Comcast internet, phone and cable?

Question

just wondering if anyone has the phone service that concast offers?

we have at&t, but my husband wants to have everything bundled into one bill each month and wants to sign up for the comcast digital voice phone.

if you have the phone service, is it good? can you use an answering machine with it? (i know they have that stupid voice mail option, but we have cell phones with voice mails, and perfer an answering machine with our home phone), and do you get a regular phone number or is it some 800#?

thanks.

Answer 1

i apologize if this is too lengthy, ill try to answer your question but feel free to email me with any other technical questions, i dont know much about the billing side.

the person above me has time warners phone service which is similar to vonage as a voice over internet, comcast digital phone service actually uses a closed signal that stays in the comcast network until it can no longer use comcast to reach the person your calling and then uses the telephone switchboard.  what that means is your call is the most secure possible.  with the time warner phone your call would be transmitted over the internet and use which ever routers were available to send it which is not very secure with a high risk of a call drop.

depending on how you have your set-up for internet, you should be able to use just the one modem...the comcast telephone modem handles both phone calls and internet, the only thing it doesnt do is provide a wireless signal, you'll need a seperate router for that.  

also, i dont know if they'll tell you this but where you want your modem at, you'll need a cable outlet within a few feet of a telephone jack...if its not super close the tech will be able to make it work as long as its atleast in the same room.  

currently comcast can only provide two phone lines with digital voice, so a home line and a fax will work fine.  when you call to set up the install be sure and tell the person that you want a fax hooked up though so they can pass that to the tech so he comes prepared, also they need to know if you have an alarm.  

you will be able to get 911 service, and your modem comes with a battery which will provide 8-12 hours of phone use incase of a power outage.  but they should explain that your 911 service is called E911, meaning when you dial 911, your modem automatically sends your name and address to the 911 operator, so if you move, you will have to call comcast and have your address changed in the modem in order for the 911 operator to get your correct address.

you dont get an 800 number, you actually can keep your same home phone number, but you have to tell them you want to when you set up the install appointment, because porting your home phone number from your current provider is a legal process that takes a few days...so therefore they cant do the install untill that is done, you dont have to do anything though, comcast does all the work, but...DO NOT, shut off your current phone service until the comcast install is done, otherwise you risk losing the number you want ported.  

also your answering machine should work fine, but ask the customer service person about that to be sure.

ive had the phone service for about 4 months now and it hasnt dropped a call and it hasnt gone out yet.  once in awhile i get static on the line but i use a cheap wal-mart cordless handset, so i dont know who to blame that one on.  

as far as the billing, it would depend on what you already have with comcast, if your a brand new customer you should be able to get all three services for $99 a month, if your an existing customer i think the price depends on what you already have...one thing ive noticed with comcast is the more stuff you buy from them, the cheaper they charge you for each thing.  for example, i had limited basic tv and 6megs of internet because it was cheaper than having just the 4meg internet.  anyway, i hope that helped, email me if you have any other questions

Answer 2

Digital phone (which I have from time warenner) is run off your cable line which means if your cable goes out guess what you have no phone it also runs off of a speerat modem then your highspeed internet so you will most likely have 2 modems in your house. Not sure about comcast but time warrner digital phone sucks They was out like once or twice a week I mean that in a litteral sence. Phone calls are dropped based on your cable itself. also once a year in October the have sunspots that interfer with the  single the phone gets an dyou will get crappy service(this is one of many excuses Time warrener gave many. more times then not they sent out inexpirenced tech to set it up wrong.But as fra a 911 goes check with comcast you MAY NOT be able to get 911 service as if you ever want to use any 900 services you can not do that.also if you fax alot of things forget it not with digital phone from time warrner. priceing now that is a good question you can see 20 commericals for digital phone bundles and get 20 different prices on what will be charged I suggest you watch the commericals and review offers on the internet. like now Time warrner has digital phone ,high speed internet and digital all 3 for under 30 bucks each when bundles one last thing what ever offer you pick stick with it do not take any extras like trubo high speed often times takeing that offer and adding a service nulls the whole offer and you end up getting one h**l of a suprise on your bill at least this is how time warrner   treats its comusters I hope comcast is better and good luck hope this helps

Answer 3

I suggest you drop the phone service which is expensive,  Buy a magic jack VOIP USB device and connect your regular analog home phone to the jack and you can use your own answering machine.

Your calls in The US And Canada are free  and every other country is a nominal charge.  You also recieve free voicemail if you want to use it, caller id , call waiting, call forwarding, follow me calling and you get a free phone # and soon you will be able to port any existing phone number you may already have to the device.

The cost is $39.95 for the device , there is no monthly charges,  in the second year you will pay $19 annually not monthly and every year there after is the same.  

Your husband will love this... and you and he can talk as long as you need to.. no per minute charges.

I bought mine at http://www.kingdirect.com   the nice thing is if your traveling out of the country take it with you and call back to the US and canada free as well.

here is the link:  http://www.kingdirect.com/Telecom-Servic...