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Review by camera_man See Profile

  • Location: Penngrove, Sonoma, CA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
None
Always going down
Save your money

We purchased this as part of their triple play and am I sorry we did! The phone service is ALWAYS going down which leaves you with NO PHONE SERVICE FOR HOURS, and if you're really lucky, when the phones go dead so will your internet connection which leaves you totally SOL.

When we had this service setup they swapped out my cable modem with one made by ARRIS. The service tech has had to replace 4 of the units already and it's only been 2 months! We are now on unit number 5 so we'll see how long this one lasts before it grenades. Sure AT&T was more money per month however it NEVER was down which is HUGE especially in an emergency. You might have better luck with it than me but forewarned is forearmed.

member for 20.1 years, 35 visits, last login: 14.5 years ago
lodged 14.5 years ago


Review by wenter99 See Profile

  • Location: Albuquerque, Bernalillo, NM, USA
  • Cost: $39 per month
  • Install: about 4 days
Reliable and inexpensive. Free nationwide & Canada long distance. Excellent sound quality.
None thus far.
VERY satisfied with the reliability and quality of Comcast DV service.
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Signed up for CDV in July of 2008 for $39.00 a month including taxes and unlimited free long distance calling to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. Have had Comcast HSI and Cable TV since April 2001. Had used Qwest landline since 2001 at a cost of $50.00 a month, including taxes and fees, and additional for long distance.

Comcast tech came out and installed the Arris TM502G telephone modem as scheduled, 4 days after I order the service. Installation took a total of about 45 minutes. CDV has had loud, clear audio and continuous connection since day one which was just a little over a year ago now.

So far CDV has been a totally positive experience for my household. I haven't had a single problem with CDV, so there's been NO NEED to contact customer service regarding CDV or any of my other Comcast services. What has made CDV the best value for us is the no extra charge for long distance. My wife makes frequent calls to family in Canada, and that's been a major bonus for us.



member for 20.3 years, 531 visits, last login: 14.4 years ago
updated 14.7 years ago


Review by mogulman See Profile

  • Location: Parker, Douglas, CO, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
Reliable
Lack of features, Expensive
Not worth the money unless you need it for bundling.
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I switched one of my phone lines from Viatalk to Comcast a few months ago, because it saved me money with the bundled service on my internet service. My company stopped reimbursing for internet service, so this helped me reduce my payments. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have switched. The Comcast phone service is very expensive compared to other service. The features are lacking also. I had more features about 10 years ago with our local land line provider, Qwest.

The only thing going for Comcast is the bundled pricing and reliability. It is way more reliable then my Vonage or Viatalk that I've had in the past. Even with that, though, I wouldn't keep service without the bundling.

6/2009

Thought I'd post a followup. I cancelled Comcast service a few months ago. The call quality was really great. Features and customer service were non-existant. I'd recommend Comcast phone service for bundling or if you need basic phone service without many features.

member for 21.5 years, 2170 visits, last login: 1.6 years ago
updated 14.7 years ago


Review by uuslc See Profile

  • Location: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, UT, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
  • Install: about 7 days
Quick install, no major hassles, battery works as advertised.
Digital Voice site needs an upgrade
If you have TV and Internet, get CDV and round it out.
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I had CDV installed because my TV and Internet promotion is up in 6 months. I figured I'd be switching anyway because I'd want a Triple Play promo when my other promo was out. I was with Qwest here in Salt Lake and figured now was as good of a time as any.

The install was smooth. I thought he's go out the back of my house and tie into the Qwest box, but he didn't. My current splitter for TV and HSI is in the back of my house, on the other side of the Qwest box, but he opted to just tie into a wire, saying that they don't like to destroy the phone box outside your house if they don't have to in case you need it in the future - made sense.

