Comcast vs. AT&T U-verse
Comcast is one of the largest cable providers in the United States, and they have positioned themselves comfortably in a lot of markets where there is little to no competition. AT&T is poised to introduce U-Verse in a lot of markets that Comcast has an established presence in, and the competition will result in a great situation for consumers. Choosing between Comcast and AT&T U-verse may prove to be difficult if you do not have enough information about either provider.
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Most of the big TV and Internet providers are constantly competing on price and pushing new incentives to get new customers. That means the offers usually change a lot from week to week.
Price
Cable companies tend to provide their services at a higher price, especially in markets where there is little or no competition. Comcast Triple Play Packages are priced similarly to comparable packages from AT&T U-Verse. The difference is that Comcast requires a minimum of a 12 month contract to get their best pricing packages. AT&T U-Verse packages have no contracts, and some of them also come with a monetary incentive of up to $300 to switch. Check out our Guide to U-verse Bundles and Deals to find out more, so you will not have to renegotiate your prices every 12 months to fend off higher prices. AT&T may also provide incentives to customers who subscribe to their cellular services. Comcast does offer higher internet download speeds with some of their Triple Play packages, but AT&T provides a significantly larger channel lineup than Comcast in some markets.
Customer Service
The customer service experience can make or break your relationship with any service provider. Comcast has an abysmal customer service record for all of their services and their technical support, and there is enormous detailed documentation of it on the internet. Since AT&T U-Verse is a very young service, you can expect AT&T to work harder to recruit and maintain customers. AT&T is still developing, installing, and expanding U-Verse, so you may need to take advantage of AT&T’s customer service and technical support more often as the service goes through growing pains. Comcast is well established, so installations should not be as difficult or time consuming, and you may not require customer service or technical support from them.
Bandwidth Caps and Throttling
Comcast was recently investigated by the FCC for throttling BitTorrent data transmissions on their network, and plans to slow data transmissions from rival VoIP providers. Comcast has also started applying bandwidth caps of up to 250GB/month in certain markets. AT&T is not throttling U-Verse, but they are running bandwidth cap trials in certain markets. Even though bandwidth caps may be imposed on either service, AT&T will remain neutral when it comes to prioritizing data. AT&T also acknowledges that some of their bandwidth intensive services (HD over IP and VoIP) may result in slower data transmission speeds when they are used, but they are not consciously reprioritizing your data.
Should I Choose Comcast or AT&T?
Neither of these services are perfect, and they both have their flaws, but AT&T is less invasive in terms of manipulating data traffic. Since AT&T is eager to recruit new customers, you can expect them to work harder to keep customers happy. Comcast may provide more reliable services, but their exploits in data manipulation are well documented, and they have already been investigated by the FCC. They are known for having poor customer and technical support, but you may not need to rely on them as heavily as you would for a younger service like U-Verse. If you are in a market where both of these services are available, it is in your best interest to take advantage of AT&T’s 30 day money back guarantee and try the U-Verse service before you make a decision either way. This way you will not be locked into a Comcast contract and have to pay a fee to break it. AT&T U-Verse has unlimited potential, but Comcast may be more reliable for you. Take time to thoroughly investigate both services before making a decision.
Now I have comcast servise in let me tell you that they have the worce customer servise ever I call customer care let them know that I paid my pass due bill she said that don.t care in she will shut off my service in will turn back on went comcast receive payment I trying to get hold of president for comcast in I got no respond yet I been with out cable now for 2 weeks also got 3 year old dougter that now she can no see tv please never get comcast please I can t wait for fios in my area
Had AT&T for a week and am going back to Comcast. AT&T HD picture quality was bad!! I was shocked. I hear it is because they compress the signal to much. Colors became very bland and there were many artifacts on the screen. Faces were washed out and not clean, like Comcast. Once again, I was shocked it was different at all. Internet speeds are slower than Comcast. I may have been able to live with that, but the HD picture was unacceptable. I am using a 58″ Panasonic Plasma TV.
AT&T’s equipment was smaller and had more features. The software on the DVR box is very nice compared to Comcast. AT&T has more bells and whistles where as Comcast has a better foundation to work with.
We had Comcast and gave it up for the upstart WinFirst, a venture capital company that had great service (TV and cable). When their money ran out they were bought out by SureWest and everything went downhill from there. U-Verse finally hit our neighborhood in December and we were hooked up in January and are DELIGHTED!!! Our HDTV (50-inch plasma) has the BEST pictures and we have many channels to watch. Our phone service (VOIP) has been great and the internet is faster and much more reliable than I had with SureWest. We’re sold!
we have comcast and are about to make the switch to u verse however i am very dissapointed that at&t failed to mention the fact theat even though we will have 6 boxes we can only watch 4 different channels at once the remaining two will either have to chose from what the other tvs are watching or watch something recorded on the dvr. we went with the u300 package and it includes the unlimited phone calling and the 6mb/sec dsl elite for about 165 locked in for a year and it has 300 channels and total in home dvr whereas comcasts triple play offeres a similar package for the same price minus the dvr’s with 2 dvrs and 4 regular receivers they wanted like 190 and the internet speed was the same and unltd phone as well so it all comes down to trading in home dvr or freedome to watch different shows on 6 tvs without any dvr
I have comcast and their CS sucks, but they’re internet reliabilty and speed is incredible. My sister has U Verse and their internet is garbage compared to comcast. Very inconsistent and slower and gets noticibly slower when more appliances are on.
We’re not much for TV, but AT&T is overall much cheaper.
However, the HD quality on Comcast is clearer and doesn’t cut in and out as much as my sister’s U-verse and my friend’s dish networks.
It’s kind of up to your priorities. If you prefer better internet choose Comcast. If you want more channels then I think U-verse has more (according to this acticle).
AT&T U Verse is way better than comcast!
Recently switched from Comcast to ATT UVerse because I work at home using the internet and email, and Comcast internet/TV service goes out about 3 times a year here which leaves me unable to work. Also, ATT Uverse is $20 month cheaper. Upon getting it installed, we noticed the TV picture was awful. It was like looking at the picture through fog. Colors were washed out and not as sharp as Comcast. We hooked the Comcast cable box back up with the ATT Uverse installation technician still there. He agreed with us the Comcast picture was superior. He said that ATT’s picture quality depends on how far you are from the phone transfer hub. We talked to the installer about how excited we were to be able to record 4 shows at once with the ATT DVR compared to Comcast’s 2. He checked our signal and once again, because we were so far from the tranfer hub, we can only record 2 shows at once. Needless to say, we switched back to Comcast. ATT Uverse’s bell and whistles are great, but picture quality is more important to me if you own a HD tv. I am however keeping their internet and phone service, although recently I’ve found that I can’t receive emails from some of the companies I deal with. Seems ATT screens my email receipients. Comcast never did. I may be switching back to Comcast internet if ATT doesn’t fix this problem.
Our neighbors down the hall had bragged to us about how great their ATT Uverse TV reception was and had convinced us to switch. They had just bought a LCD TV when they got their ATT Uverse installed. We asked them to stop by after we went back to Comcast and see our Comcast picture. They have the same Samsung LCD tv we have and they agreed the Comcast picture was much better. They had no idea their picture was so weak. Our neighbors may be switching to Comcast now.
Steven
Switch to gmail. I never knew why people like using their given email service from their ISP. Gmail is open source and you can access anywhere on any device (android phones, etc.).
I have had Uverse installation appointments on three Saturdays since August. The first time someone showed up on Thursday,two days earlier than my e-mail confirmation. On that Friday I was told that since they had made a mistake by pulling the ticket early and there were no more appointments available they could not install on that Saturday. Last Saturday they showed up and told me their representative had some how input the wrong address and they could not install. This Saturday they just didn’t show up despite a voice mail confirmation that they would be here they sent on Wednesday. Obviously ATT Uverse is incompetent. I’m staying with Comcast.
WOW ….I was at a friends house and was watching his HDTV from Comcast…..I cant believe the difference….I have ATT uverse and the picture quality and is horrible. Its looks digitized and pixilated(if those are words)and the internet is also slower if having the tv and internet on at the same time. I am also at the end of the HUB on my block. I guess it comes down to going with Comcast for better quality but you will have to deal with “poor attitude from the service department” and paying more money with Comcast OR going with ATT Uverse for less quality but better service…the way I look at is …How many times do you really call for service…most of the time I can just fix the problem.
If someone debating on whether to switch from Comcast to AT&T reads this: DO IT!
