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 ehedman
join:2001-04-08
Bowie, MD | Comcast newsgroups. I have newsgroups at '@home.news'. I hope this helps. | |
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newview
Ex .. Ex .. Exactly
Premium
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD
|  Re: Comcast newsgroups.
said by ehedman:
I have newsgroups at '@home.news'. I hope this helps.
Once you are transitioned from the @home network to the comcast.net network, you no longer have access to the @home newsgroup server.
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Where are we going? And what's with the hand basket? | |
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mbernste
Boosted
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-30
Piscataway, NJ
 ·Comcast
·Optimum Online
| Re: Comcast newsgroups. That is incorrect. I have been transferred to the new comcast.net service and still have complete access to the @home news servers. Entering just the word "news" may no longer work. Try news.avnl1.nj.home.com and see if that works for you. You may be prompted for your @Home username and password. | |
| | 
Cabledude27
Premium
join:2001-12-23
Pennsville, NJ
| Comcast in light of the speed in which they have to convert their customers to their network hasnt established newsgroups. That is not saying they wont it just wasnt the top priority at the moment. As customers are switch over and the minor bugs are worked out, they will add more to the service. Be patient if they were given their time to do this their way it would of been done over an 18 month period as opposed to only 60-90 days.(No they couldnt do it sooner as they were contractually obliged to offer only @home until 12/6/01 as per the original contract)
As for the rumor of tiering the speeds that is a likely option in the future. | |
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Eddie in Tenn
| Re: Comcast newsgroups. If they were given more time? They sucked up our money for years, charging us $50 a month for a service they paid @Home $12 a month for. You'd think with all the extra cash, they'd have thought this thing out. Their tech support is only able to tell you how to set up Microsoft Outlook for e-mail. You can't use Netscape to administer your account on their web site because the administrative functions only work with Internet Explorer. What are the two most targeted pieces of software by hackers? IE and Outlook. So if Comcast is going to require people to use those two pieces of software, are they willing to take the responsibility when viruses start attacking their users? ... Give me a break, they sucked @Home dry and you want to paint Comcast as some sort of victim. The only thing wrong with @Home's service was that they did business with cable companies | |
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Cabledude27
Premium
join:2001-12-23
Pennsville, NJ
| Eddie check the website, Netscape info is available and will be supported if not already. Again the priority situation came into play as I referred to in my original post. The problem with @home is that they took on too much ie Excite.com purchase and didnt manage their money properly. As for $50 a month @home service was charged at $29.95 in the north east up until Sept of last year when the rate went to $39.95. Believe what you want about Comcast/@home, fill in the blank, but not everything that is posted to a website or written in the media is always true. | |
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Eddie in Tenn
| Re: Comcast newsgroups. We paid $50 a month, including the extra charge for a second IP address. Of course when they made the shift over to the new system, they didn't support a second IP address, at least not for several weeks. Funny how they still managed to bill us for it though. ... Say what you want, but it's always been the case that cable companies are not fun organizations to deal with. In most businesses, the customer is right, but with cable cos., the customer is an inconvenience that is an afterthought in the whole process. ... In the past week, I've had to figure out on my own how to FTP to the new server and use my wife's computer to set up our second account (I don't have IE and don't want it on my machine) because every time I called tech support I was told they could only help me with Outlook Express. The comcast.net web site locked up my Netscape one time too many. It will be a cold day in hell before I go there again. As soon as DSL is available in my neighborhood, comcast will be gone from my home. I know that doesn't mean anything to them, because my business doesn't mean anything to them, at least that's the way they've treated us here in Nashville. | |
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HighDesert
@home.com
| Comcast speed Even if Comcast caps speed at 1.5 megabit this would still be faster then any DSL phone line. But I hear that the CEO's are thinking about tiering bandwidth with different prices. They already do this with DSL so I would imagine they will do this with cable.
As for newsgroups, it is a shame they are not even going to offer even a basic server. Problem is, newsgroups are being used by a fewer percentage of customers and they know that many are heavy downloaders of the binaries. It does not really matter if other cable internet services offer newsgroups being that comcast will have geographic monopolies in their service areas. Now that MS is part of the picture with ATT and comcast, you will see these guys putting up their own digital rights management models and along with possible tiering plans, it may cost a great deal more to do what is now free.
