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Review by losher  UPDATED: 348 days ago member for 7 years, 45 visits, last login: 3 days ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
$49 per month (month by month)
about 7 days
"Speed as promised, uptime & latency seem good."
"No linux support, no home routers, no P2P seeding, no hi volume downloads"
"Fast and reliable for casual browsing/downloading"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings above consensus)
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I was a former Speakeasy customer who could never get good DSL download speeds due to my distance from the CO (14,400 ft., downloads ~40kbytes/sec). When AT&T finally made cable available in my area (95125) I switched and was able to get ~200kbytes/sec. on downloads, also faster upload, for much less money with AT&T than was possible with Speakeasy. Reliability seems comparable between the two. The other reason I left Speakeasy was their change to metered news service (AT&T news service is currently unmetered, though retention/completion is poor).
The AT&T installation experience was mediocre, they did call to confirm the appt. and did show up on time. The engineer was friendly but took one look at my dual-boot windows/linux box and wouldn't touch it, citing liability issues due to the dual boot, but that suited me fine, since I never run windows. He left the newly installed modem lying on its side with the vents blocked by carpeting - luckily I discovered this before the modem overheated. The cable modem is on the wall on the opposite side of the room from my PC, so I had to run my own cable under the carpet to make the connection reach my pc since the technician said "Sorry, we don't run cables under carpet or around baseboard".
Funny, AT&T were happy enough to run cable under my carpet when their digital cable box needed to be able to phone home to charge me for pay-per-view movies.
AT&T doesn't support Linux and frowns on multiple computers being connected. To get set up, I had to install their software on a windows system, register it to get the connection up, then spoof the PC mac address on my Linksys BEFSR41 router to set up my home network to be as it was with Speakeasy. The windows installation software they provide seemed somewhat flaky- I had at least one BSOD during setup. Lastly, I also had to set up a (free) account with a dynamic DNS provider to map the dhcp ip address that AT&T allocates. The address, though dynamic, hasn't changed since it was first assigned (and the dhcp lease period is 3 days).
I called AT&T support once (forgot my password) and was able to use their instant chat system. Beats waiting on hold for 20 minutes, which happened to me before using Speakeasy.
Their email system seems adequate, but I don't use it as my primary email account. Their web site seems slow.
Due to an AT&T promotion, the price was pretty *unbeatable*: free installation, $19.99/mo. for the first 6 months, plus a $50 gift coupon to Albertsons (Albertsons represents a new low in supermarkets, but that's another discussion entirely), $49.99/mo. thereafter, plus unlimited downloading from their (admittedly fairly crummy) newserver, which stocks at least some of the newsgroups I'm interested in. I supplement with an Easynews subscription, just as I did when I was with Speakeasy.
I guess after having spent a fortune wiring the neighborhood for cable internet AT&T are now desperate to get people to buy service. I was paying Speakeasy ~ $60.00/mo. previously for a much slower connection.
Update 03/16/03: I finally traced the pauses I was seeing to my Linksys BEFSR41. Upgrading its firmware helped a bit, but I finally gave up on the Linksys and ran dhcp+iptables from my llnux box which proved the linksys was the problem, so I scrapped the linksys and switched to an SMC Barricade SMC7004VBR and connections now appear to be rock solid.
Even though AT&T is becoming Comcast and apparently the news server arrangements are going to change. I'm currently getting ~178 kbytes/s down and ~24 kbytes/s up, so I'm really glad I switched, overall.
Update 08/16/07: Comcast has complained that I download too much (200GB) threatening to cancel my account (though they haven't actually done so) and has also started severely throttling P2P uploads, regardless of content, which is annoying enough that I might change provider. I finally changed to a Linksys WRT54G v3 but had to use openwrt firmware to get P2P to work properly.
Update: 12/15/08: Comcast has been throttling p2p for years and lying about it, and they've cancelled their news service. Despite this, due to powerboost, overall download speeds are
lightning fast (500kb/s) for small downloads and level off to about 250kbs for long ones, so they're still the fastest game in town unless you have fiber available. They're not particularly
cheap though...
