has not made its way into Boston yet, but when it does, the speeds had better go up for many customers will leave. It is still better than Verizon DSL however.
***Update 19-Aug-2007***
Last night I found that Powerboost just isn't always enough. I was uploading pictures from a recent trip, and it was taking forever! It was enough to make me pay the $10 extra per month. However, this does not reflect all that poorly on my value for money with Comcast. First, the 768Kbps helped me upload my photos in half the time. It was definitely worth it. It is a bit disappointing that I have to pay for the upload when others are getting 6Mbps/768Kbps as their standard tier. FiOS is around Boston, but not in it yet. The saving grace is that I do still get free McAfee anti-virus and with the speed tier I get Game Invasion, which gets me a Founders Club membership to IGN. This means I no longer have to pay for FilePlanet and I was able to link it to my existing account. So far still happy with the service and will continue to until my promotion is up. There might be competition then, and I will compare. However, at this time, Comcast is tops.
***Update 08-Aug-2007***
So far things have been good with Comcast. Powerboost is nice, but I do miss the higher upload I used to have with Cox for the same price. Overall the service has been reliable with gaming and using VPN. I definitely recommend this service over Verizon DSL in the Boston area.
***Update 21-Jul-2007***
Well, it has been since 2004 that I had Comcast and I am back with them. I moved out of the Cox area I lived into a Comcast/RCN area. Unfortunately RCN does not serve my new street so I had to go with Comcast for cable tv internet and phone. The speeds are quite good, I get bursts of 20Mbps/2Mbps with powerboost and get a solid 6Mbps/384Kbps connection after powerboost is done. The install was quite good. The installer was a contractor and knew his stuff. I didn't need a new drop run as the building was already wired. First he setup the cable box and got that working. Next he hooked up the Arris modem and provisioned it without installing the software for internet. Next was phone, all that took was a call and a reboot of the Arris modem. Overall a very good install. So far the service has been good. Will update after using the services for a while.
***Update 05-Jan-2004***
Well, my Comcast HSI is gone. The packet loss got better and then the speeds were much more consistent. The 3Mbps/256kbps caps are nice and all, but I did end up dropping them. For people who don't game and don't download tons of files, Comcast is good for that. However, I do excessive downloading such a Linux distros and taking online classes really eats up the bandwidth. I didn't get a letter from Comcast but I'd rather not take that chance. Also, the speed isn't worth the money. For half the price I get 1.3Mbps/128 from SBC and it is just as reliable. Right now I'm more concerned about price. If Comcast had a lower tier then I may still be with them, but until Comcast and other cable companies realize that not all their customers need 3Mbps speeds, that won't happen. To browse the web, which is what the rest of the users in my house do, SBC DSL is a better fit. Also, the extras that come with SBC Yahoo are much more useful that those that come with Comcast. I got a bigger mail limit and a bigger storage limit for storing files, which you cannot get with Comcast. Also, the Yahoo start page for the DSL is customizable and had all the info I want. I couldn't get that with Comcast.
***Update 17-Dec-2003***
Today I got the Comcast upgrade to 3Mbps. Thats good, right? Well, not really. My speed only went up to 2000kbps from 1700kbps and I have major packet loss now. They should not have upgraded the system if it could not handle the speeds. I will keep everyone posted on the situation, but it's unacceptable. Web browsing it ok, but file transfers are slow and forget about online gaming or watching a streaming video.
***Original Review***
I signed up for the Comcast Cable Service about 1 month before the service was actually available, thus the 30 day wait. I was the third person in my town to get the service. As soon as everything was set, I was on the internet. When the service first got here, the cap was set at 1800kbps/256kbps and those are the current speeds. It's not as fast as RoadRunner, especially since the caps for RR went up to 3000kbps/384kbps. I'm still waiting for the Comcast upgrade to 3Mbps which should happen before the end of the year. The only problem is that the upload is 256kbps. RR has 384kbps and they are possibly going up to 512kbps by the end of the year. I just hope Comcast follows suit and raises their upload. There hasn't been much down time. The only time the service has gone out was when my cable modem fried itself. The original and the current one is a Linksys. Overall I'm happy with the service although I would like to see more upload than more download speed. Since it is the only game in town, I'm stuck, but I'm happy with it.
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