When you sign up for services — some combination of TV, broadband, and/or phone — from your cable company, you’re told you’ll pay something like $49 or $89 a month… and yet the price you actually pay can be 30-40% or more on top of that, thanks to a heap of sometimes confusing charges and fees. Which ones do you blame the government for, and which are made up by your cable company? One cable company at a time, we’re going to use real customers’ bills to break it down. First up: Comcast.
The below bill was provided to Consumerist by a real-life Comcast customer who subscribes to a triple-play (TV, broadband, and phone) package for the advertised rate of $99/month.
But when you add on the $39.93 in fees they pay on top of that rate, that total soars to $138.93, almost 40% more than the stated price for their bundle.
To better understand each of these fees, we’ll go through the bill line-by-line:
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
15 comments:
Comcast is becoming one of the biggest ripoffs as the electric company is. My bill went up this past month and I lost 2 channels. They increased my Regional Sports Fee of which I never watch and those "free" additional outlets have now gone up to $3.99 and they do not even work half the time. Seems to me they need a little bit of competition and not Dish Network (another ripoff). I wonder how much kickback the city gets by approving these increases??
Comcast has been ripping Salisburians off for a long time - but that's because they have no competition. If more people went to satellite or some other cable service and ditched them, they would probably come down. But the article is right - you need to audit your comcast bill every single month. They sneak extra charges and add services every month or so. Also, when they do this, file a complaint with the FCC. This is against the law to add services arbitrarily to customers' bills. They have been flagged a lot. Customer Service as per FCC, Comcast has many thousands more complaints than any other cable company. Can't imagine why...
I was lured by Comcast to sign up for Triple Play. The first year was about $100 but the second went over $200. After my 2 year obligation was up, I bailed out. Through a series of night time chat, I learned that I could get internet only from Comcast for $50 and (better TV features) from Dish. I use my cell phone for everything now. Sure, I got slower internet speed but measurements have shown me that the advertised speed of 75Mbs was not achievable anyway.
I dropped my cable last summer and just kept the internet for 70 outrageous dollars per month. I had a salesman come to my house last Tuesday begging me to reconsider getting their cable and trying their phone service. I gave him and ear full. I question what over the years my bill went from as little as 50 dollars per month for both cable and internet to over 125 per month, and then from 50 per month for internet to 70 now for the same internet? He gave me a lame excuse telling me it is because the networks now charge them more and they have to pass the cost to the customer! Asked why I have to pay more for HD when I can get HD with my TV antenna over the air! And I can get HD through my Roku box for free and only 7.99 per month for Netflix! I told him in a nice way to leave.
The problem with Comcast is that they have the least educated worst management in corporate America.
Get Sling tv for under $20 for 65 channels no contract turn it off and on when you want...add HBO for $5. It has Diy,Hgtv,History and a lot more then use dig tuner for local crap if you watch it.
Call tell them you're gonna cancel and they transfer you to the deal makers. You can have your internet for half that
I am old and confused. I'm cancelling on Monday.
I WAS old and confused. No more.They will charge you what you can be convinced to accept.
6:20 PM
I'll bet that you're still old.
I have a solution to many of your complaints , call them and tell them you would like to stop their services for providing internet, TV and telephone . They will bend a lot and lower your bill . I do this every six months . If that doesn't work , then just do it , stop the service.
Anyway , are any of these services really needed ? Can you enjoy life without them ? Of course you can , go for it!
Just think what you could purchase with that money !( anything your wife approves!)
Big tires for your truck , a new gun , more ammo , more booze , more big boy toys (nice to dream) . Mmmmm , maybe some new dresses , new furniture , paint the house , remodel the kitchen etc.. This is what will happen , so think it over!
They are big donor's to the Democrat party so they can charge what they want.
Joe : they have to tack on those extra charges to fund the "free" internet spoken of in your post about Google.Surcharge on cell phone? That subsidizes the "free government phones".
Charter is even worse.Ask anyone in Crisfield....Both their TV and internet go out several times a week,sometimes for hours or days.They also do not offer HD programming.
This isn't any about political parties. This is about a greedy company w/o consumers choices any Comcast bleeding consumers dry. Directv is the same way. I switch to an HD antenna. My AARP Motorola is my WiFi internet and phone. And use the workplace desktop for everything else including free copies. So to hell with cable network.
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