Review by Ulmo 
UPDATED: 265 days ago
member for 3 years, 311 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
 $134 per month
 about 2 days
 "Exists in decent form where DSL sucks"
 "Have to hide from fascist ideas of what Internet mean"
 "A good secondary connection to increase speed"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
This review posted approximately 2007-11-27:
I currently have both Sonic.net (AT&T DSL -- almost 1 year at this location) and Comcast HSI (about 3 months at this location). My maximum speed attainable with DSL is a whopping 3/8ths of a megabit per second outbound! Blow my socks off!! Inbound, it's twice as much, at 3/4ths of a megabit a second. WOW!
Comcast HSI comes in at a puny 16mbit/s per second inbound and 1.6mbit/s per second outbound, for a few seconds, then ratchets down to either 4mbit/s per second inbound or 6mbit/s per second inbound depending on whether you have the standard 6mbit/s or the higher speed 8mbit/s service. I chose 8mbit/s (which is why I get 6mbit/s, aka 750KiB/s). Outbound, it will sustain at about 2/5ths of an mbit/s (or 1/20th of an mbyte/second, aka 50KiB/s).
All this requires methods I'm not going to post here that are very obvious to avoid all their fascist ideas of what Internet means (no "services", which is crazy; no this, no that, etc.). So far, they haven't slowed my whole connection to a crawl ever. I have never had a drop in service other than forgetting there's an on/off switch on the modem (what for I have no idea). They are always very nice at customer service and technical service, and it does not take forever to get ahold of them. They can be physically visited at their office if I don't want to order them to come to me (and this sometimes saves visit fees), but the line at their office is worse: sometimes 30 or 45 minutes or so. At least it's boom-bang-thank-you-mam and you have your new service in your hand (literally), only you have to plug it in and set it up (that can be easy or a hassle).
I keep Sonic.net as my main ISP, and my DSL modem probably just sits there not being used basically except when some legacy device plugs in and defaults to using its gateway address instead of Comcast's (I keep both NAT routers (one for each ISP) on the same LAN for simplicity and for some of my other roommates to use) (PSP, old laptops, old desk computers, etc.). Everything runs OK, and the only down time is when I have to reconfigure stuff -- the ISPs have annoyances having to do with setup and MAC addresses, but once that's resolved (mostly in putting the right NAT router in the right spot with a MAC that works for it and that ISP (which can be a hassle, like I said), and not fussing with that pairing), then everything just works, regardless of whatever network configurations I put in to serve our needs (what sits where, who wants what, etc.). What I'm trying to say here is that both Comcast and Sonic.net's AT&T DSL are very solid. I ran my own CAT5e cable to the AT&T demarc, but Comcast came in and ran their own cable to my room. So, both are good, but Comcast does the work for you. My landlord was in the attic, so I went ahead and moved the Cat5e to the attic, and it's better there, so Comcast looks a bit worse in some respects (not hidden) and better in others (where it's visible, it looks better than the Cat5e).
The MAC address hassle is a big one: You have to have Micro**** to install Comcast, and then that computer is the MAC address that the service will use. There may be ways around that, but basically you have to have a NAT router that will clone your MAC address for its "WAN" (Comcast cable modem) port but not get confused when you connect that same MAC address to another ("LAN") port on the same router or god forbid have it come in from another switch. Luckily, my ISP (Sonic.net) is much easier about changing MAC addresses than Comcast, so I set theirs up on my NAT router that has issues with equal MAC addresses for different devices on either side of its WAN-LAN split, and used the other NAT router that handles that situation well enough for Comcast's modem. This took me a day to figure out.
I haven't had congestion issues with either one beyond a few hours total ever since I had either service. (Both have had their very small share of congestion.)
What am I getting at? Oh -- the intro price for Sonic.net DSL is $13 per month (for under a megabit per second, and goes to $40/month regular price pretty soon now). Comcast is sitting at $58 per month, no intro price. Comcast is 4.46 times the cost of Sonic.net during Sonic's promo and Comcast's non-promo, for 42% higher sustained speed outbound. Looking at it another way, Comcast is 1.45 times the price of Sonic.net's regular price (which starts for me in a few weeks) for 23 times the speed inbound for the first few seconds. So, it all depends on what you look at. I guess the key points are that its sustained speed inbound of 6mbit/s is almost 12 times faster than DSL's, and the cost will be 1.45 times as much, and the outbound sustained speed is 42% faster, and for occasional transfers it goes much faster than that either in or out. Either way, Comcast's speed is far better than AT&T's DSL (which is what Sonic.net resells).
I called Comcast (1-800-COMCAST) from a payphone on I think Saturday. They gave me a holiday appointment, Monday, for the installation. The guy spent under an hour parking, running a new cable from the pole, down the side of the house, into the room, setting up the connection, and leaving (I think it was about 45 minutes). Most of the time was taken waiting for Microsoft Windows XP to be a piece of ****, and for Windows 2000 to boot and pretty much work as expected but still took a while. AT&T DSL, *try that*!
