9 ms·

Dear Comcast, I'm leaving you because...

115 points by bgentry 15y ago

binarysoul 15y ago
He's leaving because he has the option to use a different comparable provider. Some of us are not so lucky. I have only two options available in my apartment. 3mbit/s cable service which disconnects frequently and is wholly unreliable, or ATT DSL 6mbit/1mbit which while its reliable costs $40/month. 4G wireless solutions do not penetrate my building enough to be useable. What we really need are more comparable options for internet access.
- bgentry 15y ago
  I wholeheartedly agree. I'm thankful that I turned out to actually have a decent 2nd option. My main reason for writing this was to encourage others, especially in the bay area, to make sure they've really looked at all their options. Some might find a nice surprise like I did.
  - gsoltis 15y ago
    I did the same thing, and another quick plug for sonic since there are likely people here who would find this useful: I'm using their basic dsl service (single-line) and even that comes with a free static ip address. No more messing around with dynamic dns providers just to get ssh access to my desktop at home.
  - thisischris 15y ago
    Just moved into a new place and were about to sign up for Comcast, but instead I think we will be going with Sonic! Thanks!
    - bgentry 15y ago
      Definitely give them a call to find out what sort of speeds you can expect in your particular situation. And never hesitate to call their tech support with questions or concern, they have been nothing short of amazing in my interactions with them.
    - loungin 15y ago
      I have them in Sacramento. Fantastic ISP, make sure you can get their Fusion service. You won't regret it.
- ohgodthecat 15y ago
  I have only two options but am not as lucky as you, 1mbit DSL and Satellite internet which has very high latency and a very low (as in quantity) daily download limit. I chose DSL because it is better all around but complaining about a $40/month bill for those speeds seems silly to me because that is already $20/month less than my 1mbit connection.
- sukuriant 15y ago
  I'm another instance of a person that actively chose to go to DSL over Comcast, even though I took a substantial speed cut (at my old place, I had 35/35 FiOS, and I switched to 7mb/800kb DSL). The price between the two services was the same ($50), but it was that significant for me to not use Comcast. And now, I'm pushing my new apartment complex to switch over to FiOS, since I'm literally 1.1 miles away from my old house, as the Google Maps suggests. Long story short: I chose 1/5th my old connection speeds to avoid Comcast.
  - equalarrow 15y ago
    Yah, I'm in the same boat. In late Dec, as soon as I saw Comcast supported SOPA, I setup a Sonic.net account here in SF. I love Sonic's tech support (one of the only few companies I'll get on the phone with for support), and their values - no caps, no support of fucking-with-the-internet bills. However, AT&T fucks up the whole equation with their shitty copper (in some places). Not Sonic's fault at all, of course. Some parts of SF are starting to get fiber with Sonic. Can't wait to be able to qualify for this. It'll be just like my brother's connection when he lived in Japan circa '01.. Voting with my dollars I guess.
  - mstefanko 15y ago
    Just did this as well. Well not fios, switched from comcast cable internet over to sonic DSL. I top out at 4.5mb/700kb, i'm struggling a bit, hard to ignore the speed difference, but I am that passionate about not using comcast as well. Was actually one of the best phone calls I've ever made, cancelling my service with comcast.
- Cushman 15y ago
  Are you in an area with 4G coverage, just not into your building? When I was living in a house that was literally just outside the coverage area, I had success using a long USB cable to hang my modem up in a corner window, and broadcasting WiFi from there.
- drzaiusapelord 15y ago
  Yeah, I can switch to 1.5/.7mbps DSL or stay with 16/3mbps cable. I saw u-verse came to my area but I had to yell at a manager to even get them to consider selling it to me without video. They agreed but when I asked them to cut my DSL the same day uverse comes in, they told me they could do that if I bought the video package. Toss in how AT&T treats its wireless customers and you're dealing with a level of incompetence and evil that makes Comcast look very attractive. The question isn't whether comcast sucks, its whether it sucks worse than the competition. Here in Chicago, its clearly the better choice. That 3mpbs upload is pretty sweet for RDP and file transfer. Heck I even run a little webserver off my desktop and my dynamic IP hasn't changed in 2 years. While I have no problem with the comcast bitching (they can be terrible at times) I just never see the equivalent for AT&T and other monopoly telcos. Why don't AT&T and Verizon get the same treatment? It took me 2 months of phone calls to get business DSL at our satellite office (new building) with Verizon and they even managed to fuck that up on site. I'm finding it hard to believe Comcast is any worse than these guys. In fact, I'd go as far as saying Comcast Business is pretty impressive. American based tech support during normal hours, great speeds, and no caps. I suspect most of the complaints are from home users who are just joining the rage-fest and have zero experience with actually switching to the competition and will pretend to enjoy substandard speed and service just to "stick it to Comcast." Err okay, but that's not a rational or positive attitude. Also, some of the comments in this thread are hilarious. Sick of the 250gb cap so you'll switch to wireless 4G? Heh, enjoy non-published dynamic throttling to 128kbps when Clear decides you've had too much internet. I'd rather have 250gb at 16mbps than "unlimited" at 128kbps.
  - binarysoul 15y ago
    AT&T sucks too.. I've had 2 billing disputes with them. Both times I called and asked to speak to the people who say I owe money, so I could understand what was going on (as it was for accounts I never setup). They told me I couldn't speak to those people. I had to file complaints with the BBB to get the billing dispute resolved (magically it got zeroed out and corrected at that point). I have to say when I had comcast, I didn't have any billing issues.
- ErikRogneby 15y ago
  Same here. Seattle has a city negotiated franchise agreement (a.k.a. monopoly) with Comcast. https://www.seattle.gov/cable/franchises.htm https://www.seattle.gov/cable/franchises.htm I've heard that Verizon's Fios service is excellent... What is amazing to me is that Quest doesn't take advantage of their existing right of way to build out last mile fiber. Lazy dinosaur. That right of way is a huge untapped asset.
  - Adaptive 15y ago
    This really blew me away when we moved here. I'm assuming it was a carrot to get infrastructure build out but I have a hard time imagining that there wouldn't have been competition to do that even without the concession. I'd love to drop Comcast for an alternative.
    - DaveMebs 15y ago