I have ceiling tiles in my basement and we quickly found a phone wire close by. He patched into that, had to find some wire matches and we were off and running. The entire install took about 40 minutes from him parking to pulling away. The installer was an independent contractor, which made me nervous, but he was smart and did a nice job. He was respectful of my house, which was nice.

Call quality matches or is better than Qwest. I've made several long distance phone calls and had no problem. Yesterday, we had a serious rain storm that knocked out power for about 3 hours and the phone worked just as advertised. When my wife calls from her cell, I can hear her better than I could with Qwest.

The Digital Voice site is okay. The recent and missed calls is intermitten and is delayed for about 8 hours when it's working. No problems getting voicemails online. I do enjoy being able to manage my account online. (ring settings, call forwarding, etc.)

All in all, I've been impressed. We rarely have an issue with TV or HSI going out. If you live in Salt Lake and have no issues with TV and HSI, I'd recommend this. Again, I'm on a killer TV and HSI deal right now that ends in 6 months. I'm on the $19.99 CDV plan until that runs out, then I'll try to jump on a Triple Play.

member for 14.8 years, 105 visits, last login: 9.9 years ago
updated 14.7 years ago


Review by backfeed See Profile

  • Location: Peru, Miami, IN, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 7 days
Calling Features, Unlimited LD
each year calling to keep same rate
Solid phone service with features better deal than AT&T
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Other than having to threaten to leave them to go back to AT&T once per year to keep the same rate, It is really a great deal!
Call quality is great, Voice mail, Online access to call information, just a good product!

member for 21.2 years, 4511 visits, last login: 29 days ago
updated 14.8 years ago







Review by senatedon See Profile

  • Location: Harrisburg, Dauphin, PA, USA
  • Cost: $33 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 20 days
Crystal clear conversations
Price will go up after year, features are lacking
okay for a year, then back to ATT CV
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Update (05/03/2009):

I cancelled Comcast Digital Voice because we moved to an area serviced by VZ FiOS.

Couldn't be happier.
_______________________

I ordered the service to save money. I got the triple play.

It took Comcast almost 3 weeks to port my number from Verizon. This was terrible. Three different install dates came and went without warning from Comcast while they dicked around.

I have been a VoIP user for 4 years and have been with Packet8, Vonage, Broadvoice, ATT CV, and now Comcast DV.

The voice quality is great. The features are terrible. Though you can listen to a voicemail online, you cannot forward it or receive it in an email.

Also, I don't like the fact that you cannot control any features via the web interface. You have to memorize the stupid codes.

I can't believe that for the price and with Comcast having its own network that they haven't been able to improve the service or add new features in the time that it is out.

I am going to stick with the service for a year, keeping my triple play pricing in effect, then I am bolting back to ATT CV - the best performing VoIP service out there.


member for 22 years, 1372 visits, last login: 9.3 years ago
updated 14.9 years ago

chas3
join:2004-12-03
Dallastown, PA

chas3

Member

price increase

Yep, I wonder how many really consider the price after the one year. You mention ATT being great...thought I would throw in for a look at viatalk. I'm not far from your area and have been very happy with service/price. And when calling CS, they have real tech people actually answering the phone. And from the sounds of it, you are a power user...VT gives you the admin password if you want it so you can tweak the adapter's settings.

wee96
Your Local Confederate
join:2000-04-12
Clinton Township, MI

wee96

Member

Uhh

You mean it took VERIZON 3 weeks to port the number, Comcast has not control over how long they take to give the number over, your whining about the wrong company.

senatedon
join:2002-03-18
Coraopolis, PA

senatedon

Member

Re: Uhh

IMWHITE:

You have no clue. Multiple calls to VZ at the time confirmed that they were not holding up the port.

Comcast bungled this and other things when we were first hooked up.

Secondly, how you can infer that my review is whining is curious.

