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 Review by Richard B 
UPDATED: a few hours ago
member for 1.2 years, 577 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Portland,Washington,OR
 $42 per month
 "Fast hook up time"
 "Try to call tech support good luck, Nothing but script readers."
 "Still a good deal."
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No really change but Power boost does come in handy when downloading Podcast.
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Review by joncrane
UPDATED: a few hours ago
member for 3.5 years, 39 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Rockville,Montgomery,MD
$70 per month
 about 3 days
"Great price, install was prompt"
"Install was not thorough"
"You can get great internet cheap, fast."
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Initial contact was a bit awkward but successful. Installers arrived right at end of three hour window. Installers did not test success of connection, and left. I found out wrong cable was plugged into back of cable modem, and rectified problem.
Got 4Mb/s "right out of the box."
That's a pretty good starting point, I'd say. 
Update: have upgraded to 8Mb/s and can achieve that throughput.
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Review by padre44
UPDATED: a few hours ago
member for 8.5 years, 396 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Powhatan,Powhatan,VA
$96 per month
"great speed"
"price"
"satisfied"
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Had Verizon Fios. Grew more and more frustrated with occasional outages and non-existent customer service. For a phone/communication company, their support/customer service stinks. Automated phone system is terrible, and hold times are long.
Moved to where Verizon was not available. I dreaded going back to Comcast, but only Comcast available if I wanted cable rather than dial-up for internet. No DSL or anything else here. So far, pleasantly surprised at customer service and quality of service. Internet speed good and Digital TV with HD DVR good. Comcast must have begun getting its act together since Verizon gave them competition. Bottom line, I'm happy with Comcast and glad to be rid of Verizon.
Cost above is for Internet and Digital Cable TV.
Updated 7/17:
Had issue with HD hesitating and HD recordings freezing. Called and in two days swapped box with one with HDMI. When I told installer that lady told me that HDMI boxes weren't available here, he said he got the last one available - they only got hand-me-downs from Richmond. Anyway, its working great now. So nice to get someone on the phone quickly and get problem solved quickly. I understand there's a new manager in this area, and he's doing wonders with customer service. Verizon could learn a lesson from Comcast - at least in t his area.
Update 10/7/08:
Price above includes Digital TV with HD DVR. Still no outages or slowdowns. Great speed. Verizon DSL now available in this area, but I wouldn't switch. Satisfied with Comcast, which is a nice surprise from past experience. Even if Fios comes here, I will stay as with Comcast since Verizon's customer service tanked.
Followup comments:  
jt4
@comcast.net | hdmi call them and request a dvr with a hdmi. you will have to wait home for an appointment but they will bring you one. | |
| krazymon2
join:2008-01-13
Coraopolis, PA
edit:
July 11th, @07:28PM
| HDMI The only boxes in our area anymore that you can get with HDMI is if you have the DVR box. The regular HD Converters only use DVI. So they shouldn't have an issue swapping that out for you. | |
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Review by REC7IFY
UPDATED: 1 days ago
member for 46 days, 19 visits, last login: 6 days ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
Contract price not specified.
"Up Speeds aren't Bad..."
"Download speeds are terrible, inconsistent all times of the hour..."
"I thought Time Warner/Road Runner San Diego was bad..."
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So I just moved back to the Bay Area (San Jose) from the Lovely yet Expensive San Diego. Was with Time Warner/Roadrunner as an ISP down there (was forced to by my apartment association) and while I can say there service wasn't the greatest in my 5+ years of cable internet service from many different providers it def. out performs Comcast here in San Jose (consistency of both down and up times within a 300mi radius). I currently am signed up for there BLAST service (which honestly is more of a BUST then BLAST). 16mbps up and 2mbps down if im not mistaken. My Up speeds are solid for the most part (95% of the time). But down speeds...well it can be all over the place, ive seen as good as 21mbps and then 5min later, 5mbps down and then another 5-10 min later ill get 2mbps only to test again and get 14mbps an hour later after the 1st test. I consider this "erratic" especially considering i had TWC/RR and the horror stories i herd about them and there service and inconsistent speeds and down times.
I hope FioS becomes available real soon in my area (have a few close friends in Arizona who have it, and love it). Some of the service/speeds that are offered are an overkill but hey, Better more then less when it comes to services and speeds.
