Representative for the town of Londonderry Bill August returned to the Town Council for the public hearing on the Comcast Cable renewal license agreement on Monday night.
He reported the negotiations with Comcast were a success and the town would even able to provide a senior discount to subscribers over the age of 65 that the town never had previously.
The cost was reduced to $2 off the additional starter. There have also been significant technology improvements to the town under the renewal license according to August. He also said, the new license is very strong in terms of what the town is able to negotiate with for customer service requirements, telephone response standards, and installation schedules.
A representative from Comcast was also available to answer questions from the council and the public. One question from the Town Council was exactly how many people could the Wi-Fi on the town commons support? Under the current configuration the maximum number of people it can hold is 50 at one time. This may be a concern when it is time for Old Home Day and the town brings in multiple vendors to set up for the town’s celebration. There was no technical answer given when the council asked what would happen to the 51st person that would try to log on, but the person would either get an error message or not be able to log in at all.
The discussion then went into OTT-over the top platforms and could be considered the future. DIRECTV has started offering hook-up with no satellites. The other platforms for OTT are Netflix and Stream TV that require data to use. Some of these platforms you can even use on your cell phone. With technology expanding constantly, there may be a point where customers solely have the need for Wi-Fi and the council asked the Comcast representative if they would be ready for that. He assured them that Comcast can expand their network and they have the largest most robust network in the country, so expanding it would not be a problem if necessary. Councilor Tom Dolan felt what the town is getting from Comcast now is much greater from what they were getting a decade ago, but was concerned how Comcast would fare ten years from now. August answered by saying the town is relying on Comcast being competitive, which it has been in the past.
With so many new technological advances happening year after year, it is uncertain whether or not (at this point) if the opportunities out-weigh the risks. The number one drive of cost is programming and that will play a big part in the advances of technology and streaming going forward.
Overall, the town felt they had made a promising deal with Comcast to extend their contract with them for another ten years of service. Â