Comcast Charges Blast! vs HSI Services... Charges?

[jayarebee84]

I noticed recently after my mom complained about the cost of the Comcast Services per month (nothing unusual everyone does).... She said that "they are turning our internet speed down to the 50-75mbps plan."

I got to thinking... umm I believe we have always had that anyway, because our modem which is an older Arris is a Docsis 2.0 and tops out on speed-tests around 35-50mbps anyway. We've never had any issues with the speeds or connectivity, we've been with Comcast for more than 15+ years.. But lately the prices have been ridiculous, and I'll explain below.

In June we received an email from Xfinity, asking if we'd like to Upgrade to Blast! for free, they'd send us a NEW Docsis 3.0 modem. We accepted. On 7/16/2015 we received it, hooked it up, activated it.. and yes our average speeds off our speed-test site went from 35-40mbps to about 120mbps. Pretty awesome, however it only lasted 2 weeks. They shut our services off because we did not pay our bill on time. We called up and paid that same morning, they turned everything back on (TV, phone, Internet)... everything popped on within 5 minutes... besides the Internet.

I spent all day with their tech support trying to get the NEW Cisco Modem back online, it would not stay connected for more than 5 minutes at a time without resetting itself, they (support) blamed the modem, LUCKILY I had our old Arris modem in the box as I did not send it back yet, we hooked it back up and everything was back to normal.

I checked our Comcast Billing Statements back to last year, they charged us for Comcast's High Speed Internet "service" all of last year, the last month being billed for it was October (shown on the November Statement).

The December statement that explains your previous month's bill, November, was when they started charging us for Blast! Internet Service... my understanding of the difference in plans is Blast! is their 150mbps download plan, and HSI is their "average" 50mbps download plan... I am not sure the pricing difference as it is conveniently "bundled" into one of their many little "Xfinity Services Packages".

So we basically got 2 weeks of Blast! service. We've been charged for Blast! since November 2014 up until this month (Sept 15). We did not even get notified that we got changed to Blast! until about June, via an email to our 3 email accounts. It asked us if we wanted a New Modem for "Free", we said yes. We got in July 16th, hooked it up... and disconnected it July 29th (more like they disconnected it).

So all these months they charged us for Blast! instead of "regular" HSI-High Speed Internet, I am not sure of the difference in the plan because by just looking at their statements they hide the prices really good. You can tell that the Modem Rental is $8.00 a month, that the Landline Telephone is $10.00 a month, but the Xfinity Bundle Services Package sometimes says:

Sept 2015: "HD Premier XF Bundle $214.99" and lists the channels you get, Starz, HBO, then throws in Blast! Internet, Xfinity Unlimited Voice"

Oct 2014: "HD Premier XF $159.99" same deal, lists channels Stars, HBO, High Speed Internet, Digital Voice Unlimited."

I'll provide a better breakdown below... whenever Comcast is questioned about these packages, or services, they will say you received a "promotion from x to y..." and you can see sometimes on the bills... unfortunately there is a different promotion every month or so... sigh.

It looks like the difference of about $55'sh per month based on the Blast! vs HSI, because you'll see below the services, channels, etc.. are all basically the same. I know what channels we've had for the past 20 years here, the same ones....

Anyway maybe this helps below... but sorry for the long post, but does anyone know the exact prices of the Blast! vs HSI, the packages, we want the cheapest from Comcast... because they've been charging us $204.00USD one month, then $214.00 the next, and one time $244.00 for a month and said our "promotion ended"... We've thought about Verizon, but it's basically C vs V in this area, just the 2 providers for TV/Internet... same services, and very similar prices...

We are currently (or supposedly) paying them for HSI service again now instead of Blast! (which they charged us for the last 10 months). Unfortunately, we cancelled all the nice TV channels and Networks to get the bill back down to $150'sh per month.... I really want to find out the Internet Service Rates Per Class of Service... HSI vs Blast! I can figure out the special channels and prices later....

