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JJ Johnson
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Fort Collins, CO

JJ Johnson

Premium Member

[CDV] Is Comcast Digital Voice cost effective?

In comparison to a POTS line, have you found that CDV is cost effective? I'm talking about non-promotional pricing following the startup deals that Comcast offers.

Have to factor in the additional cost of an eMTA at $7/month instead of just being able to buy a cable modem for $50-$85.

gar187er
I DID this for a living
join:2006-06-24
Seattle, WA

gar187er

Member

do you HSI and rent a modem?

if so you can use your emta as your HSI modem, therefore negating your modem fee...

also the EMTAs cost much more then 50-85.....they cost $150...

JJ Johnson
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Fort Collins, CO

JJ Johnson

Premium Member

I'm not sure I follow. Yes, with HSI. I'm saying that you'll be renting an eMTA for $7/month for CDV service instead simply buying a cable modem for $50-$85. The difference in cost over, say, a three year period will average out to about $5/month that I say you need to add onto the cost of CDV when comparing the two.

gar187er
I DID this for a living
join:2006-06-24
Seattle, WA

gar187er

Member

a modem for phone service is called an EMTA....it costs $150 from best buy stores (the only one you can use).....

if you have HSI and lease a modem for that, you can get rid of that and use an EMTA to do both.....either rented, or purchased....
ats
join:2008-11-14
Vallejo, CA

ats to JJ Johnson

Member

to JJ Johnson
what he probably meant was you can use an emta for both hsi and cdv so if you're in one of those areas where buying your own emta is allowed (ONLY from bestbuy),you might consider that option.

JJ Johnson
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Fort Collins, CO

JJ Johnson

Premium Member

Jeezus... buy the eMTA for $150 then.

Is CDV cheaper or more expensive than your local POTS service?

JigglyWiggly
join:2009-07-12
Pleasanton, CA

JigglyWiggly

Member

avoid comcast voice like the plague, it goes out as often as your internet goes out which is... more than rare

JJ Johnson
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Fort Collins, CO

JJ Johnson

Premium Member

said by JigglyWiggly:

avoid comcast voice like the plague, it goes out as often as your internet goes out which is... more than rare

We can save that discussion for another thread. I do experience frequent, brief dropouts (2-5 seconds) of internet service and wondered how that must affect voice during a call.
Barovelli
join:2002-04-03
·Comcast XFINITY

Barovelli to JJ Johnson

Member

to JJ Johnson
I've had CDV for a few years now, and it's been very reliable.

When I switched, PacBell was about $26 for a phone line with no added features. Then there was another $10 for a long distance carrier.

Add the bling like forwarding, voicemail - CDV is a better deal. If all you want is a residential service then no, you may get a cheaper price from The Phone Company.

JJ Johnson
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Fort Collins, CO

JJ Johnson

Premium Member

said by Barovelli:

Add the bling like forwarding, voicemail - CDV is a better deal.

What do you figure your monthly cost is for CDV?

gar187er
I DID this for a living
join:2006-06-24
Seattle, WA

gar187er to JigglyWiggly

Member

to JigglyWiggly
subjective.....
Barovelli
join:2002-04-03
·Comcast XFINITY

Barovelli to JJ Johnson

Member

to JJ Johnson
It's in the triple play bundle - think it comes to $37 plus equipment rental. Call it $45. I pay another fee for unlisted number. Long distance unlimited nationwide blah blah.

I really like the VOIP features, all the stuff you can manage online instead of cryptic button mashing. Call blocking and call ID on TV are my favorites.

Top quality wiring is essential to reliability. Comcast replaced all the older coax in the house when it was installed. I've had 3 differnt Arris EMTAs (402, 702 & 722) and they were all reliable.
GusHerb
join:2011-11-04
Chicago, IL

GusHerb to JJ Johnson

Member

to JJ Johnson
In my area a full featured AT&T POTS line with unlimited local and long distance is 37 a month, I think CDV is 44? After federal subscriber line charge and other fees AT&T would come out to about the same as CDV.

JJ Johnson
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Fort Collins, CO

JJ Johnson

Premium Member

Comcast charges a fee for an unlisted number? I thought only the phone companies were ballsy enough to try that.

I imagine that there are at least a few extra fees and surcharges for CDV. 911 service, for example?
GusHerb
join:2011-11-04
Chicago, IL

GusHerb

Member

said by JJ Johnson:

Comcast charges a fee for an unlisted number? I thought only the phone companies were ballsy enough to try that.

I imagine that there are at least a few extra fees and surcharges for CDV. 911 service, for example?

There is 911, USF, "infrastructure maintenance tax", "regulatory recovery fees", and of course sales tax.

TD Nickell
Premium Member
join:2010-07-27
Federal Way, WA

TD Nickell to JJ Johnson

Premium Member

to JJ Johnson
I have had the Comcast CDV for five years now.Before that i had Qwest at $49.00 a month plus it was extra for LD calls.
The way we use the phone today it would cost me to much to have a pots line.Most all our calls are LD.
Down time in the last five years would be in minutes not hours.I would be a fool to ever go back.
PS I'm not a Comcast fanboy,just someone that likes to save money.

Jason_sf
@myvzw.com

Jason_sf

Anon

Find an independent VOIP provider. There are many very highly rated VOIP providers out there that will charge you a lot less than Comcast and provide just the same quality of service.

telcodad
MVM
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ

telcodad

MVM

Comcast Digital Voice service is not just plain VOIP. CDV service runs on Comcast's own private digital network until it hits the PSTN switches.