      Have you checked out Clearwire? http://www.clearwire.com/ http://www.clearwire.com/ They've got great coverage throughout Seattle and I have been very happy with their home internet plan. $50/month for unlimited data with 6mbps down and 1mbps up.
      - Adaptive 15y ago
        Yeah, I've heard of them but to be honest most of what I hear is bad. That's not personal experience, I've never used them, and I regularly do a search on Clearwire to see if things have improved. So far still seems to be a lot of issues, at least in Seattle.
  - zacharycohn 15y ago
    That's actually not true. I believe the Mayor's office has said they'd love to have more ISPs in Seattle, but the company's don't want to come in and lay down the cable.
dboyd 15y ago
I'm also in San Francisco, and looking to move away from Comcast. Mostly due to cost, than anything (yeah, the idea that Internet costs me more than TV + Internet pisses me off in an irrational way). I must admit, it's tough, their Internet service is quite good. I assume you got the 'two lines' package? I wouldn't mind comparing what you are paying to my other options. What's your upload speed, and did you go with 'Annex M' or 'Annex A'? Monkeybrains is still an option for me, but I'm hesitant about going wireless. The information you provided is great, thanks for the post!
- corysama 15y ago
  In SF, I'm very happy with http://sonic.net/ http://sonic.net/ as a service and as a company.
- bgentry 15y ago
  Indeed I have the 2-line bonded DSL. The speed you get will depend quite heavily on your distance from the CO (you can check that here: https://signup.sonic.net/fusion/index/prequalAddress https://signup.sonic.net/fusion/index/prequalAddress ). I'm in Pac Heights, and my address is an estimated 5,307 ft. from the CO. I did a speed test last night at 24mbit/s down and 2mbit/s up. The quoted max speed for this service is 40mbit/s down and 2.5mbit/s up. The cost is $69.95/mo plus some govt. fees for the phone lines. They also offer a single-line service that should be half as fast for $39.95/mo.
  - jason_slack 15y ago
    I checked and here at my location in Cupertino I am about 2800 feet from CO! Does anyone have experience with their "Business T" service for $308/month? I wonder what the install charge would be for that?
- tfe 15y ago
  Webpass (http://www.webpass.net/ http://www.webpass.net/), the other wireless ISP in the bay area, has been amazing. They only serve high-density residential buildings though, not individuals.
- 15y ago
vipergtsrz 15y ago
How do I find a local ISP that gives good service? I am on comcast, and I hate them, but don't know where else to go. I live in the Chicagoland suburbs. Any suggestions?
- MrMatters 15y ago
  Start Googling around for ISPs in your area. Look for ISPs' sites and forums discussing ISPs in your area. From there, you'll have to check on each of their sites to see if they service your address or not. Hopefully you'll find some that do. I've tried dozens in my general area, and none of them did. Awhile ago I got so desperate I nearly resorted to T1, but it's hard to justify for my purposes... and generally my internet connection through Comcast is pretty reliable, but for about a month or two back then they couldn't/wouldn't figure out whatever was causing it to be nearly unusable.
- corysama 15y ago
  http://www.dslreports.com/search http://www.dslreports.com/search
greyfade 15y ago
I would love to switch ISPs, if only to get away from Comcast's ridiculous caps. But in my area, although there's a bundle of fiber running not 250 feet from my apartment, it's well over $1k for setup and the monthly fee, and the only DSL provider in the area (CenturyLink) only offers service a tenth as fast as Comcast's Xfinity service. Rocks and hard places.
- mkjones 15y ago
  You should try Comcast's business class service. No bandwidth caps, immediate customer service, and not too much more expensive (especially if you can negotiate a deal through your employer).
  - greyfade 15y ago
    I'm debating it. I've been in contact with a local ISP about what's available, and I'm not too keen on having my bandwidth cut in half for $10/mo more and looking for a new Cisco 1700-, 1800-, or 1900-series router. But I don't want to keep giving Comcast money.
- sukuriant 15y ago
  If that wire is Frontier, they may be able to provide the apartment complex with FiOS for free to the apartment complex, under the hope that they'll get customers. That's what a representative told me when I asked what it would take to get FiOS at my place, considering my parts of Redmond is well wired with FiOS. YMMV
  - LogicHoleFlaw 15y ago
    Are there any decent maps of where Frontier is offering FiOS in Redmond? Supposedly there is service a few blocks from my apartment downtown, but I can't get a straight answer out of anyone.
    - sukuriant 15y ago
      Not that I know of, I'm sorry. When I spoke to the people at Frontier, and I alerted them that I had FiOS 1 mile away, I was informed that Redmond was pretty much all FiOS, except apartment complexes that hadn't permitted/accepted Frontier FiOS. If I were you, I would ask Frontier if they could install FiOS at your address; and then, if they say 'no', go to your main office and ask that they ask for FiOS from Frontier, informing them that Frontier said installation was free to the apartment complex (which is what I heard from them, but if you want validation, you can ask Frontier yourself).
jason_slack 15y ago
I am on hold with their sales department right now. Comcast irritates me to no end! I have been a Comcast customer for 5 years and had no viable options to go elsewhere. I now have an 501c3 and they were going to give me a great price, but because I am exempt on a state level and still waiting approval on a federal level they want me to pay full price and retroactively as a 'billing adjustment' give me the difference back. We would be talking a $1153 credit on my account which means Comcast still gets the money vs our 501c3 having that money in its pocket!
mtgentry 15y ago
The other day when I cancelled my cable but kept my internet, the first thing the service rep asked was 'Oh! So you do a lot of streaming then?'. I shrugged off the question but thought it was revealing. Cord cutters are growing in number and they know it. p.s. article up-voted on it's own merits and not because the submitter is my cousin. (What up cuz')
- TheCapn 15y ago
  Keep in mind the guy asking if you do a lot of streaming doesn't give two hoots about you cancelling or not. He was probably just trying to drum up a conversation. The lowly Customer Service Reps for ISPs aren't malicious unless they're trying to jump the corporate ladder.
- bgentry 15y ago
  hahaha no way! didn't know you were hanging around here these days =)
tocomment 15y ago
Are there any good 4g options in Maryland?
- adestefan 15y ago
  I keep getting ads for Clear in the mail. No idea how good it is though.
  - gte910h 15y ago
