Blog: Comcast doesn't care about their business customers

Comcast doesn't care about their business customers

Bitter, party of one, your table is ready!

As you know, I run a business. It's a home-based business, so my needs for Internet speeds are not as great as they once were (I'm not hosting e-mail or Websites on my home server anymore), but I need a static IP address, which I pay for and is not offered on the residential plans. I also live in an area where DSL just is not an option. I'm too far from the central office for it to work. So, it's Comcast for me.

To use that static IP address, I need to pay for Business Internet. I've done so for seven years at a cost much higher than my neighbor who has the home version of the same service.

A few months ago, Comcast decided to start charging all customers $7 a month (in my area) for an equipment fee for my cable modem. I've never had to pay that fee and I understand the need for it, so I called looking for options. The operator said to just go buy my own modem.

Solution! Problem solved. I purchased my own Motorola SURFboard SB6120 (which was approved by the Comcast Website). It arrived and I went to set it up only to find out when I called to activate it I couldn't activate it because I have a static IP address.

Frustrated, I called Comcast Billing and was told that is the case, I shouldn't have been told I could purchase my own equipment and was basically out of luck. The person I spoke with did say Comcast would be offering the option of purchasing the modem (the seven-year-old modem) in the near future, but there was no timetable to make it happen and offered me a two-month credit for the $7 fee.

Honestly, that's not acceptable. I'm being double or tripple-dipped on by having to pay for the business service so I can pay for a static IP address so I can pay for the fee on the modem.

I'm waiting to see if and when they offer the purchase of the modem, but I presume it will be more than what I am paying if I purchased a new one. Plus, did I mention my modem is seven-years-old!

Amazing!