Comcast Profits Rise, Subscriber Growth Falls

[Terry Olaes]

While Comcast’s 2Q revenue grew 53 percent, their new subscriber numbers dropped to 65K compared to 278K last year for the same quarter. According to FierceTelecom, this is following the trend of other cable ISPs as they are all dealing with falling subscribership.

Comcast's CEO Brian Roberts, while acknowledging he was not pleased with the results, believes that the drop in subscriptions is temporary. "We think we understand what happened and have already made some corrections," he said on the company's earnings call.

 

[Oh4Sh0]

how about the price of cable being too damn high? they fix that yet?

 

[XamediX]

Or maybe their customer service being a fckin crock of shit. I have to call comcast today to fix yet another crazy overcharge on my bill.

 

[sear]

Hmm, subscriptions are down yet revenue is still up... sounds like that means someone's been hiking up the rates! You clever dogs.

 

[mullet]

Hmm, subscriptions are down yet revenue is still up... sounds like that means someone's been hiking up the rates! You clever dogs.

DING DING DING, we have a winner.

 

[snowden]

After I had to go down to their office in Salt Lake City three times and threaten them each time I finally signed up for slow DSL just to get away from Comcast and their shit customer service. God I wish there was some real competition...

 

[HalifaxPete]

How much profit is there in disconnection fees?

 

[SamuraiInBlack]

if FIOS was here, i'd get a second job just to pay for it if I had to. Comcast is raking my household over the coals.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device

 

[michael.pa2]

I just dropped Comcast ,I got sick and tired of loosing service for days at a time.The worst part is five times in as many months I had no TV or net access because their idiot servicemen don't have a clue how to do their job,every time they connect or disconnect someone else in the neighborhood,I end up loosing my cable connection.Then I have to wait for days for them to show up to fix their own screw-ups.

 

[dandapice]

Definitely over-priced....

 

[krupted]

so thats why comcast called me

they called and asked if i wanted the basic cable package, so i could get a discount on my internet. they said "we will hook up basic cable for free and youll see an $11 drop on your bill overall". i asked the guy how comcast could give away more crap for cheaper, and why, and he couldnt answer that. i said "well, you called me. obviously comcast isnt happy with my $60 a month, so they want to lower my bill by giving me more?" he acknowledged it didnt seem right and i told him "since the offer isnt clear, and comcast has a long-standing reputation of ripping off its customers, dont sign me up for anything. i will be getting rid of my internet too, as soon as i can".

 

[Uncle]

"We think we understand what happened and have already made some corrections,"

I would like someone to expand in depth on this statement. This will tell the story of what the article should have covered. Anyone can pick up these numbers from a quarterly stock market report. I don't know what these reporters get paid for.

 

[4saken]

i have directv for TV and comcast for internet only. i have no issues with them here. ridiculously fast, never out, going on 5 years service.

 

[ordovician]

Me and my girlfriend dropped Comcast's TV service after they tried to raise our rates to $160/mo. I now use Netflix online and Hulu desktop on an HTPC, and pay $35/mo for internet. Go f*ck yourself, Comcast. (And Charter, too.)

 

[lostinseganet]

I bet they are getting the subcriber that actually use the bandwidth to quit. So they can over charge the others. that is how they make their profits.

 

[whiz187]

Price Gouging Whore Mongers!! I finally dumped them a year and a half ago. Best thing I ever did.

 

[UnlimitedMP]

Sigh, I would switch to DSL but the only available option is the lowest tier service.

 

[Raiden911]

Comcrap. Wished there were more choices. *sigh*

 

[snowden]

Sigh, I would switch to DSL but the only available option is the lowest tier service.

I was in the same boat. I finally convinced myself that I wouldn't notice the difference in speed. Yeah right, the difference is huge. But I personally have found it worth it. The only real problem is I am rarely the host anymore on Xbox Live, but that's a small price to pay.

Hopefully they will get fiber lines laid out here and I can upgrade to 20mb connection.

 

[kencheeto]

I'm not in love with Comcast in any respect, but I'm paying $33/mo for basic cable and 6down/2up internet. I'm lucky though, I live with roommates so we trade around the account to keep getting the new subscriber deals

 

[Atl530i]

how about the price of cable being too damn high? they fix that yet?

Nevar! Comcast could really careless about how bad they ream their customers. Just ask me how I know...

 

[Joedoe22]

You guys should look into ATT Uverse. I recently switched from Comcast 16MB blast internet to 12MB uverse and somehow I actually have a faster downstream (1.4 compared to 900-1.1). Comcast still has ATT beat on the upstream though.

 

[Ryle]

i had comcast and had no problems with their service. always advertised speeds no hicups.. but then fios got installed and it was bye bye comcast hello fios double speeds

 

[Atomic_GreenDoGG]

Comcast is a ripoff. I have had to call them every few months just to keep the rate the same as the contract.

Their billing dates drift so they can charge you for 13 months in a year.

 

[hclarkjr]

i have dish network for TV and just switched to comcast 16mb\sec service and have had it 2 months so far with no issues at all. speed is great and not 1 outage yet. i switched from local rinky dink company that charged $50 for 5mb\sec service and had outages at least once a month.

