Yeah, I’m an AOL user and have been one since at least version 2.5. Now I’ve just about had it with their software screwing with my computers. If it’s not making my system freeze, it’s hogging memory, or won’t even recognize my modem to dial up. I’ve looked into DSL and found it wasn’t for us, we actually like having two phone lines. I’ve heard some bad things about other dialup ISPs. So, my choice is pretty much limited to Comcast, but I also heard bad things about them in the past in regards to the @Home service. Anyone have Comcast as an ISP now? How are they?
I’m confused as to what you meant by that statement. I have two phone lines, and I also have DSL. (The DSL service is on the first of my two lines). The DSL service doesn’t interfere with the talking aspect of the phone lines at all.
That doesn’t mean that you should go for DSL - just that the number of phone lines you have or want to have shouldn’t be an issue.
You like having 2 phone lines? With DSL you can be on the net and make phone calls to your heart’s content. It also costs less then 2 phone lines. As far as Comcast reviews go, try here.
I’ve been a subscriber to their cable modem service for about three years now, and I’ve had oh, a total of three days of downtime so far. Very good, and their tech support actually knows most of what they should, and picks up within three rings.
Of course, the fact that I have an MCSE, a CCNA, and a CCNP screen out about 99% of my tech support calls, but I’m very pleased with their service.Throughput is good, and I’ll never go back to dialup.
Go? Dude, they’re leasing Hell to the Great Unwashed. They bought Hell cheap, thought about renovating it, maybe putting in some curtains, maybe buying some D-Con, but decided just to keep it as a slum and gouge those who stay there. Hell, there ain’t no Hell like the Hell of AOL.
Ah, with all the stuff about DSL not needing a second line I thought there was something wrong with having two lines and DSL. There’s other reasons we’re not interested in DSL, of course.
dan, AOL went to hell a long time ago. It just hasn’t been much of a problem for me until now. 
Having just paid more attention to World Eater’s post: I know DSL is cheaper than two phone lines, the problem is our second line is for both our fax and my 'Net access. AFIK, DSL can’t do two different data streams at the same time.
Having DSL capability on a phone line shouldn’t interfere with either of those other capabilities.
Having said that, you do need to add a filter device (that’s provided by your DSL provider) to every phone line attached to a non-DSL device (such as a telephone, FAX machine, etc.). The filter masks out the DSL signal, which would otherwise tend to intefere with the “normal” phone signal.
(With all of the phones in our house, I would have had to install about ten filters if I’d done this the way the phone company told me to. Instead, I just installed a splitter on the phone line at the junction box in the basement, added a filter to the side that I connected to the “normal” phone wiring, and ran a new line to my DSL equipment. Works like a charm.)
One piece of advice, based upon a neighbor’s miserable experiences, is that you avoid Comcast if you’ve got a Mac. In short, their tech support folks aren’t overly familiar with the Mac OS’s. An even worse combination is a Mac with Netscape (instead of Internet Explorer); that one really leaves the Comcast tech support types totally clueless.
I’ve had Comcast for over a year with no problems, but that means I’ve had very little experience with their tech support. We tried Qwest DSL when Comcast was having their financial problems, just in case (we can’t afford to be without reliable high-speed access for any length of time), but it never did work properly. Our connection would be interrupted very briefly about once every fifteen minutes, which was annoying when I was chatting on AIM but catastrophic when Mr. Legend was halfway through sending the latest software upgrade to a customer. The best guess the Qwest techs had was that the phone lines in our house or maybe even our neighborhood were so old they were marginal for carrying data.
Well, I can’t speak for Comcast’s tech support, since I’ve rarely had to talk with them. But so far my Comcast experience on my Mac has been nigh onto seamless. Seamless. Twice I have had problems connecting, so I had to shut off and restart everything (to give the connection a goose), and all was fine again. I got the impression that this is not uncommon and not Mac-specific.
I have OS 9 and OS X, on different partitions of my Mac. Actually, I have two versions of OS 9 and OS X both (four partitions total, four unique OS installations). And since my first day with Comcast, all OS partitions automatically connected to Comcast. The Comcast guy set up the first partition (OS 9) and from then on, all other OSes have just connected on their own. I never had to configure anything. The Mac somehow “picked up” the Comcast settings from the primary OS that I use, easy as that. I’m very impressed.
I use IE, Netscape, Mozilla, and Netscape variations. All work seamlessly. (Knock on wood.) Email works seamlessly too.
I am most pleased (so far…).
A friend of mine has been using it in Arlington and has had no complaints whatsover regarding the quality of the connection. He did have trouble with the installation since the guy never showed the first time they were supposed to but Comcast gave him a discount for the first month.
DSL can also interfere with your home alarm system, too. It may be the other way around. I can’t remember the particulars of how, though.
I had Comcast’s @home service prior to switching to DSL. I miss it terribly. It was always connected and also faster than DSL.
I also second checking out dslreports.com.
I just got Comcast installed and it was a bit messy. The tech came out, and was unable to get the line provisioned because, and I quote:
“The provisioning computer goes down almost every day.”
So I wait. And wait. I go to work, come back, still no signal. I called Comcast and asked them to have someone come back out, because they told me the line had now been provisioned and yet still no service. The very best they said they could do was have someone out A WEEK FROM WHEN I CALLED. I flipped out. I had already waited 2 weeks for the first appointment which they dropped the ball on. Now they’re telling me wait another week? No way. I immediately filed a BBB complaint. I called back to yell at them again and this time was afforded a Saturday appointment which was the next day. He had to replace a component on the cable line that spliced two wires together, which incidentally cleared up my TV signal on the lower channels as well. So it does work, but they have a long way to go in the service area. That happens when you are granted a monopoloy on a utility service by the government.
When everything’s working properly, any ISP is hunky-dory. I hope you continue to have a nice, painless experience. My point was that, if you do start to have some problems, and you call Comcast tech support, telling them that you have a Mac will be met by a long silence from the other end. Sometimes, you’ll be put off until “the guy who knows about Macs” comes in!
Keep your fingers crossed!
I picked up my cable modem kit on my way home from work. I’m now zooming right along! I am having a bit of a problem getting an email account set up but that’s about it.
I had trouble with email at first too. I couldn’t send email out. I found that if I changed the STMP server to “smtp.comcast.net” that everything worked better.
Don’t know if that was your problem, but I thought I’d pass that along.
And isn’t it GREAT?!?! 50 MB files download in a few minutes. Oh my. I will never get quite used to that…
If you haven’t already, go over to http://www.bmwfilms.com and download the “enhanced” versions of the films. (Usually 80 MB each, no big deal. 
) I’m hooked on those movies.
The problem was I couldn’t even login for my email. Turns out Comcast had a problem on their end and everthing’s fine now.
Thanks for the link, I’ll check out that site later.