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Icedman
@acanac.net

Icedman to Ledgem

Anon

to Ledgem

Re: [billing] Outrageous bill and hidden fees; switch to DSL Ext

Thanks a lot Ledgem for the detailed information. Answered everything I was looking for.

I'm coming from Montreal. I visited Pittsburgh for a few days and my feelings were mixed. I liked it overall but public transit doesn't seem as good as here (and one bus driver was particularly rude), and everything seems to close too early at night. But overall I liked the neighborhoods and city. Plus it's warmer.

Anyway, I was just chatting with someone from Comcast. They have a "performance" special offer (20Mbps) for 30$ for 6 months, then 43$ for the 7-12 and then 63$ afterwards. But they offer better deals to current customers (the same deal for example for 10$ less), so I guess after a year I have to look for similar deals or maybe cancel. They said there is no Early termination fee so that seems good.
So if you're paying ~65$ for 1.5Mbps it might be a good deal for you.

But I do have to buy a cable modem (~80$ I think for a good modem) and any additional installation fees... I don't know how much those will be.
And I don't know if they have any extra fees (other than tax) too...

Did you have a bad experience with Comcast? There are horror stories about all the companies I've looked up so I don't how to decide and what to trust...

DSL extreme offer $44.95/mo for 7.1Mbps service in Pittsburgh if I it for 12 months. Monthly it's 10$ more. So "if" Comcast is good on their deal it still makes sense to buy from them...

Please do tell how you DSL extreme installation goes btw...

szootman
join:2005-01-14
Milton, MA

szootman

Member

yes it is 79.99 in Ma.and NH for a Zoom Docsis 3.0. NH has no sales tax so I picked mine up there I'm in the Boston area. I buy everything I can in NH to beat the thieves on Beacon Hill.
Zoom is just one MFG but Comcast is specifically mentioned on the box. the key is you need a Docsis 3.0.

Icedman
@acanac.net

Icedman

Anon

Thanks. I was looking for a good modem and everyone seems to recommend "MOTOROLA SB6121 SURFboard" DOCSIS 3 modem. Are you happy with your Zoom modem?
Everyone seems to hate Comcast which gets me worried since I need a reliable Internet access for my work.

pende_tim
Premium Member
join:2004-01-04
Selbyville, DE

pende_tim

Premium Member

The one to get, today's flavor of the month, is the J model of the Zoom 5341J series. This is an 8x4 modem so it should be future proof for a while. Amazon.com has it for $71.95 with free prime shipping. »www.amazon.com/Zoom-DOCS ··· XLVXPABI
( I hope that is a clean link )
Ledgem
join:2011-09-30

Ledgem to Icedman

Member

to Icedman
I came here from New York City, so I know what you mean about everything closing too early and the public transit being sub-par. However, I think the people here are terribly nice! Coming from Montreal, I suppose the people might also be a downgrade for you, though. (I worked with a lady from Montreal before - she was one of the nicest people I've ever met. Not that one person is representative of an entire city...)

If you really need that speed, then Comcast may be the way to go. I don't download nearly as much as I used to, so a 3 mbps down line does me fine. Even a 1.5 mbps down would be sufficient, but I expect to pay for what I'm getting. $40 for 3 mbps, that's acceptable to me. $60 for 1.5 mbps, no way. I don't want to pay more than $40 per month for internet anyway, but if there's no choice, it had better be much faster.

I avoid Comcast on principle. They were behind some nasty government legislation over the past few years, and they were one of the first companies (if not the first) to experiment with bandwidth caps. They've been pretty scummy all around. More recently (within the past month or so) they made the news for something good: they stood up for their customer's rights in the face of more RIAA/MPAA lawsuits. They're going to have to pull a few more stunts like that before I change my mind about them, though.

Icedman
@acanac.net

Icedman

Anon

@pende_tim: Thanks for letting me know about the zoom modem. Seems like a nice upgrade over SB6121 and cheaper. Are they as reliable and hassle-free for installation and use as Motorola modems? I prefer not having disconnections or my modem suddenly going out of commission over the possible higher speed I'd get , since I need internet for my work.

@Ledgem: I've been living in Montreal for three years and I know I will miss it when I leave. People are generally very nice although you might run into some people who are not as friendly if you don't speak French with them... Also you might see some very weird people on the street but I guess nothing compared to New York.

I really don't need the 20Mpbs either but they are very good at not giving a sweet spot (speed and price wise) to customers. Everything is either too low or too much. 3Mbps would be too low for me but 7-8Mbps would be perfectly fine. The reason I think I will go with this plan is the offer they currently have "Performance - Special Offer" 20Mbps performance for 30$/month (43$ after for months 7-12 and 63 after that). I guess after the first year either I have to cancel or find another deal since I don't want to pay 65$/month for my internet service. Also I don't know if and how much extra fees they have on top of that but I guess less than a phone line.

I talked to someone from comcast and he said there is no ETF and the cap is 250GB. I'm not happy about it but I think I can live with it.

I get why you hate them over caps and similar issues though. I chose my current ISP (acanac) because they refused to have caps and actually helped with the campaigns (openmedia.ca) here against bigger ISPs. Caps are even more ridiculous (30GB, 60GB, 90GB) here and it's hard to find a decent ISP. They even offer tunneling to bypass throttling by bigger ISPs who maintain the infrastructure.

And I read the report you're referring to about comcast not ratting out their customers so that's a plus I guess. Still I'm not too sure about them... Way too much negativity from their customers makes it hard to trust them... Only if I could find a similar smaller ISP with decent service in Pittsburgh...