Thinking of switching to Comcast Cable internet

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GrilledWitOnions

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I saw a few scattered threads around, but nothing that answered all of my questions, so here goes.

My roommates and I currently have ATT DSL elite, 6mbit downstream, $45/month. I have been told by a few people that Comcast Cable internet is the way to go, because it is much faster. I thought that it was a lot pricier though, but it seems it is actually about $45/month, and 3 months for $30 if I sign up before Dec 31st. So, my questions:

From the looks of the website, I have to have them come do a 'network'; the single, self-install says it's for one computer... I'm guessing it's just because most people don't know how to network, so this makes it easier (and more lucrative) to charge for a 'network package'. Am I right? Google searching suggests I might have to spoof my mac address to my router. Correct?

Secondly, the self-install is $30 (and then shipping on top of it)... is this anything more than a cd that doesn't do much of anything? Somewhere else I read that basically you connect and it sets it up from comcasts site directly, no need for the cd at all. Anyone know what the install entails (I'd like to ask them about waiving it if it's just some stupid disc).

I am also thinking of buying a modem since $3/month to lease one x 12 = $36, a little bit more and I can own it forever. Any thoughts?

Lastly, I've read about Comcast capping speeds - I live in Northern California, and am unsure of this. Is this something across the board? From what I see on google, it's not a set number or a limit I can know in advance of.

I would really like to switch to it since it says it begins at 6 and goes to 12, but what we have now for the same price is maxed at 6. I am also hoping they will waive the $30 setup fee when I complain that att never had any setup fee; in fact, my modem was free after rebate applied to my bill.
 
I've had it for a few years and it's generally ok. Usually have 1 month a year that I'll have problems with intermitten slow downs. Usually clears up by itself, and the few times I've had someone out there was no problem in my house and they had to have maintenance check the wiring in the area.

There are issues in some places with heavy users getting speed throttled, with them having a cap on how much you can download per month (believe it is 250GB in areas with limits) and in some places heavy users just get warning letters saying they use too much. Never been an issue for me as I don't download very much stuff. Demos on the 360 and a few Netflix streaming movies a month would be my only big things usually. But something to keep in mind especially since you'll be sharing the connection with roommates.
 
Well, I pulled the trigger. I called Comcast up to see what was offered and the woman said I had to have pro installation, couldn't do it myself since I'm a new customer; well, pro install is like $100. I asked if there was anything that could be done, and she found a coupon for $33/month for one year, $25 installation! We are getting it installed in our new house on Saturday. Thanks for the advice dmaul :D
 
You should have looked around a little more. They constantly offer 6 months @ $19.99 a month with free installation.

I've had comcast for about 6 years now. Occasionally you'll have an issue, but nothing too big. The speed has been blazing fast lately as a matter of fact.
 
[quote name='mtxbass1']You should have looked around a little more. They constantly offer 6 months @ $19.99 a month with free installation.

I've had comcast for about 6 years now. Occasionally you'll have an issue, but nothing too big. The speed has been blazing fast lately as a matter of fact.[/quote]
Hmm, too bad you didn't pop in sooner. I didn't know they offered that rate - the website was offering 3 months at $30 so 1 year at $33 seemed good. Oh well, it's still about $10 cheaper than ATT and begins at their top speed.
...
I checked around and while good deals can be had, I think the $20/month deal might be for the lower speed, and even if it's not, different areas and cities offer different rates. The city I live in isn't huge so I'm betting the better offers don't come here very often.

I did, however, see this press release about basic cable with internet. Maybe I can call and get them to tack that on.
 
That $20 a month is no good, I signed up for it when I moved into my apartment, then they nullified it immediately without telling me and sent me a bill for $65 a month. I called them and they said it wasn't their problem. So I simply didn't pay them. This back and forthed for a few days until they gave me $33/mo. And yes, the self-install kit is garbage, but the $80 modem is not.

And now every couple of weeks some asshat comes out, shuts it off from the outside of the building(I pay my bills now, dammit), and I have to call them and have someone come out to turn it back on again.

I haven't hit the cap yet, but that's because 90% of the time I can't connect to bittorrent peers anyway. As for networking, I didn't even bother with all that, I just used my own router.

