Comcast Charges $90 Install Fee At Homes That Already Have Comcast Installed (arstechnica.com) 141
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Based on our tests, signing up for standalone Internet or TV service on Comcast.com often requires payment of a $59.99 or $89.99 installation fee, depending on where you live. (The fee was $60 in two Massachusetts suburbs and $90 at homes in Houston, Texas, and Seattle, Washington.) In cases where the $60 or $90 fee is charged, the fee is required whether you purchase your own modem or rent one from Comcast for another $11 a month.
The installation fee might be charged even if the home you're buying service at has existing Comcast service, and even if you order Internet speeds lower than those purchased by the current occupant. That means the fee is charged even when Comcast doesn't have to make any upgrades at the house or apartment you're moving into. Internet speed makes no difference, as the fee may be charged whether you purchase 15Mbps downloads or gigabit service. You can avoid the installation fee by purchasing certain bundles that include both TV and Internet, but the fee is often mandatory if you buy only TV service or broadband individually. The $60 or $90 fee is also charged when you buy phone service only or a "double-play" package of phone service and broadband.
The installation fee might be charged even if the home you're buying service at has existing Comcast service, and even if you order Internet speeds lower than those purchased by the current occupant. That means the fee is charged even when Comcast doesn't have to make any upgrades at the house or apartment you're moving into. Internet speed makes no difference, as the fee may be charged whether you purchase 15Mbps downloads or gigabit service. You can avoid the installation fee by purchasing certain bundles that include both TV and Internet, but the fee is often mandatory if you buy only TV service or broadband individually. The $60 or $90 fee is also charged when you buy phone service only or a "double-play" package of phone service and broadband.
Monopolies, yay! (Score:5, Insightful)
Gonna rape you now!
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That’s Comcastic!
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but hey, it's still better than those socialist hell holes like Scandinavia, France, Germany, amiright? Just keep pointing out Venezula (a country with exactly two resources, oil and an electric dam) and telling yourself everything's OK.
Bombing Iran might make everyone feel a whole lot better.
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Not the Iranians
Nor anyone with a sense of humanity
Basically, it'll only make people who worship death feel better, and no one else.
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Indeed, it would seem that few understand sarcasm nowadays.
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What you said sounds like a Family Guy bit. I'd see Peter doing the bit.
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Gonna rape you now!
Insightful? ...really?
They do this because.... (Score:5, Insightful)
And because it's consistent (Score:5, Insightful)
Comcast sucks. They do several things that suck.
As someone pointed out below, they didn't charge him any more when his install out in the country cost Comcast far more than $90. They *could* charge $75/hour for installation. When customers ask how much the installation will be, Comcast would say "it depends". As I found out with my business, customers HATE that.
In my business I found out that customers would rather pay $75 than $50-$125. They really don't like it when the cost is "it depends". They especially wouldn't like paying $180 for installation when it turns out their house is a pain in the butt to run wires in, but they aren't overjoyed when it turns out their house is easy and it's only $50. They'd rather know up front.
Even if a house had service before, the cabling and connectors may not be up-to-date, they may be corroded, have too splitters to work with current speeds, etc. So "already had service previously" doesn't mean installation isn't needed. "Already had service before" means "it depends". Comcast sucks in a lot of ways, so if I wanted to complain about Comcast I wouldn't focus on them making the pricing consistent and predictable as the problem. There are much better things to complain about with Comcast.
Yes, if not more (Score:3)
Yes, we charged the same whether the customer installed it or we did. We installed using very well-defined procedure, mostly handled by a Perl script in the end, which always did it right - it never forgot a step. Customers trying to install it themselves fucked it all up more often than not, frequently causing damage we would have to clean up later. Customers doing it themselves wasn't good for them or us.
Re:Yes, if not more (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, we charged the same whether the customer installed it or we did. We installed using very well-defined procedure, mostly handled by a Perl script in the end, which always did it right - it never forgot a step. Customers trying to install it themselves fucked it all up more often than not, frequently causing damage we would have to clean up later. Customers doing it themselves wasn't good for them or us.
This is not a case of "customers installed themselves". This is a case of home transfer of pre-installed cables where the customer was essentially unplugging and plugging in their equipment. Unless that is actually what you mean, in which case that is outrageous that a customer can't even plug in a device without professional doing it for them.
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Everytime I move I pre-run everything for my DirecTv. Cabling from the securly mounted dish is run tightly under the eves and through a roof vent, where it hits a powered splitter and then gets run through the walls into each room. Dish is aligned using the box, then I unplug the box and call the "pro" for installation.
