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What is wrong with Comcast?

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If you have or are thinking about using Comcast cable for your internet service, there are some things you should be aware of.

One of the most questionable things about them is their bandwidth usage limits. If a customer uses more than a certain amount of bandwidth, Comcast sends a warning. If your usage continues to remain high, they will disconnect your service. While that is nothing unusual, Comcast goes about it in a very unethical way. Comcast refuses to state what that limit is. How are you supposed to comply with a limit if they won't tell you what that limit is?

Another thing Comcast did in the past irritated me very greatly. When AT&T broadband closed up shop, they transferred their existing broadband customers to Comcast. AT&T agreed to forward their customers' attbi.com email to their new Comcast addresses. However, Comcast informed transferring customers that they would not receive their email forwarded from attbi.com if they did not use Comcast's "transition wizard", a program designed to configure email and other settings automatically.

That never sat right with me. I always wondered why they felt the need to demand that customers run that software. Several months later, the reason was revealed. It turns out that by installing that "transition wizard", you were agreeing to a very questionable license.

The license gave Comcast the right to do a credit check on their customers and then to disclose (or sell) that information to third parties. The license seems to allow Comcast the right to open and read a customer's email without informing them. The license allows Comcast to install new firmware on their customers' cable modem without notification, regardless of whether or not they own the modem (many people buy their own modem). The license also prohibits a customer from joining any future class-action lawsuits against the company.

Funny how none of that was mentioned when they were telling customers who didn't install their software that they would not receive their attbi.com email.

All of that is old news now but I thought I would mention it along with Comcast's newest example of obnoxious behavior. Comcast will be providing new customers with a Linksys wireless router that contains features for which I really have to question the need. It will allow Comcast remotely to detect computers attached to the router, examine their network usage on the local area network (LAN), see how much bandwidth they are using on the LAN and even allows them remotely to deny those computers access to the router.

I say this is going too far. From the router's internet port to Comcast's internet servers is Comcast's business. Everything on the customer's side of the network is none of their concern. What possible reason does Comcast have for snooping into someone's LAN and even disabling a device?

I plan to move in the near future. I sincerely hope to be able to receive either DSL or cable internet wherever I move. However, I refuse to consider Comcast as an ISP. Comcast is too intrusive and their policies and behavior are too questionable for me to spend any money with them.

sounds like more control. I have Charter Cable and they wouldn't tell me how much bandwidth is too much either.

I have Mediacom, and they're pretty similar on how much you can download/upload. They aren't nearly as bad as Comcrap.

First of all, why do they (Comcast) need to know what's on the LAN? You're connected via one IP number, all computers share the download/upload caps, so why do they need to know? It's none of their friggin business. Why do they feel the need to not allow one particular machine on the router?

I'm happy with my wired router. I have no need to go wireless (yet), and when I do, I will buy my own wireless gateway/router, encrypt it, and make sure no one else has access.

Cable companies are like that you know. They also won't tell you that their cable signals are substandard either.....

Tell Comcast to go fuck themselves!

Verizon has a DSL service that's a hell of a lot better than that shitty little cable modem . . . and they don't tell you what you can do on it.

I have Verizon as an ISP and I have NEVER (so far anyway) have had a problem with them about ANYTHINg. If I am not mistaken, it was the President or CEO of Verizon that said we pay for our internet connection so we can d-load as much as we want.

*ANYTHING

Its a cable company. They still think of customers as passive couch potatos.

hmm.. I recently switched over from Yahoo DSL to Comcast simply because the speeds are 3xs that of Yahoo 3MB DL kinda sold me.. and so far its going 5MB instead of 3 (steady with no slow down) ..so I will monitor my bandwith usage and see if anything happens.. I setup my own Linksys router for my network and it serves 5 computers. If I find that they do actually monitor my use or how many ips are connected I will certainly look into the matter.

I use Comcast. Didn't use their mail transition wizard though. I know where my mail settings are. (oddly, I'm still receiving email sent to the attbi.com address).

Don't fret about their EULAs. You can put anything into a contract you want, that doesn't make it legal or enforceable. A judge can exclude parts of contracts deemed illegal or unenforceable. The class action lawsuit would likely get tossed.

They've never warned me on bandwidth use, but I'm not DLing or ULing 24/7 either.

I would suggest if you have concerns, contact your Better Business Bureau, State attorney, or some other consumer advocacy group to air your concerns.

crackedup,
you get 5 megs down, instead of 3?

Lucky SOB!

I use Sprint DSL here; And it's wonderful. They don't care what you do with your connection, only that you pay them their fee every month. I routinly transfer data 24/7 and have been doing so for around 2 years now; not one word from Sprint concerning usage.

You can run ftp, web, email servers, etc; they don't care what you do with the line.
It's even mentioned in the terms of service agreement. They support only the line, if you run other services off of it, it's your issue.

