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Couple Bought Home in Seattle, Then Learned Comcast Internet Would Cost $27,000 (arstechnica.com) 344

An anonymous reader shares a report: When Zachary Cohn and his wife bought a house in the Northgate neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, they didn't expect any trouble getting home Internet service. It was only after closing on the house in July 2019 that they learned the bad news. "All six neighbors I share a property line with are wired for Comcast, but our house never was," Cohn told Ars. Comcast's predecessor company had wired up the neighborhood with cable decades earlier and the ISP provides high-speed broadband to the abutting properties. But the cable TV and Internet service provider never extended a line to the house purchased by Cohn and his wife, Lauryl Zenobi. Cohn spent many months trying to get answers from Comcast on how he and Zenobi could get Internet service. Eventually, he contacted his City Councillor's office, which was able to get a real response from Comcast.

Comcast ultimately said it would require installing 181 feet of underground cable to connect the house and that the couple would have to pay Comcast over $27,000 to make that happen. Cohn and Zenobi did not pay the $27,000, and they've been relying on a 4G hotspot ever since. "I was just flabbergasted that a house like this, in an area like this, could possibly have never been wired for Internet," Cohn said in a phone interview. Because the house is "in the middle of Seattle, it didn't even dawn on me that that was possible," he said, adding that the lack of Internet service would be "more understandable if I was two miles from my nearest neighbor." The Seattle Kraken hockey team's $80 million practice facility is in the same Northgate neighborhood, about a half-mile from the house. There's a major bus station in the area, a light rail station that recently opened nearby, and an elementary school within about a 90-second walk, Cohn said, noting that the property is "well within the Seattle city limits."

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Couple Bought Home in Seattle, Then Learned Comcast Internet Would Cost $27,000

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  • Research (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JackieBrown ( 987087 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @11:54AM (#62662650)

    They should have researched the area before buying the house.

    It sucks that it will cost this much, but when doing an investment like this, you really should do research.

    The homes in this neighborhood run from 450K - $1.45M.

    https://www.trulia.com/n/wa/se... [trulia.com]

    • Re:Research (Score:5, Insightful)

      by wh1pp3t ( 1286918 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:01PM (#62662710)

      They should have researched the area before buying the house.

      It sucks that it will cost this much, but when doing an investment like this, you really should do research.

      The homes in this neighborhood run from 450K - $1.45M.

      https://www.trulia.com/n/wa/se... [trulia.com]

      This is really the thing. An investment of this size absolutely requires diligence. These people made assumptions incorrectly, and that is on them. Before placing an offer on my house, I researched all available internet options via the providers website and putting in the address to ensure it was available. Took all of 15 minutes.

      Cost of the home is irrelevant in this matter however.

      • Re: Research (Score:5, Insightful)

        by ArmoredDragon ( 3450605 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:09PM (#62662756)

        That isn't terribly reliable. Often times you can put in an address somewhere and it will tell you that service is available when it isn't. Or, as in my case, the opposite can happen: It says no service is available when it really is.

        • Re: Research (Score:5, Interesting)

          by PetiePooo ( 606423 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:17PM (#62662800)

          That isn't terribly reliable. Often times you can put in an address somewhere and it will tell you that service is available when it isn't.

          Can confirm. We bought our current home relying on Comcast's map of where coverage is available. Comcast's map was a lie. Turns out they are notoriously unreliable. [senate.gov]

          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            by dknj ( 441802 )

            You didn't sign up for service during closing to coincide with your move-in date?

            What is this a thread about what not to do when purchasing a house? After we secured financing, I went to comcast and at&t and put in service orders. Right then and there I learned all the available speeds and timing. If either of them said they could not provide gbps service, I would have walked from the house. You see my earnest money was way lower than the cost of running fiber.

            I understand not everyone can just walk a

            • I bought a house in Seattle in February. Not only did I visually verify the incoming coaxial cable from Comcast, I wrote in a contingency that would allow be to cancel the purchase without penalty if by the closing date I could not successfully get Centurylink to install fiber Internet. This was successful and I bought the house.

              If Internet is important to you, write it into the purchase contract. A house is too expensive a purchase to end up with bad Internet.

              • by Nite_Hawk ( 1304 )

                I'm sort of amazed you got away with it in Seattle of all places. Around here (Minneapolis!) people are buying houses sight unseen and reportedly slipping money under the table to sellers as cash bonuses.