 

[matrix563]

I bet they are getting the subcriber that actually use the bandwidth to quit. So they can over charge the others. that is how they make their profits.

very true

so thats why comcast called me

they called and asked if i wanted the basic cable package, so i could get a discount on my internet. they said "we will hook up basic cable for free and youll see an $11 drop on your bill overall". i asked the guy how comcast could give away more crap for cheaper, and why, and he couldnt answer that. i said "well, you called me. obviously comcast isnt happy with my $60 a month, so they want to lower my bill by giving me more?" he acknowledged it didnt seem right and i told him "since the offer isnt clear, and comcast has a long-standing reputation of ripping off its customers, dont sign me up for anything. i will be getting rid of my internet too, as soon as i can".

cox tries that with me all the time, at least its just with letters

 

[matrix563]

all we need is czar obama to say comcast is not doing their job for them to go out of business. i wish he would

 

[SamuraiInBlack]

You guys should look into ATT Uverse. I recently switched from Comcast 16MB blast internet to 12MB uverse and somehow I actually have a faster downstream (1.4 compared to 900-1.1). Comcast still has ATT beat on the upstream though.

I'm actually considering that myself. My folks are considering it also. But here's my question - are they doing any bandwidth caps like Comcast is? I know they were 'testing' it in various areas.

 

[/dev/null]

how about the price of cable being too damn high? they fix that yet?

for under $100/month I get 13 statics + 2 up, 12 down.

I don't know anyone else who can give me 13 statics for that price...

 

[sirmonkey1985]

hmm they think they know why.. then damnit how about you get your asses out here and fix the damn node in front of my house ya lazy asses.. maybe then they will finally relize why the 600 people in my neighborhood switched to uverse the day AT&T went live with it here.. hell i probably would of made the switch to if it wasnt for AT&T's 150GB cap.. at least comcasts 250GB cap is completely bogus and they dont actually monitor it..

comcast has gotten better with their prices.. we currently pay 198 for 2 HD DVR box's + HBO and starz, 16/2 cable and digital phone service..

their biggest problem is their bullcrap customer service that refuses to come out here to fix their crap in my neighborhood.. they just kept blaming everyones hardware saying it was our problem and not theirs.. sorry to say.. but its a little impossible for 80 customers to all have bad hardware at the same friggin time while they are all on the same node.. and now they refuse to even take my phone calls.. since im the last comcast customer left in this area..

 

[TechBoy]

they are ok with internet here but anything else from them in my area is almost like bending over in taking it in the yea well..... I dont have anything but comcast and verizon here and for same price verizon gives me 1/3 the speeds so f that.

 

[TechLarry]

Let's see, you raise prices, and you lose subscribers.

Damn, I just can't figure it out !

 

[Azhar]

Hmm, subscriptions are down yet revenue is still up... sounds like that means someone's been hiking up the rates! You clever dogs.

DING DING DING, we have a winner.

My Comcast bill has been the same for years. Where are you getting your information from?


To those who complains about Comcast's quality, you seem to forget that technicians are people too, and in every town there are different technicians with different skills and knowledges. My town's Comcast has been nothing but superb and I would recommend them to anyone. Try not to generalize Comcast based on your own town's service. If that technician worked for another provider, you'd get the same quality (or lack of it). It's the person, not the company.

 

[earnolmartin]

how about the price of cable being too damn high? they fix that yet?

Yeah really. In France, you can get Cable TV, Phone Service, and Fast Wireless internet 4MBPS download for 30 Euros a month or $45.

They even give you a wireless router.

http://free.fr

lol, I wish it would cost the same price here...

 

[haadij404]

i like comcast. we cancelled our tv service but they never put a filter on the line so we still get tv. hd tvtuner + qam + media center + free = hell yes.

we just pay for the blast (16mb down 2 up) and nothing else. its worth it when you consider all the free hd content we get.

 

[neurobash]

$70/mo I pay for internet. That's just wrong.

 

[Darknyt]

"We think we understand what happened and have already made some corrections,"

I would like someone to expand in depth on this statement. This will tell the story of what the article should have covered. Anyone can pick up these numbers from a quarterly stock market report. I don't know what these reporters get paid for.

Bingo - that's the first thing I thought when I read that line. Did none of the analysts on the call have the common sense to ask him to elaborate? Perhaps they did, he declined and it was considered a non-event, reporting-wise.

But yeah, that would be what the point of the whole article was.

 

[skiddy]

WTF do Comcast technicians have to do with their company's equipment, infrastructure and customer usage? Those 3 factors have a much greater impact on your connection then Joe Schmoe setting up your internet.

Comcast (now Time Warner) was absolutely horrid in the North Dallas area when I had them; 40-60% packet loss at times. And it was from the node in our area which they refused to fix. The quality of our 'slower' AT&T DSL compared to cable was nearly incomparable it was so much better. I will never do cable internet again unless it is my only high-speed option.

 

[R0N1]

They've probably been raising subscriber prices, and cutting costs at the same time.

 

[next-Jin]

I'm going to assume for a moment ya'll understand it's completely based off where you are located versus who you have.

I had Comcast at Fort Lewis, WA for 5 years and not once did my bill change and I had 1 outtage the entire time. I have Comcast now in Woodbridge VA and again not one problem the tech even got me 20 Mbs down 3 Up for 30 a month, phone (Unlimited) for 10 a month and HDTV w/HBO and STARZ for 70 a month for an entire year.