Broadband Planning Company and Comcast

Started by JoanneW3 • 17 replies • 3042 views

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JoanneW3 (Colorado)
Posts: 9

Posted:

Hello from Colorado. My HOA board has been asked by our management company, Hammersmith, to consider a 10 year agreement with this company called Broadband Planning. It smells fishy to me. In my opinion they are misrepresenting themselves by using deceptive language such that makes us believe they represent us and are going to get all our money due from Comcast the bad guy. And that comcast should pay this as access rights. My feelings are that is a marketing sham, and they end up helping themselves to half the money and our management company takes a chunk too. While they promise owners will still have a choice of service providers they require exclusive marketing rights. Does anyone have any thoughts? I am thinking about calling the attorney general and the BBB to check them out, but they probably have themselves covered legally Im sure.

JamesG11 (Florida)
Posts: 118

Posted:

Hi Joanne,

I'm from FL, but I've never heard of Broadband Planning. You are right to be suspicious of an unknown provider. At minimum, I would insist that the Board to provide you with 10 HOA references for Broadband Planning that you can then contact to ascertain their experiences to date with the company.

Good luck!

Best, Jim

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Joanne,

If your Association desires to grant exclusive access or enter into long term contracts (personally I wouldn't do anything over 5 years), the Association can deal directly with the provider and do not need to go through a third party.

JoanneW3 (Colorado)
Posts: 9

Posted:

Thank you Jim, good suggestion. I will do that.

JoanneW3 (Colorado)
Posts: 9

Posted:

Yes, in fact our board president suggested the same thing, that is dealing directly with Comcast.

KennethD3 (Texas)
Posts: 40

Posted:

Never go into something that long with technology! We did a 2 year study/proposal for getting High Speed Internet, Cell, Voice and data here and started at $525k. After the end of 18 months we had it down to $125k and it still got voted down. Technology changes so fast that you never want a long term contract. If they want your business let them put in the stuff for no charge to you!

JoanneW3 (Colorado)
Posts: 9

Posted:

Thank you for your reply. The long term contract idea will be my first concern voiced when we discuss this proposal at the next board meeting.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

What is stopping you from reviewing their record on the BBB website? Seems to me that is the first place you should look. I would do a google search in addition. Although do not always believe what I see there. However, some of those sites offer customer reviews to review.

10 year contract is way too long of a time. This is some serious contract review and not what comes out of the salesman's mouth. Get a copy of the actual proposal/contract and review it closely. It's time to go over word by word and highlight questions. Contracts work BOTH ways. No reason the HOA can't put in their own requirements.

Former HOA President

JoanneW3 (Colorado)
Posts: 9

Posted:

I will definetely check with BBB and we all on the board will read carefully. The theme of this thread so far is 10 year committment is way too long. Thanks!

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JoanneW3 on 06/09/2016 3:54 PM

The theme of this thread so far is 10 year committment is way too long. Thanks!

It's also to enter into a long term contact (if desired) directly with the provider and not a third party.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

I looked up the company named and while they sound impressive, I am at a loss what they bring to the table versus the BOD deal directly with the provide.

As other have suggested, in this age of changing technology a long term contract is unwise.

JoanneW3 (Colorado)
Posts: 9

Posted:

Agree! And yes, long term contract AND workong directly with Comcast if at all.

JoanneW3 (Colorado)
Posts: 9

Posted:

I received an email from the CEO of our management company, who said they did extensive resarch with other management companies in Atlanta where Broadband got their start and it is what they say it is. He said that This agreement assures Comcast that for the next 10 years you will not prevent them from having access to the homeowners and residents of Dayton Green. In exchange for that they are willing to pay you. He recommended that we consider this opportunity and set up a meeting with Broadband to find out more and ask questions, which we will do. Also, I could not find a BBB rating in Atlanta. Thanks for all your comments!

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Again,

You are working through a third party vs. directly with comcast.

I'd ask the MC what type of relationship they have with the company they are recommending, what finders fee (if any) they might receive, etc. and why the MC believes the Association should deal with the third party vs. dealing directly with the provider.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

I just looked at the companies website.

It's interesting that in the testimonies I read or listened to, they were all referred to by the MC.