                • I made my offer around Christmas when the market is traditionally slower and I paid a little over market to guarantee the seller would be patient. I needed the patience -- I had to spend a month with an architect doing a feasibility study for additions I wanted to make to the property.

                  It also helped that as an all-cash buyer the seller didn't have to deal with the uncertainty of a bank's involvement.

                • by Pascoea ( 968200 )
                  Can confirm. I'm in the NorthWest burbs of Minneapolis, and the houses up here are selling without inspections, for over asking price. Adding any sort of contingency will automatically put your offer at the bottom of the pile.
            • by flink ( 18449 )

              If you put an internet service contingency into an offer in this market, you might as well throw it in the trash yourself and save the time. Major metro area sellers are often entertaining multiple cash offers from people willing to waive home inspection. It's iffy to even get a financing contingency for selling an existing property, never mind something as "minor" as broadband service.

              • If you put an internet service contingency into an offer in this market, you might as well throw it in the trash yourself and save the time. Major metro area sellers are often entertaining multiple cash offers from people willing to waive home inspection. It's iffy to even get a financing contingency for selling an existing property, never mind something as "minor" as broadband service.

                No Inspection?

                Fsck that....that could drill you right into the poor house.

                I think I'd look for a different city/state to

                • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

                  by Nite_Hawk ( 1304 )

                  My experience has been that inspections basically have three functions:

                  1) Convince the bank to give you a loan.
                  2) Give you an out over some ridiculous infraction if you change your mind.
                  3) Make you feel good about your purchase.

                  I caught way more things wrong on both home inspections I had than our inspector did. Blatantly obvious things too. Want a good inspection? Go buy a flir thermal camera (or phone attachment) and a moisture meter and make the rounds yourself. You can do everything from looking at

                  • Re: Research (Score:5, Interesting)

                    by Ambvai ( 1106941 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @03:29PM (#62663614)

                    I'd add a fourth one: Supplying negotiating ammo to the buyer.

                    I work in the field in California, and have seen the most BS stuff in inspection reports... my favorite one was that the oven was broken and would only go up to 288 degrees. The buyers demanded 5k off to replace the oven, using the inspection report as evidence that the unit had fundamental flaws that the seller was hiding.

                    288C is 550F.

            • Just put in a contingency about high speed internet either being already available or able to be connected for under $x and you're covered. No need to risk earnest money.

          • Even if it were reliable, you should probably avoid living anywhere Comcast is the provider.

        • That isn't terribly reliable. Often times you can put in an address somewhere and it will tell you that service is available when it isn't. Or, as in my case, the opposite can happen: It says no service is available when it really is.

          This is quite true. Comcast will say your house is serviced because there is a main line running into the area from which they can run a tap. However, when they look to wire up your house they do an "aerial survey" without actually looking at the conditions on the ground. That's what happened when I had my house wired for Comcast many years ago. The entire neighborhood had the lines running along the utility poles. Comcast said they could wire my house (set up for DirecTV at the time)... but when the i

          • If a neighbor came to me wtih this story and offered me $1k upfront and $50 a month to set up a mesh network or some extended wifi or microwave link to piggyback on it, I probably wouldn't think twice about saying yes.

            I'd happily upgrade to a business class connection for that.

            When a company says "fuck you", the proper response is to say "no, fuck you" back. People power for the win.

        • That isn't terribly reliable. Often times you can put in an address somewhere and it will tell you that service is available when it isn't.

          In my case, the previous owner had AT&T, but not their fiber service. So I could see the AT&T line running into the house. I called AT&T to order their fiber service, and 3 trips later found out I was in their "service area" but wouldn't be getting service. What was especially great was the conversation of "Well, there's an AT&T line running into the house, just give me that service.", "We can't because you're in the fiber service area." Now, this was annoying but I did have Comcast to fall

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

        This is really the thing. An investment of this size absolutely requires diligence.

        Why? Why do you need diligence? Why is anyone making assumptions? This is an almost uniquely American problem, a strange situation where people are not only not provided (by legal mandate) complete information about the house, but worse a basic utility is missing from a house within the city limits of a state's capital city.

        Yeah I get it, people should check this. BUT THEY SHOULD NOT NEED TO.