I fucking hate them more than can be described.
 
The copying the computer's MAC Address for the router is right. That's the only thing I had to do when I set up my router to get it working.
 
I wouldn't touch/purchase service from Comcast Cable if you paid me. Ever. If you have the option for some other company, than that's what I would go with. By the way, Cox all the way!!!
 
Sir, have you ever HAD comcast????


Here's a few things:

Buy your own modem. Those surfboard are like...50 dollars in radioshack or wherever

There IS such a thing as self-install! You don't need a professional to install a damn modem unless you don't have a spare cable line. shoot, if you got one cable line, you got the possibility of using a splitter (i wouldn't recommend it on the same line as a HDTV from personal expirence)

Also, independent contractors typically have the best prices. Look for a sign at wal-mart or wherever. It's sales reps who get paid for referrals. Usually like 6 months at 20 dollars or whatever

Call comcast back ASAP and neogoate a better rate. Don't cave in! Entertainment companies depend on the customer, PERIOD! Shoot, after a while, call them up and demand more promos. I do it all the time. I got free hbo/showtime right now!
 
[quote name='strongpimphand']
There IS such a thing as self-install! You don't need a professional to install a damn modem unless you don't have a spare cable line. shoot, if you got one cable line, you got the possibility of using a splitter (i wouldn't recommend it on the same line as a HDTV from personal expirence)
[/QUOTE]

You can do the self install if you have TV through them.

If you don't, you can't as you don't have an active cable feed into your house and need them to turn it on outside (and run it to your house if you happen to not be connected at all).
 
Speed is pretty good with Comcast, though the support sucks. Internet stops working every once in a while, I do everything possible to fix it, nothing happens. Internet is down for a good day and a half before a call to Comcast go's out. Guy comes, finds "nothing wrong" and says the problem is "something we did".


Yes, of course. But, besides that, it seems fine, speed are like I said, good.
 
[quote name='hiccupleftovers']I wouldn't touch/purchase service from Comcast Cable if you paid me. Ever. If you have the option for some other company, than that's what I would go with. By the way, Cox all the way!!![/QUOTE]

Wide Open West all the way for me, but other than that, yeah. I wouldn't go with Comcast again unless there was absolutely NO other alternative. Constant outages, high prices, shitty customer service. One of the worst companies I've ever dealt with.

Since I've switched my download speed is as good or better than it was previously, my upload speed has doubled, my bill is lower despite adding phone to my cable and internet service, and I can count the number of outages I've had on one hand - despite me getting the service almost exactly a year ago from this writing. Even the guy who came to install it went above and beyond.
 
I hate their customer service, but I've never had much problems with the service.

And it's our only option. We can't have satellite in our condo building (no patios or balconies or other owned area they can be mounted) and the DSL is slow as balls as the phone wiring is slow as shit. Fios is in our county, but not our area yet. But I would drop them for Fios if it came available just to avoid the customer serice when there are problems.
 
Wrote this the other night - I had no internet at the time and wanted the experience fresh in my mind.

So, first complaint about comcast, and we haven't even gotten it installed :roll:

