For the first time that my landlady has been here, 40 years. As second cable company is coming into town. At least that’s what the Comcast rep told me when I called them about my account from my previous address.

According to the rep, they should be operational before the year is over. I am curious for those who have the option between two cable providers at their home or client’s home.

Is there a price war between the two companies? Are there sign up contracts... like DirecTV and Dish where you sign up for 2 years? How is the service from company A as to company B? And I’m asking about customer service, actually service and tech service.

Anything else?

KOT

They are all the same whether they are a cable company or a dish service. Your bill is going to keep going up and the service gets worse and worse.

Comcast and Fios are active in my area. Price competition is not fierce, but you might get a break if you threaten to jump to the other company.

In my experience one is more likely to get a competent installation tech with Fios.

Usually, there is a contract and there are teaser deals that expire with the contract. Regular prices apply after the contract expires — unless the customer remembers to take action. I think that they are following the bankers and their credit card deal playbook.

Each area is different. In cities, quality of service and the techs vary block to block. In some buildings personal relationships develop and service can occur within the day if the tech is nearby.

Changing between FIOS and a coax service can create wiring challenges. Obviously the drop is different. You’ll also need power for the FIOS ONT, and you’ll need to run Ethernet to the ONT if you want gigabit service.

Either company is likely to send a new Gateway direct to the customer for self install.

Does the phone company not have a "competitive" product in your area? That's the kind of competition most folks would be familiar with... and generally speaking, it's not very competitive if both companies have been established for a while. Look up "duopoly".

In areas where something new is moving into a long-established monopoly territory, I've heard of deals where the big established company will practically give their service away just to ensure the new guys can't get subscribers. Nice if you can get it. :-)

I'm now in an area where there's exactly one option for high speed internet, and thankfully their services have not increased in price for as long as it's been available.

The original cable company is Atlantic Broadband. The phone company is Frointier, and DSL or dial up. The second cable company is a Comcast, as previously mentioned.

Currently we have Frointer for internet at 6mbps down and 0.6 up. So either cable company will be a large boost in speed.

KOT

Are you sure Comcast isn't just buying out Atlantic Broadband in that area? Sometimes they do subscriber swaps.

If not, are they building their own complete infrastructure? Seems a bit unusual unless they're maybe only doing fiber.

I know the town south of me has Atlantic Broadband(previously MetroCast) for many years. And just this year Comcast was just added there as well. So they have the choice between the two companies.

Sooo when I was on the phone with Comcast. They said that they’ll be going live in my current town in the next few months. That is in addition to Atlantic Broadband in my town.

In Groton, CT, where I work. The residents had a choice between Comcast and Thames Valley communications for years. Thames Valley only serves a couple of towns around here.

KOT

We have 4 choices on Oak Island.

AT&T - DSL or Fiber
Spectrum - Coax
Viasat - Satellite (slow)
ATMC - Fiber

They all suck, and none offer any kind of deal for existing customers. ATMC is the new guy on the island, and the most expensive. I hear more complaints about them than I do Spectrum.