Seriously, if you live within 3,000ft of AT&T’s fiber optic backbone then it just blows Comcast away in terms of picture quality and internet speed and latency.
I honestly don’t understand how some people are getting bad picture quality when mine is at least 3x better than Comcast. Maybe they’re not setting something up appropriately? Even my friends noticed the difference before I said anything, and since seeing my setup they’re also switching.
Why spend $50 more a month? U-verse is just as crooked as their cell service. Why is it necessary to lock you in for a year? Companies want to pay off their construction bill in months rather than years now. There is nothing wrong with comcast, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Same quality, lower price.
I pay $135.00 and I think that is too much. Why the hell would you pay $180.00 for the same service with a locked in contract. Please be smart and not fall in for that.
Now I’m worried. I have had Comcast and have had very little trouble with it, except for some blackout periods. I got a new Vizio Razor tv 1080 for Xmas, but the Comcast dvr recorder & cable box is only 480, so I don’t get the full value of the picture now. I just signed up for AT&T U-verse internet, phone & cable because it’s a lot cheaper. I had been paying $135 just for Comcast alone. Now I’ll be paying $140 for internet, cable & phone. But I’m worried about the comments where people are saying the picture is bad. Don’t know if I should cancel the installation.
Well I’m saying some of these comments and I have to agree unfortunately I switch from Comcast to AT&T U-verse I have 3 DVRs to a wired from the wall one is a wireless box me my wife work 2nd and 3rd Shift sew up a little later and sleep a little longer I would say if you’re not using a flat screen and you just want some basic channels Tango I get U-verse in our room we have a wireless box to me every single night between 12 and 3 we lose complete service pictures in the other two rooms are we have or not as good let me tell you when the middle of watching a movie and you have no cable service not once not twice but repeatedly for most of the time they sent me 3 new boxes three new cable modems but I still have the same problem it’s simple return the single down at night how much would somebody Comcast $20 more month. Butt I have service and a clear picture and faster internet well worth it anybody that has straight Wireless boxes contain the same thing between 12 a.m. and 3 a.m. the signal goes out terrible
I have done the switch from Comcast to U-Verse and am now waiting for my appointment to switch back to Comcast again. The reason we switched to U-Verse in the first place was to save money on our bill. The service had just come available in our area and we switched. After 6 months, the bill went up significantly which was disappointing. Also, they told us certain channels would be included in the package and they were not. When I called to complain, they gave us the channels free for 3 months and then began charging us $15 per month after that. I ended up cancelling after a period of time. The DVR worked great and the internet worked great, but we had a lot of problems with our boxes and phone service. The cable box would just mute itself all the time… it was very odd. When that would happen, there is no mute button on the cable remote and it was not muted through the TV, so we would have to re-set our box almost everyday. Also, to change a channel or use the remote was a joke. It would never pick up the signal to the box. We would change the batteries in the remote thinking that was the problem, but it would continue. When we called support we ended up being on the phone for an hour re-setting the box and doing all kinds of other things that were supposed to “fix” the problem but it never did. We even switched out our box and it didn’t solve the problem either. The phone service was terrible too. I know it wasn’t our actual phones because we have a large 7 bedroom house and have several different phones throughout (cordless, cord, etc.) and they all had the same problem. When the phone would ring, we would answer and not be able to hear the person on the other end, but they could always hear us. Sometimes we would be playing phone tag back and forth trying to get through and it would happen 4 or 5 times in a row before actually being able to communicate. Maybe we have had these issues because of our area..?? We live kind of up a hill and nobody ever has cell service regardless of the carrier so maybe the signal is just weak in our area, I don’t know. We have been very dissatisfied with AT&T… I would definitely recommend Comcast over AT&T.
You should be careful of what you ask for! This is the second time I’ve had U-Verse and I still wish I had never heard of it!! It don’t work most of the time, and the teck’s can’t fix it. I dropped my at&t phone to lower my bill, HAHA raised it. Stay tuned class action to follow.
I just switched from Comcast to U-verse. I’m getting more channels, faster Internet, and as good of picture quality on AT&T for less money than Comcast. I haven’t noticed that the picture quality is better on U-verse, but it’s certainly at least as good. The internet speed is way faster than what I had with Comcast. And the customer service, at least for me, is way better. With Comcast, I used TiVo for the DVR, and I loved the TiVo. But it took four visits of Comcast technicians to make them work right, clearly the people didn’t know what they were doing. And trying to access my account data for Comcast via the web was broken for the longest time, and their customer service couldn’t figure that out either.
So far, I like the customer service of AT&T a lot better, and their web site for account info is much easier to use. The internet speed is great, and the picture quality is very nice. I also like the DVR they provide – it’s not quite as good as TiVo in my opinion, but it’s close. I’m saving a bunch of money with AT&T. There are some limitations on the DVR, especially as compared to TiVo, which I think remains the best DVR experience I’ve seen. Unfortunately TiVo won’t work with AT&T, because the technology is way different – the DVR software is an integral part of the U-verse technology.
I have two televisions. With Comcast I had two TiVo boxes, one for each TV, each of which could record two HD channels at the same time, for a total of four. With U-verse, the setup is different – there’s a single DVR shared by all the televisions. Mostly this works fine. I can only record two HD channels simultaneously now – which I can live with. I can still record up to four channels if I use standard def, so if I really need it there’s an option. And from any TV I can schedule or view recordings, they’re all one a single box. This is easier to deal with, because with the TiVo setup, while I could watch a show on one TiVo that was recorded on the other, it required some extra steps, browsing to the recordings on the other TiVo and coping the recording to the local TiVo before watching. No more of that with a single DVR shared by all televisions. But the downside with U-verse is that only the TV connected to the main DVR box can pause live TV. The other television with the non-DVR box can’t do that – it can view and pause recorded TV, but not live. That’s annoying, and I really miss having that feature on all my TVs. AT&T neglected to mention this to me, which is irksome, but I still would have switched to U-verse had I known.
We have had AT&T U-Verse for 3 years. Prior to that had TWC – no comparison, AT&T wins hands down!!!! We have had absolutely no problems what so ever. Picture is great, wonderful customer service, and have the total home dvr package with U200 channels. Absolutely nothing negative to say about it. I have friends and family members who would love to have U-Verse but it is not available in their area yet. We have the bundle, so U-Verse is our internet, telephone & tv and positively no complaints!
Go with AT&T U-Verse if it’s in your area!
I’ve had both AT&T and Comcast. Comcast internet is terrible for gaming. It promises 20 mb/s or 30 mb/s, w.e. for download, and it’ll show up as such on speedtests, but in actuality, at maximum, you’ll get 2 mb/s and mostly get around 500 kbps. Still, the connection isn’t that bad. The problem is that if you get comcast, expect to have lagspikes every couple of seconds. Don’t expect to be able to smoothly play MMORPGs FPS or RTS. Google up “Comcast lag spike problems”. You’ll find an endless list of users complaining about the internet service. It probably ain’t happening. Don’t get Comcast for its internet.
As for TV and Phone connections, it’s been very smooth with comcast.
And IMO…. Both Customer Supports sucked…. A LOT. Both were better if you could access a line for a different language, but still.. they sucked.
Listen guys, U Verse is up and coming, and are still working out all their problems. Their television is 100 percent digital, not half digital half analog like Comcast, that means true 5.1 surround and true 1080i HD picture. The quality of the picture depends on the distance you are from the “node”. U Verse uses fiber to the node technology, so channel switching and guide utilization is much faster. If the picture is that bad, it is a problem with the pre existing coaxial cable lines in your home, not the service if you are within range. The internet is much faster due to fiber optic lines and they give you a modem that serves as a wireless router as well, with free Mcafee security suite as long as you have the internet. Landline phone is flat 35 a month unlimited local and long distance. Basic U300 television with 330 channels with max internet is around 114 a month, with 10 extra a month for all HD channels. A triple play will net you a 33 a month discount on your bill, as well as 100 cash back with a 30 day risk free trial period. Total home DVR is included with 1st DVR free. Just give them a chance, they really want your business and are still working all the kinks out.
