Posted on 06/11/2003 10:35:00 AM PDT by Pro-Bush
Comcast's two-tier pricing angers broadband-only customers
Bay Area Web surfers who use Comcast for their Internet connection are finding they have to pay a premium if they do not also take the company's cable-television service.
Internet-only customers have seen their monthly bills jump from $46 a month to $60 recently. By contrast, cable modem (news - web sites) users who also buy cable-television service pay just $43 a month for Internet access.
Comcast says it is simply rewarding customers who bundle services. But Internet-only customers say they are being punished for not wanting or needing cable television.
"I feel taken advantage of," said Jill Singleton of Fremont, whose family does not own a TV. "Being able to have broadband is important to us, and it's not like we really have another choice."
Comcast announced the rate increase in December, shortly after the Philadelphia company acquired AT&T Broadband. Company spokesman Andrew Johnson said the company gave its customers ample notice about the rate change.
The new prices began to appear in customers' bills April 1; the specific date varies with their billing cycle.
"We're rewarding people who take more services from us," Johnson said. "Just like other companies. It's a tried-and-true concept."
Johnson would not say how many Bay Area customers take only cable-modem service, but the number is "very, very, very small," he said.
Natalie Munn of Fremont said she never heard about the increase and did not notice any change until Comcast debited her checking account in May.
Happy with satellite
Munn said she switched from cable TV to satellite years ago because of problems with her former cable provider, Viacom. She is happy with the satellite service, she said, and has no plans to switch back to cable.
"It's blatantly unfair," Munn said. "They're using their monopoly position to force people to subscribe to cable."
Johnson said that even with the price increase, broadband-only customers are still getting a good deal. He said Comcast's pricing is competitive with the only broadband alternative, digital subscriber line, or DSL.
Comcast's $60 cable-modem service, with download speeds of up to 1.5 megabytes per second, is comparable with an SBC Yahoo DSL package offered at $59.95, Johnson said. Comcast customers can save $3 a month if they provide their own cable modem.
"We still believe we have a superior product in value," Johnson said.
The two-tier pricing structure, which Comcast uses nationwide, has attracted the ire of consumer groups.
Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate what they called "anti-competitive" behavior. They are taking aim not at the higher-priced cable-modem service, but at the low-priced TV-Internet bundle.
Bundled pricing
The groups argue that Comcast's bundled pricing is so low -- less than $60 for both Internet access and basic cable TV -- that it amounts to giving away the cable-TV service for free. The goal, they said, is to "shrink the market" for DirecTV satellite television, Comcast's only real competitor in most markets.
"What they're doing, in my view, constitutes predatory pricing," said Chris Murray, legislative counsel for Consumers Union.
Murray said the bundle could be considered anti-consumer.
"If you're looking for a bundle, it's a great deal," he said. "But what about the person who only wants one service? For some people, this is the difference between being able to get broadband and not being able to get broadband."
As for the wiring, if it's a newer house, or had the cabling run in the last 10 yrs it shouldn't be a problem. Mine works like a dream.
That is one of the most ignorant statements I have ever read here.
I pay TAXES, A LOT of them. Yet I am not supposed to utilize the services that these Govt agencies were created to look into?
One of the poorest arguements I have ever heard.
Cheers,
knews hound
I don't have it any more. I was relying on their technical service who had told me that was in the user agreement I had signed and prohibited using a network or connecting more than 1 computer.
Later when I got ready to order DSL for my business, I told them that I had a network and the salesman said it would be $65 for each computer. I told them that we had mobile computers and the number connected would change constantly. They said I would have to pay for each computer that could be connected. I asked specifically, didn't they have just a network connection and they said no.
So whether it's in the fine print of the legal agreement or not, that's two of their employees from different departments telling me the same thing.
Bull.
If you want digital cable on more than one TV, you pay $5/month for each additional cable box in the house, period. Comcast is not gonna leave that fee on the table - and they don't.
I was willing to give Comcast one last chance when I moved from the apartment. I had already made the decision to switch to DSL because of the fee issue with internet service.
But then came the straw that broke the camel's back. I moved into a brand new subdivision where Comcast hadn't had the foresight to talk to the developer. (this in a market where their image previously as GCTV, then MediaOne, then AT&T, now Comcast, was dismal at best) But rather than providing the more advantageous customer service of telling me when they would serve that new subdivision (smack in the middle of their territory), they said that once I got ten of my new neighbors to call them and request service, then they would do a site survey to see if they could even offer service to the subdivision.
I told the young lady on the phone that I wasn't going to do their job for them, and insisted that my service with them be terminated.
It was obvious that Comcast does not want my service, and I don't have a problem with not doing business with someone who doesn't want to do business with me.
I got my DirecTV system installed last week. And unless Comcast gets on the ball, they're gonna lose a much larger share of the Atlanta marketplace at the rate they're going.
And they have no one else but themselves to blame.
That's not the case in Pa. In fact, they've been very helpful in our setting up a home network with multiple TVs and, no, we don't pay extra.
Regardless; Comcast was out of line to tell me to do their work for them, period. Combine that with piss-poor customer service over the past nine years and multiple management teams, and I've had enough.
You can only stand being treated like a doormat for so long.
Comcast claims to be so damned concerned about the Atlanta market; as far as I'm concerned, they can take a flying leap. Their actions - what minimal ones they've shown since taking over from AT&T (nee MediaOne; nee GCTV) - don't demonstrate any kind of interest in my business.
Pretty damn sad if you ask me.
I've been walked on so much by them and their predecessors in the past, that they've gotta show me an awful damn lot before I even give them the time of day any more.
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