Review by keason 
member for 10.9 years, 2477 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 64 days ago
 Ann Arbor,Washtenaw,MI
 Business customer $100 per month- (36 month contract)
 about 7 days "Fast, powerboost, hosted exchange accounts, static IPs, good service" "expensive install on 1 & 2 year contracts, monthly fees for faster tiers" "Expensive but works well"
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Install Co-ordination:
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Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I ordered the 22/5 service with static IPs. It took about a week after the order was accepted to installation. Comcast gave a 4 hour windows and arrived about 1 hr later than scheduled. Hint: (Don't schedule an afternoon installation if possible!) It took less than an hour for the install, most of which was spent waiting for static IP assignment. The installer carefully matched signal strength and installed a 2 way splitter for future use.
Ping times showed a different distribution than with the dynamic residential service I had previously. Pings around Chicago averaged 25-30ms, Atlanta 60ms while Michigan were closer to 70ms with west coast pings close to 100ms. Comcast employs some strange routing logic.
Speed tests were positively inconsistent with powerboost. Downloads ranged from 55-85 Mb/sec, while uploads ranged from 5-6 Mb/sec. Sustained downloads average about 24Mb/sec, slightly better than advertised.
Comcast included an DOCSIS 3.0 SMC cable modem, configured in bridge mode. A separate box is used for a telephone connection. It worked perfectly with my firewall, unlike the Motorola 5100 DOCSIS 2 modem which was provided in a previous installation.
Overall, it worked as promised with no hassles.
Update 6 Jan 2011 - Comcast credited my account $20 for the late appointment (unsolicited). The CS in business is much better than residential. So far no glitches, drop outs, or speed issues. VoIP has worked flawlessly, and the modem has remained stable.
Update 12 Jan 2011 - Had our first outage. Called at 6pm, it was fixed at 9:30am the next day. Tech was on time and professional. It turned out that a different tech had disconnected the cable at the pole  due to a residential disconnect order. The two divisions are not well coordinated. The performance difference was very noticeable compared to our ATT DSL backup - ATT constantly lagged, web pages did not load correctly, and VoIP occasionally stuttered .
Update 6 Feb 2011 - No problems or slowdowns. Speedtests have been averaging 85-95Mb down/ 5-6 Mb up at all times of the day. Sustained transfers 25Mb down/5.5Mb up.
Update 20 April 2011 - No hassles or glitches. SMC router has been very stable. Only a few momentary dropouts during the past 2 months, and no outages. Speedtests range from 15Mb/3Mb to 75Mb/6Mb depending on server used. No noticeable slowdowns during peak usage time
Update 21 May 2011 - Comcast came out again and tried to disconnect service due to a residential disconnect order. I intercepted the tech at the pole. Comcast now claims that their system is clear and it won't be disconnected again. Amazing that one outage and one near outage were caused by no communication between residential and business groups. Otherwise service working fine, powerboost still inflates speedtests. No slowdowns during peak periods.
Update 13 June 2011 - I was experiencing severe packet loss and slowdowns. Reported Sunday, was fixed on Monday. Squirrel had chewed the line.
Update 21 July 2011 - We now have upstream channel bonding. Speedtests average 80/35, and powerboost is uncapped. Uncapped powerboost is a great feature - VoIP traffic, browsing, and even some streaming services (which mostly transfer multiple small files) work very well even during long capped downloads, and we don't see much of a spike in latency when the connection is in full use.
Update 15 Jan 2012 - Well, the good stuff didn't last. Upstream bonding disappeared, Comcast started charging $7/mo for the formerly free modem (even while in contract!) , and speed is down to 15-25 down, 2-5 up on speed tests during peak hours (about 40/6 off peak). I change the 'Pre-Sale" ranking to worst as Comcast lied about the modem pricing - it was free only for the first 12 mo in a 36 mo contract! Latency is also higher during peak times. To cut costs I dropped the Static IP's and bought my own modem, and now use Dynamic DNS. Bill dropped from $127 to $100 after returning the modem and purchasing a Moto SB6120 (the only other supported modem for business class)
At least the service is still uncapped and VoIP works well. It would be nice to have the higher upstream bandwidth back.
Update 2/27/12 : Comcast added a $34 fee to switch to my own modem. They credited upon protest but acted surprised that I wouldn't pay it. Lame.
Update 6/1/12 : Comcast restored upstream bonding (4 down, 3 up) , Upstream speed tests are a little better . Used to get 80/40, then 70/8 with no bonding, now 70/12 is typical. Have had several outages but each was resolved within a few hours after calling in.
Update 2/1/13: Comcast upgraded the connection to 27/7. The increase in upload speed is much appreciated. Apart from a modem failure, connection has been pretty solid. In high use times, latency rises a bit and speed tests drop, but so far continue to exceed the 27/7 promised. Most times speed tests show around 70/30. Support has not been too helpful in diagnosing problems if you don't have their modem.
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