I can drive down just about any random street in my city and see wires hung from dishes tacked down the outside wall and then passed through a hole drilled directly through the wall into thei
Re:Yes, if not more (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, we charged the same whether the customer installed it or we did. We installed using very well-defined procedure, mostly handled by a Perl script in the end, which always did it right - it never forgot a step. Customers trying to install it themselves fucked it all up more often than not, frequently causing damage we would have to clean up later. Customers doing it themselves wasn't good for them or us.
This is a universal sentiment across all trades. I suspect much of it is consequence of relying on negative and or selection biases to inform bogus conclusions.
You only visit the fuckups therefore all you see is fuckups.
Or more common only fuckups would bother to call you in the first place therefore all you know is fuckups.
You don't remember the people you had no issues with. You remember the fuckups who royally fucked up.
If 1 out of 10 botched an install or otherwise did something stupid to piss you off would you really see the situation from perspective of 9 out of 10 getting it right? I doubt I would. Doubt most would. Policy intended to save outliers from themselves at the expense of everyone else after all can be quite effective, prudent and rational.
We are surrounded on all sides by the fruits of leaving Comcast installers operate power tools unsupervised. I would pass if I were you.
Selection bias and specialization are real (Score:3)
Selection bias and confirmation bias certainly are very real.
Also very real are the reasons that after we hired IT majors, we needed to train them for a few weeks before they were able to do simpler installations by themselves, getting help when they ran into non-typical configurations. Some things really do benefit from knowing what you're doing.
As you may be aware, we tend to remember the exceptional cases. That which isn't normal stands out. I remember the two customers (of thousands) who could do their
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It's not just Comcast. :(
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, those would be better complaints (Score:3)
> Yes, their irrational and deceitful imposition of a fraudulent installation fee is a much better complaint.
> That they lie and claim it is a state-mandated charge
Agreed, those would be much better complaints. Did they lie and say it was a state-mandated fee? Doesn't surprise me. I'm sure the fee is *allowed* by their franchise with the city, but that's quite different from mandated.
> their installations are crapppy, their techs ignorant, and their service subpar
Again, much better complaints tha
Re:They do this because.... (Score:5, Insightful)
When I lived in the outskirts of Boston, my city voted to allow a second cable company to provide service. The day before the competing service became available to customers, the original cable company dropped the prices for all their Internet plans by $10/mo, implemented a 50% speed increase across the board at no charge, eliminated all installation and service change fees, and switched from requiring a multi-year subscription to month-to-month after just 6 months.
You don't need to wait for net neutrality legislation or court decisions, which could take decades, if it ever happens at all. All you need is to convince your local city council to vote to introduce competition, by allowing a second (or even third) cable company to provide service. They created this mess, they can fix it.
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So the second company couldn't compete and went out of business or at least never expanded into the market that was already served by a company that was willing to lower its prices for a while to maintain their monopoly.
This is heartening... (Score:1)
service initiation fee (Score:1)
Why do people have their panties in a twist over this? Every other service has a service initiation fee. Power? Yep. Water? Yep. Trash? Yep. Phone? Yep. ...
If anything happens, they'll just rename it from "connection fee" to "service initiation fee."
Did you think you were going to get something free out of this?
Re:service initiation fee (Score:5, Informative)
I recently moved. None of those had an initiation fee for me. The only one which would have had a fee was phone, which I couldn't care less about because I don't have an landline anymore.
Stop being an apologist.
Re:service initiation fee (Score:5, Informative)
I've never been charged an initiation fee for power, water, phone, internet or trash.
The closest think I've had to pay is a refundable bond for power when I was younger. Understandable as I had never had a power service before and it's paid in arrears for actual power used.
Sometimes internet/phone packages come with minimum 12 or 24 month terms, but those usually give you something in return, like free modem or discounted monthly fee. Upgrading to fibre cost me a 24 month term, but in return I got free install, including connecting the fibre to my home and a termination device. Also got a free router to handle the gigabit connection that retails for over $200.
Things are much better when wholesale is separated from retail, breaking the monopoly and eliminating the capital required for competitors. I could have bought my internet service from literally dozens of providers.
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Typically when companies or people generate money out of thin air, it's because they're fucking someone. It seems skeevy, because it IS skeevy.
Not sure why any consumer anywhere at any time would defend the practice.
