Complaining about Comcast
I was reading a story on Slashdot today about a blogger that was mad at Comcast for essentially rolling back features, in this case, HD channels, on her service. She could always upgrade her service to pay more to get them back and get others, but she was mad about what Comcast had done. I agree with her that it's a raw deal by Comcast, but honestly, what do any of us expect from the likes of Comcast, AT&T, and the large cable/telco companies? Honesty? A good deal? Please.
I spend more than $200/month to Comcast for cable and internet. I'm never going to get VOIP service until they change the regulations on 911 service, but given that I get all the channels, an HD PVR, 8Mbps (down) Internet, I'm not surprised that I pay a nearly insane amount of money to Comcast. But what's the option? AT&T? Not likely... they use a Dish service in Chicagoland, and their best DSL is still slower than the cable modem speed I'm getting. It's just what the market is willing to bear.
I can remember paying $750/mo for a 56kbps leased line through Sprint to the internet for my company. It was early 1990s, but still... $750/mo? The 56kbps line was no different copper than a standard phone line, and the service was something they already had in the CO (central office). I know this because my company was a computer/telco consulting company. But if you wanted to have something other than a modem connection in the early 1990s, that's what you had to pay. Comcast, while a different company, is doing the same thing - charging what the market will bear.
Unfortunately, there isn't enough competition to really drive prices down. Verizon's FiOS isn't in Chicagoland, and I can understand why - Comcast has incredible market penetration, and to put all the infrastructure in-place to 'steal' customers from Comcast is a dodgy proposition. Better to go to someplace that's not served by Comcast nearly as well and get much better market share right off the bat. So they go to other places first. Even if they did come in, they'd hardly undercut Comcast by much... maybe a few dollars, or provide features (like speed) that Comcast doesn't. Again, doing what Comcast did with their cable modem to AT&T's DSL.
So it's business... nothing more, nothing less. While I don't like it, I can't very well blame Comcast for doing it. I can vote with my dollars, and if I really don't like what Comcast is doing, I can go somewhere else. But in this area, the choices are limited, and it's not like AT&T is a corporate angel, either. It's business. What surprises me is that she was supposedly an industry insider, and she's still surprised. Now that's amazing.