    Clear in Atlanta is okay. If you live in a hilly area, a house at the top of a hill can have great service, and the one at the bottom of the hill can have crappy service. There is a lot of jitter on clear, so while streaming video works well (after it get's going), you'll ocassioncally get a blip during high traffic times. VOIP, Video Games (Such as SC2), Skype, and video conferencing is noticeably worse than cable or dsl, even though offering higher bit-rates than dsl. High latency (80 MS from the modem to google is the best I've seen. It varies between 80 and 325 all the time in short bursts*. Don't even try to play many types of game on this or talk over online gaming services. I use it as the back up internet (I have comcast's 24Mbps service as the primary) and it works for that, but I wouldn't use it as a primary internet for a home or business. I use something the size of a wifi router (that actually IS a wifi router) that I lease from them. I hook this into a dual wan cisco router to do failover.
Dove 15y ago
Are we to the point yet where internet should be considered a public utility? It certainly seems to be more of a necessity than a luxury these days.
- larrik 15y ago
  Calling it a public utility isn't going to make it all roses and unicorns either.
jayferd 15y ago
In the East Bay, I highly recommend LAN Minds (LMI.net). One of their support guys actually advised me to select a cheaper package because the old wiring in our house wouldn't support the faster speeds of the more expensive plan. Super professional. EDIT: Just checked, and it looks like they provide service in SF too.
zbischof 15y ago
I'm also considering leaving. Here are a few of my reasons for wanting to leave. First and foremost, is the generally horrible customer service. While I have occasionally managed to talk to an intelligent customer service representative, these chances are rare. When I first signed up for the service a few years ago, I got a call from Comcast saying that my service would be cut off since for the past three months my bandwidth usage had been well over 250 GB (my roommates and I each streamed a lot of TV and used remote desktop software very often). I asked if there was any way I could pay for a plan with unlimited bandwidth, they said "No.". I asked if I could possibly monitor my bandwidth usage and pay for overage. Again, the answer was "No.". Great, that's very helpful. Eventually, I found out online that I could pay $20 or so more a month for a business plan with unlimited bandwidth. Great, I'll pay more and they'll leave me alone. After signing me up for business, they gave me a modem that supported up to four static IPs. Since I did not need a static IP (dynDns was enough to SSH to my machine), the device instead acted as a NAT and would not allow me to configure port forwarding. I asked if it was possible to somehow enable this. According to them, I had to purchase a static IP to enable these options. So I bought my own modem. Now, generally the customer service on Comcast business has been much better. But this only because the local rep and technician gave me their direct contact info. My understanding is that they don't actually work for Comcast directly, but are contracted by them. These are the only people that have ever been reasonable. However, when I moved last year, I apparently had to pay a $100 installation fee (which I hadn't had to do before). Fine, it just sucks that they changed this. The guy was there for all of 10 minutes. The technician was very polite, however. The final straw was this last month, when suddenly I was being charged a $7 equipment rental fee. I had heard about this online but thought it wouldn't apply to me, since I don't even have a piece of equipment from them. I contacted my local rep and he said that I could only talk to them about service issues (which I have in the past, and they are great) and that I had to contact Comcast customer service. So I call, told to expect a wait of over an hour. I hang up since I can only call during business hours and I'm at work. I sign up on their website to have them call me. I get a call immediately, only to be on hold for 20 minutes. What is the point of this service if I still have to wait? Finally, I get through to someone. I explain my issue in a calm manner. He starts telling me that I cannot use my own equipment (some bullshit about a warranty and fixing issues) and that the $7 fee is unavoidable. I explain over and over that my contract said I had my own equipment and that everyone has told me this was possible. I am getting rather upset with this guy (I've never been so mad at a customer service rep), to the point where I'm very short tempered and demand to talk to someone else. Before transferring me, he says that anyone else will tell me the same thing. It's Comcast's policy, and has been. Then the last thing he asks me is, "Who provides your phone service?" I know he's working off a script, but he has done nothing but tell me I'm wrong and at this point I'm livid. I respond, "That's not relevant to the matter." He says he's "just trying to save me some money." I tell him he can save me money by getting the $7 fee for a piece of equipment I don't have off my account. When the person I'm transferred to answers, I'm in a very bad mood. However, this guy is rather polite, and I apologize if I was rude when he answered. I explain the situation, and he checks that I am indeed not using their modem. He then gives me a $7 credit to my account (since I was already billed) and removes the recurring fee. Finally, someone reasonable. He tells me there is no policy saying I have to use their equipment. Why would this other guy have lied to me? It seems asinine to charge me a $7 equipment rental fee and not allow me to use my own. It's very out of character for me to get as upset as I was with a service rep. I've never had such an angry quip with someone in customer service. This kind of consistently bad behavior that wastes hours of my time can only make many of their customers want to switch to another ISP. I don't understand how a company can treat their customers like shit. Perhaps its the lack of competition, I guess. Anyway, just wanted to vent about my bad experiences. </rant>
cgag 15y ago
My understanding is that no one actually wants to be with Comcast, I was under the impression that people were generally with them because they have a monopoly on fast internet in a lot of places.
- chimeracoder 15y ago
  Your understanding is correct. I have seen a statistic cited somewhere that 80% of the country has no choice regarding a cable or Internet provider. I'm not sure if that's the real number, but it if were, it wouldn't surprise me.
- kgo 15y ago
  In my area, you're on Comcast if you're pissed off at Verizon, and you're on Verizon if you're pissed off at Comcast. I'm on Comcast because I was a Verizon early adopter, with DSL in the 90s. It got to the point where even their cheapest packages were at least an order of magnitude faster than my speed. Sure I could have called and gotten a new package, but it's like they were just keeping me at the original speeds out of spite, like they actually had to do work to keep me so slow. Just like the stories of that little old lady who's still paying a monthly rental fee for the phone in her house. I'm sure Comcast will do something to piss me off in the next few years and I'll go back to Verizon.
- roc 15y ago
