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Comcast sucks!

AlphaDogg

AlphaDogg

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 20, 2010
3,417
7
Ypsilanti, MI
So these problems that I've had started at the beginning of the month. I had finals and was not able to study (study materials online) because our internet was down. Fine, I also had physical study materials. I did very well on my finals. Then our internet came back up around 10pm on June 4th. The internet was fine, capable of speeds up to 10mbps down/5mbps up. Then last week, the internet started crapping out on us again. A power cycle of the modem would help for a couple hours, but then the problem would come back in all of its glory. I decided it was time to call comcast.

So I called them and they said it was a problem with our modem and we need to swap our modem out at the local comcast office. Fine, we did that and we set it up when we got home. I was getting 12mbps down/6mbps up. I had a quota of miles to ride for the week on my bike that I had not filled yet, so I left on a ride. When I came back 4 hours later, the internet was just as slow as it's ever been. Called comcast, turns out there's an outage. I decided to wait until morning to see if the problem has been resolved.

I woke up; no internet. I checked on my phone and the outage had been repaired. So I power cycled the modem and that brought internet back... But I was getting ping times of 500ms (previously was 25ms) and speeds of .96mbps down/.05mbps up. I called Comcast again and they said that everything on their end looks perfect. I spent 30min on the phone before the conclusion was "we need a technician to come out here." Finally, a technician will be out here this afternoon. In the meantime, I have very slow internet that is only capable of forum-surfing. We'll see how this technician handles things later.

I'll keep updating.

...well it got better... or worse?

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Did another power cycle... And it's fixed!

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Ping is still a little high.

----------

On my MBP, it looks just fine.

 
Just like with every 'zomg AT&T/Verizon/Sprint/DirecTV/whatever sucks!' it's purely based on (a) angry people looking to vent and/or seek others for reassurance and/or mob ranting against said company and (b) based on countless personal and unique factors that can't possibly lead to a rational conclusion 'for all.'

Personally have had a great time with Comcast - by the fastest internet for the price where I've lived (Chicago, Detroit area). Also used WOW, RCN, and Turner/Bright House. No issues on any, ever. Does that make all those companies fantastic for everyone? Nope.
 
malman89 said:
Just like with every 'zomg AT&T/Verizon/Sprint/DirecTV/whatever sucks!' it's purely based on (a) angry people looking to vent and/or seek others for reassurance and/or mob ranting against said company and (b) based on countless personal and unique factors that can't possibly lead to a rational conclusion 'for all.'
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While this is absolutely true, at the same time I do have some appreciation for what the OP posted.

Venting on the Internet (or praising) is a valid method of communicating in this day and age. While Comcast has access to huge amounts of advertising, PR and lobbyists, the average Joe does not.

I especially have sympathy for the OP as I've had to deal with Comcast's customer support, and almost universally, it's been poor.

When Comcast's HSI works, it's really an excellent product. When something isn't working, your options in dealing with Comcast are very limited, and generally you just have to wait for the problem to be resolved.

To me, that is unacceptable. In this way, I'm glad for people like the OP to vent and complain - it puts at least some small amount of pressure on Comcast to do a better job. Of course, I complain to Comcast directly, but oddly enough, they don't listen very well to actual, verifiable customers.
 
smithrh said:
...and generally you just have to wait for the problem to be resolved.
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This is what pisses me off the most. When I had no internet before finals, I was freaking out because there was nothing I could do. I installed a tethering app on my phone (jailbroken) so I could connect to something. Their support is sometimes good, but other times they tell you there's nothing they can do and all I can do is wait.
 
I've had Comcast for over 7 years now, and have lost internet maybe once for more than an hour. And i think that time was after a tree fell on the lines up the street. And the speeds have almost always been stellar. Whenever they went down. Comcast was pretty quick to fix.

I have rarely had to deal with customer service, but that was indeed the downfall...especially the techs that visited my house (this was for TV...never had an internet tech). When I got a TiVo, I had to have a CableCard installed. They require their techs to do it. You would have thought I'd just asked the guy to get a record player to play a CD. He was completely lost, and it never worked. So they had to send a second tech out, and I actually had to show him how to do the job.

So yeah, as long as it's working (which it always is), I've been very happy.
 
As a business owner...

I agree with OP.

Comcast is by far the worst company I have ever had to conduct business with.

I don't have time for a 2 page rant, but I will say this. Their employees seem to be trained in the same cavalier "give a rat's ass" attitude on the phone, almost as if you are bothering them on their lunch hour or euchre game.

They don't give credit's when service is out from business, unless you threaten; and then you have to follow up- because you can bet it won't be on your next bill (and heaven for bid, save your case # because it will NOT be in the notes).

If it were not for being forced (as I required a faster internet than dsl), I would not had signed with the devils children.

So "sucks" is a nice way of putting it IMO.
 
tigres said:
I don't have time for a 2 page rant, but I will say this. Their employees seem to be trained in the same cavalier "give a rat's ass" attitude on the phone, almost as if you are bothering them on their lunch hour or euchre game.
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I have to say, the tech support woman (an american woman, which is great! But I have spoken with Indians with Comcast tech support who I cannot understand a single word of...) I spoke with this morning was great. She was American, but many of the tech support people I've spoken with for Comcast have that stereotypical Indian accent and I cannot understand a single word that comes out of their mouths. When the technician came out today, he said he believes it's an amplifier going out sporadically in the area and that a "line tech" is working on it. He has been to 3 people on our block's houses because of the same issue.

