Well, I really only have 2 options for internet service- Comcast and AT&T. So when one service provider pisses me off, I have little choice. BUT it isn’t all that bad.

Comcast HSI provides me a 6Mbps download and a 1 Mbps upload speed. With powerboost, this can sometimes “feel” a lot faster – but only if you have a powerboost compatible modem. Until I replaced my modem a few weeks ago (Thanks to some crummy advice from Comcast), I did not. Now powerboost looks great on Speakeasy.com/speedtest, but I am not sure how valuable it really is. For those of you who do not know what powerboost is, it is basically the ability to download files at a super fast rate for the first few megabytes of the file – after which the file will download at the regular 6mbps.

DSL does not have powerboost, but it does have an equivalent 6mbps download, and 1mbps upload. Indeed, this is the maximum for my area, but in many places (Fresno included diatoid), there is a 10Mb per second service available – which is faster than what Comcast currently offers.

The 6Mb service is $35 per month, if you also have a phone line. With no phone line it is $45 per month – or $40 if you tie it in with your AT&T wireless plan. AT&T also offer a $150 rebate for switching from cable, so long as you sign up for the phone service as well. There are also other rebates available if you sweet talk the AT&T rep with your english accent. However the rebates are only available if you order a phone line, which you must keep for 30 days.

So what I did was order the most basic phone line money can buy ($11 with taxes and fees), I talked the rep up to $200 in rebates, and will cancel the phone line after I have received them taking my service cost to be $40 per month (I am also a AT&T Wireless subscriber). If you count the rebates, I amortize out a years internet service to cost me $24 per month!

Basically, the same service (not counting powerboost) for half the price. I will be testing the speed of the internet when it is installed on Tuesday, and will report on how it compares. I hope it will be more than adequate for me.

Btw, if you go for the 6Mbps service, you also get a free subscription to AT&T Wifi. This is what is at all the Starbucks now as well as many airports. So if my internet does go out at home, I will only be left paying for the coffee, the bits will be free.

So the past few days have seen the internet drop out. It usually starts exhibiting issues around 3pm – slow downs etc. And then by 4 it is gone – only to reappear at about 7-8pm. I always plug my cable modem into every jack in the house to make sure it is not a line failure – and it never gets a signal. I have had Comcast out a few times – but they always show up in the morning. When it is working. The tech grumbles at me that if it ain’t broke he can’t fix it, and goes on his way. I can understand this, but doing nothing (a number of times) was starting to frustrate me.

So on Friday the internet went out, and it did yesterday too. Around 4pm. Now, we have had really hot weather these days, and I looked in my log to see when my internet was out before, and sure enough, it was when it was super hot. It seems my cable internet does not like heat. Eureka!

I phoned Comcast with the news, and this was met with a little disbelief, and the usual – well we can have a guy out next week, but if it intermittent there is nothing we can do. I asked if there was a service outage in my subdivision, and he said no. I asked how he knew and he said because none of my neighbors complained…

So I took my dog for a little walk, and guess what. Every house on my street has a satellite dish. Every one. I spoke with my neighbor and asked what service they used for High Speed Internet, and they said ATT dsl, cos cable is too expensive if you don’t get their TV service (it is about $58 a month). So if all those other neighbors have a Satellite dish, I am guessing they also use ATT DSL.

So Comcast, let me get this right. There isn’t a problem in my neighborhood, because no one else has complained – yet NO ONE ELSE USES YOUR SERVICE. Needless to say, I am done with Comcast.

Here is how each of them responded to my list. I grade each out of 3.

3 points = got it covered.
2 points = kinda, or its coming.
1 point = they have it, but didn’t tell me about it.
0 points = no way jose

1. Multi room DVR.
Dish Network has their VIP 622, VIP722 series of DVR’s. It is not a true multiroom dvr, as it is not networked, but it does allow me to watch my recordings in 2 rooms. DirecTv is working on it, but cannot give me details. Comcast did not even comment on it.

Dish: 3, DirecTv 2: Comcast: 0

2. HD content.
All 3 providers provide some level of HD. DirecTv has the largest lineup followed by Dish, and then Comcast. However, Dish do not provide Fresno CA DMA local channels in HD, they do provide an alternate HD feed.

Dish: 2, DirecTv 3: Comcast: 3

3. Same channel number for HD and SD
Channel Mapping as it is called. Dish and DirecTv both provide this, as well as the ability to view only subscribed channels etc. Comcast forces you to remember 2 distinct numbers.

Dish: 3, DirecTv 3: Comcast: 0

4. True HD – and no twisting the figures
So this cannot really be measured unless I have all 3 services, so I did some research on the internet. No provider provides full HD, it is all transcoder somewhat. Both Dish and DirecTv seem to offer the best picture out of the 3, with comcast coming in slightly behind. Despite my best prodding no information about the down resing was forthcoming from the providers.

