Any alternative to Comcast cable internet?

[mlkcpa]

I'm looking for another resource for cable, internet, and phone. I've had horrendous experiences with Comcast and AT&T, which are both MONOPOLIES, and I don't want to deal with them anymore. Most of my trouble has been with customer service (or lack thereof). AT&T managed to discontinue my telephone service for 18 days during the busiest part of tax season, which caused chaos in my business, and caused me to lose several clients who assumed that I'd gone out of business, since there was a disconnect message on my phone during that time. I talked to hoardes of AT&T "service" people several times each day during that period, and was made promises that were never kept, and they showed no accountability at all for my problem, until I took it to Facebook.

My problem with Comcast has been non-responsiveness to my request for appointments to correct problems. This has happened to me more than once, but most recently, I was given seven appointments, of which, only 2 were kept, and only 2 missed appointments were acknowledged. They promise to give $20 per late or missed appointment. What I learned from this is that you must get a confirmation number with them every time you talk to them if you want it to count. During the days I was trying to schedule appointments, I was constantly disconnected, and I believe it was deliberate because I had asked to speak to a supervisor. After being on hold (which lasted over several hours combined), I was disconnected. Also after asking for another appointment since the two that were kept didn't fix anything, I was put on hold and then disconnected. I am elderly with health problems, and all this abuse and stress is damaging my health further. Meanwhile, I guess I'll have to put it on Facebook for the world to see what these companies are like.

I'm hoping that there is an alternative to these two monopolizing giants, so that I don't have to take their abuse and inferior service when I'm paying them over $200 a month. I'm wondering if anyone knows whether Verizon provides these same services in the Atlanta area, and if so, what experiences have others had with them. Are there other companies which can provide these services? I'm willing to break up the "bundle" if I can get decent service.

[PKCorey]

No Verizon in the metro area.

You have Comcast, AT&T, Directv or Dish Network. Charter, if you are in Cobb.

Internet: You might want to look into T Mobile for their unlimited service for your home. You can probably run a VOIP service over it.

[LovelySummer]

Hotspot on your phone. I pay 20 a month for mine.

Originally Posted by springgarden

Comcast charges $60/month for high-speed internet, $20 more than what we are paying now (Earthlink, not available in ATL). We wouldn't mind too much paying for decent service, but Comcast also gets some of the worst reviews I have read. This just seems outrageous (especially considering the fact that some cities, e.g. Carrboro, NC, provide public wireless internet for free)! Is there no choice but be exploited by the telecom industry? Having high speed internet is important to us. We have not had any experience with DSL, but we heard it was way too slow compared to cable... Is there a way out here?!

[hilltop2010]

I have Comcast and the service has been good. I've had the line get cut by Cobb Co twice running to my house and both times they came out the next day to repair it. One thing that helps is to have phone service with them; I notice they give faster service for people with phone & cable.

[No2Monsanto]

My mom lives in Vinings and had Comcast. It was an ENTIRE NIGHTMARE for her!~ When she cancelled, there was this back and forth back and forth about them charging her for the upcoming month's bill even though she had cancelled. They would not close the account. She ended up contacting the corporate office before the issue could even be resolved; corporate tried to persuade her to stay with Comcast, and offered her all these incentives. She told them NO WAY IN HELL! She's with Direct TV now, and loves it; hasn't looked back.

[AcidSnake]

Unfortunately, I was beaten back to AT&T around September or October last year.

Clear Internet service simply became just too much of suck.

*sigh*

[bUU]

Originally Posted by mlkcpa

I'm looking for another resource for cable, internet, and phone. I've had horrendous experiences with Comcast and AT&T, which are both MONOPOLIES

The fact that you are talking about "both" means neither is a monopoly. The proper term for Comcast and AT&T together, in your area, is an oligopoly. Alarmists don't like using that word because it doesn't strike as much irrational fear into readers of the alarmists comments, in the same way that typing the word in the proper case, rather than all upper-case, doesn't strike as much irrational fear into readers of the alarmists comments. These transforms though highlight the issue: The situation presented accurately and in perspective isn't as bad as you make it. There are a half dozen ways people can get video entertainment. Five or six ways people can get telephone service. And three or four ways people can get internet service. People may make other decisions in their lives that limit their own choices, but that is little different from moving too far away from a McDonald's and claiming grievance because of McDonald's "monopoly" on Big Macs.

Originally Posted by mlkcpa

Most of my trouble has been with customer service (or lack thereof).