  Not universally. In some places --the ones that had the foresight to not grant a cable monopoly and thus the ones where Comcast has to compete straight-up with other cable vendors-- Comcast is apparently alright. They still have the top-level corporate nonsense going on: the dns hijacking, the traffic shaping, the usage meters, etc. But most people don't notice that stuff and they tell me they're reasonably happy with the service. They're certainly paying less than I've ever been quoted in Comcast-monopoly-towns.
- nikki9696 15y ago
  I don't know if it's generally true, but it's true for me. If there was a viable alternative in my area, I'd switch. I live in a condo, and satellite is not an option. DSL is crappy due to our old phone lines. I'm stuck getting price gouged by Comcast.
smhinsey 15y ago
I've been fortunate enough to be a FiOS customer for awhile, so I haven't had the pleasure of dealing with Comcast lately, but until I moved into this building I'd used them all over the east coast. They had a particularly galling bug in their customer service system where you would be routed to a regional call center based on your phone's area code. This meant that every single time I called to talk about anything, I would first have to wait on hold at the call center I knew to be wrong before they would finally answer me and transfer me to the correct call center, where I got to wait on hold again. Several times I was given "direct" lines but they had the same problem.
- adestefan 15y ago
  Verizon had the same issue with FiOS for a long time. I would routinely get routed to the NY customer service even though I would tell them repeatedly I was in MD since I didn't have a phone number. I haven't called them in a couple years so I don't know if that's still the case.
  - smhinsey 15y ago
    Hah, they must use the same vendor. Strangely enough I haven't had that problem myself the few times I've called, but one of the nice things about FiOS is that you don't need to call them for many common tasks.
mikecrowl 15y ago
Comcast cut me off last year, after 7 years of service. I got a lil "greedy" and broke the 250g cap (300g+) - never even knew there was a bandwidth meter at their site. By the time they warned me, it was already halfway through the next month. I slowed my usage down, but still broke 260g at the end of the month (I work from home, use it for everything). They shut me off, banned me from service for 1 year, and absolutely no one at customer service or their "security department" would even talk to me. Zero tolerance, no options.
- mikecrowl 15y ago
  Oh, right, we were talking about options. I had two options here in Seattle. Clearwire? 4g, with a modem positioned at my window, hoping it got better reception than my phone? Nah. Or Qwest (now Century Link) DSL. The DSL has been fine. Not quite as fast, or stable (recent storms and flooding forced a lot of reconnects) but is just fine.
  - LogicHoleFlaw 15y ago
    I'm not too happy with the situation in Seattle myself. Currently I've got $60/mo 1.5/384 DSL service from MegaPath (formerly Speakeasy). Business line to my home, very reliable. It's just not fast enough for some of the things I want to do. I can't get FiOS from Frontier at my apartment, even though there is service about two blocks down the street. And I have no desire to do business with Comcast. Clear is out of the question since I want to start doing video broadcasting. Not sure what to do here. Move to a new apartment? I might end up doing that for unrelated reasons, and just make FiOS a requirement for the new place.
  - InclinedPlane 15y ago
    Frontier FIOS exists in some areas, and CondoInternet is slowly rolling out to places near downtown and is apparently going to start deploying in Bellevue soon as well. It's not great but it's slowly getting a little better over time.
- gte910h 15y ago
  That doesn't sound like their policy. They usually ban you from the residential serivce They probably offered you commercial level service during that year (which is more expensive, however has a much higher service level and bandwidth cap) http://business.comcast.com/smb/services/Internet/plans http://business.comcast.com/smb/services/Internet/plans If they didn't offer it, I'm pretty sure they'll sell it to you if you want it.
joelhaus 15y ago
The two co-founders of sonic.net are both on Google+[1] and come across as the type of ISP that most of us can only dream about. They also frequently discuss the economics of networks[2]... it's pretty rare/valuable to get such a candid view from someone actually in charge of running an ISP business. Living in NYC, I can't tell you how jealous I am. Time Warner Cable is the only viable (although still unreliable) option for most people here, and youtube.com/my_speed reports the local TWC average as 6.5mbps down (up is less than 1mbps). Somewhat related note; methinks the next internet protest should be to keep the soon-to-be-released cable TV spectrum unlicensed and prevent the telco lobbyists from furthering their monopoly power by privatizing this public good. ------------ [1] Co-founders: Scott Doty - https://plus.google.com/u/0/116236096836985934797/posts https://plus.google.com/u/0/116236096836985934797/posts Dane Jasper - https://plus.google.com/u/0/109338113746295186594/posts https://plus.google.com/u/0/109338113746295186594/posts [2] Triangulation Interview - http://twit.tv/tri5 http://twit.tv/tri5
jsz0 15y ago
As someone who works in the cable industry I can say you're making the right choice. Nothing is going to change until more people do this. This industry is suicidal. Some costs that are passed along to the consumers (programming) are unavoidable and fair but the degree to which customers are gouged on equipment fees, service calls, and terrible policies is just mind boggling. It's like going to a restaurant and being charged extra to use a spoon and fork. When you find out there's a dirty sock in your soup you get the privilege of paying the waiter to remove it for you. If you like you can get a free refill of your water to wash down the lint but only if you've decided to lease the Ultra Premium Platinum Gold Silver Boost Extreme glass (only $7.99 per meal) otherwise you may buy a new glass of water for $9.99 but that deal is only available to new customers. If you've eaten here before you can pay $19.99 for your glass of water. You may however only drink half the glass otherwise we will have to impose a penalty fee. Don't worry about the prices because we're going to get your bill wrong either way and in any event it will be purposefully made to be complex so you can't understand why your bill is so high. Thanks, come again.
- coderdude 15y ago
  This is a perfect description of my experience with Verizon. There is literally a charge each month for them to process my billing.
lv0 15y ago
Boston area comcast my only choice. I called them today because I need to activate new service and I was told the 250GB cap is mandated by the government and not comcast. When I asked for details I couldn't get any further.
namidark 15y ago
I'm stuck with Comcast (although thankfully the business division is much much better)... my choices are 60-125mbps/10mbps or 5/768(from dsl providers locally)
aaronf 15y ago
Add to the list: you have to call every 6 months to get a new "promotion" or you pay way too much.

