The Case Of The Trojan Horse Cable Modem

[bender]

Reading a recent post about terrible billing practices of cable TV/Internet providers, I thought I'd share my story. 

I have internet only with my local monopoly provider.  About 2 years ago, they sent me an email stating my cable modem (that I own) is obsolete and they'd like to send me a new one free of charge.  I thought, "OK, I've been paying $69.95 for internet for many years, and they must want to keep me as a customer".  I clicked the link and in a few days I had what I thought was a nice, new and free cable modem from my benevolent cable company.  My 10 year old modem was probably due to fail soon anyhow.

Little did I know this was not a regular cable modem, but it was special.  It was A Trojan Horse Cable Modem with stealth rental fees!  I installed the new modem, and set my old one aside, just in case I need it again. 

A couple of months later I notice a new $10 monthly cable modem rental fee on my bill.  Yes, that's right, the free upgrade was actually an upgrade to a rental.  Good thing I kept my old modem!  I reviewed the original email and documentation I received with the modem and there was nothing in writing stating who owned the modem, and nothing stating I would be charged any rental fee.

When I called to resolve the issue, the rep was not helpful - basically nothing they could do.  Luckily, I had agreed to take the survey at the end of the call which I gave the lowest rating possible.  Later that day, I got a call back from another rep who actually listened to me and agreed that it was pretty scammy to upgrade me to a rental like that.  It appears the original email should have been sent only to those customers who were already renting a modem.  In that case it would be a free upgrade.  Apparently most customers are not skilled enough to purchase a $50 cable modem and plug power, cable and Ethernet into it...

So this rep made some changes to my account, let me keep the modem, permanently removed the rental fee, and credited back the fees so far.  So it seemed the best resolution to a problem that shouldn't have been in the first place.  I left the new modem in service, but kept my old modem around just in case (see the theme here - never trust them!).

Fast forward 2 years and the $10 rental charge is back!  I called to complain again and was told the "revenue recovery" department evaluated my account and saw that I had an active modem with serial number owned by the company that wasn't being charged.  This department went in and 'fixed' the 'error', so I was getting charged again.  I tried to explain the situation, but they of course had no record of the past agreement.  Their records only go back 1 year, or so they said.  At this stage I gave up and requested they credit my account for the rental fees and I would return their modem.  Again - glad I still had the old modem after 2 years collecting dust.

Morals of the story - nothing we don't already know, it just applies double when dealing with cable companies!

• Nothing is for free
• Expect to get scammed
• Watch your monthly bills like a hawk

[bacchi]

Morals of the story - nothing we don't already know, it just applies double when dealing with cable companies!

• Nothing is for free
• Expect to get scammed
• Watch your monthly bills like a hawk

• Keep a record of calls because they might deny, deny, deny.

[redbird]

I think they meant free, in the sense that you didn't have to pay for the modem up-front. I also don't know if they were scamming you about your own modem necessarily. Maybe they changed how things were set up and it required some feature that your old modem didn't have. If that was true, they should've been able to tell you which cable modems they support so you could buy a new one yourself.

But yeah - never use a cable company's modem if possible. The cost of a new cable modem will be "paid off" in less than a year, compared to a cable company's modem rental fees.

[Jon Bon]

This had to be scam-cast right?

You can tell us, we can keep a secret :)

[bender]

Haha, yes it is Comcast. 

My obsolete modem is back in service and working fine again.  True if I ever do actually need to upgrade I'll just be buying a compatible modem from Amazon for much less than a years rental fees.  My guess is part of their motivation for sending out the 'free' rental modem was that the new one had the built in public hotspot "Xfinitywifi".  I'm not crazy about hosting a hotspot for my cable company, even more so when I have to pay for the privileged of doing so!

[Jon Bon]

Obligatory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMcny_pixDw

[FIRE me]

I've had twice had my ISP tell me that they owned my modem, which I bought myself. They had the nerve to ask for a receipt, as if the burden of proof was not on them. When I told them I had the receipt, they dropped it. I really should have complained to my state's attorney general.

[WhiteTrashCash]

Comcast are absolutely shameless. Lately, they've been posting lots of articles on cnbc.com claiming that people are not cutting the cord and that cable TV subscriptions are actually growing. Yeah, sure. Guess they've got to prop up that stock price somehow.

[Spork]

I used to work at a cable company.  I was not in the DOCSIS group, so my knowledge of DOCSIS is vague.  Take what I say with a grain of salt....

There really may be a reason they want you to upgrade.  And at some point they may very well declare your old modem as incompatible with their service.  That doesn't mean you should rent their modem, but get a clear set of requirements from them when you go to replace it.

* Between DOCSIS 1, 1.1, 2 and 3 there is widely differing bandwidth throughput.  For instance, if you desperately wanted more upstream or downstream bandwidth, they might not be able to provide it. 
* They may have standardized configurations on their DHCP server... and your modem may not be able to conform.  If they can't configure it to work the way their network is engineered... you're out of luck
* I believe the higher versions of DOCSIS also have more flows.  They may be using flows to prioritize traffic (QoS).  I.e. voice over IP and digital video would have higher priority because they are very time sensitive, etc.  If you don't have enough flows to handle their engineered config... you're out of luck.