JoanneW3 (Colorado)
Posts: 9

Posted:

Tim, our MC will be receiving an "administrative fee" directly from Broadband Planning. And I do not see where on the documents the amount is disclosed. both our BOD president and I take issue with this, for lots of reasons I wont get into now. Yes, the third party is a biggie, and the length of the marketing rights agreement, and the relationships, too. The language seems to describe Broadband as "representing the HOA" and also describes that we, the HOA will not pay our MC but Broadband Planning, (the 3rd party) is paying them, but it comes from the money they take from the HOA "proceeds". It looks like the three orgs have this sweet little deal going. My list of questions keeps growing!

KennethD3 (Texas)
Posts: 40

Posted:

Again I ask, "Why on earth would you do a contract longer than 2 years" ? This is just insanity in the data market we are experiencing. Look at what companies like Google & Verizon are doing....Google is looking at doing Wireless Fiber to rural America! hello people that means no underground cables, no trenching etc. I will go back to my original post. We tried for 18 months to get fiber or any type of high speed internet, cell, video here in Hill Country Texas! we called every provider under the sun all over the country and some even outside the USA! Nobody would touch it for what we wanted to pay. At first we could get a Microwave signal brought in for $2,000 per month with a unlimited download and a speed of about 200MB (Not Mega Bits) that divided up between the existing homeowners would beet our current unusable Satellite crappy service hands down. The downside was we needed a 160' tower and had to lay 24 miles of Fiber and install tons of hardware to support it.. That idea as great as it was just exceeded our budget. So, we looked deeper and harder and found a local Microwave company who would at their own expense at least get us that speed by bringing in their own equipment if we put up towers in the community that again we paid for. Being in the center of Gods Country with no services that didn't fly with the folks here either because nobody wanted poles in the community for services....grumpy old fart syndrome I say... Anyway we we looked high and low, talked to tons of vendors big and small but never were we going to enter into any contract longer than 2 years! Even the companies who we talked to would not go that long.....So, my strong advice to you is If you feel your HOA can stand up with a 10 year contract and the services are not going to change from what is going to be offered then go for it. BUT if you look around you and open your eyes to what is actually happening in the data providers world you should see that things are changing very fast and 10 years is a lifetime and will cause you a ton of unhappy customers down the road. Respectfully,Ken

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Joanne,

From your response and reading the website, I believe you are correct in your understanding.

Basically -

1) The Association enters into a contract with Company A to act as their agent to negotiate cable/internet contracts.
Company A attempts to do this with multiple Associations so they might more easily negotiate a more favorable contract from the cable provider.

2) In an attempt to obtain more Associations, company A provides a fee to MC/PM who can have Associations enter into the contract (a finders fee/admin fee so to speak, payable over the life of the contract).

3) Company A negotiates access rights with cable/internet provider and receives a stipend for those rights.

4) Company A then takes a percentage from that stipend and forwards the rest to the Association.

5) Part of the agreement is that the Association will provide marketing for the cable/internet provider. This can be a requirement to place links on the Association website, advertise in the Association newsletter and even to providing names and numbers to the provider (see this article and scroll to page 3.

Here are some articles on Right of Entry Agreements:

MDU Right of Entry Agreement - Bulk Cable Agreement - Door Fee - Revenue Share from an attorneys web site (note: the attorney happens to be part of the team for Company A). Of interesting note in the article [emphasis added]:

Although the FCC has prohibited the enforcement of exclusive ROE agreements at MDU properties (see Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, MB Docket No. 07-51 (rel. Nov. 13, 2007, the “Exclusivity Order”)), it is important to note that:

(a) the FCC Order applies only to cable operators, that is, video service providers, including both traditional cable companies and telephone companies that have a franchise agreement with the State or local franchising authority allowing the provider to utilize public rights of way. The Order does not apply to satellite providers, such as DIRECTV and Dish Network, or their PCO distributors. Satellite providers are exempt from the ban and may still negotiate exclusive video service agreements for MDU properties, although this issue too remains on the FCC docket;

MARCO ISLAND CABLE, INC v. COMCAST OF THE SOUTH, INC. the 2006 case that may have had an impact on the 2008 FCC guideline about exclusive right agreements.

Bulk Cable Television and Communication Service Contracts For Condominium and Homeowners' Associations from the Orlando Sentinel

It should be noted that in my search I found a few companies that do the same as Company A. Some have been in business since 1998.

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