115 points by bgentry 15y ago

He's leaving because he has the option to use a different comparable provider. Some of us are not so lucky. I have only two options available in my apartment. 3mbit/s cable service which disconnects frequently and is wholly unreliable, or ATT DSL 6mbit/1mbit which while its reliable costs $40/month. 4G wireless solutions do not penetrate my building enough to be useable. What we really need are more comparable options for internet access.

bgentry 15y ago
I wholeheartedly agree. I'm thankful that I turned out to actually have a decent 2nd option. My main reason for writing this was to encourage others, especially in the bay area, to make sure they've really looked at all their options. Some might find a nice surprise like I did.
- gsoltis 15y ago
  I did the same thing, and another quick plug for sonic since there are likely people here who would find this useful: I'm using their basic dsl service (single-line) and even that comes with a free static ip address. No more messing around with dynamic dns providers just to get ssh access to my desktop at home.
- thisischris 15y ago
  Just moved into a new place and were about to sign up for Comcast, but instead I think we will be going with Sonic! Thanks!
  - bgentry 15y ago
    Definitely give them a call to find out what sort of speeds you can expect in your particular situation. And never hesitate to call their tech support with questions or concern, they have been nothing short of amazing in my interactions with them.
  - loungin 15y ago
    I have them in Sacramento. Fantastic ISP, make sure you can get their Fusion service. You won't regret it.
ohgodthecat 15y ago
I have only two options but am not as lucky as you, 1mbit DSL and Satellite internet which has very high latency and a very low (as in quantity) daily download limit. I chose DSL because it is better all around but complaining about a $40/month bill for those speeds seems silly to me because that is already $20/month less than my 1mbit connection.
sukuriant 15y ago
I'm another instance of a person that actively chose to go to DSL over Comcast, even though I took a substantial speed cut (at my old place, I had 35/35 FiOS, and I switched to 7mb/800kb DSL). The price between the two services was the same ($50), but it was that significant for me to not use Comcast. And now, I'm pushing my new apartment complex to switch over to FiOS, since I'm literally 1.1 miles away from my old house, as the Google Maps suggests. Long story short: I chose 1/5th my old connection speeds to avoid Comcast.
- equalarrow 15y ago
  Yah, I'm in the same boat. In late Dec, as soon as I saw Comcast supported SOPA, I setup a Sonic.net account here in SF. I love Sonic's tech support (one of the only few companies I'll get on the phone with for support), and their values - no caps, no support of fucking-with-the-internet bills. However, AT&T fucks up the whole equation with their shitty copper (in some places). Not Sonic's fault at all, of course. Some parts of SF are starting to get fiber with Sonic. Can't wait to be able to qualify for this. It'll be just like my brother's connection when he lived in Japan circa '01.. Voting with my dollars I guess.
- mstefanko 15y ago
  Just did this as well. Well not fios, switched from comcast cable internet over to sonic DSL. I top out at 4.5mb/700kb, i'm struggling a bit, hard to ignore the speed difference, but I am that passionate about not using comcast as well. Was actually one of the best phone calls I've ever made, cancelling my service with comcast.
Cushman 15y ago
Are you in an area with 4G coverage, just not into your building? When I was living in a house that was literally just outside the coverage area, I had success using a long USB cable to hang my modem up in a corner window, and broadcasting WiFi from there.
drzaiusapelord 15y ago
Yeah, I can switch to 1.5/.7mbps DSL or stay with 16/3mbps cable. I saw u-verse came to my area but I had to yell at a manager to even get them to consider selling it to me without video. They agreed but when I asked them to cut my DSL the same day uverse comes in, they told me they could do that if I bought the video package. Toss in how AT&T treats its wireless customers and you're dealing with a level of incompetence and evil that makes Comcast look very attractive. The question isn't whether comcast sucks, its whether it sucks worse than the competition. Here in Chicago, its clearly the better choice. That 3mpbs upload is pretty sweet for RDP and file transfer. Heck I even run a little webserver off my desktop and my dynamic IP hasn't changed in 2 years. While I have no problem with the comcast bitching (they can be terrible at times) I just never see the equivalent for AT&T and other monopoly telcos. Why don't AT&T and Verizon get the same treatment? It took me 2 months of phone calls to get business DSL at our satellite office (new building) with Verizon and they even managed to fuck that up on site. I'm finding it hard to believe Comcast is any worse than these guys. In fact, I'd go as far as saying Comcast Business is pretty impressive. American based tech support during normal hours, great speeds, and no caps. I suspect most of the complaints are from home users who are just joining the rage-fest and have zero experience with actually switching to the competition and will pretend to enjoy substandard speed and service just to "stick it to Comcast." Err okay, but that's not a rational or positive attitude. Also, some of the comments in this thread are hilarious. Sick of the 250gb cap so you'll switch to wireless 4G? Heh, enjoy non-published dynamic throttling to 128kbps when Clear decides you've had too much internet. I'd rather have 250gb at 16mbps than "unlimited" at 128kbps.
- binarysoul 15y ago
  AT&T sucks too.. I've had 2 billing disputes with them. Both times I called and asked to speak to the people who say I owe money, so I could understand what was going on (as it was for accounts I never setup). They told me I couldn't speak to those people. I had to file complaints with the BBB to get the billing dispute resolved (magically it got zeroed out and corrected at that point). I have to say when I had comcast, I didn't have any billing issues.
ErikRogneby 15y ago
Same here. Seattle has a city negotiated franchise agreement (a.k.a. monopoly) with Comcast. https://www.seattle.gov/cable/franchises.htm https://www.seattle.gov/cable/franchises.htm I've heard that Verizon's Fios service is excellent... What is amazing to me is that Quest doesn't take advantage of their existing right of way to build out last mile fiber. Lazy dinosaur. That right of way is a huge untapped asset.
- Adaptive 15y ago
  This really blew me away when we moved here. I'm assuming it was a carrot to get infrastructure build out but I have a hard time imagining that there wouldn't have been competition to do that even without the concession. I'd love to drop Comcast for an alternative.
  - DaveMebs 15y ago
    Have you checked out Clearwire? http://www.clearwire.com/ http://www.clearwire.com/ They've got great coverage throughout Seattle and I have been very happy with their home internet plan. $50/month for unlimited data with 6mbps down and 1mbps up.
    - Adaptive 15y ago
      Yeah, I've heard of them but to be honest most of what I hear is bad. That's not personal experience, I've never used them, and I regularly do a search on Clearwire to see if things have improved. So far still seems to be a lot of issues, at least in Seattle.
- zacharycohn 15y ago
  That's actually not true. I believe the Mayor's office has said they'd love to have more ISPs in Seattle, but the company's don't want to come in and lay down the cable.

