questions about Comcast

[Syrinx]

I've been stuck in the dark ages of dial-up, and getting fed up with it. I live in an area that used to be Charter territory. I never could get them to run the cable up to where I live. Well, they said they would for $2,000. I refused to pay them two grand for the privilege of paying them more every month from now on. People around here say Charter is pretty bad anyway.

Tonight, I was just messing around, and went to dslreports.com and entered my address, and it said that I am now in Comcast's area. Assuming this is accurate, do you suppose they would be willing to run the cable a couple-hundred feet up the driveway, without charging me such a large amount of money?

And if I'm lucky enough to get hooked up, how much should I expect to pay for basic cable and internet?

I have friends that use Comcast, and they love it. Except for the 250 GB/month cap on downloads.

I plan on calling them tomorrow anyway, but I was just curious if anyone has any comments on this. Thanks!

[dysfunctional press]

1. if all you want is basic cable- only sign up for internet service...

then put a splitter in the line before your modem, and run the other line to your tv for free basic cable.

[Syrinx]

3. don't you still need the cable box?

Don't you need that box to do the voodoo that it do?

[Angleae]

5. No.

I have comcast cable (about 70 channels) and internet and no box, just the cable out of the wall into a splitter, one end to the TV one to the computer.

[mwooldri]

7. Unless they've stopped the TV.

Time Warner customers used to get free analog cable by just subscribing to Internet only service but they kind of stopped that. The CableCo can supply you just the Internet without the TV.

[RebelOne]

2. I just switched to Comcast Internet from AOL dialup.

So far, I love it. It's super fast. I had free installation and a monthly rate of $19.95 until the end of the year. After that, I forgot to ask how much it would be.

[quakerboy]

4. You can generally get a 19.95/mo teaser rate

with low 40's to follow(plus a few bucks a month for the modem rental). For the internet. But the catch is you only get internet cheap if you have or get cable tv at the same time. That costs (last i checked) 14/mo minimum, for the first 17 or so channels, and jumps to $33-55 depending on the deals you find for the next tier of access, plus a about $5/mo for the cable box(if you want it for the on screen guide, if not you can go without it), $10 more for HD or their TIVO equivalent.

After many dealings with them I can say with certainty, you have to watch them on the promo rates, they are happy to tell you you will get it, but you often have to call up and follow up if you want to actually get that rate. This is particularly true if you start through 3rd party deals to get rebates and/or free cable modems that they offer.

As to running the couple hundred feet free, thats anyones guess. They did for my boss's business line, but his signal was crap no matter what they did, and the fax never worked reliably. But that was a business line with a contract.

[Orrex]

6. RE: Installation

When we had our Comcast service hooked up last year, they ran new lines from the pole to our house, then down into the basement and back up into the living room (for TV) and "office") for phone/modem. It wasn't "a couple-hundred feet," but all together it was probably about 150.

We were lucky enough to get the installation for free as part of a deal they were offering at the time. If you can find a similar "free installation" promo, then they should be able to offer you something similar.

[underpants]

8. Comcast SUCKS. Their customer service is horrfic

I just got on line again after 2 days of calling, being put on hold DURING the automated teleprompt program :eyes: ,and getting a busy signal. I had to call at 5 AM to get someone....and suddenly the modem works again

They are terrible.

[grace0418]

9. I can't remember the charges but I have to say...

that I hate Comcast with the fury of a thousand white-hot suns. Maybe it's better in your area, but I had three years of hell with them– untold hours on the phone, cable service that worked about 20% of the time, wasted vacation days waiting for technicians that never showed up, being told the same repair needed to be made again and again but it was never successfully fixed, being called a liar when I complained about a no-show technician who promised he'd be at my house by 8 am, being threatened about not returning a cable box that I had returned weeks earlier, billing errors... you name it.

We have terrible reception and the Dish doesn't work in our neighborhood, but we'd rather deal with poor (but free) reception than ever go back to Comcast (where we paid dearly in time, money and frustration for terrible reception). Thank goodness we have our DSL through another company.

Just my $0.02.

[tigereye]

10. their internet service bites..

I'd go with Verizon, or a small Verizon subsidiary for Fios, if it's available in your area. Comcast's internet lasted 2 days here before my husband cancelled it. It was highly inconsistent and kept going out....


YMMV, though, I'm in PA.

[TK421]

11. Avoid them like the plague....we have had nothing but problems

We are constantly losing our internet connection and the cable goes out on occasion. I also feel that the connection isn't all that fast. Their service sucks, too.

I'm currently waiting for Fios to hit my area ( it should be here soon ). My brother and his wife have it and they absolutely love it.

[bluedeminredstate]

12. We're leaving Comcast after 20 years

We pay over $100/month for cable because those teaser rates only apply to new customers. So basically, we support the low rates for new customers who only pay $33/month. My husband and I both tried to discuss this with customer service last week and it didn't go well. My husband asked to speak with a supervisor and was denied over and over. After that shitty customer service we both experienced, we decided to can Comcast and go with Verizon Fios. We'll get phone, internet and TV for $99/month.
If you can get a low rate to start with Comcast be sure to ask how long the intro rate will last and what the permanent rate will be when the teaser rate is over.

[blue_onyx]

13. Comcast internet is horrible

We had Comcast for several years and had numerous problems with the internet being too slow or not work at all. We started having this problem when around 6:30, the internet would slow down and eventually stop working altogether. It would stay down until about 10-10:30. This would happen almost every night for about a month. We decided to switch to WOW (and then to ATT).

[Shell Beau]

14. All I can say is Comcast sucks ASS!!!!

I am not a fan. I do have cable with them, and they think they are God. They are my only option other than DirectTV, and that ain't happening.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. I've had Comcast for 5 years, and they don't suck any worse than any other cable company

All cable companies suck.

My Internet has gone out twice in five years. Other times when I lose Internet connections, it's because my router needs to be rebooted.

I have basic-basic cable (just local channels plus CNN, TBS, and access officially), but in fact, I can get a fuzzy but still watchable version of Turner Classic Movies. :7

Strangely enough, getting basic-basic cable plus Internet costs less than getting Internet alone. Go figure.

I'm still waiting for us to join the rest of the world in having a la carte cable.