Done with comcast

[Doc]

And looking for alternate internet connection. I've had comcast for over a decade but for the past 5-6 months my connection fails for minutes to hours, works for an hour or two then goes out. Had no less than 7 service calls and spent hours on the phone. Today was the last straw

I do not have a land line as we rely strictly on cell phone. The house is wired for land line but it's a mess (actually had 22 different phone numbers coming in at one time from previous own). I have direct tv. I want wireless to cover the entire house which is just over 3,000 square feet on one floor. Mention this because current wireless just get kitchen and sons room.

What are my options?


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[CitizenBBN]

Right there with you with my Time Warner. It's a business account so I pay 3x the rate or more for less speed than the house 10' from my office would, and particularly nights and weekends I'll get these minutes long gaps.

Like you though I have no land line, even the office is VOIP now, though I do have lines run to the building so it's incidental to set it up. 22 lines? Dang doc what did he do run a scam telephone sweat shop out of the place?

The wifi we can separate from the internet provider, and that I can help on. Either better access points or repeater points is the answer there. Pedro is probably more up on the off the shelf consumer tech for that, but I built those systems for commercial use and can help talk about range and requirements. I'll try to look on a site or two that sells gear I know can do the job and see if they have anything in the consumer price range. I'm thinking the Ubiquiti gear would work for you, need to see what the have though b/c most commerical gear is designed for POE (power over ethernet) versus being plugged into an electrical outlet and set somewhere, but I'm sure that gear is out there somewhere.

May only need 2 points, one in the middle of one half, one in the other, depending on walls and such. THey mesh, one is plugged into the modem/router/whatever setup on that end.

as for provider that's tougher. most people only get to choose between cable and phone provider, and most are iffy for both.

[Lfbj00]

I had a TWC repair tech at my house on Tuesday to replace my dvr box. He went thru 2 boxes right out of the package before be could get one to work. This is after the dvr box in the living room froze up about 1 month ago. Tech came out and went thru THREE brand new boxes before he could get one to work. The tech that came Tuesday told me that they are hearing that TWC is looking to dump our service here in Louisville. They bit off more than they wanted when they acquired Insight and their cable lineup. He TD me they are looking to sell to a company in the northeast and get they're market on pretty much a trade. He said the company they are talking with the most.....Comcast!!

[blueboss]

I have Direct TV and I use ATT for the IP, ATT is not bad, I do lose connection from my router from time to time and have to call ATT tech support and go through a re-set which usually takes 15-20 minutes, however one night I was on the phone for almost two hours getting it straightened out.

[CitizenBBN]

I had a TWC repair tech at my house on Tuesday to replace my dvr box. He went thru 2 boxes right out of the package before be could get one to work. This is after the dvr box in the living room froze up about 1 month ago. Tech came out and went thru THREE brand new boxes before he could get one to work. The tech that came Tuesday told me that they are hearing that TWC is looking to dump our service here in Louisville. They bit off more than they wanted when they acquired Insight and their cable lineup. He TD me they are looking to sell to a company in the northeast and get they're market on pretty much a trade. He said the company they are talking with the most.....Comcast!!

Wonder if it's b/c Insight had better support and lineup than they have, they don't want to do it? I was basically fine with Insight. They were responsive, wasn't cheap but it worked fine, definitely better than the phone system in my area. Not sure it matters who they sell to, doubt any of them are much good.

[KSRBEvans]

I dropped TWC and got Uverse in September and have been pleased overall. Only complaint is I'm paying for 15 down and average around 11-12, but signal's strong and reliable.

[BigBluePappy]

We switched from Insight/TWC to UVerse and are well pleased thus far. Only had one little issue with the DVR service and it was rectified within 2-days. Rest of the cable and Internet worked, but the DVR was down on one box only (it wasn't the box) and they took care of it straight away.
Daughter is hoping and praying for the day it is available in their area.

[Doc]

Right there with you with my Time Warner. It's a business account so I pay 3x the rate or more for less speed than the house 10' from my office would, and particularly nights and weekends I'll get these minutes long gaps.

Like you though I have no land line, even the office is VOIP now, though I do have lines run to the building so it's incidental to set it up. 22 lines? Dang doc what did he do run a scam telephone sweat shop out of the place?

The wifi we can separate from the internet provider, and that I can help on. Either better access points or repeater points is the answer there. Pedro is probably more up on the off the shelf consumer tech for that, but I built those systems for commercial use and can help talk about range and requirements. I'll try to look on a site or two that sells gear I know can do the job and see if they have anything in the consumer price range. I'm thinking the Ubiquiti gear would work for you, need to see what the have though b/c most commerical gear is designed for POE (power over ethernet) versus being plugged into an electrical outlet and set somewhere, but I'm sure that gear is out there somewhere.

May only need 2 points, one in the middle of one half, one in the other, depending on walls and such. THey mesh, one is plugged into the modem/router/whatever setup on that end.

as for provider that's tougher. most people only get to choose between cable and phone provider, and most are iffy for both.


Guy had multiple businesses. Everything from aiding people in getting weapons licenses to refurbishing aircraft. Heck, the MASTER bathroom had 12 phone or internet jack in it. Thats the master bathroom.


IMO the problem isn't nor has it ever been my wifi (edit-initially type WIFE, she isnt the problem). That works fine. All computers are able to connect to the wifi all the time. Might say "local access only" but they all link. I know this because printers on other computers print off the printer connected to my computer and do so thru the wifi. Never a problem. Of course I can't get comcast to understand that. I do have a repeater (actually 2) however I think they are "bad". Were cheap crap from staples. Worked for a while then when to crap. However the tablets and laptops that used to work on the far side of the house don't unless they are on the near side of the house so I'm sure thats the issue as far as that goes.

[Doc]

I have Direct TV and I use ATT for the IP, ATT is not bad, I do lose connection from my router from time to time and have to call ATT tech support and go through a re-set which usually takes 15-20 minutes, however one night I was on the phone for almost two hours getting it straightened out.

I had my home tech guy over last night (it was guy's poker night, my host this month). He got me doing better. Changed the router password from 8E8AIOPJ249 etc.. (whatever the factor had) to something easy to remember (we went with "comcastsucks123). Talked about ATT vs Comcast. Apparently comcast is significantly faster so he recommend I tough it out with comcast...keep bitching til they replace the outside stuff too.

[blueboss]

I had my home tech guy over last night (it was guy's poker night, my host this month). He got me doing better. Changed the router password from 8E8AIOPJ249 etc.. (whatever the factor had) to something easy to remember (we went with "comcastsucks123). Talked about ATT vs Comcast. Apparently comcast is significantly faster so he recommend I tough it out with comcast...keep bitching til they replace the outside stuff too.

A guy at worked confirmed the same thing he said the cable service is lightening fast, but he stuck with Direct for his television. I may consider the same...