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crjpontp
Premium Member
join:2013-08-13
El Cerrito, CA

crjpontp

Premium Member

East Bay: AT&T U-verse vs Comcast

I'm up in El Cerrito and hoping to get some first-hand feedback what's working for you.

I've got Comcast but they just jacked my rates U-Verse is looking attractive as it's half the price, gives me more channels and supposedly has a better DVR interface plus more recording space.

Internet is the most important to me though, and DSL-ish upload speeds sound a bit scary to go back to after years of cable modems.

The ridiculous amount of bad reviews here: »www.yelp.com/biz/at-and- ··· -cerrito is a bit off-putting, but I'm (naively) holding out hope that most of those reviews can be chalked up to user error...unlikely I realize.

So anybody rocking U-Verse in North Berkeley, El Cerrito, Albany, Richmond, etc and happy with the internet speeds, their internet doesn't go down every day at 7pm, etc?

Or should I just stick with Comcast?

Wily_One
Premium Member
join:2002-11-24
San Jose, CA

Wily_One

Premium Member

I have U-verse down here in San Jose. Once it came out I jumped at the chance to dump Comcrap - I hate them with a passion.

As far as Internet is concerned, the speed may be lower than Comcast but my connection has been rock solid. And since it's based on DSL my bandwidth is my own; I am not sharing with the neighborhood like on cable so there is no drop during peak times. (like 7PM when everyone gets home from work)

The downside to DSL is it's distance limited, so how much speed you'll be able to sign up for depends on how close you are to the VRAD. For me, I'm on the 18Mb plan, and I get a solid 17.5+. New speeds are in the pipeline, with pair bonding coming.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS

MVM

said by Wily_One:

As far as Internet is concerned, the speed may be lower than Comcast but my connection has been rock solid. And since it's based on DSL my bandwidth is my own; I am not sharing with the neighborhood like on cable so there is no drop during peak times. (like 7PM when everyone gets home from work)

First, DOCSIS 3.0 mitigates congestion issues significantly. Second, when I had SBC DSL, I suffered congestion issues due to over-utilization of an aggregation router. Fortunately, SBC fixed it fairly quickly (within 24 hours) by moving me to another aggregation router. The point is, congestion is not just a DOCSIS issue; it is just that shared bandwidth is on the local cable with DOCSIS, while it is farther out from the neighborhood with DSL.
NormanS

NormanS to crjpontp

MVM

to crjpontp
Check with Sonic.net; see if they offer "Fusion" at your address.
crjpontp
Premium Member
join:2013-08-13
El Cerrito, CA

crjpontp to Wily_One

Premium Member

to Wily_One
said by Wily_One:

I have U-verse down here in San Jose.

As far as Internet is concerned, the speed may be lower than Comcast but my connection has been rock solid.

The downside to DSL is it's distance limited, so how much speed you'll be able to sign up for depends on how close you are to the VRAD. For me, I'm on the 18Mb plan, and I get a solid 17.5+. New speeds are in the pipeline, with pair bonding coming.

Thanks for the info. I'm waiting to hear back from somebody in the AT&T Direct forum to find out how far I am from the VRAD.
crjpontp

crjpontp to NormanS

Premium Member

to NormanS
said by NormanS:

Check with Sonic.net; see if they offer "Fusion" at your address.

Unfortunately no - says I'm 7300 feet from the remote terminal.

Veloslave
Geek For God
Premium Member
join:2003-07-11
Martinez, CA

1 recommendation

Veloslave to crjpontp

Premium Member

to crjpontp
I think it is no contest personally (Martinez area resident for about 30 years)

Sonic is the best... if you can get it... do it.

ATT is the worst company in the world to deal with for ANY product... and their products quality is quite often affected by distance to the C.O.

Comcast is the second most dreadful company but seems to have less issues with reliability.

OTOH... COMCAST BUSINESS is a whole other ball of wax. They have Static IP's, no caps, no port blocking, better gear & installers and the service department is a completely different branch of the company... no India/off shore baloney, a person on the line FAST and the tech is actually top notch compared to the two above choices and they guarantee repairs and uptime in no longer than 24 hours (and it has never taken that long) plus they do a great job of letting you know of work in the area ahead of time.

As much as it bothers me to admit it... Comcast business does a pretty darn good job for just slightly more $ than residential.

If I was closer to the C.O., I would switch back to Sonic in a heartbeat because they do business the good old fashioned way... top notch customer service at all times with product to match.

bobrk
You kids get offa my lawn
Premium Member
join:2000-02-02
San Jose, CA

bobrk to NormanS

Premium Member

to NormanS
Yes, this. They rock.