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Couple bought home in Seattle, then learned Comcast Internet would cost $27,000 Login/Join 
Striker in waiting
Picture of BurtonRW
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I have personal experience with this one.

Mrs. BurtonRW’s family farm house sits about 1/8 of a mile off of the main, but rural road. Everybody else along the road has Comcast service, so there is a trunk line running down that road.

It took me more than three months of making multiple phone calls, sending emails, and even visiting a corporate office to get them to finally send out an engineer to give us a quote on running line up to the house for service. Even though the power is above ground on a series of perfectly serviceable utility poles, they quoted me over $30,000 for a new buried service.

When I questioned why ours couldn’t be run on the poles like everyone else’s, they said they wouldn’t do it, but we could hire a utility contractor on our own to run the line from the house to the street and leave extra cable at both ends for them to make the connection.

When they quoted me $9000 just to make the connections at the street and put a box on the house, I didn’t even bother calling a utility contractor to get a quote on running the line.

Absolutely insane.

My mother-in-law has been making do with a hotspot for years, and she has DISH for tv, but she can’t stream much. It’s crazy.

Like the Seattle guy in the OP‘s story, this is a densely populated area in Annapolis. It just happens to be that the street she lives on is very old and basically lined with what used to be or still are farms. Comcast came through at some point and made sweetheart deals with the residents, but she and my now-deceased father-in-law obviously didn’t see the need at the time.

Certainly a mistake in hindsight.

-Rob




I predict that there will be many suggestions and statements about the law made here, and some of them will be spectacularly wrong. - jhe888

A=A
 
Posts: 16337 | Location: Maryland, AA Co. | Registered: March 16, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
I can't tell if I'm
tired, or just lazy
Picture of ggile
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Here in rural SoDak I don't have access to natural gas, major internet connections and for a few months, several years ago, I didn't have 'good' access to decent phone service.

I now get my internet through a local company that was established just for area folks like me who can't get internet service otherwise.

Maybe that home owner in Seattle should check around to see if there are any private internet providers available.


_____________________________

"The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living."

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Posts: 2116 | Location: South Dakota-pheasant country | Registered: June 20, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of cparktd
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Daughter DID do her due diligence and still got left out.

Cable company was called and they assured her they could serve the house she was going to buy, before she bought it. Company's sub contractor came out and ran and buried the cable, ran it into the house. Only when a tech came out to actually set it up did they find out it would not work. They didn't even provide service on that road.

Think about it... Some jerk 3rd party contractor got paid to run cable into the house from the pole and he did that... somehow he just failed to mention to the cable company there was no cable service run to the pole!

Daughter was PISSED, cable company just said Sorry.



Collecting dust.
 
Posts: 4239 | Location: Middle Tennessee | Registered: February 07, 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of Prefontaine
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It’s referred to a coax build or fiber build. I have to get them done at work all the time. I mean I deal with it daily. Build cost for fiber or coax, from $20k, to 50k. That’s if they have service in the area. That’s the usual range. I get out of paying it via term. I’d have to have more info on the OP to know. Were they calling the MSO and whining and being bitches? Did they offer to sign a contract with a commit to 36 months, 60 months? A contract for service, on a cable modem/coax connection it’s a 1 pager, 2 pages at most. Usually if the LEC or MSO is close, and you’re willing to sign a contract of 3 years or more, it doesn’t cost these quoted prices for a build. But there are caveats. Do they need a railroad permit? Is the city at which the dig will be in, a major PITA as it pertains to permits? There are all sorts of variable.s

I’m going to move rural in the next couple of years and know part of my build will be 30-50k to run either fiber or coax to the property. I’ll pay it too. Due to my job, ironically in the circuit business, I need dual WAN. So satellite or 5G, or fixed wireless, well I will only accept any of those as a backup WAN solution for my property. At least until I can retire then it won’t matter as much.



What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone
 
Posts: 13291 | Location: Down South | Registered: January 16, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of Pyker
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Cost for Fiber hi Speed internet line to our house in the back of beyond MN = 0 Dollars.

We called the guys who had a junction box in our road and they came out and trenched in a line to the house, about 150 yards, and hooked it up. They did cut a few irrigation lines in the yard which cost me a couple of hundred to fix, but other than that, nothing. They even re-seeded the lawn where they'd dug.

We knew we'd have no NG and the cell service was bad, but with Wifi and a booster, it's a non-issue.

