Comcast High Speed Internet
I love the speed of Comcast’s High Speed Internet connection. My latest internet speed test recorded a 15 mbps connection. It is lightning fast. It’s what I love about having a high speed internet cable connection. So, why am I blogging about it. There must be a problem. Yes, there is. The problem is Comcast has had it share of downtime this past month. I counted three so far. It could be more. The downtime usually takes anywhere from 2-6 hours.
It’s becoming to be a very frustrating experience. It’s not like the phone lines could be the issue when you have a DSL connection. This is cable! We haven’t had any interruption with our TV service. So, why can’t Comcast offer the same uptime with their internet connection. I hope they fix it soon. Yes, that’s you in Fremont, CA. I better pay the bill before I complain too much. Or maybe, I’ll wait until they can fix the problem.
My suggestion would be to call Jada Roseman and let her know your situation. She is the Comcast Rep for the City of Fremont. Some times she can be helpful, sometimes not. I hit her up when all else fails or when Comcast tries to boost my ISP rate to $60/month because I have no use or interest in Cable TV. Several times she has been really helpful but the last time she was all but useless. Her number is (510) 567-9276. If you get a VM leave a message. If you don’t get a call back with a couple of days, try again. In my experience she returns calls around 80% of the time which is better than most. While the City can’t help you with ISP service as it is unregulated, it is best to let them know anyway. That way if they get enough complaints they might bring up the subject during contract talks. The City has been looking into a City chartered wireless or similar ISP system, but that is all they have done as far as I know - just thought about it. One of the problems with Fremont is that their are only 2 systems available to Fremont residents, Comcast Cable and DSL which ultimately is handled by AT&T. May residents, like me only have a single choice due to their location. Either they are too far away from the Central Office for effective DSL or Cable is not available at their location. I personally believe the companies are aware of this and take advantage of it whenever they can. Currently I am not aware of any programs or activity going on to increase or promote competition in this area. It certainly seems in the best interest of the mentioned companies, from a profit standpoint, not to improve service in areas that already have some kind of service. The other thing tat ISP don’t tell you is that the only advantage for speeds above 1500 KBPS is fur private connections, special services, and using multiple computers through a single router. The reason is that most commercial services throttle browsing and downloading to 1500 KBPS to reduce their hardware costs and give access to more users. So while Cable is advertised and being theoretically faster than DSL, in practice Cable does not have a distinct speed advantage over a GOOD DSL connection for the average user. I also advise not having your ISP as your email provider. Use a website such as Excite or Yahoo or .Mac instead. That way an ISP cannot hold you hostage by the inconvenience of having to change your email address if you want to switch ISP’s for a cheaper rate or better deal. With webbased mail or .Mac you always have the same email address no matter who your ISP is. Hope this helps.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the tips. Yes, I agree. Competition will definitely push service levels higher. Regarding email accounts, I have already have accounts with Yahoo and GMail. It’s good to have an independent email account apart from your internet provider. By the way, the service is back as you can tell. I’m using it now. But, I want to keep track of how often it goes down, so I’ll have data for future reference. Thanks for the comments. Cheers.
I agree, competition helps pressure many businesses to offer high quality internet at an affordable cost to customers. I’m sure that those brief moments of downtime you are experiencing will eventually be resolved since Comcast has such a great reputation of quality customer service.
T1-T3-DSL
Thats why I switched to DSL bc it is more consistent and has less problems. The high speed internet service provider is cheap and reliable and offers many broadband choices, check them out: http://tier-one-provider.com