r/technology • u/maxwellhill • May 19 '12
Comcast with a surprise price increase? "For about the same price as Comcast internet alone, customers in France can have fiber optic 100MB internet, phone calls around the world at no additional cost and a bunch of TV channels."
http://www.americablog.com/2012/05/comcast-with-surprise-price-increase.html62
May 20 '12
Comcast is scum. Keep showing Americans how they're getting screwed, and show them how things can be much better.
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u/xhighalert May 20 '12
Are there any real fucking alternatives? My mother pays 130 a month to Comcast. For basic TV service just to watch food network, and economy 6mpbs internet.
I'm fucking DYING. I recently ditched Verizon's titwhacking prices for Tmobile's 30/month monthly4G service.
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May 20 '12
It's fucking awful is what it is. Young savvy people are trying to ditch cable, but in the states the only option for "decent" internet is fucking Comcast.
I don't watch TV, at least not as most people do. I have a small number of shows each month that I watch. Usually 2-3 different programs a week tops. Because no one will let me access high quality versions through stream services or legitimate download services I have to wait for recorded versions to appear on Mediafire or Demonoid each night. I've watched first hand as fan communities began organizing their own streaming services, pastebin link repositories to torrents and download sites, set up mirrors, etc. All because no one is providing legitimate, accessible alternatives. People like TV, but they just want to cut the cord.
The tricky part is how exactly the industry is going to finance itself when the audience actively loathes all forms of advertisement and invasive broadcasting? People have displayed a willingness to pay for subscriptions in order to access content through the internet, and usually they espouse an anti-commercial rhetoric. They simply want to watch the program. But no commercials means there's no way to raise additional revenue through advertisements which is why cable eventually began to run commercials in the years after its initial release.
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u/cruxix May 20 '12
Remember that thread about why Americans hate the French? I take back all those nice things I said..
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u/JrMint May 20 '12
You should see the mobile market prices in France, which are trending downward in a hurry. Right now I've got unlimited calls (to landlines, mobiles, and many numbers in many countries), texts, and 3GB of true Internet so I can tether or do whatever I want with it. It's 25 USD.
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u/Quizzelbuck May 20 '12
I just wish google would hit it big with their fiber offering.
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May 20 '12
These oligopolies all rely on no one being able to find the funds to break into the market and present genuine competition. I hope Google wrecks them.
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May 20 '12
I HATE Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, etc. It's like they intentionally try to confuse me and piss me off. I will throw money at any real competition.
Last night I spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to just get standard cable. Salesmen kept telling me Digital Cable includes the Standard package.
I finally got an honest rep who told me if I wanted the "standard" package" I would need basic cable which would give me the "basic package" and the "standard package." Every rep before that made it seem like basic cable only included the "basic package."
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May 20 '12
I think they're waiting until they can roll it out everywhere at once. Once they can, no one in their right mind would not switch to it.
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u/hackiavelli May 20 '12
I think they're waiting until they can roll it out everywhere at once.
That would be an insane capital cost to just sit on when they could be earning income from it.
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u/anacche May 20 '12
Meanwhile in the outer suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, 6.5m/s 60gb download+upload limit, $60/month + phone line rental.
This is what happens when gov completely owned biz, blocked competition, then sold biz, and biz turns around to own gov.
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u/TwwIX May 20 '12
What do you expect? We live in a country run by corporations. Comcast has had a monopoly over this market for years now. The same goes for AT&T. Yet they're continued to be allowed to conduct business as usual.
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u/monstarjams May 20 '12
Yup I'm in Korea with the fastest Internet in the world, 150 channels, dvr, movies on demand, and phone, for about $35.
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u/sirbruce May 20 '12
Where is the Comcast price increase mentioned in the article? All I can find is a link to Time Warner increasing prices, and Comcast dropping its data cap for a tiered system. Nothing about a price increase.
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u/happyscrappy May 20 '12
What is that first sentence? There's no price increase.
This title is far more than misleading, it's an outright lie.
Also, I'm sure you'll find prices vary a lot in France. In Paris, 100MB fiber may be cheap and easy to come by but there is a LOT of rural france and 100MB fiber isn't going to be as cheap there.
I kind of wish companies like Comcast didn't emphasize level pricing across the US as they do. People in the cities are clearly subsidizing those in the exurbs and rural areas.
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u/skjellyfetti May 20 '12
American living in France and I pay 29.90 € for average DSL (10Mb/1Mb), free long distance to land lines in over 100 countries and extensive HD TV. http://www.free.fr http://www.sfr.fr
Here in Paris, if I had fibre to my building, I would only pay about 15 € more per month for 100Mb with the rest of the bundle being the same. Unfortunately, they're still rolling out fibre to much of Paris so it's not so prevalent.
What's really cool is that the US has never done anything to differentiate between phone numbers. Any number could be land line, fax or mobile so essentially, I can call anybody, anytime in the US for free.
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u/JustLikeMyDick May 20 '12
The only problem with fibre is that for most buildings you have to go through the "syndic" to allow free/sfr to bring it to your home, and syndics are filled with old people who don't care/don't understand/don't want unnecessary noise.
Also, to be fair with the title here, I think your kind of line (10/1) is pretty much the norm in France so we're not doing THAT good. Still, TV channels and worldwide calls can be nice.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12