[Ohiogirl]

Originally Posted by mrdills

For 5 bucks a month from Comcast you can get the Big 10 channel plus 8 other channels, not a bad price and when the season is over you can cancel it without any penalties.

What do you mean "when the season is over"? There's basketball, baseball, a short break (think Big Ten Classics) then football again!

[askcarl]

Just did the D-Comcast-Dish dance. Play them off each other with multiple phone calls. Always ID yourself. Each company keeps a record of your calls and the next agent can see you're a serious shopper.

I ended up with DTV, free NFL ticket, premium package with all movies, etc.... free DVR and $10 off the bill for 2 yrs (negates the HD charge). When I complained about the install date, they moved it up for a two day wait.

So far so good. I do know that storms, wind/rain will knock out the signal for a while.

Comcast was a tempting choice do to the whole house access with one set top box. One HD box for the main tv and all other tvs would get SD signal. no other boxes necessary.

Tough choice made easier when I found out Century link had fiber optic to the house at 10mps. installer said the plan was to increase the speed availabel to 20 to 25mps by next year. Woot!

Carl

[ajbrown]

Originally Posted by askcarl

Tough choice made easier when I found out Century link had fiber optic to the house at 10mps. installer said the plan was to increase the speed availabel to 20 to 25mps by next year. Woot!

Carl

Is this high speed Internet over fiber in TV? I am about to do my yearly fall dance with Comcast and have never heard of this. If nothing else it is nice leverage.

[Ohiogirl]

We've had the internet service thru CenturyLink (used to be Embarq) for a year or more now. I'm not really sure which speed we have (Bill just says "high speed internet") but it's been fine whenever we visit. Don't notice any difference between the CenturyLink DSL (I guess that's what it is) and the cable connection we have in Ohio thru WOW (Wide Open West).

[REDCART]

Originally Posted by askcarl

Just did the D-Comcast-Dish dance. Play them off each other with multiple phone calls. Always ID yourself. Each company keeps a record of your calls and the next agent can see you're a serious shopper.

I ended up with DTV, free NFL ticket, premium package with all movies, etc.... free DVR and $10 off the bill for 2 yrs (negates the HD charge). When I complained about the install date, they moved it up for a two day wait.

So far so good. I do know that storms, wind/rain will knock out the signal for a while.

Comcast was a tempting choice do to the whole house access with one set top box. One HD box for the main tv and all other tvs would get SD signal. no other boxes necessary.

Tough choice made easier when I found out Century link had fiber optic to the house at 10mps. installer said the plan was to increase the speed availabel to 20 to 25mps by next year. Woot!

Carl

Carl, Do you know for a fact that your underground utilities includes a fiber cable because this is the first time that we're hearing that TV had the insight to pull fiber. (We never understood why they never did so.) Are you relying on the people at Century Link to know for a fact that you have a dedicated Century Link fiber cable "underground" to the house. Because if you don't, the cost of pulling fiber is prohibitive, and they're not going to pull one just for you.

George

[SunnyDaze]

Our experience with centurylink/directv has been fantastic, thus far.

Originally had dish network, and they just weren't that great for me. About 2 weeks ago, dropped them for directv.

Already have internet phone, which I highly recommend as it is incredibly cost effective. I also highly recommend subscribing to Netflix.

Yes, I did have to cancel the dish contract and pay a $75 penalty.

BUT...between what was offerred promotionally at that time, and rebates we qualified for, I have all the movie channels, NFL Sunday ticket and a host of college games, and a total bill of less than $80 a month including tax for 12 months. Dish/Centurylink was around $128/mo.

Also, since I let the rep know I was calling from the referral of a current customer, both that account and mine will be credited with $100. So that's the payment of the cancellation fee with dish.

As far as the dish location, I had planted a medium sized lagustrum(sp?) in the back south corner of my home. Turns out it can mask the pole and dish beautifully, without impeding reception.

I had a exceptionally positive experience in changing providers, so if anyone has questions, please feel free to PM me.

[jblum8156]

My Dish antenna is on the roof. The installer never lost a beat, he just went ahead and put it there. It's in the back, where it doesn't show at all from the front

[askcarl]

Originally Posted by gryoung

Carl, Do you know for a fact that your underground utilities includes a fiber cable because this is the first time that we're hearing that TV had the insight to pull fiber. (We never understood why they never did so.) Are you relying on the people at Century Link to know for a fact that you have a dedicated Century Link fiber cable "underground" to the house. Because if you don't, the cost of pulling fiber is prohibitive, and they're not going to pull one just for you.

George

George,

I witnessed the installation. The exterior box is shown in the listed Pic.. Hope it loads to this site. Orange sticker says Fiber Optic. Box is 18"H x 12" W x 4" deep. There is a dual battery backup on the interior garage wall plugged in to AC.

There are two ATT white and orange marker poles just behind my back fence that are marked Fiber Optic. Coincidence??? I don't know.

The connection in my Den is Ethernet. Not phone line. I'm using a cat5e cable to my wireless router. No modem present. Straight from the wall to my wireless router. Checking speed on the internet shows just under 10mb/s. Not that those test are always accurate. http://www.speedtest.net/result/1003369071.png I performed the test 2 rooms away from the router while on a wireless Asus NetBook . My desktop machine isn't hooked up yet.

I'd say it's fiber Optic. I couldn't believe it either. My first clue should have been when Century Link set up an installation date. I had ATT DSL line down south and they just mailed me the modem kit and said, "DIY".

The CenturyLink installer was here for about an hour. He changed out the Den phone jack to a dual ethernet/phone line jack plate. I have a phone number attached to the account. I don't pay for the phone #/line. I can use 911 outbound and inbound calls are free. If I try to call a landline, I get charged by the minute. I don't know the rate. I only use my cellphone for calls.


Hopefully, this is the start of better Internet service for us all.

Carl

Edited by carl: All of the phone wiring in my house is Cat5e. No 4 wire POTS.

Originally Posted by TTyPalms

I also have the $29 for the first year with Direc TV, but I wonder if there won't be any option for another deal after the year as we are no longer a "new" customer.

Shouldn't loyalty trump new!?

I've had Direct Tv since 1999 and love it..but no loyalty doesn't trump new.New customers get the better deal although you can negotiate .For example new gets free hd for life..we called and were told we could get free hd for 2 years.We have century link(embarq) for our dsl.We also take our boxes back & forth nrth to south and everything works out great!!

[islandgal]

Contract?
Price increase after xx number of months?
Additional charges?

[BobKat1]

askcarl, thanks for the link.

I ran the test here at home in IL and it came back 21.13Mb/s download and 4.30Mb/s upload (Comcast).

As you said, not sure how accurate these tests are, but it's good to know.

[askcarl]

Originally Posted by BobKat1

askcarl, thanks for the link.

I ran the test here at home in IL and it came back 21.13Mb/s download and 4.30Mb/s upload (Comcast).

As you said, not sure how accurate these tests are, but it's good to know.

You got some Download/upload there Bob. I'll retest when I get my desktop unpacked. I'm waiting for a murphybed/office installation in the den.

Didn't think it would take this long to get the new house set up. LoL

Carl

[BobKat1]

Originally Posted by askcarl

You got some Download/upload there Bob. I'll retest when I get my desktop unpacked. I'm waiting for a murphybed/office installation in the den.

Didn't think it would take this long to get the new house set up. LoL

Carl

Let us know how you come out on the restest. BTW the test site said I was 50 miles from the server.

[golfnut]

I have comcast triple play, regular cost (not a promotion) for basic service on all 3 is $99/month. Very happy with their service and IMO internet is not slow....gn