Slashdot Mirror
Comcast Raises Cable TV Bills Again -- Even If You're Under Contract (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Comcast is raising its controversial "Broadcast TV" and "Regional Sports Network" fees again on January 1, with the typical total price going from $14.50 to $18.25 a month. The newly raised broadcast TV fee will be $10 a month, and the sports fee will be $8.25 a month, Cord Cutters News reported last week. The new fee sizes are confirmed in a Comcast price list for the Atlanta market. The new price hikes will take effect in most of Comcast's regional markets across the U.S. on January 1, but some cities will get the increase later in 2019, a Comcast spokesperson told Ars. The fee sizes can vary by city based on which stations are available, so in some cases they could be less than $10 and $8.25, Comcast said.
The fees, which have become common in the industry, are controversial because they are not included in Comcast's advertised prices and because Comcast imposes fee increases even on customers who are under contract. The broadcast and sports fee increases will also be applied to customers who pay Comcast's promotional rates, which typically last one year, Comcast told Ars. Equipment rental fees are rising, too. Comcast last year raised its modem rental fee from $10 to $11 a month. The new price list for January 1 lists an "Internet/Voice Equipment Rental" fee as $13. Comcast confirmed to Ars that the modem rental fee is rising $2 a month. Customers can avoid that fee by purchasing their own modem.
The fees, which have become common in the industry, are controversial because they are not included in Comcast's advertised prices and because Comcast imposes fee increases even on customers who are under contract. The broadcast and sports fee increases will also be applied to customers who pay Comcast's promotional rates, which typically last one year, Comcast told Ars. Equipment rental fees are rising, too. Comcast last year raised its modem rental fee from $10 to $11 a month. The new price list for January 1 lists an "Internet/Voice Equipment Rental" fee as $13. Comcast confirmed to Ars that the modem rental fee is rising $2 a month. Customers can avoid that fee by purchasing their own modem.
I see an ad for TV+Internet for $35 and when all of the fees and taxes are added in it comes out to more like $80. Very deceptive advertising practices. In some cases, its hard to get out of them what the actual fees and taxes will be. Then, probably the make it so the first bill comes only after the 30 day gaurantee is up. There is nothing worth watching on TV anyway (and really even on NetFlix). Much is designed for the lowest common denominator, you can feel your IQ dropping just being exposed to it. Much of the news, especially CNN, is complete disinformation propoganda and lies to turn people into America hating nutjobs. I don't watch TV, and its great.
This is great for shareholder value. Cable TV fees were always too low.
People sometimes invite non-subscribers to watch tv, they should be charged a nominal monthly fee for this.
People sometimes mute commercials, they should be charged for this.
People sometimes use unauthorized/illegal DVRs, there should be be a fee for this.
People sometimes don't watch tv at all, they should be charged for this.
Poeple sometimes flip channels very quickly, missing commercials, they should be charged for this.
People will say there is no competition, but there is. They are competing for your time and your eyes.
Once you understand that, you will know there is a lot of it. Start doing that thing you never had time for.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
comcast business static ip you are forced to rent the modem
It's as simple as that. As long as people keep paying, they will increase their prices.
for some they are the only internet choice.
Other then maybe slow DSL or capped LTE
Talk about nickle and diming.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Are you forced to rent the modem? I think you can buy one.
Comcast also stated they will be raising fees on their buggy whip rentals, and mandating you buy one.
It's however like stepping back about 20 to 25 years. The programming on the air wave channels are re-runs of 1990's and early 2000 movies.
Ed Sullivan shows, BuzzR tv is game shows. that's fun.
This is caused by multipathing bounce from Tau Ceti. Go up there and tweak your antenna over another arcsecond.
Problem solved.
I recently got Hulu for $12 a year. It's okay, but I would not pay much more than that. Curiousitystream for $20 a year is a better value for me.
Lots to choose from.
I think you can buy your own cable modem as well.
I'm not a Comcast fan, but this practice makes total sense and is the norm for the industry.
I just noticed yesterday that the local internet supplier is adding fiber to my location. $70/mo for 1Gig/symmetrical. Might finally make the jump...guess I'll hold off moving to Xfinity Mobile.
Usually not in this case. I looked into getting a static IP and all the providers required their equipment on the customer premises for their standard offerings. I'm sure you can customize the contract to avoid that, but that takes time and probably smart to involve a lawyer.
And the stupid set top box that they installed several years ago is being charged 10 to 20 $ a month!
Just last week I had an hour long chat with Xfinity rep. Started with the low ball, 80$ a month triple play. Ended up at 130$ a month with two year contract. Compared to Gigabit internet from FiOS currently at 150$. Even that contract price has hidden fees it looks like..
Resigned to paying the highway robbery prices for now... But a day will come there will be enough bandwidth to skip all these fibers and coax cables. There will be true competition. I will have no sympathy for these companies then.
But... all those Criminal This Officer and Criminal ThatOfficer would have cashed in their chips and be sharpening their shears for the next round of fleecing in a new industry. The share holders of these companies are the ones who will end up seeing their investments dwindle in value. The middle management and workers will have their livelihoods devastated.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Keep bending over for the cable companies people. DITCH THAT TV service. I'll save over $1,200 this year due to ditching mine last December.