        I've never checked whether a house I purchase has an internet connection, because everywhere I've lived it has been a

        • Seattle is not the capital of Washington, despite what they like to think.
        • This is really the thing. An investment of this size absolutely requires diligence.

          Why? Why do you need diligence? Why is anyone making assumptions? This is an almost uniquely American problem, a strange situation where people are not only not provided (by legal mandate) complete information about the house, but worse a basic utility is missing from a house within the city limits of a state's capital city.

          Yeah I get it, people should check this. BUT THEY SHOULD NOT NEED TO.

          I've never checked whether a house I purchase has an internet connection, because everywhere I've lived it has been an absolute given. Also my current house has no fibre connection, but there is fibre in the street. Cost to run it in: 450EUR.

          America is broken.

          It is well known as you noted in the US, regardless if it is right or wrong, Internet access is not reliably found.
          Until it is, the person purchasing a home should verify the services.

        • by Ichijo ( 607641 )

          a basic utility is missing from a house within the city limits of a state's [most populous] city. Yeah I get it, people should check this. BUT THEY SHOULD NOT NEED TO.

          Since WWII, many of this country's largest cities have been growing through a sort of Ponzi scheme [youtube.com] where today's developers pay for yesterday's deferred maintenance so the infrastructure doesn't crumble to dust. If we did the sensible thing and made sure growth could always pay for itself, it would drive up the cost of new housing and so more

        • This is really the thing. An investment of this size absolutely requires diligence.

          Why? Why do you need diligence? Why is anyone making assumptions? This is an almost uniquely American problem, a strange situation where people are not only not provided (by legal mandate) complete information about the house, but worse a basic utility is missing from a house within the city limits of a state's capital city.

          When I was looking for a house to buy, some of the first things I look for include outlets for internet, cable or external antenna TV, electricity, etc. I want to visualize where my furniture will go, if a TV will "fit" in a room, where my wifi router or mesh has to be placed, etc. Not finding a coax outlet in the living/family room should be a red flag that the cable company doesn't service that home.

          This type of due diligence is not a uniquely American problem.

    • Re:Research (Score:5, Informative)

      by Xenx ( 2211586 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:15PM (#62662776)
      Not just done research, but read what was disclosed to them. The seller did inform them of it.
      • And they can check what's available at https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/#... [fcc.gov] and then verify with the companies. When I bought a house in Seattle earlier this year, that's what I did. One of my criteria was that wherever I buy there must be TWO gigabit wired service providers. In my case it was Comcast and Centurylink.

        Most of their Northgate neighborhood has both Centurylink fiber and Comcast cable but there are a few spots that don't. If it's important to you, write it into the contingency and spend a few buck

        • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
          I do sympathize with their assumption there wouldn't be problem. I am surprised the house wasn't wired at all, given the area, but not that surprised. I work for a small provider outside of Seattle, so I know it happens. It's just odd to see it there.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Agreed. In 2015 we bought 24 acres, mostly wooded. While I knew people on the left had Comcrap and people on the right had it, I later found out that it was in a 1 mile gap and Comcrap was refusing to serve customers in the gap. To get Comcrap, IF they would come out to us, would have cost at least $17,000. I knew that going in because I researched it. While we were stuck with ViaSuck for a while, as soon as I had time, I upgraded to cellular internet and, now, we have Starlink. It wasn't great internet, bu

    • Re:Research (Score:5, Interesting)

      by SvnLyrBrto ( 62138 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:30PM (#62662858)

      This was a research failure, true. But it's also a massive regulatory failure, especially given that we're talking about a cable company. Cable companies usually get a local monopoly and permission to use the public right-of-way for their lines. Hell... even without a local monopoly, they still get that permission to the right-of-way for their lines. That right, and the monopoly if it exists, should damn well have come with the condition of servicing all households in the jurisdiction.

    • by splutty ( 43475 )

      Didn't ISPs get a fuckton of money from the government for this kind of stuff?

      Oh wait. Actually connecting people was never the target for them, was it....

    • by Ichijo ( 607641 )

      And with these properties on large, ~1/4 acre lots with very tall trees blocking the sky, you can't really expect all the amenities of urban living even if the neighborhood is technically "in the middle of Seattle." Move to a denser area if that's what you want.

      Otherwise pay the money or put up a tall tower for the Starlink dish (or perhaps a point to point WiFi link) or wait for the neighborhood to be wired for fiber and hope your home is on the list!