dboyd 15y ago

I'm also in San Francisco, and looking to move away from Comcast. Mostly due to cost, than anything (yeah, the idea that Internet costs me more than TV + Internet pisses me off in an irrational way). I must admit, it's tough, their Internet service is quite good. I assume you got the 'two lines' package? I wouldn't mind comparing what you are paying to my other options. What's your upload speed, and did you go with 'Annex M' or 'Annex A'? Monkeybrains is still an option for me, but I'm hesitant about going wireless. The information you provided is great, thanks for the post!

corysama 15y ago
In SF, I'm very happy with http://sonic.net/ http://sonic.net/ as a service and as a company.
bgentry 15y ago
Indeed I have the 2-line bonded DSL. The speed you get will depend quite heavily on your distance from the CO (you can check that here: https://signup.sonic.net/fusion/index/prequalAddress https://signup.sonic.net/fusion/index/prequalAddress ). I'm in Pac Heights, and my address is an estimated 5,307 ft. from the CO. I did a speed test last night at 24mbit/s down and 2mbit/s up. The quoted max speed for this service is 40mbit/s down and 2.5mbit/s up. The cost is $69.95/mo plus some govt. fees for the phone lines. They also offer a single-line service that should be half as fast for $39.95/mo.
- jason_slack 15y ago
  I checked and here at my location in Cupertino I am about 2800 feet from CO! Does anyone have experience with their "Business T" service for $308/month? I wonder what the install charge would be for that?
tfe 15y ago
Webpass (http://www.webpass.net/ http://www.webpass.net/), the other wireless ISP in the bay area, has been amazing. They only serve high-density residential buildings though, not individuals.
15y ago

vipergtsrz 15y ago

How do I find a local ISP that gives good service? I am on comcast, and I hate them, but don't know where else to go. I live in the Chicagoland suburbs. Any suggestions?

MrMatters 15y ago
Start Googling around for ISPs in your area. Look for ISPs' sites and forums discussing ISPs in your area. From there, you'll have to check on each of their sites to see if they service your address or not. Hopefully you'll find some that do. I've tried dozens in my general area, and none of them did. Awhile ago I got so desperate I nearly resorted to T1, but it's hard to justify for my purposes... and generally my internet connection through Comcast is pretty reliable, but for about a month or two back then they couldn't/wouldn't figure out whatever was causing it to be nearly unusable.
corysama 15y ago
http://www.dslreports.com/search http://www.dslreports.com/search

greyfade 15y ago

I would love to switch ISPs, if only to get away from Comcast's ridiculous caps. But in my area, although there's a bundle of fiber running not 250 feet from my apartment, it's well over $1k for setup and the monthly fee, and the only DSL provider in the area (CenturyLink) only offers service a tenth as fast as Comcast's Xfinity service. Rocks and hard places.

mkjones 15y ago
You should try Comcast's business class service. No bandwidth caps, immediate customer service, and not too much more expensive (especially if you can negotiate a deal through your employer).
- greyfade 15y ago
  I'm debating it. I've been in contact with a local ISP about what's available, and I'm not too keen on having my bandwidth cut in half for $10/mo more and looking for a new Cisco 1700-, 1800-, or 1900-series router. But I don't want to keep giving Comcast money.
sukuriant 15y ago
If that wire is Frontier, they may be able to provide the apartment complex with FiOS for free to the apartment complex, under the hope that they'll get customers. That's what a representative told me when I asked what it would take to get FiOS at my place, considering my parts of Redmond is well wired with FiOS. YMMV
- LogicHoleFlaw 15y ago
  Are there any decent maps of where Frontier is offering FiOS in Redmond? Supposedly there is service a few blocks from my apartment downtown, but I can't get a straight answer out of anyone.
  - sukuriant 15y ago
    Not that I know of, I'm sorry. When I spoke to the people at Frontier, and I alerted them that I had FiOS 1 mile away, I was informed that Redmond was pretty much all FiOS, except apartment complexes that hadn't permitted/accepted Frontier FiOS. If I were you, I would ask Frontier if they could install FiOS at your address; and then, if they say 'no', go to your main office and ask that they ask for FiOS from Frontier, informing them that Frontier said installation was free to the apartment complex (which is what I heard from them, but if you want validation, you can ask Frontier yourself).

jason_slack 15y ago

I am on hold with their sales department right now. Comcast irritates me to no end! I have been a Comcast customer for 5 years and had no viable options to go elsewhere. I now have an 501c3 and they were going to give me a great price, but because I am exempt on a state level and still waiting approval on a federal level they want me to pay full price and retroactively as a 'billing adjustment' give me the difference back. We would be talking a $1153 credit on my account which means Comcast still gets the money vs our 501c3 having that money in its pocket!

mtgentry 15y ago

The other day when I cancelled my cable but kept my internet, the first thing the service rep asked was 'Oh! So you do a lot of streaming then?'. I shrugged off the question but thought it was revealing. Cord cutters are growing in number and they know it. p.s. article up-voted on it's own merits and not because the submitter is my cousin. (What up cuz')

TheCapn 15y ago
Keep in mind the guy asking if you do a lot of streaming doesn't give two hoots about you cancelling or not. He was probably just trying to drum up a conversation. The lowly Customer Service Reps for ISPs aren't malicious unless they're trying to jump the corporate ladder.
bgentry 15y ago
hahaha no way! didn't know you were hanging around here these days =)

tocomment 15y ago

Are there any good 4g options in Maryland?

