Any alternative to Comcast cable internet? (Atlanta, Marietta: sales, how much, home)

[xxman777]

I've always had Comcast until about two months ago when I switched to Bellsouth (not my choice, just what they have where I moved). I find the DSL to be noticeably slower then when I had Comcast. Comcast got knocked out a few times by construction but Comcast was always quick to come fix it. If I had a choice I would go with Comcast.

[yankee_transplant]

I've never noticed my Bellsouth DSL being slow. It seems as fast as my work T3. As for TV, I'm on DishNet. Excellent quality even in the rain since they increased their signal strength. Also, I live near the main TV transmitters off Briarcliff Rd, so I get excellent HDTV over the air. Comcast? Never!

Originally Posted by xxman777

I've always had Comcast until about two months ago when I switched to Bellsouth (not my choice, just what they have where I moved). I find the DSL to be noticeably slower then when I had Comcast. Comcast got knocked out a few times by construction but Comcast was always quick to come fix it. If I had a choice I would go with Comcast.

[xxman777]

Originally Posted by yankee_transplant

I've never noticed my Bellsouth DSL being slow. It seems as fast as my work T3. As for TV, I'm on DishNet. Excellent quality even in the rain since they increased their signal strength. Also, I live near the main TV transmitters off Briarcliff Rd, so I get excellent HDTV over the air. Comcast? Never!

With DSL a lot of it depends on how close you live to the transmitters. I don't know how far I am but I'm guessing I'm not that close. I've heard of people who think the two services are comparable but I noticed that it takes longer to download videos and music and such. For instance when I would watch a video on Youtube or something I wouldn't need to wait for it load with Comcast, with DSL I need to pause it first and wait a minute or so before I can watch it; otherwise it stops every couple of seconds because it isn't loading quickly enough. I'm not saying it is slow, just slower then Comcast (which was lightning quick).

[moving123]

I bet you're right on the distance because I never have to wait on downloads from Bellsouth. I must be close to a transmitter. Sounds like just a matter of opinion and where the service initiates from..

[vilehelm]

If you ever have an issue with comcast:

PlanetFeedback: Voice of One, Power of Many

It works like a dream. If you are a heavy internet user cable is definitely the way to go, it is more expensive but I had way more issues with DSL than I have with Comcast. Comcast's customer service does suck but you just have to be extremely firm with them and then use planetfeedback when you hit a wall. We had a couple of issues, mostly around service people coming to the house on time ... after we used planet feedback we got GREAT service from special liaisons.

[L.E. Roselli]

A few months back, I noticed that my downloads were dramatically slower on Comcast. I thought it was my computer at first. So I bought a new cable modem. No change. I defragmented, ran new spyware and adware sweepers. No difference. I finally changed my firewall/antivirus software. Nothing.

Then last month, I was looking at my bill and noticed that the main charge was for "PerformanceLite" service.

LITE? At over $61.00 per month?!! I checked my past few statements and, sure enough, the "PerformanceLite" notation had appeared on my statements about the same time I noticed my slow speeds.

I called this to the attention of Comcast customer service. Even though I had never asked for or authorized any changes to my service, they insisted that PerformanceLite was what I'd had for several years, right from the start (not true - and I was never even informed or aware that there were different levels of service in cable!). I was offered Standard service again - at $67.00 per month. Fortunately, I still have my old bills on file to compare and prove that I originally had standard service.

Comcast Cable needs some COMPETITION in the Atlanta metro market.

[ATLienGirl]

DirectTV/Bellsouth handsdown. I have had Bellsouth for the past 5 years before their bundles package and I have, and I am not exaggerating, NEVER had a problem. Sure, downloading music and videos is a little slower, but, it's not THAT much slower and I would rather take great customer service and limited complications than being able to download a video or music with lightening speed. Regardless of the time frame of downloading something, I can still get it in a reasonable amount of time and I am not near a transmitter.

[springgarden]

I agree that Comcast definitely needs some competition. The NYC area has several high-speed internet providers, and one can get fiber optical internet (even much faster than cable) from Verizon for $45 or so a month.

We finally got Bellsouth DSL. They offered us a $37.5 deal for their highest speed, Xtreme 6.0, which was said to be up to 6 mbps. If this is true, then it should not be any slower than cable. We'll see!

[goodbyenyc]

comcast has been my worst experience overall in Georgia so far!

[xavier132487]

Comcast has been fine at my mom's house (we get speeds up to 15 Mbps as promised); relatively no down time. Occasionally we get the blink of death, but it's up within an hour (without calling it in).

I find it funny that once a dedicated line goes down, people get up in arms and think that there's some kind of conspiracy against them from their provider. Usually, there are too many people on the network and you just need to wait. Or, one trick is to unplug your modem for 30 seconds, replug it, and it will generally connect you to an outer band of frequencies that aren't in use by as many people.

Although I do believe Comcast's customer service sucks (try getting a new modem from those people... BLAH!), their actual product is decent. I wish Mindspring were still around (their service AND product were excellent), but a man can only dream.

Thank God I get my service on a 2 Gbps line at school and don't have to get an external provider yet.