Avoid Comcast’s Internet Installation Activation Fee
Last November, the promotional rate on my Comcast Internet and digital cable service expired and jumped from a somewhat reasonable $70/mo rate to an ridiculously unreasonable $140/mo rate. We tried to do the Comcast cancel dance to no avail as the CSR said “I can’t do anything” and we said “I want to cancel” and the bozos at Comcast actually let us cancel. Almost the same day, Verizon started putting in signs around the neighborhood advertising their new FiOS service, fiber optic right to the house, and we were intruiged. Talking to the Verizon folks at their booth, it appeared that their rates would equal the promotional rates of Comcast so we decided we’d live without Internet for a couple weeks until they got the whole thing setup. Well, as expected, Verizon still hasn’t setup FiOS is our area so I’ve decided to sign back up with Comcast for their promotional rate.
Through Comcast Special I was able to score:
- $34.95/mo for six months promotional rate (it’s $19.99/mo if you already have cable)
- Free $90 cable modem
- $100 cash rebate
- No contract
So, how do you avoid that ridiculous $50 activation fee? Well, the activation fee is so that you have the pleasure of waiting at your home during a four hour window, where they will invariably show up an hour after the end of the window, just so the guy (or gal) can do one of two things:
- If you live in an apartment, he will unscrew your coaxial cable panel from the wall, and connect the cable on the inside with the jack, or,
- He will find the box outside, open it up (it’s hardly ever locked), and connect it.
So, to avoid the $50 charge, just connect it yourself and ask for the self-install kit (please do not steal cable and do not trespass on their property, I’m not advocating or condoning the theft of services that you aren’t paying for). If you have a cable modem, simply hook it up and try to open any website. A Comcast site will appear where you can download their installation CD software and you can do the installation yourself. If you don’t have a cable modem, wait for the modem to show up before you do all of this. If you’re patient, you can avoid the $50 fee but you can’t avoid a phone call, and the 30 minute wait because somehow they are always busy and they never hire more CSRs, to Comcast to activate your service.
The benefit is two-fold - not only do you avoid the $50 fee, you get internet the day you start paying… not two weeks later when their technicians are able to pencil you in for a four hour window they stand no chance of making anyway.
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There are 17 comments, add your thoughts now!
When I last signed up, I just asked if I could not pay the install fee, and they went for it. Hey, it’s worth a shot.
Wow - I had no idea you could install yourself - I always thought the activation fee was mandatory! Lesson learned.
I liked FIOS, but from what I can tell, there is a contract
I just moved two weeks ago and I can tell you this only works if you have existing cable-TV service. Otherwise, they will not allow self-install.
While you’re at it, hook up your phone and power as well. What’s a little legality when it comes to saving a buck?
Make sure you use you meter to get the levels correct so the modem doesn’t drop out every 10 minutes or so. It is important that you do this as you WILL be charged for any and all troulbe calls when a tech arrives to find you connected it yourself and proper procedures weren’t followed.
And if you only want cable modem service, if you connect yourself you get free TV service! At least until the cable company finds out and the police pay you a nice little visit.
So let’s do the math….$50 savings by connecting yourself, $30 charge for the tech coming out to the home to fix what you screwed up, $10,000 fine for illegal cable tv service=$9,980. You can deal with that, can’t you?
I never opened up the box outside my house but when I found out that all you needed was a television signal in order to run cable, I knew I didn’t have to get the install kit. I don’t advocate going to the box itself, opening it, and connecting it, I just meant that you can connect the jack inside your apartment if one exists.
I don’t advocate or condone stealing cable television.
If you get Comcast’s phone service too, the tech has to call some automated system and activate your number. So having a tech come out is kind of unavoidable as they won’t do this for you over the phone. When I first signed up I asked them to waive the install fee and the did, but when I moved I had to pay.
Nice commentary, sadly it has nothing to do with the entry. o.O
[...] you actually rented one. Also, if you can see cable television when you hook up your coax, you can cancel the activation appointment (and associated $35 fee, or however much it [...]
Gotta love this. Just had Comcast digital voice service installed in my home. I was suprised to see a $99 charge on the receipt for installation charge, which nobody told me about beforehand.
Like others have said, all the tech did was open the cable panel on my wall and plug in an additional cable jack, and then plugged in the phone to the now activated cable jack. Twenty minutes.
I called Comcast, and the CSR told me:
a) the tech did lots of “complicated” work hooking up my service
b) it would be ILLEGAL for Comcast to not charge an installation fee. Illegal??? They then nicely reduced the charge to $29.99. That’s on top of the other $29.95 for service activation (a charge I do understand).
I think the best way to avoid installation/activation fees is to act shocked when you are ordering the service and hear how much the fee will be, and then threaten to go with a different service. Comcast is really nice about making you happy when you call to complain. It should never get to that point in the first place.
Not the most Comcastic night for me.
Who wants to pay for something that you could do yourself? Personally, Comcast should make users aware of how to hook up your own cable. Unfortunately, more jobs and more money seems to be be important to them.
It sounds like people have had decent service with comcast… I wish I could say the same… In our first apartment, we signed up for Comcast internet and tv. We had this service for 2 years until we moved, I called and transfered the service to our new home. I asked the CSR point blank “so, service will be disconnected at so-and-so date and turned on at the new place?” and they said yes. Come to find out, , they never disconnected the original service and since I have auto-debit on my account, they have been charging me an extra $100 a month for our old apartment. This has been going on for over a year and just finally, after numerous phone calls, have recieved a measely $200 credit. Mind you, they’ve “stolen” over 1300 from my account. Their excuse? You have to make TWO phone calls to transfer service, one to start service and one to stop service…..
Anyone know how to avoid the cancellation fee with Comcast?
There are no cancellation fees! That’s the benefit of no contract with Comcast
steal cable if possible!
I’VE BEEN TRYING FOR A MONTH TO GET SERVICE TO MY HOUSE FROM COMCAST. THEY SAY I AM TO FAR FROM A BOX, MY HOUSE IS 800 FEET FROM THE GROUND BOX. I HAVE BEEN GOING ROUND IN CIRCLES ABOUT THE DISTANCE. I CAN’T BELIEVE I AM THE ONLY ONE IN THIS SITUATION.
This is what comcast speeds really look like. I have comacast and every night it drops. See for your self.
:::.. Download Stats ..:::
Download Connection is:: 2746 Kbps about 2.7 Mbps (tested with 4096 kB)
Download Speed is:: 335 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net/ (Main)
Test Time:: 2008/08/12 - 9:02pm
Bottom Line:: 48X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 3.06 sec
Tested from a 4096 kB file and took 12.218 seconds to complete
Download Diagnosis:: May need help : running at only 44.1 % of your hosts average (comcast.net)
D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-NQI7AW4D1
User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727) [!]
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