Bang for the buck from COMCAST CABLE ....NOT !!!!!!

[Breeze]

I have done some research on what Brighthouse will offer cable subscribers in comparison to what we are receiving from COMCAST.. We are NOT getting our bang for the buck. COMCAST , when asked, has told me "because of the villages OLD OPTIC system" we cannot give you ON DEMAND, Etc. OLD OPTIC SYSTEM here.. Also, as of today there were 3 PPV movies available but 7 porno stations. Question...Are that many here in the villages watching that much porn? I want to know 1) who contracted with COMCAST , 2) How do we get a better choice such as brighthouse... Direct or Dish are not an option.

What do you think???

[Villages Kahuna]

Even though I was a longtime DirecTV subscriber up north, I was talked into subscribing to Comcast by TV Comcast office. One argument was that with Florida weather, there were too many interruptions with a dish.

What I found was that Comcast's installers were incompetent, their equipment was awful, their programming nowhere near as good as in other parts of the U.S. and their pricing too high for the sub-standard product. Finally, I was told the same as you--that Comcast had not made the necessary capital investment in central Florida and that much of the programming and new services, like On Demand, were not available here. And they could provide no estimate of when they'd improve service other than "in a couple of years". Furthermore, I found from neighbors that had satellite dishes that the steeper angle to the SAT from here makes service interruptions less frequent than what we experienced in the upper Midwest!

I switched to DirecTV, returned all of Comcast's equipment, and have been happy as a clam ever since. Comcast's response? They jacked up my broadband cable service from $42.95 to $59.95 because I wasn't a cable TV subscriber. There will be competition for broadband service sometime in the future and when that happens, Comcast will be in my tail lights!

[Frangyomory]

The developer made a deal years ago with Comcast and that's that for now. There is supposed to be another company trying to get to this area but I don't know how long that will be.

We had Comcast but after six months fired them and signed on with DishNet. Yes, heavy rain will interrupt some broadcasts but I always have something on the dvd to watch if need be. I can live with the interruption much better than with Comcast.

We aso have our internet service in a package with DishNet and Embarq which includes our land line.

[RCT]

The developer made a deal years ago with Comcast and that's that for now. There is supposed to be another company trying to get to this area but I don't know how long that will be.

We had Comcast but after six months fired them and signed on with DishNet. Yes, heavy rain will interrupt some broadcasts but I always have something on the dvd to watch if need be. I can live with the interruption much better than with Comcast.

We aso have our internet service in a package with DishNet and Embarq which includes our land line.
I saw the offer for embarQ with dish, landline and all, but the channels they showed that come with that seemed skimpy, didn't even have the golf channel, and this IS the villages, right? what i'd like to know, is, with this bundle package, could you upgrade just the dish package to add on to it?

[Frangyomory]

We have a platinum package which includes everything including the Golf channel. You just need to upgrade to get the stations you want. Think we have over 250 stations to chose from which include all HBO, Showtime, Max, Movie Channel, etc. channels. A bit more than I need but hubby loves his television and every sport known to mankind.

[784caroline]

Bobby
You started your own thread about "bang for the buck" with Comcast but since I am looking for limited service at this point, it is hard to see how you can go wrong with Comcast for $11 a month ($13 w/taxes)with comcast for the limited service of 4 national channels plus VNN and weather. Granted when the time comes that I want more I will be looking at options other than Comcast but the options are very limited. Dish network is not perferfect and even if you can cancel and restart with no extra fees, it van be a hassle if you are doing that 2-3 times a year.

[bamafan]

Hey Kahuna, I now have comcast basic $11.00 per month. When I am fulltime in January I plan to go with Comcast internet. I am not sure but I think that if I keep my basic cable service and add internet then the charge for internet is $42.95. Total should come to $53.95 + taxes. If this is true then you might save by adding back the basic cable. Oh and I will be going to Directv. They are adding a lot of HD channels this fall. Who did you contact for your Directv? Thanks Bama

[Hancle704]

Comcast sent a message last week that they added the new Fox Business Channel during a"trial" on Channel 106. Only problem, I can only watch it on the set that has Comcast HD/DVR box but not on any other set in the house even though I have a new HDTV set that was recently purchased. I can pull in a few digital channels on this set, but to get the rest of the digital & HD channels that I am subscribing to, Comcast says I must rent a box/tuner for each set. Kind of defeats the whole purpose of buying a state of the art TV. Government is causing the switch to HDTV, but they have left it open to Cable and satellite Companies to make extra bucks by requiring their tuner boxes on each set.

Telephone Company lost that license to steal some time ago. Imagine if you purchase dial tone and then had to rent a separate device for each phone you owned to get the dial tone. What a bunch of :edit: crooks!!!

[Villages Kahuna]

My experience was that the front-end of the DirecTV process is the weakest part of the installation process. I was quite specific regarding the equipment I wanted installed and the "quality" of the installation (pull the cables thru the attic and walls, not just drill thru from the outside, etc.) When the installer arrived, none of his paperwork reflected what I thought I had ordered. The frustration was temporary and everything got resolved in a week or so. Since then I couldn't be happier with DirecTV.

As far as ordering the $11 Comcast "basic' to get the $43 broadband price rather than pay their $60 "unbundled" price, I'm not sure the $7 a month savings would be worth the hassle. Comcast would bring the signal as far as the box on the outside of your house, but DirecTV needs all your house wiring all the way back to the box to provide its signal to your TV sets. You can't mix the DirecTV and Comcast signals inside your house unless you install extra wiring and plugs on the walls. The $11 a month Comcast "basic" would have to hang there unconnected.

