In his case if he wants the service installed, he will have to get the call escalated to a supervisor or a higher supervisor who runs the office near you, in those cases, they will install the service for you if they see it as profitable.

Run away, Kevin!

I did and haven't looked back since I got uverse. All the same features (and then some) at half the price I was shelling out for comcast.

most houses don't have that long of a cable drop to do something that long they will need a heavier duty cable than most of the installers carry which is RG11, but even at 400ft+ RG11 wont work so they would need to put in Hard Line or even run new plant to your house. Frankly put it will cost them thousands of dollars to run cable to your house and they don't think its worth it. Your best bet if you really do want their service is to see what the cost would be to run hard line and see if you can pay a small portion.

Did he Twitter about it? He should try my now patented ETHB, or Executive Twitter Hashtag Bomb, where you complain, and put the companies name in hashtags. There's more to it, which I will give you for free, all you pay for is processing and handling!

Comcast could be being silly, or there could be very good engineering reasons why they won't serve him. If the guy 600ft away is at the limit of the network, adding the OP could cost not just the cost of stringing the cable (figure $1-2k), but also changes to the network before it reaches him, which could easily be $5-10k in parts and labor, plus disrupting the other customers in his area.

What is funny is that when Verizon installs FIOS to your house, they frequently have to run a fiber line across multiple poles just to get it to your house.

When I had my FIOS installed, the guy told me it was 3 poles away on another street.

Then again, the FIOS tech was 100x more competent than ANY Comcast tech I have ever dealt with.

Kevin -- the Universe (as opposed to Uverse) is giving you a sign. Take heed, or fail to take heed at your own risk.

@GitEmSteveDave_HazGreenLEDNameTag: So, how do we work out royalties in this situation? I feel like I'm going to owe you a lot of money over this patent.

The Physics are working against him.

The other 400 feet or so is VERY significant-- the signal just won't carry, even on RF11-- he has to be within 1800 feet of a source, and its likely his neighbor is probably just within that distance.

Fiberoptics work over longer distances-- which is why FIOS can do what it does.

I wonder if he has access to ATT U-verse- which runs on the copper phone wires- ATT is about as bad as Comcast service-wise.

Get the houses between you and them to signup (therefore within the 250-300ft range) until your within range.

If he wants it that bad, he could offer to cover some of the cost.

Personally, I'd look into FiOS or U-verse. Maybe they'll be more willing to run cable to his house because they're gunning for cable companies anyway. If not, bite the bullet and get Dish Network w/DSL from your phone company.

I had this same dilemma - Comcast service stopped 2 blocks away to the north. For whatever reason, they never would hook up our neighborhood. Hello Dish Network.

@jeffbone: "... and whether you can hear or not, the Universe is laughing behind your back."

What's so bad about DSL? Most providers go to 6mbps and it's usually cheaper than cable.

Comcast did Kevin a favor. Free TV from an antenna is nice -- and it saves $70 per month.

@FooSchnickens: uverse(and fios) is not an option for most. i wish people would stop making this a recommendations (unless of course its an obvious choice, which it is not in this article)

i love my internet and its something i take very seriously. i work for a local internet provider and i kept my timewarner because the service i would have been given at a discount would not compare (adsl 2). most people are limited to what service they can have, if any. most people we provide service for jump for joy when we tell them we can provide 256kbs. timewarner att the local monopolys dont do much in way of coverage.

ps i live in the butt crack of texas known as the rio grande valley. not some third world country.

@Obijuan: At what point does it become worth it? I live in a little neighborhood of about 50 homes, surrounded by farmland. Charter, the local cable company, comes to within a half mile. I have tried to figure out who to ask, but have gotten no-where. I recently moved in here, and asked many neighbors what they used for TV and internet. They all used satellite and hated it for TV, and they either used Satelitte, or Cell cards for internet, and everyone was unhappy with that too. (incredibly expensive, slow, and capped) We are 40,000 feet from the telco exchange, so DSL is out too.

@Obijuan: or if in good terms with the neibhors they can have a local tech setup a point to point then split the bill.

To be fair, the limits of cable are always going to mean somebody who doesn't get it has a neighbor who does. It's if you're surrounded by houses that do that it becomes a little odd.

@Warren: He obviously doesn't much care about the TV aspect. He says, "I absolutely do not want 1.5mbps "broadband" DSL".

I've been wondering the same thing. Can anyone else tell me why I would have access to AT&T phone and DSL service, but not U-Verse? I know other people in my area that have it, but AT&T's site says they don't provide service for my address.

My house currently has both AT&T phone and internet. Trying to get the parents to bundle things so we can finally get cable and higher broadband tiers.

@benbell:
What is funny is that when Verizon installs FIOS to your house, they frequently have to run a fiber line across multiple poles just to get it to your house.

But don't forget that FIOS is very actively expanding this new utility so they have no choice but to push into new areas.

Whereas Comcast and other cable companies are not expanding into these areas, they've already deemed them not profitable vs. cost to enable at some point, what it comes down to is: How do you get the cable co. to reevaluate your worth as a customer vs. expense and their own costs to expand to include you?

If the OP is at the end of a street and everyone else in the area is covered he may be SOL when it comes to getting them to see him as valuable.

The only other avenue I can think of would be complaints to the town utility commission which may have an agreement w/ the cable co that they provide service to all residents of the town who want it?

There's no doubt as a consumer you're better off when you live in a place that allows for multiple TV/internet/phone -- I live in a town that has two cable providers and FIOS available for TV, we've also got DSL available from several local ISPs running on dry-loops from Verizon.

@QuantumRiff: Do people think about these things befoe they buy houses out in the middle of BFE?

@wcnghj: If only!

We live in a densely populated suburb north of San Francisco... but we're over two miles from the nearest ATT central office. That means the fastest DSL we can get is 384K symmetrical.

