Review Your CABLE/ISP Service....

[gxc999 7]

I'm hoping we can get some legit, serious replies and maybe even get this stickied. I'm personally tired of Comcast's ineptitude but admit, their service has some really good points.

Provider:Comcast

Length:4 Years+

Services:Premium HD, 16MB Internet and Center Ice

As a long-time customer of Comcast, I have to admit that their TV service is really solid. It very rarely has outages and features a crap-ton of HD. Their channel selection is great overall and has almost all of my favorites. However, their downfall is probably everything else. Their internet service has constant issues. It's literally out 5 to 6 weeks a year and I can never get a comprehensive explanation about why.

The quality of NHL Center Ice is poor too. Many of the games look like they're being viewed with antenna ears or coathangers. The resolution is really awful and the HD games are few and far better. I considered switching to DirecTV just because they supposedly have better Center Ice.

The customer service is okay. Some reps are more helpful than others. I've gotten decent credits for the troubles I've had but they're cutting back on those now and I don't like where it might be going. I was most surprised two months ago when someone called me out of the blue and offered a premium package of TV, Phone and Internet that saved me $10 per month.

Overall, I'd like to switch but I've heard even worse things about U-verse and FIOS isn't available here... Let it begin!

[Chadd 916]

I called comcast to complain about a blackout problem on the NHL network and they told me I shouldn't see it at all and tried to shut it down. Thank god they were too stupid to figure out how to do it. I've been planning to go dish for a while but then I have to get a DSL line or something else for my vonage account.

[Machinehead2k5 32]

The quality of NHL Center Ice is poor too. Many of the games look like they're being viewed with antenna ears or coathangers. The resolution is really awful and the HD games are few and far better. I considered switching to DirecTV just because they supposedly have better Center Ice.

The customer service is okay. Some reps are more helpful than others. I've gotten decent credits for the troubles I've had but they're cutting back on those now and I don't like where it might be going. I was most surprised two months ago when someone called me out of the blue and offered a premium package of TV, Phone and Internet that saved me $10 per month.

My friend has the DirecTV Center Ice package. He has everygame in HD, usually both home and away feeds. Comcast here in Atlanta, usually shows 1 or 2 games on HD despite them always saying they have the most HD for their sports packages. My friends have used that against Comcast as well, saying they'll leave Comcast for DirecTV ibecause they carry more HD games, Comcast in turn took off a payment of their Center Ice. I don't know if they're still doing that for them this season though.

Customer service here at least in my experiences are usually pretty good with Comcast. However there was this one time where I was on hold for maybe 20 or so minutes with the rep just to fix a problem that took 3-5 minutes.

[Hordie Gowe 17]

Threw Comcast out of both my home and businesses in favor of Direct TV. One of the best decisions I have ever made and I regret not doing it sooner. Comcast's commercial division is one of the worst groups of people I have ever dealt with.

[JR Boucicaut 3760]

I'll review my ISP - I have Time Warner/Bright House here in Orlando.

They're currently pulling the bait and switch - they are underclocking speeds on my current internet plan, as well as numerous timeouts. I know three separate people who have the same plan who are having the same problem, and we all live in different areas of the city.

Why?

Their wideband service is set to launch. They hope you bitch to the point that they offer you the new hotness, and you switch.

[Jarick 5]

I use Comcast locally. The service is fine, I get some HD channels, wish I had more, DVR box, internet is fast and steady, we have unlimited phone and all but my girlfriend uses that since I have a cell. It's pricey though, $165 a month for all three. I have no idea what this Xfinity business is about, but I sure hope it's cheaper or has more options so I can save some money.

My parents have DirecTV and while you get a lot more channels, the navigation is godawful. It takes a few seconds to switch between channels (not fun for surfing), finding programs is impossible, finding stations is impossible, it's just a huge pain to do anything. I really wish they'd download and cache their program guide so it doesn't take 45 minutes to figure out what's going on. Otherwise, picture quality is outstanding and I guess it's cheaper than cable.

Personally, I wish I could just get NHL gamecenter and not have cable TV since I barely watch anything else. I'd do fine with Netflix and high speed internet. But I guess they blackout local games, which sucks.

[Axxion89 32]

At home I have Dish Network for TV and Earthlink for cable internet. The internet sucks (its provided from Time Warner somehow) and since I am never home I can't find out the root cause of the problem. I have no problems with Dish and my parents are old school so theres no HD in the house but they seem to enjoy the service. I know right now that I don't have MSG due to some dispute though with Dish so that sucks.

At school, me and my roommates have Cox TV and internet. Internet is great, very fast. TV sucks. A good selection of HD channels but ESPN pixelates and the customer service sucks. It costs 150 total (I pay 50) so its not too bad and I like it better than what I have home.

[gxc999 7]

Has anyone in N Florida used AT&T lately? Their DSL and Tv packages are really quite cheap but I wonder if it's too good to be true.

[Rustpot 1]

We just switched to Dish in the Lansing MI area.

Free HD upgrade, one HD box, and one dual tuner HD DVR. I think we have a few free movie channels for a limited time as well.

