Silicon Valley is known as the place to be for startups in the technology business, and with companies looking to move there next to some of the biggest names in the business, it comes as no surprise that companies are often after the best internet they can get. SmartCar initially thought that moving there would be like a dream come true for the company with the amazing deal Comcast was offering on their internet, that was until several months later when the company wanted $60,000 after not installing the internet.
Founder and CEO of SmartCar Sahas Katta moved the company office to Silicon Valley with the dream of it being the best place to start the company off. Looking for the best deal Katta found that Comcast was offering “Comcast Business” in their area, offering 100Mbps downstream and 20Mbps upstream for only $189.90 a month. After signing a deal to get the package Katta was told by Comcast that they would need to do a site survey to see if they were actually going to be able to match that promise.
The response was that the new office was “just outside of” the Comcast service zone. They deemed it financially unviable to run the cables required to the building and instead offered to bring fiber to the building after Katta signed a four-year contract paying $1,050 a month for the 100Mbps service he was originally promised. Having signed the lease for the new building Katta felt like there was no choice and signed, with the promise that he would have fiber within 120 days.
With the lease on the property ending Katta contacted Comcast stating that he wished to terminate the contract, at which Comcast stated that in order to cancel the contract SmartCar would need to pay $60,900.45 to cover “construction costs”.
Thankfully Comcast has waived these fees after Ars Technica got ahold of Comcast’s public relations team regarding the matter, and have even promised a refund of the $2,100 deposit that was already paid. Just goes to show that you need to read and check you can actually get the internet they promise before you sign the contract.
100Mbps is for peasants, and for 190/month you’re damn stupid to pay that much
these companies need to move to Romania…. 1GB/10 euros/month….. even Bernie is outraged
Hmmm I got a 100/20 line here at home, with no traffic ammount limit…. for that I pay the equivalent of 45 USD a month…. Tank god the free market of the US is not spread to the rest of the world. Those prices are ridiculous. USA leading the world again, in extremely overpriced services.
Internet infrastructure is in a weird place in the US. Rather than a monopoly, it’s Quadropoly. The big four each get their own turf because they pushed for laws making it illegal to share lines. Meaning they effectively can charge whatever they want with little to no worry about service quality. Customers have no choice but to move to a new area if they want a different land-based ISP.
There is little turf left for new providers and even Google Fiber is being challenged by them at every opportunity.