See: »Comcast High Speed Internet FAQ »What is Comcast Digital Voice service?
and: »[Business] Is Comcast Business Voice VOIP? How reliable for busi

jff6791
@comcast.net

jff6791

Anon

There is another factor in the equation here you may want to consider - power outages. During the freak October snowstorm in the Northeast power was out for a week. After borrowing a generator from work and finding no Comcast service I called them on my copper phone line which was fine. The lines weren't damaged there was just no power to the distribution amps.

andyross
MVM
join:2003-05-04
Aurora, IL

andyross to JJ Johnson

MVM

to JJ Johnson
said by JJ Johnson:

In comparison to a POTS line, have you found that CDV is cost effective? I'm talking about non-promotional pricing following the startup deals that Comcast offers.

Have to factor in the additional cost of an eMTA at $7/month instead of just being able to buy a cable modem for $50-$85.

What do you use the phone for? How much, if any, long distance?
I have a landline, but I don't use it much (my cell phone barely works here.) It's mainly for basic use and emergencies. I work from home, and also have DSL as a backup. The phone part of the bill is just under $20. For long distance, I have a 3rd party service from Pioneer telephone. which has special Illinois rates. There is NO monthly fee if you don't use it. There is an initial fee to set it up, but it's rebated back as a credit.
»www.lowestphoneratesonth ··· net.com/

JohnInSJ
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Aptos, CA

JohnInSJ to JJ Johnson

Premium Member

to JJ Johnson
said by JJ Johnson:

In comparison to a POTS line, have you found that CDV is cost effective? I'm talking about non-promotional pricing following the startup deals that Comcast offers.

Have to factor in the additional cost of an eMTA at $7/month instead of just being able to buy a cable modem for $50-$85.

Just about any VOIP is better than my local POTS. My POTS, with a single line, caller ID, not even local calling to all the bay area (apparently the LATAs are the size of postage stamps) and just caller ID as my 21st century feature from AT&T was $35/mo. It sounded like crap thanks to the 80 year old copper lines and long run to the CO.

Switched to PhonePower last year. Prepaid for 2 years, total cost was $260 for 2 years. That buys me two lines, full SIP credentials so I can have my "home phone" anywhere I have internet, voice mail (with web access, email/SMS notification, iPhone client) and caller ID. Unlimited calling local and LD, etc... you know, 21st century features.

Yeah, that's cheaper and better. The voice quality is noticeably better. The service has gone down less often than my POTS service.

Every time I look at CDV, it seems like it would be better quality, more features, but about the same cost after promo (business class means I would need business voice, which runs about $30-40/mo even bundled...)

CableTool
Poorly Representing MYSELF.
Premium Member
join:2004-11-12

CableTool to JJ Johnson

Premium Member

to JJ Johnson
My bill is funky to figure out what your cost would be but Ill say this, AT&Ts bill was nuts. It was like $60.00 before I even made a call. jumped up to close to $70.00 by the time I moved to CDV.

If you are experiencing freq 2-5 sec drops while surfing I would be led to believe that is not the actual Comcast connection loosing synch every 2-5 secs. There might be something else going on.

Either way, Ive never had an issue with my phone, call clarity was actually greater with CDV. Calls were clearer and the actual volume of the caller increased when we switched.

Ive also made calls and have been online when I knew line guys were working on my run in particular to see what kind of impact preventative maintenance had on same time subscriber usage and can say I didnt notice anything issues.

YMMV.
RokHed
join:2000-09-09
Pennsville, NJ

RokHed

Member

Just get vonage and use your modem... their adapter is free and in my area they are cheaper and have more features than CDV.. Ive had them for years now with 0 downtime... unless the cable is out. My mom has CDV and it messes up regularly not ringing on her end and messages left on voice mail sometimes take over 24hrs to get delivered. Just my $.02
TheBigCheese
join:2002-08-05
Philadelphia, PA

TheBigCheese to JJ Johnson

Member

to JJ Johnson
My personal experience is that CDV is a little less reliable than POTS. The price is $45/mo + $7 modem rental and fees and taxes but that is the same for POTS so we'll ignore that. Bottom line is $52/month. You need to subtract the cost of a regular cable modem so $50 comes to $1-5 depending on how long the modem lasts etc so that's maybe $49/month.

In my area, I can get bare bones POTS w/long distance for $25/mo but you need to pay more than Comcast for installation and fees are a little higher so you are probably looking at $30-35.

If you can live without caller id and other extras and you are in a Verizon area, the $25 is a better deal but if you want extras, Comcast is a better deal.

I had tons of problems with CDV and they eventually gave up trying to fix garbled and dropped calls while I was downloading so they installed a second modem and the problem went away but it was hell getting it fixed and getting Comcast to remove the cee they charged for service calls.

OTOH, every so often Verizon used to bill me for some unordered extra and then billed me $5 to remove the unordered extra.

The only reason I do not go with Vonage is I am afraid I will have the same call quality problem while I am downloading from the Interent.

JJ Johnson
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Fort Collins, CO

JJ Johnson

Premium Member

said by TheBigCheese:

I had tons of problems with CDV and they eventually gave up trying to fix garbled and dropped calls while I was downloading so they installed a second modem and the problem went away but it was hell getting it fixed and getting Comcast to remove the cee they charged for service calls.

Thanks. What does the setup look like with a 'second modem', and which hardware models does yours use? An eMTA plus a standard cable modem? If so, I assume the eMTA is then used only for voice and the second modem for internet.