  Brightpavilions Member Username: Brightpavilions Post Number: 8 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hey. Does anyone get cable and high speed internet provided from anyone OTHER than Comcast in Detroit or Hamtramck. They are indeed, the devil and I'm looking for options. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2960 Registered: 10-2003 |
Comcast is the only cable TV provider in Detroit and Hamtramck. Your other choices for television are the satellite services Directv and Dish TV Some Detroit neighborhoods are getting AT&T's Uverse TV service. AT&T's Uverse is TV passed over DSL lines. It currently has some severe limitations due to limited bandwidth. If you're an HDTV viewer you will want to avoid Uverse The only other price competitive option for internet is DSL. | ||
Club_boss Member Username: Club_boss Post Number: 319 Registered: 12-2006 |
I went a few rounds w/ Comcast when I lived in Detroit. | ||
Bob Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1704 Registered: 11-2003 |
It is amazing Comcast has any subscribers left with how bad their customer service is. | ||
Rocknrollscientist Member Username: Rocknrollscientist Post Number: 94 Registered: 05-2005 |
Isn't there a story behind Comcast's deathgrip on Detroit cable customers? Something going back to when Don Barden first wired the city for cable...there was an agreement of some sort where if he networked the schools together he would get the monopoly on cable in Detroit. Once Comcast bought him out, they also retained that monopoly. I could be wrong, I did a quick search online and couldn't find any solid info on the subject. | ||
Mwilbert Member Username: Mwilbert Post Number: 118 Registered: 11-2007 |
The cable monopoly thing is hardly unique to Detroit. Almost everywhere in the country you only have one cable provider. In a lot of places, the incumbent phone service provider is building some kind of video option on top of their internet service. ATT has the relatively poor UVerse, Verizon has the very nice FIOS. But neither of them is built out to a very large portion of their customers. Satellite is really the only other television option. Depending upon how good the cell service is where you live wireless internet service from Verizon or Sprint can work pretty well. If you do a lot of big downloads Verizon might cut off your service--I believe they have a 5GB/month limit. I don't think Sprint does. | ||
Jaydetroit Member Username: Jaydetroit Post Number: 8 Registered: 02-2008 |
Im in Novi, and all we can get is Brighthouse...alot of cities are held captive to one cable company...and Brighthouse is just as bad as Comcast...exactly the same inadequate customer service. | ||
Bob Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1705 Registered: 11-2003 |
I have WOW and absolutely love it. Of course after having Comcast, anything is better. WOW's customer service is much better. Oh yeah, and I have Big Ten Network. | ||
Mikefive Member Username: Mikefive Post Number: 34 Registered: 11-2005 |
The problem with Comcast in Detroit is that when Barden got his cable contract, the technology was pretty basic. At the time when Comcast brought out Barden, digital cable was becoming readily available but the cable lines that Barden installed where really not really capable of handling that extra signal. Instead of just upgrading the wiring everywhere and starting fresh, Comcast just did piecewise adjustments to save money. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1562 Registered: 04-2006 |
With AT&T increasing the price of mid level DSL to $25 a month (25 percent increase) I am seriously thinking about switching at least DSL providers. Does anyone know of a better deal out there? | ||
Bob Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1708 Registered: 11-2003 |
Yes, when I had Comcast, I kept having signal problems and it kept making my high speed internet not work. They kept coming out and saying it was a weak signal. Do something, then I had to call back with the same problem a couple days later. Finally on the 6th try someone actually fixed the problem, and it ended up being some poor work done by person number one. | ||
Club_boss Member Username: Club_boss Post Number: 320 Registered: 12-2006 |
Seems like every city I’ve ever lived in there was only one option when it came to cable companies. In Ann Arbor, I had Comcast (after a secession of name changes) In Detroit I had Comcast, one problem after another. In Indianapolis I had Brighthouse, however Comcast is big in Indianapolis. I had reception problems as well. Now in Los Angeles it’s Cox Cable. 1. Regardless of the city the remote control devices are remarkably similar. 2. The packaging and pricing was, and is, very similar, whatever city I land in. 3. The service is similar. In Indianapolis I had Brighthouse. I remember one day I called Comcast just to see if I could switch from Brighthouse to Comcast. When I gave Comcast my address the Comcast people transferred my call to Brighthouse, there was no option. In spite of all this I'm still a cable guy. | ||
