Comcast discontinues 'Signature Support' service, although some services will still be provided free to some subscribers

Tom Paine

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Comcast says it is discontinuing its Xfinity 'Signature Support' service, which it launched in 2011. It posted an undated announcement on its website, and Comcast's service provider support.com issued a release describing the impact it faced from the program's termination earlier this week.

Actually, Comcast's initial notification of its customer base appears to date from early October 2013.

Signature Support provided plans ranging from $4.95/month to $19.95/month (at the time it launched) for tech support for Comcast residential subscribers' computers, home networks, and other peripherals. It did not include Comcast-provided equipment, which the company says was already covered. The service was provided in conjunction with support.com. Comcast wouldn't say how many subscribers Signature Support had, although judging from what support.com had to say Monday I don't think it was an enormous number from Comcast's perspective (although it will have some short-term impact on support.com.)

Paging through a few forums (not a scientific survey), I've seen mixed comments (some quite positive) about Signature Support, but don't have enough information to say whether any problems were extraordinary or systematic.

A Comcast spokesperson said by email: "We're continuing to work with support.com to deliver the same premium support as before, but it's now available to customers who currently lease a wireless gateway or router device from Comcast at no additional cost."

Separately, Comcast also provided Signature Support service to small business customers, and that is also being discontinued as of March 31. After that date, Comcast says any files stored in the Signature Support cloud backup solution will be deleted and no longer available. Comcast Business told Philly Tech News it offers additional cloud backup services from Carbonite and Mozy through its online Upware marketplace.

Links 10/30/2013: Comcast reports earnings; will stream 35 live channels to mobile apps outside home

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