Have had cable service since it started in my neighborhood. They changed providers and we continued. So to say we had Comcast since the start is being modest. We recently discontinued our service for the following reasons; 1) Excessive packet loss and disconnects. 2) Lack of consistency and stability in connection.(Intermitent Connection)3) Lack of local support and respect from tech/tech supervisors. 4) Run-around and deceptive treatment over-all. 5) The only reason we stayed as long as we did when we started having problems, was because, frankly, there was no other option. **Even Comcast “Business Class” did the same. Only upside there was an extremely attentive account manager which tried but was unsuccessful in dealing with before mentioned problems. Anyway, if you got this far in know that I have documented all and even reported it to FCC. As did another friend which was having similar issues in another area. We now have ATT with a limited 3mbps (for our area thats max) and it is consistent. Slow but stable … In the end the turtle wins simply because he makes it to the end. No point in having a Ferrari if you can’t drive it a block. To each is own and many area Comcast does do well, so I am told. So I suugest research the area you are in and MAKE SURE they are consistent in said area. **Note** New Xfinity Service is more sensitive or transmitting in different frequency and may be glitchier and less reliant especially in older wired areas.
I am very disappointed in U-Verse. We have had several service calls and they can’t fix the problem. Our TV freezes up several times a day at no particular time then starts up again. They tell us it’s a glitch! They insist on coming in the houseo but can never find anything wrong. They we wait for a different repair person who works only outside. Guess what – they can’t fix it either.
The only problem about Comcast is their price; with all the fees, it will cost me $117.00 for Comcast. But if I just keep Digital Basic Cable which is better for me because I don’t watch much TV, the internet is very important to me and speed is critical. I have really pondered because switching to AT & T will cost me: $55-$60 for the Internet DSL and Unlimited Calls. So at the end, the introductory price would be about $90-$95 with my Basic Digital Cable. So its like a $20.00 difference. Most important to me is reliability and I am on the Triple Play right now, but thinking about downgrading it.
I have U-verse and before I had Direct TV. The reason I went with ATT is that I have one cable coming into my house it connects to their 2Wire router which gives me a phone line internet and TV. From there every thing is Cat 5e cable no coax. The 5e cable can give me internet or if connected to the box I get TV. Connecting a switch I can send cables all over my house using them for internet or TV.For wireless I connected an wireless Access point to the switch. Can I do this with Comcast? I am so close to the ATT box they had to add an extra 300FT of cable to my connection. Picture great internet 6mbs constant
I have now had U VERSE since before Hurricane IKE hit Houston. I have had minor issues and all were resolved quickly. One was even my stupidity and they fixed it. When TWC became Comcast here. Houstonians got hosed. Guy comes in to set it up brings a HD only box for a standard TV and brings a broken modem. Leaves telling me it is my responsibility to get them replaced. I can say when I had ComCRAP I had more free months of service than what I paid for. I was constantly on the phone having them fix my stuff. I even had a regional manager come over to verify as they were accusing me of sabotage and fraud to get free service. My U VERSE pic on my big screen is just as clear as a Blu Ray. Friend came over and thought I was watching Avatar on Blu Ray since it was so clear. Told him no it was U VERSE. He ordered it the next day.
We recently switched from Comcast to U-Verse and I do not plan on ever looking back. My main grip has been with Comcast customer service. They did the whole bait and switch thing on me as a new customer and later as a year old customer. We signed up for a special and when the first bill came, not only did we not get the price they promised but they also signed us up for extra services. After being called a liar when calling and complaining I nicely sent them all the screen shots I took while signing up. After apologies from CS, they swore they had it fixed but after a 3 month long process I went through iterations of being billed twice for internet, numerous credits and debits and them insisting that I pay the extra charges and they would be credited to my account (this doesn’t fly in my book so I only paid what the bill was supposed/promised to be). The 3 month span consisted of at least 9 plus hours on the phone, tons of promises being made and nothing being done. At the end of this little adventure the special I signed up for no longer existed so I settled paying more just to end the damn thing (and the creditor calls bc I refused to pay for services I didn’t sign up for). Nearly a year later a huge chunck of my channels are now gone yet my bill has gone up and all they can tell me is that the package I had no longer exists….wtf is that? One of the two tv’s I have doesn’t get all of the channels and the only thing they can do is send a technician out which ends up with me paying for the technician and the tv working for about a week before it regresses back to the previous problem.
Seriously, their customer service is so bad that a priest would probably lose it and bitch slap them if he could. It was a glorious day when I returned my boxes to comcast and cancelled. I got so much joy from accidentally dropping them a couple times on the way back to comcast.
U-verse has worked flawlessly since its been installed. My HD picture is better, my internet is faster, my bill is lower, I have more channels, and it didnt take the installer 4 trips to get everything installed….not to mention he wasn’t a thug.
AT&T, thank you.
Wish i never had AT&T U-verse .what they promised are lied. internet is very slow compare to comcast.TV pics comcast better and phone is smooth. AT&T U-verse i am stuck ,can’t roam around the house and if i use remote A for TV A i have to turn the box A so it won’t mess up TV B . this is very annoying.AT&T U-verse is not cheap is you comapre with Comcast triple deal. AT&T U-verse cost more or same but service is far less than comcast. 04-06-2011
Had U-VERSE for the last four month’s thought it was great $150.00 for two months, but now 180.00 for the U450 package + phone and internet. The tech did a good job in installation, although he complained about his job the whole time. Comcast came knocking on my door and offered almost the same package -skinimax and Showtime for 89.99 + DVR + 2 HD boxes + internet + phone for 1 year. I did not realize that my picture quality was very poor on my HD channels on UVERSE until I turned COMCAST back on yesterday. The picture quality on COMCAST is so much better, and this is with the same cables. So you do the math uverse for 180.00 for two more months, then it will go up once my 6 month special was over or back to comcast for 89.99 and can add cinemax and showtime for 10.00 a piece, so 110.00. Compared to 180.00 + for uverse with poor HD quality. I’ll take my 70.00 + dollars and put it in my pocket. Don’t be fooled by the new guy on the Block.
we had comcast before and i was happy ..till i call costumer service and they were bad.. never had such a bad experience in my life… att was and is good with customer services.. tv are the same with comcast. phone same but internet comcast is the best, i play alot video games online (ps3) and i can see a big diffence on speed comcast is way better… but im not going back to comcast because they costumer service…. hell noooo , and if you have kids uverse has more kids chanels … im paying more just to get 12mbps but i need it for my video games…. any1 out there playing cod black ops for ps3 add me if ur good we have a real good clan(TwD*) add me dark_angel_sin
dont get comcast… lol
A lot of Comcast HSI billing and technical support reps are of the contractors, US Support Company and Tag Support Company. They work them like dogs and fire them for not accepting over-time, even if you’ve been there for years. They work 6 or 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. Many of the management staff are racist and just plain out hateful against many employees. If you are Tier 1 or 2, agent you got it bad, especially 1. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of the agents that slip through the cracks, have no business in customer service; because they are boorish, but a lot of the agents are burnt out there. That company, one in the same that I spoke of, gets paid per call and clown them whenever they are on the phone more than about 15 minutes with a slow, or uneducated customer. They will get fired if they don’t get you off the phone fast enough. I don’t work for them, but I know some people who do. Bad politics indeed. I work for a different company, and it’s the same crap. It’s best to work for a company directly and not a contractor. By the way, U-Verse is better. Go fiber and stay away from cable if you can. Cable is more suceptible to a high signal to noise interference. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t take much noise to make you lose sync. If your channels are a bit staticy, look at your modem: you probably don’t have sync. If I must go wired, I rather fiber, so U-Verse would be a good choice. I am also a wireless type. I hate wires. I prefer WiMax or LTE over anything today for HSI. For the sake of the topic, go U-Verse.
Comcast sucks, all i have is internet and it is crap i can be watching netflix through my xbox360 and it will be in h.d. then all of sudden it will say your internet speed has slowed adjusting picture and it wont be in h.d. then all of a sudden it will pop back to h.d., i was a contractor for comcast back in 2008 and i never installed new boxes, ive never even seen a new box they were all refurbused, ive had a tech out here 4 times and it hasnt even been a year since i got this crap at&t here i come, didnt like working there and dam sure dont like paying for this inferior product!!!!
I have used both, currently using Comcast.
Here is where Comcast excels:
1. Picture quality: I am ALL ABOUT picture quality. I can tell instantly if something looks “off” or not as clear as it should.
The latest Comcast box has a simple touch feature that allows you to toggle between HD settings easily so you can find the one that works best with your TV. AT&T’s picture looks muddy and weak, and Comcast’s picture, especially on channels like HD Net and HD Theater is amazing.
2. Internet Speed: For Internet speed, Comcast kills AT&T. I’ve used a number of online speed tests and Comcast is usually around 20mbps download speed, with AT&T rarely passing 12, unless you pay extra for the next tier of service but I’m talking about the Internet speeds that come as part of the packages.
