Recipe for ripoff?

My wife has the cable account. (I pay for a few other utilities.) She pays $88/month for Comcast's cable service, but she's paying for Comcast Digital Gold, the highest level. We want to get Comcast's broadband service. The company says there's no cable/broadband package deal. The cost: $42/month for service plus $5/month rental fees. Adding another computer (mine) to the mix would bump up the service by $105/month. Total for Comcast: $149+$88=$237/month for the combined services.

It is me, or does this seem a mite steep?

Comments

[eighmie]

arrrrghhhh, sounds like the cable pirates are after your booty. I would call them on it, the broadband should cover all the units in your house, you might have to buy a $30.00 router, but that would be a one time expense. Ask them to break it down and then repeat it to them until they give you a deal, my god, that is really steep.

[elmegil]

As in your LJ, not a chance that that is reasonable. As mentioned elsewhere, AT&T DSL is $15 a month for the bottom end plan, potentially more if you rent the modem. Comcast not making any deal for you is also ridiculous, other cable providers do combine things. Even if you go with Comcast, there are plenty of ways for you to get both computers online without paying them highway robbery.

[Myke]

I'll third that assessment. The cost should be based on the size of the line you get, not how many computers put out bandwidth. Unless you need a static IP for some odd reason.
And, since your area has competition, you should be getting free installation. Just watch out for low introductory rates that turn into high rates later.

[Amy]

Even if you need a static IP, you should be able to configure a router to use a static on the WAN side and to do NAT on the LAN side. In plainer English: you can share an internet connection if you have a router and there is no reason to pay more to have two computers online.

You're also safer putting your computers behind a router.