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story category Comcast Says They'll Play Nice With Vonage
Continues 'open and neutral' show for investigating FCC
01:04PM Wednesday Jul 09 2008 by Karl Bode
tags: competition · business · bandwidth · cable · VoIP · Comcast · Vonage
Comcast today announced an agreement with Vonage that will "address the reasonable network management of Internet services," according to a press release. The new cooperation is aimed at ensuring Comcast uses network management techniques that address congestion without disrupting or degrading delivery of third party VoIP services. The announcement wasn't accompanied with a shred of actual technical specifics, and is aimed at showing the FCC (who is still investigating Comcast) that they can play well with others.

Comcast spent much of the past year taking a beating for their decision to use packet forgery to disrupt BitTorrent. Once the FCC began investigating the company, they announced plans for more transparent network management techniques that I subsequently discovered involve clear 250GB monthly caps, increased DMCA letter enforcement, targeted throttling of high consumption users, and the acceleration of legal P2P traffic.

According to Comcast CTO Tony Werner, this latest, completely vague move demonstrates "that we are committed to provide network management solutions that benefit consumers and competition." Cable operators now control more than 80% of the VoIP market, and that number continues to rise, largely thanks to cable triple play introductory offers.

Related:
  1. Comcast CEO Tries To Calm Investors
  2. Comcast Tells FCC To Butt Out
  3. Cable: Verizon Being Sleazy In VoIP Battle
  4. Show Us Your 50Mbps!
  5. Comcast Gets Investigated While Cox Gets Free Pass
  6. Comcast Installs DOCSIS 3.0 In Two New Markets
  7. Comcast 50Mbps Coming To Florida
  8. Comcast Unveils New International VoIP Plans
Forums » Comcast Says They'll Play Nice With Vonage
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Gts
Hi

join:2000-10-27
Astoria, NY

I wonder

How many other cable co's are degrading VOIP services. I know when i had ATT Calladvantage, i had frequent poor quality of calls over time warner cable lines. I was one of the many who took the triple play deal..

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

Re: I wonder

That type of thing is why net neutrality is necessary.

SSX4life
Premium
join:2004-02-13
>_ lolz

Re: I wonder

Hey Rick meet my friend "spin".... "spin" meet rick, now get acquainted.

MrMoody
Under the black helicopters

join:2002-09-03
Smithfield, NC
·Embarq

Yes, and Comcast is paying lip service to "playing nice" because they don't want neutrality laws. As long as net neutrality isn't law, they can continue to mildly degrade competing VoIP over their network, just enough to make it annoying, and make deals with VoIP companies to reduce the degradation.
--
The public is a poor business manager.

KrK
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Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest

Re: I wonder

I'd have to agree. This is PR, they made some deal with Vonage for the publicity and to get mileage out of it on the lobbying agenda.

So they put Vonage up on a pedestal as an example of their "new" policies.

Course, should they actually win the long term battle (and achieve their agenda- banning net neutrality type regulations) they'll be able to kick that pedestal out from under Vonage (and other Net competitors) at the snap of their fingers.
--
"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!)

Cheese
Premium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
clubs:

Re: I wonder

said by KrK See Profile :

I'd have to agree. This is PR, they made some deal with Vonage for the publicity and to get mileage out of it on the lobbying agenda.

So they put Vonage up on a pedestal as an example of their "new" policies.

Course, should they actually win the long term battle (and achieve their agenda- banning net neutrality type regulations) they'll be able to kick that pedestal out from under Vonage (and other Net competitors) at the snap of their fingers.
I wouldn't call it pulling out the pedestal, more like slashing their throats.
qworster

join:2001-11-25
Los Angeles, CA
·Brand X Internet
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·Vonage
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edit:
July 9th, @09:36PM

said by Gts See Profile :

How many other cable co's are degrading VOIP services. I know when i had ATT Calladvantage, i had frequent poor quality of calls over time warner cable lines. I was one of the many who took the triple play deal..
Time Warner RR Exstreme (10,000/1000) trashed my Vonage connection-at times it became unusable. I finally moved all my VOIP to my DSL Extreme 3000/512 DSL connection and all the problems just went away.

