Ask Dr. LJ: Cable/Internet/Phone

[tahnan]

The problem with asking the internet for its preferences between RCN, Comcast, and Verizon in eastern Massachusetts is that it's kind of a given that any cable provider probably sucks in some way. (From Davis Square: Comcast is a profoundly nasty and unethical company with legendarily awful customer service. RCN is probably just as nasty and unethical, but they've done a better job of keeping a lid on it.)

So, do any Arlington-(MA)-or-nearby-area residents have opinions on who to use for this sort of thing? (Note: our TV is not especially new, so whatever they do with this new-fangled "hi-deph" thing doesn't so much matter.)

[Though (he added, after poking at web pages) it may not matter, if in fact all of RCN's discounts only apply with a 12-month contract, which may not be the case with Comcast.]

Comments

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I hope you get more responses than I did.

[foldedfish.livejournal.com]

As with cell phone companies, they're all awful. Pretty much everyone speaks of the carrier they have as the worst one ever that you should avoid. You are probably safe just going with whoever is offering the best deal at the time.

[temvald.livejournal.com]

Meh. My impression is that they're all equally bad. Go with the one whose deals match what you want most closely. (For instance, we wanted a high-bandwidth net connection, so went with Verizon.)

[mickeymao.livejournal.com]

I've had Comcast for many years and find them quite reliable. Installation was a minor pain, but otherwise I haven't had any problems, and downtime is rare. I know numerous people who have had absolute horrific nightmares getting Verizon DSL installed, though all those cases were at least a few years ago.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

We have Comcast, and I think it's actually okay.

--Internet access is fairly reliable, and when it does croak it can be fixed by a judicious application of the Unplug, Replug, Wait strategy.

--TV access is very reliable. When it drops, it requires a call to Comcast, but in 4.5 years of dealing with them I've never once gotten a script-dependent CSR. In fact, based on their accents, all my CSRs have been in Massachusetts. We've had to replace our cable box twice (I think) and the service guys have always shown up on time, had the correct info as to what our problem was, and had the stuff they needed to fix it. Based on that thread in davis_square, that's not universal.

--We decided against phone service since we all have cells.

[colorwheel.livejournal.com]

what greenlily said, including that i don't use their phone service. (because i need an old-school landline and they don't offer it.)

[arianhwyvar.livejournal.com]

Comcast has actually been excellent to me in the 4ish years I've been at my current location. Installation was a bit of a pain because the house (of condos) had had something weird with splitting done, but the installation person eventually got it figured out. Outages have been very rare, and support has been uniformly competent and helpful, and have solved whatever problems I've had swiftly without passing me around frustratingly from person to person.

[arianhwyvar.livejournal.com]

I'm in Belmont near the Cambridge border, btw, if that helps at all. Also, I bear a grudge against RCN forever for illegally switching the phone service in my name to RCN and costing lots of money and aggravation getting it switched back. They did a door-to-door campaign and got my just-moved-in housemate, who signed up for their 'offer' without realizing they would switch the utilities. I'm not sure how they got things switched with neither permission nor notification, while leaving it in my name, but it was a giant pile of hassle to figure it out. And their rates were worse.

This was a long time ago, so I probably shouldn't continue to blame them and wish them failure, but I do.