Comcast Cable: The Joker and the Thief
Ah Comcast cable, the bane of many internet user's existence. Unexplained outages, uneducated and untrained customer service reps, not to mention undelivered speed promises. When it comes to internet service providers, many customers would agree that they are the pits.
Even with the announcement of their new "Extreme 105" service last month they still take the proverbial Michael.
Billed as an internet service offering that will 'power the digital home of the future', Extreme 105 provides download speeds of up to 105 Mbps and delivers upload speeds of up to 10 Mbps. Wow, that's some serious speed. Sounds great right? Until you see the cost…and the data caps.
Priced initially at $105/month on a 12 month contract, the service is not only for those with deep pockets but also those who don't use the internet much. For Extreme 105 includes a data cap of 250GB. A heavy internet service designed for heavy internet users but with a limit on how much they can download?
Not a native of the United States, one of the main things that has struck me since living here is just how much consumers are ripped off by a multitude of utilities and services. While British ISPs are far from perfect, I can't understand how providers in the US can justify their, quite frankly, mind bogglingly high service fees. In parts of Europe and Australia, consumers receive equally comparable internet speeds for a fraction of what providers like Comcast charge.
For example, in the UK, BT's Infinity service offers users download speeds of up to 40 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 10 Mbps for an average of $42/month. Comcast's closest comparable service is their Extreme 50, which while delivering an extra 10Mbps download speed, is charged at a whooping $116.95. That's a fraction more bandwidth for an extra $75/month.
I do wonder what, if anything, US consumers can do about being overcharged however. A community in North Carolina recently attempted to build their own internet network only to have their project quashed by a local congresswoman. The restrictive bill was passed after large ISPs caught wind of what was going on. They see private networks as threats to future profitability and control over the service standard. With the corporations lobbying to prevent actions like this, they are stifling innovation and hiding what is truly possible in terms of internet service delivery and cost.
And the US consumer will suffer for it.
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