CableTool
Poorly Representing MYSELF.
Premium
join:2004-11-12

said by Gts See Profile :

How many other cable co's are degrading VOIP services. I know when i had ATT Calladvantage, i had frequent poor quality of calls over time warner cable lines. I was one of the many who took the triple play deal..
Comcast never disrupted or degraded Voip services. Vonage or otherwise.
This simply states they never will in the future eiher.
--
CableTechs.org/"Horrible People with Integrity"

Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs:

This was a joint press release....

Not a technical paper.

In the business world one wouldn't expect them to include technical specifics in a press release of that sort.

I also wouldn't expect Comcast to spell out how they do anything technically related anyway. Nothing like handing over to their competitors free technical advise if they did.

Apparently Vonage is happy with what they're doing. Enough so to make this announcement jointly.
--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic!

ptrowski
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clubs:

Re: This was a joint press release....

AKA Comcast admitting they were messing with Vonage VoIP calls.

Rick
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Waterbury, CT
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edit:
July 9th, @01:34PM

Re: This was a joint press release....

said by ptrowski See Profile :

AKA Comcast admitting they were messing with Vonage VoIP calls.
I know numerous people with vonage using it over comcasts lines the last year.

Not a single one ever had a problem.

Do you have any facts to support your rampant speculation?

ptrowski
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edit:
July 9th, @01:41PM

Re: This was a joint press release....

said by Rick See Profile :

said by ptrowski See Profile :

AKA Comcast admitting they were messing with Vonage VoIP calls.
I know numerous people with vonage using it over comcasts lines the last year.

Not a single one ever had a problem.

Do you just run around making things up or what?
Check the Vonage forums here and vongage-forums.com

So Comcast just for giggles decides to have this press release with them? Come on.

I like how you use the reasoning of saying "I know people who do it so it must not be true".

Nice edit of your post, glad I quoted it.

Here is just some threads from our Vonage forums...

»/nsearch?q=com···s=%2C271

Rick
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Waterbury, CT
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edit:
July 9th, @01:45PM

Re: This was a joint press release....

said by ptrowski See Profile :

I like how you use the reasoning of saying "I know people who do it so it must not be true".
I'd say my reasoning which is based on personal knowledge of these people and their vonage service and Comcast connection is far superior to your source which seems to be
"check the post of some stranger in a forum".

You're so quick to assess blame on comcast apparently without considering at all the fact that who knows what their real issue was? Perhaps it was their internet connection in general or the fact that Vonages calls completely rely on using the public internet, traveling over many networks.

Instead..you turn that into "Comcast admitting that they're messing with VOIP calls".

Quite the leap there on your part if you ask me.

ptrowski
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Re: This was a joint press release....

said by Rick See Profile :

said by ptrowski See Profile :

I like how you use the reasoning of saying "I know people who do it so it must not be true".
I'd say my reasoning which is based on personal knowledge of these people and their vonage service and Comcast connection is far superior to your source which seems to be
"check the post of some stranger in a forum".

You're so quick to assess blame on comcast apparently without considering at all the fact that who knows what their real issue was? Perhaps it was their internet connection in general or the fact that Vonages calls completely rely on using the public internet, traveling over many networks.

Instead..you turn that into "Comcast admitting that they're messing with VOIP calls".

Quite the leap there on your part if you ask me.
Come on, let's be serious here. This is a PR stunt trying to show that Comcast has "turned a new leaf". I used Vonage for quite a while and was very active in the vonage-forums. There are cases where people would use Vonage on a Comcast connection that tested "clean" and had issues, and then tried another connection and it was clear.

Interstingly enough a crop of issues popped up around the time Comcast was launching CDV. Am I saying they mess with every VoIP call? No. Was there enough evidence that pointed to it? Sure.

