My home appears to be a broadband pariah

[paulsiu]

After I moved into the new house, I got DSL, which worked well in the beginning, but is now deteriorating in quality. I attempt to sign on for AT&T Uverse, but is told that I do not live in a service area. Even after my next door neighbor got Uverse, I still can't get it. So I decide to order Comcast to see what the internet service is like but the Comcast guy said he can't find a hookup outside. This is even though the previous owner use comcast and have jacks in every room in the house.

I suppose I should be thankful since I can still get slow DSL. I could be living with Sat or dial-up.

Paul

[Mudpuppy]

Have Comcast send someone else out. You probably got one of their less-than-"comcastic" techs. If the previous owner had service, you should be able to get it too. You could probably get uVerse as well unless your neighbor lives in one neighborhood node while you live in a different neighborhood node (which does happen quite frequently). If you're in the same neighborhood node, there's probably a database issue with your particular address.

As for the DSL quality issue, if you want to stay on DSL, have AT&T come out and inspect the line. You might be having an issue with corrosion or crosstalk in the line that is causing the DSL to degrade. If the line becomes noisy, DSL falls back to a more reliable, but slower, transmission method. It would also be a good way to find out if you're in a uVerse node or not, by talking to the tech that comes out.

[gd]

Follow the wires to distribution boxes inside/outside, and to the street. They're there, or not. Perhaps the builder pre-wired cable outlets that remained unused, and perhaps the previous owner had satellite TV. Speaking from personal experience with DSL, Realtors (r) will unflinchingly mislead you about what is or can be available in a house they are representing.

[ilisira]

After I moved into the new house, I got DSL, which worked well in the beginning, but is now deteriorating in quality. I attempt to sign on for AT&T Uverse, but is told that I do not live in a service area. Even after my next door neighbor got Uverse, I still can't get it. So I decide to order Comcast to see what the internet service is like but the Comcast guy said he can't find a hookup outside. This is even though the previous owner use comcast and have jacks in every room in the house.

I suppose I should be thankful since I can still get slow DSL. I could be living with Sat or dial-up.

Paul

Just before buying our house, I verified with Comcast that, they actually provide service to the house, entered the address, and did not submit the order, but verified they actually had service. Just after we signed, I went ahead, and clicked that submit button, and comcast.com said they do not provide service to that address. I called them, they quoted thousands of dollars to provide service, and knowing the only other option is DSL (3Mbps very fast ), I pushed a little bit more, went to the local Comcast office, and they knew the address, they knew they can provide service, sent a technician who was able to connect the house. And within a year, I learned that actually there are two hookups in my property where they can connect, so sometimes they really do not know what they are doing..

Btw, depending on where you are, you might find a fixed LTE service if your traffic requirements are not too much.

[paulsiu]

They did send someone out, he wandered around the house outside and said he couldn't find a hookup. I know that the previous owner had comcat. When we moved in a few years ago, the Comcast guy dropped by to remove the service.

So the tech said he needed access to my neighbor's yard, but it's heavily fenced off, and he wasn't home (no kidding, he goes to work like everyone else). I asked about the other neighbor, the one with green metal box sticking out of his bushes. He said they did not have any Comcast signal. He suggest that I reschedule. I told them I want to think about it. I had to take some time off to wait for the Comcast tech, but he didn't come until hours later. I don't want to expend more time off since I may needed it for those days when my daughter gets sick and can't go to daycare.

Ironically, I talked with my neighbor, the one with the green metal boxes. He said he has Comcast. Maybe I'll check with them later to see if they feel their internet is reliable to see if it's worth it to try Comcast. Frankly, I don't really need cable TV. My wife wanted it so she can watch football.

Paul

[Watty]

Has ATT actually been out to your house yet?

A few years ago I knew that U-verse was coming to our subdivision and occasionally checked their web site but it never said that we could get it. One day there was an ATT technician working down the street so I stopped and asked him what was going on. He said that their maps were notoriously inaccurate and that he thought we should probably be able to get U-verse. I was able to get them to come out to verify that we could get it and they updated their map. I was then able to schedule an installation.

[gd]

I now presume your cable service is underground, and the Comcast technician can't find the service lateral (new word! Thank you, Mr. Google!) to your house. I have no contribution to make for that other than to look for labelling on your neighbor's green box, but suggest that when someone else more competent shows up, you make sure you know what they did and where, then write it down for posterity. It's not a bad idea to figure out and document all your utilities, inside and out. This isn't the last ineffective tradesman you'll meet, cable or otherwise.

[ProfessorX]

Just before buying our house, I verified with Comcast that, they actually provide service to the house, entered the address, and did not submit the order, but verified they actually had service. Just after we signed, I went ahead, and clicked that submit button, and comcast.com said they do not provide service to that address. I called them, they quoted thousands of dollars to provide service, and knowing the only other option is DSL (3Mbps very fast ), I pushed a little bit more, went to the local Comcast office, and they knew the address, they knew they can provide service, sent a technician who was able to connect the house. And within a year, I learned that actually there are two hookups in my property where they can connect, so sometimes they really do not know what they are doing..

Btw, depending on where you are, you might find a fixed LTE service if your traffic requirements are not too much.

Comcast provides 20Mbs (I usually get 25Mbs) in my area if you have a Docsis 3.0 cable modem. This is not even their high speed plan.

I live in a city and my house is prewired. The Comcast guy didn't even look for the hookup. He just set up the boxes in each different room. Anyway the only place you can see the hookup is inside my garage.