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Review by joetaxpayer  UPDATED: 1 year ago member for 8.2 years, 2337 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Sudbury,Middlesex,MA
$55 per month
about 60 days
"reasonable price"
"speed now pretty solid"
"overall, no complaints"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)
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Service has been consistent for some time now. No complaints here. Joe
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Review by pules  UPDATED: 1.1 years ago member for 8.8 years, 1798 visits, last login: 17 days ago
Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
$49 per month
"10/1at $49 a month!!! good stuff"
"not too many"
"fast connection, very good service"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings above consensus)
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I've been on AT&T cable modem high speed internet for almost 2 1/2 years now (I was on the MediaOne network, now its all attbi, i guess)
I paid $45 a month for 1500 kbps down and 300 kbps up, now that has been changed to 1800/300. I'm running windows XP, fully tweaked, i can get my cap and beyound. I really love both my connection and my computer. My computer is also my gateway to my LAN. So i have 2 other computers connecting to the internet at faster-then T-1 speeds.
The connection for the most part is fast and up. But sometimes I would lose connection for no reason. Had their tech come out to my apt and after 3 tries they finally changed my cable to the main connection. No more problems. about two weeks ago, there was a routing issue that most Los Angeles users were experiencing. That's been taking care of.
For your info here are my connect tests:
2003-02-16 19:38:05 Speed test (la) 1664/290 kbps 2003-02-15 20:28:46 Speed test (la) 1822/274 kbps 2003-02-15 03:22:08 Speed test (la) 1713/289 kbps 2003-02-11 01:42:01 Speed test (la) 1647/289 kbps 2003-02-08 02:37:04 Speed test (la) 1672/288 kbps 2003-02-06 00:58:29 Speed test (la) 1621/289 kbps 2003-02-05 01:45:53 Speed test (la) 1647/242 kbps 2003-02-03 13:54:48 Speed test (la) 1852/295 kbps 2003-02-02 15:55:54 Speed test (la) 995/90 kbps 2003-02-01 00:56:46 Speed test (la) 1834/236 kbps 2003-01-26 15:55:45 Speed test (la) 1672/263 kbps 2003-01-25 01:24:05 Speed test (la) 1746/266 kbps 2003-01-19 23:33:38 Speed test (la) 1691/288 kbps 2003-01-19 21:48:00 Speed test (la) 1687/191 kbps 2003-01-18 01:40:22 Speed test (la) 1255/289 kbps 2002-12-23 10:29:16 Speed test (ec) 1669/270 kbps 2002-11-29 21:25:31 Speed test (la) 1379/288 kbps
tracert www.dslreports.com
Tracing route to dslreports.com [209.123.109.175] over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 * * * Request timed out. 2 9 ms 6 ms 7 ms bar01-p2-1.lsanhe5.ca.attbb.net [24.130.0.21] 3 15 ms 10 ms 13 ms bar01-d4-0.lsanhe4.ca.attbb.net [24.130.2.243] 4 14 ms 28 ms 8 ms bic01-p2-0.lsanhe3.ca.attbb.net [24.130.0.193] 5 7 ms 8 ms 7 ms 12.119.9.5 6 10 ms 12 ms 9 ms tbr2-p012702.la2ca.ip.att.net [12.123.199.241] 7 * * * Request timed out. 8 55 ms 70 ms 60 ms tbr2-p013701.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.10.9] 9 72 ms 67 ms 57 ms tbr1-p012501.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.9.133] 10 89 ms 77 ms 74 ms tbr1-p012101.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.122.10.49] 11 79 ms 103 ms 75 ms gar1-p3100.nwrnj.ip.att.net [12.123.214.181] 12 85 ms 82 ms 82 ms 12.119.140.30 13 96 ms 90 ms 84 ms 1189.at-0-1-0.gbr1.oct.nac.net [209.123.11.69] 14 80 ms 82 ms 77 ms 0095.gi-1-1.msfc1.oct.nac.net [64.21.102.2] 15 88 ms 86 ms 88 ms www.dslreports.com [209.123.109.175]
Trace complete.
as you can see I'm only 12 hops away from the internet.
