OT: Unplugging Comcast

[Robertelamin]

The thing that really pissed me off with Comcast was when I initially signed up I got Showtime for free for 6 months. Of course they don't automatically shut it off so about 5 months in I went to cancel it and they said I had to pay a 5$ cancellation fee. Even though it was only $5 i was so mad because I didn't ask for Showtime, they included it and to charge me to cancel it is a complete scumbag move. Of course I complained and had the charge removed but it just shows you the type of company this is, you either cancel it and get a $5 fee or you forget to cancel it and you start paying for it for something you never asked for. Also I believe I have the standard plan so I don't get the NFL Network, MLB Network or ESPNU.

 

[CallMeBruce]

6mbps is the 2nd highest tier. The highest tier is 15 mbps. Is 15 really needed? I heard 6 is good for HD streaming.

You heard wrong. 6 is terribly slow. I get 105 with Comcast right now.

 

[UconnU]

I work in telecommunications part of the issue with cable is the programming costs have gotten outrageous. A lot of cable companies actually lose money or break even on cable. Every time espn signa a multimillion dollar deal with the nba or sec etc. That ahould not be celebrated, espn has annual cost s increases of 8-25% we pay $100 per year per subscriber just for espn! the whole model sucks...

 

[methodology]

Have Comcast now and bill is about $210. Cant stand Comcast much prefer directv (cant have it where I am) and Uverse (not available in this area). Charter I must admit is worse than Comcast but the main thing I cant stand about Comcast is that there are literally only a handful of HD channels. I am paying premium price and only get about 10 HD movie channels. On Directv there are about 100 movie channels in HD.

Then on top of that I can't use the fax machine in my office without purchasing or renting equipment from Comcast because the phone service is through the stupid DVR box and not through the phone jacks that go throughout the entire house. So I refuse to spend any more money to be able to use my fax machine or have working phones in every room (cell service is nearly non existent in my area).

Cant wait to get directv back when I move from this location.

 

[dogpause]

I work in telecommunications part of the issue with cable is the programming costs have gotten outrageous. A lot of cable companies actually lose money or break even on cable. Every time espn signa a multimillion dollar deal with the nba or sec etc. That ahould not be celebrated, espn has annual cost s increases of 8-25% we pay $100 per year per subscriber just for espn! the whole model sucks...

Yes, but ESPN is the rare exception. It's also why they should let the subs pick their own stations. Most networks cost you pennies, and you get half of the ad spots to sell.

 

[dsturdy5]

Mac OS and iOS will be streaming NFL Sunday ticket this year for $199.99

Edit: there was bound to be a catch and over the last few days the catches have leaked...

• Only certain urban areas
• On certain college campuses
• Only if you live in an apartment where directv is not available.

 

[kyle]

I would've done this a long time ago if they weren't holding the Celtics hostage. I don't worry about NFL games since there's only 16 of them and I can just go to a bar if there's a game I really want to see. The Huskies I could probably get a relative's username and password to use WatchESPN.

But they'd have me by the balls with the Celtics. I live in Boston so all of the games are blacked out on NBA Game Time, the only way to watch would be on those terrible quality illegal streaming sites, and that's not going to cut it.

Ballstreams craps on nba league pass and is much cheaper to boot. No blackouts, higher quality, almost instant archiving, and apparently legal through some jurisdictional loophole in the Netherlands.

 

[minidarren]

Yes, but ESPN is the rare exception. It's also why they should let the subs pick their own stations. Most networks cost you pennies, and you get half of the ad spots to sell.

We have talked about the a la carte model about 2000 times. It will not work unless you are interested in paying 200 dollars a month for just ESPN.

 

[mrhandyman]

I have a kindle and currently connect that to the tv to stream. Works great. One concern with ATT is the speed. Is 6 Mbps sufficient for HD streaming?

6 Mbps is just barely sufficient to watch HD. I have ATT and have been doing it for a few years. I sometimes get some pixilation or the movie we are watching cuts out and needs to be restarted. 12 would definitely be better. You don't need anywhere near the 20+ they recommend for HD. They are just trying to upsell to a higher cost package. Unfortunately ATT, not ATT Uverse, only goes up to 6.

 

[huskypantz]

Dang, noone has fios in their area? We play about $110 for 2 HD boxes, one has DVR, internet and a pretty extensive number of HD channels. CBSSN was just added to HD.

 

[TRest]

Late to the thread, but I couldn't support our house's current setup of 2 laptops, an xbox, 2 tablets, and 3 phones all hogging wireless on the ATT DSL internet. The comcast xfinity flies with no lagging for anyone.

