[Tom Hannon]

I have had it with Comcast about vacation mode. A long story. I will need new services. (Television, phone, Internet, wireless) I would assume Dish TV is the way to o with the television. But what do I do with the telephone, and Internet hookup? I heard about Vontage for the phone but I'm not sure how good it is.

my wife is ready to sell the house in The Villages. She is bent out of shape over the greed of Comcast. Before she does something stupid, I need to find ann answer.

Please help me. I love The Villages. Don't want to live in NY anymore.

[ajbrown]

I am curious what the issue is. I have Comcast in two places $$$$ and put them on and off vacation yearly. I am just about to do it for my Villages account in fact.

I do know one issue no more than six months....

[VillagesFlorida]

Just started Comcast Vacation Plan last week.....no issues at all, although the first rep I talked to told me that they weren't "offering it anymore"! He passed me through to someone else who told me that they still DO offer it. We will be away just 2 months, which is the minimum required time to use this plan. We will save about $260 over two months and that is nothing to sneeze at. Neither satellite company has a "vacation plan" that I know of. This will be our 4th or 5th consecutive year of using Comcast's plan.

[rtime]

We have Direct TV at both homes, one in WA state and the other in TV.

We have been able to put both homes on vacation hold when we are in the other location. The only thing it does if you have a new plan it extends the final date. So far have been happy with Direct TV.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Tom, I'd talked with Comcast late last year about how to temporarily suspend their services when we wouldn't be in TV and found it to be too restrictive for us to consider. Sorry you're having problems with them.

What we wound up doing:

TV (as in television) - We've got DirecTV here in OH. They installed a satellite antenna out back at our place in TV - no charge for standard installation. We bring our two satellite receivers with us from OH when we go down there, plug them in/cable everything up, make a phone call to DirecTV for them to "switch to our other service location", and presto - satellite TV in TV (!? ), including the local channels from central FL. The sweetest thing is there's absolutely no change/increase in our monthly DirecTV bill. When we come back to OH, we take the receivers back with us, make the phone call again to DirecTV, and it's done. You can check with Dish Network as well - they might have the same type of option. As an aside, that "switch service locations" phone call is a little tricky to get the person on the other end to do the right "stuff" to make things happen correctly. Contact me if you go this route - I've got all the bugs worked out of how the phone call/process needs to works!!

Phone - We just use our cell phones while we're there. I'd consider doing the same (no land line) even if we were spending more/all of our time in TV. You might take a look at Vonage in more detail if you want a house phone - Ooma is a similar (though less costly option) as well. Both require an "always up" internet connection but don't require your computer to be running like Magic Jack does.

Internet - We're close to Seabreeze rec center so I usually run over there with my PC occasionally to get the free internet connection. It's aggravating but easy enough to accept since we're not in TV very often. Longer term, I'd take a look at internet connectivity via our cell phone service provider. Others on here who have actually gone that route can give you much better info on that option than I can.

Hope that helps!

Bill

[Tom Hannon]

Originally Posted by VillagesFlorida

Just started Comcast Vacation Plan last week.....no issues at all, although the first rep I talked to told me that they weren't "offering it anymore"! He passed me through to someone else who told me that they still DO offer it. We will be away just 2 months, which is the minimum required time to use this plan. We will save about $260 over two months and that is nothing to sneeze at. Neither satellite company has a "vacation plan" that I know of. This will be our 4th or 5th consecutive year of using Comcast's plan.

The Comcast representative I spoke to says "The vacation mode expires on July 15. If we stay until August 15, we are not allowed to use the service. So in other words, if we stay until August 16, we will be without TV, phone and Internet for a month.

[ajbrown]

Originally Posted by Tom Hannon

The Comcast representative I spoke to says "The vacation mode expires on July 15. If we stay until August 15, we are not allowed to use the service. So in other words, if we stay until August 16, we will be without TV, phone and Internet for a month.

That would affect me also, so thanks for the heads up. I will call and see what I get. One of my frustrations with Comcast is that I never get the same story from two different support reps. Will let you know what I find out.

[Tom Hannon]

Originally Posted by ajbrown

That would affect me also, so thanks for the heads up. I will call and see what I get. One of my frustrations with Comcast is that I never get the same story from two different support reps. Will let you know what I find out.

Comcast is a monopoly and I wish Verizon could get a piece of the action in The Villages. This way I could flip flop my service from Ny to Florida.

