[THE NEWCOMER]

We received a letter from ClearLink Communication stating they could connect up our cable. We decide to go with the basic cable for now. Hopefully our courtyard villa is per wired for cable and internet. I made an appointment and was quote a price of 52.95 for the first outlet and 34.99 for each additional outlet. Considering I have a three bedroom I figured at least four outlets (157.92). Is this the going rate for connecting cable per outlet? Is there a cheaper way to get basic cable. Is it cheaper to get Comcast Cable in Leeburg to do the hook up? I need some help, I'm going broke!Thanks!

[Skybo]

We had our's done by Comcast. They activated 3 outlets "for free" and charged $52.95 for the 4th outlet. If Clearlink is going to charge you an activation fee for each outlet, then I'd go directly through Comcast.

[getdul981]

To my knowledge, when we had Comcast hook us up, they activated all the outlets. The guys tied all the cables togethere outside in the box and now every cable outlet in the house can be used for basic cable. We can move the DVR's around if we want to too. I don't remember there being any extra charge for hooking everything together, just the service fee for the hook-up.

[THE NEWCOMER]

UPDATE! Just got off the phone with COMCAST and they charge $69.95 for three outlets. If the house is wire inside it's $24.00 for each additional connection. (4th, 5th, etc.) COMCAST RECOMMENDS DO THE WHOLE HOUSE AT INITIAL INSTALLATION. It's cheaper than calling them back at another time. If the house needs additional wiring inside (New Outlet) its $59.95 per outlet. The basic cable is $16.95 a month.

[PennBF]

It is unfortunate but you have to watch how much growth in fees there are after a year or so. Also their customer service (Comcast) is lousy ! I am reminded of the old Eastern Airlines business models. They grew fast and treated their customers very badly. They failed when competition started to eat away at their customer base. I think this may be similar to the current
way Comcast is acting and the ultimate results. With the influx of options to service, (e.g. Century Link, DirectTV, etc.etc.) it may be only a matter of time before the competition builds up a confidence factor with the Comcast customer base and starts to see a large move over in providers. I don't see
any move on their part to avoid the pit falls that Eastern went through. A good and very easy example of what I am saying is try calling them up to
report a problem or ask for a change in dates, etc. It will take about 1/2
hour on the phone, you will get continual messages saying "call back later" but in fact if you stay on the 1/2+ hour someone will come on. Then answer their How Satified Were You from the call. It appears this goes down
the black hole of disregard.

[Tom Hannon]

Below are a list of the good things I can say about Comcast:

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[Skybo]

Originally Posted by PennBF

A good and very easy example of what I am saying is try calling them up to
report a problem or ask for a change in dates, etc. It will take about 1/2
hour on the phone, you will get continual messages saying "call back later" but in fact if you stay on the 1/2+ hour someone will come on. Then answer their How Satified Were You from the call. It appears this goes down
the black hole of disregard.

I agree. I signed up with Comcast as a temporary solution for my television needs. I signed up with Century Link for internet and will switch over to them for television when their Prism TV is available in fiber optics.

The two times I've needed to call Comcast since I had it installed, I was on hold for 45 min - 1 hour each time before actually speaking to someone...not counting all of the "call back later messages" that I hung up after. I didn't realize that if you stayed on the line they would eventually come on. They also occasionally have a "would you like us to call you back option" that you can sometimes get. But they never call back.

[logdog]

Comcast normally charges $46 for the first pre-wired outlet and $20 for each additional outlet. Sometimes they do run specials. I had them do two outlets, one for the internet and one for the living room. I activated the rest of my outlets with a spliter thinking my house, my box and Comcast doesn't charge by the outlet. Well, when Comcast came by on a service call and saw what I had done, they cut all the wires that weren't theirs and threw away all my couplers.

One more reason why I ditched Comcast for DirecTV.

[getdul981]

I would think that once you have the service inside your house, you can split it and run cables wherever you like. I did that in VA, and Comcast had no problem with what I did.

[jjdees]

I don't think I can recall a company in my lifetime that has a worse reputation than Comcast. How do they still remain in business? It must be a lack of choice. I'd hate to think that they're the better choice in a group of bad choices.