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Review by pokesph See Profile

  • Location: Sacramento, Sacramento, CA, USA
  • Cost: $114 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
Fast when it works
Terrible reliability and support
Use it if it's your only choice. Not SoHo friendly...
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

Well I have been a DSL customer for about 3 yrs (PacBell/SBC & MegaPath) decided to go for the "cable speed" as i was too far from the DSLAM to get much higher then 256kbps DSL. Since we ONLY have Comcast as our cable provider, i went there.

Ordering was a small hassle; We are in a roommate situation here and my roomy has Comcast's cable TV service. So I call Comcast and ask to set up a new account for the HSI. Well, that was issue #1... Comcast CAN NOT do separate accounts for a address.. OK bad. Now what?

After talking it over with my room mate, who doesn't use the net, I went ahead and added it to their Comcast account. Ordered basic HSI, 3000/256, leased modem ($5.00 more) and installation ($50.00, prepaid). Install scheduled for 5 days later.

Installer shows up (contractor) with a Motorola SB4100 and, issue #2, can't 'install' it. Says he can not make the cable run to the room where the PC is located. Now, remember, I paid $50.00 for a professional installation and this installer did nothing, NOTHING! So, anyway he adds a splitter to the feed from the wall jack to the TV, and runs a cable openly across my house to the computer room. (tacky at best) He then proceeds to set up modem and all that.. Modem set up goes without an issue. BBR speed test: 2800/180 - tech says it's acceptable.

Fast forward a little over a month: Speeds are slow and there is noticeable packet loss. Customer support schedules a truck roll, and the tech doesn't have a clue as to whats wrong. He replaces the Moto SB modem with a WebStar DPC2100 (junk!) and it works for about a week.

Now after a week, the speeds are even worse then before with DL avg of 1800 and UL around 110. Decide to 'upgrade' to the 4000/384 plan in an attempt to boost speeds.
Upgrade was easy, Called the support center and during a support session regarding the slow speeds, just asked for the upgrade. My plan was upgraded in less then 5 mins,. Not bad!

Upgrade didn't help with the speed issues so support sent 3 techs out over a months time. After 2 missed dates and 2 techs who didn't have a clue or weren't authorized to do 'anything' we had the modem swapped, again. The last tech was very helpful and knew his job. Finally.

Now, this brings us to today, a week or so after last modem swap. Speeds are now fantastic, but there are minor DNS and stability issues, well within Comcast's TOS though.

Overall the ordering, setup, and support make me believe that Comcast doesn't really want our business. Even though everyone I've spoken with has been very nice, most didn't bother to care about my (expensive) service and seemed somewhat in a hurry to end the call (call center turnaround?) My advice: If you have no other choice for Cable broadband, then use them.

**UPDATE**

Ok it's now Jan 2007 and Comcast has been advertising 'SpeedBoost' all over the place around here.. others have it (some have what BBR users dub 'PermaBoost') but we here in Sacramento are still waiting for it. Can we get it turned on now, please? Thank you.

Now that the rant is done, lets move on to the current status of my Comcast service. For the last year or so, it's been very stable, mostly fast, and has only gone down 1 or 2 times (due to Comcast plant issues). So I've went ahead and changed the reliability to 3/5 and the value to 3/5 as well. Tech support for simple things such as reporting an outage or setting up an email client is fine, it's still lacks if you have an technical problem or intermittent signal / service issues. Hopefully 2007 is the year that Comcast upgrades it's support services.

So for late 2006 and early 2007 I'm going to have to say Comcast is a decent provider with minimal issues as long as you don't require any major technical support. I'd have to at least tell you to consider them if you need the speed, can't get a decent DSL plan, or if you want to bundle your TV, (phone?), and Internet service together.

UPDATE 2008
In April 2008 we were offered a 'consolation' bundle package deal to compensate us for some troubles we were having on our video side. This bundle was a triple-play that I was told (after numerous questions to the retention manager) was to include EVERYTHING we already had, and that it would add some more digital channels on the video side and give us DV phone services. All this for $114 a month, less then the avg of $123 we were paying at that time, for 1 year with the option to renew at same price for 2 years with a written contract executed at the local office. Needless to say, we accepted the offer.

Big Mistake.

While the service itself has been great, only minor outages and downtimes, the billing is a whole 'nother world.