I called up tonight to ask about getting that cable tv for free package, and was told I could only get it for 6mbit connections - the connection I thought I had.
Turns out I had 4mbit, at $33/month for 6 months (not a year). I was told they don't have anything for a year, and can't do anything about the price; do I want to call back tomorrow morning to talk to the guy that helped me and his supervisor? So, of course, I said no, I want a supervisor now.
The sup gets on and surprised me by offering me a deal - not as good, but decent. I figured he would get on and say nothing can be done, and I would say, well, adios comcast.
He said they don't have promos for a year, but there was an expired $33 promo for 6 months - he couldn't apply that directly but could give me a credit. So, he gave us the difference in price between the normal price and $33 (saying that normal 6mbit is $58.99) - so $25.99/month for 6 months, but as a large credit of $155.94. Not too bad - basically a couple months free and then a little more.
So, I asked about installation, saying our landlord doesn't want crazy cable drilling done (which is true). The guy said that if we had cable in the spot for internet already, there's no drilling, just hooking up the modem. So of course I said, why can't I just do that myself; he said self-installation can only be done by existing customers. Long story short, we at least still get the $25 install promo.
So far I'm a little dissatisfied with the way this went down, but the customer service has been pretty good (once you escalate). The sales people on the floor just don't know what's available for promos and can't help you in any way.
Hopefully we get our first bill and it's $0. And this month, I'm taking my internet money and buying a cable modem.
Click to expand...
And here's an update, now that we moved in and are using our cable internet.
Guy came, and I'm happy to pay the $25 for installation. He had to run cable across the outside of the house to hook it up, and then it was somehow cut or something, and he had to connect it. Nothing major, but I never could have done what he did (I was moving in at the time so not entirely sure of everything he did).
First thing I asked was can we have this just hooked to a router - and I don't want some sort of fee for networking. He said yeah, no problem. Felt kinda silly asking about it - it is a pretty basic concept, but I'm worried about being nickled and dimed.
So, he gets everything going, does a speed test - about 6mbit - perfect. I glance over the papers to sign (no dollar signs anywhere for crazy fees), and we're set.

So far I like this. My roommate is getting a better connection for wow and torrents, and I'll be checking out some torrents soon. Now, I still want to see about getting that cable tv for free, but I think there will be an install fee, even though I don't think it's that necessary. But, for free tv, who can complain?

Thanks for your inputs guys, it made this experience a lot better, knowing what to be wary of. I'll report back with more findings as this progresses.

And, don't think I linked the free tv thing - here yah go.
 
Wow, I envy you guys with Cable. I live in a place so small they don't call it a town, but a village and they only offer shitty DSL that takes me eight hours to download a movie off of live and I lag all over the place. That and I pay $50.00 a month. I would love to go back to CoxHigh Speed Internet (Thats what I had in Phoenix) and I always see commercials for Comcast and between cable and DSL, I would pick cable anytime. Now excuse me why I go and watch my Netflix movies buffer over and over again on Live. :(
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']Comcast is such an awful company, why would you want to give them money?[/QUOTE]
Do you have comcast?
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']Comcast is such an awful company, why would you want to give them money?[/quote]

Sometimes there is absolutely no alternative if you want a high speed connection.
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']No Verizon?[/quote]

No?

There are quite a few areas in the US where Comcast is the only cable company. A lot of people can't get DSL because they are too far from the hub.
 
I love it when people in like, some major city automatically assume that everyplace is the same as them.
"What you can't get like 10 different broadband choices!?!?!" :p

Around here its Comcast or AT&T Uverse.....UVERSE sucks so I'm sticking with comcast, and if you hit the 250gb/mo cap you're doing some SERIOUS downloading :p

Comcast is currently the best of the major Cable players.....Cox and Time Warner both blow with their absurdly low caps per month.
 
[quote name='HeadRusch']I love it when people in like, some major city automatically assume that everyplace is the same as them.
"What you can't get like 10 different broadband choices!?!?!" :p

Around here its Comcast or AT&T Uverse.....UVERSE sucks so I'm sticking with comcast, and if you hit the 250gb/mo cap you're doing some SERIOUS downloading :p

Comcast is currently the best of the major Cable players.....Cox and Time Warner both blow with their absurdly low caps per month.[/QUOTE]

Cox doesn't cap, ever.:lol::D
 
[quote name='HeadRusch']I love it when people in like, some major city automatically assume that everyplace is the same as them.
"What you can't get like 10 different broadband choices!?!?!" :p

Around here its Comcast or AT&T Uverse.....UVERSE sucks so I'm sticking with comcast, and if you hit the 250gb/mo cap you're doing some SERIOUS downloading :p

Comcast is currently the best of the major Cable players.....Cox and Time Warner both blow with their absurdly low caps per month.[/quote]

I'm kinda in the same boat. Currently I use AT&T DSL and I believe that my only other option is Comcast. I don't like AT&T , and I don't like Comcast either , but with the fact that it seems like my DSL connection has problems or isn't working more often than not , I've been considering switching more and more each day.
 