The main reason I am complaining is because they charged us for a 125mbps dl plan when we didn't even have a modem capable of that speed. Maybe we should have known that, but we honestly had no idea... I imagine that Comcast sure as heck knows who has what speed/capability modems... I mean they did send me an email about a month before sending us the NEW Docsis 3.0 modem that "Your are eligible for a faster modem for your service, accept and for free receive a new modem!" JEEZ, thanks! So for the past 7-8 months or whatever you KNEW we didn't have a modem capable of the speeds and plan we were paying you for? Awesome! I knew so because of the domains they have/had us on... for our 2.0 Arris we connect to an older (slower?) hsd1.nj.comcast.net ..... and the newer modem was connected to something xxx1.pa.xfinity.net or something... we live in NJ, we aren't that far from the border of PA, but it's still 70 minutes or so away....


D Premier XF
11/08/14
12/07/14
159.99
Triple Play Bundle
12 Month Promotion
Includes:
Digital Premier (Inc: Limited Basic @ $15.40,
1 Digital Converter @ $2.15, 1 Remote Control @
$0.18
HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax
Sports Entertainment Package
DVR Service
HD Technology Fee
High-Speed Internet
Digital Voice Unlimited

HD Premier XF Bundle
09/08/15
10/07/15
214.99
Includes Digital Preferred With HBO,
Showtime, STARZ, Cinemax, Streampix,
Sports Entertainment Package, HD
Technology Fee, Digital Converter, Access To
On Demand Programming, Blast! Internet
And Xfinity Voice Unlimited

[Philip]

Those seem to be the differences between their promotional and regular prices.. Not a difference between the Internet tiers only. They do run bundle promotions all the time, however, many are just for new customers, or when upgrading. Some are time limited, like your first example is "12 Month Promotion" price.

HSI and Blast speeds vary depending on markets.. I believe in my area they are:
HSI/Internet Plus is 25-30 Mbps ($69.95 default price, discounted by $15 when bundled with other Comcast services)
"Blast" starts at 50-60-75 Mbps, many times offered with bundles for additional $10..

Just call and ask for current promotions, tell them you want to downgrade to about half of what you're paying and see what offers you can get. If you can't get anywhere that way, just downgrade to the lowest tier for a month or two and call again. Keep in mind they also have $39 charge for "change of service" I believe.

[bfallona]

I switched to Comcast Internet last year from Centurylink and my speed bumper to 125mbs also from about 9mbs. This week I dropped Dish Network and went with the Triple Play package. To make it easy I went into my local store and did some begging. The store mgr got me a sweet deal but I had to drop the speed to 50mbs. Still plenty fast to stream video etc to my tv. I had some minor issues after the install and while the Chat feature on Infinity's website was okay, I was still confused over what it might cost me to go back up. I found in their Forums under customer service a link to email the excutive VP's office. I was stunned when I got a call back the same day and the assistant on the phone not only cleared up all my issues, got me a better deal on the tv package but told me the exact cost to go back up to the higher speed and did all of the above ( programming changes on my tv & my speed bump ) while we were on the phone. Fantasic service.

[Philip]

Thanks for sharing... Do you want to share that contact information for other users' benefit so that they can potentially have their issue resolved ?

It's been my experience that Comcast techs are great (not subcontractors), and their Internet speeds are usually great. But, there are some negatives that come with the "package" deal as well:

1. Their sales teams are too aggressive and skirt explaining the total cost + modem rental + HD fees + taxes + "service change fee" to customers.
2. Once your "preferred" pricing time is up, you get quietly slammed with 30-40% price increase.
3. If you experience issues, your equipment is usually blamed. I've had an experience where they claimed my modem was obsolete (while it is on the preferred list), that the modem is bad (while I was getting problems in peak times - 900ms lag between 5-11pm), that my line in the house must be the issue, etc... While the actual problem was a bad tap (return signal level), and oversubscribed node, something they would never admit to.
4. New customers always get the "preferred" pricing. I am willing to drop the service for a few months if it saves me 40%, but why should I have to, where is my loyalty discount ?

I've never had the above issues when I was in a Verizon/Bright House/Time Warner area.

Still, if you get a discount from the regular pricing and the node is not oversubscribed, speeds are great !

[cableguy101]

You might be interested to know that Comcast is being sued (https://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/10/18/213238/plaintiffs-from-seven-states-sue-comcast-for-misleading-hidden-fees) for doing very similar things to other customers. Don't know if you're in one of the seven states listed, but you might want to look into it...