TJ101

Comcast: Do you care?

• Posted by Peter Chapman on 2010-06-12 20:13:43
• 0 comments

I recently moved. While moving is a lot of work, it's new, exciting, and refreshing. Setting up the utilities in a new place is not.

Working as a computer scientist, a quality Internet connection is a necessity. Previously I was fortunate enough to have access to Verizon FiOS, which I cannot recommend enough. However, I'm not writing about the greatness of Verizon, but rather my grievances with Comcast.

I didn't have to get Comcast, actually; I could have opted for (non-Verizon) DSL. If I had the opportunity I would get DSL, but I needed access as soon as possible for myself and my roommates, so once I started with Comcast it was too late to switch.

Shopping around, I compared prices on the web and found that Comcast was $10 cheaper and twice (more on that later) as fast as DSL. I was aware of their reputation, but I was compelled to take the deal.

I called 1-800-Comcast ready to subscribe. After about 10 minutes of various holds I finally reached a representative who politely greeted me. I told him I was interested in subscribing to Comcast Internet services.

To which he responded, “What kind?”

Confused, I said, “Cable...”

“Oh, okay, so you want the fast kind! I'll go ahead and sign you up for the 20 Mb/s.” By his tone I could tell he thought I was clueless and so he immediately signed me up for the fastest and most expensive speed they offered. I stopped him right there and told him what I actually wanted: the 12 Mb/s down and 2 Mb/s up for $42.95. Well, as he informed me, it's only $42.95 for current Comcast customers and actually $55 for new subscribers. Also it's $100 for the required installation and $5 a month for a rental modem. He apologized for the site being “confusing,” indicating this misinformation is common. No where on the Comcast website do they list any other price for any Internet subscription besides that for current Comcast customers. And it only indicates the restriction in regular-sized non-emphasized text at the bottom of the description. My initial observation that Comcast would save me money, was based on a purposely misleading web page.

As a side note, I later found out the necessary $100 installation he signed me up for was a complete lie. So much so, representatives I talked to afterward literally didn't believe he told me there was no way I could pick up a “starter box” like I had done with a pre-FiOS cable company. I also ended up using my own modem to save five more dollars. For those keeping score, Verizon gave me free installation and plenty of extra HDMI cables to hook up my home theater back when they were $25 a piece. Furthermore, Verizon didn't charge monthly for the modem.

Also misleading, Comcast only advertises their PowerBoost speeds. For the uniformed, PowerBoost is a “technology” that gives you the advertised 12 Mb/s for the first 10 megabytes or the first 30 seconds of a download before restricting you to your actual speed. In my case, the actual connection speed is 6 Mb/s, half of what they advertize and equal to that of the DSL competitor. Personally I guessed the non-PowerBoosted speed to be 8 Mb/s, so I was quite unhappy. Especially considering that with Verizon I payed $55 a month for real 30 Mb/s down and 5 Mb/s up. Not cool.

Imagining my future with America's Worst Company, I asked if the 250 GB bandwidth caps were true. He explained to me they were, but he plays on his Wii online all the time without a problem! So it's basically unlimited! Or so he believed. I didn't even bother to explain to him how little bandwidth his toy uses playing Mario Kart but rather tried to illustrate examples of how easy it was to reach that cap.

Downloading games from Steam uses roughly 10 gigabytes a pop. Transferring virtual machines for my work is 15 gigabytes and above. Using a remote backup solution will be impossible considering my HDD has 300 GB of files. Plus I live with three others. His response: “Actually, Comcast is the best about bandwidth caps.”

Oh no he didn't. I began to mention Verizon, but he cuts me off: “Well, sir, yes Verizon doesn't have bandwidth caps, but you can't get Verizon in your area.”

And that line perfectly summarizes my experience with Comcast. I pay them on their terms. They quite simply have no respect for their customers. I understand it's a large corporation, but out of a dozen people I talked to over the last two weeks, only one representative respected me as a customer. That one was outstanding, but by and large the others treated me as an adversary.

Comcast, you have lied to me, you have mislead me, and you have taken advantage of me. From the rotten and unjust policies to the poor customer service, you have disrespected me. Yet, as much as it pains me, I am still giving you money.

I have no choice.

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