Business Model of Internet Connection

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Our internet connection seemed to have slowed down the last couple of weeks, so I visited the Comcast website to check not just on our account but also on speed offerings.  Within a couple of minutes, a person named "Chris" popped up in chat format.  I'm back and forth with him (maybe it's a her), and he suggests a site for checking download and upload speeds.  Apparently those speeds are right where they should be for the package we've signed up for.  So I asked if he thought the issue was more of a computer one than a connection one.  He demured, and gave me a link to their Technical Support.

While I had him on chat, I though to ask about the next increment of speed and cost, and he gave this bit to me. Then, the business model emerged: I said I had to check with my wife, before deciding on that next increment.  He asked, if my wife was here, as he would wait.  This way, he could sign us up right away.  I said, I'll have to get back to Comcast.

I read an article or two before about how internet service providers did little to upgrade the infrastructure for connections and how, it seemed, they were a veritable oligopoly.  Comcast costs so much a month for relatively little in return.  The thrust of my work, projects and networks runs via online conduits, so reliability and speed are crucial for me.  When I have persistent difficulty, it becomes accumulated frustration and time wastage.

Anyway that pop-up, unsolicited chat was a relatively new one, as far as direct sales efforts are concerned and as far as such a major company like Comcast is concerned.  The chat was actually a pleasant, helpful one, but now I am more wary, indeed informed of such tactics.