AT&T U-Verse is not going to be offered in my area as far as I know, which in my case, would be a vast improvement (10 times the inbound speed of current DSL), and would be 3/8ths as fast as Comcast's current delivered implementation (inbound). Outbound, U-Verse at 1mbit/s would be twice as fast as Comcast's sustained rate, but half their peak rate. So, U-Verse would be good if I could have it. That's less useful to plan on than moving to a FiOS area (it's more likely I'll move to a FiOS area than have U-Verse available here, is what I'm saying). So, Comcast is it.
The $58/month is with a $14 discount for also having Comcast cable TV. If you drop the extra "2mbit/s inbound" and then don't have TV, I think that's less $10, then add $14, and you're at $62/month for Comcast HSI. Still more money than DSL, and still faster.
Only having DSL required me to plan my Internet like most people plan pilgrimages. Now that I have both, I have an interactive Internet experience, like I say "I want x", then (after the right invocations) x suddenly appears within seconds, minutes, or hours, depending on how big X is.
For my ratings: I'm very poor, so it got a low "value for money" rating, but you may be richer than me, so that will be far different for you. Installation and tech support issues were excellent with exception of the MAC address problem, which is basically the entire reason it's not at top rating. Services would be lower if I didn't get past their fascism, and would be higher if they weren't fascist. Pre-sales information is scant but mostly simple and to the point -- not best but it wasn't too horrible.
We also have TV package "Completo (18 extra spanish channels) con HBO" at a 12 month promo price of 43/month, which with taxes is about $45/month. It misses a lot of channels that I'd like to have, so I consider it expensive. We have a second box (first included), so total with tax is about $53/month. The total bill for both services is just under $111/month.
I also need AT&T telephone with lifeline (for POTS in case of emergency 911, and for the # for job applications since my cell phone is not a permanent #). If I get a job I'm in the middle of applying for, I'll become lifeline ineligible, and Comcast at 12 month triple play promo price or 6 month CDV-only promo price will be cheaper for phone (than AT&T), but I won't have Remotely Accessible Call Forwarding that I currently have with AT&T and is very useful. So, whether I become a Comcast CDV user is extremely unpredictable.
I share TV with 3 other roommates, and 2 additional other roommates just got Dish TV with their own AT&T Yahoo DSL service. As far as I know, his line goes twice as fast as mine inbound (same speed outbound). I can't switch my DSL line to his pair without lots of hassle, obviously. Comcast wins.
I have not determined what to do when my DSL connection runs out of promo. It depends on my employment situation, too, and whether or not I get a broadband usage letter from Comcast.
Note: I am not stuck in a contract with Comcast. With AT&T DSL, I was and still am, and that has been a major problem.
(Cost at time of above review was $58 per month.)
-------------------------------------------
UPDATE as of 2008-01-18:
Here is a recap of my entire Comcast history at my current address, including above and new updates:
I started my most recent Comcast experience with HSI 8meg (with high boosts in and out). Decent enough, dumped my rock-solid DSL 768k/384k (in/out). Costs were basically in the above scheme.
Some months later, my roommate added TV, and when the delivery guy came, I upgraded to a better deal with more channels (Completo con HBO, 43/mo for 12 mo). I dabbled with DVR, and eventually got rid of it to save money.
Some months later, I went for triple play. It sure is nice to be able to call long distance again, have voicemail, and speed dial, call waiting, and have the cost of call forwarding included. The telephone is loud and clear, too, compared to AT&T.
When the installer replaced the HSI-only modem with the HSI-and-CDV modem, I asked about the MAC address, and he said it doesn't need initialization from the computer via the web, the modem will just lock into the first one (on the customer side of the modem) that it finds. Halaluya! I set my router up to a unique MAC number, it came up perfectly, and I will never have to have MAC number problems again (no need to plug the modem directly into a computer or anything). The installer did call his support person to reset/init everything which caused all the stuff to init including that modem init, so that particular step is probably part of the magic.
The CDV is quite reliable, and has battery backup in case power goes out. Comcast is relatively proactive about supporting E911, which means supporting the relationship between your CDV phone and your physical location for emergency response; they have dedicated staff, database, and web pages for that purpose, and they worked well when I did it all; it's automatic when you sign up, but I verified with them just to be sure. Unfortunately, there is no way to put any clarifications in the address, such as "door on right side of building", which is extremely important in areas like mine where not having that information could easily add 5 to 10 minutes to a emergency response call if they are dumb but persistent, or worse yet, they would just give up and leave, even though I'm very much at my home at the specified E911 address bleeding to death or something, just not via the front, left, or back doors. If they are smart, they'd check all around the whole building, and knock and yell. I'm not sure how'd they'd figure it out. If I call 911 I'm planning on telling the dispatcher that I'm at the door on the right side of the building, and make certain that information is in the clear so they hear it and note it in the response info. (There is no seperate apartment #, and everyone frowns upon apartment #s such as "RIGHT" or "SOUTH CORNER", and those descriptive names never fit in the apt# database fields, and USPS has no common abbreviation that suggests a side of a building (such as "SIDE RIGHT", like their "FLOOR 2" or "APT REAR" designations that are quite common).)
