Comcast Internet vs the others...

[mainlylinux]

Hey guys,

I've had Comcast Cable internet since it was owned by @Home, then AT&T, now Comcast.

I have periods where I can go 2 months with it working good, and then just BAM it works like crap.

I call the tech support people and they tell me it'll take 10 days to get someone on site!!!

For $66 per month that seems like terrible service. Would it take that long if my cable TV or telephone went out?

I've decided to switch to DSL. There is a locally owned and operated DSL company right here in town.

I signed up for the 1.5/1.5 up/down service for 62.95/month for 24 months. That includes the telephone drop coming to my house from the pole.

Anyone have experience with dsl vs cable reliability??

Dan

PS - I work from home two days a week so when my internet isn't working I have to make an 80 minute round trip into work. To save 10.6 hours per month driving time I'm willing to pay $60+ per month if the service is reliable.

[Dennyz]

I have had comcast since @home also, and expereinced the same frustration. Unfortunatly it is the only high speed Internet option for my home.

I found that if I turned my router off every night, I had far less problems. I installed a timer on my cable router that shuts it down every night from 2am until 3am.

This address a bunch of issues from router setting to hackers.

[sksxs1100]

roadrunner cable... get it and be done with it... dont use there firewall or other stuff.....

4 computers playing online game at the same time with no problems..

I had DSL before cable... and there is no contest... dsl never met up to there claims

[81xsproject]

I have had the same problems with cox. They WILL cut your bandwidth down if you don't keep on their asses. Call them up and tell them you want it back and no, it is not your computer.

[mro]

DSL Vs Cable

Have not had DSL for several years.

Was better than dial up but was not consistent and every now and then it went down for an hour to a day at a time.

As soon as cable came around got that and have few complaints other than price. Have "slow" downs only rarely.

DSL should work better by now and have been thinking of giving it a second chance.


mro

[JWSanders]

I've had cable internet since 98. Went from @home to Intermedia, then Comcast. DSL dosen't even come close. I usually average between 5 and 6 Mbits down and 512k up. Before lightning took out my (modified) Motorola surfboard cable modem, I could get even more. They are very easy to hack. Ever seen 10Mbits down and 10Mbits up? I have.

After losing 2 CM's to lightning in the last 12 months, I just rent one now. My service is rarely down, and never slows. I live in the country, and have to share the bandwidth with few people. Since Comcast upped their service here, I don't really need to coax more bandwidth outta them anymore anyway.

If you have more than one splitter in the path between your tap and your CM, it will affect your bandwidth in random and drastic ways. Learned that one first hand. There are also several settings in the registry that will open your connection up all the way. www.speedguide.net is a great place to get all the info for that.

[JWSanders]

BTW Dan, unless you're really close to the switch, you wont see the full 1.5 Mbits. Consider yourself lucky if you get over a megabit. Most of the people I know with DSL get somewhere between 800k and 1 Mbit. Distance is a HUGE factor in DSL's bandwidth.

[TopCatGr58]

More trips down memory lane!

I remember starting with Q-link with my Commodore 64 and my 1200 baud dialup modem!! Several years later getting my first "Blue" machine, 2400 modem, then 14.4, then 28.8, and finally the 56k!

When cable first came out in my city, it wasn't available in my neighborhood EVEN though we had standard cable, they have to rig up the digital lines and convertors and such, the roll out to several years.

SO...I was able to get DSL, was reliable, and several times faster than dialup, so was worth it. BUT, the company went bellyup in about 1 year after I got onboard! Thankfully cable finally rolled out in my neighborhood, got switched over to that.

Has been very reliable for the most part. Occasionally/rarely the modem would loose it's ?Synch? with the network, and I would have to call COX to have them reset the modem or some such thing, since turning it off, waiting, and then turning it back on would NOT work alone.

I've actually had COX improve/UP my connection data transfer rates TWICE without having to ask or pay anything extra!! I haven't paid much attention to what they say my speed is at now, but I'm seeing actual 300-400 kbytes(not bits) second D/L speeds depending on the web site I'm accessing!

I've got a hard line router with my main desktop, and then 3 other lines, one of which is connected to a wireless access point, that I have 2 laptops connecting with "G" cards. So, needless to say, I'm happy with my cable access!
T.C.

[mason79]

I'm happy with my cable access!

i had both cable is better

[motoman]

Had dial-up ..changed to cable with local (TCI). bad service.went to high-speed DSL couple years ago and have no complaints with the service for computer or telephone. Now same local server is changin' me to digital for computer and telephone and will have unlimited long distance for phone. That part did'nt really matter as I have cell phones with Verizon. The total cost is cheaper since there isn't all the taxes on digital. I only had 2-second lag time with the high-speed DSL also.