[Barefoot]

Comcast for $11/month is working well for us; I think it's a great bargain. In the future we may want something more sophisticated, but right now, we're way too busy to watch much TV.

[zcaveman]

Government is causing the switch to HDTV, but they have left it open to Cable and satellite Companies to make extra bucks by requiring their tuner boxes on each set.


The government is causing the switch to DIGITAL. That has nothing to do with HDTV. Whether or not any cable company will give you all the digital channels they offer as part of the basic package is another thing to be considered. Personally I would doubt it. Some of my TVs can handle more than 99 channels now but I don't get the rest without a box.

[eujaynia]

GM, All!

We are not full time yet, so we have the $11 Comcast cable for our TV. Right now, this is fine.

My main concern is having reliable internet service. I will be working virtual from TV when I get down in December through April. When I first went through my modem setup with Comcast July of this year, it was a nightmare. I would go to login at 5am the next morning after working 10 or more hours the day before, and my modem information with them would suddenly 'disappear' and I'd have to go through yet another lengthy call with tech support to get all the modem #s back into their system. It would take me a hour of being switched from person to person to convince them I really was logged in before making this call! They kept telling me I had not had internet--I kept telling them, "Funny, I have plenty of emails from work to prove that I had! *LOL* It eventually got worked out, but then I'd get bounced off at least once a day.

I am already having anxiety about when I come down in December, as I have internet turned off. I am only a computer geek with the product I support for my company--techie with how all this stuff works, I'm not. And I'd love to go wireless so I could work out on the lanai. :)

However, having to call them so often, I really 'had it down' each time I called to the point I was just telling them exactly what they needed to do. Then, I was up and running within a few minutes. (Now that is scary! *LOL* when the customer ends up being the actual Comcast Technical Support person!

Thanks, everyone ... some good info in this thread!

Blessings,
~Rebekah

[zcaveman]

I am on 24X7. yes there have been a few glitches but they are minimal and easily explained - someone dug where he was not supposed to. I( have been out probably two hours in the past three years and that is stretching it.

Since I have never had the problems you mentioned I need to ask what area you are in.

I do agree that the COMCAST technical support is less than desired - be it the voice or the internet support. But I don'tfind any tech support any good.

[johnleachjr]

I HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS FOR A PACKAGE THAT IS UNDER 100.00,,,
COMCAST BASIC,11.00 PLUS TAXES
COMCAST HIGH SPEED INTERNET..42.99 PLUS TAXES.
VONAGE TELEPHONE SERVICE, 24.99 PLUS TAXES, VONAGE WILL INSTALL A ROUTER TO YOUR COMPUTOR AND THEN TO THE PHONE LINE, I HAVE CORDLESS... FOUR, AND IT DOESNT REQUIRE ANY BIG INSTALLATION. EASY. IF YOU CALL ME I MAYBE ABLE TO GIVE YOU A LITTLE UNKNOWN BIT OF ADDITIONAL KNOWLEDGE... THATS THE BESTS DEAL IN TOWN...WITH VONAGE I GET EVERYTHING , CALL WAITING FORWARDING MESSAGING,UNLIMITED LONG DISTANCE DAY OR NIGHT AND OTHER BENNIES..

[chuckinca]

Good Poop -

So, if you want TIVO and HD you need to drop Comcast basic and Comcast internet and go with Direct TV or Dish with Embarq landline phone and High Speed DSL. What would that cost without premium channels?

Any other options that get you TIVO?

[zcaveman]

I just upgraded to HDTV. I pay $134 for Preferred Basic, Digital, HDTV with DVR (TIVO), Sports Tier and Internet Service.

I have had no problems and am very happy with the COMCAST service in the area.

[bamafan]

zcaveman, How many HD channels do you receive?

[zcaveman]

Good question!! I went out and checked and there are close to 30 stations. This includes the HBO stations which I do not get. I get ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, CBS, NBC, USA, TNT, FOX, FOOD, UPN, , etc.

[chuckinca]

zcaveman:

Thanks for the info.

How much is Sports Tier and do you received Fox Soccer channel on it?

Guess you could have Vonage for the $25/mo and have a complete package plus the sports tier for about $160.

I pay about $50/mo more here in Calif for Direct TV with HD, preferred package with Fox Sports World, AT&T phone with DSL. Might have to switch back to Rabbit Ears and Pong this time next year when the weekly paychecks dry up.

[zcaveman]

The Sports tier is $2.99 a month. Just checked and we get FOX Soccer.

[The Great Fumar]

I just signed up with Comcast for Hi-Def and Hi-speed int.
The person who took my order (out of tampa) and my installer both told me that after the first of the year that all channels are going to digital broadcast....Apparently they have to as the govt. has given all cable companies until Feb 15th 2007 to make the conversion....They also told me that they are adding a large list of HD channels that they were not normally going to do for another year yet but that competition is forcing them to speed it up..(direct tv dish has 100 hi-def channels coming at the end of the year) So sounds like some changes are definitely being made...........

Fumar

[zcaveman]

Sounds good Fumar!! The bigggest problem I have with the Hi-Def stations is trying to memorize all of the new station channels!!

The Closed Caption still leaves something to be desired.

[aford]

We have Dish and love it..........

The Villages owned cable company called, "Clear Link" did an asset sale to Concast.

I understand "Clear Link" had a fantastic product compared to Comcast.

So I do not think they are going to allow another cable company in here. And if they did who?