Observational Essay 1
I work for Comcast as an install and service technician. With this position,
I get to go inside many homes and I get to see how many different types of people live. It is consumer behavior at its finest. The saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” reigns true even in the cable industry. When arriving at a house it is easy to look at a home and think, “I bet this house is nice, clean, dirty, unorganized, or just empty.” You make assumptions from the way the yard is presented, the cars in the driveway and the overall look of the home, but when you walk in your entire view changes. It could be a million dollar house with hoarders living in it or no furniture at all. I’ve even been in dilapidated trailers that are so clean you have to take your boots off.
These same people have spending habits for themselves that are based off certain demographics. Demographics that include age, income, ethnicity, education, gender, and even sexual orientation. Consumer behavior is defined as, “the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society” (Robinson 6). This means that consumer behavior is the byproduct of the spending habits of these people.
When looking at a company like Comcast, being they are in the entertainment industry, you expect a slightly more independent relationship with consumers. This, however, is not the case. In today’s technological world people are becoming more and more dependent on the said technology. This, in turn, means a thriving and growing market for companies such as Comcast.
Television is still an entertainment product that is actually slowly declining in recent years. But, on the other hand, internet is rapidly growing and becoming an essential to everyday life.
High speed internet is a product that, without, many people could not complete everyday tasks. It connects us to the outside world more than anything in the past ever could. It relays information for us in seconds, as well as offers us an outlet when the stress starts to mount. I have been on service calls for no internet at a home and the first words the customer will say is, “you have no idea how much we need the internet until it’s gone for a couple days.”
There is a downfall to the rapid growth of internet though and that is the growth of cable giants such as Comcast, Charter, and AT&T. It has also introduced other companies into the market such as Clear, Verizon, and Google.
All of these companies constantly compete to raise the bar on speed, bandwidth

and capacity. This has created some turmoil as we are getting higher prices but services are not changing causing customers to get agitated.
Now, I listed out these downfalls to illustrate how dependent we have become. No matter the circumstances people will ultimately always choose to have internet service. It is a staple in our lives that no matter how bad it gets we will always choose to have it. That is what is ruining companies like Comcast, who is ranked as one of the lowest in customer satisfaction. When someone calls in with trouble, the representatives have no motive to be polite or decent because they know that customer will always choose to stay. I mean the only other alternatives are DSL or no internet at all.
With all of this said, it brings me back t my first point about the stereotypes of homes and inside versus outside. I have noticed that no matter the home or lifestyle, internet is always a must for everyone. Families that are barely scraping by in life will still pay 50-plus dollars for internet service. People that need a car, air conditioner, or home remodeling will choose internet first.
Without it, we begin to feel lost or separated from the world. Other than air and food, it feels as though internet has become the biggest need in our lives.
Marketing is easy for such a product as well. Comcast already knows that consumers want the service. They know that if that area is serviceable, they more than likely the only cable provider around. So, now they only need to beat the prices of DSL companies such as AT&T and Windstream. That’s not as hard a sit seems since the highest speed they offer is a quarter of the lowest speed tier that
Comcast offers to customers. SO if Comcast can effectively market why people need their speeds then they have made the sale.
Overall, it seems as though many of the things that affect products and their markets is not affecting the way people purchase internet in todays market.
All demographics seem to see it as a necessity. Internet has become such an integral part of our lives that it is affecting our values and our culture as a whole.