Re: [PLUG] Comcast/Xfinity experiences?
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. On Wed, Sep 12, 2018 at 6:45 PM, Rich Shepard wrote: > On Wed, 12 Sep 2018, Tomas Kuchta wrote: > > 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 > > ___ > PLUG mailing list > PLUG@pdxlinux.org > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Comcast/Xfinity experiences?
On Wed, 12 Sep 2018, Tomas Kuchta wrote: 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 ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Comcast/Xfinity experiences?
On Wed, 12 Sep 2018 17:42:08 -0700 Tomas Kuchta dijo: >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. ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Comcast/Xfinity experiences?
On Wed, 12 Sep 2018, Dick Steffens wrote: On 09/12/2018 04:25 PM, Russell Senior wrote: 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 ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Comcast/Xfinity experiences?
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 On Wed, Sep 12, 2018, 5:11 PM Russell Senior wrote: > 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. > > On Wed, Sep 12, 2018 at 5:03 PM, Dick Steffens > wrote: > > > On 09/12/2018 04:25 PM, Russell Senior wrote: > > > >> 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 > > > > > > ___ > > PLUG mailing list > > PLUG@pdxlinux.org > > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > > ___ > PLUG mailing list > PLUG@pdxlinux.org > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Comcast/Xfinity experiences?
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. On Wed, Sep 12, 2018 at 5:03 PM, Dick Steffens wrote: > On 09/12/2018 04:25 PM, Russell Senior wrote: > >> 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 > > > ___ > PLUG mailing list > PLUG@pdxlinux.org > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Comcast/Xfinity experiences?
On 09/12/2018 04:25 PM, Russell Senior wrote: 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 ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Comcast/Xfinity experiences?
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. On Wed, Sep 12, 2018 at 4:14 PM, Rich Shepard wrote: > 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 > ___ > PLUG mailing list > PLUG@pdxlinux.org > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
[PLUG] Comcast/Xfinity experiences?
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 ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
