Comcast Information

For complete information about Comcast and its services, please visit the Comcast Web site.

Comcast was chosen for the current expansion in Norwich because they are the only Internet provider that is willing to expand its high speed Internet service at an affordable price. Other providers that we contacted are unwilling to expand, or can only expand at a large cost to the town or its residents.

The Comcast Buy In Procedure

Comcast has a specific procedure in place that allows residents to buy into their system. In other words, if cable is not available in your area, you can pay Comcast to build cable to your area. This procedure is called the Customer Contribution In Aid For Construction (CIAC), and is the procedure we are following for the current expansion effort in Norwich.

The CIAC boils down to the following. It costs Comcast roughly $25,000 per mile to expand its services. The CIAC determines what the exact cost of construction would be for a given expansion project. Then, based upon the number of residents that make a commitment to sign up for Comcast service, the CIAC formula calculates the cost per resident for the construction phase. If enough people sign up, then the cost per resident goes down to zero. This is our goal for the current effort – we hope to get enough people signed up so that there is no cost to anyone for the construction phase.

If not enough people sign up, then typically the effort fails as most residents do not want to pay the large construction costs involved.