PEABODY — Christopher Gilbert can’t wait to switch to RCN Telecom Services.
A Comcast Corp. customer since 1998, the 51-year-old Department of Youth Services investigator said he wasn’t looking to switch, but his most recent experience with the telecommunications giant changed his mind.
Last summer, Mayor Edward Bettencourt Jr. told residents Comcast’s 40-year monopoly on cable service in the city is about to end. Comcast had 17,461 customers last year of the city’s more than 20,000 households, according to the Department of Telecommunication & Cable.
Fulfilling a long-term goal, the mayor signed an agreement to license RCN, the New Jersey communications company, to offer cable TV and high-speed internet services in Peabody.
At the time, the mayor said one of the most frequent complaints he gets is the lack of an alternative to Comcast. He was frustrated they’ve had a stranglehold on cable service since 1979 and competition was crucial to improve service and possibly lower prices.
Comcast has said despite competition from cable companies and satellite providers, customers choose Comcast, the world’s largest cable TV provider.
Last week, the mayor met with representatives of RCN to get an update on their progress toward offering service citywide. He said RCN expects to reach the first 10 percent of Peabody households by the end of the year. The build-out of RCN’s fiber infrastructure will continue through 2020.
Thomas Steel, RCN’s vice president for regulatory affairs, said part of the reason it will take a year to wire the community is because they are dependent on the other utilities to make room on the poles for the cable company’s equipment.
The poles in the city are owned by the Peabody Municipal Light Plant, the city’s electricity provider, and Verizon.
“The utility companies have to make room for us,” Steel said. “But once we get that established, we can move pretty quickly. We’ve been getting cooperation from the utilities and we should be able to get some subscribers by the year’s end, that’s our goal.”
On Monday night, Gilbert said a Comcast salesman came to his door and explained with RCN coming the cable company wanted to make sure their loyal customers were satisfied.
“He asked me if there was anything Comcast could do, but before I could answer about wanting a lower price, he offered to reduce my monthly fee to $174.99 and boost our internet speed,” he said.
That sounded good to Gilbert. His monthly Comcast bill had totaled more than $250 per month given all the premium channels and five cable boxes his family gets.
“I felt he came by to make sure I was a happy customer,” he said.
But a few days later, Gilbert learned the new “deal” wasn’t so cheap after all.
On Wednesday, he came home to discover one of the five cable boxes was disabled. That’s when he learned from a Comcast customer service representative that his cable package was changed. Under the new plan, there are additional fees the salesman failed to mention, he said.
The new package only includes the rental of one cable box, the other four will cost $10.99 each or $43.96 per month. The previous package, he learned included WiFi equipment that now carries a $13.99 monthly fee. That brought the $174.99 to $232.94, plus fees and taxes.
“I told them I really didn’t want to switch, but now I’m switching,” he said.
