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IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
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join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

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IowaCowboy

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[Rant] Cut the cord, sort of

Today, (3/11) I ditched the blast plus and I went HSI only with Comcast (keeping the DirecTV and Xfinity Home Control). I also kept the Blast internet ($76.95 in my area).

I'm not too happy with Comcast right now so I want to add to their cord cutter statistics. I have issues with sluggish connections and connection dropouts and I get the usual "it's your equipment response" even though I know for sure it's beyond my house. It took 10 minutes today to download a 450 mb file. The speeds kept dropping out and the download kept stalling. This is not the main point of my thread. I've all but given up on troubleshooting because any attempt to get them to fix it will be futile.

My question in this thread is if I'm internet and Xfinity home control only (no video or digital voice), what below the line fees will I have. Will the franchise fees and other fees (FCC Fees, MA license fees, etc) go away. I own my own modem.

This is one reason the Comcast-Time Warner merger should NOT be allowed to proceed. Customer service is bad enough and will get worse if the two get together.

train_wreck
slow this bird down
join:2013-10-04
Antioch, TN
Cisco ASA 5506
Cisco DPC3939

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train_wreck

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As far as extra fees, a lot of that depends on your area. In my case, they crazily make it more expensive to get internet-only than to bundle it w something. If I remember right, bundle prices were identical no matter what you bundled together. YMMV. Comcast will give you an exact itemized price list if you ask for one.

Btw, retreading on your sig a bit, no
GusHerb
join:2011-11-04
Chicago, IL

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Around here if you have internet only with Comcast or AT&T there is NO below the line fees, taxes, nothing. So 39.95 IS 39.95. (unless you lease a modem then there's that too, and I believe you pay tax on that modem rental)

My BlastPlus promo at home was ending the 13th of this month so I called in yesterday and nicely told them I'd be switching to Uverse if they can't get my bill back down and this is there "chance" to keep me. After telling the guy exactly what I wanted he gave it to me. So I'm on another 12 mo BlastPlus promo for 54.99.

I was thinking about going down to InternetPlus or just dumping the TV all together but didn't feel like really messing with anything this time, the price is right as it was and we're happy with the services we get. I also didn't want to have to remove the cover on the old built in CRT TV box over the fireplace to get the cable box out of there to return it. (I have it rather precariously jury-rigged to the side of the box in there)

Now if internet takes a sudden dive and doesn't recover after say a months period I WILL drop them like a fly out of mid air.

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
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join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
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said by IowaCowboy:

My question in this thread is if I'm internet and Xfinity home control only (no video or digital voice), what below the line fees will I have. Will the franchise fees and other fees (FCC Fees, MA license fees, etc) go away. I own my own modem.

In general, you are not supposed to be taxed for Internet service, but there are grandfathered exceptions to that rule. Being a former resident of the Commonwealth of Taxachusetts, my recollection is that they taxed everything; but miracles do happen, and perhaps a newer, kinder, gentler Massachusetts does actually comply with the no tax Internet practice that is honored in most of the US. OTOH, I suspect that no matter where you live, the home control service will be considered taxable similarly to how a phone service is taxed. Be sure to let us know after you get your first bill for the two services.

FWIW, my Comcast Internet service and TV service are on two different accounts. There are no additional taxes/fees on my Internet service bill, but my TV bill has an additional $9 in taxes and fees. My Vonage VoIP lines each have ~$4 additional taxes/fees simply because it is classified as a telecom service (even though there is no physical telephone infrastructure, and it is a data service running through my Comcast Internet service...not really any different than streaming video on my end of the connection).

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

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said by train_wreck:

Btw, retreading on your sig a bit, no

I still have a cord, sort of; it's that big metal dish on my roof called DirecTV.

I'm just ditching the Blast Plus as we're looking at all of our bills and looking at dollars and cents. Not because of financial distress but because we're looking to optimize our finances. You never know; car repairs, vet bills (cat is starting to become expensive as he is getting older), etc. I'm also dropping the Verizon Jetpack when the contract expires in July and using the iPhone's built in hotspot because I use the iPad (which has it's own 4G radio) out of the house than the laptop.

I also thought of dropping to Xfinity performance internet but the difference in price is $10 but the difference in speed is nearly double.
travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Bismarck, ND

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Only extra on my HSI only bill is sales tax (technically called a Gross Receipts Tax on the seller, but almost always passed on to the buyer and applied to services in this state).

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

NetFixer

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said by travelguy:

Only extra on my HSI only bill is sales tax (technically called a Gross Receipts Tax on the seller, but almost always passed on to the buyer and applied to services in this state).