3. On Demand selection: HUGE library, including for Premium channels.
Here’s where U-Verse has Comcast beat:
1. DVR service: With U-Verse you can record up to 4 shows at one time, and you don’t have to be watching any of them. Comcast can only record 2 shows at one time and you have to be watching one of them and the available space is much less with Comcast.
2. Customer Service: As said in the article, AT&T is growing and they care about customers. You call Comcast and tell them you’re not happy and you want to cancel, they won’t even ask why or try to give you any incentive to stay.
NOTE: These comments are based on MY personal experience, and this does not mean I’m speaking for what everyone is or should be experiencing.
Pricing is really about the same if you compare channel lineup.
I first switched to AT&T because I got a rebate Visa card and it seemed cheaper but it really isn’t if you get the very same channel lineup. Ultimately, I like a clean picture and fast Internet so Comcast is the better option. When my box goes bad, I’ll take it in and they give me a new one and that’s the only customer service interaction I have with them. People say their customer service sucks and I agree, but I bet a lot of it is from people not paying and having service shutoff so if Comcast doesn’t bend over backwards to give you free service while you’re two months behind, people complain. The new Comcast boxes are powered by Intel processors, so they’re likely to improve the DVR function and will have new menus.
So basically from what I seen so far, if you happen to be near where att equipment is installed on the block service is great. for the others comcast wins again.
im waiting on a intall day also, now im like hmmmmm. maybe i should just pray, lol
3yr comcast user
I am about to get U-Verse. After reading the comments about it, I’m a little nervous. I’m just upset at my bill and how I can’t get a lot of channels from other T.V’ in my house becuase I have to get a free box for each one of them now. I am sick of going to my local Comcast and waiting in huge lines for things. It took me 3 times to get a HD box from them and when they finally had one, they only had a little black box one with no clock. Nov. 9th is my install date. We shall see.
I recently decided to combine services between Comcast and AT&T to reduce expenses. After some research, I decided to add Uverse and terminate Comcast primarily because Customer Service was ranked higher for Uverse than for Comcast. BIG MISTAKE !!!!!
I have a billing and a technical glitch I am trying to resolve and called this morning to talk with someone in billing and in technical support. I have now been on hold (while working in my office) for the past 80 minutes and still have not been connected with anyone how can assist me in solving my problem.
The technical problem is associated with my Uverse DVR. When I try to replay the recording it runs for 5-10 minutes and then freezes so that I have to restart the program and advance up to where I was when the problem occurred. While watching a replay of a football game, I had to do this about 9 times in 3 hours which became really really annoying!!!!!
It’s now 93 minutes since I initiated this call and I finally got someone who seems to know what the hell they are doing so maybe the billing problem will be resolved.
Basically, when I set Uverse up, they wanted a credit card for record and assured me they would never try to automatically bill on that card. They lied!!! They used it to bill my service about a week ago. That problem has now been resolved.
Now, I am waiting for technical support and it is 100 minutes and counting! Maybe I will have it corrected today, and maybe I won’t.
But, the bottom line, Comcast has been trashed for having poor customer service. I have been on hold now for 100 minutes plus and still cannot get through to anyone who can help me resolve my technical problem. How much worse could Comcast Customer Service actually be?
I am going to try this and see if they can fix the problem. Last chance! If not, Comcast, here I come!!!
I currently have Uverse and am switching back to Comcast. I was promised a 12 month pricing and my bill went up after 6 months. When I called in they apologized and said they corrected it but come the next month the price shot up again and I was told I could not have what I was promised. I downgraded my plan and months later when I called in to order the sports package was once again offered a special package at a lower price. The next month my bill was over by $100 and when I called in they said I should have never been offered that special and they refused to honor it. Needless to say I’ve had enough and I’m going back to Comcast.
I am a current comcast customer; I am reading reviews and I am not sure if I want to go to AT&T u verse. I had a triple package but the phone service SUCKED with comcast, so now I have AT&T for phone and comcast for cable and internet. Cable is good and Internet is fast. The problem I’m having is the cost goes up everytime I turn around. Since they went “digital” 3 of my TV’s do not get cable because I have to have a special little box for EACH TV, you are only allowed 2 and have to pay an additional 1.99ea a month for more little boxes. Now I recall when comcast had a major advertisment campaign when television was going digital “don’t worry if you have comcast, your service will not be interupted” my a**. I’m paying more for cable now for fewer televisions then I was 3 years ago. So now supposedly comcast is 100% digital and thats why you need these boxes. I think I may just cancel services and go back to a free digital reciever from the state. That will show the big cable companies (ya right)….. So much for trying to get the economy back on track! How can we possibly get back on track with these M’F’en companies keep raising prices on the consumer to make a HIGHER profit. IT’S RIDICULOUS..
After reading your wonderful post I need to give some serious thought to getting rid of the luxury of cable entirely…
Thumbs down to the JACKHOLE cable/Uverse companies
Comcast also offers a 30 money back gaurantee, so try both
Someone from AT&T came to the house today to talk about their services….made an appt for him to meet with my husband and I next week. Supposedly, we would get phone, internet, and cable (we have 2 tvs) for $96 per month. Currently our phone & Internet cost $80 (AT & T) and our comcast cable costs $60 something…….so it seems like quite a bit of savings to go with AT&T for the whole package.
After reading the comments, I have mixed feelings. I was told by the At&t guy that there are no contracts to sign and that the rates should remain in effect for a year, and that if we pay our bills on time….there’s no reason to believe the rates should go up.
What are anyone’s thoughts on this?
What questions would you suggest be asked before signing up for AT&T? The AT&T guy told us that they had just put their equipment in the area, so if we wanted the services we wouldn’t have to pay the$400+ installation charge. If we don’t want the service, we need to initial something so they can prove it was offered to us…….and if we don’t get it now and decide on getting it in the future, we will have to pay that installation charge.
How difficult is it to go back to Comcast (just for cable) if AT&T doesn’t work out?
Would love to hear feedback.
I live in the SF Bay area. I don’t understand the harsh comments on both sides. I had both and I can see benefits on both sides. U-verse is popular for those who are more concerned with cost. If the slower internet speeds isn’t high on your priority, AT@T will be a fit for you. But, things are very different in terms of the way we use the internet and our needs are different too. With more and more demand for data speeds (i.e. iphones, ipads, hdtvs, streaming hd on devices), the true limitations of your provider will make you re-think before you switch. AT@T isn’t completely honest with their data speeds and they knew about the limits of phone lines. Look back on ATT history and see what the top brass had decided for you. They are banking on people switching because of price. That seemed to have worked. I based my choice on the overall user experience. I’ll pay the higher price to get full use of my tech (HD, iphones, ipods and streaming). I paid lots of money to have these and I want to get the most out of them. I think it’s a matter of what’s important to you. If you base your choices on price, go with ATT. If you want to get the most of your tech, comcast will give you the speed you need to get all of your investments. Please people. Be honest with your comments. This is not as clear as you make it.
I just signed up for Uverse from Comcast. I am pretty amazed at the different in picture quality. Comcast HD is significantly better than Uverse. I really like the Uverse wireless set top boxes and I’m going to try to give it a few weeks to get used to it. But I’m not going to watch my 60-inch plasma and constantly be irritated with a sub-par picture quality.