Remember, Comcast said they never used Sandvine and denied it until they were dragged into the light. This is only a PR stunt, just like when they made their announcement with Bit Torrent. Have a press release, snap a few pictures, look how we are playing nice.

Should Vonage become a bit more of a business threat, then they will fall into "reasonable network management".
--
"A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend."

Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
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·DSL EXTREME

Re: This was a joint press release....

Since Comcast typically sells service as 6Mbps and higher, there typically should be very little issue.

I'm on a 3Mbps/512kbps ADSL line (read 2600/420kbps throughput), and I use Skype all the time for conference calls w/o issue. I even use it over a VPN + SSH tunneled + Squid proxy connection (VPN kills local access), and it works fine.
--
Canada = Hollywood North

ptrowski
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Re: This was a joint press release....

said by en102 See Profile :

Since Comcast typically sells service as 6Mbps and higher, there typically should be very little issue.

I'm on a 3Mbps/512kbps ADSL line (read 2600/420kbps throughput), and I use Skype all the time for conference calls w/o issue. I even use it over a VPN + SSH tunneled + Squid proxy connection (VPN kills local access), and it works fine.
You can have great speeds, but if the packets are delayed or lost, then you will have poor voice audio.

That's why when people say "I have plenty of speed so it should be fine" that is not always the case. To diagnose poor voice I use www.testyourvoip.com vs a speedtest.

JamesPC

join:2005-10-12
Orange, CA
Exactly, not rocket science people.
Cod

join:2000-07-05
Greensboro, NC

said by Rick See Profile :

I'd say my reasoning...
Aaah, yes- the unjaded and unbiased reasoning of Comcasts #1 coolaid drinker...

Cheese
Premium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
clubs:

Re: This was a joint press release....

said by Cod See Profile :

said by Rick See Profile :

I'd say my reasoning...
Aaah, yes- the unjaded and unbiased reasoning of Comcasts #1 coolaid drinker...
Psssst, it's Koolaid

ptrowski
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said by Cod See Profile :

said by Rick See Profile :

I'd say my reasoning...
Aaah, yes- the unjaded and unbiased reasoning of Comcasts #1 coolaid drinker...
Yes, his reasoning and sampling of other Comcast afficianados is of course always correct. Comcast HD is flawless, they don't throttle or interfere with VOIP at all, and they love puppies.
bogey780

join:2004-03-19
Covington, LA

Re: This was a joint press release....

Yup... claims that video that goes into outer space is inheritly inferior to comcast, VRADs will cause people to die, and now this.

Rick
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Waterbury, CT
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edit:
July 9th, @07:29PM

said by ptrowski See Profile :

said by Cod See Profile :

said by Rick See Profile :

I'd say my reasoning...
Aaah, yes- the unjaded and unbiased reasoning of Comcasts #1 coolaid drinker...
Yes, his reasoning and sampling of other Comcast afficianados is of course always correct. Comcast HD is flawless, they don't throttle or interfere with VOIP at all, and they love puppies.
And your reasoning is based on...what?
Not even being a Comcast nor Vonage customer?

Interesting perspective you have there.

Perhaps the real issues are with your AT&T ~ Viatalk setup and you're just posting in the wrong thread?

ptrowski
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Re: This was a joint press release....

said by Rick See Profile :

And your reasoning is based on...what?
Not even being a Comcast nor Vonage customer?

Interesting perspective you have there.

Perhaps the real issues are with your AT&T ~ Viatalk setup and you're just posting in the wrong thread?
Nope, my setup works just the way I want it to, but thanks for the concern. Thats is a nice thing about DSL for VoIP as I don't get the large fluctuations in speeds I used to on my old cable provider and I don't have to worry about my neighborhood being oversold. DSL historically plays better with VoIP than cable does.

Have you tried any VoIP besides CDV Rick? I have for almost 4 years, so I know a bit about it. I have been a Vonage customer in the past for close to two years.

Vonage is named on the press release, but this truly concerns any third party VoIP application which is not a Comcast product. Anyone using a third party VoIP product should be concerned over Comcast's "network management" practices.

