 Review by AgentGOD 
UPDATED: 237 days ago
member for 5.5 years, 57 visits, last login: 86 days ago
 undisclosed location
 $42 per month
 about 7 days
 "The first cable company in the area, was very fast in 2003 when I first got it. Now has PowerBoost, and an upgraded bottom tier"
 "Monopolized the area, high prices for the speed, PowerBoost marketting is deceptive, Upload speed can't touch FiOS"
 "If your area does not have anything faster than Comcast (like FiOS), get it. Otherwise, get FiOS."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I considered Comcast back in the day because the only other alternatives were Verizon Online DSL and Dial-up. At the time, DSL was only up to 1.5 Mbps and Comcast has double that speed at 3.0 Mbps, and was consistently reaching that full speed. It was also the first time ever for me to get high-speed internet, so I thought 3.0 Mbps was very fast at the time, coming from Dial-Up. So, I ordered their 3.0 Mbps DL/256 Kbps UL package, going for a high $42.95/mo price.
The ordering and installation processes were very easy, especially when done through their web site. On install day, they gave us a Scientific Atlanta cable modem, which we paired with a Wireless G router to share the connection among other PCs in the house. A few years after, we replaced the modem with a Motorola Surfboard SB5120.
During the years we had Comcast, we experienced speed upgrades and also outages. The downside was the customer service.... it took more than 20 minutes to get connected to an actual PERSON, and not a machine. It also took hours for Comcast's "engineers" to fix line problems during outages, so during that time, I had no TV and no internet.
As of right now, in my area, Comcast upgraded their bottom tier ($42.95/mo) from 6 Mbps DL/1 Mbps UL to 12 Mbps DL/2 Mbps UL, to better compete with FiOS.
The other "nice" thing that was added recently was the feature they dub "PowerBoost", which temporarily gives you some extra bandwidth for 20 MB of a file download (sometimes it can give you 20 Mbps to 30 Mbps in speed, most of the time around 20 Mbps). However, as I said before, PowerBoost has been quite deceptive, especially the way Comcast markets it. They claim it will speed up downloading FULL movies, games, and music. However, most FULL movies are over 2 GB, so that makes their point deceptive. More than likely, this is a response to FiOS, and making customers think they are getting 20 Mbps due to speed testing and downloading small files, but in reality, they are getting a much lower speed.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Comcast |
|
Comcast
