For all the shit I give Comcast, I must take my hat off to them for being at the top of the heap. And I'm not surprised – my Comcast service here in the Bay Area has been awesome. I get every last bit of my 20 Mbit pipe, Watch Instantly starts almost instantly and I always get the HD version of my programming when available.
I hasten to add that part of this must be a function of competition here. I can choose from Comcast, DSL or AT&T's U-verse thing, so they have some incentive to provide a compelling bandwidth offering. Still – at least where data service is concerned, Comcast delivers.
comcast's end product is not bad at all, compared to what is available in america.
their problem is customer service and their corporate policies. i avoid calling them at all costs and only do so once i know for sure that my problem is unfixable on my side.
Did you know they have a direct support forum at BroadBandReports.com? I used it a couple days ago and it is useful for smaller issues that you don't want to call in. Must be a subscriber and only you and Comcast can read your posts in the direct forum:
I'm with Charter, 30Mbit down 5Mbit up at a not too outrageous price. I typically see 32-33Mbit down in actual use (sustained). 60Mbit down is available but is still too expensive for my use. They don't cap your bandwidth at this time either. Their customer service really isn't that bad in my experience. They haven't hesitated to send out techs to look into potential line problems. They've swapped out modems (leased) on request. They proactively send out hardware when upgrading (DOCSIS 2.0 to 3.0 for example) so that consumers are ready ahead of time etc. They certainly aren't perfect but my other option is AT&T which is atrocious in this area and has trouble providing their top speed U-Verse. My only complaints with Charter are with their television packages which stink and are overpriced. I'm pretty sure that's only partially their fault.
I hasten to add that part of this must be a function of competition here. I can choose from Comcast, DSL or AT&T's U-verse thing, so they have some incentive to provide a compelling bandwidth offering. Still – at least where data service is concerned, Comcast delivers.