Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

chrisdh79 OP t1_isog8ag wrote

From the article: Sasha Zbrozek lives in Los Altos Hills, California, which he describes as "a wealthy Silicon Valley town," in a house about five miles from Google's headquarters. But after moving in December 2019, Zbrozek says he learned that Comcast never wired his house—despite previously telling him it could offer Internet service at the address.

Today, Zbrozek is on the board of a co-op ISP called Los Altos Hills Community Fiber (LAHCF), which provides multi-gigabit fiber Internet to dozens of homes and has a plan to serve hundreds more. Town residents were able to form the ISP with the help of Next Level Networks, which isn't a traditional consumer broadband provider but a company that builds and manages networks for local groups.

Zbrozek's experience with Comcast led to him getting involved with LAHCF and organizing an expansion that brought 10Gbps symmetrical fiber to his house and others on nearby roads. Zbrozek described his experience to Ars in a phone interview and in emails.

"Before I bought my home, I checked with Comcast—by phone—to see if service was available at the address. They said yes. After moving in, I called to buy service. The technician came out and left a note saying that service was not available," he told us.

186

HuntingGreyFace t1_isojnzo wrote

false advertising?

fraud?

who knows?

Lawyers don't ever work for us peasants

142

LigerXT5 t1_isp62fo wrote

This is a rise going on, Suddelink/Optimum (same company, owned by Altice), ATT, and a few others are caught in this. People looking to move, told there's service, move in, and find out there isn't. I've witnessed this a few times on the edges of my town. Some are lucky to even get 3-6Mbs on a 12Mb plan with ATT.

Theory till practiced enough: What I'd suggest is before signing paperwork for buying a house, have an ISP tech visit and confirm there is service, and confirmed speeds to be expected. If all goes well, schedule a followup to install, after all the paperwork is done. This sounds like the most simple and legal option.

Theory 2: Home owners looking to sell need to start listing what ISPs are confirmed, by the ISPs themselves, when listing to sell. That way the home owner is still not in troubled mix, and the legal issues go to the ISPs who can't keep their coverage maps accurate.

43

DENelson83 t1_ispkug7 wrote

The problem is actually having the ISP tech visit before closing on the house. Most large ISPs will not do this.

8

MelodyMyst t1_ispm4aq wrote

You. An always just look around yourself. It’s not too difficult to see if there is a cable from the pole. If it’s underground there is a box nearby. Ask the neighbors.

There are lots of things you can do in your own.

9

DENelson83 t1_isrbgyu wrote

None of those will actually allow you to determine if a piece of property is wired up or not. If the lines are underground, you obviously will not be able to see them.

Maybe what needs to be done is a call to 8-1-1.

3

MelodyMyst t1_isrfams wrote

That’s not even remotely true.

0

CaptainKenway1693 t1_isrz7np wrote

It certainly is for my home. My next door neighbour had Frontier and my property didn't. When asked why I couldn't receive service I was informed that they were at capacity. When Frontier finally decided to run new cable in the area I was able to get cable ran to my home. But my place and my neighbours place are both connected to the same box, so nothing is visually different from before.

3

ihohjlknk t1_isql6qo wrote

This is what i think about when i read these stories. How can a home buyer possibly confirm that the house is hooked up to an ISP? You can't take a customer service agent's word at face value.

1

LigerXT5 t1_isqlyhw wrote

The only solid answer is finding out what the current owner is using, and the speed test results, as well as the package they are signed up for.

3

TK421sSupervisor t1_isrhm2y wrote

Put it in to the purchase agreement? Everything is negotiable. If the seller misrepresents this, they’re on the hook no?

1

PM_ME_C_CODE t1_isqle7n wrote

>What I'd suggest is before signing paperwork for buying a house, have an ISP tech visit and confirm there is service

And get it in writing. That way if even after the tech says "yes we can" and they can't, you can sue.

A home is a massive investment. CYA.

1

getdafuq t1_isqkgb9 wrote

It’s typical. They’ll say they service your area, and you give them your address, and they’ll say “yes, we service your area.”

What they mean is they service someone in your area.

To find out if they actually service your house, you have to book the appointment first.

3

tristanjones t1_ispsmhw wrote

CenturyLink did this to me. They all love pulling this crap

2