Does the town have a "cable committee"? Sometimes they can intervene on the behalf of a consumer. They are also supposed to help negotiate for coverage with the cable companies. At least they are in my town...

@JGKojak:

Agree.. On that note, I would also think, considering cable is load dependent, that quality would decrease for everyone on that same node.

I hate cable. I will never go back.

@wcnghj:

Seriously? 6Mbps? No way... if he's so far away from cable plant resources that they can not hook him up it would be a miracle if he could even get 1.5Mbs DSL ... he's probably much to far from the DSLAM or CO.

DSL would be cheaper, but he might be better of going to an AT&T 3G card w/ a fixed antenna--at least that is close to 2Mbs these days w/ the promise of more soon.

Don't hate on DSL, Kevin. Realize that the dsl will give you 1.5 day in and day out where comcast will give you a huge variety of speeds that will never be fast when you actually need them to be.

@FooSchnickens: Those of us stuck in Qwest territories would kindly request that you U-verse/FiOS people STFU. Thank you.

@QuantumRiff:

That can depend on a couple things. This neighborhood you are in, is there a Neighborhood associational, or some other governing board. They might have by-laws that prevent the cable or have an agreement with someone that cable is excluded. Something else you have to considered is the local franchise agreements to. Charter might not have an franchise agreement with your municipal, (assuming it's different) they might have one with the municipal 1/2 a mile down the road. If neither is the case, then I'm guessing, they don't think it's cost effective to run to your neighborhood.

I've heard stories of people calling for service and giving them the wrong address of a house down the street and waiting outside for the installer to come. When he get their they explain they gave the wrong address on accident and lead them back to their house and the installer hooks them up. Not sure if this would work but it's worth a shot.

Make friends with the neighbors and I'm sure you can work something out. Such them hosting a HDHomerun or slingbox tuner on their cable line and you running ethernet (or wifi) between houses.

@32ndnote: i've always gone for the "infringe now, settle out-of-court later" approach that so many businesses seem to take

@emis: i saw a story somewhere at some point (or possibly heard from a friend) where a cable co wanted to bill the user to run the cable from the nearest pole to his house. (this might be an option)

You don't know just how lucky you are! Comcast saved you from a nightmare of bad service, billing problems, high prices and general aggravation. Use an antenna!

If I remember correctly, when Comcast was awarded the cable franchise where I live they were required to service all of the addresses in the geographical area that their franchise had. They were not allowed to "pick and choose". I wonder if the same applies with the area the OP lives in?

"satisfied Comcast customer"??? So i take it Kevin is a unicorn?

@JGKojak: ATT's UVerse has had pretty good service in my area. I've been thrilled with it. Their customer service seems to be up to snuff also, except for the time they mistakenly blacked out a game in my area. The person I talked to had absolutely no idea how to get in touch with the people that could flip the switch to lift the blackout.

@firemunkie:

Does Cox serve your area? I've been pretty impressed with them overall in both San Angelo and Tucson.

Also most of rural America basically is a third world country.

@benbell:

Signal loss through (decent) glass fibre as compared to cable TV cable is essentially nil.

You cannot run hundreds of feet of any reasonably priced RG cable and expect a good signal at 1 Ghz on the other end. Heck, if you're out in the country with a tall TV tower that isn't attached to your home, you'll have to get an amplifier just for it if you expect a decent signal. And that's on your own property!

@benbell: FIOS is easy to run in long runs as opposed to copper which is what Comcast is. There are virtually no limits on how long a fiber optic cable can be run before signal attenuation occurs. It's much more different for the copper medium which is cable. The cable companies have to place repeaters throughout their network in order to keep the signal strength at an optimum. Copper while its great as a cheap and flexible conductor of signal it tends to have it's limits both with speed and distance. I'm with the others who feel that the cost benefit of hooking up this customer aren't in the favor of the company.

@jamesmusik:

All the more unlikely it will work, then. DOCSIS uses several "channels" (actually unused frequency ranges) on the cable, and, AFAIK, the cable co isn't going to select lower ones for further away customers. It's more likely first come, first served, and then "If that frequency didn't work, let's try the super-crowded [read slow] lower frequency channels".

That means he needs to be able to receive the full cable bandwidth without exceptional loss, or the result will be degraded/no service. Higher frequencies are far more lossy. If they don't think the TV signal will be acceptable, there's no way in hell the cable modem will work.

@ModernTenshi04: U-Verse is fiber, and is only newly expanding. It's not available in all areas. If AT&T hasn't setup a fiber infrastructure in your area you won't be eligible to get it. If others in your area have it, and you cannot get it, it's likely they just haven't expanded the loop to your section of town yet.

Speaking of Comcast, they are in a bit of a row with DirecTV over the Versus channel.

the op should go with direct tv or dish for tv then if he wants internet out in the boon docks where he lives get an air card from a cell phone service provider. the best part is no extra wires from a pole to his trailer and if he has a lap top he can take the internet with him.

@j-o-h-n: 600 feet from a neighbor is not exactly BFE - and most folks that live in the country would rather have their nice, cheap, private land and "rough it" a little than live ass-to-elbow in a city so they could have FiOS and Starbucks and Target.

@TechnoDestructo: no its timewarner/att world down here. i was very happy with timewarner, only finally left them when they angered me for the last time. adsl2 running at 6mbs for 20 bux from my employer was enough to finally win me over.

Wonder if he even bothered to see if there are other cable carriers in his area?

NorCal, Bay Area, you'd be silly not to give Astound a shot. Anywhere else try dslreports.com, see if they can find a carrier in your area.

@UGAdawg:
fiber has a limit. it's just really far.

cable companies are moving to mixed fiber/copper in the city, but maybe not where this house it