My year special for Comcast internet expired Aug. 1, so spent considerable time on phone with customer service re. options for internet and/or phone (not to mention separately, with tech support re. log-in problem - this time actually got someone who could do a little critical thinking).
After asking a ton of questions to extract information from the customer rep who was otherwise not forthcoming, the best option he could offer me going forward is this: internet and phone service (including unlimited long distance) for $69/month plus taxes & fees, which he estimated at maybe another $9. This would be for either one or two years, with a penalty for early cancellation of, I think, $150. At this point, I'm not too concerned about what the rate will go to in a year or two, after the special, and he did say I could renew at this rate. I don't have this in writing, which I may ask for before signing on to anything. But I do need to have highspeed internet of some sort and if I do nothing (as happened last year, when a previous special ran out without my being made aware of it - leading to endless billing headaches for many months) my internet bill will stay at its new rate of about $57/month, which is not acceptable. This offer sounds tempting, but given some of the comments I've been hearing lately about Comcast (including a few negative ones about the phone service specifically) thought I'd see what current or former Comcasters here think. The alternative I was thinking about was to switch to Verizon for both phone and DSL, to get the current one-year special (something like $16/month last I checked, but it changes so often its hard to keep up). I currently have Cavalier for phone (including long distance, which they threw in so I wouldn't leave, as I threatened, because of the price) which is "only" $25, but they bill some fees, etc. differently than Verizon, so there is an additional $16 or so just in taxes and fees - for a monthly total of almost $42/month! I'm guessing Verizon might end up about as much if I get various features, like voice mail and caller id, but bundled with a low-cost internet, thinking it won't be too bad. Would prefer to have faster cable, as left Cavalier DSL because it was far too slow (and slower than adverstised), but the price difference might get me to overcome that preference. So any thoughts on Verizon phone & DSL vs. Comcast phone & internet? At this point, I have little interest or at least little money to pay for cable tv, so not interested in any bundles that include this, if can be avoided. Are there any other alternatives I should consider? Someone on another list mentioned that RCN might be worth considering for phone/internet. Any experience here with them? Wonder if anyone else here thinks this rings true for themselves: If I total all current expenses for all forms of communication (phone, internet, cell phone, newspaper, etc.) it seems like one of my largest expense categories. Thanks Randall ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress * Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************ * List archive at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ * RSS at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml * Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived ************************************************************************
