Comcast Screw Job!

So let me get this straight. Until last week we had regular Comcast coming out of our wall to our multiple televisions. We got a mixture of both regular and Hi-def channels and we didn't need a box-perfect picture. Suddenly now with this new mandatory program Comcast is shoving down our throats we no longer get dick without one of their cheesy boxes.

Using their crappy little boxes we don't get any Hi-def channels, reception is terrible, we have to use their fucked remote, and we can no longer block unwanted channels- surfing really sucks now having to go thru every fucking channel. Their large boxes can do it all but cost $7 a pop per month! We complained and their excuse? They need to stay competitive????????? Yep, they told us this twice. Amazing.

So now, every television needs a box- no matter how nice/new a television you have. Our bill will now jump either $10 a month using those shitty boxes or $28 a month going big boxes. Plus we still have unburied cable lines running across our yard- been there for years- and Comcast won't come out and bury them. Makes mowing real fun. Multiple attempts to ask them to finish the job without a response. They have never given us a deal on our rates and... their customer service rep called me a liar when I mentioned that my in-laws just got a 2 yr free HBO deal from Comcast in a different town here in Colorado. No kidding- she called me a liar to my face!

Anyone else thinks Comcast sucks? Think Direct TV is in our future. Friends have it- perfect picture, hi-def, and a company that makes deals. Hope Comcast goes to hell. What is with corporations these days? Are they all evil as hell? All I want is just a damn television that gets the Military Channel and Fox Soccer- don't watch TV much but other family member do.

Tor

Yeah, sounds like they're screwing you. I have got free HBO from them for years. Everytime it's about to expire and my rate is going to go up I call and ask to downgrade my service to basic. They always say "no, don't do that. What if we give you more free stuff, will you keep your current package?". If I were you I would have canceled on the spot if they called me a liar.

I've never been a fan of Comcast. Only place I used to despise more was Qwest. So when I bought my house it was DirectTV for TV and Comcast for cable modem. After 2 years of declining service I went to the darkside and got Qwest DSL. Not a single problem since then.

Nice thing with DirecTV and Qwest is I've bundled my DSL, phone and TV for a bit of a savings.

Your "HD" channels you were getting before without a box werent "HD", comcast didnt even support them HD is on a lot higher frequency then 4.5 or 9.1 or what ever are on. Now with the "upgrade" you can get 1 dct and 2 dta's and the only price increase is $1 a month to go from standard cable to starter digital cable, if you need more dtas they are only $1.99 each. . You gain a bunch of channels at no cost plus video on demand. If your reception is that bad you should have a tech out to fix it because IT IS BETTER with the box.



But I think you should go to direct tv so you can see how good you had it before [ROFL1] See what they charge you for the "REQUIRED boxes". Believe me I have a different cable company, US cable, and they suck ass.

we dont have any tv. its much cheaper. i know there 30+ free digital channels over the air available now. but, i cant get them, without a large outside tv antenna, because we live 95 miles or so from look out mountain. o well. tv probably doesnt make me smarter. and it supports the anti crowd anyway, since nearly everyone involved in entertainment is against our way of life. so fuck em.

Had comcast it sucked it cost a ton of $$ and every month it was getting higher and higher and kept going in and out. Now I've got Dish network and it cost a ton too and comes in and out and goes up every month. between xcel and the boulder water co and dish i don't have any drinking money left LOL. Am thinking getting rid of the dish and just doing netflicks.

I had the same thing with Comcast. Last monday 1/3 of the channels went to a screen saying my 10 month old TV was not modern enough to accept the channels. I called Comcast and the CSR told me I needed to pay extra each month for a box.

I asked why I had to pay more and she said I shouldn't have been receiving those channels since they set up the package. Now more channels are scrolling that say I need to pay them more money. I'm looking into direct TV. Comcast has always been impossible to work with.