Sounds criminal to me (Score:2, Interesting)
Fees for no service rendered. Suspend license to operate in state.
Close the gate ... (Score:2)
... and gaze out at the horses.
HDR Plus a Black Box? (Score:1)
Then don't subscribe to Comcast. (Score:1, Flamebait)
Comcast deserves every amount bad press they get. But this story is just vapid. It's not as if the fee is hidden. Anyway, it can probably be reversed or excluded by ordering the services over the phone instead of online.
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Take your business elsewhere, problem solved.
in your drug-addled mind people can pick up their houses and move them at a whim
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Re:Then don't subscribe to Comcast. (Score:5, Insightful)
That would be great if it were possible, but in much of the US there's only 1 broadband option. For many people, subscribing to another provider would require moving to a different area.
Re:Then don't subscribe to Comcast. (Score:5, Insightful)
So, in a world of monopoly internet service, just exactly WHERE would you suggest people take their business?
Some /. users would move for better Internet (Score:2)
So, in a world of monopoly internet service, just exactly WHERE would you suggest people take their business?
Presumably to a city whose monopoly home wired ISP happens to be a company other than Comcast. See comments by sglewis100, Zero__Kelvin, allquixotic, Bengie, FlyHelicopters, several anonymous contributors [slashdot.org], Thanshin, DiSKiLLeR, another anon [slashdot.org], kenh [slashdot.org], and postbigbang [slashdot.org]. Even if you can't move now, you can make abusive Internet access pricing a deal breaker the next time you do move, as suggested by anon [slashdot.org], luis_a_espinal [slashdot.org], and Gr8Apes [slashdot.org].
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So you suggest MOVING as an answer to a bad ISP?
And you believe that option provides anything like a viable market force?
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So you suggest MOVING as an answer to a bad ISP?
Personally, I don't find "liv[ing] like a nomad chasing ISPs", as you put it earlier [slashdot.org], to be practical. Nor do Desler, LateArthurDent, sqrt(2), Bill_the_Engineer, Sarten-X, karnal, a couple anons [slashdot.org], Rakarra [slashdot.org], JohnFen [slashdot.org], or another anon [slashdot.org]. But some claim moving might be a practical answer for people who are either already between jobs or single, renting, and in a position to quit [slashdot.org].
And you believe that option provides anything like a viable market force?
In theory, cities whose franchised ISP(s) cannot provide acceptable home Internet service should lose talent to cities whose franchised IS
So call this "An Account Fee" (Score:2)
The dishonesty of pretending it's actually for installation is irksome, but if it's up-front and people are willing to pay...
Disclosure: I'm gouged by my cable company, and I have nobody to blame but myself.
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We don't care. We don't have to. We're Comcast (Score:1)
nt
Easter Sunday (Score:1)
When we had Comcast installed last year the scheduled day they were supposed to install was the afternoon of Easter Sunday. Unbeknownst to Comcast, our house, on a rural county highway, had never been wired for cable before. The hookup guy ended up escalating the install until eventually there were three trucks of installers involved. We didn't pay any more than the ordinary default, even though I asked for the service entry to be at an entry point that ended up being on the exact opposite corner of the hou
Not Enough Fees (Score:1)
As a shareholder, I say fees are too low, here are some suggestions:
-Early Payment Fee
-Fee Payment Fee
-Fee Payment Fee Recovery Fee
-Fee Payment Fee Recovery Fee Surcharge
-Fee Payment Fee Recovery Fee Surcharge Levy
-Fee Payment Fee Recovery Fee Surcharge Levy Premium
-Disconnection Fee
-Reconnection Fee
-WiFi Test Fee
-Bandwidth under-utilization fee
-Bandwidth over-utilization fee
-Packet prioritization fee
-Packet de-prioritization fee
-Third-party DNS Fee
-Paper bill Fee
-E-Bill Fee
-Credit Card Payment Fee
-Check Pa
Sleazy move (Score:2)
TW tried this on me once. (Score:5, Informative)
So my landlady died, and her son (my boss at the time) took over. And all I wanted to do was to change the billing name. TW tried to tell me i had to pony up like $60 for a (something), and then tried to claim it was a state law. Of course that was a full on lie and I called the NY PSC and they straightend that out. This suprises me not at all.
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Spectrum (in a region where the infrastructure was recently obtained via acquisition of Time Warner), recently charged me for an install in a house that previously had cable. They never showed up for the install - the connection in the outside box was still not hooked up. However, I simply screwed the loose ends together and everything worked great.
