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Is Comcast Heading the Way of the Dinosaur?
CasualRepartee writes "Comcast has been one of the most successful cable companies in the world; in many parts of the U.S., Comcast sits pretty on huge user bases that don't have many viable high-speed internet alternatives. However, poor customer service, slow speeds and generally poor business practices could make the once-great internet giant another extinct dinosaur, no ice age required.
The fact of the matter is this: Comcast is no longer the biggest and the best. Cable is taking a distant back seat to Verizon's FiOS (fiber optic service), which delivers speeds up to 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload speeds. Unlike Comcast, FiOS delivers the full range of bandwidth to each user, whereas Comcast users are forced to share bandwidth with other users on the same coaxial cable, causing speeds to fluctuate dramatically with usage."
I used to believe that Comcast was like Microsoft. I had no choice but to use them for some tasks. However, my cable modem, at a supposed 6 Mbps, gave me evening downloads of around 60-80K/sec. At 9 AM I could easily get 300K/sec.
So, I decided to go down the road less traveled and I got DirectTV and Verizon DSL at 3 Mbit. No FIOS here yet. Well, the TV picture is far superior on my SD television and my download speed 24/7 is almost always arond 340-350K/sec. My DSL has been out TWICE in the 2 years I have had it. My cable gave me issues that lasted as long as a week sometimes.
Comcast has gotte so big, it can't react any more. They're not willing to do what needs to be done to win customer loyalty.
One plus Comcast does have is that when I call Tech Support, I get routed to Canada and someone I can understand. Verizon Tech Support go to somewhere in India where trained monkeys follow a script. I've only ever had to call them twice when my modem was out luckily.
The DirectTV experience however, far outshines anything Comcast can offer customer service wise.
Andy