MikePQ
join:2006-01-03
| How would you rate Compton Communications service?
Hi all,
I am thinking at switching to their cable and PowerGATE Residential internet.
Currently I'm using Rogers for TV and Sympatico DSL.
I am mostly interested if they are reliable and how quick they respond to issues.
Thanks
Mike |
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travisc
join:2001-11-09
Port Perry, ON | Re: How would you rate Compton Communications serv
Compton is great.
And no, my status as an employee hasn't biased me at all.  |
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MikePQ
join:2006-01-03
| Hi,
Please don't take it personally , I know you mean well, but I would like to hear for actual users.
But now that I have you here, what are the benefits of switching to Compton for internet/ TV as oppose to continue with Bell DSL and Rogers for TV.
Thanks |
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travisc
join:2001-11-09
Port Perry, ON | Well, that's an interesting question. You can't switch to us unless you live in Port Perry, Uxbridge or surrounding areas. We don't directly compete with Rogers, so if you live in a Rogers area, you can't get our services. |
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MikePQ
join:2006-01-03 | well, I guess that takes care of my question.
Thank you |
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RWAbacus
@sympatico.ca
| reply to travisc
Compton's digital cable is awesome (also spelled awsome) - have been a Compton customer for > 30 years!; am changing from Sympatico HSE to 'residential' Compton cable (2nd highest speed level) at the end of the month ... too many hassles with Sympatico - especially e-mail issues ... often can't get mail. So ... we'll see ... Will post back in a few weeks with a definitive comparison. |
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travisc
join:2001-11-09
Port Perry, ON | reply to MikePQ
Let me know if I can help you with anything, TV, Internet or otherwise. |
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RWAbacus
join:2006-01-12
Uxbridge, ON
| Well ... I don't know what Compton had to do to 'get out the word' ... but it took me far, FAR too long to find the huge improvement in picture quality digital TV really turned out to be. And I considered our Analogue signal to be first-rate.
I have the 6412 digital terminal - and after reading lots on differing forums, and really learning the remote control codes, I wouldn't go back from a PVR either. We've subsequently 'dumped' our old VCR. Good riddance. I may try to record using the FW connection on the back. It seems relatively straightforward.
We've had two 'freezes', both in trying to use channel 038, and both of which required unplugging to reset. Then it was OK - and we've watched one movie all the way through and another 1/2 way (and won't watch the rest). It was great using FF and RW.
Initially, the hardest thing was un-muting the cable box when a program was already recording ... of course, I was just un-muting the TV which made absolutely no difference! That took me a few hours and left me with less hair, but I never resorted to phoning Compton for advice (I'm stubborn). The answer is always easy in hindsight. |
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travisc
join:2001-11-09
Port Perry, ON
| We do the best we can to get word out about digital TV, but there seems to be people who just refuse to listen. Hopefully TMN on Demand will get some peoples' attention.
That's the first time I've heard of a box freezing up on 38, let me know if it continues. It's a brand new service, obviously, so we're keeping our eyes out for problem.
I guess you found the remote code that turns off the mute on the digital box? I just found out about that as well a few weeks ago. |
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RWAbacus
join:2006-01-12
Uxbridge, ON
| said by travisc  :We do the best we can to get word out about digital TV, but there seems to be people who just refuse to listen. Hopefully TMN on Demand will get some peoples' attention. I've noticed that Compton had gone 'digital' quite a while ago, yet it wasn't until I discovered the magic of PVR that I did anything about it. I did receive a letter this past summer from Compton offering the digital experience for a $10 cable box and I still didn't bite - I thought that I couldn't then also have analogue service. So, it was my intransigence - and blissful ignorance - and the fact that I thought we had outstanding analogue signal quality (we do) - it's just that digital IS better in so many subtle ways, not the least of which is VOD and time shifting.
said by travisc :I guess you found the remote code that turns off the mute on the digital box? I just found out about that as well a few weeks ago. Compton would do everyone a favour by including a short description of the solution to 6412 muting whilst recording and then turning on the TV expecting sound and receiving none. My remote didn't have any codes in it (the technician who subsequently arrived also brought a new remote with the 'swap' button programmed in - but I had already done that and much more myself, so I kept the original); I figured out the 30-sec (commercial) skip-ahead in a few minutes. I just didn't twig to the cable box mute issue until much later and only after my wife complained. Perhaps I'm the only subscriber who had difficulty with this 'feature'.