Those two idiots in Seattle should have checked before they bought. Caveat Emptor baby.
 
Posts: 2763 | Location: Lake Country, Minnesota | Registered: September 06, 2019Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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They both work from home and have to have internet to do their job. Sounds like a cut and dried business expense to me. These folks are just looking for a handout and sympathy.
 
Posts: 1180 | Registered: July 23, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fire begets Fire
Picture of SIGnified
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Or they could ask Verizon or Ziply for fiber quote. Digging a trench only takes one day and a couple of guys/sons





"Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty."
~Robert A. Heinlein
 
Posts: 26758 | Location: dughouse | Registered: February 04, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
אַרְיֵה
Picture of V-Tail
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quote:
Originally posted by Veeper:

it’s not the government’s job to provide for you - especially internet.
I'll need to check the details on my bill (cable & internet from Spectrum). I'm pretty sure that one of the tax / junk fee items is a government fee that has something to do with subsidizing internet access for people who otherwise would not have it.



הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
 
Posts: 31851 | Location: Central Florida, Orlando area | Registered: January 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
'm pretty sure that one of the tax / junk fee items is a government fee that has something to do with subsidizing internet access for people who otherwise would not have it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Please do. Thanks
 
Posts: 17759 | Location: Stuck at home | Registered: January 02, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Res ipsa loquitur
Picture of BB61
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We had this exact problem for around 17 years. We bought a new home in 2002 in a new subdivision. Along the way, Comcast/Xfinity never laid a line to the end of the street where we were located. We did have a phone line but it was so unreliable that several years ago, the foreman for the phone company at the time told us to drop them and go completely cellular.

We limped by with a Verizon router for a few years until a local broad band company got some towers near enough to us that we could use them. They worked fine for a few years until they got overloaded. We finally got a a break when a subdivision went in across the street. Another neighbor with the same problem, paid a contractor to dig a trench across the road to his house, while they were working on the road, he then had Xfinity run a line to his house from the new subdivision. It cost him about $500 to get everything done including the contractor’s work. The weird thing is that once there was a line, Xfinity came in and set up a new junction box in my front yard and then ran lines to everyone that needed it free of charge.

All in all, I think the costs in this article are absolutely BS. Based on our experience, Infinity/Comcast just didn’t want to bother with about 8 homes. When we did it ourselves, they were more than happy to finally set up a junction box.


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Posts: 12674 | Registered: October 13, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
On the wrong side of
the Mobius strip
Picture of Patrick-SP2022
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
quote:
'm pretty sure that one of the tax / junk fee items is a government fee that has something to do with subsidizing internet access for people who otherwise would not have it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Please do. Thanks


This refers to the Federal Universal Service Charge.
My last bill showed a charge of $8.78 for this.

Link to FCC site describing charge.
Link

quote:
Universal service is the principle that all Americans should have access to communications services. Universal service is also the name of a fund and the category of FCC programs and policies to implement this principle. Universal service is a cornerstone of the law that established the FCC, the Communications Act of 1934. Since that time, universal service policies have helped make telephone service ubiquitous, even in remote rural areas. Today, the FCC recognizes high-speed Internet as the 21st Century’s essential communications technology, and is working to make broadband as ubiquitous as voice, while continuing to support voice service.




 
Posts: 4193 | Location: Texas | Registered: April 16, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thank you. I have yet to see these funds in action.
 
Posts: 17759 | Location: Stuck at home | Registered: January 02, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
אַרְיֵה
Picture of V-Tail
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quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

Thank you. I have yet to see these funds in action.
Your government in action, doing the usual thing: tax the hell out of people, allegedly to fund a service, then don't provide that service.



הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
 
Posts: 31851 | Location: Central Florida, Orlando area | Registered: January 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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^^ Exactly. In spite of billion dollar handouts starting in the 1990s, the telco companies promise improvements, lobby, and ask for more money again

In the past, one could build a home in Iowa and the local telco was required by law to provide landline service to that home. That went away with a quiet change in state law saying basically everyone has cell phones and landlines are obsolete. Any home built now may have cell, copper/fiber telco, and cable service or none. Across the years, I've talked to several people that built or purchased a home with service promised by the builder or real estate agent. After closing, they called for service and were told their area has no service and there are no plans to add it.
 