    • by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      Usually the only way to find out is to actually place the order for service. My current home showed up as having service with Spectrum. It wasn't until the installer showed up they decided it didn't and wanted $6K to run 900ft down my drive.
      • by Burdell ( 228580 )

        Placing the order isn't enough. You don't really know until it's installed and working; some companies will accept an order and not really check until it's time to hook it up. They might even send an installer out, who then struggles for a bit before saying "I'll be back" (with no intention of coming back), stringing you along for a bit.

        I think if I were looking to buy a house and the current owner didn't have the service I wanted, I'd make it contingent on getting the desired service installed before closi

      • You can also check with the FCC
        https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/ [fcc.gov]

    • They should have researched the area before buying the house.

      It sucks that it will cost this much, but when doing an investment like this, you really should do research.

      The homes in this neighborhood run from 450K - $1.45M.

      https://www.trulia.com/n/wa/se... [trulia.com]

      How many homes have you bought? Doing research doesn't always help if you don't have the experience to know which questions to ask. They knew to ask if Internet was available in the neighbourhood, knowing that I'm not sure how many people would realize that it could cost $27k to actually hook it up to their house.

      Ideally the Realtor should have clued them in but I can see a lot of people making the same mistake they did and I don't like the idea that they all get screwed for not doing the right kind of rese

    • by kenh ( 9056 )

      The seller disclosed the house wasn't wired for internet, the buyers choose not to follow that lead, lesson learned.

  • Question (Score:5, Insightful)

    by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @11:54AM (#62662654)

    That $27K bill... is it because local regulations mandate underground wiring directly from a certain approved place (like a fiber hub), or is it just Comcast being a-holes about it?
    For example, in my neighborhood, if you want to upgrade power from 230V to 380V (three-phase current), regulations mandate installing an underground cable from the distribution box to the house, part of which is on public property and you have to pay for everything. That's a lot of money. Regulations...

    • I should have read TFA... it looks like the costs are incurred by having to route a cable from the junction box through underneath an arterial road. That's costly, all right.

      • 27k sounds like a bargain for that job then tbh
        • 27k sounds like a bargain for that job then tbh

          Article says a comcast employee told them the actual cost is closer to $80k

          • Meanwhile in my neighborhood, a neighbor who was using a rototiller in his back yard two houses down cut the undocumented no longer to code buried cable. It took 8 years of crap dangling from trees and at least 100 repeated calls with at least 15 service calls to finally get it routed from the box across the street and everything fixed. Each time a new tech came out they muttered “what the hell went on here???” Then proceeded to do something the next tech found abhorrent. The third party contr
      • And it's probably all underground in that area. My old neighborhood it was above ground lines so installing cable there was easy and didn't cost the home owners much for the initial hookup once it was available at the street. My cable line (and electric) ran over head and was easy to repair after a tree fell over the lines once.

        • Yeah people love to talk about how great underground wiring is, not having poles and cables running overhead but the cost of running new cable or repairing existing cables is five times as much.

          It's easy to put in when building a new subdivision but have fun 30 years down the line when it needs upgrading or replacement...

      • That's the opposite of a lot of stories I hear. Usually, these buildouts are a done at a huge profit - like a $10k job will be sold as $30k.

        • That's the opposite of a lot of stories I hear. Usually, these buildouts are a done at a huge profit - like a $10k job will be sold as $30k.

          No, no, no. Comcast is renown for its highly altruistic business practices, I’m sure it’s taking a massive loss on something like this. /s

        • The cable companies generally eat much of the cost, because they make it up on the service. It's why they'll wire an entire new apartment for free. Because having it wired means hundreds of new potential customers. In the case of this story, they'd never make that money back in 100 years, so it's simply a stupid business decision for them, even if they do eat a portion of the total bill.
      • In Seattle area? I'll get you under that road in 2 hours without power equipment. Unless, of course, DigSafe/whatever reports the gas main, electrical utility, and multiple communications providers all dug in a different depths. And I'll be able to tell you it failed without blowing the place up or causing any outages.

        I did it in Maine, and in Arizona. Dirt and wet I'll take over desert and caliche any day. But the cost for the contractor is probably as much prep and insurance. Your best hope is to fin d a

      • by suutar ( 1860506 )

        I'm surprised there's not a conduit under the road already. Does nobody else on that side connect to that box?

