 Review by Sabre 
UPDATED: 168 days ago
member for 3.2 years, 794 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Dundalk,Baltimore,MD
 $19 per month (6 month contract)
 about 14 days
 "Helpful and friendly installers, never hassled"
 "Occasional powercycling"
 "Solid service, no complaints"
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(ratings above consensus)
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FULL DISCLOSURE: For 2.5 years, until approximately 8 months prior to this review, I was employed as a Tier 1 CAE at Comcast. I no longer work for them and have no sort of business or monetary relationship with them. I am just another customer.
Having already planned to go without a landline at my new house, cable internet service was really the only way to go. I signed up using the online deals at broadbandoffers.com, promising a free cable modem after rebates, plus $100 cash back. Of course, I haven't received those yet (we all know how long mail-in rebates take), so I'll have to wait for answers there.
Modem arrived quickly, less than a week later. It's a Motorola SB5120, a good solid cable modem. I wouldn't have sprung for a purchased modem if it weren't a Motorola. (In my call-centre experience, they were consistently the best ones out there.) No complaints at all about the modem itself - these new Motorolas are so much smaller than the old SB3100 at my old house... wow.
Had some RF issues doing the initial self-install, which I kind of suspected because my TV reception wasn't too great. I went through all the testing, including connecting the modem directly at the point where the aerial drop entered the house, and no modem lock. (Rather fitting for me to have to go through the same steps that I told so many people to do.) So I called and had a professional install set up.
As usual for pro installs, the tech was a contractor, but he was extraordinarily nice. He tested the lines, played around with a new splitter and coupler, and got the modem to lock with no problems. His dispatcher pushed the modem through the walled garden without incident - both of us had seen enough problems with the Comcast installation software that we agreed not to bother with it. He was very friendly, easy to work with, and helpful (although I admit having a customer who knew the inner workings of the system probably made his job easier!).
A few days later I started having RF issues again. I called and had a regular trouble call set up. As I had to do with the pro install, I had to wait several days - not due to lack of techs, but due to the fact that I was only available for evening appointments. At around 1:30pm, the tech called me and asked if he could come earlier (which I knew from experience to be a common practice). I advised him I wouldn't be there. About an hour later, he called again, telling me that he decided to come by and check the outside line anyway - and found the aerial drop to have been shredded by a squirrel. He replaced that, and the signal checked out fine. Pleased that he was able to fix it so easily, I agreed to close the trouble call at that point and thanked him for his willingness to check all the problems. It's not always easy to get a tech to check the outside lines when you're not home.
Since then, no problems at all. I lose sync and have to powercycle the modem occasionally, but no more than once a week. It always resyncs right away after a powercycle. I'm not going to complain about that, especially not at 6 months for 19.95 per month. So in short, a couple of minor install issues, but nothing that wasn't easily fixed by very helpful and friendly techs - techs whom I should point out did not know me and did not (at least in advance) know that I was a former employee. I did have to wait several days for each appointment, but that was due to my lack of availability, not Comcast's.
Update: I've now had service for nearly a year, and it's been virtually flawless. I haven't even needed to powercycle but once in the past six months. No need for service calls, no trouble at all. I know some people have had all kinds of issues with Comcast, but in the past year, mine has been simply excellent.
Update 2: Past 2 years now and still going strong. So far my biggest problem required replacing my drop after several days of heavy rains; fortunately, I have an aerial drop making that fairly easy. After that fix my speed, which had gradually dropped to dialup level, was immediately back to full speed. Still no negatives to report!
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