Dish: 2, DirecTv 2: Comcast: 1

5. My must have channels
As I mentioned Dish does not have my locals in HD. Dish does not offer MLB extra innings, but does carry Setanta. Comcast does not carry Setanta. The only carrier to provide MLB in HD is direcTv so once again DirecTv is the winner here.

Dish: 2, DirecTv: 3, Comcast: 2

6. Low hardware lease costs – minimal startup costs
Comcast has the lowest startup costs – free. Dish does have a startup cost – the installation fee, which can be waived if you sign a 2 year contract. DirecTv has the largest start up cost (by far), with installation, equipment and other fees. For each provider I had the following startup costs for similar packages: Comcast: $0, Dish: $50, DirecTv $250.

Dish: 2, DirecTv: 0, Comcast: 3

7. OnDemand HD Content
Comcast’s OnDemand content is very strong. They have instant on HD content. DirecTv also has a lineup that is rather large, although you have to wait before the content has downloaded enough to your hard drive before starting to watch it. Dish has a very limited lineup, but does offer 1080p pay movies. But what about the free content?

Dish: 1, DirecTv: 2, Comcast: 3

8. Reliable Equipment and Service, and good support when needed
So I felt I had to split this up into 2. Firstly lets talk about hardware: The Dish network equipment is recognized throughout the industry as being exceptional. DirecTv suffered a horrible start to the life of its HD DVR equipment with a lot of bugs, although these seemed to have calmed down somewhat recently. In my opinion the Comcast equipment is exceptionally frustrating to use. It also has suffered a lot of bugs that are starting to get fixed after 2 years of frustration.
Equipment:
Dish: 3, DirecTv: 2, Comcast: 0

Now, I really did not know what to expect from the emails and calls I made to these providers. Firstly, DirecTv is excellent. Really, they were prompt in their responses (usually a couple of hours), always courteous and always well written gramatically correct english. Dish left a lot to be desired. Their emails took on average 24 hours to be responded to. The answer to direct questions was usually a canned sales pitch, which is very frustrating. When I asked them not to send me another pitch, they half answered my question, and then waited 24 hours for the second half of the question. Comcast’s customer service is poor. Despite numerous call outs I still have my cable internet drop out fairly frequently. I was waiting for a service credit 2 billing cycles, only to call and be told it was not happening as it was in a hold queue. Somebody had forgotten to enter a reason for the credit. Now the office of the president is dealing with me things have become a lot more courteous, and my contact is obviously more capable. But not everyone will get to deal with a senior customer service rep.

Customer Service:
Dish: 1, DirecTv: 3, Comcast: 1

Subtotal:
Dish: 2, DirecTv: 2.5, Comcast: 0.5

9. Remote Scheduling of my DVR
Comcast have been promising this for about a year on fancast.com. No show just now. DirecTv offer this for all their DVR’s as do Dish, although I have reports of the Dish Online Scheduling only working for some DVR’s (Specifically the VIP722).

Dish: 2, DirecTv: 3, Comcast: 2

10. Multimedia Center

DirecTv allow you to connect your DVR to a Intel Viiv PC to view photos, music and more. A cool feature! If it could also stream movies, that would be great. Dish does not have network media sharing, but will allow you to plug in your digital camera to store the pictures on the hard drive. Comcast has no such feature.

Dish: 2, DirecTv: 3, Comcast: 0

And the winner is…

DirecTv is the winner with 23.5 points. Dish follows closely with 21 points, and Comcast sweeps up the rear with 14.5 points.

Let me know what you think about what I wrote. I now have decided to bump comcast for definite. The multiroom dvr thing is still making me lean towards Dish right now, as is the startup cost associated with directv, but on pure features DirecTv certainly has Dish beat. Besides, I want my locals in HD.

Now I use a lot of bandwidth per month, mainly as I sometimes stream test video through the internet from my place of work. This use is legal, but high bandwidth. I also back up my machines to amazon s3 storage -and with each full backup being around 150Gb… This is also legal, but high bandwidth. Now Comcast are saying we shouldn’t do this? Wow, so in reality you don’t get what you are paying for.

As you may have read, I have been having a whole boat load of troubles with my Comcast internet service. Comcast has already been implementing this limit, but has only now published it. I think this is the final nail in the coffin for Comcast, at least as regards to my use of them.