Posts: 2385 | Registered: October 24, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
It's pronounced just
the way it's spelled
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The house where we have now lived for 11 years has no cable service, and Comcast has been promising to lay cable lines to our subdivision “soon” for about 10 years now. Now, I have a long standing near hatred for Comcast due to other houses in other states who were “serviced” by Comcast. But Comcast would be better than the phone company’s anemic DSL. I hope Starlink’s satellite internet is better than Hughes net. We finally got a decent internet service from an ISP that uses microwave dishes.

The tax to provide service to everyone is a f-‘n joke.
 
Posts: 1549 | Location: Arid Zone A | Registered: February 14, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of konata88
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Seems like if the city or county grants a monopoly to a service provider like comcast, that should include every house within those limits. Or at least enumerate which properties will be excluded and why. Ad hoc decisions shouldn't be allowed.




"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy
"A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book
 
Posts: 13362 | Location: In the gilded cage | Registered: December 09, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
That rug really tied
the room together.
Picture of bubbatime
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quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Cohn spent many months trying to get answers from Comcast on how he and Zenobi could get Internet service. Comcast ultimately said it would require installing 181 feet of underground cable to connect the house and that the couple would have to pay Comcast over $27,000 to make that happen. Cohn and Zenobi did not pay the $27,000, and they've been relying on a 4G hotspot ever since.]


This sorta thing happened to me at my last house. There was no disclosure about any internet, or lack thereof. The entire neighborhood, every house, had comcast high speed cable. Except for my house. 15-20 hours on the phone with Comcast, on the phone with supervisors, months and months worth of back and forth, with many service calls, many engineering studies, and the final outcome? Cant be done. Sorry pal, cant be done.

Wait a gosh darn minute. We can put a man on the moon in 1969 with 1969 technology, we can wire up every house around me with Comcast high speed internet, but my house, smack in the middle, cannot have high speed internet?! Nope. They said it cant be done.

Asked to speak with supervisors. And supervisors of supervisors. And then those supervisors above them. Just idiot bureaucracy. Sorry man, cant be done.

"I will fucking pay for it. Run the wire 100 feet from my neighbors house. Send me the bill. I don't care how much it cost." Sorry idiot, cant be done.

Dealing with Comcast / Xfinity is tiresome. Its a huge conglomerate with no ability to help anyone that needs help. And no one willing to make a fairly easy decision to run a fucking line 100 feet. Cant be done. Sorry.

This wasnt a rural area. This was 1/4 acre lots, suburban houses, hundreds or even thousands of homes in my neighborhood, all who were hooked up to Comcast high speed cable. But my house was apparently a Bermuda triangle like dead zone, with a zero percent possibility of success of hooking up a freaking line and then a modem. Impossible they said.

Thinking back now, I probably should have called a congress man or somebody higher up.


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Posts: 6720 | Location: Floriduh | Registered: October 16, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Thank you
Very little
Picture of HRK
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ATT put in fiber optic service to our area, and that service ended right outside the subdivision we are in, 66 homes.

This subdivision is dead in the middle of the entire development, tons of homes around us have fiber optic service.

Finally 5 years later, last year they ran fiber optic through the neighborhood, now have an inground box in the front yard as do others in the subdivision, only ATT didn't do it's discovery properly, and left 15 homes in the middle of a circle out of the install. Had to come back to do that.

Interesting enough all of the service trucks had South American license plates, and the crew while good, cleaned up well, did a proper job, not one was from the USA... All South American labor.

So how quick is the FO service, can't say, since a year later ATT hasn't connected the Fiber optic network for our neighborhood up to the main lines.

We have cable, so it's not an access thing, but for shits sake, you ran the cable, installed all the junction boxes, ran it down the street outside, just connect it for shits sake...

All that expense and labor and zero revenue..
 
Posts: 24844 | Location: Gunshine State | Registered: November 07, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
All South American labor

^^^^^^^^^^
Like Venzuela, Brazil and Columbia??
 
Posts: 17759 | Location: Stuck at home | Registered: January 02, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of henryaz
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They should check for a WISP (wireless ISP) in their area. These are not usually heavily advertised, but are discoverable, for example at DSL Reports. For our first 13 years here in AZ, until 2015, that is all we had (from a choice of 3 different WISPs). Speeds were not fantastic by today's standards, ranging up to 7Mbps down, all the time, and with low latency. Better than variable and more expensive cellular or crappy satellite. With today's better equipment, I understand WISPs can reach much higher speeds.



When in doubt, mumble
 
Posts: 10887 | Location: South Congress AZ | Registered: May 27, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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