Review by magusat999 
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 4.3 years, 55 visits, last login: 13 days ago
 Oakland,Alameda,CA
 $65 per month (12 month contract)
 about 5 days
 "Speedy, unobtrusive."
 "Unreliable, constant dropping of connection. Horrible utilities, add-on services."
 "Good for fast downloads, quick connections - bad for consistant connectivity."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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Comcast was fast to order and get going. They offer basic speeds of 6mps, and another 2+ (plus a "guarunteed" 6mps) for another $10.00). So far they haven't lived up to thier word on the speed guaruntee - at least not technically... unless 0mps is equal or more than 6mps. There are a few thing that I'd at least LIKE to do with my speed that I cannot, because Comcast drops my connection at the rate of about once per hour - especially when I am using it consistantly. Obviously, I'd like to be able to download large files quickly; I'd like to watch videos, listen to music, go to places like You Tube or Singshot and even participate in some entertainment; I'd like to play Poker at places like Ultimate Bet; I would like to watch the Big Brother feeds - or any kind of continuously streaming entertainment; I'd love to play some online games (not for five minutes, Comcast... try at least five hours...) - I CANNOT DO THESE THINGS BECAUSE COMCAST KEEPS BREAKING MY CONNECTION. It ESPECIALLY ACTS UP whenever I am trying to use the connection in a consistant manner. Sure, I can download a file or a video here and there - but let me try to play Battlefield 2042... NO WAY, JOSE - it AINT GONNA HAPPEN. It's all I can do to wait for somebody - anybody - with comparable speed to come into my area - I don't give a boo-boo if it's equally-stanky-for-different-reasons-Verizon: I'd drop Comcast like a burnt tuber.
Comcast doesn't update it's modems very often - or if they do, they don't tell thier customers to come and trade up. What they told me the last time I asked is that my modem was "up to date". I haven't made a trip to thier brick and mortar yet - but I bet they have some that is newer than my 3 year old RCA - and if they don't, well that's just as pathetic as not telling me. I haven't gone to thier office, BTW, because they put it right in the heart of the most violent ghetto in my city ( they shut down the nice one that was near our downtown area) PROBABLY ON PURPOSE. I'm not from the ghetto, I'm not near the ghetto, I don't want to go to the ghetto... Likewise, Comcast's "installer" is a joke. It has yet to ever detect my modem - l thank god I don't need it to connect. It also is a booger to get past the RCA modem to configure my router. When will they start considering OTHER network devices when they make these things?
Comcast's online offerings are nothing special, either. AOL had better stuff than what they offer back in the 80's. It's like someone has to slap Comcast in the face an remind them that they have HIGH-SPEED. The webpage looks like a fifth grade assignment. The "goodies" make them look like they have no pull at all. Buy somebody, offer something valueable... looks just piss poor in there. They have "The Fan" - a bunch of old rehashed news clips that anyone who can spell "GOOGLE" can find in a million places. Then they offer you a bunch of trojan-ware, like the pathetic Comcast toolbar - a useless piece of adware / spyware mascarading as a browser tool. I don't know what's wrong with Comcast - they have the best thing going (on the West coast) and they are just sitting on thier butts and basically blowing it. Instead of solidifying thier customer base - they are making us hungry for a service that has the SPEED they have - but nothing else.
Followup comments:  
Cabal
Premium
join:2007-01-21
Boston, MA
| Don't complain, call support Comcast isn't sabotaging your connection. Check the Comcast forum for the "how to get help" link and post there, including your signal levels from your modem, or call Comcast support. You have a problem with your connection, most likely signal quality related.
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Anonymous posts are ignored. If you wish to be heard, speak for yourself.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru? | |
|  | ek
Premium
join:2005-12-23
Orinda, CA
| Re: Don't complain, call support As a Bay Area Comcast customer who has spent the last 4 days on the phone with Comcast Support and have been unable to have them even get a technician to come look at the problem -- which is a complete outage of Comcast cable, phone, and Internet for 14 hours each of the past 4 nights -- I find your suggestion to call support laughable.
Comcast support is useless and their service is horrible. Right now I've escalated to a local office supervisor who promised me yesterday that I would have a network tech on site to fix the incoming line. No tech showed, no phone call, and the "direct line" that the supervisor gave me to call him with questions rolls straight to voice mail with no return calls.
I've considered disconnecting entirely and going back to AT&T and DirecTV but right now have decided not to let them off the hook that easily. Instead I intend to hound them until they fix it. | |
| magusat999
join:2005-07-08
Oakland, CA
1 edit | Reviewer replies: I have no idea, nor am I making any inference as to whether Comcast is sabotaging my connection or not. It is clear, however, from more customers than just me, that there is a problem here and Comcast has yet to address it. As far as support options - I don't need advice on that matter. I am fully aware of how to contact Comcast, research problems here and other places on and off the net, and even make adjustments myself as necessary. My comments are in consideration of the fact that I have sought out solutions in the way you suggest and many others, and have come up with goose-eggs. It should be as easy as contacting Comcast to get problems solved - one shouldn't have to scour the seven internet seas to "find" a way to fix connection problems with Comcast or any other provider. I don't "provide" the connection - they do - so it's incumbent upon them to have the solution.
The problem is, Comcast is either unskilled or unwilling to do anything about the well documented connection woes that many of it's subscribers have been squealing about for years. Unfortunately, Comcast is about the best thing in my area - so it isn't an option to go anywhere else - but that doesn't make me blind to the fact that their service and reliability need some major upgrades.
Lastly, I wrote this review to relate my own personal experiences with Comcast. It isn't here for you or anyone else to "invalidate" or "critique". No matter what you say, it's my experience, it happened, and that's just the reality of it. If you don't like my retelling of my true life experience, or that I am not happy with paying for bad service, it's not for you to try and stop me or get me to lie and say "everything is fine and I'm happy." There are plenty of sunshine and lollipop posts you can go to and only read the "good comments". It serves no purpose to poo-poo all over someone because they aren't saying what you want them to say. Just go hang out with your kind if your that bothered and you can kiss up to Comcast or whoever en-masse.
Oh yes - I had to add: there is no "signal problem" with my line. If that were the case I wouldn't be able to get high speeds AT ALL. Dropped signals at regular intervals are not due to dirty connections, it's an indication that something else is affecting the connection - it's like a heart murmer, a regular, predictable loss of connection that occurs whenever and especially a user is trying to stay connected and USE the connection (you can be connected but not really be using it - like when you are viewing a website and you stop and read on each page) like a continuous download, a game, streaming video / music. Besides, I checked that out already and my "signal" is extremely good. Anyways, the whole "signal" thing is supposed to apply to DSL anyway. I know you don't have Comcast in Boston (do you?), but they advertise specifically that one of the advantages of Comcast cable over DSL is no issues with "signal strength". There's a commercial illustrating their claim where a turtle couple pushes their laptop "far away" and the connection is still strong. Lets not get our technologies mixed up here, we're talking about Comcast Cable in Oakland, California - not whatever you have in Boston, Mass. | |
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