Two lessons here: first, the Install is super easy and there is certainly no special skill or tools necessary. Second, they never planned on actually doing any w
This is easy to avoid... (Score:5, Interesting)
First, never sign up for a Comcast service online, ever. Always call or go to a store location.
Second, when they bring up the installation fee, say "no, this is going to be a self-install, and I already have cable from the curb to my house, and I know it's already connected in the box. I don't need anyone to come out."
The $90 fee is supposed to cover the guy coming out to the curb to connect your particular cable to the splitter hanging off the main line in the distribution box. If you don't already have that cable connected (even if your house is wired for cable), you really do need the guy to come out (unless you know how to open the box, and which cable is yours, and you have the tool to reach in the security collar to connect it... and I don't advise telling Comcast if you do have all those things). If you're the type who likes to open your own cable box and connect your house, I would do that first, and then simply tell Comcast that you know it's already connected (maybe you asked the Comcast guy to confirm it when he was out hooking up your neighbor's cable... *wink*).
They'll waive it pretty easily if you can convince them you know your stuff and don't need a guy to come out. If you fail the first time, talk to a different person or ask for a super. They'll get it done, and be a lot more competent about it than CenturyLink.
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First, never sign up for a Comcast service online, ever. Always call or go to a store location.
Thanks for telling us how this worked in the previous century grandpa, always good to know that, but this is useless advice now. I know because I have tried to call Comcast and you can't. They only do new sales via a chat window on the internet. I've never seen a Comcast store location. They are not AT&T. They have a few of what I guess you could call Service Centers where existing customers can in theory go to - maybe - but I don't know if it's even possible to buy their service that way. Given
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Second, after you order online, they'll need to schedule your appointment so at that point you'll be locked into the better rate AND you'll get to talk to a real person. At that point you can let them know you're all good, or maybe they'll just waive the setup fee.
This is news? (Score:1)
Same experience, different vendor (Score:4, Informative)
Last time we upgraded service with Qwest the billing/support folks insisted that we needed a new modem and that a technician HAD TO come out to our house.
When the tech arrived he had our same exact modem and looked at us like we were crazy for having him there. We stood there while he called up the office and told them to cancel the charge for the visit and to, essentially, "push the button" to change our service as we'd requested. We thanked him for his time and we didn't get charged.
Had we not had a great tech or if we hadn't been paying attention, you absolutely better believe Qwest would have charged us for the "visit."
This isn't unique to Verizon, it's shitty telecom/internet behavior all around.
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Many series are exclusive to pay TV. Cellphones are still metered on plans that aren't the most expensive, and playing a CD purchased at a yard sale and ripped to a phone's memory doesn't incur data overage fees.
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Public library Internet (Score:2)
I'm failing to see how no Comcast means no Internet. The public library offers Internet access at its branches during normal operating hours.
Re: Public library Internet (Score:2)
Same here (Score:3)
Just moved into a new apartment and we have Comcast preinstalled in the place. There's a couple of outlets. Because I am not stupid, I own my own cable modem and SHOULD be cable to connect up, agree to pay them, and off I go.
Haha not so fast. The cable isn't hot. They've disconnected it in the wiring closet downstairs, so a tech HAS to come out to do nothing more than plug in the line. All of about 30 seconds of work.
There is no reason for this. There is no analog signal on the line any more. You have to have Comcast cable box or a cable modem they recognize by MAC to get service. Or probably a cable card device. But it has to be a device they on record. You get nothing plugging in a regular TV.
So there is no functional reason to disconnect the lines like this Except. They make $60 off the installer visit that doesn't need to happen.
Why? Because they can. Because they know the only other 'option' is AT&T DSL which tops out at the BLAZING speed of 768kbits Yes. The fastest DSL I can get is 768. And AT&T has the audacity to offer DirecTV over IPTV on that POS line AND wants a lot of money for it too.
Comcast's speeds and rates are much better. But that installer has to show up. For nothing.
I am currently using an LTE hotspot in what is a very bad cell signal area. But what I can get this way is unlimited, faster than AT&T and cheaper. I'll cope.
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There is no reason for this. There is no analog signal on the line any more. You have to have Comcast cable box or a cable modem they recognize by MAC to get service.
So there is no functional reason to disconnect the lines like this Except. They make $60 off the installer visit that doesn't need to happen.
Ingress from unterminated connection is reason enough to disconnect.
