Comcast, aka Ben Dover

When I moved into my house 6 years ago, there were two choices for high-speed internet service: Time Warner and BellSouth--both were similarly priced, as I remember. 45 bucks, give or take. I don't remember why I picked cable (Time Warner), but I did. Been happy as a lark. I could probably count on one hand and have fingers left over how many times it's been down for any significant period of time. I bought me a DLink wireless router and got up and running with WEP and stuff with no probs whatsoever. BellSouth would occasionally send unsolicited mail or call me in an effort to have me jump ship, but the small price difference wasn't enough to justify all the hassles of switching equipment and embark on the seemingly endless process of updating my numerous online accounts and personal contacts with my new info.

Until now. Comcast has come to town and realized that $44.95/mo just ain't cutting it. So I get a letter stating that starting July 1, it'll be 5 bucks more. OK, I could possibly go with that. But that's not where it ends. Starting 1/1/08, this rate will be almost $61 if I keep the cable modem, or if I go buy my own they'll toss me some crumbs and only charge me $57.95. So let me get this straight... In order to keep my identical setup, you're jacking up my rate 35%. Wow. Now, let's look at BellSouth's rate, shall we? DSL Xtreme is 37.95, and Xtreme 6.0 is $42.95. Or I can keep Comcast and pay almost $20 more. BellSouth is also getting me discounts on my phone bill and DirecTV, but that's just gravy, IMO. I changed service because it just boggles my mind that Comcast feels that their service is so great that their pricing can be so non-competitive.

Oh well. Mr. Comcast executive...This user is about to close his account, and it shouldn't be hard to figure out why.