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Phylop
Premium
join:2002-11-17
Reston, VA
1 edit |  [Speed] Comcast won't give me my cap
I just moved into a new apartment off of Northshore Dr in Reston, and I finally have my new Comcast connection setup after days of playing phone tag with Comcast tech support.
Here is the story...
When I moved into the apartment the rental office gave me a flier for Comcast service, the flier had a number on it that said to call some lady who is our local Reston Comcast representative, I think she helps people setup service for several different apartment complexes in Reston. Anyway, I call her and tell her I want to setup my internet service, I let her know that I want to pay the extra 10 bucks for the 16 megabit download speed, and the 1 megabit upload speed, she says she will have to call me back to confirm those speeds, she calls me back a while later saying that yes I can get those speeds but it's not 10 dollars, it's 15 dollars more. I say, yeah I guess that's fine. After that she asks for the serial number for my modem, but not my HFC MAC ID, which is something she needs, I tell her I think she needs it but she says she doesn't, so I say "Okay." She give me an account number, which seems very short, and then tells me she will enter my info into her "system" and I'll be able to get on the internet tomorrow...
Well, the next morning when I wake up I'm excited in anticipation of my new 16/1 connection. Well, to my dismay I still had no connection, I was still getting the "Welcome to Comcast download our spyware/bloat so you can setup your connection!" whenever I try to load a webpage. I really don't want to install this crap on any of my computers so I install it on a virtual machine, well only halfway. When I get to the point in the installation where it asks me to enter my account number it wants a 13-16 character number, the number I have is 5 characters, I try anyways and it obviously doesn't work. So of course this means more calls to tech support. When I call them they spend the first 15 minutes telling me that I don't have an account yet, and they keep trying to setup my service through them, then I keep telling them that I should have an account, eventually I just hang up. Later I decide to call back that local Comcast rep and tell her what has been going on, she tells me that she is just now entering my info into her "system" and that I should be online "soon" and that all I need to do is call tech support and they will finish the process and activate my modem.
So I call tech support a couple hours later after running some errands, and I am relieved to know that I know that I do have an account now like I should. The guy on the phone asked me a few questions such as my modem's MAC and S/N, and then told me my username and password to login to comcast.net. He also helped clarify the crazy account number the local rep gave me, he said she gave me only part of the account number, and he gave me my full account number. After that he told me to reboot my modem and I'd have internet, I did, and wooohooo I had internet, and it was good. :P
But with the good, came bad news... I ran some speed tests and the fastest I was seeing was ~7500/~700, this told me my cap was 8mbit down, and 768 up, when it should be 16 down and 1 up, because those are the speeds I was promised and what I am paying for.(yes I am aware that comcast does not guarantee speeds)
In case you're not familiar with Comcast's speed tiers in Reston, Va... Since Verizon started deploying FiOS in Reston, comcast has bumped their higher speed service to 16/1 and their lower service to 8/768. When I used to live with my mother in South Reston, off South Lakes Drive back in October 2005 we were paying for the higher speed tier and we had 16/1. I've also seen other BBR Comcast customers in Reston with 16/1. So I know for a fact that comcast is offering these speeds in my area, because I used to have them, and other people have them.
So, once I found out that I wasn't getting the speed I was paying for I called up tech support and told them all about it. I've called several different times hoping for a guy who will know what I am talking about, but none of them do. They all either say "8mbit is the fastest tier available to you and I am very sorry for the misinformation that was given to you" or, "Your router or computer is causing the slowdown!" Well, I know both of these answers are bull, and I'm damn sure it's not any of my hardware causing the slowdown, this is all the same hardware I had when I lived in south Reston with 16/1.
Sorry for the long post, but can anyone tell me what I need to do in this situation? I've tried all I can think of.
Thanks in advance! | |
Johkal
Cool Cat
Premium,MVM
join:2002-11-13
Happy Valley
clubs: | Review this and answer all applicable questions: »/faq/8563 | |
autoprime
@comcast.net
| reply to Phylop
well... #1 it's $10 more. They tried making me pay $15 more for my 8mbit but at the last second the guys like "oh wait... it looks like it IS $10" So I'm not sure why they think its $15.
Perhaps not ALL of your area has 16/1... but I'm sure it'll be there soon enough. Here's what I personally did and think you should as well, especially since you're having so many problems... Call up Comcast retention(where you'd cancel your service) and tell them your problem and how you're thinking of switching to Verizon for the faster speeds. They CLAIM they have no deals/offers/discounts for the gold-tier BUT you should ask them for a $10/month credit. They have a 3 month $10-off code which they can add as recurring... so you should be getting gold-tier for the price of 6mbit.
I can't wait to see 16mbit in south jersey! | |
Phylop
Premium
join:2002-11-17
Reston, VA
|  reply to Phylop
Well, after calling comcast back again and again and hearing the same crap about how 16/1 isn't available I FINALLY found someone who KNEW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT!
I really do think this is a serious problem that comcast has, their tech support isn't properly informed about the kind of service that is offered to the people that are calling them.
No matter now though, I now have what I've waited so long for, my 16/1 service.  | |
gate1975mlm
Premium
join:2001-09-30
Philadelphia, PA
1 edit | said by Phylop  :Well, after calling comcast back again and again and hearing the same crap about how 16/1 isn't available I FINALLY found someone who KNEW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT! I really do think this is a serious problem that comcast has, their tech support isn't properly informed about the kind of service that is offered to the people that are calling them. No matter now though, I now have what I've waited so long for, my 16/1 service. Is it good? What kind of speed do you get from here »ftp://ftp1.optonline.net/pub/test64 | |
Phylop
Premium
join:2002-11-17
Reston, VA
| reply to Phylop
With that file you posted I was got the full 16mbit, at first I was getting ~20mbit with the buffering...
This is one of my favorite tests: »myspeed.visualware.com/ with it I get 21mbit down/ 970 up, that's including the overhead of course though.
So yep, I am getting all the speed my cap allows me. | |
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