My reasoning is based on posts on out Vonage forums here and other sites which is a good sampling of people that are not in bed with Comcast. Comcast had to be forced to admit they were f'ing with P2P. Who not see them "delaying" pakcets on their network they see as voip? Hell, they are not blocking them, just delaying them. In VoIP, delaying packets = crappy quality. So who will be blamed? Not Comcast, because their connection is "fast" in their mind. So VoIP gets the black eye while Comcast sells their CDV product for almost double the price.

Rick
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join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs:

Re: This was a joint press release....

Comcast has something like 24 million customers including 5 million phone customers.

Don't you think that if they were blocking or delaying voip traffic that more than a few people posting in a thread here or there complaining about their service would have known about it by now?

Vonage...viatalk, and all these other voip providers have one thing in common. They spend precious little time on their own isp's network in search of what they'd like to call a phone service. What you are proposing is something similar to you living in Ct..taking a trip to California..and blaming a section of I~84 for the reason you had a bad experience somewhere along the rest of that 3,000 mile journey. VOIP travels through all kinds of routers..all kinds of networks...all kinds of hops..completely unrelated to the individuals ISP.

But yet..you ..as a non Comcast..non vonage customer..feel qualified to not only blame Comcast..but to state with the utmost certainty that this joint press release with Vonage now "exposes" Comcast for what you'd like them to be....but which all those countless millions of others never had the experience you cite.

And, for your reference..you cite not even your own experience...but the post of some stranger in some forum for a service you don't have..on an isp you don't have.

Wow. Just.....Wow.

--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic!

ptrowski
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Re: This was a joint press release....

Not stranger, Rick, stangers, more than just a handful.

But I asked you have you ever used a third party VoIP provider before?

Here you are pointing fingers at me for not being a Comcast customer. I look at it from the other side. I have used VoIP for many years, and personally I have used them with 5 different ISP's, maybe more. I help friends with their issues and setups. So I don't care which provider it may be, but yes, ISP's mess with VoIP and Comcast has had their own amount of complaints.

But again, have YOU ever used Vonage, Viatalk, Packet8 etc provider before?

As for your reference, you cite not your experience either but a service you have NEVER used with an ISP you worship.
--
"A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend."

Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org

Rick
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edit:
July 10th, @08:08AM

Re: This was a joint press release....

I have Comcast HSI and I've used both Vonage and another VOIP provider personally in the past.

And, it goes without saying that I've been a part of this site and forums for years and have seen many of the same kinds of posts you refer to.

I put little emphasis however on the above because it pales in comparison to the fact that with comcast being such a massive, nationwide ISP..with millions of customers and who knows how many more million people using their network from other isp's for voip purposes..that if what you're saying and suggesting had an ounce of truth to it..that it would be much more widespread than what a few people post here and there on this site re: their experience with vonage.

The problem with your case is that it would have to be an all or nothing proposition. Every person using VOIP would have a problem with using it with their Comcast connection and the Comcast forum would be full of complaints about it. And, as of my last reading of the forum I see exactly...none. And so, I'd suggest that it's far more likely that whatever individual issues people have..they're just that..individual.. and attributed to other things.

And so, it doesn't have to be my personal experience that matters...even though I've had it.

I have cited and questioned your personal experience however not only because you don't have the service and choose to cite a few "stangers" posts as your "evidence"..but mainly because in addition to that..you choose to ignore all the above in making your accusation.

And that's what makes your suggestion something I consider to be without merit.

In any event, I'll be moving on from this debate.

~Rick

ptrowski
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Re: This was a joint press release....

Rick, there are posts even in this thread showing that people had issues with VoIP and Comcast, made a switch to another ISP and things worked better.

So they are wrong?

CableTool
Poorly Representing MYSELF.
Premium
join:2004-11-12

Re: This was a joint press release....

said by ptrowski See Profile :

Rick, there are posts even in this thread showing that people had issues with VoIP and Comcast, made a switch to another ISP and things worked better.

