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Review by BronsCon See Profile

  • Location: Walnut Creek, Contra Costa, CA, USA
  • Cost: $109 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 3 days
Pay for 50/10, consistently get 57/12, connection is rock solid
Must pay $20/mo to rent their modem for the privilege of paying $20/mo for a static IP.
If you need more bandwidth and DSL can offer and no caps, they're probably your only choice.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I initially was going to port the phone number associated with my Sonic.net DSL line over to Comcast, and that order, placed Thursday, December 11, was scheduled for an install on Wednesday, December 17th. Since I had to rent the eMTA from them ($13.95) for the voice line, the modem rental was essentially free, so I opted for that, as well as a static IP ($14.95). I was actually surprised they were able to schedule it so soon, so I was quite happy.

Over night, I decided I wanted to keep the DSL line (and the POTS service that comes with it) to keep my game consoles and streaming devices on their own separate network. That's when I started having mixed feelings about Comcast Business Class (which I view as a completely separate entity from their residential services, which I absolutely despise).

They had no trouble cancelling the initial order and setting up a new one. It was all pretty painless, really, and the sales rep didn't try to talk me out of keeping the DSL for my streaming and gaming devices, he fully understood why I would want that, as well as the fact that I couldn't port the phone number if I was keeping the DSL (Sonic.net Fusion is not a dry loop service, so porting the number would mean losing the DSL). I informed him that since I no longer needed the required eMTA, I would supply my own DOCSIS3 compliant modem (from their list of approved devices) as I'd rather not pay for the modem 4 times over the course of a 2 year contract (it's actually 6.25x based on what I actually paid for the modem, an Arris/Motorola SB6141, including tax) and he set off to enter the new order and get me a new set of documents to e-sign.

Great, between keeping the DSL and not paying for CDV and equipment rental, my overall cost (Comcast internet + the existing DSL and phone) was within a couple dollars of Comcast internet + phone + equipment rental. Not bad for two connections, an extra 20/1.5 of bandwidth, and an honest-to-goodness federally regulated POTS line with all the trimmin's.

Except that when I got the documents, they indicated I would be charged for equipment rental and the static IP was missing. I got that resolved in a single phone call, but not in the most satisfactory of ways. On one hand, my Comcast bill will be $14.95/mo cheaper than I expected; on the other hand, that's because they require that you lease their gateway for $13.95/mo if you want the privilege of paying them $14.95/mo for a static IP. Of course, I opted to skip the static IP at that point; the server I'll be hosting is backed by CloudFlare, so I'm not worried about downtime if my IP changes (CloudFlare acts as a proxy, serving up their own IP in response to DNS queries, it's possible to automate the update process when my IP changes, and the updates are instantaneous), though reverse DNS would be nice (but not worth $28.90/mo).

It's not all bad, though; once that was resolved and the install coordinator called me, I was informed that they were more than happy to keep my original install appointment, but a slot had opened up 2 days earlier. I wasn't going to complain about getting connected 2 days earlier, so I took it.

I then ran out to pick up a modem (model mentioned above) which I immediately connected to the one known-good jack in my apartment (which I learned when I had service when I first moved in about 2 and a half years ago) and everything's hooked up, 8 DS and 4 US channels connected. I was excited to see that and called Comcast to see if it was possible to skip the install, given that I had a working modem (but not yet a working connection, as they don't have the modem's MAC address yet) on their network. I was less than ecstatic when they told me they still had to send someone out, but not at all surprised; it would have been nice if they could've taken down the MAC address of my modem and activated it ahead of the truck roll, though. Oh well, I didn't actually ask if they'd be willing to do that, so I can't fault them for not offering.

My install isn't for another couple of days, so I'll update this shortly thereafter.

UPDATE 2014-01-10:

I'm more than a little annoyed that I had to pay $99 for a tech to come out just to look at my modem, see the lights on, and call in with the modem's MAC to activate it. I could've done that myself (in fact, I did and was told that an installer had to do it). I don't feel that was necessary, I know he didn't do anything at the ped as he called when he was around the corner and I met him outside. I watched him park, we went straight up to my apartment, he called in to activate my modem, and I watched him leave; the ped is in an access-controlled garage, I did not let him in, and the building manager was out to lunch (and therefore did not let him in). He literally looked at the activity lights on my modem and called to activate it. For $99.

I dodged a bullet on the static IP, though. Both that and the requisite equipment rental went up to $19.95/mo. The combined total for these two services, one of which is free to provide (relative to the DHCP-provided dynamic IP) went from $29/mo to $40/mo, a 27.5% increase, just 2 weeks after my service was activated. And at $20/mo, my modem will pay for itself in just 4 months (2 if you factor in the additional $20/mo I'm now not paying for a static IP). I'm not sure how Comcast justifies those charges, but it's ridiculous to say the least, which is why I don't play the game.

Other than that, I'm consistently getting 120% of the speed I'm paying for and the connection has been rock solid so far, so I have no complains service-wise. I just wish my first bill wasn't nearly double what it should have been due to a useless installer truck roll. And this is why I completely despise Comcast as a company; both AT&T (who I also despise) and Sonic.net have, in the past, waived the truck-roll requirement (and associated fee) when I called to let them know I had active lines and working equipment; they were happy to activate my service over the phone right then and there -- no reason Comcast couldn't do the same.

member for 20.4 years, 3420 visits, last login: 4.7 years ago
updated 9.1 years ago