  • by CyberBill ( 526285 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @11:55AM (#62662666)

    I really do think we need better protection laws for home buyers in these situations.

    I purchased a house ~18 months ago, and prior to putting in an offer I called our cable company (Spectrum) and they assured me that I could get 1gig cable service. So we bought the house, and on closing day I called to set it up... They said they couldn't, because there was no line installed. They eventually quoted me $80k to install it.

    It took me 18 months and lots of work to finally get a different company to lay 1/4 mile of fiber optic line (in a conduit that already existed) so that our neighborhood could all have fiber.

    If someone had claimed that the house could get water, and then it couldn't - I could sue. Or if it wasn't wired for electricity or something. But not internet access - and that shouldn't be the case.

    • by jenningsthecat ( 1525947 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:02PM (#62662724)

      I purchased a house ~18 months ago, and prior to putting in an offer I called our cable company (Spectrum) and they assured me that I could get 1gig cable service. So we bought the house, and on closing day I called to set it up... They said they couldn't, because there was no line installed. They eventually quoted me $80k to install it.

      Provided you could prove they told you service was available, I would have thought there'd be grounds for a civil suit. I'd like to see everybody who experiences that kind of thing launch lawsuits - it might make companies a little more diligent in providing correct information.

      • evidence or it never happened. most corporate contacts announce that the call may be recorded though, so I just assume that means I may record it too

        • It absolutely means you can record it.

          At least generally they say "this call may be recorded to assure the quality of service" or what not.

          To me that means you may record the call as long as it's a about maintaining the companies quality of service. I would say making sure they do what is offered falls completely within that.

    • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
      At least in this case, the seller did disclose it before the sale.
  • Starlink (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mspohr ( 589790 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @11:56AM (#62662668)

    Starlink.
    Screw the cable company.

    • Re:Starlink (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Wells2k ( 107114 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:22PM (#62662826)

      This would actually be a great promotional move by Starlink... have them come in and solve the predicament post-haste, then advertise that they were able to solve a problem that Comcast couldn't solve despite only being 181 feet away.

    • Re:Starlink (Score:4, Informative)

      by jarkus4 ( 1627895 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:41PM (#62662928)

      From TFA:
      "Cohn signed up for the SpaceX Starlink waiting list and recently got an invite. But the Starlink mobile app that tests a location's suitability for satellite Internet showed that it likely wouldn't work well, Cohn said."

      • Still, it's the future. In such a vast territory where houses can be anywhere, layout out cable everywhere will be expensive, no matter what. Wireless approaches are the only viable ones. Same reason why public transport can't work well in any rural territory. Infrastructure needs adequate density in order for it to be financially viable
  • Politics, (Score:5, Funny)

    by polyp2000 ( 444682 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @11:57AM (#62662684) Homepage Journal

    They should run for office for this level of attention to detail and failure to do due dilligence.

    • It would suit. People who don't look things up filling up both sides of the congressional halls is precisely the reason why America is in a state where a house withing the city limits of a state's capital city doesn't have an internet connection.

      They should have looked this up. But they shouldn't have needed to, presumably they thought they were living in a 1st world country.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      They should run for office for this level of attention to detail and failure to do due dilligence.

      Or offer to buy a social media company.

  • Seems like they should look into satellite internet.

  • by WankerWeasel ( 875277 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:04PM (#62662734)
    The previous owners must have specifically wanted to not be wired for cable. The cable company generally gets involved with contractors when a home is built or a development created, and comes and wires it for free. It's in their best interest to do so. The more houses wired for cable, the more potential customers. And it costs them a lot more to do so after than while the house is being built. This was always the case when I worked for the cable company years ago. There are also large apartments where the cable company could come wire the entire thing free but the owners refuse to allow it, so the residents have no internet options other than dial-up or potentially DSL. Sadly, in this couples case, it wasn't done originally, and now it's super expensive. The cable company isn't gonna spend nearly $30k to wire a single house. They'd never recoup the cost, even if the customer signed a lifetime contract (which doesn't exist).
    • The previous owners must have specifically wanted to not be wired for cable.

      I know the likes of cable companies when they run new infrastructure. It will almost certainly have been a case of *knock* *knock* "Hi I'm from Comcast and we're running cable in your neighbourhood. Are you interested in having it in your house? All it will take is for you to lock in a 24 month contract with us!"

