Downgrading Internet

Comcast raised the price of our internet connection this month as they have for the last few years. Our bill this month was an extra $6 per month for only interenet service. Meh.

I called and had them lower the speed of our grandfathered 150Mbps plan. We are now only getting 100Mbps. The grandfathered plan was originally 50Mbps, but through the “free” upgrades Comcast did over the last few years, the speed got all the way up to 150Mbps.

While 150Mbps is definitely nice, that was way too much for a family of four who are not heavily into streaming, downloading or online gaming. The 100Mbps speed should be just fine and it saves us $15 per month.

Comcast agents were quite insistent that I should get a bundle to save money per month. But, when I asked about the extra taxes and fees, they admitted that it could raise the specified price by around $10 per month. With the addition of TV there are fees and taxes that are not specified on the price given, things like broadcast fees, sports fees and taxes related to carrying TV over cable.

We need competition

I wish there was more broadband competition in this area. The two main providers are Comcast and AT&T. Comcast provides the best speeds, AT&T is just meh. There was, for a while, the hope that Google would finally get their act together and get Google Fiber launched in their own backyard. But, Google pulled out of those plans last year. Boo on Google.

Sonic is one of best internet service providers we’ve had at our house – between their excellent customer service, their easy pricing structure and a CEO that interacts regularly with customers on Twitter. But, we left Sonic because 10Mbps was just not enough. They are now reselling AT&T U-verse, but our house does not seem to qualify for the 50Mbps service (though our neighbor does for some reason). I am not sure I’d want to go back to DSL (fiber-to-the-node) service either – and Comcast’s 100Mbps service is just $25 per month more for than double the speed (Comcast internet speeds are usually 20% higher than they are listed for: 100Mbps results in 120Mbps, 150Mbps resulted in 180Mbps).

One thing that I do have to compliment Comcast on is that their internet is done correctly (IPv6 works perfectly on Comcast) and that the service has pretty much been rock solid (with a few hiccups that have been few and far between). My dealing with their customer service (twice today) was not bad at all and they got what I needed done quickly and efficiently.

So, for now, we have Comcast and I still want more competition in the area for broadband access.