They better be careful however, if they make this service only good for web surfing, people will bail. Web surfing does not require broadband. Dial up will do just fine for that. I can visualize alot of people getting out of broadband in the future. At some point, MS and others are going to push too hard their $$ models that people will finally turn it off. | |
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newview
Ex .. Ex .. Exactly
Premium
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD
| Re: Comcast speed said by HighDesert:
Even if Comcast caps speed at 1.5 megabit this would still be faster then any DSL phone line. But I hear that the CEO's are thinking about tiering bandwidth with different prices. They already do this with DSL so I would imagine they will do this with cable.
As for newsgroups, it is a shame they are not even going to offer even a basic server. Problem is, newsgroups are being used by a fewer percentage of customers and they know that many are heavy downloaders of the binaries. It does not really matter if other cable internet services offer newsgroups being that comcast will have geographic monopolies in their service areas. Now that MS is part of the picture with ATT and comcast, you will see these guys putting up their own digital rights management models and along with possible tiering plans, it may cost a great deal more to do what is now free.
They better be careful however, if they make this service only good for web surfing, people will bail. Web surfing does not require broadband. Dial up will do just fine for that. I can visualize alot of people getting out of broadband in the future. At some point, MS and others are going to push too hard their $$ models that people will finally turn it off.
My current speeds do not even approach the 1500/128 cap. Twenty speed tests since "T" day average to a 983/123 range, well below the cap and ridiculously lower than the 2500/128 previous to "T" day.
Regardless of whether newsgroup access is declining or not, it was part-and-parcel of the enticement to sign up three months ago. And I would wager to say that those who use newsgroups are more likely to be a more internet savvy group, therefore more likely to purchase cable access based on all those criteria AS ADVERTISED. My experience reminds me of bait-and-switch tactics. Entice to sign up based on one set of inducements and then eliminate two, (and severely hamper the third), of those inducements after the consumer starts paying.
When I file my complaint with the local franchising authority (as advised by the FCC) »www.fcc.gov/csb/facts/complain.html , I intend to point out that no newsgroup access constitutes a signal outage and therefore should be considered as the basis for adopting the Commission's Customer Service rules to enforce the federal standards.
I also want a rebate for the month of December. I was given two months of service free as an enticement to sign up, and to help make a decision as to retention of the service based on the experience of those two months of access. I retained the service based on 2500/128, newsgroup access and being able to reach ALL of the internet (which should have gone without saying). When I paid my bill for the period of Dec 4 - Jan 4 2001, the amount of the bill was calculated for the internet access I have previously described. As of Dec 18, I am NOT receiving what I have already paid for. I am receiving substandard speeds and signal loss / outage and the inability to reach a substantial portion of the internet.
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Where are we going? And what's with the hand basket? | |
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HighDesert
@home.com
| Re: Comcast speed Well I am sure they are covered legally. With so many customers they could not leave themselves open to a lawsuit. I am sure that if you look at your sign up agreement they have wording that covers them. Also in the case of excite/home going chapter 7, comcast would not have to keep @homes contract. Where the legal battle lies is the @home bond holders sueing ATT for making @home spend millions in upgrades and then not to help them out when they needed a cash infusion. That will be a heated case to be sure. | |
| | james_20
join:2001-04-18
Bowie, MD
| [QUOTE=HighDesert]Even if Comcast caps speed at 1.5 megabit this would still be faster then any DSL phone line.[QUOTE]
i don't know about that, verizon has a plan
that is 7m download and 786 upload.
i think that is much faster than then comcast.
other baby bell offer basic price for 1.5 m download
i under verizon so my basic download 786 but for extra
10 dollars i can get 1.5 download
the only problem is i would pay a little more
[text was edited by author 2002-01-02 01:57:59] | |
| |
anonym
@24.4.x.x
| Christ, bitching about getting 1mb/s d/l speed for only 40-50 bucks a month? That is what an average cable modem does, deal with it. You were lucky to be getting what you did before. Anyhow, the member services site for the comcast only cable modem is www.icomcast.net - It's been there a while. | |
| | | BobOki
join:2000-11-27
Orange Park, FL
| Re: Comcast speed said by anonym:
Christ, bitching about getting 1mb/s d/l speed for only 40-50 bucks a month? That is what an average cable modem does, deal with it. You were lucky to be getting what you did before. Anyhow, the member services site for the comcast only cable modem is www.icomcast.net - It's been there a while.
