(For Tiramisu)
U.S. Internet service provider Comcast has a quiet online promotion going for existing customers that more than doubles Internet download speed to, hold your breath, sweetie, a blazing 50Mbps at no extra cost.
I’m sure, all you desis in New Jersey, California, Delaware, Chicago etc are already excited!
The upload speed is also enhanced to 10Mbps.
Sweetie, Not Bad!
Not bad at all, na. 🙂
Of course, as with all U.S. promotions it depends on where you live and other weird restrictions that greedy corporations like Comcast impose on you!
Here’s the proof of my upgrade!
SI’s Blazing Speed – 50Mbps, Kid!
Old Service
We were previously on a Comcast Double Play (Basic TV and Internet) plan that cost us roughly $75 (including taxes) every month. Our average download speed previously was around 20Mbps and upload speed 2-4Mbps.
On a whim, the other day we googled for a Comcast Promotion for existing customers.
Among the results, there was one that took us to a Comcast page that required us to enter the telephone number on our account and the last four-digits of our social security number.
Voila, one of the options we got was Digital Blast Plus for $69.99 that includes 50Mbps download and 10Mbps upload PLUS free HBO.
HBO? Ooh…I Love Bill Maher!
The promotional price of $69.99 is for 12-months. After that, it’s something like $89.99.
Painful Promotion
Getting the promotion is a bit of a pain because the deal is available only online.
When I called Comcast on the phone, the rep couldn’t find the promotion.
Shame! The deal is not available on the phone!
Upon the phone rep’s suggestion to go ahead and sign up online, I picked the option I wanted.
The Comcast rep in West Texas waited patiently on the phone while I signed up online.
During the multi-step signup process, a modem is automatically added. Make sure you uncheck the box if you have your own modem to avoid additional monthly fees.
After going through the process, I was hit with a surprise.
At the end, I was asked to confirm the selection via a chat.
Wow, Wow, whaddaya think happened next?
Of course, an Indian (outsourcing!) rep came on the chat screen and after confirming my account details told me Comcast would ship me a new digital set-top box for $9.95.
Being the cheapo desi, I quickly told him I’d pick up the box at the Comcast office down the road to save on the $9.95.
Poor Service
The local Comcast office is plain awful.
The gum chewing young lady at the center was clueless about her job and repeatedly messed up.
She was so hopeless that she required the assistance of two colleagues to complete the process.
Plus, she messed up and wasted my time!!
When we wanted to complain to her supervisor about the errors on our receipt, a Comcast guy waddled over to us.
This guy had the demeanor of one who’s stuffed one Big Mac too many in his anterior orifice.
Ha ha ha, Brian Roberts has a penchant for hiring the worst of the lot! 😉
The supervisor blah-blahed and then volunteered his business card and a signed declaration that no new DTA (some Comcast gobbledygook) had been issued but failed to note we’d returned a DTA (a Comcast device).
After we told the gentleman to his face that he was “rude and incompetent,” the man got uppity and bragged how he’d handled millions of dollars in his old job at Bank of America.
Ha ha ha, Bank of America, Ha ha ha, Bank of America, ha ha ha! What the f*ck was he doing at that Comcast then? 😉
Finally, we’d had to tell him, No more of your Filibuster, kid and walked out on the bozo as he was blabbering about his Bank of America days!
Bottom Line
All in all, it’s a painful sign-up process for the 50Mbps promotion.
Did Harold Robbins really say, No Pleasure Without Pain! 🙂
Still, Blast Plus promotion was worth it considering my download speed went up to 50Mbps and I got Free HBO for the same price (actually, a couple of dollars less overall per month).
My speed test tells me I’m getting the promised speed and my Internet download speed is faster than that of nearly 90% of Americans.
No kidding, I have the Speedtest proof!
Overall, Not a bad deal for $69.99, Sweetie!
BTW, the 250GB monthly bandwidth cap has also been suspended (Tiramisu, U listening?).
Go for it!
Wow! Comcast Stealthy Promotion Doubles Internet Speed to 50Mbps at Same Cost added by SearchIndia.com on
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Thanks for posting this SI.
I am currently on a NJ Suckers plan paying over $100 for TV and 50MBps internet. I signed up for this plan online.
Just like you describe when I “check out” my plan, online chat window appears with Mr.India. He is helpful and tried to sell me more sh*t that I did not need. I stuck to my guns and asked for “Blast Plus”. I was also hit with $1.99 processing fee.
This is ridiculous – I am existing customer using their online service, opted out of paper statements and they hit me with a $1.99 processing fee to change from one plan to another.
Comcast sucks.
After my session ended, I was presented with a survey, I filled out the survey in all earnest hoping that it might catch the fancy of survey processing software that comcast might be using …
When I hit enter on the survey this is what I got –
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error ‘80040e57’
String or binary data would be truncated.
One more time – Comcast Sucks. I wish these politicians would do something to end the monopoly of cable companies having exclusive geography based rights.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
$100 for Double Play is a Rip-Off!
Sad, Verizon stopped its FIOS expansion.
Where there’s no competition, the consumer gets shafted!
10 MBPS is more than sufficient for HD streaming, which is the highest bandwidth consumer for regular home use.
Unless you are running a small business out of your home requiring huge bandwidth, using 4K streaming (that is if you have the TV), 50 MBPS is unnecessary for home use, at this point of time.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
I was actually getting 20-22Mbps download previously.
But it’s nice to get faster speed and free HBO for the same price. Why settle for a Blackberry when you can get an iPhone 5 for the same price? 😉
I’ll confess to seeing only a slight jump in performance (because as you suggested 50Mbps is overkill for what I do).
The good part – Almost everything (except YouTube) loads instantly.