Review by jhacker See Profile

  • Location: Peoria, Peoria, IL, USA
  • Cost: $23 per month (6 month contract)
  • Install: about 7 days
Great voice quality, excellent trial price, battery backup
Big ugly modem, install glitch left us w/o internet and call logs
Good luck so far after just a few days, but the jury is still out
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After 1-1/2 years with Vonage, I called and switched to CDV at an introductory rate of $20 for 6 months, plus $3 modem lease. The number port from Vonage took one week and went very smoothly. As a result, Vonage happily deducted a $40 cancellation charge.

I had called the day prior to the scheduled install and asked if the number porting from Vonage was going smoothly. I was assured that it would, and they were right!!As scheduled, the Comcast installer arrived and installed the Motorola SBV-5220 eMTA. I explained to him that all the phone jacks were back-fed from the line I already had going to the Vonage equipment. He was happy with that. The phone line activation went very smoothly, and took just minutes!! Unfortunately, I was left with no internet!! After a cycle of rebooting the router, the eMTA (modem), and my computer things weren't going so well. The installer discovered that the modem was downloading the 'walled garden' bootfile, and had to call his support team. Finally, after about 90 minutes, we had phone and internet.

It did take a couple of hours before I could log into our Digital Voice account online. Actually, I discovered that it was right after I setup the voicemail. However, an error was displayed underneath the call logs (missed, dialed, received). I called customer support, and they told me the issue should be resolved within 48 hours. Actually, it only took about 12 hours. I will have to give credit to Comcast and say that their customer service is now much better than I've experienced previously.

I'll use the service a few more weeks, and post an updated review.

member for 22.3 years, 2208 visits, last login: 7.1 years ago
updated 14.9 years ago


Review by klipko See Profile

  • Location: Portland, Washington, OR, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month (month by month)
  • Install: about 7 days
Very reliable/ good sound quality
not much of a step up from POTS. High price and little features
Its OK
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- Update: 07-April-2009

Moved phone, Internet and TV services over to Verizon FiOS.

- Original review: May-2007

A prior customer of AT&T Broadband Digital Phone (pre Comcast days) I made the switch to Comcast digital voice about 1.5 years ago. This saved me about $10 a month. I think at the time Digital Phone cost was $57 - $58 which included 300 long distance minutes plus taxes. That service was no different than a POTS alternative. When making the switch I had hopes to cut the cost and get more features like other VoIP companies provide.

Pluses:

* Call Quality - great, never had a problem even when I was a cable Internet subscriber and maxing out my download speed on some Linux ISO.

* Voicemail email notification - Digital Phone nor POTS providers (in my area) has this

* Battery backup - battery backup on the unit has come in handy twice during the 1.5 years of having the service.

Lacking feature:

* Distinctive long distance ring - With Digital Phone it was nice to tell who's calling just by the ring (two short bursts for long distance callers) before looking at the caller ID.

* Selective call forwarding - choice of a number or numbers to forward and the option of day and/or time limits

* Send voicemails as a audio file via email - there is voicemail email notification but it would nice to have the voicemail itself (in a .wav, .mp3 or what have you) attached to the email.

Complaints:

* Cost - it's VoIP so I feel Comcast is charging to much for the service as compared to other VoIP providers. I know that Comcast does have control of the data packets (on their network) and that's how it's able to keep call quality high but still the lowest price for the service is $39.95 w/ cable TV and Internet through them. Shaping IP traffic doesn't cost much, I would like to see it $15.00 cheaper. Just a little bit higher than most other VoIP providers.

* Cost II - eliminate the different pricing depending on what other Comcast services a customer subscribes too. When I made the switch from Comcast HSI to Verizon FiOS, Digital Voice went up $5.00 to the price of $45.95 not including taxes. It's at that point to where I'm thinking of porting the number to an extra cell phone on my family plan with Cingular/at&t since we are slowing moving away from using a land line for most calls while at home. ($10 more on my cell bill or keep the ~$50.00 a month for Digital voice. I am aware that I'll loose some features doing so. )

member for 17.7 years, 2795 visits, last login: 2 years ago
updated 14.9 years ago


Locane
@comcast.net

Locane

Anon

CDV

Klipko, some of the features you listed as lacking are available through Comcast's phone service.

