Comcast Lost 167,000 Broadband Subs in Second Quarter

hex0101

GSM-in-FL I think Performance Starter was $19 for many years.

Faster speed tiers also also offered. In 2015, they had 25/5, 75/10, 150/20, and 250/20. May have even been 250/25 or 250/30.

Central Division got 20 Mbps upload vs the West and Northeast Division’s which topped out at 10 Mbps upload on a DOCSIS 3.0 HFC plant.

The cable company always offered faster Internet speeds vs what the telephone company could provide to customers over DSL which attracted me to cable.

iahawkeye83

GSM-in-FL Same with postpaid wireless. Visible, AT&T Prepaid, US Mobile, and many others are offering $25 unlimited plans. Most people are just too complacent or lazy or not tech savvy enough to bother switching.

It’s also the stigma behind prepaid. I see it the same way as going into a rent-a-center, check cashing store, or payday loan outfit. If I told my friends I had a prepaid phone plan I would be looked down upon. It would be like having a used car from a Buy Here Pay Here dealer vs the Tesla.

I’m big on how people perceive me. I was bullied in the past in middle school so I want to project a good appearance to my peer group. They all have the latest iPhone on Verizon. My best friend has T-mobile. I’ll settle for AT&T. Might downgrade my plan now that the Tesla streams through its own connection instead of using the Bluetooth connection on my phone.

swilliams

GSM-in-FL Same with postpaid wireless. Visible, AT&T Prepaid, US Mobile, and many others are offering $25 unlimited plans. Most people are just too complacent or lazy or not tech savvy enough to bother switching.

I would argue it’s locked in promo discounts on their phone that’s keeping a lot of people at the Big Three. Not laziness… Financing.

Man-of-Leisure1

iahawkeye83 It’s also the stigma behind prepaid. I see it the same way as going into a rent-a-center, check cashing store, or payday loan outfit. If I told my friends I had a prepaid phone plan I would be looked down upon. It would be like having a used car from a Buy Here Pay Here dealer vs the Tesla.

That’s… odd 😆

How would anyone even know what plan you have without telling them? Are all of your friends 16? I can’t imagine an adult would care about something like that.

So you’re happy to massively overpay for the exact same service just because you have some immature friends?

I have AT&T Prepaid, my phone says “AT&T”, there’s no way for anyone to tell you have prepaid just by looking at your phone lol except that I’m paying a fraction of the price of postpaid.

px_eliezer_

iahawkeye83 If I told my friends I had a prepaid phone plan I would be looked down upon.

I’m sorry, that’s absolutely ridiculous. 🙁

In fact, it demonstrates being a SMART consumer rather than a SHEEP.

https://www.wired.com/story/prepaid-phone-plans-and-mvnos/

Right now my family has prepaid plans through US Mobile (for Verizon), Red Pocket (for AT&T), Red Pocket (for T-Mobile), a T-Mobile Connect plan, and Tello (for T-Mobile). All are good service, good prices, no hassles. Likewise I’ve also used Twigby (for Verizon) and Tracfone (for Verizon—and Verizon owns them now).

Your friends sound like teenage girls who are worried about the latest fashions.

bigcoda

iahawkeye83 If I told my friends I had a prepaid phone plan I would be looked down upon.

Lol, sounds like you need to find some new friends, if they look down on you for just being on a prepaid plan? Is it really your friends business whether your on a postpaid or prepaid plan?

iahawkeye83

px_eliezer_ Your friends sound like teenage girls who are worried about the latest fashions.

The ones I hang out with are all college aged young adults. You’ve probably been in a grocery store and have seen an employee who is disabled. As a matter of fact the supermarket industry is one of the biggest employers of people with disabilities. We have a guy who is a bagger who is completely deaf and non-verbal but he is a professional when it comes to bagging. You won’t find the pop on top of the bread if he bags your groceries. I am well respected by my co-workers, customers and managers. I think it’s more my past (being bullied horribly in middle school and having limited resources as a kid) that gives me the stigma about prepaid as opposed to current times. In the past prepaid was associated with customers who could not get approved for traditional plans. I am one of those who always has an anxiety attack when they run my credit and if I get approved it’s a major victory. When I got approved for the Tesla (after putting down a $250 non-refundable deposit to run my credit) that felt the same as the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series in 2016. I guess times might have changed but I have a big issue with being stuck in the past. I finally gave up on cable tv for two reasons one being cost and the other being fiber coming to my address. I am now on the streaming bandwagon like people in my age group and the Gen Z co-workers I work with. There is a lot more to my past that I don’t discuss publicly.

