A Technical Question from a Prospective New Customer

sjc7812

Hello all,

My family and I have been long-time Comcast customers, and since some equipment “upgrades” that occurred in my area a few years back, we have had severe problems with the services with every change of the season. We have intermittent connectivity issues with all 3 services (phone, high-speed Internet, and TV/OnDemand) – the Internet connection is choppy (impossible to play online games, voice-chat, stream music or Netflix, etc), the phone either cuts out intermittently or drops altogether, and TV becomes pixilated and the sound goes in and out.

At this point, several Comcast techs (and even a supervisor) have admitted to me that our entire neighborhood’s ongoing problem has been caused by their “nodes,” and I’m not 100% sure what these are. Basically, they have told me that anytime the temperatures change or there is consistent bad weather, the “amps” in these nodes are affected by changes in moisture or heat. Even their own techs are frustrated, because apparently no move is being made by Comcast to replace this equipment, or put any type of permanent fix in place, so they are chasing their tails every time summer comes around (apparently the equipment only works consistently well in the colder months - we only have issues when the warm weather arrives).

Since I’m considering jumping ship and heading to Verizon for a specific technical reason, I want to make sure I’m clear on the technical end before I take the giant leap (and probably end up paying early termination fees to the Evil Empire of Comcast). At any point along the “data route”, do Comcast and Verizon use the same lines, etc, to deliver service? Are these “nodes” entirely separate pieces of equipment (ie, are Verizon’s nodes separate from Comcast’s)? If I get the Verizon service, would they be running all new in-house lines as well? Etc. Any description/clarification on how this works would be great – we have never actually switched services so I have no idea how it works.

Thanks very much in advance for any assistance you all can offer. 🙂

VZ_Frank

Hello sjc7812,

If indeed the issue with your comcast service is an outside problem then a switch to Fios would correct all the troubles you are having. With comcast, their service leaves their office and runs on copper lines all the way to your home. With Verizon Fios, our service leaves the central office on fiber all the way to your home, bypassing all of the old copper lines on the telephone poles in your neighborhood. Once the fiber is run to your home it is then connected to an ONT (optical network terminal). Your phone, data, and voice lines in your home are then connected to the ONT and your inside wiring will be reused if they meet the standards for Verizon Fios. If your coax is the old RG9 it will be replaced with new RG6, up to three rooms free of charge. Temperature change and weather will not affect your service.