Comcast is making it difficult for many new customers to avoid paying installation fees—even if they purchase their own modems and are willing to set them up themselves.

Based on our tests, signing up for standalone Internet or TV service on Comcast.com often requires payment of a $59.99 or $89.99 installation fee, depending on where you live. (The fee was $60 in two Massachusetts suburbs and $90 at homes in Houston, Texas, and Seattle, Washington.) In cases where the $60 or $90 fee is charged, the fee is required whether you purchase your own modem or rent one from Comcast for another $11 a month.

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The installation fee might be charged even if the home you're buying service at has existing Comcast service, and even if you order Internet speeds lower than those purchased by the current occupant. That means the fee is charged even when Comcast doesn't have to make any upgrades at the house or apartment you're moving into. Internet speed makes no difference, as the fee may be charged whether you purchase 15Mbps downloads or gigabit service.

"We can't offer self-install kits for residences that we already serve with an existing customer," a Comcast spokesperson told us. Comcast said it requires professional installations for "complex" cases.

Bundle up to avoid the fee

You can avoid the installation fee by purchasing certain bundles that include both TV and Internet, but the fee is often mandatory if you buy only TV service or broadband individually. The $60 or $90 fee is also charged when you buy phone service only or a "double-play" package of phone service and broadband.

We tested this by entering addresses into Comcast's online sign-up system and going through most of the process of signing up for service. In cases where Comcast requires the fee, we were unable to get to the "Submit Order" page unless we scheduled a "professional installation" and submitted credit card information. Getting one of Comcast's self-install kits wasn't even an option in these cases.


The fee isn't always required. A Comcast spokesperson provided us with five addresses in different states where Comcast's online system offers the option of a free self-install kit:

When asked why free self-install kits are available for these addresses, Comcast told us, "These are all homes for sale in our footprint that previously had Comcast services."

But our tests of Ars staff addresses indicate there are at least two common scenarios in which you'd have to pay the fee. If you live in a house in Comcast's territory but currently subscribe to something else, like Verizon FiOS, our tests indicate that you have to agree to pay the installation fee in order to switch to Comcast.


Secondly, if you're moving into a home that's still occupied and the current resident has Comcast service, you'd have to pay the installation fee. This would occur if you sign up for service in advance when you're planning to move into a new home or apartment almost immediately after the current resident leaves.

Comcast's fees vary so much by geographic location and bundle that we can't be sure that these general guidelines will hold true in every case. But it's clear that there are multiple circumstances in which Comcast will not allow new customers to order service online unless they agree to a pricey installation, even when they have their own modem and could plug it in themselves.

Please complete your order!

A Comcast spokesperson initially disputed our findings—even though they were based entirely on the results provided by Comcast's website. The Comcast spokesperson told us that a new customer can't sign up for service online at an address that currently has a paying Comcast customer, because its system has a business rule in place to automatically flag such an address. Comcast told us that in these cases, a new customer would be required to talk to a Comcast agent, who would presumably ensure that the current resident is actually moving out before allowing the new customer to hook up to Comcast's network. Because of that, Comcast told us that we shouldn't assume that the installation fee listed on its website would actually be charged.

But that doesn't appear to be true. I was able to schedule installation appointments and enter credit card numbers in order to sign up for service at homes where the current resident subscribes to Comcast. Hitting the "Submit Order" button would have charged my card $50 immediately, enough to cover the first monthly payment of $30 and part of the installation fee.


I didn't actually click the "Submit Order" button because I wanted to avoid credit card charges and a confusing situation with Comcast installers. But once I pointed this out to the Comcast spokesperson, the company stopped denying that it would be impossible to sign up for service at these homes without talking to a Comcast agent.

In the ensuing days, Comcast's automated system sent me two followup emails urging me to complete my order before I unsubscribed from the messages—I was never told that I had to talk to a Comcast agent in order to set up service.

The Comcast spokesperson told us that installation fees vary by market and on whether the company has a promotion running.

Comcast also told us that installation fees may be refunded when it turns out that no special installation was required. But it's clear that the Comcast website often forces customers to schedule a professional installation and agree to the fee in order to complete an order.


Once you've agreed to the fee and paid a deposit, actually getting a refund could be tricky. Because the default setting is a required payment, customers may not even realize it's possible to get a refund.