[Czekus21]

Thanxs guy's for the thread. This happens to be the field I work in, along with Cable (HFC ) telephone service and digital cable. I will try and keep it as simple as I can, and in laymans terms. Our Government has put a deadline on cable service providers having to provide everyones service using a digital signal. 2009 ) After the deadline, you will need to have a cable box to get cable tv. No more analog signal. ( The government wants all the bandwidth associated with transmitting the analog signal ) Well, to make this happen, upgrades in a system need to happen. For ALL of cable assosiated services to work properly, These upgrades happen at the office ( headend ), at the line amps and at the tap. There are also upgrades that need to happen at the house. For example: if the homeowner wanted to save a few bucks and run a few outlets in his house, no problem for analog cable. Then he decides to finish the basement or reside the house covering the high doller wal-mart 45-550 mhz splitter. Then decides to move the computer to a different room ( supplied with non-compatable rg58 or rg59 wire off of the 45-550 mhz splitter. now stuff doesn't work because the homeowner just killed the foward carrier( usually above 550 mhz ) and with the solid copper conducter/ non metal clad type wire, killed the return frequency range ( usually between20-30 mhz ) .
Not to say that it's the homeowners fault their stuff doesn't work right. There are also cable installers who could care less. There just there for the job ( contactors ) Cable service techs who don't know what there doing. Or get confused.
I'm a service tech and I fix stuff when it's broken. From the headend processors and transmitters to the end product. I see the confusion every day in the plant as well as at the house and can sympithize with the frustration. But the bottom line is, for the most part, The system, ( plant and house ) need to be compatable for the service. This cost money. sometimes the upgrade are done a little at a time, sometimes there done all at once. Also forgot to mention that outside temps make a big difference on the signals hitting the house. Ever notice that when the temps outside are between 20 and 70 degrees that your tv picture usually looks better? If your in an airial plant area, are there alot of squirrels? They love cable wire. Under ground plant areas, Are there moles? they love cable wire. We here in the Sioux Falls area are starting to replace our airial area plant with armored cable. ( a 8itch to work with but effective against squirrel chew ) under ground plant area we are putting stuff in heavy conduit. This is about as short as I can make it. There are alot more factors that go into the sigals that a Modulator/Demodulator ( modem ) needs to work properly To under stand more and want to do some homework Rechearch what QAM and MER/BER is as well as QPSK and DOCSIS. Also research what electricty is, how it's formed and how BEETS of electricty is relevent to cable.

[mainlylinux]

It would be nice if I knew a knowledgable cable person.

But since I don't, I'm going to try DSL. I live about 2 miles from the telephone CO so thats not to fare.

I could get a T1 to my house @ cost (my company is a commercial ISP) but that would set me back double or triple the cost of DSL (but very reliable, excellent support, no distance limitation).

I'm not that hung up on speed, as long as it's T1-ish I'll be fine.

[JWSanders]

Originally posted by TopCatGr58
More trips down memory lane!

I remember starting with Q-link with my Commodore 64 and my 1200 baud dialup modem!! Several years later getting my first "Blue" machine, 2400 modem, then 14.4, then 28.8, and finally the 56k!


T.C.

Ah, memories...

When I got a 8086 Tandy 1000 in '85 (I was 15) It had CGA color and a whopping 128k of memory. And not 1 but 2 (amazing!) 320k floppy drives. No HD, of course, they cost more than the PC did back then. It was like 10 times more powerful than the TRS-80 model 1 I had before that.

I had a 300 baud accoustic coupler modem for it. You know, the kind where you had to plug the handset into the two holes. Was a turd and didnt connect well. I got to BBS a little bit back then, but my parents balked at letting me tie up the phone all the time.

Boy did I think I was the shiznit with all that. I worked for 2 years to pay it off. (was like 1900.00!!) Flipped a lot of mickey D's burgers for it, for sure. I actually still have the thing, and I bet it'd start if I tried it.

[Geezer]

I was one of the first to get cable internet (AT&T now Comcast) when it came to my area.

The first week or so was great then it would crash. Tech support was a buch of idiots and kept telling me the problem was on my end. After a week of that I called Verizon and got DSL. My DSL has only gone down once in 3 years and I have gotten one free speed upgrade.

From what I hear Comcast cable isn't any better now than it was when ran by AT&T.

Also DSL is half the price...

Geezer