dslreports logo
Comcast Beats Back Telcos In Q2
Fourth largest phone company : 5.6 million customers....
Comcast this morning released their quarterly earnings report, and while the company says they're facing "a challenging economic environment", Comcast's broadband additions look slightly better than the meager broadband line additions posted by both AT&T (46,000) and Verizon (54,000) this quarter. Comcast added 278,000 broadband customers in the quarter, and on a conference call with analysts and the media, Comcast stated that roughly two-thirds of their new broadband customers switched from DSL, and about one-fifth of their customers are now signing up for triple play bundles. The numbers:
quote:
Click for full size
High-speed Internet revenue increased 10% to $1.8 billion in the second quarter of 2008 from $1.6 billion in 2007 reflecting a 12% increase in subscribers and a 3% decline in average monthly revenue per subscriber to $42.01, reflecting the impact of additional bundling and the recent introduction of new offers and speed tiers.
The company lost 138,000 basic cable customers last quarter, but added 320,000 digital TV subscribers. Things continue to look bright on the VoIP front, with the cable operator adding 555,000 new VoIP customers last quarter. Comcast is currently the fourth largest phone company with 5.6 million customers, and as a whole, cable broadband carriers own close to 85% of the residential VoIP market. The one area the baby bells continue to dominate is, of course, wireless.
view:
topics flat nest 

canesfan2001
join:2003-02-04
Hialeah, FL

canesfan2001

Member

So...

Can i expect to see better TV service and increased internet access speeds as a result of some kind of investment in infrastructure? And PLEASE update the software on the cable boxes!

techlte
join:2003-01-01
US

techlte

Member

Re: So...

no, this is an article about Comcast You can look forward to caps and all the usual crap they pull. Your only hope in a speed increase is to live in an area with FiOS or U-Verse. Comcast is all about giving as little service as possible for as much money as they can extract. You gotta give them credit, they're good at big business. They are big business.

"Finishing second in the Worst Company In America contest hasn't slowed down Comcast's money making machine."

Source: »consumerist.com/5030893/

jt1
@comcast.net

jt1

Anon

Re: So...

you cant say fios or uverse is great to. fios cant bill right and have a hard time putting promos on the accounts. uverse really suck. my friend had it for one week then canceled it. when he turned on his tv his internet speed drop by half. that is why happens when you share bandwidth. he also has three hd tvs witch you cant watch at once.

Cheese
Premium Member
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL

1 edit

Cheese to techlte

Premium Member

to techlte
said by techlte:

no, this is an article about Comcast You can look forward to caps and all the usual crap they pull. Your only hope in a speed increase is to live in an area with FiOS or U-Verse. Comcast is all about giving as little service as possible for as much money as they can extract. You gotta give them credit, they're good at big business. They are big business.

"Finishing second in the Worst Company In America contest hasn't slowed down Comcast's money making machine."

Source: »consumerist.com/5030893/
They upgraded my upload to 2mbps and no other competition except Embarq.

badtrip
Premium Member
join:2004-03-20

badtrip to canesfan2001

Premium Member

to canesfan2001
said by canesfan2001:

Can i expect to see better TV service and increased internet access speeds as a result of some kind of investment in infrastructure? And PLEASE update the software on the cable boxes!
Sorry but you will likely see a decrease in picture quality as Comcast stuffs more shopping and religious channels into their lineup without allocating more bandwith to their video streams.

You will probably also see a lot more friendly communication from Comcast in the form of warning letters as you puncture their usage caps watching streaming video and downloading games/demos/movies to your various consoles and or computer.

They lost 138,000 basic cable subscribers...so what? I'd like to see how many digital cable subscribers are jumping ship to go with satellite or something else.

FTFA: "Comcast added 320,000 digital cable customers in the second quarter of 2008, below the 823,000 digital cable customers added in the same period one year ago. This deceleration was anticipated and reflects the significant deployment of digital boxes in the second quarter of 2007 in advance of a July 1st regulatory deadline."

This is telling. That's one hell of a "deceleration" and shows that "new Comcast subscribers" are just "old Comcast subscribers" churning subscriptions.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

1 edit

fiberguy2 to canesfan2001

Premium Member

to canesfan2001
This whole website is becoming obsolete. Its almost time to change the news posting methods. Maybe it should be the story as posted now, and then Karl should simply post a talking point memo in return including the BBR greatest hits:

1) Here come caps
2) I'll get to my caps faster
3) The guide sucks
4) My tech killed my dog.. and quite possibly my sex life
5) They bought a TV for their building
6) Brian Roberts is Hitler
7) Comcast is the anti-christ
.. and the ever so popular...
8) I wish I had FiOS!

and many more...

