Comcast switch

eldergamer

eldergamer

CAGiversary!
So it seems like it's time for the every 3 years cable company switch.

Currently paying up to $140 for cable and internet through Century Link. (Price went up after our two year contract)

Comcast seems to be offering a good deal now for $59-$89 for Cable and Internet.

Think we might be $89 in order to get the Preferred package that has Disney Jr and Nick Jr.  How I wish you could just buy channels ala carte.

Do I have to pay $9 for the modem subscription? I see the option to bring your own modem and I could buy one from Amazon for $70-$140, but how well do they work?

Are they supported okay?

 
When I had Comcast, we bought our own modem and there wasn't an issue. You just have to make sure that it's compatible with their service. Depending on the speed of your internet, you'll need need a modem capable of going a certain speed. For example, I needed one with a minimum capability of 30Mbps for 50Mbps service. I know...common sense, but the slower modem wouldn't work at all with that speed.

Personally, I would just try to find one on CL. It'll be MUCH cheaper that way. You could probably pick one up for like $20.
 
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I don't want to deal with the hassle of meeting with creepy people on craigslist, and spending $20+ for something that's non returnable or smells like smoke.

Comcast online rep says Disney Jr is avalaible in the standard package, but when I enter my zip code to look at the packages in my area, it's not.

What's up with that?

 
Comcast will probably give you some Arris pos for your modem. I paid I think 100 for one after awhile and returned theirs. Much better.
 
I had comcast before, only thing I warn you about is if you buy your own modem, be careful when you cancel. They tried to take my modem and tell me it was theirs. When I refused they tried to charge me. Luckily I had some paperwork from the install guy that said it was mine (I had him write it on the paperwork). Other than that no complaints, only cancelled cause we moved.
 
Just to reiterate what everyone else has said: get your own modem. Here's the one I'm currently using: http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS/dp/B004XC6GJ0. I'm sure there are newer versions as mine is almost two years old, but it has served me very well.

kilik64 said:
if you do switch to comast, and I cant stress this enough, GET THE X1 PLATFORM.
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With new customers, are they offering it without having to get the phone? When I contacted them a while back, I had to sign up for the phone to get it. Didn't want to spend the extra money.

 
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Had Comcast for a while before making a switch:

- Expect outages.

- Their data cap is reasonable (250GB), and they'll warn you if you're getting close to going over, but it's still a pain - especially with Steam, Xbox Live, and PS+. If you play Titanfall, watch your data, apparently it uses quite a lot.

- If you stream on demand content through XFinity, that data won't count toward your data cap.. because.. reasons.

- GET YOUR OWN MODEM. Even with my own modem, they STILL tried to tack on a modem rental fee.

- If you have an issue, expect the technician to either show up late or not at all. The second time you call, they'll show up, but they'll act like they're doing you a favor by doing so.

- Don't ever expect to hit your advertised speeds.

Their cable tv service is pretty decent, though.

 
Yeah, the deal now is for the X1 platform, and a double play package of just internet and cable. $79 a month. Two year contract and then goes up after 12 months.

How much it goes up, they won't tell you.....

Looks like I'll have to spend $69+ for a modem and then another $40 or so for a router. That will still save me money in the long run as opposed to their $9 per month modem rental fee.

How difficult is it to set up a non comcat modem on your own? My computer skills haven't been current since the days of DOS.

 
Scorch said:
Had Comcast for a while before making a switch:

- Expect outages.

- Their data cap is reasonable (250GB), and they'll warn you if you're getting close to going over, but it's still a pain - especially with Steam, Xbox Live, and PS+. If you play Titanfall, watch your data, apparently it uses quite a lot.

- If you stream on demand content through XFinity, that data won't count toward your data cap.. because.. reasons.

- GET YOUR OWN MODEM. Even with my own modem, they STILL tried to tack on a modem rental fee.

- If you have an issue, expect the technician to either show up late or not at all. The second time you call, they'll show up, but they'll act like they're doing you a favor by doing so.

- Don't ever expect to hit your advertised speeds.