      I offered T-mobile that I will accept their fibre connection if they pay for breaking the contract with my existing ISP. They said no, so our house doesn't have fibre (mind you the cost later will b

    • by Scoth ( 879800 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:41PM (#62662930)

      The house was built in 1964, the neighborhood was wired in the late 70s or early 80s. You're probably still right, but it couldn't have been wired when the house was built.

  • by awwshit ( 6214476 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:21PM (#62662820)

    Article says that Starlink won't be reliable due to trees. That house is not totally surrounded by trees though. There is a point-to-point wireless solution here - make a deal with the guy across the street to have a second internet access added at his house under your name - connect it to point to point wireless and beam it to your house across the street. You pay the bill for service at the other guy's house and you pay the guy some fee for electricity every year. Problem solved, no one goes broke.

    • by irving47 ( 73147 )

      mod parent up.

      I don't know why I had to scroll so far to see this.
      Ubiquiti is who I'd be looking at for their point-to-point link equipment. Even 10 years ago they had "nanostation" product lines that provided fantastic links from a mile away no problem. Find a friendly, sympathetic neighbor with line of site to the side of your house, pay for an installation on the side of their house under your own name (so you can avoid any potential TOS 'entanglements') and go from there. No metering or throttling like

  • Aim Higher (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sniepre ( 517796 ) <sniepre@gmail.com> on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:22PM (#62662828) Homepage
    My only take is that if they're looking at that cost to run Comcast, why not just run fiber instead? I am west of Seattle in the Kitsap peninsula, and my total bill was less than 27k for nearly a mile of aerial and trenched fiber to connect to NoaNet (Northwest Open Access network) - and that's gig/gig fiber. What a waste to spend it on dumb old Comcast.
    • by MobyDisk ( 75490 )

      cost to run Comcast, why not just run fiber instead?

      If Comcast is using fiber in that area, then they will lay fiber. If Comcast is not using fiber in that area, then laying fiber will not be particularly helpful. Skimming the article, I don't see anything stating which type of cable that area uses.

  • ... you could use Starlink. Probably not as fast as fibre but still better than ADSL and certainly cheaper than $27,000 installation.
    • by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      Yeah, the Comcast installation cost alone would pay for almost two decades of Starlink service, and that's before you factor in the cost of Comcast service. If you assume that they would pay $80 for the Comcast service, their installation fee would pay for 75 years of service.

  • by time961 ( 618278 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @12:44PM (#62662940)
    Get a Comcast account by some other means. Get a directional antenna. Login to a neighbor's Comcast Wifi router using the default "xfinitywifi" hotspot SSID that comes with every Comcast-provided router. Presto: WiFi for life.

    I did this at a vacation property, and because I already had Comcast at home, I didn't need a new account, just used my existing credentials to login to my neighbor's hotspot, so no additional costs at all. Worked for years without a hitch until I sold the place. (Pro tip: this is also a great way to get WiFi in an apartment)

    This is one of the relatively unheralded great features of Comcast Internet: there are (literally) millions of "xfinitywifi" hotspots all over the country (even in rural areas) available to any Comcast customer. I detest Comcast customer service as much as the next fellow, but this universal hotspot SSID is a great thing.

    Alternatively, he could be aboveboard about it and offer to split the Comcast costs with a neighbor. Or even pay the whole monthly fee, like he would have paid otherwise ("Hey neighbor, want free WiFi for life?" seems like it would be hard to turn down). Maybe run direct burial cable through the backyard. Or a point-to-point laser (but that's likely pretty expensive, too).

    Maybe this guy isn't a techno-geek himself, but surely he could find one... in Seattle, right? I sense a distinct lack of creativity here, coupled with a tendency toward whining.
  • Moved into downtown San Diego apartment. Everyone around me had Cox (amazing), Google Fiber (pretty good), or U-Verse fiber (ok).

    My apartment provided a monopoly to AT&T. AT&T gave us something about equivalent to 90s DSL.

    It was so bad, I had to have my employer buy me a 4g Verizon hotspot.

    I will never again move anywhere without knowing who the ISP is. And I will never again live anywhere with AT&T Internet.

  • by SlashDotCanSuckMy777 ( 6182618 ) on Thursday June 30, 2022 @04:17PM (#62663750)

    this wouldn't be a problem.

    America is fucked, and about to get fucked even harder with this new supreme court.

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