I wish we could get Verizon FIOS where we are at. Comcast is the only option unfortunately. I am not sure why our gas and electric was so cheap - I just paid the bill they sent.

We refused to do overhead lines though Ben Lo mand advised. They went down a long driveway under a creek and sidewalk- no charge. We had to sign a 2 year contract, but no biggie. This was in Middle TN.

Comcast told us we could dig our own trench and even gave me specifics on what line we needed. He had mentioned that a 300 ft long one they did recently was 2300.00 However from research I have done sometimes it costs more because what is existing is maxed out already. Is it possible that the charges have less to do with the line and more to do with expanding the network? Would ask for a breakdown. Is it a local office you are talking to? Maybe it is a local thing? We did not get as far as having them out yet to the property yet. So the story could change for us.

I will for sure ask for a breakdown. It seemed like it was just the installation cost. We are in a rural area, but do have neighbors with Comcast. I don't mind signing a service agreement. I am okay with overhead lines along the easement (as electrical is already overhead) and underground up to the house. I will have to call again and talk to someone else to see if digging our own trench might be an option. Frontier also services our area I just found out, but they only offer 15 Mbps and I am not sure if that will be fast enough for our needs. They don't charge anything to bring it to the home.

Do you live in a heavily unionized state? Sometimes that can be a major block to doing your own work on a project that would otherwise be done by unionized workers.

15Mbps. DSL or Fiber? I don't see why most people need so much bandwidth. Maybe check your expectations. (and also, how easily the lines they set actually matter to the speed versus other equipment that Frontier might later upgrade, for example).

Yes, we are a heavily unionized state...Michigan :) Probably one of the most unionized states due to the auto industry. The internet is fiber. I think the speed will be fine, but my husband is worried.

Mostly because Michigan is still carved up and there is no competition, to speak of. They charge what they can. HOWEVER, it can sometimes be worthwhile to go look up their contract with the municipality you're in and determine what precisely there responsibilities are.

Talk to the neighbors about installing a wireless relay from their house and sharing their connection.

400 feet if you have a clear line of sight might be do-able.

I'd wonder if the price would be different if you signed a one year commitment for a TV/internet bundle rather than telling them you just want internet.

We were quoted $250,000. True story.

We went with Frontier. Wretched customer service. Terrible speeds. All maxed out, etc etc etc.

TNhorsefarm - are you in a rural area? We're also in Middle Tennessee and just had satellite internet installed since I didn't think high speed internet was available in our rural area.

First world problems I know, but after dealing with slow connections and low monthly data caps I would definitely pay $3,000 to have hardwired high speed internet! I miss my streaming Netflix :)

We were able to have our builder/contractor dig the trench for cable/phone/electric and then paid to have those individual companies run their lines. Ours was much more overall, but we had more distance to cover.

I'm thanking our utility gods right now. Duke Energy didn't charge us anything to trench about 400' from the nearest pole on a neighbor's empty land to the corner of our property with underground service. We got written permission from the neighbor beforehand. We trenched from there to our garage and house and ran the conduit, they pulled the lines. We called Morris Broadband at the same time and they tagged along on the trench, different conduit, again no charge. We used to live in suburban Chicago and had Comcast - they drove me nuts.

We're on a wireless network where we have a receiver hooked to the side of our house pointing at an access point. The access points for this company (which is local and has great service) are located on high places such as grain bins. I don't even think we had to pay for the receiver. However, depending on your area that may not be available because you have to have a clear line of sight to the access point. Here, we're on the prairie surrounded by fields, so nothing is in the way. It's pretty fast for a rural area. We can watch Netflix with no issues. Something to look into?

I'd say it's time to escalate this within Comcast. There should be no reason you can't do your own ditch as long as it meets their specs. Find someone higher up who has authority to say "yes."

We recently got Charter Spectrum on our rural SC property. They had to go at least 1/4 mile overhead, then another 450' underground. No charge, no contract, and we got internet only. They seem pretty desperate to stay ahead of AT&T in our area. Likewise, our power hook-up was free, including a required transformer. The only utility that whacked us was city water, which was $1800 at the street, and of course we had to lay pipe up to the house.

Prior to getting cable, we just used an air card; about $50 a month. We'd still be on it if we had to pay $3700!

"Do you live in a heavily unionized state? Sometimes that can be a major block to doing your own work on a project that would otherwise be done by unionized workers."

That's one possible explanation. Another is that Comcast makes money (they are a business) doing this work. If they can prevent you from DIY and then gouge you for something that you need ... that's an awfully profitable business model.

Tnfarmhousefixin- we are rural coffee county/Warren county. Fortunately this was available and I recommend! Not sure how far Ben Lo mand stretches out, it is based out of Mcminnvile I believe?

Thanks, TNhorsefarm. We are in rural Franklin in Williamson County. None of our neighbors seem to have broadband internet either so I'm assuming it's not available, but I'll need to look into this more.

There's a lot of home building in the area now so maybe it's an option if there are enough people willing to pay for it.

If I had to pay $3700 to get a a decent internet connection, I would not be able to write that check fast enough.

Time Warner wants $52,000. We run our small business from home, and need at least a 15Mb connection (We have a 50Mb connection now at our current house, although we're considering the upgrade to 100Mb). Checked with Time Warner before building our new house that we could get service. We were assured multiple times that we could. Now that the house is almost done, they are saying it will be $52,000. There are no other choices, and we obviously can't pay that.

(but yes they are overcharging you, Duke energy ran in our power, underground, 1200ft, for free).

Thank you everyone! It looks like I am going to make some calls on Monday. Another question...it will likely take a couple of weeks to get the cable installed if we go that route. Any recommendations for temporary internet? With kids and a home business, we need something to get through.

Well, I'll be curious to know what you find out. I only asked about unionized state because your situation reminded me of the frustration I felt while working a conference in Detroit...E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. had to be done on a union guy's time.

Sorry to say, Michigan has been the worst state I've ever tried to get anything done in. I hope it works out better for you.

Can't believe the builder did not install the conduit pipe for the underground portion when he installed electric, (already had trench open). He saved about two hundred bucks in conduit cost by not installing the required 2" line for you. I'd bet a large portion of the quote is to install underground portion, no reason you cannot subcontract the conduit installation to someone else. Do not let them use direct burial wire (no conduit) you will regret it, you're in a cold climate state, needs to be at least 24" deep in conduit.

Temporary Internet? Does your cell phone have the capability to function as a wifi hotspot? I can do this with my iPhone and my T-Mobile service. If so, you can have a connection to the Internet for any wireless-capable devices. Not all providers and phones allow this feature. Of course you also need to keep an eye on your data plan's limits, if any.

Satellite service?

We had been in contact with our internet/tv company for 9 months before they finally did anything (just got internet/tv hooked up Thursday and we've been in the house since mid December). Unfortunately it seems like not everyone is always on the same page for what should or needs to be done. They continuously changed their mind and FINALLY decided we could install our own conduit with sweeps at certain lengths so all they had to do was pull wire and install their pedestals above ground. Good thing because we already had 2 of the 3 runs done. They quoted us $8000 to dig and install conduit for one run about 250' long. Multiply that by 3 if they had decided our installation of conduit wasn't okay. In the end we were out $60 for them to install at the house. No charge for them to pull wire. After saying all that.... try to talk to someone else. In our experience it depended on who you talked to or who looked at the project. Sorry you're having to deal with this. It's incredibly frustrating.