Comcast Problems

LATEST UPDATE
2/5/08: Comcast now realizes that the whole neighborhood has been having intermittent problems. They think they finally found the source of the problem. There was a loose connection in an outside wiring terminal which was repaired late at night on 1/31/08. I was asked to call in if we have any more problems.  3/15/08 - We haven't experienced any problems since 1/31   - Dick Lambert 800 Brenner Ave

SUMMARY
Many neighbors have had a lot of trouble with Comcast digital phone and internet service since October 2007 which was (coincidentally?) about the time that Comcast started switching people over to their internet based digital phone system. The phone problems, which run for minutes to hours at a time, range from no service at all, to people who can't hear us when we call, to people who report that our voices are so garbled that they can barely understand us. The internet problems, which also run for minutes to hours at a time, range from no service at all to EXTREMELY slow service (like 2 to 3 minutes to get the Google home page to display).  People have reported a few problems with their Comcast cable TV but those problems seem much more sporadic.

ACTION STEP
The techs I've spoken to won't, or can't, tell me how many other neighbors are having problems.  That, together with the difficulty in getting through to tech support, and the resulting waste of all our time, suggests another approach - pooling our complaints and submitting them to Comcast management all at one time.   To that end I suggest you 

1. Keep a brief log that lists the date, time and brief description of your problem
2. Forward it to me by email as often as you feel necessary
3. Use "Comcast Report" as the subject
4. Note whether you had the time to talk with tech support and what they told you
5. If a tech came to your home state what he or she told you

I will post a running log here that lists all of the complaints I receive and I will forward it as often as it seems useful to a local Comcast VP I've made contact with.

BACKGROUND
Comcast has repeatedly sent out technicians who have found everything to be OK inside our homes. They've admitted that the problem is "upstream." Unfortunately, "upstream" never seems to get fixed.  Admittedly the intermittent nature of the problem makes it difficult to troubleshoot, however, after four months it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect a resolution.  To say we're getting exasperated after this long is putting it mildly.  In an attempt to find out if these problems are widespread, or just confined to our neighborhood, I started a new thread on the Roseville Issues Forum asking people across the city to post their experiences.

Hint: To see what you download and upload speeds are at any time go to www.speakeasy.net/speedtest and click on the nearest server (Chicago).  The site will test how fast your internet connection is in both directions.  Download speed should be at least 4000 kbps (kilobits per second) while upload speeds should be at least 250 kbps.

As I explained in an email to everyone on 1/2/08 I have been advised by one of the tech support people I spoke with (most of whom have been remarkably sympathetic and reasonable by the way) that the best way to get our "upstream" problem solved is to have everybody call in and report each incidence of slow, poor, or nonexistent service.  Here are the Comcast tech support numbers I've been given:

• The tech support number for Comcast telephone tech support: 800-380-2076 (Direct line to a human being!!)
• The tech support number for Comcast Internet: 800-266-2278  Unfortunately this leads to a machine.   When it answers hit 1 (for English), then 1 (for trouble) , then 2 (for Internet), then if they're busy the machine will ask you to tell it what you want - just say "Agent."  Note that I've had to wait as long as 35 minutes to get through to a person in Internet tech support anytime after 6 PM.

Here are the comments I've received in response to my 1/2/08 email asking if anyone else was having problems.

• We've had nothing but trouble with our Internet connection as well as phone service ever since we had Comcast install their new internet based phone service. 
• Comcast is our Internet provider, and indeed, there are periods we do not have internet connection at all. 
• We have Comcast Triple Play (cable, internet, and phone). We signed up when we moved here at the end of August and have had nothing but trouble. I have definitely informed friends and coworkers to stay away from Comcast. We have had multiple outages where everything goes down and even more outages with internet and phone. Even when the phone is working it is not 
  consistently clear and drops calls. I have called every single time we have had a problem. I feel we have had little or no success. We 
  have had multiple service visits without improvement. We intend to switch providers for internet and phone and perhaps cable. It is not 
  worth the hassle. I am wondering if there are any providers out there that people recommend. Is Qwest the only other choice? Would others recommend their service or are there problems with that in this area as well.  We are simply stunned by the trouble with the electricity and now Comcast. We have lived in rural areas of Minnesota and South Dakota and never had a fraction of the inconvenience.  We did not have an outage today but our phone was filled with static and the internet was SLOW to say the least.
• Yes we have Comcast internet and the new internet digital phone service. We also had the old digital phone service, we switched around Dec 2007.  We have had several outages in the last few months. We may have had one today. 
• We don’t use Comcast phone service, just internet and cable. This fall we had horrible interruptions – quite frankly, I thought it was my router and was going to replace it. However, this seems to be much better recently. We’ve had very few issues with the TV – a couple minor ones but I think those just happen. However, our internet seems to be working well now. FYI – I didn’t switch the phone service because I’ve heard from others they’ve had lots of problems.
• We also experienced an outage yesterday morning. I used the automated help line to request a reset of my cable modem and that seemed to fix the problem. The rest of the day I had no issues.
• We have the same "Comcastic" Internet and TV, but not phone and we have been having the same problems. The Internet will not work sometimes and the TV is fine. When I called one time they told me it was a bandwidth issue. That is why the TV will still be working fine while the Internet has all sorts of lag or won't connect at all. I assumed it was a problem with our line to the box not the whole neighborhood. 
• We have Comcast for our internet. And we've had problems as well. So I'd welcome the chance to be on your email list about that. Thanks for the heads up on the digital phone service. That's a good warning. I won't be making the change.  I too have been frustrated that they don't do anything unless you go out of your way to call. They seem to be very reactive rather than being proactively monitoring the lines and searching for ways to improve things.
• We've had almost daily trouble with our Comcast internet connection for the last few weeks, including just last night. Thanks for your legwork. You can certainly add us to your list of troubled customers, and we'll keep nagging at them too.  So glad I persuaded Steve not to switch the landline phone, even if it is Qwest!
• We do not have Comcast phone service but we have had intermittent and slow internet service from them this week. I just spoke with them and they are coming out to check our modem, the line to our house and the line in the street this Friday. I mentioned other neighbors were having issues. While the internet speed/consistency has been frustrating recently I have had nothing but excellent service from the Comcast employees. One recently so impressed me that I may even write in to comment on how they went above and beyond.
• I have Comcast cable for the Internet, and use Vonage for internet phone, which is our main line. Because the phone is dependent on the Internet, I have also had problems with both, especially in the last few days. I had to call Comcast Customer service on several occasions, using the cell phone.