how-to block ads
|
next review in page
Review by ppryor63 
member for 2.1 years, 29 visits, last login: 121 days ago
updated 1.9 years ago
 Staunton,Staunton City,VA
 $79 per month- (36 month contract)
 about 5 days "Professional, knowledgeable tech support, high quality service" "Sometimes billing get mixed up so keep eye on the bills." "It is my best decision, especially for 5 static IP's."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I ordered Comcast Business service for my home. I have two reasons for going that route. I had 3 videophones that required their own public IP addresses, and the other reason is that I telecommute full time and I need reliable HSI.
I used to be Adelphia customer, and they worked with me and gave me 3 IP dynamic addresses for videophones. When Comcast bought them out, they discontinued the 3 dynamic IP addresses, even through I am still paying for the extra IP addresses. I was furious and made demands with Comcast Residential to no avail to get them reinstated. I was even told off by Comcast Residential that they are in entrainment business and not in telecommunications. That really upset me because I use high speed internet for my work - I work from home full time, and I go out for videophone install and training.
Then I decided to contact Comcast Business group and found out that it was not as expensive as I thought, and they were very helpful, and set me up with 5 static IP addresses, and sent out an installer to hook up the equipment. When I had SNR problem and called technical support to resolve it. They scheduled a technican to come out the very next day and it was resolved quickly and professionally. I am very pleased with technical support and the technicans that came out to work with me. If you are serious about your high speed internet, for telecommuting, or video communications, then I heartily recommend you to switch from Comcast Residental to Business! You will not regret it, and the slightly higher price is worth it because of speedy response if the service is interrupted (they promised 4 hours if called in the same day, or 24 hours turnaround after hours).
Comments:
 | next review in page (previous review)
Review by jkuta
member for 13.8 years, 447 visits, last login: 51 days ago
lodged 1.9 years ago
- Sebastopol,Sonoma,CA
 Business customer- $65 per month
- (36 month contract)
- about 8 days
- "Consistently delivers better performance than ordered"
- "Installation was 5 hours late on promised day"
- "Very good value for the money"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
No other options were feasible because of distance to the CO of the ILEC. I ordered 12/2 Business Class Internet for $65 MRC. The order process and contract signing was painless. Although the installation was 5 hours late, once arrived the process was prompt and professional. I was given a SMCD3G-CCR gateway, which exceeded my expectations. For the past 2 weeks I am consistently seeing 53 mb/s down and 27 mb/s up with pings of 16 ms to a server ~50 miles away.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by LOW CASPER
member for 5.3 years, 188 visits, last login: 50 days ago
lodged 2.2 years ago
- Pleasanton,Alameda,CA
- $115 per month
- (60 month contract)
- about 7 days
- "no other service in my area comes close!"
- "cost"
- "you get what you pay for"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I wouldn't trade Comcast internet for any of the other so called broadband services offered in my area. I pay for a 22/5 connection and actually get 80/10. I run a 5 IP block so I can run multiple PlayStations on there own IP with an open Nat and a web server. I must say it's comcastic.
The only thing that pisses me off is about once a day I loose connection for just a moment. Although it seems to be getting better, only noticed it once this weekend during all the hours of gaming from Friday until Monday.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by megawhizz
member for 11.1 years, 147 visits, last login: 171 days ago
updated 2.3 years ago
- West Bloomfield,Oakland,MI
- $85 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 10 days
- "Fast, reliable service. I have no other options for business class broadband."
- "Abyssmal pre-sales. No business class support after hours, long wait times in daytime. Crappy SMC modem"
- "Nice connection. Unacceptable support."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
I chose comcast amongst all my choices (namely comcast, comcast and comcast). Too far for DSL, no other cable provider. Personally I prefer the smaller ISPs. Ordered the "Standard" business package with 1 static IP additional. $79.90 + $4.95 per month.
8/7/08
=====
I have had comcast for about a week now. I will post serial reviews as I gain more experience.
Pre-sales and Installation:
* They provide minimal information on their website, so all communication was via e-mail back and forth and phone calls.
* The sales rep was eager to get my business. However she was not very knowledgeable. Made up answers to questions she was unsure about, and when I prompted her to ask someone who knows, got back to me with the correct (I hope) answers.
* Sales rep promised order to live time of 3 to 4 business days. Actual time: 8 business days
* Sales rep promised an SMC Wireless Router as the internet gateway. Finally I was supplied a non-wireless model. When I called comcast to complain, I was told that I was misinformed, they never provide wireless gateways to business customers.
* Installation tech came on time as promised, and did a good job of neatly installing cables, etc.
* I was provided with zero papers/manuals on how to set up my static IP, e-mail, configure NAT and port-forwarding, etc. Had to call comcast to get that info. In fact I wasn't even told what number to call for tech support, had to ask my sales rep for that.