Bottom line: they did screw up.  This is just a head's up that you might HAVE to upgrade at some point in order to fit on their network.

[ketchup]

Comcast are absolutely shameless. Lately, they've been posting lots of articles on cnbc.com claiming that people are not cutting the cord and that cable TV subscriptions are actually growing. Yeah, sure. Guess they've got to prop up that stock price somehow.

This is why they play the games they have with me where it ends up cheaper to get basic-bitch cable (plus HBO) with your internet than to just get straight internet.  It's so they can chalk me up as a "cable subscriber" for the first time in my life, and show off to their stockholders that "No, we totally aren't losing subscribers, I swear."

[fattest_foot]

Renting a modem has to be up there with one of the top rackets cable companies have.

A high end modem can be paid for with generally less than a year's worth of rental fees.

[accolay]

This department went in and 'fixed' the 'error'

LoL! That's so Milton from Office Space.

[MilesTeg]

Just replaced our 13 year old modem with a docsis3. Another scam companies do is give you a 'free' modem/router that includes an access point not just for your personal use but another for other subscribers. Totally scummy, as they are basically leeching your electricity, your bandwidth, and adding more WiFi interference to your area in order to provide a service to others using your resources.

[Spork]

Just replaced our 13 year old modem with a docsis3. Another scam companies do is give you a 'free' modem/router that includes an access point not just for your personal use but another for other subscribers. Totally scummy, as they are basically leeching your electricity, your bandwidth, and adding more WiFi interference to your area in order to provide a service to others using your resources.

+1

Get a cable modem that is a cable modem only!  I use separate modem/firewall/APs/switches.  When one component fails or is outdated, you don't have to replace them all. 

Even if the cable company doesn't resell your AP (and many do)... they tend to set them up with stupid SSID/password.  If you know their scheme, it becomes not-so-difficult to guess passwords.  You'll also find that if you let the cable company define your wireless/firewall configuration ... and you tweak it any... it will likely revert to their stock configuration at some point in the future.  That's not them out to get you... It is just that any time the default config is touched... everyone on the cable plant is going to get a copy of it.

I will say:  When I've seen the AP's used for community usage... they do generally put the traffic into 2 different flows.  In other words, they may assign up/down channels that are exclusively used for the community traffic (and not part of your bandwidth).

[Laurenji]

Yeah, it's my understanding that any time you have a modem from Comcast, they charge you a rental fee for it no matter what. We recently bought our own modem & router so that we could send theirs back and not get charged a rental fee (and so we wouldn't have to have that stupid "XFINITY Wi-Fi" hotspot). It definitely doesn't surprise me that they would try and charge you a rental fee for your own modem. I hate dealing with Comcast. :P

[protostache]

Ugh. Comcast.

One time we moved across the country but we kept our Comcast account open, since we were moving from one service area to another. We kept the digital converter box because we thought, hey, we'll still want tv right? PROTIP: never do that.

The installer who put in our service at our new apartment took the box with him because we didn't need it, but he never checked it into inventory. Comcast sent us to collections for a stupid $15 converter box. Eventually we got it cleared up and then promptly switched to AT&T.

Of course then we bought our house and we're back into Comcast monopoly territory, where they're currently screwing with us about the bill. Their cheapest available package is $59 for 150Mbps internet and TV, which is cheaper than internet only. It's blatantly obvious that they want to keep their cable subscribers up, even if nobody is interested in non-HD limited basic TV service.

Such a terrible company. If we had literally any other workable options we would take them, but AT&T won't even sell us DSL in this location.

[rocketpj]

It's an old scam, the phone companies used to do the same thing.

When my grandmother died about 5 years ago, at the age of about 99 years, my mom and her brothers discovered that grannie had been renting a phone since about 1951, for a couple dollars a month.  She could have bought another house with the total money involved.  Brutal, but of course the phone company was happy to collect her money for decades.

She also had a safe deposit box for about 50 years that had 7 $2 bills in in.

[GrumpyPenguin]

Comcast started charging me a "modem rental fee" on my own modem also.  Called to complain, they apologized and removed the charge. Fast forward a year. I was moving into a place I could get FIOS so I thought I'd give it a try since I hate Comcast so much.  When I switched, there was a $50 remaining credit that Comcast said they'd mail to me within 1-2 months.  Fast forward another six months and no credit was paid.  I called and eventually they told me they couldn't pay me my money because of "unreturned equipment" on my account -- yup, MY cable modem. They said they'd clear up the issue and pay me the credit.  Fast forward ANOTHER six months and I still wasn't paid my credit.  Filled out an FCC consumer complaint online. After another 1-2 months, someone from Comcast "executive" customer service personally reached out to me and finally resolved the issue.

Comcast is THE WORST.

