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[Business] Switching to Comcast/Comcast BusinessHi,
Right now, I have a 3.5 Mbps down DSL connection. Lately, it has just not been cutting it. The only other internet provider in my area(the Bay Area) is Comcast.
There are several things that concern me: 1. I do not wish to have data caps. 2. I need the speed to be reliable, meaning that I should, in all circumstances, get at least within a megabit of the advertised speed. 3. I do not want to be locked into any contract. 4. I do not want to have to pay recurring fees that could be substituted, for example, a modem/router fee, or fees such as for installation. 5. How likely(has it happened to you) is it that Comcast will lie about my plan during signup/support/cancellation/etc? How likely is it that they will add a service or something else to my plan that I did not request?
I'll make sure to ask the Comcast phone salesmen all these questions, but, I first want to hear it from actual customers to see whether my expectations are realistic.
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Motorola MG8725 Asus RT-N66
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[Business] Re: Switching to Comcast/Comcast Business1) There are data usage caps active in certain areas. I don't think your area is one. They do taunt with the 250 GB is currently suspended method, but I don't think they are planning to do so any time soon in terms of spreading it to more places.
2) Reliability depends on the area and your wiring conditions. Maybe someone in your area can give their feedback. In most cases, Comcast(like many other companies today) are over provisioning, meaning you get a little bit more than what you subscribe to. For example, if you subscribe to 25/5, you likely will get around 30/6.
3) I believe that all Comcast Business plans require a contract(correct me if I'm incorrect). Comcast residential requires a contract on certain plans and offers. If you purchase internet only you likely won't have a contract unless you're getting an offer that has a long promotional price. Some double plays and triple play offers don't require a contract.
4)(For residential) There is a $10 monthly gateway rental fee if you choose to use their equipment(optional). If you have voice service through them, you must rent the gateway or choose to find a vendor with good reputation to purchase an eMTA through that's compatible with Comcast. If you order TV service, they typically include a free receiver(different type depending on tier/service) and any additional one will cost you monthly. They will most likely charge you for installation and there's also a self install charge(at least in my experience which was the shipping and kit fees). If you really bug them and act dumb you may be able to get it waived.
5) Meh, I was lied to a lot when we had service from 2012 to 2014. I even went through at least 3 reps in a row who lied to me and found out the truth when the bill came. It really depends though on your experience(some people may have great a great experience). For me, I had to go back the next month to fix errors/mistakes on the bill.
Overall, I was generally happy with my service(the actual service) quality. I had a few service problems lasting a few days, but I believe it was just because of network upgrades. I left because my promotion was ending for Performance and they were trying to force me onto a TV+Internet bundle. I didn't want to end up paying the full $66 for Performance or deal with a TV service I wouldn't use just to end up with the same price. I probably could've dealt with the annoying customer service if it meant that I was able to get a low price again. |
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to TerryRCanady
Re: [Business] Switching to Comcast/Comcast BusinessIf I had to do it today, I'd opt for Residential service over Business Class if I were in a non-capped area. I'm in Portland OR, a non-capped area, on the 75 Deluxe BC plan. I had to sign a 3-year contract - Comcast would not give me a shorter contract, and the early-termination fee is pretty steep at 75% of my monthly cost for the remaining duration of my contract.
The pros are I do have a pretty solid pipeline even when my neighbors have an outage and the service has been fairly reliable.
The cons are that the Residential side has, in my area, received at least 2 "speed doubling" of their tiers - and the BC side hasn't seen any increases; and if you're interested in TV service you'll either pay through the nose to get TV service (BC TV service is for businesses like bars or doctor's offices and it's not cheap) or you will pay for stand-alone TV service (which, for me, costs more than a Xfinity Double-Play package AFTER the 12-month period elapses).
My BC contract expires in October and I won't be renewing. As to "lying" - I was told that Portland would see capped service for residential subs, and that hasn't happened - my business partner has residential service at his house and has excellent, faster service that costs about 40% of what I'm paying at my home office. Grrrr.
I do have my own Arris/Moto SB6131 - there are far fewer modem options on BC, and the SB6131 is one of the few common options. No monthly service fee for my modem, but it was a bit of a hassle to get them convinced of that after a few months of paying them for my modem. Again, grrrr.
One more tip - if you have access to a brick-and-mortar service center, go there. Dealing with Comcast Residential over the phone is a PITA - I overheard Tagaglog being spoken in the background of my last 3 telephone conversations about my Residential TV contract, and I had to repeat myself more times than I care to admit. I gave up on my last call and went to the nearby service center - I was in and out in 15 minutes, and the free coffee wasn't so bad. And, the local service centers don't deal with BC - phone only. |
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to TerryRCanady
I have Comcast business in the San Francisco Bay Area and have had it for 5 years now in two different cities. But i am considering switching to a residential line because i get more speed for the same money and in my area there is no known enforcement of the data cap which i never went over anyhow. I also no longer run my own web services so it doesnt make much sense to stick with the more expensive service.