The service is good, but it will cut out in storms, and there have been a few days where signal was an issue. The boxes all hook up to internet and offer some better features and will download rented items. They also have interactive ads where you can press a button and you'll get emails or something sent to you. I think there are some games as well. No On Demand service of any kind, I miss that from Comcast/Charter.

Some channels I would consider more basic need an upgraded channel pack, like FX and VS. But we also get some other channels like HDnet, Science, NatGeo, Big10, NHLnetwork, and others in the basic package.

Internet/phone is AT&T DSL. I don't have one good thing to say about it. Our modem died and we got the run around, only one modem available and AT&T wanted $150 for it. We took it back after we figured out the power cord was bad and it was a known issue. Service cuts out inexplicably, speed is poor, the modem can't handle heavy traffic, probably more issues I can't recall.

I think we're paying under $90 for all 3, but I would personally drop the land line, upgrade 1 package higher for Dish and get something better/faster for internet if I could make the decisions.

[IniNew 51]

FiOS customer for nearly 6 years now. Our town was the first in Texas (and I believe the U.S.) to get the service and we signed up immediately. The internet has actually gotten faster since signing up without any change to our bill, so no complaining there.

We have their HD package, and there are plenty of channels to watch, I don't even browse non-HD chans anymore. No center ice, so I can't speak of that.

There are a few outages here and there, but they are usually hardware problems that I can fix myself without, and sometimes with the customer service rep. I've learned most of their little tips and tricks to fixing things over the years. Overall, I am very happy with the service, and will be very disappointed when I move and can probably no longer get it.

Confirmed: http://www22.verizon.com/about/community/tx/technology/technology_index.html

We were the first to receive it.

[kovalchuk71 212]

I have Suddenlink, and just want to say the HD is piss poor. Our DirecTV service downstairs blows it out of the water.

[hamstercaster 2]

Most people won't know my Cable/ISP provider but here we go:

I'm with Videotron which is a cable/ISP/VoIP/Mobile company that operates in Quebec and a slight part of Ontario (Orleans). I have Digital/HD cable, Phone and Internet with them. I've got all the channels I need except for TSN/Sportsnet HD which I rarely watch anyway and would cost an extra 4 bucks or something. My total Montly bill is usually around $120 for all three services which is much cheaper than the $165 I paid with Bell for more or less the same services.

Digital/HD picture is usually very good so is the Scientific Atlanta receivers they use. I haven't had any problems so far except maybe once where I had to reboot one of my receivers. This happens with Bell too so no problem there.

I've got the basic Cable Internet package which allows me to download/upload up to 30 gigs a month. I usually use up that amount in two and a half months or more so no worries there. Speed is pretty consistent and fairly fast. Certainly not the fastest out there but it gets the job done and has been problem free so far.

Phone is good and has been problem free so far too. On top of that we get free long distance calls from Videotron to Videotron no matter where they are in the Province.

I'm waiting for them to offer mobile service in my area so I can switch from Solo Mobile (Bell) and go with Videotron. Solo's coverage is much better but I use my cell almost exclusively in Quebec and the packages they are offering suit me a lot more than Solo's offering but I'm still not a 100% sure yet if I'll switch.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with Videotron although I hate Pier-Karl Peladeau, Quebecor Media (Videotron) and potential Quebec Nordiques' owner.

[Chappie 0]

I just got fios.

The original reason I got it was mainly because I live in Philly and am a Rangers fan, and they carry[ied] MSG. When we got it installed, we found out that now they no longer have it. I called Verizon to complain, they felt bad, and as a result, they gave me center ice for free. So far, I'm quite satisfied.

[camhockey16 5]

i think every provider does the same thing - over subscribe and underdeliver

every single isp i have had - you are lucky if you can get the full download speed and every single one hasn't had anywhere close to the upload speed they promise.

all isp's know that most people only care about download speed and dont really use the upload speed much so they throttle is down.

i wonder if any lawyer would ever try to sue all the isp's for all the upload speed that has never been delivered over the years. that would be a TON of money

[Chappie 0]

My upload has been good so far with FiOS.

I just used speakeasy's test and got this over wifi:

Download Speed: 22993 kbps (2874.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 15956 kbps (1994.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

[hamstercaster 2]

i think every provider does the same thing - over subscribe and underdeliver

every single isp i have had - you are lucky if you can get the full download speed and every single one hasn't had anywhere close to the upload speed they promise.

all isp's know that most people only care about download speed and dont really use the upload speed much so they throttle is down.

i wonder if any lawyer would ever try to sue all the isp's for all the upload speed that has never been delivered over the years. that would be a TON of money

There are too many things involved. Your download speed is influenced alot by the upload speed of the website you are visiting. Your upload speed may or may not be influenced by the download speed of the person you are uploading too. It is true that your ISP will more often than not limit the upload speed because as you said, most people do not upload anything or very little. I tested my speed this afternoon and my download speed was at 7.8 mb/s which is very good and very close to what I'm paying for. Do I download at that speed? Never. The fastes I've seen was 1.5 mb/s but like I said, a lot depends on the uploader.