Remember the days of $10 cable or you could steal it. and the dirty channel only fussed the image a little and you could still here whats going on Ahh the good 'ol days

Man we got rid of comcast here the year they started using the boxes. Since then we have had DirecTV. If you do get DirecTV, tell the installer to put the dish on the ground and not the roof. It makes brushing of the snow easier.

We're not too fond of these new ugly Comcast boxes either.

However we're stuck with them as the only way we're going to be able to get any satellite is if I take a chain saw to all the trees around the house and cut a line of site (and frankly the neighbors would be pissed if I started cutting down their trees).

The boxes are annoying but don't bother me too much. What DOES bother me, is that I have to "power cycle" my modem and wireless router nearly every single day (many times at 3+ more times a day) to keep an internet signal. I've had Comcast out more than once for this. They can't tell me what is wrong. All I know is that for whatever it is I'm paying for internet, I sure as hell shouldn't have to unplug my equipment several times a day to get service. Oh yeah, and this is like the 3rd modem I've had in two years as well.

Are they giving you the linksys blue and back routers (wrt54g etc)? I have had soooo many of those that are completely shit with similar problems to what you describe.

I think it is a different one. I've had this same problem at other houses before as well.

In fact, at one house, my computer wouldn't have internet, but all my roommates would.

When we moved out here to the sticks, I was worried about not having cable and having to go to Direct TV. As it turns out, direct has actually been great. In six months, it's only gone out twice. Once for snow on the dish which I just swept off and once with a huge storm right over the house, but that was only for a couple of minutes.

I wouldn't hesitate to go satellite.

Comcast can byte me. If you look into what those box really do you will see that they are 2 way... I assume to turn everyones house into a Nelson family of sorts to find out what they like to watch and sell advertising space. So the rubb is they are spying on you and charge you more for it. A lot of business is going to Direct TV and Dish Networks. Maybe they think they will bounce back after a while?

It's long, but the gist is, I can double my cable bill or stick with the channels that you can get for free with a digital antenna.

