[Bill-n-Brillo]

Originally Posted by 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.

Tom - This might be worth a look-see for your situation. Wonder how Century Link handles temporary shut-offs of service when you'd be away?

Bill

[Tom Hannon]

Originally Posted by Bill-n-Brillo

Tom - This might be worth a look-see for your situation. Wonder how Century Link handles temporary shut-offs of service when you'd be away?

Bill

Yes, Bill. Century Link might be a possibility. I'll check it out. Thanks for the tip Dennis

[Tom Hannon]

I tried to send a PM to Dennis but his PM isn't functional. I'd like to converse with you about Century Link. What I saw on Google looked like a winner.

[njbchbum]

i hear ya, tom! wish we could go the centurylink way but we live in lady lake which is still on satellite for television, internet speed is practically in reverse mode compared to comcast speed [slightly faster than dial-up] and their telephone service is little better that two tin cans and a string! i do give them props for their customer service, tho - don't think i have ever been disappointed or frustrated with that!

it seems that the utilities in each of my home locations restrict 'vacation' service to six months/yr whether you are there or not. i can't get upset over it - i save my jersey for bigger fish!

good luck in your quest!

[natickdan]

Tom, I'm thrilled with Direct TV and once my Comcast contract for data is done in January, I'm going with Century for data. I disdain Comcast more than any other company I've dealt with. Long story, but not worth my blood pressure. I'm sending you a PM.

[jojo]

I too am upset with the constant increases for tv service from Comcast. However, I need the high speed Internet. I suppose I should deal with the inconvenience of going with different providers. I'm thinking Century Link for TV and stay with Comcast for phone and Internet. Does anyone have this combination? We don't need the sports channels but like HD.

[FoPAA]

FWIW we've had Prism for tv for about 2 weeks and tonight - no tv at all! They say it's an outage in our neighborhood and are working to restore it. I have to say I'm not very impressed with them so far!

[FoPAA]

OK, just as soon as I posted this, our tv came back on! I take back everything, and all I can say is - wow, you ARE good TOTV!!!!

Direct T V, cell phones,& Century Link for internet! Like Bill we call Directory T V to let them know we've changed locations ....no interruption on service done this way.Although it was hard for my wife to let go of the "need" for a land line we've been cell phones only for 2 years now and surely don't miss it. Century Link for internet allows us to put the service on vacation mode for the 4 months we're up north.

[Barefoot]

We use Comcast for TV and hi-speed Internet. I've found that Comcast prices are usually negotiable, and they may have "win-back" specials. For the last four summers, we've had no problem with putting our service to sleep for six months while we travel north. We use Vonage for phone, with two "virtual" numbers which ring in TV as well as our lake cottage in Canada.

[bargee]

We have had Comcast for the past 11 years.Two years ago we switched to Comcast Triple Play(Phone,Internet and TV).We put all of our services on vacation from May until October.The Vacation rate is 15.00 per month,equipment does not have to be returned and I was happy to discover that our phone was left in service and I can listen to my voice mails on my computer.Also it was cheaper by 32.00 per month than when we used Centurylink for Internet and Phone and the Phone service includes unlimited Long Distance.

[Tom Hannon]

[QUOTE=bargee;370540.The Vacation rate is 15.00 per month,equipment does not have to be returned .[/QUOTE]

That is good and dandy. But try putting Comcast on vacation mode in August. It ain't happening. According to Comcast I have to take my vacations when they allow me to. If not I will have to pay few price until I return. Being on a fixed income, laying out $600 for nothing is not good financial planning.

[ajbrown]

Originally Posted by Tom Hannon

That is good and dandy. But try putting Comcast on vacation mode in August. It ain't happening. According to Comcast I have to take my vacations when they allow me to. If not I will have to pay few price until I return. Being on a fixed income, laying out $600 for nothing is not good financial planning.

I agree with your displeasure Tom. It make no sense that Comcast institutes a window where starting vacation can take place. I have not checked, but I wonder if this window is built for "seasonal" residents and the window is just the opposite in MA (places up north), i.e., must start vacation before Dec 1??

Like said before, just return the stuff, cancel the service and ponder what to get upon return. I am so tied to the high speed Internet for work in TV, I have not dared to try a different service YET.

[Lou and Carolyn C.]

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 have Comcast Cable only, so far, in the Villages, since we are part timers.
I spoke to Comcast back in March about a "Vacation Hold" and was told that the timeline was April 1st - July 15th to request a vacation hold. So I chose to start it April 1st for a 2 to 6 month period ending December 8th, for a one time fee of $60.00, was also told that the price in the Villages is different than elsewhere, also depends on the type of setup one has, ie HD DVR, etc. NOTE: YOU not only pay a one time fee, you also pay a monthly fee for the Cable Box/HD DVR. So needless to say that by mid April we had decided that we would be needing the cable back on, because we planned an unexpected trip to the villages in May, so we had Comcast remove the Vacation Hold for April 1st, we had already paid the 60.00 dollars and our next bill was for 2 months (April & May minus the $60.00) for a total of $203.00. We are now back on Vacation Hold which started June 1st. We will no doubt get another bill for the June 1st Vacation Hold (60.00), plus taxes/fees/charges for cable box/DVR. I VERY MUCH DISLIKE HAVING TO PAY OUTLANDISH AMOUNTS FOR CABLE SERVICES, TAXES, FEES AND WHATEVER ELSE THEY CAN TACK ON!!! I know my story rambles on and on, however if it appears confusing to you, then you know how confused I am about this whole process!!!

[Another 65er]

Originally Posted by 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

We are closing on our house in CT on Aug. 31 (fingers crossed). We are spending a few days in our Buttonwood home over Labor Day weekend. During that weekend, we are having our DirecTV installed on Saturday, September 3.

My question is about bringing our current DirecTV HD receiver/DVR to TV. We are flying into Orlando on September 2. I assume we can't take our DVR/Receiver on the plane.

Has any DirecTV user encountered this situation and how did you solve it?

Thanks in advance for your help.