[Tfug] Dilemma: Qwest or Comcast?

[Matt Jacob]

So, it's been about a month since my original post, and I ended up going 
with Qwest. The service has been decent so far, with a few exceptions.

The most glaring problem is that service was connected to my primary 
phone line (running into the kitchen) even though I explicitly asked for 
a hook-up to the secondary line (running into the office). I have no 
desire to station my networking gear and servers in the kitchen, obviously.

When I called Qwest to get the problem resolved, the tech said I might 
be charged $85 if the dispatch guy has to come inside my house to check 
the wiring. I told her I would absolutely refuse to pay the fee on the 
grounds of the problem being their fault and not mine. She said the fee 
would be added to my bill whether I wanted it or not. Knowing that the 
technician will have no need to check any internal wiring, I told her to 
send a guy out, and that I would most definitely fight the fee if it 
showed up on my bill.

Also, the service level I'm paying for is 5 Mb/s down and 896 Kb/s up, 
but actual speeds are 4100 Kb/s down and about 650 Kb/s up (it varies, 
of course, but those are the top speeds I've achieved). I'm planning 
another call to tech support to address this issue after my wiring 
problems are taken care of. And who knows---the second jack has much 
newer wiring than the first one, so the problem might just fix itself. I 
realize that quoted broadband speeds are always in terms of "potential", 
but I'm only getting 70-80% of what I'm paying for.

Two weeks in, and I'm not completely sold yet, but I feel I'm happier 
than I'd be if I had gone with Comcast.

Matt

Matt Jacob wrote:
> Let me start by saying that I currently have Cox, and I've been 
> extremely pleased with their service over the past year. I've heard 
> horrendous things about Cox's customer support, but thankfully, I 
> haven't had to deal with them since the initial phone call to activate 
> service. Unfortunately, I'll be moving further north in less than a 
> month, and that puts me outside of Cox's service area. Which brings me 
> to my dilemma...
> 
> Should I go with Qwest DSL or Comcast Cable? I've had Comcast in the 
> past for about 3-4 years, and I was never thrilled with their service. 
> I'm even less thrilled now that they're supposedly doing QoS filtering 
> against BitTorrent traffic. (I don't use BitTorrent myself, but I don't 
> like the principle of what Comcast is doing.)
> 
> I like the idea of having my own dedicated line with Qwest, but their 
> fastest plan will end up being more expensive than Comcast since I don't 
> have a telephone package with them. (And they also have goofy first-year 
> pricing that's about $10/mo. cheaper than usual, which seems exactly 
> like something Qwest would do.) The speed would be 5 mbps down and 894 
> kbps up, compared with Comcast's 7 mbps down and 384 kbps up (I think 
> those numbers are all correct).
> 
> So... less than stellar personal experience with Comcast, and I've heard 
> not-so-great things about Qwest. I'm kind of between a rock and a hard 
> place here.
> 
> What would YOU do?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Matt
> 
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