I am a current U-verse customer and I can’t believe that every month or so it seems to keep going up and up. I still have trouble with the Internet reception. I have a box for each of my Televisions and Voice has been much better after they exchanged my modem. It only took them a year to find out that it was the modem, after rewiring from the pole and then telling me it was my security system that was causing the problem, (which it was not)I was getting music on the phone while you were trying to talk not while you were waiting. Again I am considering going back to Comcast If the prices don’t start going down. They say that I am saveing all this money even though there charges keep going up We will soon see.
i didn’t read all these comments, but this article says that ATT will do what it takes to keep customers. This is not true. I had Comcast for 7 yrs. While I had a few install problems due to our house being old, I did not have many issues after that. I never paid for the service that covers you if a repairman comes out, because I had none. When I called customer service for any of the few issues, I received credit and understanding. When I called customer service to talk about billing and new incentives, I was always able to switch my programming or offered an incentive. Then came Uverse…I decided to switch because it was the “Rave”…and I had neighbors who “loved” it. My address did not exist in the system and it took them 2 months to figure this out. The company is new—so I was patient. Due to all my problems, they gave me an awesome deal for the next 12 months—full line up for dirt cheap. To me, only a few differences. My internet was slow. TV, didn’t notice too much difference. Maneuvering the grid is better on ATT and because I had a fully loaded package, there were a lot of channel choices. Any room DVR is a great option for ATT. Comcast grid is a bit antiquated, however, On Demand is much better….and I do like how if you are watching a movie and decide to record it, it will capture the entire movie, if you were watching from the start. I wanted to add a TV into my line up. I was told I would be charged $55 for them to come out to do this service. There’s no store to go to to swap out receivers, remotes….etc…for ATT. Comcast has a store you can go to. Overall, I was happy with ATT. However, when my promo was ending, I called to adjust my lineup so that I would not get charged for the FULLY LOADED package. I asked if there were other promos I can take advantage of (just like Comcast does)…and the best they would do was offer 3 months packages, but I would have to sign up for another year. In fact, after awhile, they didn’t care if I continued as a customer or not. I called 3 times before my package ended, 3 different reps, even told them I was comparing with Comcast, told them what Comcast was offering—and going to cancel….and there was no SAVE. Just based on the fact that when it came down to customer service, ATT does not care. I switched back to Comcast. I received credits and install fee waived. I have not had to call them all year. Sure, their grid is not as modern at ATT, but I rather give my money to a company that has been doing this longer and has better customer service.
I have Comcast internet now and have had it for as long as it’s been out in my area. I have also had it in three homes. My original location is worked wonderfully and we rarely had problems. However, in my past two it’s been a nightmare. Keep in mind these places are all within 10 miles of each other in the same city.
Right now I am paying for 6mbps on Comcast and my signal is consistantly below 3 for both up and down load. It’s horrible. This is true of every computer in the house and we’ve used two different wireless routers.
I am moving in a couple of days and switching to U-verse in my new location. I have no contract with them, so I am free to switch if the service sucks and the price is much better ($30 versus $70). All I want is to be able to stream via Netflix and Youtube. As is with Comcast I can’t even do that.
Not asking much, right? Ha, try telling Comcast you aren’t getting up to speed. They don’t care at all. Not to mention the random outages. As long as U-verse doesn’t take 20 minutes to load a 3 minute video online, I’ll be more than satisfied. Considering I have a friend down the street from where I’m going who has comcast and her PS3 take 4 hours to download patches that should take under a minute at times, I think my choice is clear.
AT&T’s U-Verse has terrible customer service and even worst product. The U-Verse internet service is intermittent and incredibly slow. We have a brand new U-Verse modem (May 2012) that is supposed to be a 12 Mbps download modem. I tested it at SpeedTest.net and the highest Mbps speed we’ve gotten is 6.68! What a joke! Also, this modem takes addresses and does a permanent 404 Error Redirect when the intermittent service isn’t working and once it’s done a Error Redirect on an address you can’t pull up the page again – doesn’t matter what the site is e.g. Google, Bing, Amazon, etc.!
Additionally, with the U-Verse, AT&T are blocking various sites (hello China) – bit torrent sites I use to go to on the AT&T 2Wire modem, are no longer available on the U-Verse. I checked the net and others are complaining of other sites they can’t access anymore.
As far as customer service, it took two technicians seven hours and two days to install two modems. The modems/lines still aren’t working properly – as above, intermittent service and error redirects of addresses. When I called AT&T technical service they had no idea about how to fix the permanent error redirects even though it’s all over the net which is where I found out how to correct the problem. (BTW: Any poor suckers out there that have U-Verse and get 404 Error Redirects, you have to clear your cache to get rid of them. Only thing is, every time the internet connection intermittently goes down i.e. about every twenty minutes for us, you get the error redirect pages again, so you have to keep clearing your cache!)
We’re cutting off our service ASAP and going to Xfinity. I have some friends who have Xfinity internet service and they say it’s very fast and reliable – I don’t know about their CS. Yes, it’s more money but what’s the point of having internet service if it isn’t fast and reliable? AT&T’s U-Verse is a nightmare in every way. FYI: I have no affiliation to Xfinity whatsoever (I’ve had an AT&T landline, cell and 2 Wire modem for years) just trying to warn people what a royal pain, rip-off and waste of time U-Verse is.
I am very unhappy with my experience with AT&T Uverse. When I called in to AT&T Uverse, I found the automated system cumbersome and time consuming. The system forces you to select choices that are inaccurate for what their customers need. Then, once I did got a live human, although they were friendly, they spent too much time researching an answer to my question only come to the conclusion they did not know the answer. All in all, I spent over an hour traversing through the AT&T phone system only to be disappointed by the ineptness of those who tried to assist me. If you are looking are a company that provides great customer care to their customers AT&T Uverse is NOT the place for you. (Even the form I used to fill out my complaint wasn’t easy to find or use.) My suggestion: Find another company who knows how to treat customers because AT&T Uverse does not.
I had Comcast for 7 years and was comfortable with them and reluctant to change, that is until my bill went from $160 (promotional Triple Play) to $220! I called and they offered to discount me $20/mo, so I stayed another month. Apparently they weren’t charging me for my 2 extra cable boxes, so that added that $20 right back onto my bill – so it was back to $220 for 3 HD boxes (no DVR) with HBO/Starz, Internet, and Unlimited Phone. With the special offers from AT&T, I couldn’t help but switch.
So the AT&T guy came to install it a few days ago, and it took him half the day to re-wire my house. He said that my Comcast signals were weak at best and they had wired my house all funky with all sorts of 4 way splitters in my attic. So none of the existing lines in my house could be used. That told me right there that I made the right choice. So far, I LOVE AT&T. I never had DVR before. I now have 3 HD boxes, DVR, HBO/Cinemax (free for 3 months and will probably cancel after), Internet, and Unlimited phone for like $146 (not sure what it will be with taxes and fees), and $250 back. I know it’s only for a year, but I will worry about that when I come to that bridge. I have noticed my internet is faster, my TV picture looks clearer, and I love the way their guide is set up so far. Even my gamer roommate notices a difference in faster internet speeds. We only signed up for the “Fast” internet too which is the middle of 5 tiers.
I think I made the right choice by switching. Comcast was sneaky in the ways they kept jacking the price up. Their customer service was never bad, but I did have multiple problems with the service over the years (phone would cut out in the middle of conference calls, multiple outages, etc). They re-wired my house once already and apparently didn’t do a great job. I definitely got excellent service so far from AT&T with the installation guy. I haven’t experienced any other of their customer care, as I signed up online initially.
If you don’t have a lot of active TV’s like me, then I would highly recommend AT&T. I did read the above comments where if you use 6 TV’s only 4 will work with live TV. I can’t imagine ever needing 6 TV’s in my house and don’t really think that represents the average household. But, the installer also told me they are going to upgrade to 8 stream feeds in the near future (no set date yet) so a 6 TV house will be able to use all 6 TV’s at once AND record 2 shows.
Comcast needs to invest some of their millions in training their customer service teams. Stop robbing the customers with promises of better service. It’s cheaper to keep a customer then it is is to try and win them back. The prices keep going up and the service continues to diminish. I have been a customer since their arrival in Jacksonville. I am now fed up with one way loyalty. Fed up with the customer service response ” …we want to provide 3 months free service to you for your unhappiness” (which by the way we were overcharging for anyway and we are not going to do anything about the problem you called about on 5 different occasions because we want you to bitch some more and by the way, you will still have the same problem). Now is the time for somebody other than Comcast, AT&T or Verizon to make their play. Somebody that can provide a service at a reasonable rate and actually keep their service appointments, apply some simple customer service measures to keep customers other than a longer contract with penalties if you change your mind because you are aware of just how bad you’re getting the cable jammed up your rectal orifice. Other than, oh by the way we found another way of ripping off our customers let’s make them rent a box(s) for each TV they own at a rate of 3.99 per month for as long as they have it, or my FAVORITE, give them a “special offer” for 30 days and and rape the crap out of them to get our money back. “The Fleecing of America” at it’s finest! (KISS) Keep it simple stupid! The inflated cost, poor management of assets and resources in an effort to try and monopolize the market worth losing loyal customers? Set the example of how to keep customers not of how to get rid of them. AHHH, thanks for the vent relief!