Aaron > My channels keep disappearing unless I pay more $ for some box
Baldoza > Hello Aaron_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Baldoza. Please give me one moment to review your information.
Baldoza > Hi Aaron, how are you today?
Aaron_ > I sent an email and the response to my email told me to log on for live chat
Aaron_ > I want to know how many channels will be left if I don't pay your extra fee for some digital box
Aaron_ > My TV is less than one year old, but I keep seeing messages that say it is out of date and can't accept Comcast digital
Baldoza > I understand your concern regarding losing channels due to the Digital migration Aaron. I sure can check the system for the channels that will be received with your TV without the equipment.
Baldoza > I would like to confirm that your zip code is 81008, is that right?
Aaron_ > yes
Baldoza > And you also have Basic cable service, correct?
Aaron_ > Yes
Baldoza > Still checking for the line up.
Baldoza > Thank you for waiting Aaron.
Baldoza > I was checking on multiple resources for the list and it seems that our program engineers are still setting up the channel list for your area.
Baldoza > But with basic cable, you should be able to get local broadcast channels.
Aaron_ > Which channels are those? Are you telling me I'll basically only get the channels I could get for free with a digital antenna?
Baldoza > Yes, that's why we would suggest that you upgrade instead.
Aaron_ > Wouldn't it be cheaper to just cancell my cable?
Baldoza > Because having another service with your internet service will keep the rate at $42.95.
Aaron_ > You are telling me I must pay more to get the same channels I used to get when I signed up with comcast?
Baldoza > Those channels and more. This is all part of the Digital migration that was also mandated by the government.
Aaron_ > So the extra money I now have to pay was mandated by the government?
Baldoza > We have been developing Digital service for the past years too. But it was mandated by the government that network should transfer to digital signal to free analog signal as that is what they mainly use for communication and have been having problems due to the traffic in the signal. And with the networks moving to digital signal, there is now a need to have that equipment and the package that has those channels in them to be able to receive it.
Aaron_ > So why do I have to pay for the digital box? With as much as I pay comcast, shouldn't it be included?
Baldoza > The Digital starter with the equipment included is $53.99. But if you upgrade now, you may be able to get a promo or introductory offer for the package.
Aaron_ > How much would just internet access cost?
Baldoza > That would be $12 more. So $54.45 plus the $5 modem rental.
Baldoza > Sorry, it's $54.95.
Aaron_ > So my options are pay more for just internet or pay more for the upgrade?
Baldoza > The upgrade too will give you more features and channels, Aaron.
Aaron_ > If I wanted more channels I woud have ordered them. I just want the channels I origionally had. Does teh Digital Starter for $53.99 include internet access?
Baldoza > Digital starter is for the cable service alone.
Aaron_ > That's double what I'm currently paying.
Aaron_ > What if I keep Basic service. How much will the digital box cost?
Baldoza > There are certain markets that get to hvae that option Aaron, so earlier, I checked on the list if the area you are at also has it. But I'm not seeing the charge for the equipment with basic cable. Meaning, that you can only get the equipment with an upgrade. What I would suggest though is that you chat with our sales team if your market has the Family Tier package. That packge will not cost as much as Digital starter but is very limited. That package will have the set top box included.
Baldoza > If you are interested in more information about it, I can get you over to our sales team for them to check if the package is still available.
Aaron_ > So you are saying the package I have is no longer available?
Baldoza > It's still available, but would require more than basic cable to acquire the box.
Aaron_ > So, If I keep basic cable my channels will be reduced to only network broadcast channels. The only way to keep the channels I origionaly wanted and ordered is to upgrade my service?
Baldoza > Yes, that's correct.
Aaron_ > What is the minimum cost to upgrade?
Baldoza > That information can be answered by our sales team. Best to get it straight from them so that you get a more accurate information.
Aaron_ > Then let me speak to them.
Baldoza > Will do. Give me just 2 minutes to place in some notes ahead for you so that they can have an idea of what we have already discussed.
Baldoza > Ready.
Baldoza > Do you have any other concerns for me Aaron before I do transfer you over?
Aaron_ > I have many concerns, but they are above your paygrade
Baldoza > I understand. I'll transfer you over now.
Baldoza > Please hold.
Baldoza > Please wait, while the problem is escalated to another analyst
Lidaliza > Comcast thanks you for your interest in our services. Welcome to Sales Department! you can call me Izzy for short, and it's nice to have you on chat.

Lidaliza > I would be more than happy to assist you today. How are you doing?
Aaron_ > I've been on chat for close to 45 minutes and still don't have the answers I want. That's how I'm doing.
Aaron_ > I want to know how much Comcast is going to increase my rates to keep the same channels I've been receiving with the digital upgrade.
Aaron_ > The last analylist gave me a price that is double my current bill.
Lidaliza > I am sorry to hear that!
Lidaliza > Let me check it for you, and please allow me also to review your service.
Lidaliza > I do appreciate your cooperation.
Lidaliza > I am now retrieving your account, please stay with me.
Lidaliza > I can see here in your account that you currently paying $21.37 for basic cable alone.
Lidaliza > If you want you can upgrade it to our Digital Starter promotional rate of $39.99/mo for 6 months only.
Aaron_ > My last bill was for 28.49 for basic cable, but if you say 21.37 we'll go with that.
Aaron_ > What will it be after 6 months?
Lidaliza > After 6 months regular rate applies, which is $53.99/mo.
Lidaliza > Would you like me to upgrade your cable service now?
Aaron_ > No
Aaron_ > What are my other options. The ones where my rate doesn't double in 6 months?
Lidaliza > Therer is none,
Lidaliza > All our promotion will back to regular rate after 6 months.
Lidaliza > You currently have Basic cable that has more than 3o channels.
Lidaliza > While Digital Starter has more than 80 channels.
Aaron_ > Those 30 channels are going away unless I get your digital box.
Lidaliza > Plus one ree digital box is included.
Aaron_ > Is there any way to only keep the 30 channels on basic without a service upgrade?
Lidaliza > I am sorry, there's none.
Lidaliza > You really need to upgrade your service to digital cable.
Aaron_ > Is there any fee for cancellation on my account?
Lidaliza > There's none/
Aaron_ > Is there any way to get the box so the basic channels will still work?
Lidaliza > Digital box is only compatible on digital cable not on basic cable.
Aaron_ > And the most basic digital cable package is 53.99 per month?
Lidaliza > Yes, you are correct.