adestefan 15y ago
I keep getting ads for Clear in the mail. No idea how good it is though.
- gte910h 15y ago
  Clear in Atlanta is okay. If you live in a hilly area, a house at the top of a hill can have great service, and the one at the bottom of the hill can have crappy service. There is a lot of jitter on clear, so while streaming video works well (after it get's going), you'll ocassioncally get a blip during high traffic times. VOIP, Video Games (Such as SC2), Skype, and video conferencing is noticeably worse than cable or dsl, even though offering higher bit-rates than dsl. High latency (80 MS from the modem to google is the best I've seen. It varies between 80 and 325 all the time in short bursts*. Don't even try to play many types of game on this or talk over online gaming services. I use it as the back up internet (I have comcast's 24Mbps service as the primary) and it works for that, but I wouldn't use it as a primary internet for a home or business. I use something the size of a wifi router (that actually IS a wifi router) that I lease from them. I hook this into a dual wan cisco router to do failover.

Dove 15y ago

Are we to the point yet where internet should be considered a public utility? It certainly seems to be more of a necessity than a luxury these days.

larrik 15y ago
Calling it a public utility isn't going to make it all roses and unicorns either.

jayferd 15y ago

In the East Bay, I highly recommend LAN Minds (LMI.net). One of their support guys actually advised me to select a cheaper package because the old wiring in our house wouldn't support the faster speeds of the more expensive plan. Super professional. EDIT: Just checked, and it looks like they provide service in SF too.

zbischof 15y ago

I'm also considering leaving. Here are a few of my reasons for wanting to leave. First and foremost, is the generally horrible customer service. While I have occasionally managed to talk to an intelligent customer service representative, these chances are rare. When I first signed up for the service a few years ago, I got a call from Comcast saying that my service would be cut off since for the past three months my bandwidth usage had been well over 250 GB (my roommates and I each streamed a lot of TV and used remote desktop software very often). I asked if there was any way I could pay for a plan with unlimited bandwidth, they said "No.". I asked if I could possibly monitor my bandwidth usage and pay for overage. Again, the answer was "No.". Great, that's very helpful. Eventually, I found out online that I could pay $20 or so more a month for a business plan with unlimited bandwidth. Great, I'll pay more and they'll leave me alone. After signing me up for business, they gave me a modem that supported up to four static IPs. Since I did not need a static IP (dynDns was enough to SSH to my machine), the device instead acted as a NAT and would not allow me to configure port forwarding. I asked if it was possible to somehow enable this. According to them, I had to purchase a static IP to enable these options. So I bought my own modem. Now, generally the customer service on Comcast business has been much better. But this only because the local rep and technician gave me their direct contact info. My understanding is that they don't actually work for Comcast directly, but are contracted by them. These are the only people that have ever been reasonable. However, when I moved last year, I apparently had to pay a $100 installation fee (which I hadn't had to do before). Fine, it just sucks that they changed this. The guy was there for all of 10 minutes. The technician was very polite, however. The final straw was this last month, when suddenly I was being charged a $7 equipment rental fee. I had heard about this online but thought it wouldn't apply to me, since I don't even have a piece of equipment from them. I contacted my local rep and he said that I could only talk to them about service issues (which I have in the past, and they are great) and that I had to contact Comcast customer service. So I call, told to expect a wait of over an hour. I hang up since I can only call during business hours and I'm at work. I sign up on their website to have them call me. I get a call immediately, only to be on hold for 20 minutes. What is the point of this service if I still have to wait? Finally, I get through to someone. I explain my issue in a calm manner. He starts telling me that I cannot use my own equipment (some bullshit about a warranty and fixing issues) and that the $7 fee is unavoidable. I explain over and over that my contract said I had my own equipment and that everyone has told me this was possible. I am getting rather upset with this guy (I've never been so mad at a customer service rep), to the point where I'm very short tempered and demand to talk to someone else. Before transferring me, he says that anyone else will tell me the same thing. It's Comcast's policy, and has been. Then the last thing he asks me is, "Who provides your phone service?" I know he's working off a script, but he has done nothing but tell me I'm wrong and at this point I'm livid. I respond, "That's not relevant to the matter." He says he's "just trying to save me some money." I tell him he can save me money by getting the $7 fee for a piece of equipment I don't have off my account. When the person I'm transferred to answers, I'm in a very bad mood. However, this guy is rather polite, and I apologize if I was rude when he answered. I explain the situation, and he checks that I am indeed not using their modem. He then gives me a $7 credit to my account (since I was already billed) and removes the recurring fee. Finally, someone reasonable. He tells me there is no policy saying I have to use their equipment. Why would this other guy have lied to me? It seems asinine to charge me a $7 equipment rental fee and not allow me to use my own. It's very out of character for me to get as upset as I was with a service rep. I've never had such an angry quip with someone in customer service. This kind of consistently bad behavior that wastes hours of my time can only make many of their customers want to switch to another ISP. I don't understand how a company can treat their customers like shit. Perhaps its the lack of competition, I guess. Anyway, just wanted to vent about my bad experiences. </rant>

cgag 15y ago

My understanding is that no one actually wants to be with Comcast, I was under the impression that people were generally with them because they have a monopoly on fast internet in a lot of places.

chimeracoder 15y ago
Your understanding is correct. I have seen a statistic cited somewhere that 80% of the country has no choice regarding a cable or Internet provider. I'm not sure if that's the real number, but it if were, it wouldn't surprise me.
kgo 15y ago
In my area, you're on Comcast if you're pissed off at Verizon, and you're on Verizon if you're pissed off at Comcast. I'm on Comcast because I was a Verizon early adopter, with DSL in the 90s. It got to the point where even their cheapest packages were at least an order of magnitude faster than my speed. Sure I could have called and gotten a new package, but it's like they were just keeping me at the original speeds out of spite, like they actually had to do work to keep me so slow. Just like the stories of that little old lady who's still paying a monthly rental fee for the phone in her house. I'm sure Comcast will do something to piss me off in the next few years and I'll go back to Verizon.
roc 15y ago
Not universally. In some places --the ones that had the foresight to not grant a cable monopoly and thus the ones where Comcast has to compete straight-up with other cable vendors-- Comcast is apparently alright. They still have the top-level corporate nonsense going on: the dns hijacking, the traffic shaping, the usage meters, etc. But most people don't notice that stuff and they tell me they're reasonably happy with the service. They're certainly paying less than I've ever been quoted in Comcast-monopoly-towns.
nikki9696 15y ago
I don't know if it's generally true, but it's true for me. If there was a viable alternative in my area, I'd switch. I live in a condo, and satellite is not an option. DSL is crappy due to our old phone lines. I'm stuck getting price gouged by Comcast.

