Comcast worst company ever. Again.

[Bob111]

agree with GTS-FIOS is rock solid. i'm talking about quality,stability. it's basically a dedicated line between you and provider. only if the price of it was lower..for quad i'm paying $350 a month..from it-150 -wireless,50-equipment and some foreign channels-rest-internet(25\25)and tv. comcast HD=garbage,compared to FIOS

we all are getting raped on wireless services. my friends from russia paying like $7 a month for cell phone with same service and wireless internet access is included. yes,you can use your smartphone and internet on it,all unlimited(i know,it's slow and shitty,but it's available everywhere in the city). all for $7,compared with US plans,that starts at $150+

 

[DarthSidious]

Buy a modem from eBay for under $20 and return their shit ass modem. Problem solved - Comcast modem on eBay

 

[SREC]

Quote from GTS:

In areas served by more than one company there is no monopoly. I can get Comcast or FIOS and both offer the same three services (TV, internet, phone) and they do not share any lines, completely different mediums.

Exactly, different mediums, one of which, FIOS, is VERY new and in promotional stages. Is FIOS everywhere or even in most of the country? I don't think so. How old is FIOS, a few years at the most?
When it comes to cable lines, which are pretty much everywhere in the nation, it's not like they are owned by a neutral organization and multiple cable companies have access to them that you can choose from. It's a monopoly by either Cablevision, TWC or Comcast. I think the only way RCN got to lease the lines from TWC was via politics in order to try to break the notion that Cable is a monopoly business by location.

I'd be interested to hear what you have read that scares you. I've had the FIOS triple play in two different residences and would not switch back to cable if they offered it to me for free (I'm serious). Other than abdominal VZ billing and customer service everything about FIOS is great (e.g. once you make it past the initial install and get the billing straightened out its smooth sailing)

FIOS internet I hear is decent. FIOS cable is a potential nightmare with bills triple what they were promised as, terrible customer service, 2+ hour phone wait times, boxes breaking down, feeds not working, technicians not showing up, etc. It's not just one or two complaints, it's a wave of them with consistent testimony. The worst I hear is the billing which I hear is very hard to fight even though Verizon is in the wrong.
I want to switch because of obvious savings, but the mere notion of me having to deal with this crap, the stress & the frustration keeps me from doing so.

Cable companies with their legacy HFC networks just cannot compete with an FTTP solution like FIOS. Maybe the average customer doesn't care but technical folks tend to appreciate the difference not just in what is offered today but what they can will be able to do in the future.

It's not the infrastructure, it's the Television programming contracts that are killing them. Verizon is in promotional stages and I sense huge hikes in the future. DTV & Dish did and still do the same thing. Great prices for a year or two and then you realize you are paying significantly more than your previous service.
Nevertheless, I'm sure the technological advancement of FIOS has an edge.

 

[brokerboy]

Quote from SREC:


It's not the infrastructure, it's the Television programming contracts that are killing them. Verizon is in promotional stages and I sense huge hikes in the future. DTV & Dish did and still do the same thing. Great prices for a year or two and then you realize you are paying significantly more than your previous service.
Nevertheless, I'm sure the technological advancement of FIOS has an edge.

Verizon makes no money right now that's why they stopped building out.

 

[GTS]

Quote from SREC:

Exactly, different mediums, one of which, FIOS, is VERY new and in promotional stages. Is FIOS everywhere or even in most of the country? I don't think so. How old is FIOS, a few years at the most?
When it comes to cable lines, which are pretty much everywhere in the nation, it's not like they are owned by a neutral organization and multiple cable companies have access to them that you can choose from. It's a monopoly by either Cablevision, TWC or Comcast. I think the only way RCN got to lease the lines from TWC was via politics in order to try to break the notion that Cable is a monopoly business by location.

FIOS internet I hear is decent. FIOS cable is a potential nightmare with bills triple what they were promised as, terrible customer service, 2+ hour phone wait times, boxes breaking down, feeds not working, technicians not showing up, etc. It's not just one or two complaints, it's a wave of them with consistent testimony. The worst I hear is the billing which I hear is very hard to fight even though Verizon is in the wrong.
I want to switch because of obvious savings, but the mere notion of me having to deal with this crap, the stress & the frustration keeps me from doing so.

It's not the infrastructure, it's the Television programming contracts that are killing them. Verizon is in promotional stages and I sense huge hikes in the future. DTV & Dish did and still do the same thing. Great prices for a year or two and then you realize you are paying significantly more than your previous service.
Nevertheless, I'm sure the technological advancement of FIOS has an edge.

