Idea: Cheap Broadband
Likely most of you reading will consider your broadband internet connection a valuable commodity. So do I. Which is why, when shopping for internet service, I get extremely frustrated at two very simple things:
- It’s expensive — on the order of $50/month
- It’s slow. Unless you want to spend $100/month or more, it’s generally crap.
Comcast
I currently pay something like $55 per month for Comcast. There are times where it will be fairly speedy, but more often it feels somewhat sluggish. I frequently have dropped connections, or “time-out” errors, and my upload speed always seems slow. Finally, I pay more for internet because I don’t want to pay for cable TV — a practice known as bundling.
Notice to Comcast:
I don’t want your Cable TV — I don’t even watch TV.
I don’t want your phone service, that’s why I have a cell phone.
Stop wasting money on sending me advertisements every week, it won’t convince me otherwise.
SpeedBoost is a load of crap — increase the overall speed instead.
4 Mbps/384kbps is what is listed. I got 3Mbps/357kbps at speedtest.net
Qwest
Another option is DSL, which is run through the phone company. In Tempe this would be Qwest. Unfortunately DSL is even slower (cheaper, but slower) than what I have now. I don’t think I could live with that. Also, Qwest does that bundling thing.
Notice to Qwest:
Why are you wanting to charge me an extra $10 if I don’t have a landline phone — that tells me that you are arbitrarily pricing your internet service.
Satellite:
Satellite is a no-brainer, no. It may be a good option for those living out in the middle of freakin’ nowhere, but it costs $60/month and is as slow as DSL.
A Call for More Options:
Clearwire doesn’t exist in Tempe, Arizona yet. In any case WiMax hasn’t quite caught on yet, so service is expensive. Sprint had a fixed wireless deal going on for a while, but it seems like they’re discontinuing it. Can I run an ethernet cable over to the University? What are my options and are there any decent ones?
Hello TD,
I read your blog. I would like to assit you in getting you consistant, reliable internet service. If you would like my assistance in fixing your intermittnet connectivity, please email me at We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com. I can also assist in getting you removed from the marketing mailing list.
I am sorry for any inconveniences and frustrations we caused. Thanks for making us aware. We appreciate the feedback and the opportunity to better serve our customers.
Kind Regards,
Melissa M.
Comcast Customer Connect
Comcast reads blogs. Who knew.
Readers: please note that most of the issues raised in the blog post still stand unaddressed most notably speed/price ratio and bundling. Issues that seem to be prevalent throughout the [US] industry.
@ Melissa M (also sent in an email):
Thank you for the reply and offer for service. The post, however, did
not quite explain that I will be moving from my current location at
the end of this month (July), thus I will not waste everyone’s time
attempting to fix an intermittent connectivity issue. It seems that
Comcast does not even service the address that I am moving to (I
believe it’s Cox Communications — a subsidiary?)
I am sure your hands are somewhat tied in the goings-on of corporate
Comcast, however, please take note of a few other issues that I feel
impact public (customer) perception of Comcast’s business:
- Bandwidth throttling (yes, I know the official line is that Comcast
doesn’t do this — the allegations and evidence presented are
enough…)
- Charging extra to pay a bill if it involves a human
- Bundling, or forcing internet-only customers to pay extra
- All of the issues I hear about cable channels and whatnot
Melissa, you have my sincere thanks for your effort in assisting with
this issue. Finally, I wish you luck, because your job [connecting
with disenfranchised Comcast customers I assume] is next to impossible
and will only continue to get more difficult the longer corporate
Comcast does not change.