I missed comcast hispeed net dearly..but I would never go back to them. They changed their programs on me 3x in the past 5 years. I went with direct TV and unfortunately ended up with 10mbps qwest dsl. QWEST isn't any better in QC, however, with direct tv bundle, I dont have to deal with them directly just yet.

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Originally Posted by DOC

Comcast can byte me. If you look into what those box really do you will see that they are 2 way... I assume to turn everyones house into a Nelson family of sorts to find out what they like to watch and sell advertising space. So the rubb is they are spying on you and charge you more for it. A lot of business is going to Direct TV and Dish Networks. Maybe they think they will bounce back after a while?

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[ROFL1] [ROFL2] [ROFL3]

I just gave comcast the boot for missing 3 appointments to transfer over my service and fix the lines in the home.
I am getting nearly identical channels for 1/3 of the price and it is locked in for 2 years. I am not a huge fan of qwest, but when you bundle with Direct tv, they give you another $10 off a month.
Check online and see the deals they have, then enjoy telling comcast to get screwed.

I was being serious for once too.

How high of speed is the $29 a month for life? I don't really want to switch to Qwest, but maybe it is better.

If you have cable lines going across your yard that aren't even YOURS, cut that shit immediately. That'll get someone out there. I'd cut the one in the alley as well.

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Originally Posted by Stuart

How high of speed is the $29 a month for life? I don't really want to switch to Qwest, but maybe it is better.

If you have cable lines going across your yard that aren't even YOURS, cut that shit immediately. That'll get someone out there. I'd cut the one in the alley as well.

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When I sold comcast, iirc, that for life interent is like 3mbs.

I think I'm supposed to have 6mbs now, but the highest download speed I've ever seen was 1.2mbs on a movie torrent.

I gave Comcast their TV box back right after the Stanley Cup Playoffs, I don't miss it...yet. I still use their internet service.

These companies have it backwards just like the damn government, when things are tight and their revenue drops they raise prices, they are supposed to suck it up and maybe lower prices to retain customers and attract new ones. Lower prices mean more people can afford to pay their cable bill and that in itself will increase revenues.

When the economy sucks their business booms, people need phone and internet to find jobs, and they need tv so they can watch oprah while they are sitting around. And for the number of new resedential and commercial customers they gain every day they don't have to care about customers or employees.

Holy hell 3 pages? but yes I agree! I just bought one of the new Sharp Aquos 46" flat-screen, beautiful TV with a great remote that had a lot of functionality for me, then as of last week I had to use commie-cast cheap 2 dollar remote...

The reality of video service from any vendor these days is to buy your television based of picture size only and not features. A basic monitor without any additional features is the way to go as all companies require a box of some sort to decrypt the signal. It is not all Comcast idea to go the direction they are going. The content providers they have contracts with are requiring digital encryption to "protect" their content.

You yes have a shitty little box with a featureless remote but you have gained a significant number of channels viewable on that box compared to what you had. And the HD you were receiving you were not paying for....Your television just happened to be able to find the unencrypted HD signal that you were not paying for. Comcast now requires an HD receiver to receive those channels so they can keep those that are not paying for them from receiving them. Sounds like a sound business decision to me.

For each one of the analog channels removed from the system it clears enough bandwidth to add up to 12 additional digital channels....In the long run they will be increasing the content available dramatically without the corresponding drastic increase in price. Will your cost to obtain those services go up.....Yes but you have to do your own cost benefit analysis.

