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Review by Grumpy4 See Profile

  • Location: NW CT
  • Cost: $29 per month
  • Install: about 2 days
Quick
wildly inconsistent speeds
Install a few days ago - too early to tell
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

We got rid of AT&T land line, and associated DSL service. AT&T DSL was everything they promised and rock solid, but we will rely upon our cell phones to replace the land line. After dealing with AT&T for many many years, I was afraid to try and split out land line to dry wire. Perhaps that is unfair, but 30 years of horror stories with the AT&T add / subtract services departments took me there. I could bore you to tears with my many stories of AT&T service fumbling and bumbling.

Comcast cable now in the house. Advertised speed 15 down. Best I can do: 9 down. Still on DOCSIS 2, and install tech believes here in the woods DOCSIS 3 will never happen. Too expensive for a low density population zone.

Install scheduling was quick. A day or two after the call to Comcast was placed, the tech showed up on time, and had no issues getting throughput. He advised upon how to add my router & how to make wi fi work, although I doubt he had to do so.

Although it may be somewhere in the fine print, I was not informed the tech was going to install a lot of Comcast software on the laptop used to do the initial install. He also directed the web browser's home page to Comcast. Apparently he used a web based script to do this, as no disks were involved. It only took a matter of a few moments to return the laptop to it's prior glory, so no big deal over that.

Price $29.99 monthly for 6 months
$40 something monthly, month 6 through 12
$60 something month 12 and on
I have yet to receive a bill, so I would imagine an assortment of taxes will lay upon the above prices.
and some say there is no tax on the internet...

The speeds of up & download are wildly inconsistent. In one moment I can download at 9 megs, and one minute later 300 k down is the max from the same web site. This variance is nearly constant wherever I web surf, and I would have to believe this is a Comcast-ism. I never saw a throughput spread like this with DSL. I have tweaked to the best of the ability of the tools supplied here at DSLReports, and have made the appropriate adjustments to Rwin and MTU.

Time will tell how this works out, but I can't imagine paying $60 for something that can crawl at 300 k for who knows how long. Perhaps AT&T will have something better here by then.

I love the smell of a broadband price war early in the morning...

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Due to frequent periodic Comcast HSI outages in this area, I don't consider Comcast to be a viable or reliable conduit for voip.Because of this spotty performance, I can't imagine using Comcast internet for any possible business telephony, let alone for residential voip.

During one recent outage, I called Comcast for help and was told there were no reported outages in my area. We fiddled around with this that & the other for around a half hour, and the rep then tells me there are outages in my area. I wouldn't have wasted a half hour had I known that during the first minutes of the call.

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Nov 2012: We've been on DOCSIS 3 for a few months now. Speeds are great - 25 down, 3 up most of the time at Speednet. Around $70 per month, which includes basic cable for "free", only because basic cable not blocked around here on HSI alone service according to the installer way back when. I'm told this 25/3 for $70 offering is no longer available, and the web site seems to bear that out.

Reliability still VERY shakey. Unable to upload all day Sunday due to local problems. Still wouldn't consider Comcast a viable or reliable voip conduit in this area. If I get around to it, I'll try to put up an up-time report, but don't hold your breath - I'm working two jobs at the moment.

member for 22.6 years, 5865 visits, last login: 5.1 years ago
updated 11.3 years ago