1. There is no data cap 2. it's been reliable and the speed i get is the speed i paid for. You also get better and more personal customer service should you need it. 3. There is a contract if you want free install, otherwise should be able to wave but then they charge you to get it installed. 4. I recently switched to a Motorola Modem i purchased and it works fine, no rental fees. but if you want static IP you must use Comcast's hardware and pay the rental. 5. I don't think that's likely since there is a written contract you read over and sign and has not happened to me (i signed a contract to wave the install fee). The modem rental fee did go up however which is why i finally dropped my static IP and bought my own mode; the modem rental cost is not in the contract. |
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to Darknessfall
Re: [Business] Re: Switching to Comcast/Comcast BusinessComcast BC does NOT cap. And modem/router is included and required. You are not permitted to own your own (unless they changed this within the last month or so).
Contracts are required if you purchase directly through Comcast. I would suggest finding an Agent or a reseller. Usually they can avoid the contracts. But be prepared to pay more per month.
BC also has QOS routing over the Comcast Network. So you get QOS over residential customers. All MSOs are like this. |
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AVonGauss Premium Member join:2007-11-01 Boynton Beach, FL 1 edit
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said by Hmm :Comcast BC does NOT cap. There is reasonable use provisions, go back and look at your terms. said by Hmm :And modem/router is included and required. No its not and no it is not always required. said by Hmm :You are not permitted to own your own (unless they changed this within the last month or so). While I have seen some people told they must rent the modem, I don't believe there is any policy that dictates this and Comcast openly maintains a list of compatible third party devices for their business offering. Some service offerings, such as static assignments may require the use of the rented modem. said by Hmm :BC also has QOS routing over the Comcast Network. So you get QOS over residential customers. Nope. said by Hmm :All MSOs are like this. That's an awfully broad statement, care to share any supporting sources? Edited: Removal of my quoting failures... |
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NetFixerFrom My Cold Dead Hands Premium Member join:2004-06-24 The Boro Netgear CM500 Pace 5268AC TRENDnet TEW-829DRU
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to Hmm
said by Hmm :And modem/router is included and required. You are not permitted to own your own (unless they changed this within the last month or so). The only time Comcast requires a BCI customer to rent a gateway router from Comcast is if the customer needs a public static IPv4 address block (and FWIW, the "modem" is not included -- you pay a monthly equipment rental fee). I have been using my own modem and routers since 2012 on a Comcast BCI account (prior to that I did lease a Comcast gateway router because I also paid for a /29 IPv4 address block that I no longer need). Shown below is a diagram of my network -- the SB6121 modem is mine, and so are all of the routers (no rented Comcast gateway "modem" in sight):
I see that you are posting from a rr.com connection -- perhaps you are confusing Comcast with TWC?
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I am posting using Sonic.net
Edit: I realized you don't mean me. |
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train_wreckslow this bird down join:2013-10-04 Antioch, TN Cisco ASA 5506 Cisco DPC3939
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to Hmm
said by Hmm :You are not permitted to own your own (unless they changed this within the last month or so). You ARE permitted to own your own modem, as long as you are not leasing any static IPs. The Comcast site lists far fewer compatible models for business as residential, however. OP keep in mind, that in terms of the speed..... once your internet traffic gets onto the coax wiring, it is treated EXACTLY the same as residential, and any problems with the local cable infrastructure will absolutely effect you. Ask around to your neighbros if they have Comcast, and ask them how the service performs. This will give you an unscientific survey of what you might expect. And in my experience, the only change to customer service I noticed when going from residential to business is that when I call in, I have ALWAYS talked to an American-sounding person. Other than that, they have mostly upheld the "legendary" status Comcast customer service has always provided Keep an eye on those below-the-line fees! While your sales rep may lie to you & say that the contract price will never change, they exempt almost all fees from this, and my bill has steadily risen a few dollars every few months or so. I honestly have a hard time recommending business class at this point, unless you live in an area with enforced overages AND you expect to go significantly over. Static IPs have become so expensive (forced modem rental + IP rental = ~$24 extra a month, on top of the base service package price) that they're pretty much worthless at this point when compared to ultra-cheap VPS/hosting services. |
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said by train_wreck:: I honestly have a hard time recommending business class at this point, unless you live in an area with enforced overages AND you expect to go significantly over. ... Yes, given the much higher cost of Business Class service vs. the standard residential one, in many cases you'd still do better staying with the residential service plan, even paying the $10/50GB overage charges. For my area, a Deluxe 50/10 Business Class HSI plan would cost $110/mo vs. $79/mo for residential Blast! 105/10 one, a difference of $31. In areas under the new data usage plan, that $31 savings would pay for another 150 GB of data for a total of 450 GB/mo. However, right now Comcast allows three "courtesy months" in any 12-month period where you can exceed the 300GB data usage allowance without incurring any overage charges: From: What will happen if I exceed my data usage plan?Updated on March 16, 2015 at 7:00 PM» customer.comcast.com/hel ··· d-usage/quote: ... In order for our customers to get accustomed to the new data usage plan, we will be implementing a program that gives you three courtesy months for exceeding the data usage plan amount in any 12-month period. That means you will only be subject to overage charges if you exceed the data usage plan amount for a fourth time in a 12-month period.