To top it all off, my install for both my Internet at Cable TV was terrible. The field technician was 3rd party/contract, late, installed in a hurry and didn't test anything before he left. I actually ended up having to finish the install myself in my bedroom because he was a retard and forgot. He didn't sync any of the remotes to our TV's so i had to call Comcast (the website instructions were for the old remotes) to sync them myself. Oh and what made me LOL the hardest was he forgot to call in to the dispatch to activate my service (complete the job), so I myself had to call Comcast and tell them that its been over 4 hours and im still only seeing basic cable channels.
On a grade scale from 1-10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the best) i'd have to give them a 4.
Wonder if there will be competition (another cable provider option) again in the cable industry here in the Bay Area??? So far not a big fan, especially for what i pay. Might switch to 6/1mbps because honestly thats what im getting 75-80% of the time.
9/10/2008: Having a technician come out for second time (the first didn't solve my issue). The first Tech tested the lines and replaced some Coax cables for better results. Then he placed an accelerator on the main line to boost it. It temp the fix, but then my speeds fell after about an hour. They are going to give me an individual outlet for my modem, so that i don't split the connection with a splitter between my TV and Modem. They think this might solve some of my connection issues and consistencies. Well see, ill keep everyone updated.
Followup comments:
sjtech
@comcast.net | this can't be right what part of san jose are you in?? This town is rock solid for CHSI | |
| | REC7IFY
join:2008-08-22
San Jose, CA
 ·Comcast
| Re: this can't be right East Side San Jose (Silver Creek Area). While my up speeds are stable, my down speeds are all over the place. Ive done plenty of line quality tests and tested the connection at various times of the hour to many different sub stations within 300mi radius. Sometimes i get my 16mbps down, but allot of times its like 8 or 9mbps...and thats testing to SmugMug here in San Jose. | |
| REC7IFY
join:2008-08-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
edit:
September 9th, @05:23PM
| Here is an Avg Result. It usually isn't this good... 
I pay for blast service...16mbps Down 2mbps up (not absolute sure about advertised up speeds, comcast didn't provide that info so this is based on assumption). Usually im hitting 3500-5000 down druing the day. | |
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Someonereal
@comcast.net | Re: Here is an Avg Result. It usually isn't this good... That's just it way it is all over the place. Especially where Comcast takes over. Pay More for less!!. They bank on the average Joe doesn't know any better. | |
| | | REC7IFY
join:2008-08-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
| Re: Here is an Avg Result. It usually isn't this good... I just had an actually field technician (and actual Comcast representative and not some retarded contracted/3rd party) come out to my house and install a booster to the line at the box and check all the lines in my house for quality. It helped some what, i now hit 10mbps which isn't quite 16mbps but its moving on up from 6mbps. I'm still not impressed with the service itself. I will admit one good thing, there online tier technician that diagnosed the problem told me what it most likely was, and was honest about what type of speeds i should be seeing considering my location and situation. | |
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Review by mgdmb
UPDATED: 1 days ago
member for 5.2 years, 425 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Campbell,Santa Clara,CA
$53 per month
about 14 days
"It's Comcastic"
"It's Comcastic"
"So far, so good..."
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On the 16 Mbps (Blast!) plan for just over two weeks, no issues to date. Typically get ~20 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up, so I can't complain. No outages to date, don't use them for email so I can't comment on the utility of it.
Not concerned about hitting the 250GB cap (though I certainly am not a fan of it...), as I seem to be averaging ~1.5 GB / day down/up combined, per DD-WRT's WAN graph.
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 Review by Kiwi
UPDATED: 2 days ago
member for 5.3 years, 1773 visits, last login: a few hours ago
North Little Rock,Pulaski,AR
$42 per month
about 6 days
"A relatively cheap service 19.99/42.95, if it works, upgrade imminent"
"Customer Service is beyond bad at walk in locations"
"Can't complain so far, regards Internet function and the Cable installer fellas"
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I was the twelfth person to get the original AT&T broadband package in LR, maintained a 56k Aristotle account. Then also added Comcast cable about two years later. At that time [10 years ago] Cable was a bit of a mess, with upload streams crashing out the net at 118. Lag was also major factor.
Finally moved from both and was for the longest on SDSL 760/760 with a minor overhead lose through Aristotle. New Edge/EarthLink ate the Golden Goose, originally $85.00, then $65.00 so now I'm back on Comcast as Aristotle SDSL is dead.