Over all, i love my connection. The only thing i can ask more is to get Optonline speeds and prices 
I hope this helps out.
Update 10/1/07 So I'm Time Warner now and I must say wow the connection at 10/1 is freaken fast. But it's weired sometimes. Sometimes I'm downloading super fast and sometimes it LAGs. Something interesting i'm seeing now....8d/almost 2u....what's going on?
Update 2/8/08 Service is still going strong. For $50 a month, I'm getting their 10d/1u service which is working out great.
Update 10/1/08 I'm very satisfied with my Time Warner internet service. Other than the couple modem/router reboots (which can only be a router issue) I haven't had any downtimes. With my current 10d/1u, I'm VPN-ed, talking on my ViaTalk VOIP and have plenty bandwidth to stream music and download stuff. The concept of bigger is better definitely applies to internet pipes.
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Review by sabber  Posted: 1.2 years ago member for 1.2 years, 9 visits, last login: 100 days ago
Jacksonville,Duval,FL
Contract price not specified.
"fast speed"
"poor reliability, untill the last year"
"getting better"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)
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had cable internet access with them since before it was att and back when it was media one.
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Review by jbollyn  UPDATED: 1.2 years ago member for 3.2 years, 22 visits, last login: 207 days ago
Hoffman Estates,Cook,IL
Contract price not specified.
"It is likely not the poor installer's fault - he is 3rd party"
"Blame CC - the Spawn of Satan!"
"Buyer Beware"
| Tech Support: (ratings match consensus)
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There seems to be general confusion and misinformation about installing a CableCARD in a TiVo Series 3 HD DVR. With this brief review, I hope to save other forum members a bit of time.
1. Do NOT try to install a CableCARD yourself, by calling the Comcast call center. The CC CSRs are not trained to do this, even though they seem to think they are.
2. Call Comcast to schedule a truck roll. Tell the CSR you ABSOLUTELY need *TWO* CableCARDs, even if the MCard is supposed to be a dual tuner. In the TiVo Series 3 device, according to the TiVo website, two cards are ABSOLUTELY required, regardless of card type (M or S).
Here is a quote from the TiVo website:
Two CableCARDs (either S-Cards or M-Cards) must be installed in the Series3 HD DVR and activated by your cable provider before you can view and record two digital cable programs at once (including high definition cable programs). If you install only one card, you will be able to view/record only one program at a time.
Many cable providers are installing only M-CARDs. Series3 HD DVRs require software version 8.0.1c or later to use M-CARDs. Some DVRs are shipped with an earlier software version, so be sure to run Guided Setup, as instructed below, before CableCARD installation.
(end quote)
That's it. If you would like to read more detail about my experience setting up a CableCARD, here is the link:
»tinyurl.com/5gjbqh
IT Jay
(/end of rant)
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Review by backfeed  UPDATED: 1.2 years ago member for 6.9 years, 1681 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Peru,Miami,IN
$45 per month
about 3 days
"Speedy and reliable"
"Hmmm....nothing right now"
"Comcast does it right here."
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings above consensus)
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It has been a while since I have updated the review. I still cannot complain. The usage caps have been announced at 250 Gb...I average about 30-40 Gig a month so I have some room to grow my usage. Powerboost works as advertised. Comcast gets a lot of bad press on this site and while I am sure there are real issues, I can not complain about the service here. Arriss modem (digital voice), Linksys router with Tomato firmware. Speed test tonight (with powerboost) 28 Meg down 2.54 up
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Review by JBParsons  UPDATED: 1.2 years ago member for 7.1 years, 142 visits, last login: 18 days ago
Michigan City,La Porte,IN
$46 per month
"Speed is increased over time."
"Eratic reliability, low upload speed, high price, prices go up"
"Necessary, but over priced"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)
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I've had the service for many years - since it was made available as @home.. Initially it was very erratic for about a year; then it worked fine for several years. In 2002 ? service became very eratic again very slow with many outages for hours or days. Tech came and replaced outside line, inside line, connectors, splitters, filters, etc.and things were fine for close to a year.
