3 ms·

It's not exactly the crime of the century to want to charge you a fee for upgrading service.

by eli 13y ago

sebastianavina 13y ago
you need more competition on isp's on US. I live in Mexico, every year I get more Mbps on my plan because the competition is pushing for better plans at lower prices... I just receive a letter from my company notifying how many Mbps now I have, and why is better to stay with them...
- eli 13y ago
  US ISPs seem to offer faster speeds every year too. But I of course agree that they generally need more competition. Verizon finally lit up my block for FiOS and I'm getting faster speeds at 25% less cost.
  - hobs 13y ago
    For most areas, that is wrong. I have been in the same area for a decade, and got offered 8mbps for an increased cost 8 years ago. That's it. Why? Because there is no competition.
    - eli 13y ago
      What does a $250 upgrade fee have to do with that? If anything, shouldn't high fees encourage competition?
      - randallsquared 13y ago
        High fees pay for the lobbying of local government to continue the cable monopoly, in many places in the US.
    - mkaziz 13y ago
      @eli- no, because Comcast et al actively suppress competition a la muncipal networks.
penguincaravan 13y ago
It seems like they are charging $250 for unplugging and plugging in a modem. Sure, most people will pay it without thinking twice. But is it really necessary to inflate our already high broadband costs?
- eli 13y ago
  So? I guess it would be better if they renamed it an "activation fee"? Seems likely it's just an example of price discrimination: people who need more than 50 Mbps are probably willing to pay a premium to get it.
kiba 13y ago
I supposed there is no morality in the world that say you shouldn't be able to charge 150 bucks or whatever price for 5 megabits, but the quality of life would improve immensely with high bandwidth. That is, the difference between slowly browsing the textual internet forever on dailup and watching khanacademy youtube videos with a crappy DSL connection. Imagine that everyone are on gigabit connections? What would that entails in term of increased well-being and economic propserity to humanity? Cable companies don't seem to care about anybody but themsleves. Not the future of humanity, not the employees, not the concept of enlightened self-interest, not even the rich. They only care about MONEY.
- k-mcgrady 13y ago
  I'm not usually one to stand up for big businesses (especially telecoms companies) but you're being ridiculous. >> "watching khanacademy youtube videos" You don't need crazy fast internet to watch YouTube videos. I've been watching theme fine since I was on 1 mobs broadband. And do you really think that if we suddenly have super fast connections people will spend time watching educational content instead of porn and cat videos? >> "Cable companies don't seem to care about anybody but themselves" They care about their shareholders and maximising profits. They are running a telecoms business not trying to improve humanity!
  - kiba 13y ago
    You don't need crazy fast internet to watch YouTube videos. I've been watching theme fine since I was on 1 mobs broadband. And do you really think that if we suddenly have super fast connections people will spend time watching educational content instead of porn and cat videos? My point of comparsion was between dailup and DSL, and how DSL enables khanacademy videos. With faster internet, it will alow things beyond khanacademy videos. And do you really think that if we suddenly have super fast connections people will spend time watching educational content instead of porn and cat videos? A faster internet allow more things that can be done to improve humanity as well allow humanity to watch better porn and cat videos. They care about their shareholders and maximising profits. They are running a telecoms business not trying to improve humanity! If you the rest of the comment. I was noting how short-sighted the cable corporations are. If anything, they are like paperclip AI that wishes only to make paperclips. Cable corporations are like that, except it's all about printing money.
pbhjpbhj 13y ago
Don't you find that it should be at least somewhat commensurate with the work required though? $250 to set the value for speed rating from 50 to 105Mbps on the backend service menu and then reboot the router; doesn't that seem a little bit like they might be playing on peoples lac of knowledge of the systems involved?
- larrys 13y ago
  "Don't you find that it should be at least somewhat commensurate with the work required though?" Business doesn't work that way. You make hay when the sun shines. And there are cases when you can't charge. Because of things your competitors are doing. In a restaurant they don't charge you for napkins and water although they could. (Actually they do charge for premium water but that's a fairly recent invention). The idea of business is to make money. It's not up to anyone to decide how much profit is "enough" for comcast to make. If they could simply charge more per month without games they would. Sometimes it's easy sometimes it's hard. Take airlines. They would like to charge you more for a ticket but if they do you might not book the ticket. Better to be able to advertise a cheap price plus extras than an all inclusive price without extras. Why? Because people are not rational buyers (generally) who can figure in all the things and the "total cost of ownership" as they say with cars. "doesn't that seem a little bit like they might be playing on peoples lac of knowledge of the systems involved?" Well of course they are. But so what? There are many times when companies take features out of a product just so they can make different tiers and charge premiums. Take web hosting. Take companies who sell people extra disk space that they will never use and don't know they don't even need at all. There are many examples of this in business.
  - nitrogen 13y ago
    ...and this is why the last mile needs to become a regulated utility. Whose place is it to say Comcast is making too much profit? Mine, as their former customer.
    - JWLong 13y ago
      That's a rather large non sequitur you're wielding there. You had your say when you cancelled on them.
bluedino 13y ago
No, but requiring you to re-sign a 2-year service agreement is.