[quote name='HeadRusch']Well your evening is about to start sucking :)

http://www.cox.com/lasvegas/highspeedinternet/pricing.asp

60gb/mo on the highest tier.[/QUOTE]

They must not pay attention/care then because I've never seen them do anything. I probably play games/stream movies (videos/youtube)/do Xbox live more than that cap. My WoWing is probably more than that. That goes for my Uncle/Cousins as well. They are always on WoW, probably go through 48 hours just on the weekends. Let's not forget about WoW updates, other updates, etc....

Evening still not sucking.
 
I'm just letting you know that all cable services have caps, and they are stated publicly.

But based on your statement above, you have nothing to worry about...gaming and youtube are both considered low bandwidth applications.
 
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=13129890126&sid=1 - 32 PAGES OF COMCAST SUBSCRIBERS. And of course it's nobody's fault. This would be going on when I decide to start playing.

*bashes her head on keyboard* I did a test last night and the numbers sounded alright, but I kept timing out and dying any damn way. This has also happened to my RO server, but I just figured that one was because it's on the west coast and it's a buggy as hell private server. -_-

Seriously, if you haven't finalized it, CANCEL.
 
My town too has only Comcast. My options were Comcast Cable or dialup. That was it. The town won't let Verizon in, and RCN isn't interested.
 
[quote name='VioletArrows']FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=13129890126&sid=1 - 32 PAGES OF COMCAST SUBSCRIBERS. And of course it's nobody's fault. This would be going on when I decide to start playing.

*bashes her head on keyboard* I did a test last night and the numbers sounded alright, but I kept timing out and dying any damn way. This has also happened to my RO server, but I just figured that one was because it's on the west coast and it's a buggy as hell private server. -_-

Seriously, if you haven't finalized it, CANCEL.[/quote]
Well I don't play WoW, but my room mate does, and she said it's much better with comcast than att dsl. I guess there is a little indicator for when the connection is good, with red, yellow, and green coloring - she said that with att it was ALWAYS red, and now it's green, even when the net is under heavy use. I'll forward her the link though and let her look into it.

And yeah - not a lot of choices here. I think it's basically ATT and Comcast. So far comcasts consistant speed has blown me away. I think it was the crappy phone line in the apartment before that gave us trouble with ATT more than anything else (we just moved to a house) - but it's still a much quicker connection than what ATT offers.
 
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[quote name='HeadRusch']I love it when people in like, some major city automatically assume that everyplace is the same as them.
[/QUOTE]

Yep. I even live in an Urban area and Comcast is it. They're the only cable company here. Verizion Fios isn't in my area yet. DSL is available but it's barely faster than dial up in our condo as we're pretty far from the hub and the phone wiring our building is shit (static, picks up the near by high wattage radio station etc.).
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']fuck no, I have Time Warner.[/QUOTE]
so....how are you commenting on comcast if you never had comcast????

that just...DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!
 
[quote name='VioletArrows']FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=13129890126&sid=1 - 32 PAGES OF COMCAST SUBSCRIBERS. And of course it's nobody's fault. This would be going on when I decide to start playing.[/quote]Oh, read a few posts from that thread, and it seems plenty of non-comcast people have the same problem. So, sounds more like a wow problem than anything, but I don't know the whole situatuon.
 
[quote name='HeadRusch']I love it when people in like, some major city automatically assume that everyplace is the same as them.
"What you can't get like 10 different broadband choices!?!?!" :p

Around here its Comcast or AT&T Uverse.....UVERSE sucks so I'm sticking with comcast, and if you hit the 250gb/mo cap you're doing some SERIOUS downloading :p

Comcast is currently the best of the major Cable players.....Cox and Time Warner both blow with their absurdly low caps per month.[/quote]

Neither Cox nor TW have caps...but thanks for playing! Here's your parting gift! :booty:

[quote name='strongpimphand']so....how are you commenting on comcast if you never had comcast????

that just...DOESN'T MAKE SENSE![/quote]

I read.

Do you need to get kicked in the balls to know that it hurts, or do you just know?