Their cable tv service is pretty decent, though.
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Never had any outages in the Nashville TN market. Also for data cap, unless you live in the Nashville TN market, there is essentially no data cap on comcast. The 250gb cap is not a hard cap in the sense that once you hit it you either lose service or pay more. They will not do anything to you, or at least they never did to me when Nashville TN was the same as rest of country. For 2 plus years I averaged 500gb of data a month, never got a letter or heard a peep out of comcast. Nashville TN market is only test market I know of for higher 350gb cap with charged overages.

So if you dont live in nashville tn area, dont worry about your data.

eldergamer said:
Yeah, the deal now is for the X1 platform, and a double play package of just internet and cable. $79 a month. Two year contract and then goes up after 12 months.

How much it goes up, they won't tell you.....

Looks like I'll have to spend $69+ for a modem and then another $40 or so for a router. That will still save me money in the long run as opposed to their $9 per month modem rental fee.

How difficult is it to set up a non comcat modem on your own? My computer skills haven't been current since the days of DOS.
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That 79 doesnt include that cost of the x1 main box (i think 18/month) nor any companion boxes for addtional tvs (10/month). However a normal hd box is 18 anyways, and if you have more tvs you have to get these stupid little boxes that are non hd that are 3 a month, the increased price for the companion boxes is worth the 7/month per tv to have those in HD with the great functions of x1.

I currently love comcast, but its a love hate kinda thing, they'll piss me off again soon I dont doubt.

 
kilik64 said:
Never had any outages in the Nashville TN market. Also for data cap, unless you live in the Nashville TN market, there is essentially no data cap on comcast. The 250gb cap is not a hard cap in the sense that once you hit it you either lose service or pay more. They will not do anything to you, or at least they never did to me when Nashville TN was the same as rest of country. For 2 plus years I averaged 500gb of data a month, never got a letter or heard a peep out of comcast. Nashville TN market is only test market I know of for higher 350gb cap with charged overages.
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Atlanta has a 300GB cap, with charges if you go over--though they give you three "grace period" overage months. Otherwise it's $10 for 50GB more if you go over.

247GB used in March was our highest month yet--usually we'd been around 180-190GB. And my fiancee streamed a ton of Netflix the past few months while doing boring data entry work etc. So I don't see how people come close to the cap, other than families with 4+ people streaming shit, or people pirating tons of stuff.
 
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dmaul1114 said:
Atlanta has a 300GB cap, with charges if you go over--though they give you three "grace period" overage months. Otherwise it's $10 for 50GB more if you go over.

247GB used in March was our highest month yet--usually we'd been around 180-190GB. And my fiancee streamed a ton of Netflix the past few months while doing boring data entry work etc. So I don't see how people come close to the cap, other than families with 4+ people streaming shit, or people pirating tons of stuff.
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Or...you know...PORN...LOTS OF IT :lol:
 
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I dont see why anyone pays  comcasts rates.

I mean  we have  got  all the movie channels FREE for the last 2 years   and ever time our promo expires  we just call them up to disconnect and they toss us another 3 to 6 months free.

Though right now im on  the lowest plan (internet with TV) for 49.99  a month

DO NOT SIGN A  2 YEAR DEAL.  They will screw you in the 2nd year and there is nothing you can do about it 

EDIT  just shows  DO NOT SIGN ANY DEAL WITH COMCAST.

i was coming out of a 6 month promo  APRIL 15     where i had my  DVR and  movies free.

 Called up and they go we give you 6 more months.   10 mins ago my  DVR and movies stopped working  and  called up to be told the worker  LIED  JUST TO GET OFF THE PHONE.  

 
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kilik64 said:
Never had any outages in the Nashville TN market. Also for data cap, unless you live in the Nashville TN market, there is essentially no data cap on comcast. The 250gb cap is not a hard cap in the sense that once you hit it you either lose service or pay more. They will not do anything to you, or at least they never did to me when Nashville TN was the same as rest of country. For 2 plus years I averaged 500gb of data a month, never got a letter or heard a peep out of comcast. Nashville TN market is only test market I know of for higher 350gb cap with charged overages.