However, here's a problem. The woman I spoke with this morning said I could get a credit for the days which we've been without quality service from the tech who comes out here. That was a lie, as the tech said there is nothing at all he can do in that area.
 
ace198 said:
Why don't you drop them?
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problem is Comcast has monoplies in certain areas and they make it damn near impossible for another company to move in.
By that they will get all the lines/boxes in the area and not allow another ISP to get the equipment they need in the area.

Were I live we have Comcast and AT&T Uverse. Comcast heme rage customers for a while to AT&T and are still losing them slowly.

It is not like cell phones where most areas you have at least 2-3 different choice. Many times you are lucky if you have 2. It normally comcast and someone else if you are REALLY lucky.

I am being forced to go with them where I am moving because they are the only provider in the area. I would much rather go with AT&T Uverse or Fios for my ISP. I can do with out the cable TV part but I need broad band internet and they really are the only choice.
 
AlphaDogg said:
Welp, my speeds have been cut in half :mad:

[url=http://www.speedtest.net/result/2027197011.png]Image[/URL]
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Look on the bright side, at least you're faster than half the country. Just recently, I was out in the backwoods of Tennessee, hooking up a little network for a guy so hey could remote in to his camera system amongst all his stores and grab files where ever he goes. I ended up not being able to give him the full connection because he only had the "Platinum Highspeed DSL" connection. Which was 1Mbps down, 25k up. He paid $60 a month for that.

So it could be worse. : \

Though to brag, it could be better, too. I live just south of Chattanooga, and we have two companies in the area offering fiber to the door. I'm on Charter, and to keep from losing customers to the competition, they've been upping connection speeds without any charges. Over the last year and a half, I've gone up 15Mbps without having to ask for it, or incur any extra charges. It just...goes up.

2027219779.png


It's a shame they don't do this everywhere. I love paying $50 a month for a 40Mbps connection.
 
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You mean a truck actually came by and they fixed something? I contracted for Comcast installing and troubleshooting internet for a couple of months back in the early '00's. From my experiences, it's no wonder so many people are pissed off at them. They don't do any type of line testing, they'll hook the data lines up to three-way splitters hooked up to three-way splitters hooked up to three-way splitters, and tech rarely ever gives you a good, proper answer to a problem other than "we'll send out a specialist". Any tech support jobs I was called on site for only required me to check and see if the various cables were hooked up to their appropriate places, and to see if I could resolve an IP. Nothing more. It was almost insulting.

I quit because I was tired at people screaming at me. "YOU PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS! YOU'RE THE FIFTH GUY THEY'VE SENT HERE, AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THE EXACT SAME THING THEY HAVE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL"?

...it got to the point where I was fearing for my life. :O
 
I have been with comcast since undergrad - about 8 years.. and in my 9th year, I finally moved to a place that had fios availability. Ever since I got on Fios it has been a dream. Constant fast speeds, no drops in internet, everything just WORKS. Hope you can move away from them, because the difference is like night and day.
 
Hahaha you think that's slow? Don't even get me started with my internet.:mad:
 

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peapody said:
I have been with comcast since undergrad - about 8 years.. and in my 9th year, I finally moved to a place that had fios availability. Ever since I got on Fios it has been a dream. Constant fast speeds, no drops in internet, everything just WORKS. Hope you can move away from them, because the difference is like night and day.
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Where the hell in DC do you live that you get FIOS? Can't get it here in NW/NE...
 
Jb07 said:
Hahaha you think that's slow? Don't even get me started with my internet.:mad:
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Holy crap!

But I know slow; I lived with dial up until 2007 because nobody would make broadband available to our neighborhood until then :mad:. We still have a second phone line because of it (though we use it for fax now). Granted I am only 16..

The other provider in our area is Century Link, but their service sucks. We had them for a couple years. We were paying for 7-12mbps and we consistently got 3-5mbps.
 
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AlphaDogg said:
Holy crap!

But I know slow; I lived with dial up until 2007 because nobody would make broadband available to our neighborhood until then :mad:. We still have a second phone line because of it (though we use it for fax now). Granted I am only 16..

The other provider in our area is Century Link, but their service sucks. We had them for a couple years. We were paying for 7-12mbps and we consistently got 3-5mbps.
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I had Dialup until last year. :eek:
My only option was HughesNet. I (am supposed to) get 1.5 Mbps Up/.25 down(all for the low low price of $80/month!:rolleyes:). I usually get around .9mbps up and .1 down, but Sundays are almost always very slow.
 
We had Comcast when we lived in northern Virginia. At the time, I was taking online classes. And, at the time, Comcast's internet would shut off several times per day. Just stop. Stop for 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there, every day. We had legions of tech support people look and say there wasn't a problem, but it would still stop several times a day.

And I wasn't the only one this would happen to. So yeah, Comcast sucks.
 
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