While there may not be anything people can do about keeping their original contract prices, that failure to disclose substantially weakens their ability to hold people to remaining on that contract, and it wouldn't surprise me if they aren't able to actually enforce any early termination fees they might have decided should otherwise apply, particularly since the customer would have had no practical way to anticipate in advance that these changes were about to occur.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Your local TV stations, or more specifically their greedy parent companies, are to blame for the hike in Retransmission Fees. The ACA expects fees to keep going up. These fees vary from region to region.
The station owners have been using money from fees to buy more stations so they can leverage cable companies to raise fees.
Getting rid of the fees would require fixing the retransmission consent provision of the 1992 United States Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act. That forces cable operators and other rebroadcasters to obtain permission from broadcasters before carrying their programming.
It also wouldn't hurt to break up the cable companies and to break up the companies that own scads of local stations.
I think Comcast figured out that cord cutting isn't cheap. So they have less to fear from competition. If they raise the ala carte prices too then then they also have more room to cut you a deal on that "internet phone cable " bundle.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
If you are pretty far out from the transmission antenna, 30 or 40 miles, you'll need something more substantial than that. You can install an outdoor antenna, in the attic if necessary due to regulations. If your in an apartment building your SOL. Apartment buildings used to have Master Antenna Systems (MATV) to serve the complex for free with an antenna on the roof. But now many condo associations demand that you pay for cable TV as they get this bulk deal to signup the entire building. If your further out from a large city, such as 70 miles, or behind a mountain, your SOL.They originally created CATV to serve distant communities by putting an antenna up on a mountain and sending the signals down to the town and charging a nominal fee to maintain the antenna and cable. Some franchise authorities have a stipulation in their franchise agreement that they be required to seell you just local stations at a low monthly rate. You may want to look into that if you are in a rural area.
Another alternative that used to exist for rural areas was the big C band dish, which you could use to get a lot of programming for free. That has languished after the market was taken over by mini dish subscription services where you find yourself in a similar situation to cable tv services.
If you need Cable and you want to save money, some of the cable companies allow you to use your TVs built in Clear QAM tuner, some also provide a cheap "tuning adapter". Cable Cards never really seem to have caught on, instead of charging a one time fee they seem to want to charge a recurring fee for this which is quite above what the card costs.
the higher the bill gets, the less people will stick around. the prices are already too high. remember when cable was supposed to not have commercials? you pay to watch, and still have to watch commercials. that makes no sense. they should make a free service, and have it paid for by running commercials during the broadcast. but nope, they want $ from everyone involved, from the lowly subscribing customers to the advertisers paying for the commercials. they really wonder why people keep ditching cable, the companies are too greedy. they will jsut keep raising prices to make up for the lost customers, and that in itself will lead to more customers leaving. it's a feedback loop, and the only people suffering are the ones too stupid to give up their cable tv.
FIOS terminates ethernet at my house and offers static IP. No equipment rental required, I use my own routers. The only time my bill ever went up was when I switched to higher bandwidth plans, other than that same bill every month. Have been with them for over a decade now.
You should tell your HOA that there is a federal law preventing them from restricting antenna installations unless they can show it doesn't put an unreasonable burden on you.
https://www.fcc.gov/media/over...
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
Even if you rent, you may be able to install an antenna. If you own your property, there are federal laws that allow you to install an antenna for the purpose of receiving video broadcasts and despite what HOAs may claim, you can install them on your roof.
https://www.fcc.gov/media/over...
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
in the attic if necessary due to regulations
Yeah. I'm waiting for my HOA to try and enforce their antenna rules. Me and the FCC will tell them to go suck an egg.
Have gnu, will travel.
If you spend any appreciable amount of time surfing Cable TV channels, you need to rethink your life.
Netflix, $9 a month
Hulu, something like $9 a month
Amazon Prime, right in there too.
Throw in some specialty channels on specialty networks and you are at maybe $50 at most (plus internet connection). You can get local channels over the air if you want. And if you are too far away, you probably don't care.
Bottom line..cancel Cable/Sat TV. Get the channels you WANT to watch, and then....go outside.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
The demarc point for Verizon is the ONT not the router. Usually Verizon provides a router that has MOCA (so they only need to run coax into the premises) but they are more than willing to provide Ethernet over twisted pair.
And, yes, Verizon FIOS is much better than Comcast
And residential static IP service does not have a SLA. They don't guarantee any level of service.
Itâ(TM)s called a Contract of Adhesion. Perfectly normal in the business world, courts accept them as written, but reportedly many apply extra scrutiny and give the benefit of doubt to the consumer.
No. Well...maybe. Actually, yes. It really just depends.
I just went through this with Comcast, and I feel like I was lied to every step of the way. Long story short it turns out you CANNOT purchase a cable modem compatible with Comcast's gigabit offering, because they ALSO require that the modem supports their Internet Voice service, and ONLY Comcast Modems support that. Grimey fuckers.
