QUESTION on COMCAST as an ISP and Phone Service Provider

[busymomma]

This will also depend on your area and the cables already running in your area. We had a rough winter here in the NW and I was only down once for about 3 hours. We switched from our local phone company because when it flooded in the southern part of the state (frequently) we would be out of internet as well.

I've been very happy with them for the last 6ish months. I've called customer service a couple of times and they were EXCELLENT!

Mary, good to know I can renegotiate a deal again when this one is up I will be all over that. Maybe I can get free HBO/showtime from it. lol

[AskJamesHolmes]

I switched to the all in one solution with Comcast and now have phone, cable, and ISP on one bill, saving about $200 and quite happy. I work full-time from home and I am on computer several hours per day - wireless 100%!

On many days my daughter is on her desk top upstairs wireless, my wife is on her lap top wireless in the den and I am on my lap top wireless in my office with no bog down or slow down. I have had zero down time and excellent customer service getting my wireless network set up. I guess you can tell I am sold on them

[angienewton]

Angie, Why would you go with AT&T if high speed internet were available in your area?

We would go with AT&T because all we ever had with Comcast is problems. Phone and Internet going out mostly on a daily basis. They FINALLY after a year figured out that they installed something wrong. Needless to say we got some credits for that but it was just one issue after another with them. And every time I had to call it was like well you know if we come out and it's not our issue, there is a fee blah blah. Can you tell Comcast frustrates me?

Since we renegotiated prices and they fixed the issue, so far no problems *knock on wood*

BUT we just switched from Verizon to AT&T for cell phone so why not use the same company for everything right?

[lindastacy]

I'd recommend talking to people in your area about the service because it can vary widely. Ask friends and neighbors about customer support, down time, and speed. My understanding is that when you are on a shared service, speed can vary depending on how many people are using it. You might have super Internet speed in the middle of the night, but during peak hours it can slow down considerably.

One thing that always bothered me about the package plan is that if the cable goes out you're completely unplugged - you have no Internet, no TV, and no phone. I just can't tolerate being that unplugged.

I switched from Comcast cable to DSL years ago to get faster, more reliable service and much better customer support. (NOTE: I said years ago so support and service may have changed since then, but I was so unhappy that I won't go back unless I have no other choice.) My DSL service isn't one of the big names.

[InspirationalSheila]

Thank you all for your additional input. I did agree to make the change and have until installation date, 8/7, to cancel. Good suggestions on checking with other people in the area. I did check with a neighbor who has been using their phone service for a year and is quite satisfied.

She does not use the computer to the extent I do. I think I'll take my laptop to her house and check out the speed. I did bring it to the clubhouse. It seemed slower. The Comcast people said it was an older set-up than I would be getting. Wondering as I type if that even makes sense. I will check further.

Thank you all so much.

[Michelle Steiner]

Hi Sheila,

I was with Comcast for several years before I moved to an area serviced by TimeWarner. I never had a problem with phone or internet but my cable TV needed to be rebooted frequently. Other than the price, I can't really complain about their service as I was basically a happy customer for the most part.

Hope that helps a little.

Leigha

Comcast is owned by Time Warner.

[InspirationalSheila]

Thanks for this important feedback. I certainly wouldn't mind some robust filtering on the more than a couple of hundred, at least, pieces of junk, junk, junk mail that's coming into my addresses each day.... well none of them are comcast, so that wouldn't make a difference.

Bottom line, I don't want my mail to be blocked and as I'm writing I'm thinking my mail goes out with my email addresses from my sites, so would it make a difference whether I'm using Bell South or Comcast?

[lindastacy]

Sheila, I think the problem is not with you sending mail from Comcast, but getting it delivered to you when you use a Comcast email address. I have the same problem Mel mentioned; much of my email to Comcast (and some other ISPs) bounces (and I'm not completely blocked; it's just that their filters are set really high). There's nothing more frustrating than not being able to get my messages delivered to customers because of their ISP email filters.

If you are routing your email through your hosting company's email servers then having Comcast won't make a difference. But if you're using Comcast's email server then you might run into difficulties (I know you can use an ISP outgoing email server and still have your return address listed with your domain name. I don't know if it's possible to receive email that way).

[Regina]

I've been with Comcast for years and I can't say I really have any complaints other than the price. Diana

I use comcast too but in my opinion they are way too high. I love the speed of comcast so I think I'll stick with 'em