For one, it would be a benefit..

Carpel tunnel would go on a decline, and, since people are posting the same responses to every post about cable, well, everyone would be doing their part, little by little, in reducing their broadband foot print making the world a better place to match the so-called global warming epidemic. Frontier users, of all, should take this serious as every message pushes them closer to that 5gb cap!! I mean, it's all been said before anyway...
Expand your moderator at work

Cheese
Premium Member
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL

Cheese to fiberguy2

Premium Member

to fiberguy2

Re: So...

So if I drop back down to 6/1, this will help global warming?
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2

Premium Member

Re: So...

Yes.. the polar ice caps will once again cover the top half of the earth! Move to dial up and we'll go back into an ice age!

meh37
@verizon.net

meh37 to Cheese

Anon

to Cheese
Yep, the prohibition on repetition would essentially shutdown the Internet: everyone would turn off their computers, and the electrical power crisis would be averted...

Stop the Internet, I want to get off!
Rick5
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06

1 recommendation

Rick5

Premium Member

Comments?

Yea..I have a couple.

FIVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE THOUSAND NEW PHONE CUSTOMERS IN 3 MONTHS TIME.

They are obliterating the telco industry.

It is unbelievable how such a monumental shift in someones core business is taking place.

And, judging by the # of new TV customers..the telco's are making basically zero impact on this companies tv business.

And heck..while they're at it..just throw ANOTHER 278,000 broadband customers into the mix as well.

This is ALL coming off the backs of the telco's. The landlines they're losing..DSL customers..they're losing.

All this in 3 months time? From a business perspective..it really is incredible.

DrModem
Trust Your Doctor
Premium Member
join:2006-10-19
USA

DrModem

Premium Member

Re: Comments?

They lose DSL customers because despite the cost of cable, 1,000kbps download > 300 kbps
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned) to Rick5

Member

to Rick5
And wait until those customers get off their bundles and their contracts expire. Many will get sticker shock and might be well motivated to switch if there is competition in their area.

Right now, the ONLY thing Comcast has going for it is their On Demand selection. I have a friend who had Comcast and went to FIOS for a couple of reasons.

Cost - FIOS was cheaper for the same TV package as Comcast plus he added internet (and dumped DSL) and phone.

Speed - DSL was too slow for him, his wife's laptop, his mother in law's system and his brother in law's XBOX360. The comparable cable package was more expensive. (See cost noted above.)

Signal quality - No contest, FIOS wins hands down. My friend and his wife are no videophiles but even they noticed the difference and they have regular TVs. Comcast was still having issues with signal quality and tried to blame it on his and my wiring. Tech in both cases said it was not our problem.
Rick5
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06

1 edit

1 recommendation

Rick5

Premium Member

Re: Comments?

IMHO..I wouldn't be too eager to sing the praises of the cost of FIOS. If anything, Verizon is going to have a lot of heat on them to raise prices MORE than Comcast ever will.

Why? Because # 1..Fios is SO expensive to rollout.
#2..so many of their customers are coming from DSL..meaning they're cannibalizing their own customer base. And
#3...They're losing landlines left and right.

There is an amazing amount of pressure on Verizon to make Fios work. And while the price might be competitive now..it's that way because they have no other choice. I ask you though..how many more landlines and dsl customers do they lose before they can simply no longer subsidize fios at current prices?

To sum it up..I think the REAL risk in future price increases is with Verizon.

In that regard..AT&T probably does have it right with Uverse..with it not being as costly.

The problem with that though is it technologically enough to withstand what Comcast is throwing at them?

Time will tell.
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned)

Member

Re: Comments?

said by Rick5:

IMHO..I wouldn't be too eager to sing the praises of the cost of FIOS. If anything, Verizon is going to have a lot of heat on them to raise prices MORE than Comcast ever will.

Why? Because # 1..Fios is SO expensive to rollout.
#2..so many of their customers are coming from DSL..meaning they're cannibalizing their own customer base. And
#3...They're losing landlines left and right.

There is an amazing amount of pressure on Verizon to make Fios work. And while the price might be competitive now..it's that way because they have no other choice. I ask you though..how many more landlines and dsl customers do they lose before they can simply no longer subsidize fios at current prices?

To sum it up..I think the REAL risk in future price increases is with Verizon.

In that regard..AT&T probably does have it right with Uverse..with it not being as costly.

The problem with that though is it technologically enough to withstand what Comcast is throwing at them?

Time will tell.
DOCSIS 3.0 is not cheap either and that further puts pressure on Comcast to up their prices.

