Comcast fixes my Internet

Scott Manning
March 23, 2003 | Comments (6)

There has been a lot of response towards my disapproval of Verizon DSL and the crappy customer service that comes with it. In the chronicles of my story, I mentioned that I was switching over to Comcast Cable Internet. Several people have sent me emails saying Comcast customer service isn�t any better and others have said that I�ve made a wise decision.

Well, after two and a half months of service and a few support calls, it�s time I made my own assessment.

For the most part, the Internet service has been impeccable. According to the bandwidth tests, I have an average download speed of 1.3Mbps (That�s near T1 quality) and an upload speed of 256k. The download speed is three times that of the Verizon DSL.

But in the past month, the wife was saying that the Internet would be out in the mornings for about an hour. Unfortunately, I would never be there when this would happen, so there wasn�t much I could do. Finally, I returned home from a vacation on Friday to have the Internet not working.

I went around the house and started poking at wires and connectors to see if anything was loose. The Cable TV was working okay, but not the Internet. This was baffling to me since they both come through the same wire.

I called Comcast and got to a human being in about ten minutes. After ten minutes worth of tests, they said they wanted to send someone out. I set up an appointment for the next day and feared the worst.

The appointment
The Cable/Internet guy showed up within the three-hour window that cable companies are infamous for setting up. I even received a call ten minutes beforehand by Comcast to let me know he was coming.

The guy was very nice. He assessed the situation and found the problem within 60 seconds. He then spent about 20 minutes messing with the cable wires and getting everything to work properly again.

And that was it.

The cool part is this was part of the service. Verizon made me pay $2.50 a month for in-house calls even if I never had any. If I didn�t pay the $2.50, I would be charged 80 bucks, plus 50 bucks an hour for an in-home service call.

Anyway, damning Verizon DSL to hell was the best thing I�ve done so far. The Internet is faster, the service is better, Cable TV is included, and the wife is happy.

The Verizon DSL saga
To hell with Verizon DSL
To hell with Verizon DSL Part II
To hell with Verizon DSL part III
To hell with Verizon DSL part freakin' IV

Enjoy this article? There's more. Digital Survivors is a source of articles, tutorials, reviews, and commentary on all things digital.

Stay informed with , our feed is permanently ad-free.

These articles are new:

	Visualizing the Effects of the Great Leap Forward
	The Causes of Starvation During the Great Leap Forward
	Belgium's Neutrality was More than a "Scrap of Paper"
	Treaty of London, 1839: The Complete Text

If you don't immediately see what you want, you can start a topic in our forums.

Comments (6):

1) Posted by: Steve
March 24, 2003 11:07 AM

I've had decent service from them as well... took awhile to get what I really needed, but once there... did a good job!...

2) Posted by: C-Lo
March 24, 2003 3:18 PM

I have had great experience with COMCAST. Got the service as soon as they came out and have used it since... they even messed up and gave me 6 months for free... I only wish they were a bit cheaper... 50 bucks/month is hard on a graduate student budget...

3) Posted by: KB
April 7, 2003 2:44 PM

I am an employee of Verizon. I used to be a technician. I just wanted to say that you are not alone. I hated nothing more than to tell a customer they were not going to get service. Especially something as new as DSL service. I have been promoted to a IT management job, where im in a better position to change the level of service. Good things are coming.

PS - Cable is sweet.

4) Posted by: Amarok.
April 25, 2003 5:19 AM

I have the $59 per month DSL package from verizon DSL and I have had zero problems with it. Its not the service, its probably the person using it. If you are good with computers then you would know how things work and know that Verizon DSL is fine. Also you math is off. Comcast is slow if you only get 1.3Mbps. I get 1.5 max with verizon but usually 1.4. Thats hardly 3x slower then Comcast.

5) Posted by: Satnam Singh Bhugra
September 3, 2003 1:02 AM

Can I use my comcast cable internet, when away from home,with the help of a telephone line.

6) Posted by: ray
May 13, 2006 11:15 AM

Can some one help. Comcast has been to my house 11 times in 6 weeks. The last time they fixed it but i want to get verzion dsl can any one tell me is it much slower that comcast and how is it .
Thanks