We have had UVerse cable and internet for a year… my bill is usually 255.00 that is with HBO and ordering 3-5 PPV movies a month. We moved out of the metro area to a suburb and transferred our service now on week #2 of the installation process with four days being stuck at the house waiting for a technician to come out and decide some set up server is down. They suck. We have four boxes but if one or two shows are recording you have to watch them or nothing it tells you you can cancel one of your recordings to watch live tv. In the metro area our HD picture quality was good but who knows 25 miles away in the suburbs if it will be… I was thinking I could just switch to Comcast I’m sure they don’t need a server to install our crap and if they do it’s probably not broken. Grr. (I have att for cell service too and at 5 lines that’s another 400.00 a month they get from me so I guess I feel like I should be getting stellar customer service but I’m not)
I have had Comcast for the past 3 months. Ever since it was installed, I have had issues. I have called and called about the issues and get the run around, Techs never show, bill adjustments do not happen, always a “area issue” every time I call, and they can’t help me. Customer Service reps are surly at best and untrained in the most general areas of keeping customers. The internet techs seem like they are reading a script. They never can fix a issue if it is more then unplug the modem. On a scale from 1 to 5 on price, its about a 3.
Speeds on internet its a 3 as well. Customer service is 0. I don’t think I could give their service another month if it were free. DON’T GO WITH COMCAST IF YOU CAN HELP IT.
Have Uverse internet only. Price went up after 6 mos, then again after a year. Now I have to pay $55 for internet only. Trying to get anyone to talk to is a nightmare. If you use the chat function, they end up telling you to call some other office, which forces you thru endless menus, and then you find out the one you need is closed.
I don’t like a situation where they can keep raising the price. Skip the promotions, just give us a good price without a contract and no increases based on length of time you have been a customer. Seems like they are getting it backwards. The longer you stay with them, the more you get punished!
I switched to AT&T Uverse and had the service for about 2 weeks. Within that 2 week period, I had to have the DVR replaced twice because it lost ALL of my recorded shows. Was very glad I had held off on cancelling Comcast until I was sure I’d be happy with Uverse. When Uverse is working, it is excellent. It is far superior to Comcast DVR as far as function. Picture quality not as great as Comcast, but I could live with it. But really, having to have the unit replaced twice in two weeks? They offered me a $100 credit toward my account, but what is the point of having a service for free if the service doesn’t work? Not saying that Comcast is great or anything. Far from it. But it’s reliable. Their customer service might be crap, but if you rarely have to contact them, then it’s a non-issue. I’ll be happy to switch back to AT&T when they work out all the bugs and get some decent, reliable DVR’s.
Just has att at my door. Such a great offer but like they say if it sounds to good to be true, think twice. After reading all the comments above better stay with comcast.Don’t have a problem with them except you never know what you will be paying from month to month. I have a bundle with them but its already went up to 128 a month and started out at 109 a month. So when does the locked in price take effect?
We are due to have U-verse installed tomorrow. We currently have comcast which we love but just don’t want to deal with them anymore. Went to pay my bill and we were charged $285 so I called them and was told that our deal had run out when I know for a fact that it shouldn’t be over until the end of July beginning of august. The guy we talked to on the phone told us there was nothing he could do for us and for us to look online for a better package deal. Very rude. That was when we signed up for U-verse cause of the cheaper package and more channels. Called comcast back to cancel a few things to bring our bill down until we get U-verse installed and this guy starts offering us the same deal we already have but the kicker was we had to sign a 2 year contract and the deal was only for the first year and then it would go up. U-verse we get the deal for a year and then go from there. Also had issues with comcast phone. My mom lives in Canada and everytime I call her i cannot hear the phone ringing from my end and either get her voice mail, a busy signal or a recording telling me my call can not go through at this time. We she hears the last few rings after i have been on the phone for 30 seconds and has to call me back and then it turns into phone tag. Same thing has also happened calling my father inlaw who lives 2 hours from us and comcast tried to tell me it was my mom’s line, that there was nothing wrong with our line.
QUICK ANSWER! Ive had both for over 6months each, paying almost the same amount.
INTERNET. Comcast(~20mb/s) > Uverse(~6mb/s) easy answer and done
Comcast 1 Uverse 0
TELEVISION.
SELECTION. this area will vary since we all dont have the same preferences but i have not watched any tv in 6months because uverse basic cable is useless to me. So in this department comcast basic >uverse basic althought i believe uverse is a bit cheaper.
Comcast 2 Uverse 0
QUALITY. i dont do any HD(cant afford), but i doubt any will better than the other. tie
Comcast 3 Uverse 1
CONVENIENCE. Comcast On Demand had way more content the uverse while the uverse dvr service was neat, but i never use the dvr since i dont watch tv
Comcast 4 Uverse 1
Bottom line. Comcast Internet destroys Uverse. TV wise ive had an awful experience with Uverse but that depends on your channel preferences and how much you are willing to pay for those and extra services such as HD.
I was with comcast for almost 10 years. But the quality and service is getting worse. They charged me $39.00 with wirless service I did not get. I called for help, but the phone waiting time was too long, so I dropped the phone. I did not even get to talk the thech rep, and they charged me $39.00 enrollment fee and $5.95 monthly fee in addtional to the internet fee..
Besides the customer, the connection is not stable in the past two month in Houston area.
Nothing but trouble since I switched to Uverse; two remotes replaced and my email only lets me send 60 or so a day and then refuses to allow me to send more. Their tech service staff despite 3+ hours on the live chat could not resolve the e-mail problem.
I have has comcast for 4 years. It is amazing!! Both theis customers service, pricing, and potential are out of this world. I have heard so many bad things, and have experienced not one. One major difference is comcast has a coaxial come from the power line, att uses your phone line to send a signal to their modem. I compared speeds to my friend who has att and we both agreed comcast was had a faster, stronger, more stable signal. I have the 50mbps service and love it. Comcast is about to launch a 300 mbps service, and although its going to be pricey, it will also be worth it for some.
If the U-Verse salesman who comes to the door tells you (repeatedly) when you ask that there is no contract, he is LYING! 30 days to change your mind and cancel U-Verse? WRONG! We switched from Comcast to U-Verse because of the price. BIG MISTAKE. Now locked into a one year contract (my bad, I believed the salesman and didn’t read the tiny fine print, I guess) – many, many calls to tech support in just four months, rarely a day without interrupted service – either no signal or picture/sound quality so bad you can’t watch anything. Many, many visits from technicians. Oh, they are nice enough about it, after you spend hours on the phone with them… BUT… STILL have problems. We could hardly watch TV for the first two months at all and our compensation was free HBO for three months. Hurrah. We never had these issues with Comcast TV and I never had to call for service. Comcast On Demand is 1000 times or more better. U-Verse is very limited with On Demand. Also, Xfinity/Comcast, you can watch shows from your computer via internet website. I have had AT&T for Internet for a long time and never Comcast so can’t compare that. I think AT&T DSL is BETTER than U-Verse. Our UVerse Internet is sporadic and sometimes super slow… like waiting five minutes for a new page to load. That is SLOW. I guess good UVerse reception depends on how close you are to the hub or whatever it is called. I asked a tech who told me it’s about a half mile away from our place. I also suppose it depends on where you live. Sounds like UVerse, if you need a new box, you need to ship it off. Here, Comcast has a center where you can drop off/exchange in a jiffy. I wish I had NEVER switched to UVerse and thinking it might be worth it to pay the early termination fees. That is how much I hate AT&T!
Cable tv uses a shared architecture. They have bandwith to their node, and it is shared by everyone served by the node. Simply put: if you’re the only one using the internet in your neighborhood, you’ll get blazing fast speed on the ctv system. If everyone is on (like, say, from 6pm to 9pm when everyone uses their internet connection), then your download speeds will suck. It’s how their system is designed. AT&T has a dedicated line from your home to their central office, which means same speed all the time. The only factor that affects you (and everyone, even ctv users), is latency and server response time. If the server you are contacting gets hung up, then you’ll think your connection is slow. Not true. The connection is fine, it’s the server your are contacting that is slow. I work for a major telco, and when the local ctv company tried to provide service to a local military base, the base said no way because the shared architecture of ctv is not secure, and is NOT consistent. End of story. I’m sold if the military won’t trust ctv internet. By the way… Don’t fall for the temporary offers from ctv… they want to suck you in. Do the math and use your brain. A 6 month promo doesn’t last longer than 6 months. After that, you’re stuck with their new, higher rate…
Yes, the customer service with At&t is Great, if you can get through…. My At&t universe has been a night mare, I’ve had it for ONE year.. I’ve had 3 techs come out to the house and 3 modems and 4 dvr boxes, Nothing has been able to fix the problem of all the freezes and lost of connection about 3 times an hour..
