As Smouie is switching to Dish, I’m returning to Comcast after several years as a DirecTV customer. Tired of only having six real HD channels, and tired of having the slowest DSL on the planet (sorry toad.net, 700kbps down and 100kbps push isn’t a 1.5mbps connection any way you look at it) I started looking for other options. Comcast is offering a ridiculous deal if you switch to their all-in-one package, which handles HD Cable, Cable Modem and their new telephony package for $108/mo or so, or, roughly $70/mo less than I’m already paying now.

I was amazed to see my install window cut in half as the day after I called to get my install coordinated, they called me back with a vacancy a full week earlier than initially expected. There’s no dish to deal with, no weather concerns save for blackouts, and it’s all in on one wire.

The installers showed up around 1pm today and did the whole thing in about 90 minutes. I now have just a single box where once I had two, the new data box replaces my ancient DSL modem and all the wires strewn in my kitchen providing a line from the phone jack to my DirecTiVo and my phone set. Does it look great? In HD, it’s amazingly beautiful, but I think that’s due to the quality of HD, not anything Comcast has done. In regular definition, it’s no DirecTV. There’s a certain analog granularity to all of it, and I don’t find that welcome.

How can I talk about the Data service without drooling? My old DSL was around 500kbps down and around 100kbps up, which would be okay for a 768k service, sadly I’m paying for the 1.5mbps service. The new cable modem puts me upward of 10,000mbps down and around 350kbps up, and initial tests with large downloads have been very succesful. A new movie from iTunes at around 1.6GB downloaded in approximately 40 minutes. Impressive, indeed.

Phone service, well, as long as you pick up the phone and get a dial tone, does it matter who provides it? Comcast is a good bit cheaper than Verizon, and until it doesn’t work, I won’t even notice the difference.