Service
* So far the service has been fast, stable. I have been able to set up my SMTP server, reverse DNS on IPs, etc.
* Comcast (sales rep) promised no filtering or blocking, and I have seen none so far.
* Hopefully comcast will support my SMTP server and not write me off as a spammer when I start sending out my newsletter. That is my greatest anxiety at present.
Tech Support
* Promise 4 hour turn around time, 24x7. Have not used this service yet, but seems reassuring
* The basic tech support answers the phone very quickly, but expect 30 min wait times if you are transferred to a higher level, as I needed for my reverse-DNS setup
* Tier 2 tech support is knowledgeable and polite. Work quickly to solve your problem.
Overall, sales rep was poor. Avoid her if possible (can I name names here?). Service seems reliable and fast, good value for money (though I signed up for the more expensive 1 year contract). Will keep you posted as time goes by.
Update 1/7/09
==========
I continue to get excellent up/down speeds with no significant downtime. Very happy with the service. Have not had to call support yet, so no feedback on how responsive they are.
Update 1/21/10
===========
So today, after 18 months of service, I had my first problem with the service - 25% ping loss, 53% low bandwidth loss and 40% medium bandwidth loss: »/linequality/nil/2610365 - the poor quality connection was noticeable even on sending e-mail. Made a couple of very interesting (and concerning) discoveries about their "24x7 business class support":
* After about 6:30p, the business class support office closes and the residential support handles all calls
* The only option available to the residential support people is resetting the modem remotely
* The earliest time they could send out a tech was 36 hours later
* Contracts "auto-renew" after their term is over, for the duration of the original term - my one year contract had auto-renewed about 6 months ago, so I still had 6 months of contractual obligations left
I asked the phone tech to escalate my request, and they called back saying a tech would be sent 8h later, first thing in the morning.
Next morning I received a call from comcast, apparently this was a system problem that they started working on today and asked me to call back if my problem was not fixed by the afternoon. Sure enough, my internet service is back to normal as of 10:30a.
Overall I'm not impressed by the promised 24x7 business support. I continue to look for other options and will switch away ASAP.
Update 1/12/2011
=============
Today I had some e-mail security problems with Comcast (summary: I have an SMTP server and operate legitimate double-opt-in lists. Unfortunately the comcast feedback loop process does not work - I got a threatening email from comcast that they would terminate my access unless I stopped sending email). I was on hold waiting for their business class security team to answer the phone. After 30 minutes, the lady who answered had me on hold for a another few minutes while "waiting for a tech to get off the phone". The tech was quite helpful and genuinely tried to solve my problem. He promised a call back - we'll see how this works.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by emhl
member for 9.8 years, 673 visits, last login: 3 days ago
lodged 2.4 years ago
- Miami Beach,Miami-Dade,FL
- Business customer
- $99 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 3 days
- "Really good, amazing speed, plus 5 static ip's for $20 very happy!"
- "They don't offer the same service @ home"
- "It really works! $120 may sound expensive but is much better than residential"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I place a order for the $99 premium 22/5 service, without TV (we don't need it) or phone service (we are using broadvoice and I will not change it) The building was previously wired for cable, so they scheduled the installation in 3 days after the order was confirmed. The tech bring a docsis3 SMC gateway that was configured in bridge mode because we order 5 static IP's for $20 more. It took less than a hour and the circuit was on. Since the install I got 35/8 on java test anytime of the day or night. It looks like is much better than the residential service. So far is like a dream, speeds like a OC3 circuit for $120 Very good experience!
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by jamby
member for 2.6 years, 20 visits, last login: 2.2 years ago
updated 2.5 years ago
- Chicago,Cook,IL
- $90 per month
- about 5 days
- "I am getting good speeds and uptime"
- "I had to fight for it"
- "worth it if you have no FIOS option, use/be your own tech"
| |
The SMC8014 was slow, and would bottleneck my network (I own a high volume coffee house). I requested a docsis 3 modem. They refused. I called back 3 times. They relented, but I had to be firm and talk tech (I have an Info degree). Their subcontractor came out, and installed a docsis 2 modem. Not what I wanted. I told him so. I explained to him the difference. I gave him a list of acceptable modems listed by Comcast. He closed the work order regardless, and promised to return tomorrow. Again he brought an old docsis 2. I didn't let him touch my equipment this time as he had proven himself inept. He agreed to return a third time (third day as well) finally with a docsis 3 made by Cisco (DPC3000). He could go through provisioning correctly, because he had closed the workorder, and refused to reopen it. I told him I was done with him interrupting my business. I called Comcast, went to a service center and swapped out the modem myself. The swap took 15 minutes of hold time, 4 minutes of my convincing them to set up the modem on their end (and not send another tech), and finally 3 minutes of provisioning on Comcast's end. The docsis 3 Cisco DPC3000 has made a significant difference in my bandwidth, but I really had to work for it. It should have taken minutes, instead of days. I complained, and got half my 90 bill credited for 1 month. The lesson here: Do not allow them to send a tech. If you can, pick up equipment yourself, or have it shipped. Be firm that you can do it, if you do indeed have a tech background
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by jaymer
member for 9.9 years, 336 visits, last login: 94 days ago
updated 2.6 years ago
- Mountain View,Santa Clara,CA
- $75 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 10 days
- "Fast as heck, low latency, static IP address, no cap, priced right..."
