5 ms·

Does anyone know who regulates Comcast/Xfinity in California? I'm a cord cutter and with 4K video becoming more popular, I've almost hit my 1TB data cap twice i

Does anyone know who regulates Comcast/Xfinity in California? I'm a cord cutter and with 4K video becoming more popular, I've almost hit my 1TB data cap twice in the last year. Comcast/Xfinity is illegally promoting their video services by delivering it over the same network, but zero rating their content, while charging customers overage fees for using 3rd party video services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. I filed a complaint with the California PUC and they told me they don't regulate Comcast/Xfinity because they are not a landline telephone service. It seems horrible that there might not be any regulator that is keeping Comcast/Xfinity from harming consumers like myself.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> Comcast/Xfinity is illegally promoting their video services by delivering it over the same network, but zero rating their content, while charging customers overage fees for using 3rd party video services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. Given the repeal of federal net neutrality regs and California putting it's net neutrality rules on hold pending the result of a federal lawsuit, under what active law is the illegal?
- illumin8 8y ago
  It may not be illegal, but they're using their monopoly provider position (they are the only broadband provider in my city) to harm consumers, so it needs to stop.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    If it's an abuse of monopoly issue, the FTC is the venue you want.
cbuq 8y ago
The unfortunate reality is that this is perfectly legal. I feel you are out of the loop with the whole net neutrality fiasco (https://www.eff.org/issues/net-neutrality https://www.eff.org/issues/net-neutrality)
- illumin8 8y ago
  I'm aware of net neutrality, but I'm simply asking what recourse we as consumers have. The current FCC may be too industry friendly, but it will not be that way forever. We, as consumers, need to continue to fight against these monopoly providers that are harming us.
  - kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
    Petition you Rep to nudge the FTC into doing their job.
andrewla 8y ago
Do they offer a higher data cap plan? It seems like the problem as you're phrasing it is that they are deliberately harming consumers -- it costs them the same to deliver the content whether via Netflix/Hulu or their own services, but they are choosing to overcharge customers to force them into their own service. An alternative way of looking at it is that their own service is offering a subsidy -- bumping you up implicitly to a higher tier in exchange for using their service. In the latter case, it's not really abusive; they're offering an enhancement; the "actual" price is the next tier up, but you're getting a "discount" in exchange for preferring their own video service. Which is to say that this is awful behavior, and nothing is more frustrating than the fact that (the lack of) competition makes it so that it is nearly impossible to switch to another internet provider that does not engage in this kind of monkey business. The other problem is that I think many customers prefer this model -- they're willing to make the sacrifice and get the subsidized package rather than shell out the extra money. I'm certainly guilty of this; avoiding paying minuscule subscription fees for websites even though I hate the ads. The value of my hatred is still lower than the cost of the subscription.
- gowld 8y ago
  Comcast "charges" its media arm wholesale less than retail price it charges users to download Netflix content.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Comcast/Xfinity is illegally promoting their video services by delivering it over the same network, but zero rating their content, while charging customers overage fees for using 3rd party video services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. Given the repeal of federal net neutrality regs and California putting it's net neutrality rules on hold pending the result of a federal lawsuit, under what active law is the illegal?

illumin8 8y ago
It may not be illegal, but they're using their monopoly provider position (they are the only broadband provider in my city) to harm consumers, so it needs to stop.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  If it's an abuse of monopoly issue, the FTC is the venue you want.

cbuq 8y ago

The unfortunate reality is that this is perfectly legal. I feel you are out of the loop with the whole net neutrality fiasco (https://www.eff.org/issues/net-neutrality https://www.eff.org/issues/net-neutrality)

illumin8 8y ago
I'm aware of net neutrality, but I'm simply asking what recourse we as consumers have. The current FCC may be too industry friendly, but it will not be that way forever. We, as consumers, need to continue to fight against these monopoly providers that are harming us.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
  Petition you Rep to nudge the FTC into doing their job.

andrewla 8y ago

Do they offer a higher data cap plan? It seems like the problem as you're phrasing it is that they are deliberately harming consumers -- it costs them the same to deliver the content whether via Netflix/Hulu or their own services, but they are choosing to overcharge customers to force them into their own service. An alternative way of looking at it is that their own service is offering a subsidy -- bumping you up implicitly to a higher tier in exchange for using their service. In the latter case, it's not really abusive; they're offering an enhancement; the "actual" price is the next tier up, but you're getting a "discount" in exchange for preferring their own video service. Which is to say that this is awful behavior, and nothing is more frustrating than the fact that (the lack of) competition makes it so that it is nearly impossible to switch to another internet provider that does not engage in this kind of monkey business. The other problem is that I think many customers prefer this model -- they're willing to make the sacrifice and get the subsidized package rather than shell out the extra money. I'm certainly guilty of this; avoiding paying minuscule subscription fees for websites even though I hate the ads. The value of my hatred is still lower than the cost of the subscription.

gowld 8y ago
Comcast "charges" its media arm wholesale less than retail price it charges users to download Netflix content.