I once helped a friend move into a new home, and her story was very similar

[G+_George Kozi]

Originally shared by Eli Fennell

 

I once helped a friend move into a new home, and her story was very similar.  Comcast indicated on their website that her new address would be covered by Comcast; a customer service rep confirmed this by phone; the inside of the home had a cable outlet as one would expect; there was space for a new box to be installed outside the apartment.  I wondered immediately, though, at why her neighbors had so many satellite dishes, most of them planted at ground level.  I also wondered at why two nearby convenience stores had busy Red Box video rental machines.

 

Then the Comcast service tech showed up on moving-in day, diddled around for a while, equally confused by the cable outlet and space and connections for a new cable box... until he discovered that there was no longer any connection between the buildings and the main cable infrastructure.  After another week of trying to get someone to do something, Comcast told her they no longer intended to service her location or any apartments in the complex.

 

Luckily, there was one other option for her: Verizon FIOS.  It cost more, but not so much more that she couldn't afford it, especially given the much faster connection speeds.  She was lucky.  Some of her less fortunate neighbors lived without proper broadband internet in their apartments, relying instead on dial up or mobile broadband connections.

 

The ISP's do this sort of thing deliberately.  We all know that.  They'd sooner pretend they covered an area, and give everyone the run around and waste a lot of time, than admit that the lack of broadband competition has stranded many Americans without something increasingly indispensable to our personal and professional lives.

 

This is what monopoly looks like: it literally leaves you with no other options, no matter how unfair or arbitrary the decisions made by the monopolists may be.

http://consumerist.com/2015/03/25/new-homeowner-has-to-sell-house-because-of-comcasts-incompetence-lack-of-competition

[G+_Lester Walters]

Two things I check for when considering a location. 1. Cell coverage 2. Broadband availability. Lack of either one is a deal breaker.

[G+_Ernest W]

I would trust Comcast to: take your money.

[G+_Adam Savino]

Awful state of affairs for consumers.

[G+_Dennis Mix]

I lived in a neiborhood where I had FIOS, loved it. Moved less than 1/2 mile down the street 3 blocks and they had Time Warner, I hated it. the worse part, there was FIOS there, you could see the service access ports on the sidewalks but they could not offer it.