- "Integrated D3 Router, It's my only real option, PowerBOOOOSSSTTTT.."
- "Great connection if you can get a discount through your employer."
| |
I recently moved to Mountain View from Rochester, NY. I really wanted to find an apartment where I could get AT&T U-Verse, since I had enough with cable companies in general. The place I ended up renting had many great points, but U-Verse wasn't available. So I decided that I would get DirecTV for TV and Comcast for Internet.
When I first moved in I didn't start my job for about 2 weeks, so I signed up for standard 22/5 residential service without TV for a whopping $82.95 per month + Tax. Nothing special and it had that wonderful 250GB cap. It was installed on time, I scheduled the DirecTV guy and the Comcast guy at the same time, they both arrived on time and WORKED TOGETHER to get the installation completed, I was very happy about this.
When I did start my job I found that my employer offered a discounted rate on business class Comcast Internet. The 22mbit down, 5mbit up DOCSIS 3 business class package (no caps) and a Static IP for $75 per month. LESS FOR MORE? I'm In! I filled in all the paperwork requesting a migration from residential Comcast to business grade and faxed it off the appropriate representatives. About a week later I got a call from the Comcast representative who scheduled my migration for the next Saturday morning.
The technician arrived on time, hooked up the SMC SMCD3G-BIZ router, tagged my cabling as "BUSINESS" and left. The speeds are great and have remained consistent ever since, but PowerBoost is misleading! Being a network purist I like to know exactly how much speed I am getting and PowerBoost inflates speed test results. While I have no problem sustaining download speeds of around 2.5MB/sec (Megabytes) I typically see 60mbits+ down, 8mbits+ on speed tests. I guess I shouldn't complain, but its a pet peeve of mine. The connection works great for all of my needs and the latency is very low. I don't see any slowdowns during the evening hours.
»www.speedtest.net/result/985815248.png
»www.pingtest.net/result/25817582.png
The only downside is the SMC integrated router that Comcast provides. I cannot find any way to place the device in bridge mode and pass the IP directly to my router. Currently I have my router assigned with a 10.x.x.x IP and DMZ that IP in the settings on the SMC. This works fine and I haven't had any issues yet.
Overall the connection is excellent, I haven't had many issues with reliability (it has gone out in the early morning hours for a few hours at a time, about twice now), and it works well for my needs (VoIP, Skype, Browsing, Newsgroups, SSH, VPN, etc).
Surprisingly, I never thought I could be this happy with Comcast.
Thanks,
Jamie
Comments:
 | | You can easily do bridge mode All you have to do is call Comcast Business Class Tech Support, and ask them to put the modem into bridge mode. You cannot do this yourself, they have to do it at the tech call center.
--
-Sterling | |
|
| |
| next review in page (previous review)
 Review by Cjaiceman
member for 8.6 years, 1329 visits, last login: 21 days ago
updated 2.6 years ago
- Parker,Douglas,CO
- $170 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 1 days
- "Fast constant speeds, no usage caps, exchange server, Office 2007, REAL tech support, static IP addresses available,"
- "runs over the same infrastructure as residential connections, contract, cost"
- "Great connection for the heavy/power user or a business that needs a real internet connection with speed"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
In my last review I had stated that I had Comcast's 8800/768 connection. I was happy with it but needed faster upload speeds, and I was getting close to the usage cap every month. This brought me to Comcast Business. I contacted the business department to get prices and contract info.
I was presented with a few options, a 6/1 connection for $59/month with a 1,2 or 3 year contract. The 1 year I would have to pay for the install fee, but the 2 and 3 year contracts they would waive the install fee. They also have a 16/2 connection for $89/month with the same contract setup. I opted for the 16/2 with a 2 year contract. They also offered me 5 static IP addresses, but I declined stating that my Motorola SB5100 (which I own) was more than fine and very reliable. The rep made it so I keep my DHCP address, but I do get 5 of them on my SB5100.
**If you do wish to get the static IP address you are required to get their SMC cable modem/gateway device.**
Since I was keeping my current cable modem and firewall setup the rep was able to get around having a truck dispatched. The rep then e-mail me my contract, I signed and faxed it back. Within 6 hours I had the new config file sent to my cable modem and I was hooked up with the new speeds.