I think YOU are one of the problems why this company seems to be able to get away with stuff like this.
Comcast covers its proverbial a$$ with the statement,
"Speeds UP-TO 1.5" There is NO mininum speed. I was told by my ISP that 30kb/s down and 5kb/s is STANDARD... now, I get about 100kb/s down and maybe 35kb/s up... to me THAT is the standard... I NEVER get over 150kb/s....
There are SOOO many customers that I hear from that are told thier speeds are standard at : xxx down and xxx up, and they just accept this. I can never seem to see on webpages what speeds are capped at, and everyone says just simply speeds at up to 50x faster than 56k. Perhaps if the normal user was a little better informed then things like this would not happen.
Additionally if everyone just suddenly dropped comcast and tried to go over to a DSL comapny.... then the DSL service would be horrible... (it may not be shared at the block.. but it is at the DSLAM)
Personally I think there needs to be two different packages. These packages can even cost the SAME... its not that difficult.
Your standard user is an idiot. They can hardly turn on their pc much less know/care about up/down speeds. So make one package the bare minimum on upload speeds. 128kbps seems to be about the MINUMIM possible to maintain at LEAST a 1.5mbps down... so save your bandwidth with those users...
For the REST of the WORLD.. we need upload speeds. Now I KNOW that the leased lines that ISPS use are the same as every other leased lines on the planet. They have as much upload bandwidth as download bandwidth... so I know these comapnies have LOTS of upload bandwidth to spare. (1.5mbps dn compaired to 15-20kb/s up.. to me that = almost 100kb/s of unused upload bandwidth) so why not make package #2 with some better upload speeds? 50-75kb/s would be NICE...
And of course... I would be willing to pay a few bucks more for package #3... the 3mbps up/down... $75 would be a good price.. I'll even buy your cable tv service with it if I have to! Perhaps make people pay just extra for more bandwidth... like $5 extra per month per 10kb/s....(the I can spend like $100 a month and get 1.5 down and 1mbps up) A little MORE expensive than other packages.. but they ARE in the business to make money... but give the user the options!!
Wake up people! If you do not start DEMANDING these type of things, these companies will NOT do it for you. They will not bust thier a$$es to provide you with better service that costs them more, with more complicated options... why would they?? You seem to be happy with the scraps they feed you now. | |
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rody
| lolol 3 megs up 3megs down are you kidding 75.00 a month. lol t-1 is 1.5 down 1.5 up and 500 a month. | |
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r3d2m0
Lil'
Premium
join:2002-02-24
Silver Spring, MD | Re: lolol Don't post here anonymous! If you want people to look at what you say as anything but "corporate speak" then let everyone ascertain who your are. | |
| | 
untroubled1
Redneck Dawg
Premium
join:2001-12-21
Omaha, NE
| said by rody:
3 megs up 3megs down are you kidding 75.00 a m
Month. lol t-1 is 1.5 down 1.5 up and 500 a month.
Man I need that url bad, lol. Why not go oc12 and run an isp? I miss my @home .5 to 1 up. You must remember this...OVERSOLD means lower caps. I feel lucky to have 256 up here in Omaha now as I see what comcast/ATT are planning.