[Bob45]

I must be missing something here. I come down in the fall and get comcast to hook up the TV and internet. When I leave in the spring/summer I turn in the boxes and cancel my service. I pay a small hook-up and disconnect fee. But that's less than the vacation fee. They usually have a fall special that I take advantage of too. I have the Ooma phone with 2 local numbers. Ohio and Florida. It seems to work for me.

Bob

[bluedog103]

Originally Posted by Tom Hannon

I have had it with Comcast about vacation mode. A long story. I will need new services. (Television, phone, Internet, wireless) I would assume Dish TV is the way to o with the television. But what do I do with the telephone, and Internet hookup? I heard about Vontage for the phone but I'm not sure how good it is.

my wife is ready to sell the house in The Villages. She is bent out of shape over the greed of Comcast. Before she does something stupid, I need to find ann answer.

Please help me. I love The Villages. Don't want to live in NY anymore.

We're dumping Comcast too. Way too many problems and phone calls trying to straighten out incorrect bills.

[ajbrown]

Tom, I just called Comcast, I was first connected to Connecticut, then transferred to MA and finally got FL, but that is another story. You are right about the 7/15 date. I have never left FL this late, so I was unaware the ability to put your Comcast account on vacation for the summer ends 7/15.

We do not have phone via Comcast, we use Verizon wireless and Skype for phone. My summary information I learned below does not include costs for phone vacation or hookup.

For Comcast we have television (tv) (extended whatever), HD and DVR, and high speed internet.

If we put the whole bundle on vacation Friday there is a one time fee of $80 (no hookup fee, no returning boxes).

In the three previous years, we have done something like bob45, canceling everything except BASIC tv and putting just BASIC tv on vacation. If we do that it is a one time fee of fee of $20. (no hookup fee, must return boxes)

If we cancel the whole thing we return boxes and pay a hookup fee of $40.

Tom, sounds like the last one is your only option. As bob45 said it may work because Comcast has no contracts, so you are eligible for any deal a new customer gets upon return. Doing it the way we have done (downgrading service to basic cable and putting that on vacation), we have gotten some deal every year upon return and upgrading our service. Every year, when we return we look for specials and always get Internet for $19.95 for 6 months and some years get other stuff.

Anyway... now I have to think what I am going to do.....

[PennBF]

I know what you all mean..My cable bill (with internet/phone) became more than I pay in taxes. They reduced my bill but if it comes back to it's old rate I am definitely going to change carriers. They are just too expensive. !!! I guess they are also playing around with vacation rates. There are other ways to get service in TV's and it looks like it may be necessary to change carriers in order to get back to something reasonable. My monthly rates climbed to just about the same as my "Property Tax and Bond" bill.

[njbchbum]

tom - just for your consideration - comcast [florida] recently called me [in nj now] and offered my florida location their current triple play bundle of tv/phone/internet for $99/mo with free hbo for three mos and sho for a year [movie channels normally $15/mo].

second yr pricing increases to $115 and third yr to $130. do not indulge in hd and dvr so did not inquire about those services. rep could only sched install 3 mos out - told her would be back in jan/2012 and would like to install then - she said she would not the file and i should call back just before we get there to sched install date [will take about a week to switch phone# from century link - will keep same # though].

our friends have had the same pkg for two yrs and have had no problem with vacation/restart.

might this pkg be worth calling back and asking to speak with a supv from the group that deals with new customers?

[Tom Hannon]

It not as much as the price , Beach, (although $150 monthly it is steep. It is, they (Comcast) is telling me when I can come and go. Their vacation mode ends on July 15. I am leaving on August 16. Either I have to up my flight to satisfy Comcast or stand my ground and show them I have my rights also. I spoke to Bill (Of the famous Bill and Brillo team) on the phone in depth today and he gave me a few options. It sounds like AJ might be being squeezed also.

Bottom line is, I will return in January (maybe late December) but I WILL NOT pay four-five months @ 150 monthly for nothing.

I've also owned my own business for 36 years. If an employees of mine ever gave customers the "You need us , we don't need you " attitude my employee would be an ex-employee.

[DENNIS G]

Although, we are here full time, we are tired of Comast and their rates. We are switching to Century Link with bundled phone, internet and Prism Tv (not sat). More channels, unlimited calling with features including long distance and a higher speed internet. It is $58.00 a month cheaper the first year then will be $46.00 cheaper.