The rated speeds are 16/2, but the provisioned speeds are 17.2/2.2 after powerboost is done. Powerboost at that time was allowing me to climb up to 32/3 for the first 150MB on download and 40MB on the upload.
After about 3 months I moved from my old location to my new home and had my service transferred. I called up my rep and they put up everything to make sure the transfer went very smooth. The day I moved in the Comcast Business tech showed up and hooked up my lines. The service has been very smooth since then, and I have only had 1 outage, but it was from 1 AM to 3 AM.
Comcast has recently upgraded my area from DOCSIS 1.1 to 2.0 in preparation for DOCSIS 3.0, which has given me grater powerboost speeds. I now get about 35.5/3.8 on powerboost.
Edit: They turned DOCSIS 2.0 off again due to major issues everywhere.
Along with the great connection you also get to register a domain name which points back to your webspace for a website, you get an exchange server with an e-mail address for your domain of your choice, real tech support that understands the technology, and an account rep for general questions and problems.
Overall I am very happy with the connection and the service that has been provided and would recommend it to anyone that needs more of a connection that a standard residential connection.
Update: Comcast has turned DOCSIS 2.0 back on finally after what seems an eternity. I now get about 30-35 Mbps download and 10-11 Mbps upload durring powerboost. In early march I called in about getting faster speeds when DOCSIS 3.0 comes to Denver and found out I can get the 22/5 right now. I ordered it, and they upgraded my config file. Everything works great and I get 24/5.5 sustained speeds. Comcast attempted to give me their SMC 8014, but it underperformed and was not right for my setup, they also had not turned D2 back on yet so I was getting about 24/3. In early april they turned it on in my area and I was blazing along. I upgraded from my SB5100 to a new D3 SB6120 that I purchased online. After a quick call to tech support they put it on my account and I am now D3 ready. I am going to upgrade to the 50/10 when made available. I will update again after that happens.
22/5 w/ uncapped powerboost:
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLAvj6S0zCY
Update: 50/10 has become available in my area for some time now (June 2009). I upgraded the day it was available and have been getting that speed since.
»www.speedtest.net/result/935125951.png
I still have the SB6120 on my account and use it. My average traffic is about 850GB-1TB/month for over a year and Comcast has not said anything about it. I still recommend Comcast Workplace. Other than the speed upgrade, nothing really has changed since my initial review.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by anish75
member for 6.5 years, 547 visits, last login: 173 days ago
lodged 2.7 years ago
- Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz,CA
- Business customer
- $93 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 3 days
- "2 YEARS AND RUNNING NO PROBLEMS WITH SERVICE"
- "N/A"
- "BEST SERVICE AND SPEED COMPARE TO AT&T DSL. I AM IN A HOTEL BUSINESS AND MY GUEST'S ARE VERY HAPPY WITH SPEED AND SERVICE."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
SO FAR A+ TO COMCAST FOR PROVIDING VERY RELIABLE AND FAST CONNECTION .
Comments:
| next page (previous review)
Review by erifax
member for 12.4 years, 1367 visits, last login: 305 days ago
updated 2.9 years ago
- Fort Collins,Larimer,CO
- Business customer
- $71 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 5 days
- "Good customer service, fast connection, static IP's"
- "Questionable-quality gateway (SMC8014)"
- "Pretty good bang for the buck"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I have Comcast Business 12mbit/2mbit with 5 static IP's. It runs off a SMC 8014 gateway.
Good points:
* Customer support is good over the phone
* You can get static IP's with your own reverse DNS
* It's fast.
Bad points:
* Some questionable coordination
* The SMC 8014 isn't very configurable or flexible; I'd rather use a modem/bridge and my own router/firewall
* Occasional downtime for maintenance that's unannounced, you shouldn't expect to be running servers with high 9's availability.
They make you sign a contract for service. This works out well for both parties in that you get a guaranteed rate for the life of the contract and they get a customer for a fixed period.
Comcast Business uses authenticated RIPv2 to announce customer routes. This requires a specialized configuration in the modem; they won't give customers the key, so you're stuck with their gateway.
I had a spot of trouble with my SMC8014 which required a replacement. They came out and replaced the unit with no issue. Unfortunately, they put the old modem back into the pool for distribution. A few weeks later, they attempted to install the old modem and hadn't cleared its memory. Both the old modem and the new modem battled each other for my static IP block. I called the support line, who diagnosed the tug-of-war between the modems in just a few minutes. She got the installer with the old modem on the phone and got him to reset the old modem -- poof, no more problem.
I've been happy with Comcast's email support as well. I had a 1 minute turnaround (not kidding) on an email request for a reverse DNS change on a Sunday afternoon. That's pretty amazing.
Overall, I give Comcast a 4/5 on all categories.
Comments:
|
|