I found »cjhengineering.com/hdtv/cablehdt···teAC.htm invaluable. |
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gslice
join:2005-02-18
Canada | reply to travisc
Re: Golden BT Speed Pooling Please contribute
How much bandwidth/bitrate (mbps) does Compton dedicate to HDTV channels? |
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travisc
join:2001-11-09
Port Perry, ON | Usually 2 channels on a 27 Mbps QAM channel. I've yet to hear any negative remarks about the quality of it. |
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RWAbacus
join:2006-01-12
Uxbridge, ON
1 edit | reply to MikePQ
Re: How would you rate Compton Communications service?
It is now 11:45 AM and it hasn't been one whole day since I've switched to POWERGATE from Sympatico HSE (not ULTRA). At the moment, I'm averaging 2000 to 2500 kbps download speed & 640 kbps upload speed - this is significantly higher than the constant 1500 kbps I got from Sympatico HSE; however, it was not a pretty picture last night (and subsequent to my overall review of Compton last night at 8PM).
I almost thought I was back to dial-up a few times with speeds as low as 240 kbps and, get this, sometimes faster upload speeds than download ones! Who would have thought?
I know there's a very heavy load at night, but, wow, that was a real eye-opener to me. One should always be careful in drawing any meaningful conclusions from this limited data at this very early stage. |
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travisc
join:2001-11-09
Port Perry, ON | Re: How would you rate Compton Communications serv
We appear to be having a problem with our upsteam provider lately - we are in the process of trying to solve the issue. We're aware that speeds aren't where we'd like them right now. |
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RWAbacus
join:2006-01-12
Uxbridge, ON
| It would seem severe problems with download speeds
Again, it's far too early for either a definitive or exhaustive summary of Compton's POWERGATE offerings - the service is obviously experiencing some significant technical problems at the moment with respect to bandwidth - but having had 'Residential' service for only a few days has left me somewhat underwhelmed.
While claiming to have 'up to 7,500' kbps download, I've never experienced a speed at or over 6,000 kbps. I did have ONE initial test in front of Compton's technicians that approached 6k kbps. In the interim, however, things have gotten really bad and very few tests penetrate 2k kbps now.
Here it is just after 10 in the morning, and I'm getting speeds just one-third of what I used to invariably get on my Sympatico HSE account (less than 500 kbps). Now that's frighteningly scary.
I do realize that Compton is aware of this and is probably working hard to correct this, so I'm just dismissing this as a aberration for the moment. But I do hope that, eventually, it's going to be fixed. I really do miss consistent high-speed connections.
It should be noted, too, that I'm not a heavy user and, in fact, limit my speed tests to a few a day because the tests themselves stress the network.
I thought, perhaps, that upgrading my service to Compton's POWERGATE PLUS might be worth it - but I doubt, at least at the moment, that this will make any significant difference whatsoever. |
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RWAbacus
join:2006-01-12
Uxbridge, ON
| MUCH, MUCH better today ...
In my continuing saga of reporting Residential COMPTON data speeds, today's test showed a GREAT improvement over yesterday's reporting:
3077 kbps download & 638 kbps upload; this is almost 10x (ten times) one of my tests yesterday - and an incredible improvement.
This just goes to show that running a speedtest one of two times just gives one a snapshot into the overall broadband speed of a system. BTW, both tests were run at approximately the same time. |
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