Changing the way you think…..

I have a Comcast Cable Modem. It was almost my only choice for Broadband. I live so far from the central office of the phone company (CO), that SBC said EVEN if I could get DSL, I would be lucky to get 284 Kbps to my house (downstream) and 128kbps up. Sigh! I also had Sprint wireless data, which was OK, but for the heafty price I was only getting about 200kbps each way. I understand this has gotten much better, but I am not sure the cost and availability now.

So, my only choice was a cable modem. Now, this use to be AT&T Broadband, and when I signed up, it was $39/month with a $10/monthly credit if you bought your own modem. Within 5 months, they lowered the savings to $3/month for your own modem, and now with Comcast, there is no savings, you PAY an additional fee if you want their modem. But with AT&T, I did not have to take cable service. So towards the end of AT&T Broadband, I paid about $42/month with AT&T. It ran at about 3 Mbps down and 200k up, and was fine for the price. Not great, but better than ANYTHING else.

Then Comcast bought the system from AT&T. IMMEDIATELY, they told me that the $42/month was only for cable subscribers, which I was not. So for me, I would have to pay $59 a month. “Well, how much is basic cable AND a cable modem?” I asked. Imagine my surprise, it was $59! (I have Dish Network and am VERY happy with the service, have invested heavily into the equipment, so I did not wish to change.) The “your charging me for something I do not want” story, basically, pay the same if I take cable or not, went round and round with not resolution, so I ended up buying Basic cable. I just never watch it, but it cost Comcast dearly to install in when I picked the Free Install Weekend special and it took 4 hours to get me running!

In the end, it was my only real choice, so I took it. Later, Comcast upped the download rate to 4 Mbps. This was looking a bit better. Again, a short time later, they took it up to 5 Mbps which was GREAT, and promised everyone that they would go as high as 6 and maybe 8 Mbps very soon in their announcements.

BUT, last week I noticed that my cable modem was again running at between 3 and 4 Mbps tops. A quick search of the Comcast web site revealed why!

Yes, as they promised, you actually can get up to 6 Mbps from Comcast, but now you have to pay an additional $10/month for that. They also promise a better 384k-upload speed, but since I cannot run a server by the terms of the agreement, who really cares?

But what I do care about is that they gave us 5 Mbps as PROMISSED, and then shortly after, simply took it back when they realized they could get another $10 from some people for the higher speed. Of course, they never announced the reduction, and they deny that they ever did this, but I now what my tops speeds where last month, and I see what they are now. I think this stinks. Given all the crap and pricing games Comcast CONTINUES to play, if I had another choice, I would switch immediately.

As someone who once was in the cable TV business, the most important thing for a cable company is customer loyalty. You do not want to loose customers to satellite or DSL, because the longer you keep them (given what is called the acquisition cost of a customer) the more likely you are to make money on them. Churn, the switching out of customers is the worst thing for the business.

So how do you keep customers and reduce churn? There are 3 main ways. 1). You treat customers with respect and do not cheat them. Give them a good service for a reasonable price. 2). You offer services one cannot get elsewhere, called differentiation. Give me a reason to stay. 3). And finally, you offer excellent customer service.

You need all three to keep customers. Unfortunately, Comcast fails in two of the three. While they have services you cannot get elsewhere, they are constantly playing games with prices, like the increase for not taking a service I did not want, and rolling back speeds after giving it to people, then charging to get it back on a service that is already priced too high. Comcast also has THE WORST customer service of any cable company I have ever dealt, a truly sad experience if you EVER have to call them. Lets see, what is worse, my TV does not work now, or I have to talk to a Comcast customer service agent? I’ll listen to some CDs for a while and hope it gets better.

Remember when they advertised, “Comcast will change the way you think about a cable company.” Well, they were right, I now hate cable companies even more than before, and all thanks to having to deal with Comcast and their games. I could list page after page of what they do wrong when it comes to customer service, and I have many personal “you’re kidding” stories as well, for another time maybe. Suffice it to say, these guys stink, the find new and interesting ways to take more of your hard earned dollars and give you less, and they do not care. Thanks to a monopoly in every city they serve, you have NO choice, and they know it. Don’t like it, don’t use them, they do not care, because if you need the service, they know you will come back. Sad really, this is an area that truly needs serious competition in EVERY city in America to force them to work harder and better, but no, not going to happen.

So for me, I ride out the awful Comcast wave with my high speed getting slower, and my prices getting higher, and knowing that next month will bring yet another surprise from these people. SIGH!