I currently have at&t DSL with a speed of 2.0mbps. I'm looking for faster internet, and currently use Comcast for cable and at&t for phone and internet. Is the Comcast Triple Play worth it?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Currently have AT&T DSL, should I switch to Comcast?
- Thread starter applefan289
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Comcast cable will be faster than DSL, but whether or not it's "worth it" is something only you can answer. Do you feel like switching everything over to Comcast?
Well, one of the main reasons I'm hesitating is because I hear cable internet is not as safe as DSL, because everyone in the area uses the same cable "line" so they can retrieve your personal info. DSL has a dedicated line for only you. I am also not sure if I can use my Airport Extreme with Comcast (I'm sure you can, but do they provide you with a modem/router?). I would also look into at&t U-Verse, but it says on the website that it is not supported in my area.
It that upload or download? Run your connection through this site and see what it has to say.
Speedtest.net.
There's a Post Your Connection Speed thread around here. See if you can find it.
Dale
Edit: Your Internet connection will only be available to others if you do not have any type of password on it. One of my neighbors has a dsl connection with open access and I can hijack her connection if I want, but I can't see her computer.
Comcast will provide you with a modem that works with any type of wireless router. My GF has the Triple Play, but I'm not convinced the phone service is worth it.
Speedtest.net.
There's a Post Your Connection Speed thread around here. See if you can find it.
Dale
Edit: Your Internet connection will only be available to others if you do not have any type of password on it. One of my neighbors has a dsl connection with open access and I can hijack her connection if I want, but I can't see her computer.
Comcast will provide you with a modem that works with any type of wireless router. My GF has the Triple Play, but I'm not convinced the phone service is worth it.
Attachments
Comcast may or may not be faster depending on what service providers OTHER than AT&T are around.
I know it is popular to hate on Comcast here, but I have had Comcast for years and never had a problem with them. I have lived in several different places over that time and Comcast has switched me over and had me up and running usually the same day I move in.
The one thing you may have problems with is that they now cap your usage at 250 GB over the month. They do provide a page on their site that tells you how much you have used, so if you are a big downloader you can monitor usage and not go over
![]()
I know it is popular to hate on Comcast here, but I have had Comcast for years and never had a problem with them. I have lived in several different places over that time and Comcast has switched me over and had me up and running usually the same day I move in.
The one thing you may have problems with is that they now cap your usage at 250 GB over the month. They do provide a page on their site that tells you how much you have used, so if you are a big downloader you can monitor usage and not go over
I just made this switch a few months ago. I have kicked myself for not doing it earlier. For the same price, I went from a 3Mb/s dry loop DSL service to a 12Mb/s cable connection. I have gotten speeds over 15Mb/s on speed tests, though it has been down to about 4-5 the past few days. Of course, that is still faster than my DSL.
The thing that pushed me away from AT&T, though, was that my service started out averaging right at 3, but gradually got slower and slower, while AT&T refused to do anything to fix it. Toward the end, I was getting somewhere near 1-1.5Mb/s and they blamed everything but themselves.
The thing that pushed me away from AT&T, though, was that my service started out averaging right at 3, but gradually got slower and slower, while AT&T refused to do anything to fix it. Toward the end, I was getting somewhere near 1-1.5Mb/s and they blamed everything but themselves.
I was concerned with the cap at first, but I haven't hit it. 250GB/month is pretty good unless you are doing some hard core Bit Torrent downloads. I watch YouTube and Hulu fairly regularly, and I haven't hit the cap. However, I could see someone who does something like a lot of Netflix streaming coming close. It's still around 8GB/day, which is pretty decent.
Yup.
I torrent all my TV shows since I want to keep them for viewing on my Apple TV. I only watch about 6 shows regularly - prolly 5 now that Lost is done - and never came close enough to be worried.
It is both up and down stream, so if you are doing huge backups you could run into a problem, but even so you can monitor it and spread your backups out over a few different months. Backup essentials first, then widen the net and get more and more stuff backed up each month.
It has never been an issue for me at all.
I have been considering Carbonite or some other online backup, but the cap has made me hesitate a bit. I have a bunch of stuff to backup.
Each time you click a link and open a page, how many kb or mb is that? I'm trying to figure out how much web surfing you can do with 8GB a day (I watch a lot of YouTube and surf the net as well as play online on my PS3). Only rarely do I download an Adobe trial or something.
What's a bunch? I have 10GB or so of photos and docs. Not sure if I want to backup my iTunes since that would be rather large and take a long time.
Web surfing and YouTube will use hardly anything. You can use Surplus Meter to see your daily use and approximate your monthly use.
The majority of my stuff is in iTunes. If I leave it out of backups, I would have no problem. I want to include it, though, since it would be hard to replace all the stuff in my collection. I'm using about 80GB on my 320GB drive on my Mini. That's not including stuff on other machines in the house.
The only time you should have to worry about coming anywhere close to the 250BG cap is the first month since after the initial backup everything is incremental (or should be at least).
