I got Comcast out of my life 15 years ago and haven't missed it, yet. We're quickly growing frustrated with AT&T/U-Verse. Customer service is fine but they can't seem to fix our issues. Connection is dropping out all the time; numerous times a day for a few seconds to a few minutes. Tomorrow is the third time they are coming out regarding this issue that's been going on for months. (Intermittent, not constant.) Any opinions on Comcast? Their customer service is notoriously horrible, but maybe the internet will be better? I'd appreciate feedback. Thanks.
I've worked for Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, and CableVision for years and here's the scoop. The largest factor is the market you're in. Small markets might not get the upgrades, test equipment and manpower that a large market would get and service might suffer. The upside to having a cable provider is that they know when your service is and isn't working. It's standard practice to dispatch a tech morning, noon or night if 3 homes lose their service in the same node (roughly 250 homes passed or 125 customers) at the same time. The downside is cable is negatively impacted by so many things that keeping it working can be tricky if the plant is old or built beyond what it can handle comfortably. Also, a big problem with customers losing internet service might not have anything to do with the cable company itself, rather, it could be caused by a guy 2 blocks away who tried to hook up illegally or add an outlet in the guest room and screwed up doing it. What happens then is that all the stuff that's broadcasted over the air now gets into the cable at the frequencies used for your modem to send commands out to the internet. When that happens you can click on a link all day long but your request is being crushed by all the garbage leaking into the plant. Now the cable company should respond quickly and isolate the problem because this guy has just shut down 125 customers or more. But the operative word here is 'should.' If you get Comcast and feel they're giving you the runaround, the best thing to do is complain to the city, we always hated city complaints.
It's been a horrible week here. I live in an apartment building in a town west of Chicago and we have AT&T and Comcast wired to the building. MetroNet went down the road a couple of months ago with fiber-optic cable, but running it to the building would be something in the disaster category because of the damage to landscaping. So, we are stuck with the other two. Our TV is on Comcast because of a contract with the building management. It works okay, no real complaints there. However, we have our cell phones, house phone and internet through AT&T as we had been a customer of theirs for many years before moving here. Our first problem is with the cell phone: The cost is high and they have no lower plan. So, we decided to switch to Consumer Cellular with a cost less than half that of AT&T. We have had Motorola Razr phones for the last ten years--not smart phones. AT&T has been totally pissy about unlocking the phones and transferring the numbers. We eventually got the numbers, but gave up on the phones and just got new ones. They might be ticked off because I hear that Consumer Cellulas uses AT&T lines and equipment. Oh, did I mention that AT&T customer service always seems to involve someone that has a one hundred English word vocabulary and an accent that C-4 has a hard time getting through? Consumer Cellular has been much better, but managed to burn the SIM in one of the new phones with the wrong number. So, we are having to wait for a new SIM card to arrive. Now, the internet. My wife has been looking into signing up with one of those work-from-home operations. They tested her computer and connection and said her computer is great, but our AT&T service isn't fast enough. Now, AT&T has faster service in other parts of town and new fiber-optics in the new residential section. They are very clear about the fact that they have no intention of upgrading our lowly existence. So, we are switching to Comcast for our internet and home phone because their speed is faster. Two problems with this operation. First, it was not made clear that we would be connecting to the coax connector that the TV is attached to when we ordered the modem. We are now awaiting the delivery of the spliter and cable. The second problem is pissy AT&T not giving up our home number. We now have a new home number. So, for the next few days, we have one new cell phone, one old cell phone, using our our old internet while the new one sits and waits, and a home phone with two valid numbers although it is still connected to the old one. Observations: AT&T is going downhill in their customer service, and this experience has been a great opportunity to rearrange a lot of junk.
We've had Comcast/Xfinity for about four years now, and we like them. We live in west central Florida, on the outskirts of a smallish city. Our internet download speed(what we're paying for) is supposed to be 75Mbps. But when we test it thru a local server, it is always around 90 Mbps download and 12 Mbps upload, So we're very happy with that. The cable TV service is also pretty decent, though local channels sometimes breakup. When we needed them to do a service call on the equipment, the Technician gave us a much better modem, went thru every cable and connection inside and outside our home, and as I recall, charged us nothing. We have also dropped off equipment at their local business for a credit on our account, without hassle or issue. All in all, I'd give Comcast an A or very good. But they do tend to nickle and dime you for extras. Before that, we lived in Clermont, Florida. Time Warner was our cable provider. They did a good job. I'd rate TW a B+.
