[LiveBrianD]

You won't be so happy when you find out the monthly cost of that 105mbps connection though - $200/month! My 15mbps connection is something like $20/month for the first 6 months, then $40/month for the next 1.5 years, and then I think $60/month. (idk, online it's slightly different after 6 months, maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly) I think it's a bit hard to justify that - my 15mbps connection is fast enough, and besides, you can spend that extra $150/month on hardware upgrades (it adds up pretty quickly). The connection seems pretty good - no outages for the most part (I had a morning long outage a week ago, but that's pretty rare). On the other hand, they seem to have forgotten what automatic billing means.


A few years ago, it was working fine, and then they implemented a new billing system. As a result, they would claim my dad hadn't paid the bill and threaten to cut off our service and charge us late fees (because his old credit card had to be cancelled or something and we gave them a new one, but they kept trying to bill the old one and of course it kept failing), and so after a few months he gave up on it and cancelled it. At the time, we had comcast tv and att dsl and phone. They still seem to have billing issues, though he's gotten used to paying manually to get around the problem. (the 1.5mbps DSL we had was pretty bad for video streaming, it could barely do 480p. Yes, I know I said 768kbps before - we'd been on 1.5mbps service for a while, the best they offered, cancelled, and later I checked out of curiosity and found that only 768kbps service was available here. Some of the neighbors have said that they couldn't get ANY ATT service around here, only comcast.)

ATT U-verse isn't available here, and the 768kbps DSL, the only internet they offer, is $15/month (with 12 month commitment). I wonder how comcast compares if you keep threatening to cancel after the intro rate is over. (My dad hasn't gotten to the end of the 2 year intro rate yet, but he's planning to threaten to cancel so they'll discount it again when he does.)

In case you're wondering:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1942199589.png
(they accelerate the first bit of a download, after that it reverts back to the speed I'm paying for - 15mbps down, 3mbps up)

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 09 May 2012 - 07:45 PM

[SnyperTodd]

LiveBrianD, on 09 May 2012 - 07:37 PM, said:

... I wonder how comcast compares if you keep threatening to cancel after the intro rate is over. (My dad hasn't gotten to the end of the 2 year intro rate yet, but he's planning to threaten to cancel so they'll discount it again when he does.)

Actually, I had Comcast Triple Play before, and every year they'd call and say "Your rate is going to increase to $XXX.XX" and I'd say "Okay, cancel my service then." and every year they'd give it to me for the same price as the year before. One year, they got my wife when they called and ended up raising our price $30/month. I called them right back when she told me that and told them to cancel our service, and- wouldn't you know- they ended up lowering it back down to our regular rate! If I remember right, it was $128/month for 30/3 internet, the basic digital TV package (cheapest one that you got a cable box- no HBO, Starz, or anything like that), and phone. They kept trying to get us up around the $160-170 mark, but never actually did.

[LiveBrianD]

lol

The local newspaper said they were raising the rate, and so my grandmother called and threatened to cancel. Sure enough, they gave her back the old rate for another year.

Come to think of it, right now the Verizon bill is $70/month for the base 700min family plan, plus $10*3 for each additional line (the base rate includes 2 lines, and there's a max of 5), so $100/month. (and we don't even use the phones much) I think I know what I'm going to try next...

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 10 May 2012 - 03:12 PM

[mjd420nova]

Comcast must have slipped up in my case, after being with them from their beginning, at two different locations, they wouldn't offer me the same bundle at their $100. a month for TV, internet, then they added VOIP no charge. Then after two years they wouldn't match the price even if I dropped the VOIP. Bye, bye. I took the boxes and remotes to the local office and cancelled on the spot. I already had the land line and I could get the DSL and Directv for the same $100. I do miss the higher speed internet but you have to draw the line somewhere. Now, when the Nascar season ends, the satelite goes away and I'll look into getting just the internet from Comcast. Don't give me some stupid excuse that I have to have basic TV to get the internet, they can block it if they want to and I'm not going to get it otherwise. The outside antenna, mast, and guy wires will run about $100. I already have more than enough coax and the inside cables are converted back from satelite to broadcast with no trouble. I just found I have to cut back on the idle time and increase the useful endeavors. Maybe more time on the radio or I could help the son on rebuilding our latest project, a 1977 GMC Sprint (el camino). If I had an extra $7,000. I could get a 1985 Fleetwood motor home on a Ford F350 chassis that needs a new 460 (Lincoln) motor. See there's lots to do besides vegitating on the couch. I will miss all the science and military channels.

