How Much Does It Cost For Comcast To Install

Comcast is making it hard for many new customers to avoid paying installation fees—even if they purchase their own modems and are willing to fix them up themselves.

Based on our tests, signing up for standalone Internet or TV service on Comcast.com often requires payment of a $59.99 or $89.99 installation fee, depending on where you live. (The fee was $60 in two Massachusetts suburbs and $90 at homes in Houston, Texas, and Seattle, Washington.) In cases where the $sixty or $90 fee is charged, the fee is required whether yous purchase your ain modem or rent 1 from Comcast for some other $11 a calendar month.

The installation fee might be charged fifty-fifty if the habitation y'all're buying service at has existing Comcast service, and even if you order Internet speeds lower than those purchased by the current occupant. That means the fee is charged even when Comcast doesn't have to make any upgrades at the house or apartment you lot're moving into. Internet speed makes no difference, as the fee may exist charged whether you buy 15Mbps downloads or gigabit service.

• I couldn't move through Comcast'southward ordering process without setting up a $90 professional installation.

  Jon Brodkin

• The $90 installation fee was required whether I chose to use my ain modem or to charter one from Comcast.

  Jon Brodkin

• The summary of my guild—$30 monthly Internet fee, $xc installation fee.

  Jon Brodkin

"We can't offer cocky-install kits for residences that we already serve with an existing customer," a Comcast spokesperson told us. Comcast said information technology requires professional installations for "complex" cases.

Packet upwardly to avert the fee

You can avoid the installation fee by purchasing certain bundles that include both Television receiver and Cyberspace, but the fee is ofttimes mandatory if you buy merely Television set service or broadband individually. The $60 or $90 fee is also charged when y'all buy phone service simply or a "double-play" package of telephone service and broadband.

We tested this past entering addresses into Comcast's online sign-up organisation and going through nigh of the procedure of signing up for service. In cases where Comcast requires the fee, we were unable to get to the "Submit Social club" page unless we scheduled a "professional person installation" and submitted credit card information. Getting 1 of Comcast'south self-install kits wasn't even an option in these cases.

The fee isn't always required. A Comcast spokesperson provided united states of america with five addresses in dissimilar states where Comcast's online system offers the pick of a free cocky-install kit:

If you're lucky enough to get a complimentary install offer, this is what it looks like.

Jon Brodkin

When asked why free cocky-install kits are bachelor for these addresses, Comcast told usa, "These are all homes for sale in our footprint that previously had Comcast services."

But our tests of Ars staff addresses signal at that place are at least ii common scenarios in which you'd take to pay the fee. If you lot live in a house in Comcast's territory merely currently subscribe to something else, like Verizon FiOS, our tests indicate that you take to concord to pay the installation fee in order to switch to Comcast.

Secondly, if you're moving into a home that's nonetheless occupied and the electric current resident has Comcast service, you lot'd have to pay the installation fee. This would occur if you sign up for service in advance when you're planning to move into a new dwelling or flat near immediately after the current resident leaves.

Comcast's fees vary so much by geographic location and parcel that nosotros tin't be certain that these general guidelines will hold true in every case. But it's clear that there are multiple circumstances in which Comcast will not let new customers to order service online unless they agree to a pricey installation, even when they have their ain modem and could plug information technology in themselves.

Delight complete your order!

A Comcast spokesperson initially disputed our findings—fifty-fifty though they were based entirely on the results provided by Comcast'southward website. The Comcast spokesperson told us that a new client can't sign upwardly for service online at an accost that currently has a paying Comcast customer, because its arrangement has a business rule in place to automatically flag such an address. Comcast told usa that in these cases, a new client would exist required to talk to a Comcast agent, who would presumably ensure that the current resident is actually moving out earlier assuasive the new customer to hook up to Comcast's network. Considering of that, Comcast told us that nosotros shouldn't assume that the installation fee listed on its website would actually exist charged.

But that doesn't appear to be truthful. I was able to schedule installation appointments and enter credit carte du jour numbers in society to sign up for service at homes where the electric current resident subscribes to Comcast. Hitting the "Submit Guild" button would accept charged my card $50 immediately, enough to cover the first monthly payment of $30 and part of the installation fee.

I didn't actually click the "Submit Order" button because I wanted to avoid credit bill of fare charges and a disruptive situation with Comcast installers. Only once I pointed this out to the Comcast spokesperson, the company stopped denying that it would be impossible to sign up for service at these homes without talking to a Comcast agent.

In the ensuing days, Comcast's automated organization sent me ii followup emails urging me to consummate my guild before I unsubscribed from the messages—I was never told that I had to talk to a Comcast amanuensis in gild to fix up service.

One of the Comcast emails I received urging me to consummate my order.

Jon Brodkin

The Comcast spokesperson told united states that installation fees vary by market place and on whether the company has a promotion running.

Comcast as well told us that installation fees may be refunded when it turns out that no special installation was required. Just it's clear that the Comcast website frequently forces customers to schedule a professional installation and agree to the fee in order to consummate an social club.

Once you've agreed to the fee and paid a eolith, actually getting a refund could exist catchy. Because the default setting is a required payment, customers may not even realize it'due south possible to go a refund.

Comcast provided a statement for our story:

For Internet-only customers, we offer ii options that practise not require an in-dwelling house tech visit. A customer can use an Xfinity self-install kit with a modem leased from Comcast, or buy his/her ain modem. Orders tin can be completed online, in-person at an Xfinity retail store, or by telephone. We've worked hard to make the self-install experience elementary and like shooting fish in a barrel and it's a growing and popular fashion for new customers to connect. When the installation is more circuitous, we schedule a technician visit. There are reasons that an in-dwelling technician visit may be necessary. For case, if our engineers need to exam signal strength and connections in a domicile that hasn't been serviced in a number of years, or if the installation is more complicated for products like Gigabit Internet or there are multiple services (similar abode security) being installed. For these situations, we offer competitively priced options, which vary by market.

Judging past that Comcast statement, yous'd recall in that location would exist no installation fee when you buy your own modem and are moving into a house that already has Comcast service. But as we've shown in this article, the fee is often required in those situations.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/05/comcast-charges-90-install-fee-at-homes-that-already-have-comcast-installed/

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