And as far as exposed wiring, poor reception, slow speeds and all the other assosiciated problems call in a service call and keep calling in until it is resolved....Escalate it to a corprate representative if you have to. You would be suprised how quickly problems are resolved in this type of industry when you get out of state Corporate involved. (presuming you have done all you can at the local level without result) In short if you have a problem don't settle for an unresolved pain in the ass issue and pursue a resolution til you are satisfied. That is the reality of corporate America.

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Originally Posted by Stuart

I think I'm supposed to have 6mbs now, but the highest download speed I've ever seen was 1.2mbs on a movie torrent.

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that's the most likely source of your modem/router having to be reset btw, and comcast is more than well known to throttle downloads.

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Originally Posted by Tor Larson

Anyone else thinks Comcast sucks? Think Direct TV is in our future. Friends have it- perfect picture, hi-def, and a company that makes deals. Hope Comcast goes to hell. What is with corporations these days? Are they all evil as hell? All I want is just a damn television that gets the Military Channel and Fox Soccer- don't watch TV much but other family member do.

Tor

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I had DirecTV in this house for 5 years before moving to Massachusetts (rented the house out while we were away). We rarely had any issues with DirecTV reception, etc. (had to wipe snow off of hte dish once or twice a winter).

We had Comcast in MA - SUCKED, and we HAD to have their damned cable boxes. Nuff said.

We moved back into our home here in CO and once again got DirecTV (after pulling up the cable line Adelphia or Comcast brushed a little dust over and called it "buried"). The service has been MOSTLY great (snow thing still).

Recently, we've noticed that all three of the TV's we have hooked up to DirecTV is hard to hear and we have to crank the volume way up. I didn't have any of them connected to a phone line (which is something DirecTV says you are supposed to have). This seemed to improve the situation a bit (about 50% better). I called DirecTV and they inducated that my equipment should be updated - but they were going to charge me for each one of the 2 receivers I'd need. Now, NEW customers can get the high end HD receivers with digital recording capability (my current equip can't do any of that).

So, like with any of these danged companies, the NEW customers can get great equipment but LOYAL customers only get the shaft. Of course, they finally told me that I could get new equip if I signed a 2 year contract. Pricks (I HATE contracts).

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Originally Posted by Stuart

How high of speed is the $29 a month for life? I don't really want to switch to Qwest, but maybe it is better.

If you have cable lines going across your yard that aren't even YOURS, cut that shit immediately. That'll get someone out there. I'd cut the one in the alley as well.

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I have 7Mbps for $35/mo with Qwest.

I've also had cable lines buried in my yard about 1" below the surface (NOT to my house). I've accidentaly cut the lines many time (back when the cable provider around here was Adelphia). They always came after me expecting me to pay for the repairs. I pointed out that they had a LEGAL obligation to BURY the lines x number of inches (I've forgotten how deep they are required to bury the lines, but they never do). They backed off. The one time I cut a line that was actually buried (close to) the legally required depth was when I was putting my fence in. They got downright NASTY with me over it DEMANDING that I pay to repair the line. I pointed out that I had the yard marked as required of me by law and that the nearest mark was about 8 ft away - far outside of the 18" I was legally required to use caution when digging around. They were pissed but went after the utility marking guys instead.

I've never received any letters from Comcast about down loading (I know lots of people get them) and they've never said anything to me over the phone when I call (I also know that they yell at people for down loading things if they think you are pirating movies or something). This was a problem long before I ever learned what a torrent was though, so I doubt it is that.

Do you use peerblock? If not you should... google is your friend.

I feel like I should clarify this. Torrents don't define my usage, I know what they are and that is the only example I could think of to show actual down load speed. You can do a speed test all day long and it will tell you what you are capable of reaching, but in your normal browsing, there is nothing that would indicate how fast your connection is.

Peerblock blocks bad torrent servers and other jerks like lawyers and makes your dl faster as a result because you don't have to redownload a packet. I think my speed got at high as 2mbps and averages about 1mb if there are a lot of peers. Peerblock can update itsself and be turned off easily too but if your using a torrent or limewire or whatever you should run this at the same time.