You can usually find either Verizon or Earthlink whereever Comcast does business as well. I would go with Verizon, myself, but if that would not be available I would check with earthlink, and btw there are usually a lot of smaller less known DSL companies that are local that provide good service as well, you just need to look around a bit. Comcast = Sux

ive been running my ftp server 24/7 for a couple years , up and down at IRC all the time and never had a problem with comcast (so far). I have been considering going to verizon dsl because they are 20 bucks a month cheaper and i dont download much anymore and havent liked what im hearing about comcast's policies lately so thanks for the added info

i have cox cable...hate cable companies..monopolies all of them, but they apparently also have caps. at least for cox, the cap is set on the ip address, so shutting off the modem and then turning it back on will usually give you a different ip address. this will give you new bandwidth to use. can't guarantee it'll work for all of you though.

Burner,

Are you able to run your ftp on standard port? or do you have to move it around so that your ISP doesn't catch you? In my case, it's perfectly okay to run it on standard port. They know I'm running one, they don't care. It's withen the TOS.

this summer the first 802.16b (WiMax, MAN[metropolitan area network], etc.) transmitter should be on the market which has the ability to deliver 60 T1 quality connections in a 30 mile radius. once the hardware catches up with the technology there will be more locally owned ISPs that can be competitve with the 5MB downstream and you wont have to decide between speed vs. privacy.

I switched from Bell***** ADSL at 1.5Mbps/256k to Comcast 3Mbps/256k and will never go back.

Some think that DSL is more secure... yada, yada, but the Bell switched from PVC switches to something called BBG (using "virtual circuits", dumping all connections into a "tunnel" before they reach their respective NOC) - my DSL started becoming real crappy after that change, even though I had dedicated bandwidth up to the CO.

With Comcast, at least, I get 3Mbps downstream plus, with close to 300k upstream - consistently - for less $$$ per month.

If you think the cable companies are monopolistic tyrannts, just wait until you try to get a real problem with your phone line DSL resolved - they REALLY do not give a damn!

Try reading the Terms & Conditions of just about any ISP, and according to them, you are not allowed to do much of anything.

Comcast Corp President & CEO is on C-Span right now talking about the service

by monopolies, i mean this...try and buy cable from some other company in your area. it won't happen. it's like AT&T in the old days...eventually the gov't will de-regulate the industry, maybe

Funny thing is Comcast also said your Email from ATTBI would be forwarded ONLY until the first of the year 2004. YET I STILL get mail forwarded from ATTBI.

Plus if you do a trace route it still shows the servers as ATTBI. Also I can tell you why they want to know whats on your LAN. Its because they say they sell you ONE connection per computer and if you want more you have to pay extra. Don't be surprised if they start (as you said) when shutting down something on your LAN you get a letter saying it was detected that you had more than one computer per modem and you need to pay more to get the other computers on the net.

Also when Comcast first bought AT&T in thier FAQ page one question was
"How will this affect my bill, will it go up?"

The answer was NO your bill will remain the same ya thoses fricken bastards upped my cost by ten dollars a month OR uless I wanted to get a package deal and get basic cable and my brioadband would stay at the lower price. So lets see I either pay ten dollars more a month or pay TWELVE dollars more a month but have basic cable that I don't want or need.

I already have a dish and had tried digital cable and was paying more for less channels then I have on dish not to mention the digital cable sucked big time WORSE than it was before IMO. What a PATHETIC way to make more money, extort your customers for more services they don't want.

Not to mention silly me I actually thought UNLIMITED meant just that Funny how the word unlimited got redefined huh? Sadly to one degree or another they are ALL dirtbags. They figure if you want more then you need to pay more.

Much like when you used to buy anti-virus software updates were lifetime and not limited but some money grubbing asswipe sitting in a board meeting said "HEY why are we giving this stuff away for free when we know people need to virus updates so lets charge them yearly", Again pathetic and sad state of affairs.

OH on a side note I wonder if someone got ahold of all the old ATTBI emails because in the last week I've gotten two messages saying thier servers rejected my email because it had a virus attach and I don't know EITHER of the people in the email.

OPPS to add to my last messsage. The virus notices wher addressed to my old ATTBI addy.

OPPS to add to my last messsage. The virus notices wher addressed to my old ATTBI addy.

RaidHHI,
yeah i run port 21 i told them i run FTP before i got the service and they didnt have a problem with it . its written in the TOS although i think they might have a problem if they thought i was " A Pirate "

Im using Earthlink right now. I had a hard time getting an answer out of them when I asked if I had a bandwidth limit. Apperently i dont though. What did irritate me about Earthlink is, when I signed up for their dsl back in January, they didnt specify that they would contract out through covad for dsl, so Im basically using Covad dsl with and Earthlink domain name.