smhinsey 15y ago

I've been fortunate enough to be a FiOS customer for awhile, so I haven't had the pleasure of dealing with Comcast lately, but until I moved into this building I'd used them all over the east coast. They had a particularly galling bug in their customer service system where you would be routed to a regional call center based on your phone's area code. This meant that every single time I called to talk about anything, I would first have to wait on hold at the call center I knew to be wrong before they would finally answer me and transfer me to the correct call center, where I got to wait on hold again. Several times I was given "direct" lines but they had the same problem.

adestefan 15y ago
Verizon had the same issue with FiOS for a long time. I would routinely get routed to the NY customer service even though I would tell them repeatedly I was in MD since I didn't have a phone number. I haven't called them in a couple years so I don't know if that's still the case.
- smhinsey 15y ago
  Hah, they must use the same vendor. Strangely enough I haven't had that problem myself the few times I've called, but one of the nice things about FiOS is that you don't need to call them for many common tasks.

mikecrowl 15y ago

Comcast cut me off last year, after 7 years of service. I got a lil "greedy" and broke the 250g cap (300g+) - never even knew there was a bandwidth meter at their site. By the time they warned me, it was already halfway through the next month. I slowed my usage down, but still broke 260g at the end of the month (I work from home, use it for everything). They shut me off, banned me from service for 1 year, and absolutely no one at customer service or their "security department" would even talk to me. Zero tolerance, no options.

mikecrowl 15y ago
Oh, right, we were talking about options. I had two options here in Seattle. Clearwire? 4g, with a modem positioned at my window, hoping it got better reception than my phone? Nah. Or Qwest (now Century Link) DSL. The DSL has been fine. Not quite as fast, or stable (recent storms and flooding forced a lot of reconnects) but is just fine.
- LogicHoleFlaw 15y ago
  I'm not too happy with the situation in Seattle myself. Currently I've got $60/mo 1.5/384 DSL service from MegaPath (formerly Speakeasy). Business line to my home, very reliable. It's just not fast enough for some of the things I want to do. I can't get FiOS from Frontier at my apartment, even though there is service about two blocks down the street. And I have no desire to do business with Comcast. Clear is out of the question since I want to start doing video broadcasting. Not sure what to do here. Move to a new apartment? I might end up doing that for unrelated reasons, and just make FiOS a requirement for the new place.
- InclinedPlane 15y ago
  Frontier FIOS exists in some areas, and CondoInternet is slowly rolling out to places near downtown and is apparently going to start deploying in Bellevue soon as well. It's not great but it's slowly getting a little better over time.
gte910h 15y ago
That doesn't sound like their policy. They usually ban you from the residential serivce They probably offered you commercial level service during that year (which is more expensive, however has a much higher service level and bandwidth cap) http://business.comcast.com/smb/services/Internet/plans http://business.comcast.com/smb/services/Internet/plans If they didn't offer it, I'm pretty sure they'll sell it to you if you want it.

joelhaus 15y ago

The two co-founders of sonic.net are both on Google+[1] and come across as the type of ISP that most of us can only dream about. They also frequently discuss the economics of networks[2]... it's pretty rare/valuable to get such a candid view from someone actually in charge of running an ISP business. Living in NYC, I can't tell you how jealous I am. Time Warner Cable is the only viable (although still unreliable) option for most people here, and youtube.com/my_speed reports the local TWC average as 6.5mbps down (up is less than 1mbps). Somewhat related note; methinks the next internet protest should be to keep the soon-to-be-released cable TV spectrum unlicensed and prevent the telco lobbyists from furthering their monopoly power by privatizing this public good. ------------ [1] Co-founders: Scott Doty - https://plus.google.com/u/0/116236096836985934797/posts https://plus.google.com/u/0/116236096836985934797/posts Dane Jasper - https://plus.google.com/u/0/109338113746295186594/posts https://plus.google.com/u/0/109338113746295186594/posts [2] Triangulation Interview - http://twit.tv/tri5 http://twit.tv/tri5

jsz0 15y ago

As someone who works in the cable industry I can say you're making the right choice. Nothing is going to change until more people do this. This industry is suicidal. Some costs that are passed along to the consumers (programming) are unavoidable and fair but the degree to which customers are gouged on equipment fees, service calls, and terrible policies is just mind boggling. It's like going to a restaurant and being charged extra to use a spoon and fork. When you find out there's a dirty sock in your soup you get the privilege of paying the waiter to remove it for you. If you like you can get a free refill of your water to wash down the lint but only if you've decided to lease the Ultra Premium Platinum Gold Silver Boost Extreme glass (only $7.99 per meal) otherwise you may buy a new glass of water for $9.99 but that deal is only available to new customers. If you've eaten here before you can pay $19.99 for your glass of water. You may however only drink half the glass otherwise we will have to impose a penalty fee. Don't worry about the prices because we're going to get your bill wrong either way and in any event it will be purposefully made to be complex so you can't understand why your bill is so high. Thanks, come again.

coderdude 15y ago
This is a perfect description of my experience with Verizon. There is literally a charge each month for them to process my billing.

lv0 15y ago

Boston area comcast my only choice. I called them today because I need to activate new service and I was told the 250GB cap is mandated by the government and not comcast. When I asked for details I couldn't get any further.

namidark 15y ago

I'm stuck with Comcast (although thankfully the business division is much much better)... my choices are 60-125mbps/10mbps or 5/768(from dsl providers locally)

aaronf 15y ago

Add to the list: you have to call every 6 months to get a new "promotion" or you pay way too much.