I fear that the FCC consumer complaints will no longer have any effect, since clearly the Republicans will let the telecos get away with anything. Clearly government involvement will just make things worse... /s.

[FiftyIsTheNewTwenty]

Another vote for using your own modem that you bought separately, while you still can.  Get your own router too, with firewall and VPN.  I'd be inclined to buy separate units, but maybe integrated is OK, and cheaper.  ???

With privacy protections going away, I'm sure the cablecos are "upgrading" their equipment to maximize data collection, and maybe even prevent you from blocking or routing around it.

[Lis]

When I moved over the summer, my choices were Verizon Fios or Comcast (or apparently Optimum, whom I've had before and would have stayed with, but management failed to mention that). My grandmother had Comcast and my mom was forever fighting with them on her behalf, and I heard less shitty things about Verizon, so I chose them.

Started signing up online, and got to the modem page. I could either buy a shiny new modem for either $140 or $160, something like that, rent it for $15 (maybe?) a month, or, in tiny small print on the bottom of the screen, provide my own. A quick ebay search found me a "like new" modem, exactly the same model as the one Verizon tried to sell me, for $35. So I ordered that. BUT in order to finish my transaction, since I chose to provide my own modem, I had to call and speak to a representative, who then tried to talk me out using my own because "what if it broke?" and "who would fix it for me?" I told him it was my cousin's (nope), and if it didn't work I would surely call Verizon and purchase one through them (nope).

I think the best part was the installation guy, who told me that (off the record) purchasing my own modem used was the smartest thing I could do, that buying one through Verizon was a rip off. That guy was awesome (and didn't mind when my cat puked up a hairball literally right in front of him).

[CptCool]

A word of warning about used modems: Comcast will refuse to switch the modem over to your name unless the person who originally used it has it de-registered from their name in Comcast's system.

This is enough of a hassle that my wife and I each have our own modem now since we always cancel service after the 1 yr promo rate ends and sign up again in the other persons name.

[MsPeacock]

I had the same experience with Verizon, so it isn't just Comcast that pulls this bullshit. I had months of fighting with Comcast because they wouldn't take their modem back or reverse the charges. The account was sent to collections. I eventually paid it although my credit score took a ding and I still have the Verizon modem. I have Comcast now and purchased my own modem and router.

We only have two isp here and they know it and they both suck.

[CptCool]

A word of warning about used modems: Comcast will refuse to switch the modem over to your name unless the person who originally used it has it de-registered from their name in Comcast's system.

This is enough of a hassle that my wife and I each have our own modem now since we always cancel service after the 1 yr promo rate ends and sign up again in the other persons name.

I've heard of this before - it actually works? 
Do you have the same last name?
Is there a service interruption or do you have them cancel and reinstate service on the same day?
Any fees involved?
Does it require a tech to visit?

We have the same last name & do it on the same day so the service interruption is only an hour or two while we're on the phone getting the new modem setup & verified. No fees if you decline a tech visit.

They will try very hard to send a tech out (not even sure what the tech would do?) for a $75 charge. I always do the cancel & sign-up via chat so I can have a written record of the conversation and make them explicitly say that a tech will not come out onsite and there will be $0 in additional fees past what the monthly promo rate is. I've been doing this since about 2010 and I've had a tech person come out twice and they always try and charge the $75 fee, so it's nice to have the written evidence. I've always gotten the fee reversed with an email sent including the chat conversation.

[CptCool]

Thanks CptCool.

One more question - do you cancel and sign up in the same chat window?  I assume you have one window where you cancel, then wait an hour and sign up in another window in your wife's name?

I usually pull up chat on two different browsers at once about a week from the 1yr mark - one for my account and one for my wife's account. Then I tell them the date I'd like to cancel/sign-up in each respective chat window. Sometimes it takes a couple tries to get the best rate for the new sign-up though. Be sure to check slickdeals.net for what the good offers are, although the offers can be regionalized. Worst case scenario you get the new customer rate they show on comcast.com which is usually still a decent price.

[triangle]

TWC (now Spectrum) had $5 wireless charge scam on top of their $10 cable modem rental. About a year ago when I called to sign up for internet service, the sales rep would not let me sign up without pre-ordering the wifi option saying it would be dropped before being billed if my existing wifi-router worked (which it did) when the technician came out to install. Without getting into a long story I tried to stop/reverse the wifi support that I was not using a few times and could never get it successfully removed from my bill, though a remote technician did manage to disable my service. The only way I was able to remove it was by canceling service altogether.  I signed up again a month later, this time using my own modem to save the $10 rental and bogus $5 wifi charge.

[Elle 8]

I'm not a fan of Comcast either.  A few years ago, when I first started reading MMM, I began to think about cheaper cable/internet options.  I got a promotional offer from Verizon FIOS which was about $40 less than what I was paying for Comcast.  Before I switched, I called Comcast to see if they could match the offer.  No, there was nothing they could do.  So I switched.  Not two weeks after making the change I started getting promotional offers from Comcast for the price I had asked them to match!