Keep in mind I have gone from WebTV to fiber and from riding public transportation to having a Tesla like I mentioned in another post. But I would give anything to have my mother and grandmother back. But maybe the higher powers in the sky had a plan and cancer took my mom.

I’m one who wants to go forward, not be stuck in the same situation forever.

retnbmn

I had two examples today of non-price related reasons to leave Comcast. My Comcast service (Internet & TV) via underground cable to my house failed today when my Quantum Fiber was buried. Comcast cleared the fiber burial as “no conflict” without requesting marking of their underground cables even though the possible conflict should have been obvious. The underground electrical was marked. The person doing the fiber burial was careful but dealing with multiple underground runs split between a new power pole (April 2026) and an old power pole, all runs need to be marked. He said Comcast may have chosen not to have marking done to save the cost of marking.

I called Comcast customer service to report the service outage. The customer service representative immediately started selling me a $99 per year protection plan. I told him no, that I was not interested more than four times. I again told him I just wanted to report a problem. He then started trying to sell me a $49 per year protection plan. I could not get him to move on from the sales pitch, so I hung up. Online I was able to schedule a service call for Tuesday, but I could not find a way to enter a brief description of what happened to aid in getting the right resources dispatched. I have had challenges dealing with Comcast customer service in past, but this is the first time that I could not get past sales pitches to report a problem.

iahawkeye83

retnbmn it’s obviously Comcast’s responsibility to repair the line since it’s outside wiring. It’s on their side of the demarc. I would try filing an FCC or DPU complaint.

px_eliezer_

retnbmn I have had challenges dealing with Comcast customer service in past, but this is the first time that I could not get past sales pitches to report a problem.

These guys are FAR WORSE than the worst car dealers…!

And they wonder why customers flee.

Donut417

retnbmn have had challenges dealing with Comcast customer service in past, but this is the first time that I could not get past sales pitches to report a problem.

I remember when my aunt had issues and called in, they tried to sell her mobile phone service, Multiple times. Its like the current service isnt working, how about getting that working first before trying to up sell.

Donut417

px_eliezer_ All they have to do is keep pricing reasonable. Keep providing a gateway and unlimited data included. Hell if they treated customers right not only would they not flee but potentially sub to more services. Their celluar service seems to be some what reasonably priced and you get it on the same bill as your internet. But no, they get greedy and wonder why people hate them.

px_eliezer_

retnbmn My Comcast service (Internet & TV) via underground cable to my house failed today when my Quantum Fiber was buried.

I’m curious, were you planning to just switch over anyway?

I’d be sorely tempted at this point.

Even if Quantum Fiber does not have their own TV service (??) you can stream through YouTubeTV or similar….

px_eliezer_

Donut417 I remember when my aunt had issues and called in, they tried to sell her mobile phone service, Multiple times

Optimum/Altice is famous for that, very, very aggressive.

Even the Ferengi would realize at some point it’s counterproductive when done to excess.

Donut417

px_eliezer_ Even if Quantum Fiber does not have their own TV service (??) you can stream through YouTubeTV or similar….

They still broadcast TV OTA as well, at least for the time being. There are several free streaming services as well if you dont want to pay a ton.

lesmikesell

retnbmn He said Comcast may have chosen not to have marking done to save the cost of marking.

Does every utility come out to mark their own lines? I thought a central service did that. Whenever anyone digs around here, one guy comes out with a bunch of different colored flags and spray paint with a color for each utility.

px_eliezer_

lesmikesell I thought a central service did that.

It varies by local practice….

MacLeech

px_eliezer_ It varies by local practice…

As does marking drop lines on private property.

retnbmn

px_eliezer_ I plan to drop my Comcast Internet as soon as I am comfortable with Quantum Fiber service. I have used HDHomeRun boxes with cable cards for Comcast cable TV access and attic antenna for broadcast TV for 15 years to provide live and recorded TV access for a variety of devices. Because that solution works well for our needs my plan has been to continue with Comcast TV service until either Cable Card support ends, or the cost savings from switching increases beyond what it was the last time I checked.

retnbmn

lesmikesell Years ago in Minnesota it seemed like there is one organization that marked all the utilities, but that has not been the case the last few times something has needed to be marked in my yard. There is one interface for requesting marking, Gopher State One Call, but who does the marking appears to be different depending on the utility. I have seen Xcel trucks for electrical/gas marking, but the other utilities appear to use 3rd party contractors for marking. One positive note about Gopher State One Call is the marking tickets are public information so anyone can see them. That is how I know that Xcel had our electrical marked, and that Comcast cleared the fiber burial as “no conflict”.

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