It's not exactly the crime of the century to want to charge you a fee for upgrading service.

by eli 13y ago

It's not exactly the crime of the century to want to charge you a fee for upgrading service.

you need more competition on isp's on US. I live in Mexico, every year I get more Mbps on my plan because the competition is pushing for better plans at lower prices... I just receive a letter from my company notifying how many Mbps now I have, and why is better to stay with them...

eli 13y ago
US ISPs seem to offer faster speeds every year too. But I of course agree that they generally need more competition. Verizon finally lit up my block for FiOS and I'm getting faster speeds at 25% less cost.
- hobs 13y ago
  For most areas, that is wrong. I have been in the same area for a decade, and got offered 8mbps for an increased cost 8 years ago. That's it. Why? Because there is no competition.
  - eli 13y ago
    What does a $250 upgrade fee have to do with that? If anything, shouldn't high fees encourage competition?
    - randallsquared 13y ago
      High fees pay for the lobbying of local government to continue the cable monopoly, in many places in the US.
  - mkaziz 13y ago
    @eli- no, because Comcast et al actively suppress competition a la muncipal networks.

penguincaravan 13y ago

It seems like they are charging $250 for unplugging and plugging in a modem. Sure, most people will pay it without thinking twice. But is it really necessary to inflate our already high broadband costs?

eli 13y ago
So? I guess it would be better if they renamed it an "activation fee"? Seems likely it's just an example of price discrimination: people who need more than 50 Mbps are probably willing to pay a premium to get it.

kiba 13y ago

I supposed there is no morality in the world that say you shouldn't be able to charge 150 bucks or whatever price for 5 megabits, but the quality of life would improve immensely with high bandwidth. That is, the difference between slowly browsing the textual internet forever on dailup and watching khanacademy youtube videos with a crappy DSL connection. Imagine that everyone are on gigabit connections? What would that entails in term of increased well-being and economic propserity to humanity? Cable companies don't seem to care about anybody but themsleves. Not the future of humanity, not the employees, not the concept of enlightened self-interest, not even the rich. They only care about MONEY.

k-mcgrady 13y ago
I'm not usually one to stand up for big businesses (especially telecoms companies) but you're being ridiculous. >> "watching khanacademy youtube videos" You don't need crazy fast internet to watch YouTube videos. I've been watching theme fine since I was on 1 mobs broadband. And do you really think that if we suddenly have super fast connections people will spend time watching educational content instead of porn and cat videos? >> "Cable companies don't seem to care about anybody but themselves" They care about their shareholders and maximising profits. They are running a telecoms business not trying to improve humanity!
- kiba 13y ago
  You don't need crazy fast internet to watch YouTube videos. I've been watching theme fine since I was on 1 mobs broadband. And do you really think that if we suddenly have super fast connections people will spend time watching educational content instead of porn and cat videos? My point of comparsion was between dailup and DSL, and how DSL enables khanacademy videos. With faster internet, it will alow things beyond khanacademy videos. And do you really think that if we suddenly have super fast connections people will spend time watching educational content instead of porn and cat videos? A faster internet allow more things that can be done to improve humanity as well allow humanity to watch better porn and cat videos. They care about their shareholders and maximising profits. They are running a telecoms business not trying to improve humanity! If you the rest of the comment. I was noting how short-sighted the cable corporations are. If anything, they are like paperclip AI that wishes only to make paperclips. Cable corporations are like that, except it's all about printing money.

pbhjpbhj 13y ago

Don't you find that it should be at least somewhat commensurate with the work required though? $250 to set the value for speed rating from 50 to 105Mbps on the backend service menu and then reboot the router; doesn't that seem a little bit like they might be playing on peoples lac of knowledge of the systems involved?

larrys 13y ago
"Don't you find that it should be at least somewhat commensurate with the work required though?" Business doesn't work that way. You make hay when the sun shines. And there are cases when you can't charge. Because of things your competitors are doing. In a restaurant they don't charge you for napkins and water although they could. (Actually they do charge for premium water but that's a fairly recent invention). The idea of business is to make money. It's not up to anyone to decide how much profit is "enough" for comcast to make. If they could simply charge more per month without games they would. Sometimes it's easy sometimes it's hard. Take airlines. They would like to charge you more for a ticket but if they do you might not book the ticket. Better to be able to advertise a cheap price plus extras than an all inclusive price without extras. Why? Because people are not rational buyers (generally) who can figure in all the things and the "total cost of ownership" as they say with cars. "doesn't that seem a little bit like they might be playing on peoples lac of knowledge of the systems involved?" Well of course they are. But so what? There are many times when companies take features out of a product just so they can make different tiers and charge premiums. Take web hosting. Take companies who sell people extra disk space that they will never use and don't know they don't even need at all. There are many examples of this in business.
- nitrogen 13y ago
  ...and this is why the last mile needs to become a regulated utility. Whose place is it to say Comcast is making too much profit? Mine, as their former customer.
  - JWLong 13y ago
    That's a rather large non sequitur you're wielding there. You had your say when you cancelled on them.

bluedino 13y ago

No, but requiring you to re-sign a 2-year service agreement is.