Maybe it’s the area I live in, but who wants to pay for a tv service that u can never watch an entire show or movie? NOT ME..
I’m going back to COMCAST.. Even if I end up paying a little more to watch TV.. without all the intruptions.
Everything I’ve read here would indicate that both services have issues. I’m currently with Comcast and have been for several years. Their Customer Service is so incompetent in so many ways, that it’s worth a switch. I have to HD boxes, one with a DVR box…and then for all other TVs, I have a digital converter boxes. It really irritates me that I have to get full Digital Box at 10 dollars a month to have HD on my other rooms. If I did HD for all TVs in my house, I’d be paying over 200 month for extended cable w/o premium channels and just Internet (no telephone). And just recently, I’ve noticed a 2.99 a month charge for the converter boxes to TVs without the Digital Box. Really? It used to be free but they found a way to charge you for that. Also, there is a 9.95 charge for HD fee, where the hell did that come from? I would prefer marginal service at a lesser price then to continue to deal with Comcast. That company is the DEVIL. My townhouse community doesn’t allow satellite, so I’m foreced to use Comcast, and now I have the AT&T service…just to tell Comcast to F-OFF, I going to switch. Just a few weeks ago I called them to have them come out to check my signal. During the call the service rep asked to get this monthly service of a 3 plus dollars a month to protect me from being responsible for the full charge of a service technician to come out to my house, I declined. I told her that I have a newer home and I doubt that my home has any issues. Well, the technician came out, checked the service and decided the cable needed to be replace outside of my house. Ha, it’s not MY issue as expected. Well, guess what? I got my bill and they slapped me with a 60 dollar service charge for the technician coming to my house. I called them to dispute the charge and they immediately tried to sell me the montly maintenance protection plan that I had declined in my initiat call for the service call. I told the lady….I will not pay you people dime more than the already inflated bill that I pay now. It’s their way of sucking out of you ever dime they can get. It’s F**king Ridiculous. It used to be service calls were free. When did this change??? I cursed that woman for all she was worth and told her over my DEAD BODY would I pay that 60 dollars…I would move my service to AT&T ASAP. Of course, she put me on hold and told me the service charge would be removed from my bill. In five years plus years that I’ve had Comcast, I’ve paid them 6K plus in monthly fees and they’re trying to collect 60 dollars….there should be a law against this… I LOATHE THIS COMPANY….one day there will be a replacement service for cable…and Comcast will become irrelevant…they know this and they’re trying to diversify their company by buying NBC and other companies…when this happens I hope they sink like the Titanic! I feel better now….Peace! And Merry Christmas to all.
Can you clarify how to “to find out more, so you will not have to renegotiate your prices every 12 months to fend off higher prices” as you say in your article? It is not clear from clicking on the link how to prevent the constant barrage of increasing prices.
I have had Comcast internet for 3 years years and I am very happy. Their customer service on the phone and via chat has always been very good. My internet speeds are consistently 33 down/7 up.
We had AT&T internet before and their tech support for the very frequent internet outages was worthless. It was the typical Debbie in India routine, e.g. reading from a computer monitor with suggestions that any 8th grader could provide.
I have 2 AT&T cellphones but use Vonage at home. Our TV is Dish network HD and we like their programming. We have had Dish since the analog days. Dish customer service is also good.
There is no reason for me to fix something that isn’t broken by switching to U-verse.
Just yesterday switched from Comcast to At & T. ( tv, internet and phone) We are EXTREMEMLY disappointed with the quality of the Hi def picture . COmcast hi def is FAR superior to AT & T.
The A T & T interent speed is a bit slower, but we didn’t go with the highest speed offered , ( we went w/ 18 , not 24 )
Phoine…no difference.
We are considering not keeping A T & T and going back to comcast.
Recently hooked up w at&t uverse – did nt want the tv part – only internet & phone. Was told the tv comes with it or I would have to get another provider. Talked to several ppl – found out I was lied to, so employee of at&t could get a bigger commission in their paycheck through a reputable person I personally know. If you are thinking about uverse don’t bother!!! Customer service is very unprofessional with some of the employees and some actually have training. As I personally have had customer service training. The way I have been spoken to on the phone by at&t employees – where I work a person would be fired on the spot. More than half of the channels on at&t’s uverse have blue boxes with ? marks on them telling you the service no longer exists or you do not have that service or the channels are in a foreign language you do not understand. They have way too many kid channels and not enough stuff for a person to stay interested in keeping their service. I give at&t a BIG FAT “F” for failure in their services and customer service. Was told they have someone available to speak to you 24/7 another lie!!!
Comcast does have a better picture then ATT, but customer service is beyond terrible. My biggest complaint is that the installers are not employees of Comcast , they are subcontracted and most of them are complete idiots. Every time I contacted customer service, I get a different story even in the same day. If you ask to speak to a supervisor, they put you on hold and then after 20 minutes they come back to the phone and say that the supervisor is not there and he or she will call you back but they never do. So I called every hour and ask for the same person I talked to originally and ask for the supervisor. I did this for 3 days every hour of each working day and finally they realized I was not going away and I was finally able to talk to a supervisor. Absolutely ridiculous!!! I am still with Comcast only because the internet is more reliable and I need that due to my working from home job. I have a double play package right now but it does not include the equipment so that is 20.00 more per month. At the end of my year, I will probably just go back to internet only. I really only watch certain programs and can log onto the network sites directly to view them anyway. Has anyone heard of “Freedompop” internet? It is supposed to be back by the government and is 17.99 a month for 2 years, no contract, auto payment and the first month is free.
Switching from Comcast to ATT. My home phone constantly stopped working for no apparent reason. Also, my bill went up three times, Comcast seemed to always have a “valid” reason as to why my bill kept increasing, I do not believe my bill should increase three times in 16 months (had a 1 year plan not 6 months plam). When I informed them I was switching, they “attempted” to work out a deal with me which did not meet my needs; they basically expected me to downgrade in order to pay less (that’s not helping me, you’re asking me to downgrade in order to save). They refused to reimbers me for the home phone that was down for 7 days, expecting me to pay for services which were not rendered. Therefore, I told the guy at customer service that I opted not to pay the final bill as a whole since I was being “forced” to pay for a service I did not have.
I am earnestly hopping and praying for better service at ATT; or may drop cable altogether and get Netflix and Magic Jack.
Signed up with Comcast, triple bundle, 12 month contract, $170 plus another $30 for 5th TV. So that put me right at $200. Have yet to see that $200. Customer Service sucks!! Took Service Tech three trips to get everything working. Unbelievable they charged me a service call for all three. Contacted Customer Service and they absolutely could care less. I would note that all three service calls were within the first month as their contract says they will not charge within the first month. False and misleading.
Comcast more expensive, Comcast terrible Customer Service, Comcast unable to setup my Netflix which worked fine with Uverse.
I would note that the Comcast picture is better.
I will definitely be switching back to U-verse.
The majority of Comcast services are without a minimum term agreement. The only way you would ever be locked into a contract with Comcast is if you received a Visa card. Another note to mention is that Comcast often offers the same prices for their contract and non contract promotions. The only difference is with one, you get money back and with the other, you can cancel whenever you want. The company itself is working internally to improve the customer service. When you call into the center, request the follow up survey so that Comcast employees are accountable for their actions and words with you. Some of the customer service is outsourced. Realize that some of the technicians are also outsourced, and while yes they do represent Comcast’s name, they are not directly employed by Comcast. Another note to mention is that each department is separate, so listening to the directory when you’re calling in to the center can often cut down on the aggravation of having to be transferred around between departments. Also know that the cable system is very large and complex. If you are having an issue with one or more of your services, or having intermittent problems, trading out the box probably won’t help. You need to have a tech come to your home and make sure the wiring in your home is fit for running a proper signal. Know that these signals are electric currents and just like any other electric and metal system, sometimes the wiring goes bad. It may need to be replaced, and it may not be Comcast’s fault. Yes, there are things that the company is working to improve as whole but all in all, there are many places (possibly your home included) that could be causing the problem. Also, if you have home phone service through Comcast, the technicians that you schedule for repairs through the phone department can work on any service that you have through Comcast. The phone repair technicians are the most seasoned techs. So if you are having phone and video issues, call the 1800xfinity, go through the automated system to reach the phone repair department and mention to the representative that you would like the tech that comes out to also check on your TV issue. There are also a lot of things you can check online and can avoid having to call the center for.