More recently I loose the connection numerous times each day usually for only a few minutes at a time and sometimes longer. How do I know? By using dslreports.com to monitor my connection. By the time I call Comcast it works
It's Comcastic = High price Low value.
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Review by Boraxo  UPDATED: 1.2 years ago member for 4.8 years, 8 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
San Ramon,Contra Costa,CA
$30 per month
about 1 days
"Fast appointment, fast install, everything works great"
"Took 1 hour to order by phone"
"Kicks butt over competition, well worth the price"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings above consensus)
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Had Comcast in SF, decided to order when I moved to the 'burbs.
It was a hassle free experience. Ordered Wednesday, installed Thursday. Tech was quite friendly, got everything working quickly, was up and running instantly with no wifi connection problems. Comcast is the best. Highly recommend. No way I would go back to DSL.
I ordered 6MB as part of "double play" package. Was supposed to cost $66/mo for cable and internet, but the CSR said the price had dropped to $60/month (guaranteed for 12mo). The teaser promos are cheaper for the first 6 mo. ($29/mo) but then increases to $42/mo. just for internet. Skip the "triple play" package as you can get local telephone service far cheaper than $33/mo.
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Review by calathea  UPDATED: 1.3 years ago member for 7.9 years, 1393 visits, last login: 3 days ago
Corvallis,Benton,OR
Contract price not specified.
about 11 days
"It has been fast and reliable"
"Comcast immediately & cheerfully fixed billing error"
"Love my cable"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings above consensus)
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8 August 2008 -- later today
Billing mistake was corrected. Happy again. Still not completely satisfied with pre-sales information because the salesman said the CSHI was included. It's not; it's an extra $10 per month. He also said the modem rental was $5 but it's $3. You want accurate information when you're considering buying something.
8 August 2008
Oops -- billing mistake -- bill is twice what it is supposed to be -- There's an installation charge that was supposed to be waived; 'free' services are being billed -- we will see what Comcast's response is
30 July 2008
We got the Comcast "Triple Play" internet, cable TV with 2 telephone lines installed Monday. It costs $133.99 per month for 6 months and then goes up to $188.30. We get unlimited domestic long distance and all the phone bells & whistles (caller ID, voicemail, etc.) as well as a lot more TV channels. We were paying for two telephone land lines and had to make sure no one accidentally dialed a long-distance number from one of them. We also were using an answering machine rather than pay for voicemail! Once the starter rate expires, we won't be saving any money but will be getting more service.
We ordered from a Comcast sales contractor who was working our neighborhood. They installed it the day they said they would, and it went fine. We're using a RCA by Thomson DHG 535-2 eMTA modem thingamabobby.
So far everything has worked great. The only thing I didn't like was the price somehow got added up wrong at first, so it looked like we would be paying less than before when actually we aren't, at least after the intro rate expires.
18 October 2006
Can it really have been almost 3 years since I updated this review? Been with Comcast the whole time, not that many outages, great speed, still very happy.
Still have the same modem, but have been through several routers. Replaced the Netgear router and access point with a Lynksys router/wireless combination. That one just died a few weeks ago. Now we've given up the wireless because of security issues, and are using a Netgear firewall.
**********************************************************
Broadbandreports.com asked me to update my review,of Comcast, so here goes. I LOVE my cable and it has been completely solid and just keeps getting faster for the last year or so. I consider $45 a month expensive, but it's worth it.
I have a Toshiba PCX2200 modem, an Asante FR3004LC router and a Netgear wireless access point. And what I do behind my router is nobody's business.
I didn't have any trouble with the migration from attbi to comcast. The information from Comcast was insufficient, but this board provided all of the information needed to manually move my email over.
The only problem was that one day the tree trimming company was out working for Pacific Power--they accidentally knocked down the cable equipment with a tree limb. My connection died, but when I looked outside the Comcast truck was there and they had it back up the same day.