Landlines are the bread and butter of telcos because while the basic rate is regulated, all the additions like caller ID, etc. are cash cows. Those start going going down in numbers, then you have a problem.

Comcast raises its rates too on TV due to programming costs which both sides will incur. I have already spoken to this issue many times and have said the cable companies and telcos need to grow some balls and take the issue to the subscribers. Watch how fast the tables turn on the content providers when they are held responsible for the extra money customers have to pay.

FIOS has one advantage in that fiber is already at the home so upgrading will be cheaper in the future. Fibet to the node can only go so far and we all know bandwidth is being used up by HDTV and internet.

As you said, time will tell but you also have to take into account that Verizon has a smaller footprint right now that will continue to grow.
MOTO6809
join:2007-11-05
Springfield, MA

MOTO6809

Member

Re: Comments?

said by moonpuppy:

said by Rick5:

IMHO..I wouldn't be too eager to sing the praises of the cost of FIOS. If anything, Verizon is going to have a lot of heat on them to raise prices MORE than Comcast ever will.

Why? Because # 1..Fios is SO expensive to rollout.
#2..so many of their customers are coming from DSL..meaning they're cannibalizing their own customer base. And
#3...They're losing landlines left and right.

There is an amazing amount of pressure on Verizon to make Fios work. And while the price might be competitive now..it's that way because they have no other choice. I ask you though..how many more landlines and dsl customers do they lose before they can simply no longer subsidize fios at current prices?

To sum it up..I think the REAL risk in future price increases is with Verizon.

In that regard..AT&T probably does have it right with Uverse..with it not being as costly.

The problem with that though is it technologically enough to withstand what Comcast is throwing at them?

Time will tell.
DOCSIS 3.0 is not cheap either and that further puts pressure on Comcast to up their prices.

Landlines are the bread and butter of telcos because while the basic rate is regulated, all the additions like caller ID, etc. are cash cows. Those start going going down in numbers, then you have a problem.

Comcast raises its rates too on TV due to programming costs which both sides will incur. I have already spoken to this issue many times and have said the cable companies and telcos need to grow some balls and take the issue to the subscribers. Watch how fast the tables turn on the content providers when they are held responsible for the extra money customers have to pay.

FIOS has one advantage in that fiber is already at the home so upgrading will be cheaper in the future. Fibet to the node can only go so far and we all know bandwidth is being used up by HDTV and internet.

As you said, time will tell but you also have to take into account that Verizon has a smaller footprint right now that will continue to grow.
DOCSIS3 is expensive, however it's much cheaper than building an entire system. It can also be deployed much quicker and on an as needed basis.

Your right FIOS is great because it goes to the house, but cable wouldn't have to do that since they are using coax. They could get away from running fiber to the house by deploying fiber to feeder. Basically after the node you only feed tap strings, at that point going out to 3ghz+ is much easier.

On the other hand if they still had concerns about coax, they could use the RF over glass(RFOG)solution. That could use existing fiber thats being used for HFC plant to deploy it and also keep the existing headend.

Cable has many option to compete with telco's without the need to spend as much as them.
Rick5
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06

Rick5

Premium Member

Re: Comments?

As you mention, docsis 3.0 is not only much cheaper..but time is a huge factor in all of this.
Imagine Comcast having a docsis 3.0 network all but finished by the end of 2009, while Verizon is struggling to wire manhattan by 2014 and other places by...??? who knows when?

By then, a fios rollout could be perceived as a non event if comcast is sailing along at 50Mb + speeds in many areas that many years before them.

And again, people are forgetting some key points. All the while..verizon could be losing landlines bigtime..losing dsl customers bigtime..while spending huge bucks on fios. This is a recipe for them to have to charge more for fios.

We'll see how it goes but my early estimation is..
Fios = Rambus and
Docsis 3.0 = DDR.

And we all know who won that race.

meh37
@verizon.net

meh37

Anon

Re: Comments?

"And we all know who won that race."

The lawyers?
Rick5
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06

Rick5

Premium Member

Re: Comments?

said by meh37 :

"And we all know who won that race."

The lawyers?
lol. true.
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned) to MOTO6809

Member

to MOTO6809
said by MOTO6809:

DOCSIS3 is expensive, however it's much cheaper than building an entire system. It can also be deployed much quicker and on an as needed basis.

Your right FIOS is great because it goes to the house, but cable wouldn't have to do that since they are using coax. They could get away from running fiber to the house by deploying fiber to feeder. Basically after the node you only feed tap strings, at that point going out to 3ghz+ is much easier.