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Ohh, there is a GOOD reason for this. Many areas the cable hasn't gone totally digital and they still have analog channels that would be FREE if they didn't disconnect the cable. Even if they have converted the plant to fully digital, there is still a GREAT reason to do this... it's called RETURN PATH NOISE. If a cable isn't connected at the other end, it functions as an "open" in the system and can be a source of ingress noise into the cable plant. They could roll a truck out and have someone install a hig
Literally dealt with that today (Score:4, Interesting)
Signing up for Comcast at a new apartment. Selected "use my own modem", because I still have the DOCSIS 3.0 modem I used the last time I had Comcast service. It let me skip the modem rental fee, but the website didn't allow me to not schedule an appointment to have a "professional" install it, nor skip the $90 fee that would entail. I picked up the phone and got it sorted out - apparently the previous tenant didn't schedule to disconnect their service, so the system insisted someone needed to go out and uninstall whatever was there. The service rep was able to sort it out for me, but I imagine a lot of people wouldn't bother picking up the phone and waiting on hold listening to badly-bandlimited Vivaldi for five minutes.
Cable companies are not known for their competence (Score:2)
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They are a communication company that can't even communicate with themselves. I have literally had a "support tech" telling me there was no outage reported in my neighborhood the moment a comcast bucket truck stopped at a pole nearby and set up. I casually asked one of the guys on the crew and he told me an amplifier had failed and the whole street was out.
Even though I told the "support tech" the situation was handled, sure enough a guy rolled up a week later "to fix my internet".
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Came here to say that (Score:4, Interesting)
Sounds like Bell Canada and Cogeco up here! (Score:2)
Upgrade your service, and there's usually a fee for such things!
Never mind if you're a long term/loyal customer or not.
And they wonder why so many people want to just leave it alone...
Installation fees are justifiable (Score:2)
That means the fee is charged even when Comcast doesn't have to make any upgrades at the house or apartment you're moving into.
It doesn't matter.... it's not like the fee is unfair or large compared to the monthly rate -- it is STILL going to require Comcast employee labor to update records in their system to get your service up and running, and you can consider some of the install fee to help recover some of the customer service employee labor costs that are common for service setup for many people.
They'll nickel & dime you, or whatever they ca (Score:2)
Watch your statements. Next thing you know nice little charges appear. I've always owned my cable modem. Every so many years a monthly rental fee will show up. Used to be $8, now it's like $11.
Soon, calling tech support will cost you $50/call.
And By a Jaw-Dropping Coincidence... (Score:2)
Here's a news story from the end of last year - Comcast: Loss of cable television subscribers accelerates [usatoday.com]. I am sure that this has absolutely nothing to do with the billing practices described in TFA. Nope, unh-uh, not at all, not one bit, nothing to see here folks, these things are totally unrelated.
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Boxes (Score:2)
We've already tried the soapbox.
The ISPs bought the ballot box out from underneath us.
Only one left to try is the ammo box.
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We're a first-world Banana Republic, and a lot of (Score:1)
Even if there was service maybe a tech is needed. (Score:2)
For PSTN the day a line is deactivated
Shocking! (Score:2)
Foreign concept (Score:2)
Last time I signed up to internet (not in the USA) I didn't only NOT have a sign-up fee, but I also didn't pay anything out of pocket for the hardware they gave me, and on top of that I had a 50% discount on the service for the first 4 months.
It's called competition.
Just call it an "activation fee", like wireless (Score:1)
Cell phone providers literally don't need to lift a finger to activate new service, yet they routinely sock people for $50.
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So? (Score:2)
So?
I just had a Comcast install, and it cost under $30. The guy came to my house, and told me that we had 10 techs for 10,000 households. He (the installer) needs to make money for the service visit.
Comcast offers a free "self install" if the wiring is already there. They will either ship your equipment, you pick it up yourself, or you provide your own. I didn't do it because I needed the tech to bring the wire into the house from the curb.
Your mileage may differ (Score:2)
Annoying but it is avoidable (Score:1)
This just in... (Score:2)
Politely ask for a refund (Score:1)
I moved recently and wanted my RCN connection transferred to my new place. RCN insisted that a technician needed to come and hook up the cable.
This made no sense to me at all as I know they can do this remotely once the modem from the previous apartment was connected. Sorry no. So the guy came and pretended to do some 'stuff' for a few minutes, made me sign and then left. The charge? $50. Ridiculous.
So I called them up and asked for a refund. I'm a long time customer, pay on time and all of that. Surprising
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