Also:

http://consumerist.com/consumer/cab...yees-to-stuff-comcast-vs-fios-poll-331436.php

http://consumerist.com/consumer/complaints/comcast-oversold-bandwidth-157507.php

http://consumerist.com/consumer/cable/pix-of-2nd-comcast-tech-asleep-on-customers-bed-206654.php

http://consumerist.com/consumer/net-neutrality/comcast-sued-for-traffic-meddling-322953.php

http://consumerist.com/5013090/want-to-spy-on-comcast-subscribers-comcast-has-the-job-for-you

http://consumerist.com/consumer/comcast/comcast-censors-critical-nightline-story-187928.php


And there are 500 more where those came from.
 
Still lame to bitch about something you haven't tried personally. It's reasonable to make a decision not to use them based on what you read, but not to be so vindictive against them and warning others away (though you could have posted those links to begin with rather than making a personal statement on something you have no personal experience with).

I'm not fan of Comcast, but the quality of service varies vastly by area. One of my friends that lives in the next county over always has problems. Outages, slowdowns, billing problems. Where as I've had few problems, 1 or 2 outages the past year a couple weeks where it was slow, no problems with the TV.

And we've always gotten great deals by calling and threatening to leave for satellite so I've never paid more than $19.99 a month for the internet and about $80 total for cable, digital cable, HD, HBO and Starz.

The customer service generally sucked the couple times we had outages or slow downs, but for the price and general quality of the service I can't complain. And like I said above it's my only option for TV and broadband so I guess I'm lucky that they're decent in my area.
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']Neither Cox nor TW have caps...but thanks for playing! Here's your parting gift! :booty:[/quote]
TW Capping in Texas, May Roll Out to Other Regions
Cox TOS
If you use excessive bandwidth as determined by Cox), Cox may terminate, suspend, or require you to upgrade the Service and/or pay additional fees.
Click to expand...

Do you need to get kicked in the balls to know that it hurts, or do you just know?
Click to expand...
I doubt anyone would know how painful it is until experienced. What you said is akin to children that touch the stove because they don't understand that it's hot and it will hurt. Your analogy makes no sense.
 
Why is it lame? I bitch about republicans and by your thinking, I should be a republican before I bitch about them. Does that make sense? No, it doesn't.
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']Why is it lame? I bitch about republicans and by your thinking, I should be a republican before I bitch about them. Does that make sense? No, it doesn't.[/QUOTE]

I meant specifically with products/services, not broad things like politics. Apples and oranges.

If you haven't tried an ISP, you don't know how the service is. And honestly, asking about ISPs on the interent is pretty pointless anyway because the only thing that matters is how the service is in your area. Comcast sucks some places, works well others. Same with Verizon, or Cox etc.

Best bet is to go to a place like broadband reports and see if there is anyone in your area with the various providers to get relevant opinions. But in the end one's probably better off just going with which ever provider is cheapest for the speed they want and seeing how they like it and trying others if they're not satisfied.

[quote name='Temporaryscars']Yeah, it's in testing. But as it stands, there's no capping.[/QUOTE]

Cox kind of does. There's is like Comcast was previously (and still is in some places) where they just throttle people's connections who they deem to use too much bandwith, send letters threatening them to use less or face slowdowns or bannings etc.
 
I know how the service is because there are thousands upon thousands of websites and reviews dedicated to spreading the word about how terrible Comcast is.

If you were going to buy a TV, and 96% of the reviews out there say the TV is horrible, do you need to buy it in order to know whether it sucks or not?

You're right, I don't know first hand that it sucks, but all signs point to that fact that it does suck, and nobody should waste the time and money to find out how bad a shit sandwich tastes.
 
Yes, but a model of a TV in one state/county is the same quality as it as in another.

ISP quality varies greatly by region both in terms of the service and the customer service. Like I said, my friend in the next county has tons of problems with his comcast, I've had hardly any and have no real complaints other than the customer service wasn't great the couple of times I had to call.

Frankly, all the cable, phone etc. companies suck. Customer service is dead. So it's really just a matter of picking your poison, assuming you even have a choice of which poison to take which many of us don't. So I sometimes don't get all the animosity towards one company or another. They all suck, care nothing about customers, and just want to rake in money.
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']I know how the service is because there are thousands upon thousands of websites and reviews dedicated to spreading the word about how terrible Comcast is.

