Comcast to leave Detroit market

**Danny** · October-06-14, 05:13 AM

Originally Posted by That Great Guy

7 Duggan, left SMART grossly underfunded. But that too is not his fault due to MDOT cuts and high costs.

Incorrect, your answer does not program! Duggan didn't under fund SMART. SMART was in the brink on bankruptcy before Duggan cam in. He eliminated some bad apples and propose with Dennis Archer and Detroit City Council to let SMART busses run in Detroit's main roads to increase ridership and regional job growth. That plan worked to this day.

**Rochelle St.** · October-06-14, 01:07 PM

Did anyone read Brian Dickersons Article in the Freep on Sunday?
Is Comcast really gonna call out of the blue and demand we surrender routers and cable boxes,or was he just jiving?
Whats the time table for the pullout? Will we be ale to keep using the Comcast equipment?
Anyone know?

**gazhekwe** · October-06-14, 01:39 PM

I'm pretty sure he was doing an "Onion" on us. From what I have seen the new company will be working in tandem with Comcast for at least a year. We could hope for an upgrade...

That Great Guy · October-06-14, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

Incorrect, your answer does not program! Duggan didn't under fund SMART. SMART was in the brink on bankruptcy before Duggan cam in. He eliminated some bad apples and propose with Dennis Archer and Detroit City Council to let SMART busses run in Detroit's main roads to increase ridership and regional job growth. That plan worked to this day.

The SMART Property Tax will only force another tax shift by necessity to pay regardless of costs in order to get what we all want or need.

Someday we will pay 70 percent of our money in taxes. And get a 100 MPH train and big buses just like the ones in AA. Just vote YES, YES, YES. If ya vote NO, it won' stop big government and won't even slow it down.

The SMART Property Tax is a crooked tax shift designed to cheat those who truly want a real World class public bus system. It will never ever work. The 1 Mil tax will fail and SMART will again go broke OR cut service OR get you to pay more and more. Your choice, YES or NO

**Islandman** · October-06-14, 07:07 PM

http://consumerist.com/2014/10/06/un...-got-me-fired/

**Cincinnati_Kid** · October-07-14, 01:34 AM

Originally Posted by 48307

Anyone who uses their ISP's email needs to be educated!

Why artificially tie yourself to an ISP? Use a free service like Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo. That way you can ditch your cable company and not have to tell your friends a new email address.

Back in the day, email was a nice service that your ISP offered you and had real value. Today, ISPs offer email addresses to tie customers down to their service.

Please explain how it ties you down to their service. Can't you use gmail for example and not use the ISP email?

**downtownguy** · October-07-14, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

Please explain how it ties you down to their service. Can't you use gmail for example and not use the ISP email?

I believe he means once you get a Comcast email address, you may be reluctant to give them up as your ISP because you'll have to switch everybody over to your new ISP's email address. Unfortunately, email addresses are not as easy to add a forwarding address to as snail mail.

I drank the Kool-Aid in the old days. I had about 5 different Comcast email addresses [[because they allowed you that many), and I used them for different reasons: Personal-informal, Personal-formal, e-commerce, etc. When Gmail and other services like them came about, I couldn't imagine why I would need something other than my Comcast addresses. Now I get it.

Ironically, I still get mail on my old Comcast addresses even though I haven't had Comcast for several years. I use Gmail to receive them now.

**poobert** · October-10-14, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by That Great Guy

The SMART Property Tax will only force another tax shift by necessity to pay regardless of costs in order to get what we all want or need.

Someday we will pay 70 percent of our money in taxes. And get a 100 MPH train and big buses just like the ones in AA. Just vote YES, YES, YES. If ya vote NO, it won' stop big government and won't even slow it down.

The SMART Property Tax is a crooked tax shift designed to cheat those who truly want a real World class public bus system. It will never ever work. The 1 Mil tax will fail and SMART will again go broke OR cut service OR get you to pay more and more. Your choice, YES or NO

Can somebody please kill this before it lays eggs?

**paddlebobb** · October-13-14, 12:48 PM

I agree with Jackie5275 about their commercials. While on my daily treadmill trek, their radio ads feature their arrogance while playing in the background. They seldom state anything that they do, only about the deficiencies of the so-called "phone company". I too am a former customer of the "Triple Play". And while the Internet platform was great, the television service had deteriorated to an abysmal state. When they offered a service visit about a week in the future, I remarked that as a paying customer of upwards of $200/month, that would just not work. That led to a week's worth of dropped calls, promises of returned calls never materializing, etc. I canceled, and while dropping off their equipment, I talked with a real caring agent in their field office. Unfortunately, they must have their best reps in their stores. Good riddance to them!