On the other hand if they still had concerns about coax, they could use the RF over glass(RFOG)solution. That could use existing fiber thats being used for HFC plant to deploy it and also keep the existing headend.

Cable has many option to compete with telco's without the need to spend as much as them.
You forgot the main reason for switching from copper to fiber optics. This is the first major upgrade Verizon has done to their infrastructure in decades. Some of the copper lines have been around since before many of us were born. It has a finite capacity and it is affected by changes in weather. Fiber is an upgrade and part of the rationale for it is high speed data (includes voice, video and data.)

All Verizon did was upgrade everything at one shot and the upgrades would have been needed in the future anyway.

mikepd
Discovery
Premium Member
join:2000-10-26
New Port Richey, FL

mikepd to Rick5

Premium Member

to Rick5
Verizon's cost to install FIOS is going down not up:

»telephonyonline.com/home ··· _092706/

They are almost done wiring up Florida as I got notice a couple of week ago that the contractor would be along to mark off the utilities prior to the burial of the underground fiber and that work has just been completed.

Here is where they stand in Florida, along with speed offerings and prices:

»www.foxbusiness.com/stor ··· ridians/

I currently have Brighthouse 7/512 as well as 3/768 Verizon DSL on a dual WAN router since both the wife and I use the Internet for academic research and need redundancy in case one ISP goes down.

We still have not decided whether we will keep cable or go with two ONTs even though by doing that we lose redundancy.

Both DSL and cable have been reliable but the 20/20 speed for a reasonable price is very tempting.

As for technology updates, Verizon can go to GPON simply by changing out the electronics which is a cost-effective solution and will not require a major overhaul of the network.
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

rody_44

Premium Member

Re: Comments?

the main reason verizons cost for installing fios isnt really the reason they want you to believe. they started out running ALL the lines and as time goes by they are skipping by lines and only running them if and when a customer orders the service. they started that around 2 years ago and the practice continues. the only thing it accomplishes is is they dont have to run it when nobody orders the service. i know because i was running it.
mglunt
join:2001-09-10
Fredericksburg, VA

mglunt to moonpuppy

Member

to moonpuppy
I looked into the Comcast triple play and after the contract is up, it jumps to about $140+ in my area (not including boxes). Fewer channels are included in their base triple play package as well.
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

rody_44

Premium Member

Re: Comments?

i compare contract to contract and since im 6 months into my second contract with the same terms i have no reason to believe they wont give me a third. if they wont then i will change to what fits my needs then. if i go by what i was paying ide have to consider the fact that i was paying verizon 85 dollars a month for phone service. but why compare prices to that when i know what i can get today.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to Rick5

Premium Member

to Rick5
Qtrly presentation:
»media.corporate-ir.net/m ··· des1.pdf

Earnings tables:
»media.corporate-ir.net/m ··· Q208.htm

Good news for investors:




MrSpock29
join:2008-02-09
Hammonton, NJ

1 edit

MrSpock29 to Rick5

Member

to Rick5
said by Rick5:

Yea..I have a couple.

FIVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE THOUSAND NEW PHONE CUSTOMERS IN 3 MONTHS TIME.

They are obliterating the telco industry.

It is unbelievable how such a monumental shift in someones core business is taking place.

And, judging by the # of new TV customers..the telco's are making basically zero impact on this companies tv business.

And heck..while they're at it..just throw ANOTHER 278,000 broadband customers into the mix as well.

This is ALL coming off the backs of the telco's. The landlines they're losing..DSL customers..they're losing.

All this in 3 months time? From a business perspective..it really is incredible.
Bundling IMHO is benefiting them on the phone side, and frankly, they don't have FiOS competition in most parts of our area at all. However, since their phone service has gone down at least 8 times this year that I know of (from family that still has them because of bundling), eventually that will wear thin. People want their phones to work.
Some of the outages have been for multi-hours as well.

As far as DSL, no one wants it, and in NJ if you can't get FiOS, you get 3 Mbps which isn't competitive with their speed, even though it is capped. Their numbers SHOULD be good, in fact, they should be much better.... they are shooting fish in a barrel......for now.
And since they act in an anti-competitive manner down here with their RSN by not sharing it with satellite cos, again, the numbers should be even better.

