And yet another open letter to Click! Network management:
One of your people called me a few days ago to talk about DOCSIS 3.0
I'm sorry, I don't recall his name.
He was under the strong impression Comcast just rolled out DOCSIS 3.0 here in Tacoma in December 2009.
WRONG.
As I told the guy, Comcast rolled out DOCSIS 3.0 here in the Seattle Tacoma area slightly over a year ago - mid-December 2008. Check out this thread on dslreports.com and please note the posts' date: DOCSIS 3.0 available in Tacoma
Yes, that's right: Comcast rolled out DOCSIS 3.0 in Tacoma in mid-December, 2008. The first post in the thread is dated 12-19-2008.
And you guys thought the roll-out had just happened? Seriously? And according to what the guy told me, you're just now getting ready to ask the city council for money to build-out a DOCSIS 3.0 system?
This really disturbs me.
How on earth could you people have missed a major market event such as that?
The guy I talked to told me that the vast majority of your customers are at the Res 1 level, so that was another reason Click saw no real incentive to upgrade. Well duh! You ever suppose the reason all your customers are at Res 1 is because the other products are so inferior that anyone interested in real bandwidth and real value will go to Comcast?
Take another look:
Current Comcast prices:
1 Mbps down and 384 Kbps up - $24.95 per month
15 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up - $19.99 for 6 months then $42.95 per month
20 Mbps down and 4 Mbps up - $52.95 per month
30 Mbps down and 7 Mbps up - $62.95 per month
50 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up - $99.95 per month
Click packages:
3 Mbps down and 256 Kbps up - $32.95 per month - "Res 1"
10 Mbps down and 768 Kbps up - $42.95 per month - "Res 2"
15 Mbps down and 768 Kbps up - $62.95 per month - "Res 3"
With price and speed differences as shown above, what incentive exists for the discerning customer to choose Click? Hometown loyalty? You offer BAD deals. Not even mediocre, but actually bad. Click is a terrible value. A vastly inferior and over-priced product.
What you have remaining - the core Res 1 subscribers are obviously the people who don't care. And you still have no $24.95 price point package to compete with Comcast.
But by ignoring the market and allowing yourself to be non-competitive, you've driven away many other people who would otherwise subscribe.
I'm really concerned that your current management is running Click into the ground, and squandering the investment made by the people of this city.
Things must change, and quickly.
Comments (1)
Hi Mike!
Sadly, the vision of a municipal service created to protect its citizens from the oppressive, anti-competitive practices of big corporate interests, has not materialized through Click Network. In Tacoma, we now have a choice between a corporate giant whose decisions are driven by determining the needs of its market, then maximizing profitability...and a city bureaucracy that makes decisions for its customers based on their self-assured knowledge that they know what is best for the public.
I have had service with Click Network since their cable sprung out of my lawn several years ago. At the time, their cable carried a better quality picture at a better price, and I became a loyal fan of one of the home-grown ISPs using their network for data transport. Never once in all these years has Click asked me what I wanted out of their services...it's like they think they already know what's best for me.
I now receive my TV service from Comcast. I get more channels for the buck, along with innovative services Click hasn't bothered to implement. I still have the Click cable for Internet because I have a good relationship with my ISP, but can't imagine why any new subscriber in their right mind would choose Click. It's obvious to me that Comcast has done a great deal of market research before making their decisions, and it shows.
Hopefully the Click brass will lose their arrogance and start asking folks what they really want before they just go elsewhere to get it!
Posted by Rich Langsford
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March 26, 2010 12:43 PM
Posted on March 26, 2010 12:43