Comcast begs Atlanta customers not to switch to Google Fiber

Comcast"s "Embarrasing" Customer Service Phone Call

Google Fiber recently went live in apartments and condos in Atlanta,making it the fourth metro area to get Google"s gigabit Internet service.Perhaps not coincidentally,Reddit user TheBen91 yesterday posted the above photo of a mailing from Comcast, in whichthe nation"s largest cable company tries to convince customers that it offers a better deal than Google Fiber.

"So I got this in the mail today. I think someone is scared of Fiber coming to Atlanta," the user wrote.

Comcast"s mailing touts"The fastest in-home Wi-Fi," "9X more FREE TV shows and movies On Demand," "DVR recordings to go," and the "X1 voice remote" as features that Google Fiber doesn"toffer. Notably absent from the Comcast/Google Fiber comparison are prices and data caps. Google Fiber offers gigabit downloads and uploads for $70 a month, without any monthly data caps. "Basic Internet" of 100Mbps costs $50 for Google customers in Atlanta.

Atlanta, meanwhile, is one of the cities where Comcast is enforcing a monthly data capon cable Internet with overage charges. The cap is 300GB a month with an option to pay$35 extra for unlimited data.

Comcast does provide a 2Gbps fiber service in Atlanta, but the standard price is $300 a month with $1,000 in startup fees (and no data cap). Atlanta is also slated to get Comcast"s gigabit cable service, which would provide gigabit download speeds and slower uploads, with prices not yet announced. There"s also no word yet on whether the standard data caps will apply to the gigabit cable service.

Reddit users mocked Comcast"s mailing. While Comcast says the Wi-Fi routerit provides is faster than Google"s, Redditors pointed out that they can buy third-party routers withfaster speeds. Google tells customersthat full gigabit speeds are only available with a wired connection to the Google Network box.

Voice control isn"t exclusive to Comcast, cadika_orade wrote, saying,"I don"t have a voice remote with my Xfinity, but I already have voice control on my Android device. Unless you get really, really technical, it"s all lies or at least intentionally deceptive advertising."

The URL on the Comcast mailing redirects to a page with a longer comparisonof Xfinity and Google Fiber. This page says Comcast has the "fastest available Internet speeds" in reference to that $300-a-month 2Gbps service. Comcast even tries to make the argument that its customer service is better than Google"s, pointing out that Comcast offers "guaranteed 2 hour appointment windows" while Google does not.

Comcast"s customer service problems arewell documented, though, with Comcast admitting it has a long way to go to fix its customer service. Even the two-hour appointment window boast may be misguided, as Google says it aims to "arrive promptly at the start of your appointment" and says its installers arrive on time 96 percent of the time.

Besides Atlanta, Google Fiber is live in Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri; Provo, Utah; and Austin, Texas, with tentative plans to build in an additional 16 metro areas.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/02/as-google-fiber-hits-atlanta-comcast-says-dont-fall-for-the-hype/