When will Comcast Provide Docsis 3.0 Support in Santa Cruz County, CA

Question

Comcast customer service and its marketing claim that it provides 105Mbps download/10Mbps upload performance with its Internet Blast! package; however, it is well-known that download speeds for Santa Cruz County are 25Mbps and upload speed is not more than 5Mbps. Customers in Santa Cruz county are paying for a service that they are not receiving.  My understanding is that it is possible to provide higher speeds for S.C. county customers but Comcast is restricting the performance of the cable distribution infrastructure at the head end.  Can any Comcast employee shed some light on why this is the case and when Comcast will address this issue? Customers in nearby counties are enjoying the advertised performance without paying more.

Answer 1

Coincidence or not, shortly after initially posted on this forum, my performance level increased significantly, to approx. 124/Mbps/12Mbps. And as bbuttner statedabove, it dropped back down to 30Mbps/5Mbps around April 11. I have a D3 modem and the 105Meg bootfile, so there's no technical issue; it's clear that my Internet performance was restricted (again) at the headend provisioning office in Scotts Valley.  It seems every Comcast representative, (Customer Service, Technician, Sales Rep, etc.) has a different explanation as to why Santa Cruz County lags behind other areas of California and the nation. But a little research reveals that Comcast is likely waiting until the merger with Time-Warner Cable has been approved by the federal regulators; a deal in which there will be an exchange of territories between Comcast and Charter Cable that includes local areas such as Capitola and Watsonville. This exchange is intended to enable greater geographic efficiencies for the two companies - in other words, investing in these areas will be more profitable because each company will have a higher density of customers/potential customers.  What I've learned is that Comcast is delaying an upgrade of head end equipment and distribution infrastructure totaling approximately $27M until the local market is potentially more lucrative. One Comcast rep states that this upgrade could take up to another 18 months for residential customers. So despite the fact that Comcast continues to lure new Santa Cruz county customers with the promise of up to 105Mbps/10Mbps (http://www.comcast.com/locations/internet-service/california/santa-cruz.html), those customers continue to pay for a service that Comcast is only providing in half measure. Perhaps we should contact Charlie Herrin, EVP, Comcast Customer Experience, or Eric Schaefer, SVP/GM Comcast Data & Mobility Solutions to voice our concerns ..?  It will be a year this summer that we've been continuously charged for 105bps/10Mbps service in an area that doesn't support it without any prorated charge or refund credits for the cost difference between what we're paying and the rate for 25Mbps/5Mbps service.