{"id":594,"date":"2026-10-28T21:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T21:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/?p=594"},"modified":"2026-10-28T21:06:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T21:06:34","slug":"they-got-undersold-by-thirty-dollar-fiber-and-called-it-irrational","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/?p=594","title":{"rendered":"THEY GOT UNDERSOLD BY THIRTY-DOLLAR FIBER AND CALLED IT IRRATIONAL | Comcast lost 144,000 home-internet customers last quarter, blamed rivals\u2019 $30-to-$40 fiber offers as \u2018irrational competition,\u2019 called its own free phone line rational because it costs \u2018zero capital,\u2019 and is now planning significant job cuts, a charge of more than $1 billion and more AI agents for the customers who are left \u2014 while one analyst worries the savings might go to lower broadband prices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They got undersold by thirty-dollar fiber and called it irrational. I know the sentence. It is the sound a company makes when it spent years as the only fast wire on a lot of streets, and then somebody else ran a second wire and charged less. Not unfair. Not predatory. Irrational. As though the customer who left for a cheaper bill had lost her mind, instead of finally finding a door. I have paid a cable bill. I have spent forty minutes of my one life on hold listening to a jazz loop chosen by a committee. Rational is not the word I would have reached for either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the record. TheStreet reported Oct. 27, 2026, in a story carried by the Ledger-Enquirer, that Comcast is planning \u201ca significant number of job cuts\u201d to its Xfinity broadband, wireless and cable TV business, citing a Bloomberg report, after losing 144,000 U.S. broadband customers and 274,000 U.S. cable TV customers in the third quarter. Domestic broadband revenue fell 4.7% from a year earlier; cable TV revenue fell 8.7%. Ars Technica\u2019s Jon Brodkin, covering the Oct. 22 earnings report, notes the broadband loss was up from 91,000 a year earlier and leaves Comcast with 28.3 million residential broadband customers. On the earnings call, co-CEO Mike Cavanagh described \u201cpockets of irrational pricing and promotional activity,\u201d and CFO Jason Armstrong spelled out what he meant: $30 to $40 monthly broadband offers \u201cin specific markets in the third quarter,\u201d against fiber that costs \u201c$1,500+ per home\u201d to build. \u201cAs we look at the return profile of that, to us, that is irrational competition.\u201d In the same call, Armstrong defended Comcast\u2019s own giveaway, a free wireless line for a year: \u201cWhen we offer a free wireless line, it is against zero capital deployed.\u201d Ars reports that line goes from free to $30 a month after a year, requires a Comcast internet bundle, and that Armstrong said 70% of those free lines convert into paying relationships. Comcast expects to book a charge of more than $1 billion in the fourth quarter for what Cavanagh calls \u201cthe most significant operating and cost transformation in our company\u2019s history,\u201d and Armstrong says AI agents built with partners Sierra and Cresta have already helped eliminate more than 30 million service interactions this year. Comcast\u2019s quarterly net income rose, Ars reports, from $3.33 billion to $3.45 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the defense, and there is a real one. Building fiber is expensive, and it is getting more expensive; a company is allowed to say it won\u2019t build at a loss, and nobody is owed a gigabit. Comcast also did try the carrot first: TheStreet notes the 2025 refresh with lower everyday prices, one- and five-year price locks and unlimited data, and Armstrong says the company has \u201creduced historical pain points around promotional pricing expirations.\u201d Fine. Then read who the word \u201cirrational\u201d is aimed at. It is not aimed at the competitor. It is aimed at the price. A $30 bill is irrational if you are the one who used to collect $80. Free is rational, apparently, when it is Comcast\u2019s free and the meter starts in month thirteen. And the customers are not confused: TheStreet cites a Reviews.org survey from March finding 73% of Americans saw their internet bills spike this year, and 67% had switched or were considering switching over hidden or unexpected fees. Even the money men say the quiet part. TheStreet quotes analyst Peter Supino worrying that competition will \u201cdivert cost savings into lower broadband prices.\u201d That is the fear. Not that you\u2019ll pay too much \u2014 that you might pay less. So the plan is fewer people, more chatbots, a billion-dollar charge and a spinoff, and the company calls that agile. I am not going to tell you the fiber company is your friend. The fiber company is a promo with a contract attached, and its own price will rise the day the cable company finally stops being a threat. But the only rational act anywhere in this story is the 144,000 people who walked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taryn says she switched providers in August and the cancellation call took longer than her labor with the twins. Deb keeps the old cable box on the counter \u201cin case they want it back,\u201d which they have not asked. Buck says the free phone line is how they get you, and for once I can\u2019t argue. I love them. They are seasoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIrrational\u201d is the alibi. The 144,000 is the story. Sit with it until it confesses. A company that grew up on being the only choice has discovered that a choice is irrational, a cheaper bill is a threat to its return profile, and the cure for losing customers is to stop paying the people who answer the phone. Maybe the AI agent is lovely. I hope it can find the cancellation button faster than I could. The cardigan stays. Fill the notebook. Then ask, out loud, the next time a nice synthetic voice offers you a retention deal: what is the price in month thirteen, who decided my old price was rational, and how many people did you lay off to keep it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n