1. Multi room DVR.
What I record in the living room I want to watch in the bedroom.
2. HD content.
I want my channels in HD… all of them. But be able to watch SD versions on my SD tv’s.
3. Same channel number for HD and SD
I hate having to learn different channel numbers for the bedroom and the living room. If I go to channel 32 (ESPN) I want it to be glorious HD in the living room, but be the sd variant in the bedroom.
4. True HD – and no twisting the figures
Working in the video industry my eyes have become accustomed to being able to distinguish video resolutions. Sometimes I am seeing some rather poor versions of HD, when the stream is limited in bitrate. I know Dish is now pushing the fact that their TurboHD is 1080p, but what is the bitrate? That is the key to the quality in reality.
5. My must have channels
All the locals, Fox Soccer Channel,BBC America, ESPN, ESPN2, and the local sports channels, Animal Planet, Discovery, History. I also would like to consider subscribing to Setanta Sports, and MLB Extra Innings.
6. Low hardware lease costs – minimal startup costs
I think the fact that hardware leases with my current provider cost MORE than a 2x TIVO subscription is a little ridiculous.
7. OnDemand HD Content
If I want to watch rent a movie, I want to do it through my tv. I am not a netflix fan, I can’t wait that long. When the mood takes me I want it now. If there is free content great, but that is not what I really need.
8. Reliable Equipment and Service, and good support when needed
Something I have had trouble with recently. This is the primary reason I am writing this list.
9. Remote Scheduling of my DVR
If I am on the road, I want to be able to schedule a recording on my DVR if I will not be at home on time.
10. Multimedia Center
I want to be able to export recordings I have made, and view photos, videos and listen to music stored on a central pc somewhere on my home network. Ya know, just that mythical convergence box we are all wanting.

So there it is, my ideal tv service wish list. This may be expanded, so DirectTV, Dish, AT&T, and even Comcast, let me know how many of the above points you can offer. I think it is only fair to say I am willing to spend up to $90 per month for all of the above.

Before you mention it – I do know TIVO does a great job on hitting some of these, but I want a tv service, not just a hardware platform. I am also dubious about the compatablity of a tivo box with HD content from a a satellite provider.

We spoke at length about the issues I was having. It appears that each time I had a service rep out, they did not always record the fact that they visited my house. The Comcast representative mentioned that they only had 1 record of a service call, when I had somebody visiting 5 times within a 4 week period. It appears that the tech guys are a little lax with the paperwork.

Well, the rep assured me of a few things.
1. The service outages I have been having would not continue
2. The refund I had been promised in early July would appear soon on my bill
3. There would be some new content and hd channels in my area soon.

Well, I have to say, things haven’t panned out as expected. I have had 2 service outages since we spoke, and I have not received the refund as promised. They have also not added new hd channels, but I am prepared to give them a break on that one.

When my internet is out, I am really mad. I work remotely occasionally, and I am forced to drive to my local Starbucks to continue working when this does happen. The rep who I talked to tried to up sell me to the business package. I pointed out that if the regular line was flaky, how would the greater speeds help me?

I also got my DVR replaced recently aswell. I got the new DCH3416, which I have to say is a marked improvement on the previous DCM6314, it crashes less often. There, isn’t that great? You see what I am happy with? Something that crashes LESS often. That is crazy. Another glitch I have is when I play back my SD content with deinterlacing, sometimes the screen goes completely green (missed VOL anyone?). I have to manually switch the output from 480p to 480i and back again to get it to play. I tried calling Comcast about this one too, and when I explained the issue, they just wanted to replace my DVR. Seriously, I am on my 4th box now. I am getting tired of changing hardware. I said to my lovely wife yesterday, what to people do if they are not as savvy about these sort of things?

Anyway, I am now looking for a new tv / internet solution for reals. I think Comcast have messed me around for the last time. I don’t even care that it will be more expensive with satellite and dsl…

I also noticed my twitter feed was being picked up by someone called Frank whose username was comcastcares. Interesting, perhaps Comcast has started trying to solve customer issues when they blog about them. Thats a clever approach, the oil goes to the squeeky wheel, and in the age of blogging, the impact of being a dissatisfied customer and a blogger can have negative impacts…

A bit of research has found this link explaining what Comcast is up to. I wonder if it will catch on with other companies.

Perhaps by posting a blog entry about being underpaid I will get a raise – now there is an idea…

Many iPhone batteries not fully charging – iPhone Atlas.

After having an issue this morning with my iphone saying it was low on juice, but never recharging, I found the above page which helped me figure out how to fix it. (Restore the phone – it was a software glitch).

This morning, all is well, but I have to admit I am getting a little bit peeved with Comcast. The thing is tho, they are the only provider in my area that can provide fast enough internet speeds for me. DSL here is only 1.5 Mbps … ouch…

I look into Verizon FIOS just now, but there availablity checker page does not work for Mac, and I cannot be bothered to boot to Windows to to check something I already suspect: FIOS will not be in Merced until the middle of the century

I am using the wptouch plugin to provide a much nicer browser experience.