If you were going to buy a TV, and 96% of the reviews out there say the TV is horrible, do you need to buy it in order to know whether it sucks or not?

You're right, I don't know first hand that it sucks, but all signs point to that fact that it does suck, and nobody should waste the time and money to find out how bad a shit sandwich tastes.[/quote]
Cox Cable Sucks
TW Cable Sucks
Att DSL Sucks

You can find thousands of pages of complaints for any service or company.

[quote name='dmaul1114']Frankly, all the cable, phone etc. companies suck. Customer service is dead. So it's really just a matter of picking your poison, assuming you even have a choice of which poison to take which many of us don't. So I sometimes don't get all the animosity towards one company or another. They all suck, care nothing about customers, and just want to rake in money. [/quote] QFT. In my area, we have Comcast and ATT, and I'd rather have neither. But I have to have the internet. ATT was being inconsistant at best and had much slower speeds available than comcast.

And I really didn't intend this thread to be "what are your opinions of comcast" but more of a "how can I avoid the pitfalls others have fallen into with comcast", which really are more like pitfalls with any company. Just wondered what to expect in setting it up; I was pretty much sold on the service itself.

And, temporaryscars, I think the main problem here is that your opinion, while based on however many sources, is not a first-hand experience, which is of much greater strength. Basically, if I read someone's opinion about something and then give it as my opinion, and then others follow suit, we have one first hand experience and however many others regurgitating the information.

Now this is actually a pretty valid way to spread information; most times information can be consistant. But I think as others have said, with a service as oppossed to a product, it can vary wildly.
 
[quote name='Temporaryscars']Neither Cox nor TW have caps...but thanks for playing! Here's your parting gift! :booty:



I read.

Do you need to get kicked in the balls to know that it hurts, or do you just know?

Also:

http://consumerist.com/consumer/cab...yees-to-stuff-comcast-vs-fios-poll-331436.php

http://consumerist.com/consumer/complaints/comcast-oversold-bandwidth-157507.php

http://consumerist.com/consumer/cable/pix-of-2nd-comcast-tech-asleep-on-customers-bed-206654.php

http://consumerist.com/consumer/net-neutrality/comcast-sued-for-traffic-meddling-322953.php

http://consumerist.com/5013090/want-to-spy-on-comcast-subscribers-comcast-has-the-job-for-you

http://consumerist.com/consumer/comcast/comcast-censors-critical-nightline-story-187928.php


And there are 500 more where those came from.[/QUOTE]
Lawd, I read everyday about how the 360 is a piece of crap, how the PS3 doesn't have games, how Mac > PC, how comcast sucks.....

I have them all. So, I can make judgements and use personal expirence when it comes to helping someone who is switching to said product

You, on the other hand, you're just going off of what's popular to say. It's popular to say comcast is garbage because comcast is the biggest cable company! Just like it's popular to say all the stuff above. But, if you don't have a 360, or you don't have comcast, or you don't use an ipod, or etc....you really can't just put it down!

So all those articles or whatever...useless to the person asking the question. Especially since you yourself has NEVER used comcast...
 
Update: Guess what came in the mail yesterday?
The Bill, for $95. So I called them up, told them I was supposed to have a credit that would be taking care of my first two months+installation. Guy tells me the credit was there but not applied yet, and that the credit department handled that. He didn't know when it would be applied or how I can get it fixed. I asked for a supervisor, to which he of course told me that the sup wouldn't be able to do anything. :roll: I said I'd like to talk to a supervisor anyway, and he said something like, "Sure, 100% you can!".
Guy comes back after about 5 minutes, tells me the sup applied the credit and everything is fine now. I tried to sign up online to see if it would show my balance but I guess it won't the first month, so I'm calling back after christmas just to be sure the credit is applied.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Customer service is dead. [/quote]

12803686_400x400.jpg
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']
12803686_400x400.jpg
[/quote]
:applause:
Also, whenever you post, it's like monty burns himself is posting. Just seeing the avatar gives me a good feeling everytime. I love Mr. Burns.
 
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