I should note that it has been 62 days since I moved out of Verizon's service area and I am still waiting for them to refund the non-inconsequential balance on my account. I'm not happy about it, but they're not doing anything wrong. What we're seeing is a reflection of the consumer marketplace crafted by consumer and investor behaviors (and of course often consumers and investors are simply two aspects of the same person). Timely refunds and other aspect of customer service increase costs, which lowers profits. Investors rail against those kinds of things, while consumers don't take a stand and do without services that economize customer service, so the investors win. Why is most of what we buy at retailers crap? Because Americans keep buying crap because it is affordable while high quality analogs are not.

Originally Posted by mlkcpa

What I learned from this is that you must get a confirmation number with them every time you talk to them if you want it to count.

My suggestion is to get a confirmation number if you want it to count.

Originally Posted by mlkcpa

Meanwhile, I guess I'll have to put it on Facebook for the world to see what these companies are like.

Yes, I did my petty best to whine about my Verizon situation as well. Do you think anyone really cares about what I posted? It was an utterly pointless gesture, because no one is going to do without what Verizon offers because of my experience. People may swear-off one supplier or another based on their own experience, and in doing so generally jump from the frying pan into the fire, but no one is really going to avoid Verizon because of my concern. They'll see what I wrote and say, "That's the way things are, if you want access to world-class telecommunications." And they'd be right.

Originally Posted by mlkcpa

I'm hoping that there is an alternative to these two monopolizing giants, so that I don't have to take their abuse and inferior service when I'm paying them over $200 a month.

Like I said, I fall into the habit of whining about the poor service I get too, but I've found that when I keep my expectations closer to what is reasonable based on the standard level of service everyone gets from large companies in our economy, I have a better experience - not necessarily as a customer but as a person, living my life. I do my part to do without things that I am willing to live without, if they're offered only with inferior customer service, but I try to avoid tilting at windmills.

Originally Posted by mlkcpa

I'm wondering if anyone knows whether Verizon provides these same services in the Atlanta area, and if so, what experiences have others had with them.

As you can see above, I had to leave Verizon because I moved to the Atlanta area, so [a] no they don't offer those services here, and [b] they're just going to provide the standard level of service that the industry offers in our country, again, shaped by consumer and investor behaviors - in other words, you'd be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Originally Posted by mlkcpa

Are there other companies which can provide these services? I'm willing to break up the "bundle" if I can get decent service.

Everything has a price. If someone was providing world-class telecommunications with better customer service, either there would be some other detriment to using that alternative supplier, they would be charging more, or it wouldn't last long. It would probably be more profitable to continually reevaluate our needs and make sure we're not feeding the system by paying for things we don't feel are worth the price, given the level of service we're getting.

Along those lines, you may want to evaluate how much you can do without what Comcast offers. Can you switch to an antenna for local news (assuming you care about local news), internet for national news, Vontage for telephone, and either Netflix or Hulu Plus for entertainment? If so, then you pursue a path where you only get high-speed Internet from Comcast and not have to pay them for telephone or cable television. You'll still have to be concerned about the customer service for the internet service, and bandwidth caps as well perhaps, but that's a lot less to complain about than the assorted problems we could have with all three services. I haven't done this myself yet because I just moved here and just needed a quick and easy answer and signed up for a two year contract. After that though, I probably will pursue these other ideas. Of course, convenience may be worth enough to me to stick with Comcast's triple play.

Best of luck.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by mlkcpa

I'm looking for another resource for cable, internet, and phone. I've had horrendous experiences with Comcast and AT&T, which are both MONOPOLIES, and I don't want to deal with them anymore. Most of my trouble has been with customer service (or lack thereof). AT&T managed to discontinue my telephone service for 18 days during the busiest part of tax season, which caused chaos in my business, and caused me to lose several clients who assumed that I'd gone out of business, since there was a disconnect message on my phone during that time. I talked to hoardes of AT&T "service" people several times each day during that period, and was made promises that were never kept, and they showed no accountability at all for my problem, until I took it to Facebook.

Welcome to the corporate world. Remember, this is what you should want, and this is good for you. Or something like that.

I finally, finally managed to convince Comcast to drop my cable and leave me with just internet, but it was a pain in the ass. Good luck, there is no "good" option, from a customer service standpoint. Choose Suck #1 or Suck #2. My service with Comcast has always been great for 9 years, up until I dropped cable. Now my internet is quite flaky. It took two service visits for them to install the cablecard on my TiVo because neither tech knew what that even was. I had to show the second tech how to get to the menus. Glad I was paying them for this.

[East Cobb Comcast hater]

I too am not a Comcast fan. These posts are old but if there is any update I am desperately looking for an alternative. The customer service is the real problem. They know they have a monopoly and they don't care about their customers. I broke down and signed up for Comcast in East Cobb and in less than 3 months they managed to **** me off. I was pissed and switched to Clear. Now I am told that Clear will be out of business soon. Help!!! Anything but comcast.