I’m not the one to blast service providers because things happen, even with Katapult and our customers, but today just took the wind from my sails. At this point I’m irritated beyond belief with their bad service.

Quick History

• I wanted AT&T U-verse since Verizon Fios wasn’t available but neither was U-verse. 🙁 The only service in our area is Comcast. They’re reputable and have long history so should be just fine, right? So I signed up.
• Signed on July 3, 2009 (or something like that)
• Service was scheduled to cut on July 10, 2009
• My brother knows a tech so he got someone out for me on July 9, 2009 (last Thursday)

I was happy as ALL get out on Thursday. I mean…I had internet!! WOO HOO! Being in a new house with nothing but an AT&T 3G card (which is a whole other story) is not how I planned on starting my new life in Houston but hey…was only required until I was connected and on Thursday…I had my connection!

Friday morning I woke up, grabbed my laptop with slight glee in my heart, and commenced to read Gmail (a morning ritual for me) before I started my morning. Well…this was odd…I couldn’t connect. Hrmm…weird. I went through troubleshooting my laptop because I surely couldn’t have service problems less than 12 hours from initial connect…right? 🙁 Sadly {insert sigh here} my connection was down. I called Comcast, they sent the signal, and we were off and running. I figured…”ehh…just a glitch in the matrix.”

Saturday morning I woke up, grabbed my laptop with slight fear in my heart, and commenced to read Gmail and again…no connection. This time I went straight to the modem. Down!! I had to drive from Houston to Sinton to grab my worldly possessions from storage so I said “Whatever!” and kept trucking through my day. Got back that night (after a trailer wreck, tow, and unloading of the trailer; eventually at 5 AM) and fooled with the modem a bit. No go.

Sunday morning I woke up and skipped even trying to connect. I went straight to the modem and tried the troubleshooting tasks I learned through the years (unplug, wait N seconds, power up, try again) and nothing worked. I called Comcast. They sent the signal, fooled with stuff, etc and it came back up. I complained big time about the inconvenience so they credited our account. We were good then…DOWN! I called back and they couldn’t restore service so I was down all day. Later that day I thought I’d try again. We got it back that night so I just knew we’d be good the next day. A tech couldn’t come out until Tuesday (which they scheduled on the first call) so I was sure I’d be good the next day since we were connected Sunday night.

Monday morning I woke up scared as heck! It was an actual work day and I was afraid I’d spend a day without internet again but this time it would hurt my productivity. Well…I did. I was without a connection all day. Then I remembered…”I have an online session scheduled for 8!” CRAP! I couldn’t do it on 3G without terrible lag, etc so I called Comcast. Service came up at 7:20’sh. Called into tech support since service went down at 7:40’sh. Service was up and good throughout the session (don’t ask how but it was) and didn’t go down until 10:30’sh. At this point I’m like “Whatever!” again since the tech was coming today. I let it go and went 3G for the night.

Today I woke up and within a few minutes the tech rang the doorbell. SWEET! He came in checked signals, connections, etc and determined my coax was the problem from the wall to the router. Changed the coax, restarted modem, and my connection was GOLDEN! 😀 {insert “Singing in the Rain” video clip here since, mentally, I was swinging from pillars}

I talked to the rep about my connection speed. I have only tested at a max of 11 megs down but was sold on a plan including 21 megs down. I WANT MY EXTRA 10 MEGS!! He said I’m only setup for the Performance plan not the Performance Plus and the fastest Comcast offers is 16 megs down. WHAT!??!?!?!? He says he can order the upgrade but it is best I do it. I told him that’s not what I was sold so I will call in and check on everything.

When I called in I got to tech support and let them know about my speed issues. While on the phone with Comcast, which was an hour later, my connection…{sigh}…died. 🙁 So I had the rep put in an order for another tech to come out, which is scheduled for tomorrow, as well as expedite a tech to come out today. Supposedly the tech will address my speed issues but the most I’ll get is the 16 unless a faster speed is available in my area, which is unlikely or at least an easy excuse for them to say “16 is it buddy!” I’ll fight it though since we were sold on a 21 megs down plan that, apparently, doesn’t exist.

5 days + intermittent internet  = one seriously frustrated customer who uses the web to live

I won’t say don’t get Comcast. Once they get me fixed up I’m sure all will flow well but my experience has been CRAP. It is unfortunate many people are having the same or similar problems. I would expect much more from a reputable company like Comcast. Their service should be much stronger than it is.