So they are wrong?
It means they had an issue with their CHSI connection that was cable related and obvioulsy would not present itself on a DSL connection.
--
CableTechs.org/"Horrible People with Integrity"

CableTool
Poorly Representing MYSELF.
Premium
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said by ptrowski See Profile :

But again, have YOU ever used Vonage, Viatalk, Packet8 etc provider before?

I have never used VoIP but any home Ive been in that had a problem with Vonage or any VoIP provider was related directly to a service issue. A service issue that was repaired. As with any VoIP product, there is no error correcting capability. A virtually perfect connection web wise can mask errors that the modem itself corrects. voice packets cannot be "resent".
When something is wrong with your service from an RF standpoint VoIP is the FIRST thing affected.

Again, the article never stated Vonage was ever degraded. And it has never been degraded. Its simply a joint press release that VoIP calls, vonage or otherwise, will never be touched and are treated equally among web traffic on thier network.

Screw the Vonage forums.
"I have Comcast and Vonage and my calls suck! Comcast is screwing with my packets!!!!"

What you have here is the nations leading Cable internet provider most likley providing bandwidth for the majority of Vonages customers.
What that boils down to is the likelyhood of someone having a voice issue and being on Comcast is pretty great. But again, it all goes back to a regular old RF issue, nothing tricky going on.

If a tech goes to a home with a VoIP issue with another provider the same care is given to the customer. The same VoIP tests are run that they would run with their own VoIP customers to ensure call quality. MOS scores and all.

Happy trolling however!!
--
CableTechs.org/"Horrible People with Integrity"

ptrowski
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Re: This was a joint press release....

Screw the Vonage forums? Oh please. I could say screw the Comcast forums but I don't.

How many people try Vonage, can't get it to work, call Comcast or Time Warner, etc and say "well, it must be on Vonage's side". So they stop using VoIP and blame the provider.

The average joe looking in the big box store sees the Vonage box, buys it and brings it home. They try it, it doesn't work. They call Vonage who says call your ISP. They call their ISP and they say "everything is fine". They are not going to find out about random or burst loss, latency etc. They just want it to work.

My point is there were alot of posts that popped up about having issues with Vonage and Comcast especially around the time CDV was becoming more popular. It's not unreasonable to think giving Comcast's less than stellar track record of being honest about what they do with packets that they dabbled with "managing their network" and that affected VoIP.

You may not think so, nor will Comcast Rick ever think so. But there are plenty of posts on multiple forums that would say otherwise.

And Rick, we are all strangers on these boards.
--
"A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend."

Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org
hottboiinnc
Kyle

join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
as it is said you never hear much good about a product or service but you always hear about the bitching. Especially here. People are always bitching about something when it doesnt go their way. Chances are they don't have something set up right.
Rocketbob

join:2006-06-08
Stillman Valley, IL

I had Vonage for three years under Insight with flawless service. As soon as Comcast took over I had nothing but problems. Dropped calls, ring unable to answer, clipping ect.
I had to drop Vonage and go back to Verizon. Also, the latency now is so high xbox live is almost unplayable.

TK Junk Mail
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said by Rick See Profile :

Apparently Vonage is happy with what they're doing. Enough so to make this announcement jointly.
And that is the point. Vonage knows that they will get QOS routing thru the network.
--
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Rick
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Waterbury, CT
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Re: This was a joint press release....

said by TK Junk Mail See Profile :

said by Rick See Profile :

Apparently Vonage is happy with what they're doing. Enough so to make this announcement jointly.
And that is the point. Vonage knows that they will get QOS routing thru the network.
Nice for them. But that hardly addresses the entire premise that Vonage is based on..routing through any network..anywhere..at anytime.

If they have quality issues..it's because of that.
--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic!

JasonOD

@comcast.net

My take is Comcast and every other ISP should be able to do whatever the heck they want to their network in order to maximize revenue AND benefit consumers by increasing the value of their products. So in light of the reality that is "best effort" for all consumer ISP offerings, Comcast shouldn't be making concessions to their network like this.

