A few weeks ago I woke up to find that my internet access was down. I did the typical troubleshooting, reset the cable modem, my router etc, but to no avail. I called Comcast (still the best internet access in my area), and they determined that my cable modem was dead.
The very nice service person from Comcast said that I would actually get much faster speeds with one of the newer modems anyways, and as well that for an extra $10 a month I could upgrade from 12MBs down to 20MBs down, which I gladly accepted. I can’t believe I was unaware that they offered faster service and I didn’t know this.
I had intended to bring in my cable boxes and return them that week anyways, but having my Internet down was not an option, and I didn’t have time to unhook the cable boxes so I unplugged the dead modem and would have to do the cable boxes at another time. I explained to the guy behind the desk at the Comcast office my intention to drop cable and bring in the boxes, and we went over what my options for service were going to be. I was told that that the best deal I could get, would still give me basic cable services (without a cable box), and there was no way to dump that and get a cheaper price, which was fine with me. I would use the cable for basic TV. I was going to save a bundle on cable TV services I wasn’t using anyways, and was speeding up my connection. I gave him my dead RCA modem and traded it for the newer faster version from the same company.
Back at home I did the upgrade which requires that you install the hardware, and then go through an online registration process and setup, and got back online. A few quick tests and I was pretty happy. Everything was working great and I was getting blazing speeds, at least compared to what I had been getting.
I was finally ready to get rid of my cable TV. I had installed the full version of PlayOn, which I will discuss more in another post, and over the past few weeks I have been testing out all the equipment and channels I get via the net. Everything I was hoping for and expecting was working, and I was ready to go back to the Comcast Depot and hand in my three cable boxes, and cut my bill in half. So, back to the Comcast Service Center.
A quick side note: Comcast used to have a makeshift tiny little office in North Seattle. Three windows in a cramped little office. The new service center is massive. Seven windows, completely modern with flat screens all over the place explaining their services, and a computerized system where you get a ticket number and a digitized voice directs you to the appropriate window / service person.
As you may know, when dealing with the cable company, similar to your cell provider, the deal you get is often based on the day you go there, and the person who you are talking to at the depot. You can go in one day and they will offer you a service package, and then the next offer you something completely different. I am unclear why any company would want to work off a system like this, but such is life.
So this time I brought in the boxes, and I get the right guy on the right day. He works with me for a bit trying to find the best deal I can get, and tells me that he can speed up my internet even more (really? Wow, I just did this a week before). For the same price, he can give me a cable modem that is made for both Internet and phone services, and that he will also throw in a free cable box (newer than the ones I was returning and with no monthly fee). First off that is great as one of my TVs is an old 35inch in the bedroom which would need a decoder to read the new regulated signals anyways, so the cable box solves that issue for me. The bigger part, is that the new cable modem he gave me, which is twice the size of the standard ones, can get higher burst speeds as it is made to give you QOS for your telephone, which of course I don’t need (although they did give me a phone number which is ridiculous but doesn’t affect me).
Back at home I check out the new modem. It’s made by Arris instead of RCA, about twice the size and supposedly faster. Lets see. I went through the setup, and BAM! now this thing is really humming. Even I’m a bit shocked. Over several tests on different sites, I am now getting over 35Mbps down and over 5Mbps up. Now that’s FAST for home use. The next step up would be a business line at $200+ a month which is way overkill. Who’d a thought? Right place, right day, right service rep, and I end up with another 15Mbps down and a cable box for free. Only downside is Comcast still enforces a 250GB limit per month, combined up and down, which is a lot for a normal user, but clearly I am not a normal user, so I need to monitor how much stuff I DL each month. Now way around that policy for residential users apparently.
Speed Testing:
Besides using various Internet speed tests, I give the new Arris modem some real life testing. Simultaneously streaming a movie from NetFlix to my living Room, Streaming a TV show from HULU to the Bedroom, Listening to an album using Spotify on the laptop, Downloading a torrent on one of my servers, Using Pandora on my IPhone, and browsing the web on the Netbook. No discernable speed issues, dropouts or lag-times on any activity. Flawless...
This is F***ing FAST!
So due to the fact that by chance my cable modem died, over the course of two weeks:
I got a new RCA modem that was faster just based on the fact that it was newer
I found out that I was able to upgrade my speed from 12Mbps to 20Mbs
I then got another modem (Arris) that supported even faster speeds
I was moved up from 20Mbs to over 35Mbs burst speeds
Got a phone number and cablebox without any associated monthly fee
Lesson learned:
You never know what you are going to end up with for service from Comcast. I had called them before to see if there were any options to speed up my connection and was told that there was not. In fact, many years ago, when Comcast did not have DVRs on their cable boxes in the Seattle area, I saw an article online that they were giving them out for “beta testing”, if you just asked. I brought my old boxes down to the service center, and they confirmed this and gave me the DVR boxes a year before they rolled them out for the whole city. Seems like you need to ask a lot of questions, and just keep calling and going in to find out what is actually available to you in your area.
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