Notice on the tv side they are churning their own book.
Hound7
join:2006-03-08
Princeton, NJ

1 recommendation

Hound7 to Rick5

Member

to Rick5
Comcast 2Q earnings were below analysts
forecasts. Verizon's 2Q earnings exceeded
analysts forecasts.
Comcast added 555,000
VOIP subs. Verizon added 1,500,000 wireless subs. Verizon' s DSL and landline losses include subs lost in the Fairpoint sale.
Verizon added 176,000
FIOS TV subs in a footprint less than 20 percent of Comcasts. Comcast lost 138,000 video subs. When was the last Q that Comcast added video subs except by acquisition? Comcast has 5.6 million VOIP subs. Comcast announces about one in five subs have triple play. That means that virtually all VOIP subs are bundled. Average revenue per VOIP sub
dropped $3 per sub due to bundling. Will VOIP turn a profit after bundling expires? When is Comcast going to start adding video subs? Verizon Wireless is a symmetrical offset to
landline losses. What
is Comcast's offset to video losses? Comcast claims to have the most video experience. Why is Comcast last in HD?

netcool
@comcast.net

netcool

Anon

Re: Comments?

They lost basic subs which is to be expected, they are adding digital subs which are more profitable anyway.

At this point basic subs are becoming a liability since they make it harder for Comcast to phase out analog channels.

Basically analysts thought VZ would wipe the floor with Comcast with their Fios product. It turns out Comcast has stolen not only landline customers from them but DSL subs as well.

VOIP is very profitable even after bundling expires thanks to its low upkeep costs.

ultracooldave
@verizon.net

ultracooldave to Rick5

Anon

to Rick5
The "answer" to the phone companies- MagicJack! I have 3, they all work perfectly and I no longer have any regular telephone except dry loop dsl. You cannot beat $20 a year unlimited and I am sick of looking at my phone bills with all the bleeding heart tax add-ons. I have even given up Vonage-I can get a year with MJ for a month with Vonage and it tasks less bandwith and is better quality!

jimbo48
join:2000-11-17
Asheville, NC

jimbo48

Member

Comcast offerings?

I'm not quite in love with Comcast as some. It seems strange that they can offer 16/2 on the East coast for the same price I can get 6.0/768 here on the West coast where there is no competition from AT&T or Verizon and DSL is still at 1.5/256
I had Comcast cable but grew tired of their constant rate increases, outages, failure to respond to service calls and without a single upgrade to quality and offering in what I was receiving. Every rate increase was to provide for better service, offering and quality or so they said.
I am now poised to give them a chance to prove that they are a good provider and provide TV cable and Internet that is reliable, well-maintained and provides enough bandwidth to run VOIP on two lines.We'll see if they can walk the walk and live up to their talk!

dadkins
Can you do Blu?
MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA

dadkins

MVM

Re: Comcast offerings?

Hey neighbor!
I'm here in Hercules with only AT&T(SBC) DSL as an alternative... guess what!
Yeah, I have 16/2 Blast @ the same price as what was 8/768 - $52.95 per month.

HSI has not had a price increase($10 extra for speed excluded) in the ~5 years I have had Comcast HSI.

The 6mbps service will not get a freebie upgrade to 16/2, sorry!
You should have 1mbps upload speed though(I think).
Pay the extra $10.00 per month and you likely can get 16/2.

»16/2 or 12/2 tiers in California
Rick5
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06

Rick5 to jimbo48

Premium Member

to jimbo48
I'm on the east coast and don't get 16/2.

Their are pockets of customers who do throughout New England, namely where fios is competing. But that sure isn't here in Ct.

Cheese
Premium Member
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL

Cheese

Premium Member

Re: Comcast offerings?

No 16/2 here either.

hopeflicker
Capitalism breeds greed
Premium Member
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA

hopeflicker

Premium Member

yeah, right

Do you really believe what these companies spew in their PR releases?

••••••••

Catmando
Catmando
Premium Member
join:2002-10-22
Lafayette, IN

Catmando

Premium Member

Comcast Beats Back Telcos In Q2

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007, AT&T's reported fourth-quarter revenues totaled $30.3 billion, up from $15.9 billion in the year-earlier quarter. AT&T's 2007 reported results reflect the Dec. 29, 2006 acquisition of BellSouth Corporation and the accompanying consolidation of wireless results. AT&T's reported net income for the fourth quarter totaled $3.1 billion, or $0.51 per diluted share, compared with $1.9 billion, or $0.50 per diluted share, in the year-earlier quarter.

mustang50
Premium Member
join:2005-05-06
Roseville, MI

mustang50

Premium Member

Telco

So lets see..I could drop Comcast for TV and internet ...
Get U-verse for them...more HD's..lower price..less compression

I could keep Comcast for my phone..nah that would be silly

BUT...... WHO'S THE TELCO NOW?

meh37
@verizon.net

meh37

Anon

I just canceled my Comcast service...

I'm a trend-setter: they'll take a hit next quarter.

You can get a landline and long-distance now for less than half of what Comcast wants for CDV.

•••••