My business phone/internet is currently through Windstream, the local phone company. The internet is slow and phone problems are too frequent. Customer service sucks.
I just spoke with a dude from Comcast. If I sign a 2 year agreement with Comcast they will do my internet and five phone lines for a flat $200 per month. My current phone bill averages $425.
Anyone using Comcast for phone/internet?
I earlier this year and so far have been very happy. I have the phone service but only got it because the deal was cheaper with it than without it but I don’t use the phone so I can’t speak for that but as for the Internet, it has been great so far. It was actually faster than promised (promised 150 mb/s and I get 180 mb/s).
Hopefully I didn’t just jinx it 
I have Comcast internet, and it’s expensive but fast and dependable.
I just moved into a Comcast area. The internet is blazing fast and seems to be reliable.
However, their customer service is utterly appalling. My experience was consistent with their evident widespread reputation. Their salespeople have a record of blatantly lying about the terms of a contract to get you to sign on, and when your first bill turns out be different from what was promised, it’s incredibly time-consuming and frustrating to resolve (this was my experience, and googling indicates that it’s a common experience). You can never get in touch with the same person twice, so any kind of interaction is likely to be highly frustrating and waste a lot of your time.
For the sake of sanity, I think the best way to deal with a company like this is to keep things as simple as possible and keep interaction with them to an absolute minimum. If possible do everything online rather then over the phone so that you have a written record of the interaction with their salespeople. Try to get a long-term fixed-price contract, just so that you don’t have to deal with them again for at least a couple of years. Don’t try anything more complex just to try to save a few bucks. Do not get sucked into trying out some peripheral service on the basis that you can cancel it within 30 days. Just get exactly what you really want on a fixed price long term contract. Assume that any interaction with them whatsoever is likely to waste at least an hour of your time and be extremely frustrating.
ETA: this was as a retail customer. Maybe their business customer service is run differently.
Comcast is one of the better internet providers, but I’d go with a separate phone provider like Vonage. Much cheaper and somewhat better feature set. (I don’t regard teaser/intro rates as a valid basis to make a pricing decision.)
lol
Many areas don’t have an unlimited number of choices. Here it’s Comcast or Frontier, and F’n-tears is so bad only people who can’t get Comcast use it.
I’ve had excellent service from Comcast in two locations (CA and CT) for over ten years now… but then, I use my own modem, and I have never felt the need to go into grand mal conniption fits because they imposed a 1TB data cap on some users.
I think all cable companies are horrible. The sooner that our Google overlords take over the entire global internet infrastructure the better.
However, for a cable company, do you think the product that Comcast delivers is bad? For me, their customer service has lived up to its appalling reputation, but I’m getting reliable service with a consistent >50Mbps for a reasonable price, I’m surprised and delighted by that. So long as I don’t have to actually interact with them further, I’m quite happy.
What a ringing endorsement.
As opposed to your grand mal conniption fits that precluded you from going with Frontier, apparently.
It’s definitely true here. Lack of meaningful competition is the problem. I’ve had a few friends try to cut the Comcast cord and go to AT&T, but they went right back to Comcast as the speeds AT&T delivered, at least two years ago, was not enough. I don’t have a particular beef with Comcast (as opposed to most people I know), but they are bloody expensive, IMHO. And my customer service experience have actually been positive. When I got my own router instead of renting from them, they helped me set it up without any issue. I wish the market was more competitive, but for what I need, it’s pretty much the only game in town if you need speed.
On Prime Day this year, Amazon had a great Comcast/Xfinity deal for a year’s service at a ridiculously cheap price after the Amazon giftcard. Cut my bill in half, nearly. If you have Amazon Prime it’s worth it to look and see if there are any deals.
Well, look at it this way- are you surprised and delighted when the electricity in your house works? Or when you car starts up? You shouldn’t be, right? So, no offense intended, but I think your surprise and delight gives away just how low a bar you’ve set for your internet provider. It’s not good that they’ve put you in that position.
I mean, to me, customer service is part of the product- I say you’re paying for more than getting your 1s and 0s delivered in a timely fashion, so you should expect more. If you don’t want to, that’s fine- I’m not trying to convince you your happiness is wrong or anything. I’m only in this thread because I think “Comcast is one of the better internet providers” is fucking hilarious.
No offense taken - I’m not trying to defend cable companies in general, or Comcast in particular. The bar is indeed incredibly low. I wasn’t joking when I said I’d rather see a Google monopoly than the dismal oligopoly that we have now.
But it’s a relative question, all we can do it make our choices among the providers available (or move to Provo, UT). Crap customer service and good product is at least better than crap customer service and crap product.
In the interests of accuracy as happy as I am with the service I did have some bumps in the installation process (and I was already a Cable customer with them). Specifically I was told I would be shipped the install package and would not be charged an installation fee since I am doing it myself. They did not ship me the install package and tried to charge me a fee. I got the fee stricken and eventually after being lied to by two Customer service reps did eventually get it shipped to me but had to eat the shipping charge (which I was told I wouldn’t be charged) because I was tired of arguing with them.
Sorry the Comcast truck ran over your puppy.
I would sacrifice a thousand more puppies on the altar of Comcast trucks if it meant I could laugh as hard as when you claimed “Comcast is one of the better internet providers.”
I was very glad when FiOS become available and I could ditch Comcast. In addition to the poor customer service, the product itself was unreliable. We experienced a lot of unexplained outages, requiring a tedious turnoff and reset process.
I have residential VoIP service via voip.ms.
Much, much, much cheaper than a cable company for our purposes. A lot cheaper. Cheaper than Vonage or any other similar company. Vonage is considered a top-end, pricey alternative to other VoIP companies.
In my case I did it on my own. Bought my own box, wired it up, configured it, etc. Going with the cable company takes care of that. But then you’re paying extra each month not just for the service (which shouldn’t cost so much) but for their box maintenance, etc.
And, oh, did I mention that it’s a lot cheaper?
Beware of cable companies offering “deals”.
From a glance, it looks as if a fair amount of technical ability is needed to use it. Not a problem for me - that’s the industry I was in for six or seven years and I still have cases of phone gear around, including PBXs - but not something the average I Hate Comcast type can cope with.
Vonage is under $20 a month for a residential line ($12.99 base) and has a very user-friendly web interface with dozens of features including emailed voicemail notices. The interface box is free and the overall setup is within the grasp of even a non-technical person. I don’t know of any true peer in the field - the rest are more demanding technically, thinner in features, lower in performance or use an oddball half-breed model like Ooma or MagicJack.
When you’re discussing alternate utility options like this, you have to consider that the person interested and doing the changeover might not be a tech whiz or phone geek. Easy to use and manage has its place at a few bucks a month.
My service from Comcast for the bundle (TV, internet, phone) was bad enough that I jumped first chance to Verizon; and they aren’t all that good either. Just better than Comcast.