Tying the Knot with Comcast

In a post last December, I joked that because I bought a customer-owned modem I was “Married to Comcast.” I should have called it a pre-nuptial agreement. The real wedding took place today. We just tied the knot for at least two years.

My December bill from Comcast included an 18 percent price increase. Curious about the higher rate, I called Billing for an explanation. The man I talked to explained that the promotional discount I was getting for bundling voice, Internet, and cable TV ended in November. He was unable to find another service discount that applied to my situation and passed me on to an account specialist.

I explained to a nice lady that I couldn’t afford the increase and would need to drop one of the services—my usual spiel when I try to “negotiate” a lower monthly rate. Right off, based on asking me what channels I watch the most, she suggested that I change to a lower level digital package. While that would help, the real savings came when she told me about their “new-customer” contracts. Apparently this concept, which appears to be out of a cell phone company’s playbook, applies to old customers too.

By agreeing to a two-year contract, my monthly rate would drop from $159.95 to $112.95 (29 percent). (That’s before any additional services, fees, and taxes.) Some of the $47 decrease came from switching from digital preferred to digital starter. The rest was due to the long-term contract. Sign me up.

Like with any contract, there are drawbacks. It is a contract. With only a few exceptions (like a job-related move), if you want out, you have to pay a hefty termination fee. And Comcast has a built-in price increase of about $10/month in my case for the second year. Plus I suppose it will keep me from thinking about having a fling with Dish or DirecTV.

Is this a smart move on Comcast’s part? The monthly savings seem to more than compensate for signing a contract. By my calculation the termination fee will be paid for in less than four months. Also, it’s not like I’m going anywhere although perhaps, overall, customer defections are a problem. Comcast must be concerned about the move away from land lines, the proliferation of tablets, and the many alternatives to cable TV.

But I’m an old fogey who doesn’t want to bother with streaming TV signals through my computer or whatever you do to compensate for the dismal over-the-air reception we get in this area. Plus I don’t own a tablet or a laptop.

Here’s the ring. Let’s do it.