I’m currently with ATT now and want to change companies. I have the lowest U Verse package(200)with regular and HD channels, no movie channels and I do have Internet. No home phone! My bill this month is $151.12 this month which last month my bill was $141 something. It never fails every month, keeps going up until you complain almost every month. Both TV and internet are far from the best service, when you call for their help, the majority of their service people you can’t understand what their saying because their voices are muffled, noise to loud in the back ground, they want to send out a Tech to check the problem and if necessary they’ll have to charge for the service call and sell you a higher package for the same price UNTIL somewhere down the line they can charge you more the package. When they transfer you to someone else who maybe able to help, your either disconnected, transferred to someone in the same dept. and you have to start all over again. Being on a fixed income as a senior this is very frustrating. Maybe going back to roof top antennas isn’t a bad Idea! Technology is going to fast, they forgot to fix what they failed to fix the first time, from the beginning!
Comcast has terrible, awful customer service. I mean the worst on the planet. I am not exaggerating when I say I’ve logged 47 calls to them in 18 months. Each call lasting 45 minutes – 2 hours with no resolution. I can’t believe I’ve been paying the bill on time every month with such poor internet service and no one caring. Finally paying my fee to fire them and switch to direct tv and att internet.
I have had Comcast and I have had UVerse and I am going back to Comcast. Uverse TV has some great features but ATT is a nightmare on steroids. I signed up for a two year deal with UVerse TV a land line and and broadband. They gave me UVerse TV Uverse wifi and voip. I had a computer and it didn’t have wifi they set up the gateway in my bedroom and the internet wifi in the dining room with a router and I couldn’t get the internet. The serviceman came out and said they couldn’t get any better internet. So I had to cancel the internet. I tried to get broadband internet and found out you can’t get it with Voip. ATT told me I needed to get a newer computer and I did it had Wifi in it and I did. I went back to the ATT internet that I had to cancel because I and I still couldn’t get the internet. Then I found out it was because they set it up incorrectly. The gateway should have been at the computer and connected with an ethernet cable. Even though I gave them the code to get in the gate it was given to them and they didn’t show up for 3 appointments. After they set it up correctly the internet worked fine but they took away my two year deal even though it was their fault. They raised the price also. I set it up for auto bill pay and then they deducted over $200 from my bank account and it bounced and tried to charge me a bounced fee when it was their fault for taking out more than they were authorized. The changed the due date three times and I found I was billed late fees. Every month they were billing me a different amount. They did return all the money that was owed but every month I had to go on chat and get it straightened out so I would have proof of what was said. One month they over charged me $40 and they corrected it and then the next month they said I had an unpaid balance of $40.. I went online and they changed the last months bill fortunately I copied the bill from online and the payment and where it said balance zero and when I asked what the $40 was for they said services and I asked what services and they said all of them. The ended up taking that off and this month I got the bill and it is $174 and it is supposed to be $108 this goes on every month. This is my last month thank God and I dropped them and signed up for Comcast. They told me I had to buy to boxes when I wanted the service extended into the second bedroom and front room. So I paid for the two boxes and then they tried to bill me $9 a month rental fee. I told them I bought the boxes you can’t charge me for them and the charge me a rental fee too. So they took the rental fees off. They are a nightmare. They wanted to give me only 200 minutes on my phone usage and I told them that I use 200 minutes just talking to you. So when i decided I could only use chat so I would have a record of what was said, every month when I went on chat it would take me all day just to get my bill straighten out. It has been a total nightmare. It reminded me of back in the day when I had att phone and they charged $18 for long distance and if you didn’t have long distance they charged you $8 a month for not having long distance. How does someone charge you $8 a month for not having something. I saw a commercial for pizza and they said there was a $2 doorbell fee and it cracked me up, reminded me of ATT.
The only way I could get out of some of the bills was because I could copy and paste the previous chat into the new chat to show them that they were wrong. It has to be illegal to be doing these things. I spoke to two other tenants where I lived and they both had the same problem. So if you get Att good luck.
I agree with whoever chose AT&T. It has way more free movies and they charge less. Like 2 weeks ago we were charged like 200 to 499 dollars from Xfinity. And my cousins had Xfinity and they were mad and we told them to switch to AT&T. My cousins also had att and they were happy with what they had. Free movies alot of them.
If you have a decent internet speed You would be much better off to buy a smart TV ( about $499) and subscribing to the lowest priced package. Then watch all the movies you want to free on utube.
I’ve had both comcast and att. But in my experience att has better internet and cable. Although comcast advertises faster internet speed i was unable to stream mlb tv and sunday ticket from my ipad in my small apartment, and this was even when i upgraded my router mulitple times. Also with comcast when i was streaming netflix on my xbox i would CONSTANTLY get an error saying internet speed slowed down and stream would turn horribly pixilated. Since i’ve changed to uverse i’ve had no problems whatsoever. Streaming to devices with uverse internet has been really great even without the higher speeds that comcast offers.
When i had comcast i was paying for a higher tier internet speed at 25mb/s but was constantly getting 9-13mb/s download on every test i did. But when i switched to att 25mb service all test ran constantly at 28-30mb/s.
As for customer service i would say att has the better customer support. I cannot tell you how many times i was on the phone with comcast support only to be on hold and then hung up on multiple times. After 2 hours on the phone and then hung up on i cancelled my services and switched to att. I’ve called att customer service once after i did some research that they had a new router supporting wireless n and without issue they came to my home and replaced it for free.
My one and only gripe on att is that you are unable to upgrade to your own router. i wish that would change but all in all the router given to me has done the job.
I will be glad when we get Google in Nashville, TN. I first subscribed to Comcast over twenty-five years ago. They were bastards and bullies then and have got worse. I have had Direct TV. And went to U-Verse when it became available. They are all the same. They only have prices for twelve months, subject to change, but you have to sign a two year contract. The price increases Over thirty percent after twelve months. With Direct TV when you cancel you will be billed twenty dollars for each month remaining on the contract. Several years ago Direct TV came with a recorder, now they charge you an additional sixteen dollars a month. In the Nashville area there are over thirty-three channels that can be picked up with an antenna. For years I recorded the news and programs each day that I would view later at no cost except for the reusable VHS tapes. The VHS machines are no longer on the market. The TV providers have managed to keep the digital TV recording machines like they rent off of the market. The providers actually charge you an additional fee to put the local channels on to their cable with QVC, ect. when they can be picked up free with a simple antenna.
I have just read about 70% of the comments posted on this site 2-17-16. I don’t know if Comcast/ATT are reading the same post but they should be. What I gathered as an overwhelming problem for both is “bad customer service (cs)”. CS is an area that is fixable with retraining representatives. In other words, it could save the company a lot of money to hire people that are polite. If the company only keep in mind that they hold a monopoly on the service so why bother with the quality, they also need to keep in mind that technology is increasing do fast that that can be changed as quick as the change in technology. Both ATT/Comcast need to listen to their customers and they can start here on this website.
This is my story. I have been an ATT customer for over 16 years. Because I am a old customer, I can not take advantage of the wonderful lower priced temperary services that ATT offer. I actually have representatives telling me that I can not get the wonderful promotions offered, in other words, I am not brand new. Yes, because of the absurd logic, I too considered switching after 16 years. The CS stinks at ATT. Of I feel this way after bring with the company for so long , I’m sure others do as well.
Some times simply going back to the basic are more of a sale then the current continual craziness. It is not difficult to see that both companies need to have better customer service; retrain your reps. The loyal customers you have are more valuable because of the loyalty and companies need to do everything they can to keep them because if nothing else, they are a steady source of income and good representation of the company, and a testimony for others. If companies listen and remedy the cs complaints alone they will increase retention of customers. As far as who offers the best quality, having loyal retained customers will have the company’s back until they come up to speed. This would be better than having customers switching back and forth trying to find the best bargin being the main reason many switch in the first place. AT&T/Comcast/whoever Else, I hope you are listening because the company who listens to their customers will come out ahead.
As for my choice, after talking with about five representatives from AT&Tbnot willing to help me continue to be a loyal customer, I will look for someone who will.
I have Comcast, and while the bundled 3 services are fine, they do not honor their price, as my bill goes up even when i thought i have a set price for the year.
I hate the company, and dread getting my monthly bill due to the surprises.
So am looking into switching, although AT&T was deficient on both phone and honoring pricing years ago when I had AT&T.
PS-
I remember when California voted to “ban Pay TV” in 1964. Too bad the courts threw it out.