The long story is: I called into Tech Support because I wanted to upgrade to their Super Triple Play, because getting virtually EVERY channel and upgraded gigabit internet turned out to cost $10 LESS than I was paying for my stripped-down service offering. Though, this was only the case if I purchased my own modem and eliminated the modem fee - which is great, because renting equipment is insane. So the comcast tech told me I should be good to go, but I needed to upgrade to a DOCSIS 3.1 compatible modem (my current modem was only DOCSIS 3.0 compatible). Their recommendation was that I go ahead and use their modem for a month to make installation easier, and buy a modem later to save time.
I went on ahead and scheduled the upgrade, and quickly ordered a DOCSIS 3.1 compatible modem (newest Arris Surfboard they make) - Amazon Prime got it to me in 2 days, boo-yah. I called Comcast Tech Support again to make sure my modem was good, and that I could use my modem during the setup instead of theirs, and they said it was fine. Again they said their recommendation was to use their modem during setup and replace theirs with mine later, but that the plan was still solid.
Tech guy shows up, calls in my MAC address, everything initially seemed to go as scheduled. However, I wasn't getting gigabit speeds, but he said that should work itself out in about 30 minutes, once the account is "closed" and everything finalizes (I also couldn't see HBO, which also meant the account hadn't finalized). He closes the account, calls in to make sure everything is good, and leaves.
8 hours later, still cannot access HBO and still don't have gigabit speeds. I call back, and the tech tells me that my account hasn't been closed yet. The service tech still needs to close it out, and I should have the tech come back tomorrow to close it out. I argue that I won't be home, I have a goddamn job and all, and I demand to know what hasn't been closed out about the account that requires a service tech. They told me my voice service hasn't been set up, and it's required in order to close the account. They highly recommend that I have the tech come back, use their modem to set up the voice service since the modem I bought doesn't support voice, and then replace the modem with a different compatible modem later.
So I got into an argument about my modem, that I was told my modem was compatible with gigabit internet, and he kept telling me I needed to refer to the online info about supported third-party modems. He kept recommending I have the support tech come back, install their modem, and find a third-party replacement later. After about 10 minutes on the call, the tech starts acting like he can't hear me any more. Bullshit. Then he says if I can hear him to call back later. And then he hangs up.
So I call back, and explain my situation and the jackwad I had just talked to, and the new tech dude repeated the "I recommend you use our modem to set up the service, and replace with a new compatible modem." So at that point I said there isn't a modem compatible with their Voice service, and it was not within my budget to rent a modem from them. The dude didn't say a word more to me, but forwarded my call to someone else.
The new person answered, and I asked if I needed to repeat my situation. She said nope, she knew what the problem was. She verified that gigabit internet from Comcast only works with THEIR modem, if I wanted to use any other modem I had to back down to the fastest non-gigabit offering. And then she recommended several ways I could even further reduce my bill by asking me specific questions about how I use my DVR and other services, and even recommended a Ro
"with the typical total price gouge from $14.50 to $18.25 a month."
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
What happens if those customers under contract want to cancel? Will they get slapped with an early termination fee? I'm betting that's the norm.
My Christmas wish: I want the FTC and the FCC to slap around the TV and internet providers until they start acting right.
I'll even negotiate around political and economic ideals. I don't care if the government cancels existing benefits/protections or enacts new requirements, as long as these companies get the message.
---
According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
shut up and pay... kardashians are on soon
This. I've fought HOA's over this and won with a single page letter.
They can't argue with Federal law. Mount your dish wherever the heck you want to, and tell them to take a hike.
Side note: stuff like this is why I'll never move to an area with a HOA again. Too many unemployed, busybody, control freaks telling me what I can & can't do on my own property.
69.99 per month PLUS 14.95 local broadcast fee PLUS 29.96 install fee PLUS 40.00 modem fee x 4 rooms PLUS 10.95 Federal tax PLUS 9.95 State tax PLUS 4.95 Local tax Total 2 to 3 times the advertised price It's the "user fees" and crap where they make their real money.
to another city where the incumbent high-speed high-volume home Internet provider happens to be a company other than Comcast
Moving? Really?
Yes really, according to these users. But not everyone feels moving for better Internet is practical, such as these users.
Are you forced to rent the modem? I think you can buy one.
You can buy a modem and use your own if you have residential service, or business service with dynamic IP. Citing "security of their network" (yes, really), they do not allow business users with static IP services to bring their own modem.
Also, if you are a business subscriber with a plan over 60Mbits/sec and voice service, they will not let you use only one modem, since their voice modems don't support more than that. Even if you explicitly state you are fine being limited to 60Mbits/sec, they will refuse to only provision a single modem.
Also, they won't give you "just a modem", you get one of those crappy modem/router combos...which do have a bridge mode available, but they're not always careful about keeping that setting when they roll out firmware updates.
Also, you'll probably find yourself with yet another modem and access point for their CableWiFi service - not the worst thing, but still makes the install take longer and competes with your own WiFi network.
It's like the "Fuck you, I'm out." scene from Half-Baked.
But without anyone/anything cool.
I need a cigarette... and I don't even smoke.
In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.