On the fourth time (and any subsequent occurrence), you will be notified that you have exceeded your data usage plan amount via an email and an in-browser notification, that an additional 50 GB has automatically been allocated to your account and that applicable charges will be applied to your bill. ...
So, even if you end up typically using 500GB of data each month, you'll only pay overage charges of $40 for 9 months of each year, so that you would only pay an average of $30 for the 200GB/mo data overage each month, and still come out ahead compared to the uncapped BCI plan. |
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train_wreckslow this bird down join:2013-10-04 Antioch, TN Cisco ASA 5506 Cisco DPC3939
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said by telcodad:So, even if you end up typically using 500GB of data each month, you'll only pay overage charges of $40 for 9 months of each year, so that you would only pay an average of $30 for the 200GB/mo data overage each month, and still come out ahead compared to the uncapped BCI plan. Indeed. Though as the future advances, 500GB/month might not seem that astronomical, particularly in larger households or with users being more heavy on video streaming. |
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TLDR: Go with residential, save the $$$. If you have problems you can always go to business class.
Adding my $.02 worth. I live and work in Stockton CA, not far from the bay area but we seem to much more stable comcast service (unofficial comparison from family members living in the East Bay). I have both residential and business class service (home / work, different location but not too far from home), and if one is out so is the other. That being said, if I need to contact customer service, I call in using the business class account and number, and as someone said earlier, I get someone without an accent answering the phone. Even better is if I'm on hold its not much more than 5-10 minutes.
As for my home service, we had cut tv service a while back and were doing OTA / Hulu/Netflix and that was running us about 300gb average, and peaked a couple months at around 450gb. I have not had any phone calls or emails warning of the apocalyptic termination of internet service.
I have the same speed tiers for both plans, but am paying less for residential. Service is the same. And just posted yesterday I believe they were planning on increasing residential service speed tiers again in a couple months in CA. |
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to train_wreck
said by train_wreck:Indeed. Though as the future advances, 500GB/month might not seem that astronomical, particularly in larger households or with users being more heavy on video streaming. Yes, and I would say that such households would then "expect to go significantly over" the current 300 GB threshold. It's unclear whether Comcast would periodically adjust this threshold over time to reflect the ever-increasing average amount of data that their HSI subscribers use. I have always said that tier-based thresholds, used by some other MSOs and as set in their Tucson trial market*, would make much more sense. * - See: » customer.comcast.com/hel ··· aunching |
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train_wreckslow this bird down join:2013-10-04 Antioch, TN Cisco ASA 5506 Cisco DPC3939
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to dudeofmoose
said by dudeofmoose: I have not had any phone calls or emails warning of the apocalyptic termination of internet service. Is the cap enforced in your area? If not, then you won't get any messages (the cap is currently "suspended" everywhere except a few cities, mine included) |
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to telcodad
said by telcodad:I have always said that tier-based thresholds, used by some other MSOs and as set in their Tucson trial market*, would make much more sense. Yeah it would make more sense. I hope they'll just give it up though. Many of these gigabit-plus connections are coming with unlimited data now. |
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NetFixerFrom My Cold Dead Hands Premium Member join:2004-06-24 The Boro Netgear CM500 Pace 5268AC TRENDnet TEW-829DRU
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to dudeofmoose
said by dudeofmoose:As for my home service, we had cut tv service a while back and were doing OTA / Hulu/Netflix and that was running us about 300gb average, and peaked a couple months at around 450gb. I have not had any phone calls or emails warning of the apocalyptic termination of internet service. Even in the "trial areas" where the data allocation is enforced, Comcast now just adds a surcharge for each additional 10GB used above the data allocation. They haven't terminated service to customers exceeding the "cap" for many years (and in those days it was actually a cap). |
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to dudeofmoose
said by NetFixer:said by dudeofmoose:As for my home service, we had cut tv service a while back and were doing OTA / Hulu/Netflix and that was running us about 300gb average, and peaked a couple months at around 450gb. I have not had any phone calls or emails warning of the apocalyptic termination of internet service. Even in the "trial areas" where the data allocation is enforced, Comcast now just adds a surcharge for each additional 10GB used above the data allocation. They haven't terminated service to customers exceeding the "cap" for many years (and in those days it was actually a cap). Yeah, Comcast now says "for non-trial markets, we will continue to contact the very small number of excessive users about their usage, which can be indicative of security or related issues." I don't think they'll contact anyone unless they notice a sudden large spike in data usage or you start hitting 1TB or more a month. See: Does this mean you're going to stop cutting people off who exceed your allowance?Updated on August 08, 2014 at 6:43 PM» customer.comcast.com/hel ··· llowance |
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