[PLUG] Comcast/Xfinity experiences?

[Rich Shepard]

Two guys from Comcast just stopped by because they're upgrading their
fiber lines in the neighborhood (Frontier did the same thing last autumn).
They told me they could provide 150Mb download speed with 2 phone lines
(voice and fax, same numbers) for about $66/month. I don't know if that
includes a static IP address, though. I wonder how they can provide 10x the
speed I currently have for about 2/3rds my current price.

What have been your experiences with Comcast/Xfinity?

Rich

[Russell Senior]

These are teaser rates, they'll go up after 6 months (most likely). Or, it
involves a 2 year contract, where the tail of the contract pays them back
for whatever front end inducement they had to provide you. They may also be
trying to head off municipal fiber by trying to lock people into term
contracts. Troutdale City Council voted last night to join in an
intergovernmental agreement with other municipalities within Multnomah
County to help fund a publicly-owned fiber feasibility study. Troutdale's
portion is just a few thousand dollars. Also, Comcast provides service over
coax. They do have fiber, but not that you have access to except by going
through their coax. With any cable service, your upstream bandwidth is much
more limited than with a fiber service.

Post by Rich Shepard
Two guys from Comcast just stopped by because they're upgrading their
fiber lines in the neighborhood (Frontier did the same thing last autumn).
They told me they could provide 150Mb download speed with 2 phone lines
(voice and fax, same numbers) for about $66/month. I don't know if that
includes a static IP address, though. I wonder how they can provide 10x the
speed I currently have for about 2/3rds my current price.
What have been your experiences with Comcast/Xfinity?
Rich
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[Rich Shepard]

These are teaser rates, they'll go up after 6 months (most likely). Or, it
involves a 2 year contract, where the tail of the contract pays them back
for whatever front end inducement they had to provide you.

Russell,

This looks familiar from previous threads here on this subject. It sounded
too good to be true, and most such offers are too good to be true.

They may also be trying to head off municipal fiber by trying to lock
people into term contracts. Troutdale City Council voted last night to
join in an intergovernmental agreement with other municipalities within
Multnomah County to help fund a publicly-owned fiber feasibility study.
Troutdale's portion is just a few thousand dollars.

Interesting, and good.

Also, Comcast provides service over coax. They do have fiber, but not that
you have access to except by going through their coax. With any cable
service, your upstream bandwidth is much more limited than with a fiber
service.

I wondered about this when they kept mentioning coax.

I'm always leery when some company offers much greater service for much
less a cost. It appears this is the case now.

Thanks for the detailed, candid explanation.

Best regards,

Rich

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Russell Senior
These are teaser rates, they'll go up after 6 months (most likely). Or, it
involves a 2 year contract, where the tail of the contract pays them back
for whatever front end inducement they had to provide you.

All that is true, but it is also possible to "negotiate" the increase
back. We've done it a couple of times now. As I recall, my wife told the
Comcast rep she didn't want to pay what they were asking, and after a
conversation, the rate was reset to what we've been paying for the last
year.

[Russell Senior]

You can only do the negoation/extention of teaser rates if you haven't
signed a term contract. It also means periodic, sometimes protracted
telephone conversations. It is perverse.

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by Russell Senior
These are teaser rates, they'll go up after 6 months (most likely). Or, it
involves a 2 year contract, where the tail of the contract pays them back
for whatever front end inducement they had to provide you.

All that is true, but it is also possible to "negotiate" the increase
back. We've done it a couple of times now. As I recall, my wife told the
Comcast rep she didn't want to pay what they were asking, and after a
conversation, the rate was reset to what we've been paying for the last
year.
--
Regards,
Dick Steffens
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http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug

[Tomas Kuchta]

I was Comcast customer - the initial rate only lasted until the renewal -
then they increased my rate 2-3x without any notice or warning. So, I ended
out of pocket by significant amount.

I was unable to negotiate nor to get out of the contract in any reasonable
ways. It was very upsetting experience. The company was behaving
unethically with anger and retaliated with cutting my internet connection
in the middle of the billing term.

I ended up with CenturyLink for about the same intro rate. I expect the
same headache at the end of CL contract term.

I cannot recommend Comcast, especially on price and customer behavior.
Their service was otherwise fine while it lasted. Horrible company.

Tomas

Post by Russell Senior
You can only do the negoation/extention of teaser rates if you haven't
signed a term contract. It also means periodic, sometimes protracted
telephone conversations. It is perverse.

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by Russell Senior
These are teaser rates, they'll go up after 6 months (most likely). Or, it
involves a 2 year contract, where the tail of the contract pays them

back

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by Russell Senior
for whatever front end inducement they had to provide you.