FIOS has been out for 7 years, although compared to cable its "new" I wouldn't says it still in the promotional stages. They have already raised rates more than once and they have pretty much frozen their deployment, needing to recoup some of their huge investment in existing covered service areas. If you can't get it now it maybe quite some time (if ever) that you can.

I know some people are cost sensitive but to me the quality of internet and video service is paramount, so I wouldn't care if they increased the rates. Right now I pay around $150/month for TV/Internet/Phone, that includes all fees/taxes that aren't listed in the headline rates. FIOS competes with (one or more) incumbent cable companies everywhere they are deployed so natural competition will limit how much they can raise rates before customers jump ship.

FIOS routinely trounces the cable companies in customer surveys so I'm not sure why you would think they are worse than the alternatives.

I've found the hardware and service to be very reliable much more so than cable - its a passive fiber connection from the CO to your home (no powered components/repeaters in between).

I can't honestly think of one person who I know who has switched to FIOS who has regretted it or later switched back to cable.

Quote from brokerboy:

Verizon makes no money right now that's why they stopped building out.

I think you meant FIOS makes no money right now - Verizon is doing quite well, especially with their co-ownership of VZ wireless.

 

[SREC]

Quote from GTS:

FIOS has been out for 7 years, although compared to cable its "new" I wouldn't says it still in the promotional stages. They have already raised rates more than once and they have pretty much frozen their deployment, needing to recoup some of their huge investment in existing covered service areas. If you can't get it now it maybe quite some time (if ever) that you can.

I'm in NYC area. Last year, maybe 2010 is when Verizon started promoting FIOS. I'm sure the technology has been under development for a while but in a major metro area like NYC, it is a few years old.

I know some people are cost sensitive but to me the quality of internet and video service is paramount, so I wouldn't care if they increased the rates. Right now I pay around $150/month for TV/Internet/Phone, that includes all fees/taxes that aren't listed in the headline rates. FIOS competes with (one or more) incumbent cable companies everywhere they are deployed so natural competition will limit how much they can raise rates before customers jump ship.

FIOS routinely trounces the cable companies in customer surveys so I'm not sure why you would think they are worse than the alternatives.

I've found the hardware and service to be very reliable much more so than cable - its a passive fiber connection from the CO to your home (no powered components/repeaters in between).

I don't even care for cable, honestly, it's the family that wants it. I just need high quality reliable internet and I'm set. I really find current cable TV service overpriced, especially for times like these. The problem is that it is constantly going up in price while the quality has not exactly kept up. It's just such a luxury to me that I find it almost like wasting money, as myself I rarely care to watch TV programming.

I'm sure you and most others have had excellent experiences with FIOS. But many have not. And that percentage seems too high to take the risk of the stress, frustration & time it takes to deal with it.
I'm debating whether to start trying FIOS or let Time Warner suck it up, start giving out great retention deals and taking care of business.

 

[mister_doodi]

Quote from SREC:

What many here fail to realize is that the cable business is running on razor-thin profit margins. It's barely profitable and the only light at the end of the tunnel is the VOD service.

Comcast and Time Warner's margins are not that bad, operating margin is at around 19%. Netflix will have to make sustained growth for the next 3 or 4 years to catch up to that kind of margin.

 

[tradewiz50]

Quote from brokerboy:

that's dumb this is over the $7 modem rental fee. they been charging it for years but it us to be $5. there is not 1 cable company that does not charge it. if you got luck good for you. the people who had reps come over and sign them up stop whining you saved a lot of money for 2 years.

They started charging the $7 last year. Not years ago. Owning your modem is the way to go. Under $100.

 

[SREC]

Quote from mister_doodi:

Comcast and Time Warner's margins are not that bad, operating margin is at around 19%. Netflix will have to make sustained growth for the next 3 or 4 years to catch up to that kind of margin.

The cable service sector is a razor thing profit margin business. I've had this confirmed with high ranked employees in the company. I think cable internet is in the same boat. That's why they keep calling us every month trying to push their phone service, because that's an add on with a good profit margin. Also DVR & VOD services are profit centers.

 

[brokerboy]

Quote from tradewiz50:

They started charging the $7 last year. Not years ago. Owning your modem is the way to go. Under $100.

they were charging $5 before it moved to $7. i would not be shocked if some people did not get billed though. you can only buy your own modem if you don't have phone service with them because it requires a special modem. You need there digital boxes for your tv's too. this is really how they make there money.