So if you dont live in nashville tn area, dont worry about your data.
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Lived just south of Nashville, had quite a few outages each year. The Nashville market absolutely had a data cap - 300GB (last Summer). Between Steam, PS+, and Skype, I routinely came close to the cap. They warn you, and if you go over once, you get it forgiven, I think. Every other time, they start charging.

Once you neared the cap, they started throttling your service. A message appeared across your devices - tablets, phones, whatever was connected to the Wi-Fi service, a message would show up. It looked like this on desktop, but across phones and tablets, it was a banner

fODiWrW.jpg


 
This is what it says for me on their page: "Note:enforcement of the 250GB data consumption threshold is currently suspended". I live in the Bristol, VA/TN area. I think the most I've used in a month is 169 gigs. Most of that from my girlfriend streaming Netflix. I rarely have outages. Also, I exceed their speeds regularly (pay for 20/4, typically hit 27/6). This isn't to stay Comcast is the greatest by any means, but they're a pretty good option for the area I live in.

eldergamer said:
How difficult is it to set up a non comcat modem on your own? My computer skills haven't been current since the days of DOS.
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If I remember correctly, it should be pretty easy. You have to provide them with the serial number and MAC address (I think), hook it up, and you should be good to go. I had to have a tech come out when I set mine up because the installer for another company "turned off" my cable connection.

 
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Scorch said:
Lived just south of Nashville, had quite a few outages each year. The Nashville market absolutely had a data cap - 300GB (last Summer). Between Steam, PS+, and Skype, I routinely came close to the cap. They warn you, and if you go over once, you get it forgiven, I think. Every other time, they start charging.

Once you neared the cap, they started throttling your service. A message appeared across your devices - tablets, phones, whatever was connected to the Wi-Fi service, a message would show up. It looked like this on desktop, but across phones and tablets, it was a banner

fODiWrW.jpg
Click to expand...
Reading is fundamental.

I said they currently have a cap as a test market with paid overages. Been like that for over a year, BEFORE that it was 250gb SOFT cap, IE nothing happened other than they might have sent you letter about going over.

When I moved to my current house in 09, for the first 2+ years I averaged OVER 500gb of data a month (them torrents...). I NEVER got any sort of notice. I have never gotten one since the new cap as I cut out a lot of stuff to stay under the cap cause i'll be damned if I pay for going over.

So again, if you dont live in a test market for the new data cap, unless they have rolled it out nationwide and I just didnt know that, then their data cap is soft and should basically be ignored until/if you get a notice about it.

 
So my Comcast box arrived a few days ago, and now when I go to install it this weekend, I see that there is no HD output switch.

I go into customer chat to complain. "Oh, hey if you want that x1 service there's a one time $49 charge and an extra $9 a month"

Uh, no. That's not what you told me when I signed up. I picked the x1 double play package for $79 a month, right from your website.

 
In live chat now, trying to sort this out. I'm not paying a $49 charge. Or an extra $9 a month if I can get away with it.

 
The website says x1 package included.

  • The X1 Platform™ — your entertainment Operating System™ included
So, the online sales rep can't do anything for me. I have to call the 1-800 # in the morning. Until then, hook it up to my HD tv with just a regular coaxial cable I guess.

This isn't what I asked for. :sigh: :frustration:

 
eldergamer said:
The website says x1 package included.

  • The X1 Platform™ — your entertainment Operating System™ included
So, the online sales rep can't do anything for me. I have to call the 1-800 # in the morning. Until then, hook it up to my HD tv with just a regular coaxial cable I guess.

This isn't what I asked for. :sigh: :frustration:
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i thought they had to come out and INSTALL the X1 (you cant do it yourself)

 
eldergamer said:
The website says x1 package included.

  • The X1 Platform™ — your entertainment Operating System™ included
So, the online sales rep can't do anything for me. I have to call the 1-800 # in the morning. Until then, hook it up to my HD tv with just a regular coaxial cable I guess.
This isn't what I asked for. :sigh: :frustration:
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I'm pretty sure you can get full HD through the coax.
 
