New customer -- No more Comcast!

[Johnedh]

A few moments ago I was watching Dale on Leo Laporte's TWiT and he mentioned Sonic possibly being available in my area. I checked...

HOLY SMOKE!

OMG! Why didn't I know about Sonic breing here earlier? I follow tech news rather closely at assumed COMCAST was my only only possible ISP: but "850 ft from CO." I just signed up! If I get > 10 Mbps I'll be very happy!

Of course, as a long term customer, I naturally hate Comcast as much as tens of millions of other Americans. I've never ever used the TV portion of my COMCA$T contract so I'll be very very happy to cancel it until infinity and beyond.

Thank you TWiT. Thank you Dale.

I assume I'll get some notification of the installation process. Actually, I haven't used a land-line phone for years (VOIP on Ooma) but the phone lines still connect to the side of my house so figure there won't be a problem.

[m2m3]

If you are only 850 ft. from the CO, then you should get close to max speed 20 Mb/s.

[Guest]

As a reference, I am about 4500ft from the CO and I get 10Mbits...you should be pretty well maxed out.
And, assuming you are getting Fusion, you can also get rid of ATT (not that it appears you have it) and you can go back to a real telephone if you want.

[carie]

Good morning Johnedh,

I took a glance at your line and it looks like there is a problem. Please give us a call so we can go through some troubleshooting and possibly get a tech out to you. Right now, because of the holiday, we are a bit booked out, but if we can find out if the problem is on the outside, we can get an AT&T tech out to you pretty fast.

Thanks!

[dane]

Looks like it got fixed around 4:45pm this afternoon, and Johnedh is now getting 24Mbps downstream and 1.25Mbps upstream.

John, you might try the Annex M (upstream priority) profile, at short distances like this it works particularly well. You can toggle this setting by calling 611, option 2, or by visiting the Member Tools Labs section, Fusion Line Profile.

At my house (1790ft from CO), I got almost 24Mbps down and 1.2 up in the standard downstream priority mode, and turning on upstream priority gave me about 20Mbps/3Mbps, which was a worthwhile trade-off.

[johnedh]

If you are only 850 ft. from the CO, then you should get close to max speed 20 Mb/s.

The first week I never got over 2 Mbps, usually less than 1.5. I waited and the speed never increased. Rats!

So.... I had installed the modem in a dark corner of the house. Eventually I decided to connect the supplied phone to test the number. It was then I noticed that the modem was plugged into the PHONE jack! Easy fix.

Now I typically get 19 to 20 Mbps. Mucho happy!

I've read horror stories about getting Comcast to cancel. I'm thinking of using the I'm Moving ploy. I would welcome any suggestions re how to deal with them.

[dane]

I suggest you record the call - if their system says it's recording you, they and you have been notified and it's legal to do so. Then, see what happens! If it's really bad, it'd be interesting to hear.

[johnedh]

I cancelled Comcast!

I did some research and this method worked for me. I used the "I'm moving" scheme! I had successfully used Sonic for about a month and was totally satisfied. My Comcast modem had been disconnected for weeks before I called from my land line.

You can easily get a Comcast US coverage map and I chose a rural town that was a very long distance from any of their coverage.

I called the Comcast "I'm moving" number (on the Your Accounts page I think) and told the very nice lady I was forced to move to XXXXX before next week. I used a getting older, medical excuse. It helped that I am actually old and can easily do the "old man" voice! But a "losing my job" ploy should work. Just be believable that you are gonna be gone.

I immediately told her that I had to move in with my son for the foreseeable future and that they had the "Dish." This was to put a stop to any marketing another affiliated cable or satellite service. She did try to start a conversation regarding me getting a non-Comcast vendor but my "Dish" statement put a stop to it.

It took about 25 minutes and I did talk to another person, but they cancelled it!

I was always very polite and patient and made forlorn statements that I "regretted losing my reliable, wonderful Comcast TV cable, and was very sorry to have to say goodbye."

I suggest you use the "have to move" scheme:

- Pick a city/town where Comcast is nowhere close,
- Call the "Moving" number, NOT the Change Service one, and have a believable story you can do for 20-30 minutes, and think about it ahead of time so you're comfortable and real,
- Be clear that you won't have a permanent address in the near future (avoid other-vendor pitch),
- Be polite and sincere and sad that you are going to lose Comcast. Don't be a smarty pants bad actor! They may catch on.

Good luck.