Out of curiosity, are you charged sales tax for the actual Internet service, or for a modem rental? Equipment rental fees are exempt from the no Internet service tax rule. When I was renting a "modem" (gateway box) from Comcast I got hit with sales tax for the monthly equipment rental fee, but after I turned it in and purchased my own modem, there were no more added taxes/fees on my Internet account bill.
travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Bismarck, ND
Asus RT-AC68
Ubiquiti NSM5

travelguy

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said by NetFixer:

Out of curiosity, are you charged sales tax for the actual Internet service, or for a modem rental?

The actual service. GRT applies to any sale in the state. Quite a shock to newcomers to see sales tax on their doctor and dentist bills.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
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join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

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As of tonight, it still says I have TV on the my account but the equipment has vanished on the other screen (not shown).

Maybe it needs to update in the system. As for TV, I'm keeping the DirecTV but may look into a Roku or Apple TV.

Darknessfall
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join:2012-08-17
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Darknessfall

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said by IowaCowboy:

As of tonight, it still says I have TV on the my account but the equipment has vanished on the other screen (not shown).

Maybe it needs to update in the system. As for TV, I'm keeping the DirecTV but may look into a Roku or Apple TV.

It took awhile for my account to close/my services to go away on my account when I closed my Comcast account not that long ago.

It didn't even update my bill total because the system and online account aren't even in sync.

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
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join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

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said by travelguy:

The actual service. GRT applies to any sale in the state. Quite a shock to newcomers to see sales tax on their doctor and dentist bills.

It's that way here too, all services are subject to a sales/use tax (except currently Internet service is exempt).

I looked it up just before you replied and both NM and TN were among the states that got an exemption to the Internet Tax Freedom Act; but TN's Internet tax at that time was defined as a telecommunication tax, and after the FCC declared that Internet service was not a telecommunications service, that nixed the Internet tax here. I remember that happening because AT&T "mistakenly" kept charging their customers that tax in TN, and they were eventually forced to refund the money they collected to their customers (I got ~$125).

why60loss
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join:2012-09-20

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I cut the cord on Time warner cable TV, phone and internet via moving out of town.

So yea screw them. Going to sign up for 1gbs in 2 months.

Will it cost, yes. Will it break me, nope. $99 a month for 1gbs fiber to the home is just fine with me.

I approve the rant thread, screw the scum bags.

gar187er
I DID this for a living
join:2006-06-24
Seattle, WA

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said by IowaCowboy:

Customer service is bad enough and will get worse if the two get together.

please do tell.

davidc502
join:2002-03-06
Mount Juliet, TN

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said by IowaCowboy:

Customer service is bad enough and will get worse if the two get together.

I completely agree.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
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join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

2 edits

IowaCowboy to gar187er

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said by gar187er:

said by IowaCowboy:

Customer service is bad enough and will get worse if the two get together.

please do tell.

It's like Comcast will troubleshoot if you rent their equipment but they want nothing to do with it if you own your own modem even though it's obviously a signal issue. I've had numerous modems (both rented to troubleshoot and purchased) and the issues still languish. The issues are momentary so they never occur when a technician is in the house, but they are obviously present. They should have some QoS tool they can use instead of playing the "blame customer equipment" game.

Edit: If the two get together, they'll even get more difficult to deal with, just like the consolidation of the financial industry that has non-responsive customer service.

I'd like to see them required to maintain local control over the cable systems in each market they serve if they merge. That means you call a local call center that is solely responsible for the local area and the reps are trained on the local area's operations and offerings and not some out of state rep that manages multiple systems.

Gone are the days where the CSRs knew the local channel lineup or how to provision an account. If they have local CSRs, they can be trained on each system as opposed to multiple systems.

davidc502
join:2002-03-06
Mount Juliet, TN

davidc502

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said by IowaCowboy:

It's like Comcast will troubleshoot if you rent their equipment but they want nothing to do with it if you own your own modem even though it's obviously a signal issue. I've had numerous modems (both rented to troubleshoot and purchased) and the issues still languish. The issues are momentary so they never occur when a technician is in the house, but they are obviously present. They should have some QoS tool they can use instead of playing the "blame customer equipment" game.

I agree with you, but would like to make a generalization.

The larger companies become (expand out into other areas/services), typically the Service goes downhill, as well as customer service. It's nothing against Comcast, but it's the nature of business. When you become huge and are the jack of all trades, businesses loose focus and hence the above becomes a reality. Large companies can become bloated just like huge governments, and sometimes need to be broken up for their own good (IMHO). Take Bell for instance in the 1980's. That particular break up was better for them as well as the customer. It created opportunities for growth, and we rode that wave until recently. IMHO, it's time to do house-cleaning again.