Each time I spoke to a C/S rep they were pleasant and some were helpful and some not. In the beginning I didn't mind having to trouble shoot and fix a simple problem like reseting the modem, restarting the pc, power cycling, and most important power cycling back up in the proper sequence, and everything worked fine! I never had to do this for 6 years of having high speed broadband until just a few months ago. When you have a wireless router and say a Vonage modem they have to power cycled back on in the proper sequence, Vonage being the last. One of the calls I made it was determined my modem was faulty so I replaced it within 45 minutes and still no internet. I called shortly after an got the recording "We experiencing an outage in your area" Every time I called it was something a little different, they noted the history of calls I've made and said they need to schedule a service call.

OK, here it is in late March, the tech says you've got a bad incoming line and it needs replaced, we'll have you up and going in about a week. It'll have to be re-routed around a big tree so your lawn gets trenched. After the Comcast tech left and without waiting a week I hooked up the modem to another cable outlet, power cycled everything on and WOW, it was all working, even Vonage. This lasted for 3 or 4 days, I was up to 19 megs on the download and 450 kbps on the upload, normal would be 5 or 6 megs down & 350 kbps up. I routinely go on Speedtest.net with various locations throughout the USA, gets a little slower the further your test host is. Just before the new line things were back to dial up speeds or painfully slow and the Vonage worked 1/2 the time.

Now with the new line hooked up it seemed better and consistent but not fast or Comcastic. They scheduled a tech for a final evaluation and it turns out the Vonage was taking up too much bandwidth. The Vonage doesn't work properly if it's connected to the to the router, it' suppose to be CABLE MODEM-VONAGE MODEM-ROUTER. Seems the only way to get everything working fast or normal would be to go with the Comcast phone service. Apparently because they have their own network it does not require a separate modem but utilizing a single modem. As of this morning and this being a little over a week I had slow internet. VERY SLOW, some pages wouldn't even load. I called Comcast C/S and they said everything is fine on their end, have you tried power cycling? Yes I said, but the rep said they show I haven't for over a month. Why would I need to do this on a modem that's 9 days old? He said you've got a modem with a backup battery, you need to use the reset button, hold it in for 30 seconds. OK, it's fine now. Me: Do I have to do this every week? Comcast: No, just when things slow down, and stuff gets backed up.

Somethings going on and I have no clue what to do about it. I've tried everything on my end. It seems Comcast has on their end too. I've had cable service since 1985 here in Sacramento CA., started out Sacramento Cable, then Comcast until the 90's then AT&T and back to Camcast. I never switched service, it's always been a takeover or someone getting bought out. Even now as I'm typing this review it's extremely SLOW. We're now up to $214 a month with the TV $137/Internet $43/Ph $34.

I know some who read this will have helpful suggestions and I would appreciate any comments. Currently the setup we have is as follows: Cable to-ARRIS modem, 9 days old. Ethernet from modem to Linksys wireless WRT300N, then from switches out to 9 month old Sony pc. The wireless is only for the wife's laptop. Yes I've removed the router and connect the pc directly to the modem and it speeds things up. But it's also worked blazing fast with the wireless router. I just don't know and have tried everything.

Would I recommend Comcast to someone? If it's the only provider YES. Or, try it and see, it's the best thing out there for a competitive price. I can't be the only one having this problem. So give it a try and hope you don't have the same issues.

UPDATE: PROBLEM DISCOVERED With SOLUTION!

When you download a file, your computer sends as well as receives. BitTorrent clients such as Utorrent will max your upload speed if you let them. Once the upload speed is maxed, your download speeds on all machines on the network slow down because there is no upload bandwidth left.

My son has a pc networked to the back of the Linksys wireless router, it's hardwired with a 100 ft run. This was a better way for him to have higher speeds verses wireless resulting in an average 20% loss in bandwidth. He apparently has a file sharing program or Bit-Torrent which takes up all my upload and download speeds. Although it has settings to cap it's bandwidth sucking abillities it still draws too much and slows my end down to a crawl, like dial up: 50kbps down & 20kbps up. When I pull his eithernet plug from the back of the router it's ULTRA-FAST again, I'm talking 17,000 kbps down and 420 kbps up. We then communicated via intercom and trouble shouted by turning his Bit-Torrent program off and on, doing speed tests each time and that was IT!

I called Comcast once again and wanted assistance, I have the 6 meg down-386 kbps up package. I told the C/S rep about my discovery, almost nothing internet speed wise when my son's pc runs his bit-torrent or file sharing program. I told her after all I've been through, all the calls to Comcast, and all the techs that have been to my house, I'm glad I've discovered the problem and need to buy the higher speed package. When I was switched to the Comcast sales lady and told about my findings, gave here the rundown on my network she said "All I needed was one of their networking packages, we'll have someone out tomorrow, it's a one time $99 fee. You can network up to 5 pc's or (IP Devices) wirelessly.

The next day the Comcast tech is at my door, nestled under his armpit is a Linksys wireless G router and 2 network adapters. I asked him if those were for me because I've already got that setup. I was expecting something else, something special from Comcast. I told the tech the story, also the latest discovery with the Bit-Torrent program and he suggested upping the level of service. At least I get a straight answer and it turns out to be the correct one, finally.

DO I BLAME COMCAST? YES, upping the signal or level of service should have been solution #1 not #12.


Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 214.00