It's HORRIBLE!
Comcast, from bill 1 on this new plan, has not been able to charge the correct prices, adding in all kinds of other fees that is supposed to be covered by the plan. Calling the 800 number, I can get some immediate relief and credits to the bill. But the real problem is we want an ACCURATE bill either in printed form or on the online bill (or both). Various managers have said that they CAN NOT fix it as its the way their system is.. yeah right.

As a consumer (and one in California) Comcast is required, by law, to provide me an accurate current bill and yes they haven't, and, from what I've been told by their executive escalations group, won't be able to in any foreseeable future.

Bottom line folks, be very wary of accepting any non-standard offer from Comcast or any rep saying they are from Comcast.

As a simple P.S.
What do I want? I want what was OFFERED TO US and I want a current, accurate bill. nothing more, nothing less.

UPDATE 2014:

Prices have gone way up! Now paying approx $180.00 /mo for a triple play (tv, internet, dv phone) withthe base plan being $140 plus numerous fees jacking up the bottom line total fee.

Service is mostly steady, with few unannounced "maintenance" outages thrown in to keep you guessing. Customer service is still as bad and clueless as it's ever been and I've yet to see in improvement in that area since becoming a customer.

As this is the highest speed provider in the area, we are more or less forced to use them and only wish they had better pricing and customer/technical support.

member for 22.7 years, 5897 visits, last login: 2.4 years ago
updated 9.9 years ago


TheMetrix
R.T.F.M. - P.E.B.K.A.C
Premium Member
join:2002-06-15
Utica, MI

TheMetrix

Premium Member

Try this

You might want to try what this Comcast Customer is doing.'

»Review of Comcast XFINITY by chiXnhawk
dplantz
join:2000-08-02
Bradenton, FL

dplantz

Member

Idea for fixing your comcast bill issues

You should contact the CPUC (California Public Utilities Comison) they should be able to help you with your comcast billing issues, it is there job to deal with things like this. It is silly that they can't fix your billing issues. Good luck.
Unreasonable
join:2007-10-15
Portland, OR

Unreasonable

Member

no one is required to provide you a correct current bill

If you mean what I suspect you mean...

I used to hear something similar in my customer service (no, not comcast) days.
People would have a billing error and wanted a corrected current bill sent out.

Nope.

Don't know of a billing system on the planet that does that.
And there isn't any law requiring it either - that would be stupid. You can't regulate accuracy in that sense. All you can require is that a company make it right and not place a burden on you for their mistakes.

What any billing system will do is apply debits or credits on the next cycle.

There are good accounting reasons for this.

Sending out an amended bill for the current cycle just isn't worth doing, as maintaining accountability and being able to track changes accurately would require more overhead than justified by simply having a 'pretty' bill.

Now, if the company made a major billing error, like moved the decimal, and are asking you to essentially loan them money, that's rubbish.

What I always told people was to pay the correct amount (which I calculated for them) and then the credits on the next bill would give them a normal balance going forward.

If that's what they're doing, stop bitching.
If they're doing something else - provide some detail.

I just can't feel any righteous wrath.

bucki
@comcast.net

bucki

Anon

22 years with comcast MARIETTA GA

finally had enough. charged me a service call for their bad coaxial cord from wall to modem . also before service call ,for my problems , they are going to enhance by comcast package and charge me less. what a DEAL . it cost $20 more a month. GOOD BY AND GOOD NIGHT, HOPE YOU CRASH AND BURN .
tdumaine
Premium Member
join:2004-03-14
Seattle, WA

tdumaine

Premium Member

Re: 22 years with comcast MARIETTA GA

wall to modem is not comcast responsibility. Didnt need a truck roll, just a trip to the store. Would have been much cheaper
JohnShade
join:2009-03-07
Pearland, TX

JohnShade

Member

Re: 22 years with comcast MARIETTA GA

Yep. That's inside wiring and if you put the service protection plan on the account and keep it for 60 days after the tech has been there, you pay a lot less. Sorry the tech didn't explain the options
JohnShade

JohnShade

Member

SoHo friendly

If you are using internet for your business, you need to go Business Class. Yes, it is more expensive, but there is a shorter turnaround on trouble calls (residential TOS - can go up to 72 hours) and the Business call center techs have to have a higher knowledge level