Yeah, the initial full backup is the only thing I would be worried about. The incrementals wouldn't be a big deal unless I go crazy buying stuff on Amazon or iTunes one month. 
Agreed.
Since the initial backup could take weeks, be sure to use some sort of strategy. I first backed up my docs which included tax records and stuff. That took a few hours. After that backup was complete, I did the photos which took a few days. If and when I do iTunes it will probably take at least 2 weeks.
You want to break it down into groups in order of their importance. Back up essential stuff first, then go to the next most important and so on.
I'm calling the service today to see what the prices are if I added internet to my current setup. If it's the same (or less) as what I am paying now, I will go for it.
+1 vote for Comcast.
AT&T has poor service in my area. I can't even get DSL here. However, some of my friends have it. It's awful. Pure "Slowskis"
So I got Comcast Internet and basic Cable. Really, really fast Internet and nice cable TV. Then I got Vonage. That's great too.
My Airport Extreme works fine with Comcast.
You will need a Cable Modem. You have 3 choices:
1- Rent the Cable Modem from Comcast. It's a few dollars a month and not worth it.
2- Purchase a Cable Modem from Comcast. Better in the long term.
3- Purchase a Cable Modem from Best Buy or wherever. Make sure it's compatible first. Most in the store are.
I didn't like my Comcast-supplied Motorola cable Modem so I got a Toshiba one from Best Buy. I called it in and it's been great for 6-7 years now.
(the Motorola one was too susceptible to power surges at my old house)
Have Fun,
Keri
AT&T has poor service in my area. I can't even get DSL here. However, some of my friends have it. It's awful. Pure "Slowskis"
So I got Comcast Internet and basic Cable. Really, really fast Internet and nice cable TV. Then I got Vonage. That's great too.
My Airport Extreme works fine with Comcast.
You will need a Cable Modem. You have 3 choices:
1- Rent the Cable Modem from Comcast. It's a few dollars a month and not worth it.
2- Purchase a Cable Modem from Comcast. Better in the long term.
3- Purchase a Cable Modem from Best Buy or wherever. Make sure it's compatible first. Most in the store are.
I didn't like my Comcast-supplied Motorola cable Modem so I got a Toshiba one from Best Buy. I called it in and it's been great for 6-7 years now.
(the Motorola one was too susceptible to power surges at my old house)
Have Fun,
Keri
It seems that a lot of people's experiences with internet services are based on how good the performance is where they live. Where I live, my DSL is actually pretty fast (at least to me) at an average of 2.0mbps (sometimes more sometimes less). I was looking into Comcast to see if I could get a good deal. I called, and the prices are outrageous after the first 12 months compared to what I have now. I didn't realize I would have to purchase a modem with it either until you pointed it out. Right now, I don't really have a DSL "modem", but rather this tiny beige box on the wall that connects right to my router through ethernet. It's actually pretty good visually, as far as clutter is concerned.
But, again, I'm not really sure why someone would want to pay more for cable internet, considering the new modem, bandwidth limit, slightly higher chance of your privacy leaking to others in your area, etc. I am on the internet about 4-5 hours a day for entertainment (when I was taking school online, it was even more), and have really found no need to upgrade. I just figured that if cable internet was the same price as DSL or maybe slightly higher I would go for it, but it's actually double what I'm paying for right now!
But, again, I'm not really sure why someone would want to pay more for cable internet, considering the new modem, bandwidth limit, slightly higher chance of your privacy leaking to others in your area, etc. I am on the internet about 4-5 hours a day for entertainment (when I was taking school online, it was even more), and have really found no need to upgrade. I just figured that if cable internet was the same price as DSL or maybe slightly higher I would go for it, but it's actually double what I'm paying for right now!
Why don't you just upgrade your DSL service to a higher speed? Sounds like you have the DSL Pro service.
I have the DSL Ultra service, and at&t doesn't offer anything faster (including U-Verse) in my area. In other words, I have the fastest at&t internet in my area.
The DSL Elite or DSL Extreme? The one that gives up to 6Mbps? And you're averaging 2Mbps? Oh you have other issues then. I have that and average 4-5Mbps.
No, I have this service:
http://www.bellsouth.com/consumer/inetsrvcs/index.html
"DSL Ultra"
It actually says "up to 1.5mbps", yet I'm getting around 2.0. I guess I'm lucky for going above rather than below.
http://www.bellsouth.com/consumer/inetsrvcs/index.html
"DSL Ultra"
It actually says "up to 1.5mbps", yet I'm getting around 2.0. I guess I'm lucky for going above rather than below.
Oh...ok. Well that's good. I haven't heard anything bad about Comcast Triple Play so if you're looking to save money and if you have a decent router, I wouldn't be worried. Depending on what specials they are running, they might throw in the cable modem for free. Again, I don't know much about having internet, phone, and cable through Comcast or anybody but if there's a problem and the cable goes out, do you lose all three until service is restored?