Calathea, A happy Comcast user. 24 December 2003
**************************************************
On March 8 suddenly my connection was gone. ATT said they would have to send someone out. The tech showed up as scheduled this morning, tested the line, went outside and looked at the cable. It was full of water. He called one of his ATT buddies to come over, and they installed new cable from the telephone pole to the house. All this took about an hour.
The tech also gave me the information I needed to register my new modem. The upload speeds used to always be really slow; they've doubled. All this service and I'm still on my 6 months introductory rate of $9.95 per month!!
********************************
After the Qwest/MSN fiasco in early November, I spent about a month and a half trying to get non-MSN dsl back from Qwest. Finally had to abandon that idea due to Qwest's incredible bumbling incompetence, and contacted Megapath. They were willing, but their subcontractor New Edge Networks dropped the ball. They missed a couple of appointments and the one time a guy did come out, he sort of looked around and said he didn't want to put in the wiring. Didn't want to use the existing wiring either. OK . . .
Then ATT sends me a postcard offering cable internet for $9.95 per month for 6 months, $35.99 a month after that. Now to be fair, I had tried cable before about 3 years ago, so the wiring was already in place; even the cable modem was still lying around. So Friday I call, and Tuesday the tech is supposed to show up between 8 am and 10 am. The doorbell rings at 8:00 am sharp.
I had ordered the basic install. You say I'm supposed to put this CD in my machine?? Not likely. Not after the MSN CD completely hosed my system. So for another $25 the guy set it all up for me manually, while I watched over his shoulder, in case he made a false move.
The process wasn't totally without glitches. After the tech left I lost the connection and had to call tech support. She said they I didn't have any signal and they needed to close the workorder. OK, I waited a couple of hours--still no connection. I dialed up and used their adorable online chat tech support. "Just be patient," the guy says. "We're working on it."
So I toddled off to work and when I got home, there's the connection up and running. After using the tweak tool here on dslreports, I'm getting nice fast speeds and am deliriously happy with my cable. I got an Asante FriendlyNet router so I can hook up my laptop like the old days with the dsl. The router was easy to set up; the one problem that cropped up was solved in a couple of minutes by a call to the Asante tech support.
So far, the cable connection has been way more reliable than the dsl, which used to drop me off regularly. Oh please, let it continue . . . .
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Review by mosesr  UPDATED: 1.3 years ago member for 7.1 years, 899 visits, last login: 11 days ago
Lake Elsinore,Riverside,CA
$30 per month (3 month contract)
about 4 days
"Free Speed Increases"
"Need to call Service Retention in order to get new promo's"
"As cost goes down and speeds increase = Best Value!"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)
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01-30-06
I'm now back with Verizon DSL. The promo with Comcast has ended and the $14.95 with VOL can't be beat!
Update: 10/04/05
still with Comcast; have been on several promo's to get lower price. Comcast has done several things to remain competitive in my region by bumping up speeds, doing much better keeping service up and adding free value like software firewalls and anti-virus.
Like I said before I'm so far from Verizon's CO they really can't give me anywhere near the speed I'm getting on cable and even if Verizon FIOS was available the cost, for me, would be prohibited. Bottom line... Comcast has provided me the best service to date, I have no complaint's, really.
2nd time I have moved from Verizon DSL to Comcast Cable; reason was lack of speed from VOL due to the fact I'm to far from CO. I was paying $30 per month for 768/128 and getting much less...very poor value compared to $38 per month from Comcast with speeds 3000/256.
The bad part with Comcast is my promo price will jump to $56 per month because I don't have cable TV after 12 months. Hopefully they will offer me another promo and if not I'll be forced to go back to DSL VOL.
The other bad thing about Comcast is DNS access seems to not be nearly as solid as DSL/VOL. When accessing web pages you will get address can't be found very often and that could happen day or night but it isn't so bad that I have reported it. You can see numerous bitches about this here in the Comcast forum.
All I wanted was better speed for the $ and I'm getting that with Comcast!
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