Graceful Member Username: Graceful Post Number: 15 Registered: 10-2007 |
I have AT&T U-Verse and am very satisfied with it so far. I also have HDTV and do not have any problems. We couldn't get satellite because the trees in our neighborhood block the satellite signal. We held out on cable for about 6 months because we did not want Comcast and we knew that AT&T U-Vese was on its way. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2961 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: You only have 1 HDTV, correct? The problem comes in when you need two HDTV channels fed into the house at the same time. You cannot watch 2 HDTV channels on two separate TVs. U-Verse does not currently have the bandwidth to pass 2 HDTV channels into a house at the same time. | ||
_sj_ Member Username: _sj_ Post Number: 2134 Registered: 12-2003 |
I had five choice, Comcast $160 and rising each day, Wow was more money, DirecTV no signal due to Trees, same with Dish Network. And that is just Cable, no internet. Until AT&T called and said they could get a Satellite signal(Dish Network) even though the Dish Network people said no. Low and behold, they did and I now I have the same package as Comcast for $80( and that is after the promo ran out) and DSL all through AT&T and get a $10 discount on my DSL. Saving me about $100 a month. Basically combining my Satellite, Phone and DSL all on the same bill. (Message edited by _sj_ on March 07, 2008) | ||
Brightpavilions Member Username: Brightpavilions Post Number: 9 Registered: 05-2005 |
SJ, are you in Detroit? | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 5476 Registered: 10-2004 |
My Comcast broadband is a bit pricey but it almost always works--except for the time that two Comcast idiots cut my service at the pole when I went out shopping. It turned out that these alleged DPS dropouts got both the street and address number wrong. It even wasn't in the same Zip code! My next-door neighbor told me the older guy had trouble climbing the ladder and the younger woman seemed about as inept. Unfortunately, it took the next day for another Comcast worker to restore service. But they gave me a credit for some ten days though after I bitched. I don't know what speed I'm supposed to have, but it seems to range from 2 to 6 Mbs--sometimes higher. One time, Sun Microsystems sent me a 65 MB download in 8.3 seconds. I was ready to hit the resend button because I initially thought that the download was aborted, until I read the download statistics. | ||
Club_boss Member Username: Club_boss Post Number: 321 Registered: 12-2006 |
Download Speed: 16809 kbps (2101.1 KB/sec transfer rate) Upload Speed: 565 kbps (70.6 KB/sec transfer rate) http://www.speakeasy.net/speed test/ | ||
Michigansheik Member Username: Michigansheik Post Number: 280 Registered: 09-2005 |
With Comcast's triple play and double play packages, assuming they let us current subscribers switch, the monthly billing will be more 'reasonable'. Comcast's internet service speed is superb. | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1162 Registered: 11-2005 |
When I lived in Columbus, Ohio, we had THREE, count 'em THREE choices for high-speed Internet. The result? My high-speed Internet was only $20 a month, no special deals or six-month trials. I'm paying more than $50 a month for it now through Comcast. But what am I going to do? If another cable company came into Detroit, I'd bake them a cake. | ||
_sj_ Member Username: _sj_ Post Number: 2149 Registered: 12-2003 |
No just a little north in SCS. My Comcast bill was $160 and still rising, no matter the service that is not reasonable for just cable. | ||
Rax Member Username: Rax Post Number: 171 Registered: 11-2007 |
I'd recommend cutting the internet and cable services. It's been liberating. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 5481 Registered: 10-2004 |
My Comcast was downloading at between 6 and 10 Mbs at 4PM today using speakeasy. It's been quite a while since I measured it before. | ||
_sj_ Member Username: _sj_ Post Number: 2150 Registered: 12-2003 |
I only pay $24 a month for 6MB/s. As far as Cable, cutting services would only save me $10 a month according to the CSR. They are a joke and I feel sorry for the ones stuck with them. | ||
Rid0617 Member Username: Rid0617 Post Number: 14 Registered: 03-2008 |
Same stanglehold here except it's Charter cable which is ranked the worst and almost bankrupt. I have DSL because cable is so unreliable here it's not worth trying. Our speeds are way below yours. DSL tops is 5.0. I have the 3.0 download and it costs me 49.99 though what used to be Bellsouth. The new AT&T refuses to discount the old Bellsouth price. |
