Comcast, again.

The BBQ Pit
1

It’s such an easy target, yet it’s both necessary and cathartic.

One day a few months ago we received a notice that we had a new piece of equipment waiting for us at our local Comcast service location. It was the new all-in-one gee-whiz cable modem/wireless router/telephone gizmo, a huge piece custom-made for Comcast by Arris. So we dutifully hooked it up.

I have regretted it ever since.

The wireless signal wasn’t even strong enough to make it upstairs. The performance was horrible, frequently requiring waits of up to 5 minutes to so much as reload pages. Then it would work fine, sort of, for a few minutes, only to cut out again. I kept looking for a solution, I called Comcast a couple of times, I read all the complaints on the Internet, I tried all the solutions, and finally, tonight, I had enough.

I plugged in the old cable modem I had, reconnected it, attached my old wireless router and did a few configuration things. You know how when something changes and you adjust to it so that it becomes the new normal? Well, I adjusted to the super-duper-high-tech equipment. You would not believe how fast my connection is now with the old equipment. It’s held steady, too, not cutting out even one time.

Once again, Comcast has foisted crap onto an unsuspecting public. I’m reasonably tech-savvy and you can see how long I put up with it. For the average user who doesn’t know anything they will never, ever be happy with their connection unless they get one of the boxes that actually works (if there are any). They may never know that what they have isn’t what it’s supposed to be. Apparently they have pushed through numerous “fixes”, none of which have been successful. Of course, these boxes were half-baked to begin with. They exist only to blanket areas with publicly-available Wi-Fi, emitting a signal that any Comcast user can tap with their username and password, and doing so on a box and a connection that you pay for.

I am taking the box back this week. Chances are they’ll try to continue to charge me rental for it. There’s an even better chance that they will turn right around and push that same box on some other unsuspecting sucker.

If there were any viable options I would ditch Comcast. Alas, there are not. I have never been impressed with satellite, and while FIOS claims that they are available in my area they do not offer service to my address. Our local DSL (CenturyLink) is atrocious, I tried them a while back with poor results. Comcast is the only game in town, they know it, and they act (and charge) like it.

It staggers the imagination that we put up with this. Are there really no other alternatives? Is there really no competition? What do we have to do to create competition and make Comcast/any other local monopoly more responsive and, more importantly, more responsible?

2

I’ve had Comcast for Internet and cable for a long time now, but I’ve always used my own router and modem. You make me happy that I have.

3

Anybody else think ‘Comcast=AOL of the TV set’?

For those who only knew ‘the Internet’ meant ‘AOL’, the shock and surprise of real access spelt the doom of AOL and its ‘monthly fee + connect charges for wall time’ model.

4

Their telephony cable modem has worked fine for me… Which is lucky for them, because I might’ve switched to VoIP and my own cable modem sooner if it hadn’t. Then again, I’ve been using it with an Airport Express instead of connecting to it directly.

If you want competition, watch to see if your state government’s going to pass laws restricting competition, like municipal broadband.

5

I have been using Comcast XFinity for more than a year now. Once or twice connection was down for an hour or so. Speeds (from speedtest.net) 120 Mbps down, 14 Mbps up. I don’t complain.

Their wireless router sucks - it is slow and weak. But my cell phone is from T-mobile and they give (for free) to customers a very good wireless router - they call it Personal CellSpot. I hook it up to XFinity router, get VERY strong signal, great speed (as I showed above).

6

Shit! If Trump comes out against the cable company, we may all be doomed…

7

I was going to ask that. Did you (OP) try hooking up your old router to their box? I’m curious if the problem is just Wi-Fi.

Though I perfectly understand not wanting to pay for crap. If anything, they should be paying you to use their modem to set up a hotspot.

And I hope you still have a phone–I didn’t see you mentioning hooking that back up, and I assume that you’re using VOIP if you have a Comcast phone…

8

I tried bridging it, but I had no success. Like I said, I’m reasonably tech-savvy, but I am not a network administrator by any means.

I’ve been cellphone-only for a long time now, so that particular feature was useless to me anyway.

9

Yeah, buy your own quality modem and put your own gear behind it. Letting Comcast rent you third-rate crap is the worst of all worlds.

**The only reason Comcast is so insistent on “upgrading” its customer base is to get as many of its hot-spot units into the field as possible. There is no benefit to the individual subscriber.

Tell them no and go buy your own Motorola 6xxx-series.
**

10

I had the same problem with the fancy new Comcast modem. Finally got a Comcast guy to come out and look at it. He straight up said the wireless in the new modem was shit, and go buy a new one.

Worked great since then, but still: fuck Comcast for foisting off such crappy hardware on their customers.

11

I didn’t know that if you got your modem/router from Comcast that you would also be providing free WiFi to other Comcast customers nearby. That explains the appearance of an xfinitywifi network connection in my list of networks found when scanning; one of my neighbours must have one.

Another reason to be glad I got my own combo modem/router, AND it’s set up to not broadcast its SSID.

12

They must have read your post Airman…

13

I want in on this Comcast pitting. Bastards.

14

Me too.

I switched to Fios a while back and have been very happy. More speed for less money. I happen to live in one of the few communities around here that has competition.

15

I’m one of those rare people that don’t have major gripes with Comcast. I’ve been with them since the old @Home days.

I’ve been using my own modems for about six years because the rental rate is a waste. My only real complaint is that I used to subscribe to truly basic cable, but it was never hooked up, and they sent me a new digital box for it and scheduled an installation appointment without my authorization (note that I spend 94% of my time in China, not at my house). They were nice about cancelling it, and I threw away the digital box that had been in my front bushes for four months. They’re not charging rent for it. (I have Dish, so cable TV service has never, ever been required.)

The only service issues I used to have were when the cable tech would install filters on my pole (since I was only allowed to receive basic cable). It would also kill my internet connection. The internet tech would remove it on his visit. Finally they sorted the whole thing out by running a new cable from the pole to my service entrance, buried, at no cost. It wasn’t terribly inconvenient.

They’re always fast and responsive.

I’m not deaf to others’ complaints; I just consider myself damned lucky that I don’t live in their service area.