Thanks, Kathy and Laura.
You may not have been technical, but there was a lot of useful info there.
"Fast" is very good to hear, and it's nice to be reassured about the speed drops. I think they can still occur, depending on how many other people in your area have the same service. We'll have to see on that score.
As for DSL, we can't get it. DSL uses phone lines, and you have to be physically close to the phone company's local relay building to be able to use it. We're just in the wrong part of town. <shrug>
Reliable is even better news. Pretty much the only thing the Comcast reviews I read agreed upon was the poor quality of customer service. As with Earthlink, though, that's not a big problem if the product is reliable enough. Who cares how bad they are if you never need them? <g>
So, thanks again.
It'll probably be a few days before we figure out what we're doing, but it's good to know more.
Kathy, about the Comcast reviews -- You can read them
here if you're interested. (You can also go
here for the full list of reviewed cable companies.) Like I said, I just skimmed through them. I'll probably go back over them more in depth later.
Basically, Comcast averaged 3.5 stars out of a possible 5, but the top cable ISP (RoadRunner, as it happens) only got 4. (COX tied with Comcast. There were 519 reviews for RR, 211 for Comcast, and 66 for COX.) The reviews seemed to agree on speed. A couple mentioned the speed drops, but a couple others said they'd never had that problem. A fair number complained about the support. The rest was a mixed bag.
Actually, I just sorted the reviews by date, and noticed that the 6 reviews from this year are all negative. The most recent reviews agree that it's unreliable and that customer support is poor (mostly long hold times, but some complain about bad techs, too).
I don't know if they suddenly went downhill or if the only people reviewing at this point are the ones who are upset.
The next few reviews (from late 03) are all very positive.
Earlier reviews, as mentioned, are mixed. Some complain about the price. Some complain that the connection and equipment are not very reliable (which worries me a bit...).
Things seem to go up and down from there, with some very glowing reviews and some very negative reviews. Review sites are like that, I guess. Different people have different experiences, and things seem to vary from place to place and time to time. Hopefully, if we go with them, we'll luck out. Come to that, I wish they'd let me sort these reviews by location...
Anyway, if anyone else has anything to add, please do.
Paul