Comcast has apparently changed considerably over the years, for the better, in terms of the internet @ least. Customer Service is in the toilet and apparently from the complaints I have seen the stock holders as yet have not held Comcast to the fire on the problem, so apparently until then there won't be an improvement. Walk in store front is an abysmal experience, three people in line, two paid bills and one returned equipment, after the rep managed to move herself into life and it was my turn 3/4 hr had passed (Any normal place that would be around a fifteen minute wait max.). All I was doing was returning an extra modem, the first was DOA. But, that was over time my fourth visit to the NLR Main Street location which had repeated the same complete air of indifference on each occasion.
The installers were (?)Nex *Shrug* -Didn't pay enough attention, seems contracted out, but both the fellas knew exactly what their job was and did it well; needed RG-6 installed, rather than the RG-59 that was present. Kudos.
My time line is slightly off because I was not in a hurry, had the first modem worked I would have been up in TWO DAYS. But, nothing related to networking and PC's run that smooth.
Overall the actual internet service is, at least for me, compared to what I had is a lot cheaper, I notice a significant download improvement, can't say the upload has shown any indication that from my prior service, has made any difference at all.
I'm not posting speeds, it's relative to what is used and where you go and what software is utilized. Suffice to say that as a rough gauge 10000/1800. 56msec. Having some wireless issues, but that's more than likely the *New* LinksysGL router, or me.
Overall I'm pretty content; I just hope Comcast is capable of supporting their service. From what I see in the field and this is a simple observation/opinion, Comcast might want to INVEST money in their people and EXPECT their people to deliver both quality and timeliness; Comcast could get a more profitable result. My Daughter at another location gave up because of the inept people working for Comcast, Comcast must lose many potential customers to idiots that show up to install service and state "I don't know anything about the internet". No hardware with them either, or at least that they are aware of, like a modem........
It's a smooth ride so far and as I don't do P2P or normally stream videos, I'm sure normal usage will keep me out of trouble. I expect fast internet and at least 10G a month usage per PC/Laptop =40G. No, I don't binge the trough for 250-300G like some expect on a residential line, nor do I expect Comcast to pay me to do so  FTTP won't use a *Sniff*.
Update 10/05/08
Been down longer on cable due to weather in 3 months than 7 years on SDSL, but I can accept that. What I'm having a very hard time swallowing is a bill for $103.24 when I'm on the 'Special' for internet @ $20.00. Basic cable is required and the price is gouging for a few watchable channels and spam. Considering AT&T and dropping a TV service entirely. I do watch movies; have no need for an overpriced, under developed basic TV experience for the consumer. I do MISS Satellite, but can't have it due to trees. I would rather do without than get gouged on an inferior service.
With the current trend in respect to the economy, Comcast might want to reconsider their position for future longevity and stock holders. Offering something works, offering something for your next born AND grandchild; does not. Either deliver worthwhile content and Or/cost, or meet your end. It's happened before, stock holders @ this moment in time reflect on possible service failures; this is one. You can't gouge and keep a compliant portfolio, what happens is you will be lumped in with the "Takers"~that’s not a viable option, once again for stock holders. Comcast, you are out pricing your product and in the end with tough times ahead, expensive services and BS charges, will be the very first thing to go in most households. I can guarantee Comcast pays around $23.00..Costs, for the exacerbated profit of $60+ per individual home service per month.
Comcast wake up, get out of bed.
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Review by JRM271
UPDATED: 2 days ago
member for 6.1 years, 561 visits, last login: 2 days ago
West Palm Beach,Palm Beach,FL
Contract price not specified.
"can be very fast w/ good ping/latency w/power boost"
"when lots of bandwidth being used slows down some"
"still fast w/lots of people on w/ or w/o powerboost and good pings"
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had AT&T "fast access dsl" before. It was ok until I kept losing the connection all the time and the problem couldn't be fixed and was still much slower that COMCAST.
I have the 6mbps/1mbps package at 42.95/mo which w/o power boost I still get 6.7 mbps usually
free install kit and MOTOROLA SB5101 modem, nice intro package too for 6 mo.
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 Review by stillrunnin
Posted: 2 days ago
member for 4.7 years, 1122 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Frederick,MD
Contract price not specified.
"not many"
"$$$$$$"
"could be better"
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we always have cable outage here. and the speeds are not what they promised.
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Review by iansltx
UPDATED: 3 days ago
member for 1.6 years, 222 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Golden,Jefferson,CO
$56 per month
about 14 days
"Relatively painless i66.nstall, MUCH faster speeds than Qwest"
"Speeds are not as high as the BestBuy etc. PowerBoost descriptions claim, modem locked down and runs pretty warm"
"Could be worse, especially considering there is really no competition here..."
