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Comment by mrgriscom | Hacker News Reader

So you moved out of the service area and complained that they could not continue to provide you service? And that you had signed a contract stating you would be provided service for 36 months?

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Not sure if I'm answering the right question. I moved out of the service area (not realizing I was out of the area until I called). I tried to have my service moved and was told they could not give me service (because of the area). To be clear, I wanted to continue my service. What surprised me is they claim that their terms of service says that if I relocate to a non-service area, I still have to continue to pay. I've read the terms of service and cannot find this clause. I assume they are referring to one of the more general clauses in the ToS.

You are right, but I think Comcast Business sits at a weird intersection between consumer and business. In a business context, for example, many dark fiber deals have terms this way - it is expected. I have suffered when a cross-country line with a long minimum term was no longer needed, but I knew what I was getting into. On the other hand, most people expect to get out of their home phone deal when they move.

The author made the mistake of applying the consumer-style assumptions to a business service. Comcast's sales tactics probably leverage this type of naivete. This was the warning I think he was aiming for.

There are plenty of analogues to the consumer world so I don't think there is any naivete to be taken advantage of. Cell phone contracts have pretty strict cancellation terms and I wouldn't expect "I'm moving to where you don't provide service" to have much more weight than "I don't want to have cell phone service anymore". I've had to eat the remaining cost on a gym membership contract when I moved away.

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