 

[elduderino]

"Maybe one day UNICEF will get into the cable business...
...but until then, Comcast and TWC, are the people to see."

Cable is a business, and they all suck, and theyre consolidating for anticompetitive reasons due to impending internet TV, which they are still attempting to control by bandwidth moderation. Google Fiber is cool, but it has an enormous amount of ground to make up before its really relevant in the discussion. They'll have to either issue debt or eat loses for years in order to create any form of viable competitive footprint. 5yrs from now, hopefully the landscape is better, but it will most likely require significant technological investment and/or legal oversight disallowing cable providers from moderating streaming services for anticompetitive reasons under the pretext of infrastructure efficiency. IMO.

 

[amory]

Ballstreams craps on nba league pass and is much cheaper to boot. No blackouts, higher quality, almost instant archiving, and apparently legal through some jurisdictional loophole in the Netherlands.

Hmm just checked out their site...seems too good to be true let alone legal. You subscribe to it? Might have to give this a shot next season

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Dang, noone has fios in their area? We play about $110 for 2 HD boxes, one has DVR, internet and a pretty extensive number of HD channels. CBSSN was just added to HD.

I check every few months and FIOS remains unavailable in Glastonbury. No competition for Cox here.

 

[minidarren]

I check every few months and FIOS remains unavailable in Glastonbury. No competition for Cox here.

Stop wasting your time checking for FiOS. The fact you even mention it is mind boggling. A product of Verizon, who is not even in CT, except for a small sliver of Fairfield county, is never going to be offered here.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Verizon+stops+FiOS+expansion

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Stop wasting your time checking for FiOS. The fact you even mention it is mind boggling. A product of Verizon, who is not even in CT, except for a small sliver of Fairfield county, is never going to be offered here.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Verizon stops FiOS expansion

You are easily boggled, but thanks for the information, I don't keep track of FiOS expansion/retraction.

 

[Kitaman]

Here's the recent infamous Comcast cancellation call. This is a nine year customer who is getting terrible service. Pretty severe and too painful to be funny. Linky

 

[dogpause]

We have talked about the a la carte model about 2000 times. It will not work unless you are interested in paying 200 dollars a month for just ESPN.

Just like how cellphone bills would never get down to $45/mo for Unlimited Everything. All it takes is one company being dissatisfied with their market share. It will happen. Soon, I hope.

 

[CTMike]

Just moved to Berlin. It took me repeated trips to the Comcast website, repeated phone calls, a plea on twitter, and finally a helpful executive support person just to get the package I was trying to sign up for without any bait and switch. I'm choosing this willingly over the Dish/ATT DSL setup I had at my condo because I'm a sucker for fast internet, and Dish's prices no longer justify the lack of sports channels. I had 6Mbps DSL and it was just enough to stream in HD, but not with any other devices in use.

 

[minidarren]

Just like how cellphone bills would never get down to $45/mo for Unlimited Everything. All it takes is one company being dissatisfied with their market share. It will happen. Soon, I hope.

Are cell phone companies paying ESPN 8 dollars per month per subscriber, whether that subscriber watches ESPN or not?

 

[intlzncster]

Just like how cellphone bills would never get down to $45/mo for Unlimited Everything. All it takes is one company being dissatisfied with their market share. It will happen. Soon, I hope.

Getting close. I pay $30/mo unlimited txt, unlimited data, but only 100 minutes calling. No contract. Works for me as I'm mostly txt based usage. There's other variations on that deal too though, iirc.

 

[August_West]

-You want to save money, for comcast Try this number M-F 9-9,9-4 saturday: 877-602-1146

just knocked off 70 dollars on monthly bill, locked in same price for 2 years and saw that the monthy was only 20 dollars more that the same package offered to new subscribers . Plus got some additional services thrown in.

 

[CTGoonie]

Getting close. I pay $30/mo unlimited txt, unlimited data, but only 100 minutes calling. No contract. Works for me as I'm mostly txt based usage. There's other variations on that deal too though, iirc.

Through what company?

 

[intlzncster]

Through what company?

TMobile. They don't really advertise the deal much. Bought the SIM for it at Walmart.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

It's in the little box towards the bottom that I copied below. The part about buying the Device through them is BS. I brought my own unl0cked Samsung Galaxy s4 and popped in the SIM I bought at Walmart. No problems.

 

[jazyj]

Google fiber!

got to experience it in Austin and it only felt marginally better