Cable still rules the d/l bandwidth | |
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Jim Slim
Kenya's Finest
Premium
join:2002-01-12
Union, NJ | but t1 is GUARANTEED speed | |
|
P
@cox.net
| haha T-1 1.5mbps for $500 a month rofl =P you can get 33x the bandwith from cogent for the same price. "last maile" fiber channel is cheaper then traditional dwdm & sonet rings, but is limited to around 1gbps since last time i checked. unless your worried about the 0.001% of downtime you may expierence. =P tounges out for bell labs | |
|
anon but serious
| i came here to testify just wanted to drop my $.02 about comcast. yeah, they suck.
my main gripe: my connection quality (transfer speeds, pings, reliability/consistency) has gradually degraded over the past year+ and i'm quite sure it's due to the gigantic influx of new customers into the system which has NOT been balanced by an equally gigantic influx of new and capable hardware. "investigate other internet options" is at the top of my 'things to do' right now...
now the gory details: i have had their service since about december 2001. i got used to a couple months of decent pings before the .net transition now everything is suck.
i tried their 'pro' service for a few months - $90/month for 3.5M down/256k up, 5 IPs, more email addresses and more web space. only was able to use all 5 IPs concurrently for about the first month. thereafter, at least one (sometimes two) of my computers(*) would always fail to pull IPs from the modem. (*not the same one every time - whichever was last to the DHCP server). also, i never got more than about 3M down and 192k up. repeated and very lengthy calls to tech support never resolved these issues. at least 5 calls, techs come to the house to measure 'signal strength' (lol it was fine), and when it was all said and done their official answer was something to the effect of 'we just don't know - sorry we can't help'.
so i ditched the 'pro' plan and went back to standard service about 2-3 months ago. their 'customer retention' department wanted to speak to me about why i dropped the pro. i told them what a disappointing rip-off it was, and as attempted appeasement, they offered to cut my rate on the standard to only $20/month for the next six months. i was feeling pretty good about comcast for a few hours, until later i saw on TV that their current x-mas promotion was "Comcast HSI $20/month for 6 months!". after that i just felt like a john-holmes-used condom.
aside from these specific problems, i have made probably an additional 20 calls to tech support during the last year. repeated inquiries into every subject from outages to slow speeds to 'why doesn't my mail account work?' to 'why doesn't my file locker/personal web page work?' (still doesn't) to 'wait, what do i give you guys money for, again?' (lately, i haven't made any - i got sick of trying to resuscitate a dead horse)
and let's not forget the customer support calls: 'why haven't you applied my payment(s)?', 'why do you keep sending me bills with incorrect payment history/billing history information?', 'why do your phone support people have one story one day and another the next?', etc. mounds of BS etc.
to their credit: a few support techs with whom i spent hours on the phone were extremely(!) knowledgeable about networking and could probably find 10 better jobs than 'comcast HSI support tech' if they looked tomorrow. unfortunately i wish i could say the same for all their comrades...
in summary - like all monopolies (both real and pseudo), comcast is to be avoided by the demanding consumer at all costs. if you have no alternative, then pucker up, buttercup!
PS speaking of monopolies - they also get me for $40\month for their substandard digital cable service. again with the outages, inconsistent function, poor interface and presentation (designed for semi-intelligent apes, i swear!), and even more spam-vertising! (Comcast digital cable actually has a whole channel advertising "Comcast Digital Cable"...) but then i just look at the awesome content/programming and all is forgiven... ('Wait! you mean i can get first-run blockbusters like "C.H.A.M.P.S." and "Porky's II" pumped right into my own living room?! what an amazing age we live in!')
(PPS - FYI to the guy who freely admitted subscribing to fileplanet: you have thus waived your right to any sympathy whatsoever. i do, however, have a business proposition: i run a service called 'dorkplanet' and for the low price of $6.95/month we will tirelessly scour the internet for forums in which to extol your gullibility. consider it...) | |
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dude5654
@comcast.net | fix Flush your dns for the sites you can't connect to (go to command prompt type IPCONFIG /FLUSHDNS Its obvious you have "bad routes" As far as your newsgroups, You get 2GB a month through gigagnews (with your service) and they don't count headers. | |
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assmaster
@comcast.net
| you can get a cable "bundle" for less than $15 I got their "limited cable" for only $12.00. It's not great - and I wouldn't have gotten it except that I would have to pay them $15 anyway for having the internet alone. At first they told me that the cheapest cable is the basic cable....a lie of course.... | |
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