Comcast: Affordable? Barely. Worth it? Hmm…

24 May, 2008  No Comment

My piggybank now

Triple play.  3 for $33 each.  What a deal right?  Haha, don’t kid yourself.

From experience, Comcast services will work roughly 80% of the month; therefore, rather than paying $99 for 30 days - $3.33 a day - the subscriber is paying $99 for 24 days of service - $4.13 a day.  Not to mention that $99 promotional rate goes up to $125 after 6 months.  Wohoo!  Hand me the Vaseline.

A year ago, Comcast was flourishing.  The economy was thriving, people had money to spend on luxury services like broadband internet and digital television.  Today they don’t.  Comcast is losing its subscriber base due to the incredibly high price of its service.

When comparing broadband internet price among the United States and Europe, a startling trend appears.  Many European prices have lower costs and higher bandwidth for their broadband subscribers than the United States.  Why is this?  Three reasons:

  1. No incentive for companies like Comcast to upgrade their lines - they have a monopoly
  2. No large political group challenges companies like Comcast, they are all paid to stay quiet.
  3. No competition among large cable providers.

Comcast’s price gouging days should be coming to an end.  That is quite a prediction, but is supportable by economic evidence.  Comcast must lower prices if they want to attract new customers in a recessionary economy like the one currently ravaging the United States.

“Sluggish consumer spending power means that the recovery may be a little slower and less vigorous, leaving it to corporations to spur the economy.

It will also take years for consumers to straighten out their household budgets since their debt burdens are near record highs. Americans put 14.3% of their disposable income toward debt in the first quarter, near the record 14.5% reached at the end of 2006. By comparison, the rate was 12.3% in 2000.

“Consumers just don’t have the cash right now that they had a few years ago,” said Hoyt, who expects the recovery to begin in the second half of 2008. “This obviously impacts their ability to spend, their confidence, their ability to service their debt and it’s going to continue even as the economy recovers.”"

Consumers are not spending right now, they don’t have the money to buy services like Comcast’s premium digital television or broadband internet.

What do you think the ideal fair market price for the three services Comcast provides is?  I’ll throw my money in the $59.99 ring.

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