Willi · October-13-14, 03:19 PM

Competition is always good for the marketplace.
I am not a fan of monopolies that force people in a corner .
Comcast spends a fortune on stuffing my mailbox, repeatedly, with stuff I don't want.
I am aggravated by repeated calls from Comcast for bundling, business service, etc.
Between the Internet and the Television , they already get $100 a month from me.

**Danny** · October-13-14, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by That Great Guy

The SMART Property Tax will only force another tax shift by necessity to pay regardless of costs in order to get what we all want or need.

Someday we will pay 70 percent of our money in taxes. And get a 100 MPH train and big buses just like the ones in AA. Just vote YES, YES, YES. If ya vote NO, it won' stop big government and won't even slow it down.

The SMART Property Tax is a crooked tax shift designed to cheat those who truly want a real World class public bus system. It will never ever work. The 1 Mil tax will fail and SMART will again go broke OR cut service OR get you to pay more and more. Your choice, YES or NO

Please quit trolling this forum, Great Guy! This is not about the SMART Busses. It's about Comcast leaving Detroit.

**Fulcanelli** · October-14-14, 06:43 AM

I originally started internet with a company through excite.com. I think. It was a while ago. When Excite left the market I was transferred to Comcast. I would prefer a wider variety of choices regarding the internet and I definitely do not like the mega-corps' attempt to end the open internet as we know it.

I read about this a few weeks ago and I thought I read that while Comcast was leaving the area [[to avoid anti-trust issues) but that they still had their fingers in the profit pot.

**Bigb23** · October-14-14, 08:32 AM

I am now with Comcast cable and AT&T internut, but I started out with Grand Blanc Cable which was operated out of a guys basement, and answered the help line - with [[German accent) - What?

**scooter** · October-14-14, 12:01 PM

anyway we can kick Greart Guy of this forum, I know they can do that, Warren's Forum kicked off a guy a few months ago, before they closed down the forum, Im sure we can he is not following the rules

**Jimaz** · January-04-15, 08:51 PM

Attachment 25455
Comcast Gives Lawmakers Something Customers NEVER Get

"One of the biggest mysteries in life is why a company that’s as universally hated as Comcast seems to get whatever it wants when it comes to merger approvals. Two new reports — one from Bloomberg and one from Washingtonian — give us some good insight into the bag of sneaky tricks that Comcast uses to get influential lawmakers, journalists and nonprofit organizations to stand by its side.

As Bloomberg documents, one of Comcast’s go-to tactics for persuading lawmakers to support its merger proposals is pledging to expand its Internet Essentials program, which is designed to get more low-income people in the United States connected to the Internet."* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

*Read more here: Inside the ingeniously sneaky tricks Comcast uses to get what it wants

Wolf-Pac.com

So this discloses an incentive to withhold such "priority assistance codes" from their paying customers. It creates a no-cost scrip that is used to bribe legislators — effectively shifting service from paying customers toward corrupt legislators who in turn repay the favor.

Not to defend Comcast, but I think it's obvious that the problem is much more widespread than Comcast alone. Comcast is most certainly not the only organization pulling off maneuvers like this. E.g., imagine what similar quid pro quos buy for the military industrial complex!

"The best democracy that money can buy!"

— is the worst democracy possible. [[That last bit was added for the benefit of any Ayn Rand adherents in the crowd who might not get the joke. I wouldn't want them to feel too humiliated.)

**mtburb** · January-04-15, 10:40 PM

Originally Posted by thoro

I expected that might have been.....Barden Communications?

Wait...wasn't that within the city of Detroit itself? In Southgate in the 80's and early 90's, it was actually either TCI or Wayne County Cablevision...

**jerrytimes** · January-05-15, 04:39 PM

All that will change for customers is the name on the bill.

**rb336** · January-05-15, 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

Not to defend Comcast, but I think it's obvious that the problem is much more widespread than Comcast alone. Comcast is most certainly not the only organization pulling off maneuvers like this. E.g., imagine what similar quid pro quos buy for the military industrial complex!

$400 billion for a fighter program that can't run on fuel that is too hot - and is basically a piece of crap all the way around? each unit cost 100+ million to buy, lifecycle cost for each projected to be close to $1 billion. Yet they "can't afford" to maintain the highly successful warthog A-10s

**mikeg19** · January-06-15, 08:44 AM

The only two cable services in my area are DISH Network [[which we currently use) and Comcast. I guess I'm screwed as far as competition in the area goes.

I'd seriously drop cable in 2 seconds for some sort of Netflix/streaming option. The only problem is I like sports, specifically local [[Wings, Tigers, Lions), and unfortunately, there aren't going to be any options for people like me who want Fox Sports to watch games. Yea, the new DISH internet option will have ESPN on it, but that's not going to help. Looks like I'm stuck getting butt raped by the cable companies for now...