Not only can you receive email notifications of voice mail, but you can also check your voice mail online with your Comcast.net email account. Just log into Comcast.net, get into your email, and click a link called "message center".

You can also selectively forward calls, as detailed here in this FAQ question:


What is Call Forwarding Selective and how do I use it?

Call Forwarding Selective forwards only the calls you don't want to miss by allowing you to create a list of people whose calls will be forwarded to a number you designate. When you activate this feature only calls from those individuals on your list will be forwarded.

To use Call Forwarding Selective:

1. Lift the receiver and listen for the dial tone.
2. Press *63.
3. A menu of options will guide you in managing this feature. The prompts will enable you to activate and deactivate the feature as well as add, delete, or review the numbers on your list.

To cancel Call Forwarding Selective:

1. Lift the receiver and listen for the dial tone.
2. Press *83.
3. When prompted press 3 to turn the feature off.

Note: When entering the "forward to" number, remember to dial 1 plus the area code before the number if it's necessary to place the call. When creating your list, enter the area code plus the 7 digit number for both local and long-distance numbers.

klipko
join:2006-06-28
Portland, OR

klipko

Member

Re: CDV

Hi Locane,

I do the Voice mail email notification active but I would also like to have the ability to receive the voice mails sent as an audio file attachment so to eliminate the process of logging on the web or calling the voice mail number to retrieve the message. I know that this would keep the voice mail marked as new because it wasn't accessed via official channels (web or via phone) but at times I'm a little implant at the process of retrieving voice mails.

As for call forwarding I totally forgot about selective forwarding option. Thank you for pointing that out.

Review by jcato77 See Profile

  • Location: Dublin, Alameda, CA, USA
  • Cost: $149 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
Good sound quality
N/A
It's a phone
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The only reason I have this service is because I have the Triple play package to keep my overall costs down. You would think you could get only a Double-play package with a monthly cost lower than a standard tier Triple play but it's just not in the Cards with Comcast. The cost is really $39.99 or so a month but because I have the Triple play my monthly cost for the whole package is $149.99

Again what can I say it's a phone and it works. Mom sounds great on the other end.

member for 15.2 years, 5 visits, last login: 4.2 years ago
lodged 15.1 years ago


Review by Skandalis See Profile

  • Location: Bloomfield Hills, Oakland, MI, USA
  • Cost: $88 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 26 days
Great Call Quality, Wonderful Feature Set
Limited Calling Areas Included in Free Long Distance.
Great Product for my Business.
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At our location, we used to have SBC for our carrier. Their service levels have significantly dropped and forced us to leave after nearly 12 years of service. With SBC we were paying nearly 170 dollars a month for our 5 lines of service (4 voice, 1 Fax). I debated whether to go to AT&T or to switch to VOIP with Comcast Business (my current internet provider). I decided that I would use Comcast Business Digital Voice. They provided me with a 16 line Business Grade VOIP Modem. It thus far as been bulletproof and has not experienced a single bit of downtime. We do not use a hunt group so we had to call and activate the busy tone instead of call waiting. This process from the time of hangup with the service person took about 1 hour until it took effect. Voice quality is much better than the old copper lines that are in my area. We are roughly 13,500 feet from the CO and they are very very old lines. We use to experience alot of static and numerous outages with SBC some of which lasted for days at a time (totally unacceptable for a business). I have experienced none of SBC's issues with Comcast's service thus far. The installer took his time and rewired the entire phone cabinet to make sure that the Asterisk server supports the new service. He left no cables unbundled and made sure that the room was just as clean as when he arrived. I look forward to continuing business with ONLY the Business Grade Service.

member for 16.1 years, 78 visits, last login: 13.1 years ago
updated 15.1 years ago