Comcast Triple Play

Scott Dautel · 11-14-2006, 01:31 PM

No surprise, but prepare for a bit of a rant here ....

First, some background ... In my area, Comcast and Verizon are headed for a war over market share. Verizon has installed FiOS in many local neighborhoods and the push is on to convert the customer base. They are offering free in-home installation now and should have FiOS TV running in 4-6 months. Verizon has already gotten me PO'd. but thats another story.

To counter the threat ... Comcast has been heavily promoting their "triple play". This is Broadband + VoIP phone (w/ unlimited domestic long distance) + extended basic digital cable ... all bundled for $99/month (for 12 months). After initial 12 mos, price goes up to approx $135/mo.

I am a current comcast subscriber for TV (analog cable w/ HBO) & Broadband and I pay about $112/mo. Over the past several months I got quite a few telemarketing calls from Comcast offering me the triple play. This week, I decided to take them up on it ... swo I made the call.

... and they REJECTED ME! Can you believe this? Is this even legal?

Yes indeed, after much discussion with the teledrone, he tells me that I am not eligible for the "triple play", because, in essence ... I am already giving Comcast more than $100 per month. Mind you I dont have VoIP phone and I was calling them to sign up. They also wanted an additional $30 to port my existing tel number over to VoIP. Yes indeed, the special just for me was going to cost $165/mo + $30 tel changeover. This is the thanks I get for being a loyal customer.

I told the guy that Comcast has actually been calling me to offer the triple plan and I said I would call back when ready ... now I am ready, and they wont do it.

I'm also temporarily frustrated with Verizon, which leaves me with few options. I dont want satellite, beacuse I have so many TV's to be connected, cable is really best for me right now.

Does anyone have advice or suggestions for how to best stick it to Comcast now ... or do I just have to suck it up until FiOS TV is up and running?

MarkHastings · 11-14-2006, 01:58 PM

I've learned to suck it up. As much as I hate these compaines, I couldn't live without their products.

And for me, it may cost more, but I prefer my phone service with the phone co. and TV service from the TV co. - I'll be damned if I pay for phone service from the cable co. or cable service from my phone co. - that's like buying DVD's from a bakery!!!

Bryan X · 11-14-2006, 05:05 PM

Quote:

but I prefer my phone service with the phone co. and TV service from the TV co.

I prefer my phone with the phone co. too. There has NEVER been an outage with my phone co. service. Cable.... well, they don't go down often, but certainly cable goes out on occasion where the phone co. for me never has.

I just can't see having TV/Internet/Phone all coming in under one service. Too many eggs in one basket for my taste.

SethH · 11-14-2006, 06:09 PM

That situation certainly sucks, but is not entirely unreasonable. It would be similar to walking into a store a week after a big sale and demanding the sale price.

I'm willing to bet they'll call and offer it to you again. Otherwise, you could always call and tell them you're planning to switch over to the Verizon service and see what they offer you.

Bryan X · 11-14-2006, 06:53 PM

Quote:

It would be similar to walking into a store a week after a big sale and demanding the sale price.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Scott's saying that the offer is over-- Just that he can't get it.

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Kyle McKnight · 11-14-2006, 09:13 PM

Just so you know (since you seem to like being able to hook up cable to a "cable ready" tv ("I dont want satellite, beacuse I have so many TV's to be connected, cable is really best for me right now")) with Verizon FIOS, to get the service, you must have a box per TV.

Scott Dautel · 11-15-2006, 06:43 AM

Kyle ... Yes, I suspected this was going to be the case with FIOS (1 box per TV). Same as satellite. Does anyone really do this ... I'm running 7 TV's in my house right now for god sakes! The beauty of digital cable is that I can have 1 or 2 boxes on primary TV's and all the rest get plain vanilla analog cable ... probably fine for bedrooms/kitchen/etc.

Oh, and to the other above poster ... For sure the $99 deal is still on. Comcast just won't allow me to have it since I'm a high paying, loyal customer for many years. I did threaten to go to FIOS, but Comcast knows that FIOS TV is not quite yet rolled out here. I would probably have to dump Comcast for a month to get them to come begging to sign me back.

It just doesn't seem right. If I were to move across town (or across the street), I could probably get the $99 deal since I would be "setting up new service".

Jonathon Tillman · 11-27-2006, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Dautel

I did threaten to go to FIOS, but Comcast knows that FIOS TV is not quite yet rolled out here.

Scott,

Don't know what state your in but here in Pennsylvania we have three (that I am aware of) cable companies. Comcast, Service electric and RCN.

Ed Randell who is the governor of Pennsylvania (just reelected) has a bill sitting on his desk to either sign or veto for Verizon to offer cable service to its customers via it's FIOS network.

It will have to get signed sooner or later because if it does get vetoed the consumers will get annoyed and Verizon will come back and plea that cable companies can offer phone so why can't phone companies offer cable?

I believe there is some law that allows companies to share its services so that its not a monopoly.

If Ed Rendell does sign this bill Comcast will be pissed because then Verizon will have full reign to takes it's cable customers away not only for cable, but for it's lightning fast internet service. Comcast just got finished rolling out it's high speed cable modem and was ready for a breather. Not this time.

Shane Martin · 11-27-2006, 08:46 AM

Quote:

And for me, it may cost more, but I prefer my phone service with the phone co. and TV service from the TV co. - I'll be damned if I pay for phone service from the cable co. or cable service from my phone co. - that's like buying DVD's from a bakery!!!

Scott,
Certainly its a sucky situation. You should be eligible. You could try to sign up for the VOIP phone and see if the CSR will suggest the bundle instead. If not then speak to a supervisor. Regular CSR's don't have the same power.

Also I wouldn't be paranoid about having the cable company run your phone. You get your service cheaper and IMHO it's better. Plus it's all on one bill. To me it's a no brainer and while i've had one problem, they just rehit the cable modem and I'm back up and running again in 10 minutes or less.

Bundles are the best thing since sliced bread. My phone company has been trying to match it but they have dish and I don't want dish.

Peter Burtch · 11-28-2006, 12:01 PM

I just wanted to add a few comments.

It's quite possible that the triple play deal is being offered to new customers only- this is common and is not breaking any laws per se. Now whether or not Comcrap wouldl take a chance and let you walk away and spend your