Comcast or Bellsouth moving to Atlanta area

Hello eveyone

I currently have Bellsouth DSL service in Miami, I am moving to the Atlanta area and found Comcast offers Phone and Internet service plus Cable TV( I have Direct TV now)

I am wondering how much value I can get if I switch from Bellsouth to Comcast. My DSL runs at 1.5 MB now and Cable advertizes 6MB service.
I have read about ping time issues and sharing service with my computers using a router might be an issue.
I have 3 PCs and a Laptop working happily with my Belkin router, which is connected to the DSL Westell modem. Obviously, I have to swap the DSL modem for a Cable modem, but not too happy with "renting" anything from anyone. So, I need your feed back. I game on one of my PCs, so the Ping issue kind of bothers me.

Should I keep bellsouth and Direct TV? Comcast package for everthing sounds good, but I have reservations about cable phone service.

Should I try to buy a router cable modem, or just a router and then try to use my Belkin router?

Anything else I am not considering?

Thank you

Daniel

Ping times for me have been OK with comcast. I get ~90ms to Google and most of the web. It's ~30ms to get out of comcast's network, so that's about the minimum I can ever expect. Not sure how it differs in other parts of the country.

You may have the option of renting a cable modem, though I didn't go that route (there was a package deal I got that made buying a modem free ). The SB5100 is a fairly popular modem, and will require your Belkin router to be used on more than one system (Comcast will only hand out one IP).

If you do much uploading, you might want to think about that as well. Comcast only gives 375k up (though recently I've been hitting has high as 450), so don't expect to be running BitTorrent full-throttle while gaming.

JigPu

Hello JigPu

Thank you for your reply. I think your are correct with the upload bandwith.
I am not sure what I get with bellsouth, but might be a little better. I think that as long as I can play games online without getting booted for extremetly long pings. That has happened to me before, but I had the network not setup correctly. Comcast takes 30ms to get out? If that is something I should compare to Bellsouth I do not know how.
I think my belkin has a way to mask or copy my IP address, so I think that should work with the network.
I am not too interested in renting equipment, but I might do for a month or so and see how that whole thing works before buying Cable router.

I am also concerned about using all products from Comcast and then if cable goes the whole network goes including phone, internet and TV. Which would really suck. There are a lot of storms in Atlanta and I am sure thatDirect TV would be in/out a lot.

Thank you

Daniel

Being an Atlanta resident first, Welcome.
Now over comcast and Bellsouth
I used Bellsouth for a while and had no problems with it but saw that comcast was giving me a better bang for the buck. so i switched. Router should be no problem with a Belkin or anything, i have used linksys, belkin, and netgear on my network. Ping times are not bad, the connection is good, but my problem is that my connection is very flaky. it has been determined to be a inner house problem, my house is 10 yrs old.

Satellight is real flaky here i hear, i knw the satellight i have is real bad.
what i would do is get a basic plan with bellsouth, just phone, and then get the Cable TV and HSI Combo, from comcast

Go their for Comcast Service, i used it and got my cable modem Free after Mail in rebates and paid 19.99 for the first 3 months. that is the special i got i don't know what they offer now.
http://www.comcastspecial.com/indexgoogle.html

What part of Atlanta will you be moving to?

I live south of Atlanta and I have Bellsouth. I have internet, phone, and satellite through them. Internet is good. I had some problems at first but we got that taken care of. The phone is a phone. The satellite is great. It has to be a really heavy storm for mine to go out. Overall I am really pleased with it.

Good luck with your move!
Clint

JigPu said:

Ping times for me have been OK with comcast. I get ~90ms to Google and most of the web. It's ~30ms to get out of comcast's network, so that's about the minimum I can ever expect. Not sure how it differs in other parts of the country.

Click to expand...

I never have really thought about ping times. I decided to test mine.

I get average of 31-33ms after 3 series of pings to google. I guess my service is really good? I have earthlink cable (5-8mb).

Hello everyone

Thank you for your Welcomes. I am moving to Alpharetta probably next week, or as soon as these bank people get their act together.

Mils:I will check on pricing with Comcast on TV and HSI service and will look into a very cheap cheap phone service from bellsouth (if that is possible). Knowing that I will make calls to Florida and elsewhere I might need a National type of plan, but we will see..

ShelNut: lol 33 ms ping time is very good.

SeaDave77: You have the same service I have now - Everything through Bellsouth- Direct TV/DSL/Phone. Yeah my DirectTV goes out whenever its raining out, ussually when is raining heavy.

I am calling Comcast tomorrow and get a definite on cost and service, plus will see what Bellsouth tells me about service. All in all, I am looking for fairly good service that would run cheaper than what I have, if possible..
Earhlink: I had not consider them, but will look into it.

Thank you for your replies.

Daniel

Welcome to Atlanta.

I've only been here for a year and I'm being moved back to Birmingham, AL for my company.

I'm currently using Bellsouth 1.5mb adsl and dishnetwork for my television provider. I'd considered comcast but their prices were outrageous when I was checking prices when I first moved here. I've never looked back. I know comcast offers a 6mb service around Atlanta but I've never tried it.

I've had experience with both providers: Currently I am using Bellsouth FastAccess 3meg services -- because they don't offer their 6meg in my area of metro-atlanta. Comcast claims to have around a 7meg line that holds true most of the time, but all of my friends seem to have a greater amount of downtime with comcast...compared to my zero downtime with bellsouth.

Both companies offer bundling services cutting costs, to about the same prices with their top tier internet access. I would recomend the 6megabit from Bellsouth if it is available in Alpharetta. Either way you will be staisfied.

I look forward to the Internet2 next year at Georgia Tech

I look forward to the Internet2 next year at Georgia Tech

Click to expand...

Don't get your hopes up. It's super fast, as long as you are going between the Internet2. Otherwise, it's just a fast connection. When i2hub was around, you could really take advantage of the speed. But other than that, it feels like my DSL connection at home.

Example: Going to a server in Atlanta, I can get about 20 Mbps. But going to a server in Seattle, I only get 1.5 Mbps.

Don't want to burst your bubble but I just wanted to inform you before you got here. Congrats on getting into Tech!

Hello everyone

I got my Comcast setup today. I am so happy to be able to surf the net again.. I am getting 5785Kb download and 356kb upload.

I am going to try set up my network tomorrow , hope the other PCs have no issues.. Thank you for your help.

I like Alpharetta a lot, the is a festival this weekend in Downtown.. lol..
Learning how to get around...

Daniel