**mtburb** · January-06-15, 09:14 AM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

The only two cable services in my area are DISH Network [[which we currently use) and Comcast. I guess I'm screwed as far as competition in the area goes.

I'd seriously drop cable in 2 seconds for some sort of Netflix/streaming option. The only problem is I like sports, specifically local [[Wings, Tigers, Lions), and unfortunately, there aren't going to be any options for people like me who want Fox Sports to watch games. Yea, the new DISH internet option will have ESPN on it, but that's not going to help. Looks like I'm stuck getting butt raped by the cable companies for now...

Then you could've seen what the satellite companies offered back in the 90's-you didn't even get our own stations, but rather a rotation between random major Big Three [[and Fox when they got the rights to the NFL) affiliates in the Eastern and Central Time Zones.

**Scottathew** · January-06-15, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

The only two cable services in my area are DISH Network [[which we currently use) and Comcast. I guess I'm screwed as far as competition in the area goes.

I'd seriously drop cable in 2 seconds for some sort of Netflix/streaming option. The only problem is I like sports, specifically local [[Wings, Tigers, Lions), and unfortunately, there aren't going to be any options for people like me who want Fox Sports to watch games. Yea, the new DISH internet option will have ESPN on it, but that's not going to help. Looks like I'm stuck getting butt raped by the cable companies for now...

I'm a big Red Wings and Lions fan, but I cut the cable.

I was paying $110 to WOW Cable for Internet + Cable.

Now I'm paying $15 to WOW for 15 Mbs internet, $9 to Netflix, $8 to Hulu, for a grand total of $32 a month.

I can't watch Red Wings anymore, that was something I had to give up, but the Lions are always on over-the-air stations that even I can pick up at 21 Mile and John R.

My family now plays 30 minutes of board games every night. We spend more time with each other. I watch less depressing news. When we do watch TV, it's with no or less commercials, and we can binge-watch stuff that's already out.

I have zero regrets about cutting the cord.

**jerrytimes** · January-06-15, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

The only two cable services in my area are DISH Network [[which we currently use) and Comcast. I guess I'm screwed as far as competition in the area goes.

I'd seriously drop cable in 2 seconds for some sort of Netflix/streaming option. The only problem is I like sports, specifically local [[Wings, Tigers, Lions), and unfortunately, there aren't going to be any options for people like me who want Fox Sports to watch games. Yea, the new DISH internet option will have ESPN on it, but that's not going to help. Looks like I'm stuck getting butt raped by the cable companies for now...

You at least have three. DISH Network, DirecTV, and Comcast. Who's your phone provider? If it's AT&T don't you have UVerse in your area?

**Hermod** · January-06-15, 11:13 AM

DirecTV is what I have and the phone service is great. One problem is that they use contractors for install and repair service. We got quick response after Hurricane Wilma did a number on my dishes [[they brought in a lot of techs from other states), but every time they would show up at my house they didn't have enough ladder to reach my local antenna. I called DirecTV and the lady who answered the phone heard my problem and gave me the cell phone number for the local contractor [[MASTEC) foreman. I called him [[how the hell did you get this number?) and an hour later a truck with a long enough ladder pulled up in front of the house. Comcast would never give me the cell phone number of the service supervisor.

**mikeg19** · January-06-15, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by jerrytimes

You at least have three. DISH Network, DirecTV, and Comcast. Who's your phone provider? If it's AT&T don't you have UVerse in your area?

We don't have a landline [[Sprint Iphones). When we inquired with with AT&T, they said they only had internet available in the area, no phone or cable. I don't know how the hell that works, but that's their story.

And yes, you are correct, we also do have DirectTV in our area, but they are essentially the exact same thing as DISH. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind DISH, as we are paying I believe about $60 a month for our package with a ton of channels. It's just nice to be able to negotiate when our agreement is up with them.

**baughlieve** · January-06-15, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by 48307

I'm a big Red Wings and Lions fan, but I cut the cable.

I was paying $110 to WOW Cable for Internet + Cable.

Now I'm paying $15 to WOW for 15 Mbs internet, $9 to Netflix, $8 to Hulu, for a grand total of $32 a month.

I can't watch Red Wings anymore, that was something I had to give up, but the Lions are always on over-the-air stations that even I can pick up at 21 Mile and John R.

My family now plays 30 minutes of board games every night. We spend more time with each other. I watch less depressing news. When we do watch TV, it's with no or less commercials, and we can binge-watch stuff that's already out.

I have zero regrets about cutting the cord.

I do the same thing from December till September, but still get cable during college football season. Dish Network will be launching SlingTV[[online TV service) soon, it will include ESPN and ESPN2 for $20 a month. If they could add BTN, it's basically all I need. Props to you for completely cutting the cord.