Comcast provided a statement for our story:

For Internet-only customers, we offer two options that do not require an in-home tech visit. A customer can use an Xfinity self-install kit with a modem leased from Comcast, or purchase his/her own modem. Orders can be completed online, in-person at an Xfinity retail store, or by phone. We've worked hard to make the self-install experience simple and easy and it's a growing and popular way for new customers to connect. When the installation is more complex, we schedule a technician visit. There are reasons that an in-home technician visit may be necessary. For example, if our engineers need to test signal strength and connections in a home that hasn't been serviced in a number of years, or if the installation is more complicated for products like Gigabit Internet or there are multiple services (like home security) being installed. For these situations, we offer competitively priced options, which vary by market.

Judging by that Comcast statement, you'd think there would be no installation fee when you buy your own modem and are moving into a house that already has Comcast service. But as we've shown in this article, the fee is often required in those situations.

“They told me the fee was mandatory”

Ars staffer Lee Hutchinson recently switched from a business-class Comcast service to the company's residential gigabit cable offering. The "installation" consisted mostly of "the tech watching me take my new cable modem that I bought out of its box," Hutchinson told me.

"They told me the fee was mandatory, even though I brought my own modem and when the setup actually happened, it was a self-activation," he said. The Comcast technician watched Hutchinson complete the self-enrollment process online, and then ran a speed test.


Comcast told Ars that the gigabit cable service requires a professional installation to ensure that every tap is clear and that the signal is perfect.

Ultimately, Comcast charged Hutchinson just $40 for installation instead of the original $90. While Hutchinsons' service is a DOCSIS 3.1 cable product, Comcast's 2Gbps fiber-to-the-home service has an installation fee of $500 and an activation fee of another $500.

A fee for “plugging in MY modem”

We don't know if there has been a recent change in Comcast's installation fee policies, but we began looking into the fees last week after seeing a customer complaint.

"I just went direct to Comcast's website for ordering and I noticed they do not have a self install option anymore," a Comcast customer wrote on a DSLReports forum.


Comcast was charging $59.99 "for coming and plugging in MY modem," the customer wrote.

The customer chatted with a Comcast rep, who provided the following response:

Let me also inform you that it is Comcast standard procedure that a technician has to come over at your home for the installation of the services. Even if your new home has lines already, the connection of these lines has been / will be fully disconnected upon service disconnection of the current or previous resident. Restoration of the connection has to be done by a professional technician.

The customer previously had Comcast service at the same address before changing to Frontier a year ago. The customer was switching back to Comcast in order to get a new deal.

The same customer later changed the order to a bundle with TV. "I went and added TV to the package and now they waive the $59.99 fee. But [if you] just [order] Internet, they charge it," the customer wrote.

No free install “because we deliver very fast speeds”

I also chatted with a Comcast agent about the installation fee when I was going through the online ordering process. "While we currently don't offer free installation please keep in mind that because we deliver very fast Internet speeds, a professional technician needs to ensure you're getting the guaranteed speeds of the plan you're paying for," the Comcast rep, Jacob, told me.

Comcast charges the installation fees even for entry-level Internet tiers that provide only 15Mbps downloads and 2Mbps uploads, lower than the federal broadband standard of 25Mbps/3Mbps.


I have had Verizon FiOS at my home for more than three years. I bought the Verizon gateway and set it up myself without having a Verizon technician come to my home. It's possible that I would be able to switch to Comcast without any re-wiring at my house, but I don't know for sure.

Jacob told me that "it is possible that due to your location and/or the wiring conditions of your residence, you would not be able to install the services yourself and professional install would be required." It was clear that Comcast didn't know if my house needed any further work—the online system would have charged me the installation fee regardless of whether I'd be capable of hooking up Comcast service myself.

In Seattle, one of my co-workers has 250Mbps Internet service from Comcast. I pretended to be a new customer moving into the address and tried to purchase basic Internet service with much slower speeds than the Comcast network is already delivering to the home. There was no way to finish the checkout process without agreeing to the $89.99 installation fee, even if I selected the option to use my own modem.


I got identical results at an address in Houston, where the installation fee was also $89.99 for entry-level Internet speeds even if you use your own modem.

To compare Comcast and Verizon, I also posed as a new Verizon customer seeking to set up service at my current address. I chatted with a Verizon rep, who told me that Verizon's $99.99 installation fee is waived if you order online, regardless of which service tier or bundle you choose. "Any service you order online, the setup fee will get waived for you," the Verizon rep told me.