Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

bgentry.posterous.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 74 posts

Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

#41

Post by gte910h »

mikecrowl wrote: post #31

Comcast cut me off last year, after 7 years of service. I got a lil "greedy" and broke the 250g cap (300g+) - never even knew there was a bandwidth meter at their site. By the time they warned me, it was already halfway through the next month. I slowed my usage down, but still broke 260g at the end of the month (I work from home, use it for everything). They shut me off, banned me from service for 1 year, and absolut…

That doesn't sound like their policy. They usually ban you from the residential serivce

They probably offered you commercial level service during that year (which is more expensive, however has a much higher service level and bandwidth cap)

http://business.comcast.com/smb/services/Internet/plans

If they didn't offer it, I'm pretty sure they'll sell it to you if you want it.

Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

#42

Post by bgentry »

thisischris wrote: post #39
bgentry wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wholeheartedly agree. I'm thankful that I turned out to actually have a decent 2nd option. My main reason for writing this was to encourage others, especially in the bay area, to make sure they've really looked at all their options. Some might find a nice surprise like I did.

Just moved into a new place and were about to sign up for Comcast, but instead I think we will be going with Sonic! Thanks!

Definitely give them a call to find out what sort of speeds you can expect in your particular situation. And never hesitate to call their tech support with questions or concern, they have been nothing short of amazing in my interactions with them.

Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

#43

Post by gte910h »

adestefan wrote: post #34
tocomment wrote: post #16

Are there any good 4g options in Maryland?

I keep getting ads for Clear in the mail. No idea how good it is though.

Clear in Atlanta is okay.

If you live in a hilly area, a house at the top of a hill can have great service, and the one at the bottom of the hill can have crappy service.

There is a lot of jitter on clear, so while streaming video works well (after it get's going), you'll ocassioncally get a blip during high traffic times.

VOIP, Video Games (Such as SC2), Skype, and video conferencing is noticeably worse than cable or dsl, even though offering higher bit-rates than dsl. High latency (80 MS from the modem to google is the best I've seen. It varies between 80 and 325 all the time in short bursts*. Don't even try to play many types of game on this or talk over online gaming services.

I use it as the back up internet (I have comcast's 24Mbps service as the primary) and it works for that, but I wouldn't use it as a primary internet for a home or business.

I use something the size of a wifi router (that actually IS a wifi router) that I lease from them. I hook this into a dual wan cisco router to do failover.

Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

#44

Post by roc »

cgag wrote: post #24

My understanding is that no one actually wants to be with Comcast, I was under the impression that people were generally with them because they have a monopoly on fast internet in a lot of places.

Not universally.

In some places --the ones that had the foresight to not grant a cable monopoly and thus the ones where Comcast has to compete straight-up with other cable vendors-- Comcast is apparently alright.

They still have the top-level corporate nonsense going on: the dns hijacking, the traffic shaping, the usage meters, etc. But most people don't notice that stuff and they tell me they're reasonably happy with the service. They're certainly paying less than I've ever been quoted in Comcast-monopoly-towns.

Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

#45

Post by rosser »

dboyd wrote: post #3

I'm also in San Francisco, and looking to move away from Comcast. Mostly due to cost, than anything (yeah, the idea that Internet costs me more than TV + Internet pisses me off in an irrational way). I must admit, it's tough, their Internet service is quite good. I assume you got the 'two lines' package? I wouldn't mind comparing what you are paying to my other options. What's your upload speed, and did you go with '…

I'm also using Sonic's "Fusion" bonded ADSL. At ~9000 line-feet from the CO, I'm seeing 12 mbit/sec down and 4 up. A coworker is also on Fusion, and sees 16 down and 5-7 up. She's far closer to her CO than I am to mine, though.

Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

#46

Post by LogicHoleFlaw »

mikecrowl wrote: post #36
mikecrowl wrote: post #31

Comcast cut me off last year, after 7 years of service. I got a lil "greedy" and broke the 250g cap (300g+) - never even knew there was a bandwidth meter at their site. By the time they warned me, it was already halfway through the next month. I slowed my usage down, but still broke 260g at the end of the month (I work from home, use it for everything). They shut me off, banned me from service for 1 year, and absolut…

Oh, right, we were talking about options. I had two options here in Seattle. Clearwire? 4g, with a modem positioned at my window, hoping it got better reception than my phone? Nah. Or Qwest (now Century Link) DSL. The DSL has been fine. Not quite as fast, or stable (recent storms and flooding forced a lot of reconnects) but is just fine.

I'm not too happy with the situation in Seattle myself. Currently I've got $60/mo 1.5/384 DSL service from MegaPath (formerly Speakeasy). Business line to my home, very reliable. It's just not fast enough for some of the things I want to do.

I can't get FiOS from Frontier at my apartment, even though there is service about two blocks down the street. And I have no desire to do business with Comcast.

Clear is out of the question since I want to start doing video broadcasting.

Not sure what to do here. Move to a new apartment? I might end up doing that for unrelated reasons, and just make FiOS a requirement for the new place.

Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

#47

Post by LogicHoleFlaw »

sukuriant wrote: post #15
greyfade wrote: post #6

I would love to switch ISPs, if only to get away from Comcast's ridiculous caps. But in my area, although there's a bundle of fiber running not 250 feet from my apartment, it's well over $1k for setup and the monthly fee, and the only DSL provider in the area (CenturyLink) only offers service a tenth as fast as Comcast's Xfinity service. Rocks and hard places.

If that wire is Frontier, they may be able to provide the apartment complex with FiOS for free to the apartment complex, under the hope that they'll get customers. That's what a representative told me when I asked what it would take to get FiOS at my place, considering my parts of Redmond is well wired with FiOS. YMMV

Are there any decent maps of where Frontier is offering FiOS in Redmond? Supposedly there is service a few blocks from my apartment downtown, but I can't get a straight answer out of anyone.

Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

#48

Post by ErikRogneby »

binarysoul wrote: post #2

He's leaving because he has the option to use a different comparable provider. Some of us are not so lucky. I have only two options available in my apartment. 3mbit/s cable service which disconnects frequently and is wholly unreliable, or ATT DSL 6mbit/1mbit which while its reliable costs $40/month. 4G wireless solutions do not penetrate my building enough to be useable. What we really need are more comparable option…

Same here. Seattle has a city negotiated franchise agreement (a.k.a. monopoly) with Comcast. https://www.seattle.gov/cable/franchises.htm

I've heard that Verizon's Fios service is excellent...

What is amazing to me is that Quest doesn't take advantage of their existing right of way to build out last mile fiber. Lazy dinosaur. That right of way is a huge untapped asset.

Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

#49

Post by nikki9696 »

cgag wrote: post #24

My understanding is that no one actually wants to be with Comcast, I was under the impression that people were generally with them because they have a monopoly on fast internet in a lot of places.

I don't know if it's generally true, but it's true for me. If there was a viable alternative in my area, I'd switch. I live in a condo, and satellite is not an option. DSL is crappy due to our old phone lines. I'm stuck getting price gouged by Comcast.

Re: Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

#50

Post by jason_slack »

bgentry wrote: post #28
dboyd wrote: post #3

I'm also in San Francisco, and looking to move away from Comcast. Mostly due to cost, than anything (yeah, the idea that Internet costs me more than TV + Internet pisses me off in an irrational way). I must admit, it's tough, their Internet service is quite good. I assume you got the 'two lines' package? I wouldn't mind comparing what you are paying to my other options. What's your upload speed, and did you go with '…

Indeed I have the 2-line bonded DSL. The speed you get will depend quite heavily on your distance from the CO (you can check that here: https://signup.sonic.net/fusion/index/prequalAddress ). I'm in Pac Heights, and my address is an estimated 5,307 ft. from the CO. I did a speed test last night at 24mbit/s down and 2mbit/s up. The quoted max speed for this service is 40mbit/s down and 2.5mbit/s up. The cost is $69.95…

I checked and here at my location in Cupertino I am about 2800 feet from CO!

Does anyone have experience with their "Business T" service for $308/month?

I wonder what the install charge would be for that?

Post reply on HN