The call forwarding is remotely settable via the WWW if you have access to a web program that can handle Comcast's web servers (IE seems to do). Unfortunately, Comcast's CDV settings web server (the one that lets you do everything with their CDV service including setting call forwarding, listening to voicemails, set settings, etc.) is extremely slow and extremely unreliable. It works approximately 40% of the time, and takes about three to five minutes per click. Obviously, the programming for that server is extremely buggy. I hope their recently announced upgrade of the online voicemail system will include a revamp of the server programming to work right. The actual interface is decent enough, but non-java interfaces would work better with more web browsers (there's no excuse for requiring a graphical web browser for CDV web setting and voicemail access). It ought to take only 20 seconds to log in, set call forwarding to something else, check most recent voicemail, and log out. As it is, it takes about 20 minutes to do all that.
Comcast CDV has a remote access phone number to get voicemail. You have to call 1-800-COMCAST and ask for it, and you have to explain to them that since your CDV is call forwarded, you cannot get your voicemail, since (A) you are not home, and (B) when you call your own #, it call forwards elsewhere instead of going to voicemail, and (C) the above web system is so unreliable, and (D) you often aren't near a computer in the above situation that can handle that web server, (E) waiting many rings (I set mine to 4) for voicemail to answer is rediculous, and (F) it's just plain cleaner to have a direct voicemail system access number anyway. I got that #, and it works like a charm, from my cell phone or anybody else's phone. Unfortunately, the voicemail remote access number is long distance for AT&T customers from my home area, so it's an expensive remote access number.
I also got my DVR back, since it was a decent way to watch stuff (and avoid the whole IPTV not being offered directly problem). At that time, I downgraded to 6meg, hence the reason for this update:
*** WOW, WHAT A DOG 6meg SERVICE IS!!!! ***
The main problem is the outbound (384kbps).
I simply could not stand it. So, just now, I went back to 8meg service, for $10 more a month. It's like the difference between a moped and a ferrari, between California-87 and US-I-CA-280 in northern Santa Clara county / San Mateo county area.
Now, my total before-tax bill is a whopper: $133.88 per month for 12 months. That's:
Add'l outlet $6.99 (regular price)
Completo $33 (triple play 12 months)
phone $33 (triple play 12 months)
modem rental $3 (regular price)
internet $42.95 (12 months, something like part of triple play promo, but might be its own promo or a package promo of some sort -- he said first 3 months free ?! woops ... um that's cheaper than the sucky service oh well)
hbo free (12 month promo with the triple play order)
service protection plan $0.99 (regular price)
dvr hd $13.95 (regular price).
The 12 months is the bundle price I get before it goes up to "regular" price; I can cancel service at any time without penalty.
As I was on the phone making the order, he was getting ready to put it in and suddenly the phone hung up. I checked my computer, and the Internet was out. Within a moment (a minute?) everything starting coming back again. I checked: my tel# was the same, voicemail still intact with saved voicemails in place. Everything seems OK. (I haven't checked TV yet.)
At first I thought HBO was too much extra, since I was paying a bit more for it and never watched it. Now, it's free, but I'm glad I have it, since I found out it has the HBO series on Video On Demand called "The Wire". Even though it's about socialists (which I hate) and ghettos and is written by at least a few socialists, it has some real entertainment introspective about the garbage of the workings of that socialism, and some of it is well written. It certainly is entertaining, especially when I watch 3-4 episodes at a time. The VOD works well with that.
Ok, now that my Comcast is hitting well over $100/month, I have to say, is it worth it now that it is a major cost center in my household? I don't know, but I'll have to let you know.
If I'd like to see Comcast do some sort of upgrades, then these would be it:
* Simultaneous Ring on their CDV (ring both home, cell, and whatever other #s at same time)
* Switched Digital Video, to save on bandwidth used by network, thus offering abundantly more stuff
* MPEG4 (part 10, even part 2 but everybody seems to be going part 10 and part 10 is bandwidth and image quality better so since the CPU is already going to be spec'd for that anyway part 10 is good enough (part 10=AVC/H264/~VC-1)).
* More HD, whether that means HD channels, HD VOD, HD SDV, or whatever, using whatever bandwidth savings comes from above upgrades, as well as savings from whole-sale replacing of SD channels (both the SD digital and SD analog ones).
* Start eliminating analog SD channels with prejudice: go for the ones that don't add high value to customers. Of course, transition slower for some of the leading SD analogs, but do some sane studies of how to most cost effectively butt people off of those. (I know that may mean total digital conversion due to some specs placed by government bodies, and if so, then go that route.)
Anything else, like 1000MHz, DOCSIS 3.0, and stuff like that, would be icing on the cake, and in my view not necessary except as incremental and/or hotspot upgrades.
As an alternative, if Comcast wants to reduce/attrition/get out of the TV business, then they can just increase their HSI speeds and start letting competitors do excellent IPTV programming via Comcast's HSI in lieu of Comcast's potential TV future. Somehow, I don't think that's a necessary path, but I'm just saying, it is one that is well understood and may be the direction we go in if Comcast doesn't interpret the tea leaves right this time around.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Comcast |
|
Comcast
(346)
·