All that is true, but it is also possible to "negotiate" the increase
back. We've done it a couple of times now. As I recall, my wife told the
Comcast rep she didn't want to pay what they were asking, and after a
conversation, the rate was reset to what we've been paying for the last
year.
--
Regards,
Dick Steffens
_______________________________________________
PLUG mailing list
http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug

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[John Jason Jordan]

On Wed, 12 Sep 2018 17:42:08 -0700

Post by Tomas Kuchta
I ended up with CenturyLink for about the same intro rate. I expect the
same headache at the end of CL contract term.
I cannot recommend Comcast, especially on price and customer behavior.
Their service was otherwise fine while it lasted. Horrible company.

I had Comcast for years, and while their service was stable, it was way
too slow for me. I can second what people say about negotiating with
them. It was always a pain, although I never had such a miserable
experience as Thomas.

When I saw the CenturyLink trucks in my neighborhood I couldn't wait to
sign up. I now have gigabit service and so far there has been no issue
with the connection, except when I kinked the cable. And they fixed it
for me at no charge, even though it was probably my fault. Their
installers are great, very accommodating and pleasant to deal with. The
only problem is their billing, although eventually I got it straightened
out. I set it up with auto-pay from my bank and I never hear from them.

Once thing I can suggest is to deal with them by going to their office
in person. The people there are very nice and helpful. Once of them
told me that everyone in the office knew that their billing department
was a disaster and that they spend a lot of time fixing billing messes.

[Rich Shepard]

Post by Tomas Kuchta
I was Comcast customer - the initial rate only lasted until the renewal -
then they increased my rate 2-3x without any notice or warning. So, I
ended out of pocket by significant amount.
I was unable to negotiate nor to get out of the contract in any reasonable
ways. It was very upsetting experience. The company was behaving
unethically with anger and retaliated with cutting my internet connection
in the middle of the billing term.
I ended up with CenturyLink for about the same intro rate. I expect the
same headache at the end of CL contract term.
I cannot recommend Comcast, especially on price and customer behavior.
Their service was otherwise fine while it lasted. Horrible company.

Tomas,

I told the two Comcasters that I was quite happy with Frontier and all
they said in response was how much lower their price was for faster download
speeds. I told them that 1) I don't need faster speeds as I go to another
virtual workspace and do something else when downloading large data files
and 2) I've been with Verizon/Frontier long enough to know they don't raise
their rates unless they do so for everyone in their monopoly area and get
the PUC to agree to the rate increase.

The lack of hassle and continuity for my business is worth the extra
monthly price.

Rich

[Russell Senior]

The PUC no longer regulates (and hasn't for a few decades) internet rates.
I *think* the PUC still has some regulatory authority over landline copper
telephone lines, but that's about it as far as telecommunication regulation.

Post by Tomas Kuchta
I was Comcast customer - the initial rate only lasted until the renewal -

Post by Tomas Kuchta
then they increased my rate 2-3x without any notice or warning. So, I
ended out of pocket by significant amount.
I was unable to negotiate nor to get out of the contract in any reasonable
ways. It was very upsetting experience. The company was behaving
unethically with anger and retaliated with cutting my internet connection
in the middle of the billing term.
I ended up with CenturyLink for about the same intro rate. I expect the
same headache at the end of CL contract term.
I cannot recommend Comcast, especially on price and customer behavior.
Their service was otherwise fine while it lasted. Horrible company.

Tomas,
I told the two Comcasters that I was quite happy with Frontier and all
they said in response was how much lower their price was for faster download
speeds. I told them that 1) I don't need faster speeds as I go to another
virtual workspace and do something else when downloading large data files
and 2) I've been with Verizon/Frontier long enough to know they don't raise
their rates unless they do so for everyone in their monopoly area and get
the PUC to agree to the rate increase.
The lack of hassle and continuity for my business is worth the extra
monthly price.
Rich
_______________________________________________
PLUG mailing list
http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug

[Rich Shepard]

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by Russell Senior
These are teaser rates, they'll go up after 6 months (most likely). Or, it
involves a 2 year contract, where the tail of the contract pays them back
for whatever front end inducement they had to provide you.

All that is true, but it is also possible to "negotiate" the increase
back. We've done it a couple of times now. As I recall, my wife told the
Comcast rep she didn't want to pay what they were asking, and after a
conversation, the rate was reset to what we've been paying for the last
year.

You both make excellent points. While I'm (now) paying more for the
Frontier fiber I don't have to fight them periodically for a decrease. They
seem to focus on selling faster packages to those who want to stream video
files (or pay MOOGs for all I know) so they tend to leave us slow pokes
alone.

My friend has to threaten DirectTV with leaving them for Dish every 9
months or so when they want to raise her rates. I don't want to have that
distraction, too.

Rich