Yeah, they suck about that kind of stuff. I had to get installation as the cable wasn't hooked up at all (prior renter had AT&T I think. Ended up costing like $50 more than they said it would. I tried to argue it, but didn't get anywhere as they said the intial thing was just an estimate and it ended up being more work than usual blah, blah, blah.

They also fucked up the order and didn't give me the promos, that I was able to bitch and ended up getting a better deal than I signed up for, so that worked out. My bill is like $92 a month after taxes and fees for the second highest programming TV package, HBO free for a while (6 months I think) and the 25mbs down internet.
 
slidecage said:
i thought they had to come out and INSTALL the X1 (you cant do it yourself)
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This is true. However, I was able to chose the self install option when I ordered the package on the website. (Something I should not have been able to do)

I also was sent a cable modem even though I had marked, "will provide own modem" (Just bought one from amazon)

I guess I can keep the cable modem, and try to sell it? :evil grin:

dohdough said:
I'm pretty sure you can get full HD through the coax.
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I probably could, if the box worked. After 45 minutes on the phone with billing, technical support, and then customer support the box would not activate. "Sir? Is the cable connected correctly, and is it finger tight?" "Sir? Have you tried turning it back on and off."

After 45 minutes my phone dropped the call. Did they call back?
What do you think?

The earliest they could get an installer out here is wednesday. And they're still charging me for it.

 
I have a basic, basic Comcast box and WiFi hotspot. Works OK overall, though I wish I could force widescreen on some channels.

When I originally got TiVo years and years ago, I had a hard time hooking it up to the cable box. Comcast came out and hooked up the cable box to the regular channels and TiVo to Input 1. Said that hooking it up wasn't their job and that I should get a Comcast DVR instead. I almost punched the guy.

WiFi has had little problems, but since I don't use PS+, Xbox Live, Hulu, Netflix, Skype, or anything like that, I never go near my cap. Currently I'm paying about $135 for both.
 
And continuing on with the Comcast Saga. My first bill was $79. Yea! I'm saving money.

Second bill $210! WTF?

My normal monthly bill should be about $130 they tell me. $89 for double play, and $20 for assorted HD fees. Fees. For HD. In 2014.

$130 is what I was paying for Internet/TV through Century Link and Direct TV.

You're not saving me any money Comcast. Might as well do the hassle of switching back now.

 
210 prolly had the install fees and stuff on it?

Did you give the modem back? pretty sure they only do a lease so paying for that monthly.

 
$130 is too much for cable/internet for me. Looking into cutting the cord. 

Seems totally ridiculous that they have a $19 a month anyroom DVR fee and a $10 a month HD fee.

Love how the $89 deal online didnt mention anyone of those fees.

 
Just cancelled comcast after some of the worst service i've experienced anywhere.

After months of having to call or restart my modem, a tech stopped by when I was not home and left a hangtag saying i was receiving a weak signal. From that day for more than a month I had no service. The next month was a nightmare trying to get service back. I sometimes work late hours so is difficult to schedule appointments. When i did have the opportunity to have a tech over, he cancelled the appointment without notification. Then comcast made an appointment without my knowledge that I could not attend. I would talk with one person, then a few days later another would have no idea what was going on. There were many calls in the ensuing weeks.

Early in the situation one of the reps told me not to pay until service was back up. Well, finally got service back on april 11th ( went out march 8th). And then i received a bill for two full months. I call and they tell me they will only comp 14 days because that is the only time a service call was scheduled. ( one 9 day span and one 5 day span). I told him to pull the plug after a few choice words. I also told him I wasn't paying shit. He replied with "it will go on your credit dcore after 45 days" . I'll take that ding and still have great credit. I'm not going to reward terrible service. Besides, if I pay them I may as well keep the service.

This was all after having my rates increased $40 a month for service that worked 50% of the time. All they would had to have done was knock that month off the bill and I would still be a customer instead they had to play tough. They should be kissing my ass for trying to stick with them in the first place.

Oh yeah, and I requested a survey. They never called.
 
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