[LiveBrianD]

Actually, I've heard that you can get some basic channels (that don't require a cablecard) if you have comcast cable internet but not cable TV service. I think my dad tried that and it worked.

[mjd420nova]

LiveBrianD, on 10 May 2012 - 05:03 PM, said:

Actually, I've heard that you can get some basic channels (that don't require a cablecard) if you have comcast cable internet but not cable TV service. I think my dad tried that and it worked.

Yes, I had thought of that but I'll wait and see what the TV set will pick up. When the time comes. I haven't looked into satelite for the internet (Hughes) and their tier of prices for different speeds. Would have to have a hefty box to drive the uplink. The rf spectrum over the cable would have to be pretty extensive and there still may be some analog content there too, maybe not, haven't tried and I'd have to bypass their lockout just to see.

[coastie65]

SnyperTodd, on 09 May 2012 - 05:23 PM, said:

coastie65, on 09 May 2012 - 08:34 AM, said:

I did that OTR stuff for about two years. Liked the freedom of being on the road intitially, but didn't care much for the 4 wheelers that thought one of those rigs could stop on a dime or didn't give you room to make a turn. I was aware of the other thing as you had PM'd about it as I had been in a similar situation and mentioned it at some point. Been going through my trials, but in a different circumstance this year ( keep getting blocked by someone on YouTube & FB ). When the time comes to how you want to do TV & Internet, just look over the options that are available. You really do want Hi Speed Internet with as few restrictions ( bandwidth and such ) as possible with that as well.

I started out OTR in 2003 as soon as I turned 21 and always missed it when I went local. It is a pain sharing the road with 4 wheelers, but there isn't much you can do about them- it's more of a pain to run one over! I had a guy in a Ford Explorer pulling a 26' camping trailer run a stop sign and turn into my lane about 30 yards ahead of me while I was doing 55 on a busy state highway outside Janesville, WI. That was in June of 2007, my first and only accident, and I still suffer neck and shoulder pain every day from that. He had no insurance and tried to run and ended up losing his license. I've been OTR since October of last year- it was easier than coming home to an empty house every night, but in a couple weeks I'm going to start doing night line haul for a regional company here. I appreciate the support you've given me Coastie, until now only a couple of people on here knew about my divorce and all have been invaluable to me. I'm starting to come to terms with it now, which is why I'm going local again and gonna try to settle back down. (Back on topic ) I'll probably go back to Comcast, I don't think we have any other cable option and I know we don't have a fiber option here yet, and I miss my 30Mbps connection!

Yeah, I came to terms with it over time. These days I just get locked out FB pages and YouTube channels instead of the house. I don't why I never ran over anybody. I've had them pull out in front of me and not to mention someone passing then cut right in front of you and then suddenly slow down. Came close a few times though. I only had one bit of trouble and that was for dummying up my logs. They put a clock in the cab and as long as the truck was moving, it was keeping time. Well as you know there are regulations as to how long you can be on the road and then you have to take a break. Forgot what it was, but think it was 10 hours then you had to take 8 off or something like that. Anyway, my logs didn't match the clock and to tell you the truth, I didn't really care. Fortunately it didn't result in an accident or anything ( not even a speeding ticket ). The Company got fined big time though and my Dad was the CFO. Thought for sure he was going to take it out of my pay. They did take out $500, which was a small amount as I think the fine was some $25,000 ( it was major ). Actually it was just some bad timing as the Government guy was there when I got in and requested my Logs and stuff. Just routine he said, seeing as how he was there. I'm glad he didn't ask to see my other logs as they were all Dummied and the Company was aware of it. Usually wasn't a problem unless you had an accident or something.