Comcast Internet in Chicago area
 

I'm thinking of changing from AT&T DSL to cable Internet. Comcast/Infinity is the only cable option where I live, but the reviews are horrible. I don't want cable TV or phone, so I'm not interested in feedback on those, only on the Internet.

If you live in the Chicago area and have Comcast Internet, how has your service been?

NW Suburbs and, honestly, Comcast internet has been very good where I live - fast and stable. I frequently work from home when not traveling and I very rarely have any speed or connectivity issues, even being logged on for 10+ hours straight with screen sharing, webex, VPN, etc.

The biggest problem with anything Comcast is the price. They really try to take you for a ride after the introductory period is over. I've actually had more issues with TV service than with internet.

+1 to this. Also NW suburbs.

Make no mistake, they're idiots, and every time you interact with them you'll want to reach through the phone and punch them. And you'll have to play games if you want to keep a reasonable rate for your service and not get taken for a ride once your introductory 6/12/24 month rate expires. When I initially signed up, I subscribed to TV and Internet because it was cheaper than the same Internet service by itself, and at the time I didn't own a TV. That was fun to explain to the rep trying to set up installation.

But the service itself is actually quite good. I've had maybe one ~6 hour outage in 4 years. Low latency. And most importantly, the speed is actually what they advertise (50 megabits+ for me). Far better than other cable providers I've dealt with in the past (looking specifically at you, Cox Communications) where the nodes were clearly overloaded and you'd be okay at 3 AM but lucky to get a quarter of a megabit in the evenings when everybody came home from work/school. The speeds blow DSL out of the water, and as long as they keep doing that, I don't have much of a choice but to put up with the rest of their idiocy.

In Atlanta, not Chicago, but have been a Comcast internet only customer for a couple of years. Used to be a customer of cable as well for 10 years, but cancelled. Honestly, Comcast is an insanely terrible company from a customer service standpoint. Reps don't know anything, lots of hold time, billing issues, etc. I've had several instances where I was speaking to 5+ reps only to get accidentally dropped before issue was resolved. But their internet has been relatively reliable from a service standpoint. Speeds are good and downtime is minimal. My wife works from home half the week so needs a reliable connection and Comcast works well for that. My only other option is AT&T, but their DSL speeds are very slow in comparison and their customer service is just as bad as Comcast.

Only issue I've had with the internet customer service is that once in a while when it does go out, they will do everything possible to blame the equipment or user error. The phone reps will go through the script of checking power, wires, turning on, off, wanting to send you new box and everything. They will never answer the question about whether there is a service outage, the answer is always the service is fine, your equipment must be faulty, we will send a tech out and the charge is $50 for the visit which you have to repeatedly refuse. Even when my neighbors down the street are experiencing outages at the same time, they will not admit to there being an outage. I don't know if there is some sort of metric they have to keep where their service is online 99.99999% or whatever and blaming equipment failure is how they inflate the number. This has happened 3 times now so I've just stopped calling in. It's easier to wait it out, it usually will come back in a short while and dealing with the CS reps doesn't ever help the situation. Fortunately it's not a very common occurrence.

Let's follow this in the Chicago forum.

I've had the opposite experience - when I call in for an outage , there is an automated message that has always indicated an outage in the area, and specified an estimated time to resolution. It's always been restored well before the stated time, usually minutes. Whenever you have to talk to someone, it is painful, but I've never had to do so for an outage.

I will agree that the outage alerts are useful. There has been a few times where service cut out and I called in and was notified by the automated message there was an outage along w/ an anticipated resolution time. But I've also had other times where service cut out inexplicably and there is no reported outage. That is when I've had to deal with the CS reps and each one will have their own theory as to what the problem is. Nothing they suggest fixes the problem at which point they will try to ship a new modem or have a service tech come by. And each time, after some time, the problem will go away on it's own which leads me to suspect there was a system issue. To confirm, I've checked with neighbors who have had outages at the same time as me. So I don't see how it could be my equipment if other people have the same outage.

Fortunately it doesn't happen often.

Agreed 100%. From my consumer experience & experience with Comcast when converting apartment buildings into condos, Comcast is quite simply the worst company I've ever dealt with. agreed.

NW Burbs (Des Plaines), thank God someone in this town made the decision to offer both Comcast & WOW cable/internet/phone !! I have been VERY happy with WOW for years (nearly 20)

I'm jealous that you're one suburb over and can get WOW. DP is across the street from my condo, and I'm stuck with Comcast if I want cable.

I'm stuck with RCN - in their wisdom the developers of my building cut a deal with RCN under which they own and control the incoming cables. Their CS is also not great, but fortunately I've had to call them like once in the last 8 years. One nice thing is that they send someone to the building for a few hours every couple years so that we can have a face-to-face conversation about new offerings and changing plans. If we want changes they then do it on the spot. It was at once of these meetings I learned that I could double the internet speed over what was provided on the building contract for like $10 per month.

Friends who have Comcast seem happy with the service offerings, data speed, and reliability.

Does RCN control the phone lines too? My building was wired by Dish for TV and internet, but I chose ATT u-verse for internet.

I probably could, but the basic internet is in my assessment, and I'm only paying $10 a month more for a speed I'm happy with. Surely ATT would be more than that. (And, I swore I'll never give ATT another penny, ever, but that's a long story.)

I'm sure everyone has sworn the same oath (or wanted to) at some point in their lives. :D

+1Million on WOW

From reading the discussions on speed tests, the premium Comcast product is the fastest available. I have the WOW Ultra package with a whole house 4 or 6 tuner DVR, multiple HD support, land line (VOIP). It may not be as fast as the premium Comcast product but it is really fast. I get 30 Mbps but you have to take off the bandwidth needed to support the IP bandwidth for the video. They have A 50 Mbps package as well.

Their customer support has been great.

Re: WOW.

I looked at the webpage and was first turned off that I though you had to fill out an entire form and then they'd call you to talk about service. But after reading carefully all you need to do is enter address/city/zip and if you rent or own and you get an immediate online response letting you know if service is available at your address:

https://sales.wowway.com/OnlineStore/

No WOW love for me, as I knew since RCN owns our wiring.