In addition, I can't imagine stockholders will be too happy about about granting special treatment to a company offering a competing product.
battleop

join:2005-09-28
00000

Re: This was a joint press release....

Comcast should not HAVE to make concessions and QOS a competing VoIP companies service. However they should not degrade a competing companies service to make their look better.
bjbrock

join:2002-10-28
Mcalester, OK

I'm sick of hearing about congestion.

Whether thru government subsidies or increased rates, broadband providers need to be forced to increase network capacities. The money they spend on trying to destroy their competition through propaganda could go a long ways towards increasing capacities. The investments need to be made whether willingly or by legilation. There is no reason why network congestion should even be a factor today.

The money needs to be spent on the infrastructure. Lack of capacities need to be a thing of the past so we can get on with letting the Internet be all it can be. It's time to force broadband providers to stop using the excuse of capacity to controll their competition.

I think the entire broadband infrastructure should be nationalized because the current owners can't manage them responsibly.
EPS

join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA

Re: I'm sick of hearing about congestion.

And you sounded like you had the right idea before the nationalization thing...

Sometimes I wonder if competition is the problem here, and if a regulated monopoly would be better, though even then I have doubts... But a government-owned monopoly would simply be asking for trouble.

fatmanskinny
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Atlanta, GA
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Re: I'm sick of hearing about congestion.

said by EPS See Profile :

But a government-owned monopoly would simply be asking for trouble.
...since they cannot properly manage other things on their plate.
--
The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary.

cruzinmy64

@ameritech.net


thumbs down from:
Cabal See Profile

Yes, Comcast DOES mess with 3rd party VOIP

Yes, Comcast DOES mess with 3rd party VOIP. I have a rock solid Comcast cable modem with 10mb down / 2mb+ upload and can't manage to make a single VOIP call without either delays, jitter, or the call just "dropping" after a few min. I recently added a cheal DSL line with 4mb down and 384k up and VOIP works perfect - not a single dropped call!!! Comcast should be SHUT DOWN for pulling this BS w/ us. Many others w/ same issue - I am not the only one that had VOIP suck on Comcast EXCEPT *Their* "Comcast Digital Voice" VOIP... Those bast**ds... Think we are that dumb, huh??
People - go for QUALITY not Quantity - avoid Comcrap!!!

Cabal
Premium
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02101

Re: Yes, Comcast DOES mess with 3rd party VOIP

No complaints in the Comcast forum. No issues here with the 5+ providers I use for work testing on Comcast.
--
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?

JasonOD

@comcast.net
Dude, sounds like you've got a problem with bandwidth hogs on your node. If people would let them manage their network (ie, blasting the crap out of p2p and bittorrent), I'd guess you'd have a much better experience.
Der_Idiot

join:2008-02-10
Norwood Young America, MN
Yes, shut down the only competition to the phone company. Brilliant.

citizensin
The Deacon of the Bipartisan Party
Premium
join:2001-06-19
Fayette City, PA
I started with Vonage in the summer of 2003 using Armstrong Cable. In 2006, I married and relocated switching to Comcast. I can honestly say that I have never experienced any problems

CableTool
Poorly Representing MYSELF.
Premium
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said by cruzinmy64 :

Yes, Comcast DOES mess with 3rd party VOIP. I have a rock solid Comcast cable modem with 10mb down / 2mb+ upload and can't manage to make a single VOIP call without either delays, jitter, or the call just "dropping" after a few min.
What you have is a modem that is correcting any errors it can. Which means you have an issue that is only presenting itself through your VoIP service. VoIP is the first service affected if you have a cable related service issue.
Call quality cannot be corrected. Most everything else can which makes your service look flawless until you make a call.
"AVOID UNEDUCATED POSTERS!"
--
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dnoyeB
Ferrous Phallus

join:2000-10-09
Southfield, MI

No problems

I have not had a single problem since I upgraded my router. Sounds good as a land line. That was January.

Zyxel Zywall 2+