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10-5-08
Yesterday I called Comcast to switch over service from their provided cable modem to one that came in the mail (Comcast->FRGP router->school but still 20-30ms "first hop" when doing a traceroute inside the VPN is impressive. On the other hand, I'm literally a stone's throw from the network room of the school, but not close enough to use their WiFi :/
8-19-08
OTHER OPTIONS
1. Cellular broadband (all of the "big three" have high speed data here, but that's expensive and slower than terrestrial broadband...and Millenicom is the only one with no caps)
2. Wireless from Wispertel, but they don't seem to have good deals and I'm very mistrustful of wireless operations, with their high setup fees and generally subpar performance. Plus, they top out at 5 Mbps down.
3. Qwest (see my other review) has DSL service here, however their highest speed ($47 a month for dry-line) is aa mere 5120/896 connection, provisioned as such. So performance is much lower in real life and latency is high due to interleaving. No FTTN = no higher speeds.
PACKAGE OREDERED
Renting a modem right now for $3 a month on top of their higher tier of internet, which is 8/2 w\PowerBoost here. As can be seen, it's a heckuva lot faster than Qwest's highest-end offering here. The price is rather high though, still trying to work it out: $53 a month (plus modem rental) for the first six months, then $63 a month thereafter. I could care less about added features, I just want the highest speed possible, especially with uploads, hence the choice here.
ORDER\/INSTALL PROCESS
Order process over the phone wasn't too bad, though I'm not happy about paying a $50 installation fee. Wait, there's little to no competition. Guess that's standard are. Anyhow, I scheduled the installation for 8-10 am this morning (this was two weeks ago when I ordered).
The tech arrived at a minute or two before 9 a.m., and due to wasps in the cable box took about 25 minutes to get everything set up outside. Another 25 minutes inside and I was up and running. I messed up my wireless router a few times so it took awhile to get that up, but that was my fault (this was done after the tech left). The guy was nice enough, but wanted to keep his hands off of as many things as possible, and seemed hurried to get to the next appointment. But hey, he knew enough of what he was doing that the service got set up in a timely manner. It's just annoying how Comcast had to do a professional install" whereas Qwest, with no previous DSL service, allowed for a $10 self-install.
EQUIPMENT
I provided my own router (Linksys WRT54G v8 w\DD-WRT). Comcast is renting me a Scientific Atlanta WebStar DPC2100R2. Seems to be decent at internet performance, but is totally locked down as to setup stuff (only one screen, status, accessible) and it looks like it's gonna run hot. Speaking of equipment and installation, Rx/Tx power levels are 11.2/35 at the moment, with Rx hovering between about 10.6 and 11.4, maybe less variance than that but within spec. The tech mentioned it being on one end of the spec but it works fine so I'm not coplaining.
FINAL COMMENTS/SPEED TESTS
I'll update this review when I get more information about the service through use.
Traceroutes reveal a strong Comcast backbone in the area (then again Denver is an internet hub so of course). Pings to Google are pretty (but not completely) consistent at 60ms or so. My school, whose OC-3 connection goes into an aggregate connection that includes a large Comcast pipe, has ping times that vary from 9-21ms, mostly in the 9-12ms range. Perfect for VPN; that's less than first-hop latency on Qwest.
Download speeds look to be about 13.5 Mbps with PowerBoost, tapering down to around 9.8 Mbps when you average download speed over a 100 MB file, which isn't too bad, though ads say PowerBoost runs up to 16 Mbps. Though the website wants to say something different. Uploads look to be solidly at 2.2 Mbps, though Mozy as of yet doesn't seem to like the connection so I don't know how the speeds will be when PowerBoost wears off, or peak time rolls around. Maybe I'll try a different modem...$3 a month renting a modem that's 20ish on eBay is a ripoff.
One thing's for sure: VoIP works great. No packet loss, minimal jitter...though TCP Forced Idle looks like the connection could go a fair bit faster than what it is right now.
Guess that's it for now, will update when new info comes in.
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Review by BadCipher
Posted: 3 days ago
member for 5.4 years, 476 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Houston,Harris,TX
$60 per month
about 5 days
"High speed, reliable connection"
"Cost"
"Good Internet service, not the best value for the money"
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Comcast technician was 2 hours late for installation appointment. Connection has been trouble-free for a year. I have never had to call Comcast support.
Internet service was down for 1 week after hurricane Ike, node at the front of the neighborhood did not have power.
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