Just figured you may have had the same type of problems I had (at least as far as the hard resets go). Beyond that I couldn't tell you much as I'm not exactly an IT guy [ROFL2]

On another note, I get comcasts "basic" with no box, I think it's a way of pursuading people to upgrade because it's about 80% spanish and church channels.

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Originally Posted by Half Live

Man we got rid of comcast here the year they started using the boxes. Since then we have had DirecTV. If you do get DirecTV, tell the installer to put the dish on the ground and not the roof. It makes brushing of the snow easier.

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Mine's on the roof, but for the two times a year I need to brush the dish off I just have one of those telescoping painter's poles with a shop brush taped to the end. Very quick and easy.

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Originally Posted by Stuart

The boxes are annoying but don't bother me too much. What DOES bother me, is that I have to "power cycle" my modem and wireless router nearly every single day (many times at 3+ more times a day) to keep an internet signal. I've had Comcast out more than once for this. They can't tell me what is wrong. All I know is that for whatever it is I'm paying for internet, I sure as hell shouldn't have to unplug my equipment several times a day to get service. Oh yeah, and this is like the 3rd modem I've had in two years as well.

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I had that issue too, got so bad I couldn't be on call for work anymore.

Ditching Comcast was one of the better things we've done in the past few years. We did the Qwest bundle thing, so DirecTV and DSL, and been very happy. The one time I had an issue with my DSL, the tech decided he didn't like the equipment I was provisioned on and put me on a new switch, upgraded my speed at no charge, and gave me a new modem. Contrast that with Comcast, who when told of my Internet woes (not to mention crappy TV signal, but I hadn't even made it that far yet) came out, told me it was my problem, and tried to charge me $85 for the trouble. Oh and the shitty signal? I found my line, strung across a neighbor's fence out back with a bad splice - I brought this to their attention and they denied that a crappy splice job hanging down low enough to sit in snow and rain could ever cause signal degradation.

Never going back to those idiots again.

I really hate comcast TV. I have them for internet and don't really have any complaints other than it is expensive but so is everything else.

we have direct tv and so far it has been great for the ~1 year we have had it.

If you go for directTV send me a PM and I will give you my account number so we can both get $100 off! ($10 for 10 months)[Beer]

OK guys with the dish I have a question. What if you put a black trash bag over the dish? Will you still get a signal? Will the snow not accumulate and just slide off?

I have had to reboot my modem twice a day when they "upgraded" me for free plus $12 a month from 6mbps to 12. I had them out 3 times and everytime it nothing got done right but each person did it differently. I got some nice discounts for their incompetence and being late. But they sheilded the signal pretty much to keep out cross talk and alien cross talk. Rechecked all the line connections going to the pole. For a while I was testing out at 15mbps dl and 8-10 upload then 12 DL which is all they promised with 2 mbps upload. Something was wrong and the last time they did something right and wrong because now I get 23 mbps DL and 4 mbs upload. I was happy the first time with the first results except the modem needed to be reset twice a day and I had to go down stairs to the back office to get to it. Not happy with that. But now its reliable although something is keeping the upload speed down. In reality just knock a zero off the end of the advertised speed to find out what your real speed is. 4 mbps = 400 kbps 22 mbps = 2.2 mbps...

Wow you guys must have some shitty service wherever you live. In greeley 25-30 is average on their 12 meg service. Course maybe you all have e-machines and ran your own wiring?

We do have to pool the internet service so depending on many people are using it at the time of the test it maybe good or bad. What do you mean run your own wire? Cat 3 for the win.

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Originally Posted by DOC

We do have to pool the internet service so depending on many people are using it at the time of the test it maybe good or bad. What do you mean run your own wire? Cat 3 for the win.

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Crappy gold splitters, rca radio shack etc. Pre terminated cable from walmart radio shack etc. Most of the problems we fix are caused by people hooking up crap splitters or cable, half the people hook them up wrong. Your speed test results will vary greatly on how many people are useing that speed test. Try speedtest.comcast.net