REALLY COMCAST?? $140 a month for a few channels? And Starz??? REALLY???

DaltheJigsaw

Can you see my frustration? This is a joke! I am canceling! This is insane!!!

RebeccaS

We cancelled our cable recently and just use Netflix now. It's totally working for us

person

I just went to basic broadcast channels and internet from them ( I pay $54 a month now), for some reason the On Demand service allows me to watch most cable channel shows even though I don't get the channels. At first I thought it was a mistake but there are some channels that don't let you watch their shows without a subscribtion.

DaltheJigsaw

RebeccaS said:

We cancelled our cable recently and just use Netflix now. It's totally working for us

Good idea! But it seems that they been getting rid of many good movies? I guess I will go back to that then. Keep the internet and just go with Netflix?

DaltheJigsaw

person said:

I just went to basic broadcast channels and internet from them ( I pay $54 a month now), for some reason the On Demand service allows me to watch most cable channel shows even though I don't get the channels. At first I thought it was a mistake but there are some channels that don't let you watch their shows without a subscribtion.

Interesting! That's what I'm thinking of doing. $54 is really good! The internet would be $60??

MaryAnne

I switched to Direct TV (satellite) and I get way more channels for what amounts to the same $$ (once the introductory bargains are done in 12 months) that I was paying for Comcast with HBO and Showtime. There are pros and cons to this switch.

Pros:

Excellent HD reception on every channel.
Lots of sports channels of all kinds - if you're into sports.
Watch recorded stuff in any room on any TV.


Cons:

*Slow response time on remote (I thought I would get used to this, but it drives me absolutely nuts)
*Many, MANY of those 'extra channels' are BS channels-- like 24/7 informercial channels, religious channels, home shopping channels, etc.
*Paid-for movies and documentaries run a little more $ than Cable pay-to-watch movies.
*They can't bundle the TV with modem and phone in some areas. Couldn't in my area, so I'm not saving as much as I thought because I still have Comcast for internet and phone.
*And no matter what they tell you, bad weather DOES indeed affect your signal. It may only go out for a short time -- 3, 5, 10 minutes -- but it does go out. BUT, unlike when you lose Cable service, you CAN still watch whatever programs or movies you have recorded in the meantime. So that helps.

I've had Direct TV for 6 months now.... signed on for a 2 yr contract. Will I renew at that point? Not sure. Some days I lean heavily towards "no"... some days I think "it's OK."

But yes!! Comcast is a rip-off and getting more expensive year after year. Other technological things get cheaper as they grow, Comcast only gets more expensive!

vinlyn

I don't see Comcast as a "rip-off", although it is expensive. But I think of the service I get, and I don't have to complain as much as users of other services I talk to.

Comcast wasn't very efficient at all in getting me set up here in Colorado 2.5 years ago, but once it was set up, I have had uninterrupted television service, with the exception of 1 evening. My internet has probably been out about 2 hours in those 2.5 years.

When I was with a satellite dish, my tv was out during every heavy rainstorm. DISH satellite doesn't get certain channels (law suit right now over AMC, on which are a couple of my favorite shows; and they have a bad rep on that factor).

I guess you get what you pay for, and you have to decide how much you want to pay.

DaltheJigsaw

vinlyn said:

I don't see Comcast as a "rip-off", although it is expensive. But I think of the service I get, and I don't have to complain as much as users of other services I talk to.

Comcast wasn't very efficient at all in getting me set up here in Colorado 2.5 years ago, but once it was set up, I have had uninterrupted television service, with the exception of 1 evening. My internet has probably been out about 2 hours in those 2.5 years.

When I was with a satellite dish, my tv was out during every heavy rainstorm. DISH satellite doesn't get certain channels (law suit right now over AMC, on which are a couple of my favorite shows; and they have a bad rep on that factor).

I guess you get what you pay for, and you have to decide how much you want to pay.

How much are you paying for internet?

RebeccaS

LeonBasin said:

RebeccaS said:

We cancelled our cable recently and just use Netflix now. It's totally working for us

Good idea! But it seems that they been getting rid of many good movies? I guess I will go back to that then. Keep the internet and just go with Netflix?

Well, I guess it depends on what you're looking for. They have tons of stuff, and we use unblock-us.com which lets you get Netflix from different countries - I watch Stargate sg1 on Canadian Netflix and pretty much everything else on American Netflix - it's a cool service.

But yeah, I think it depends what you're looking for. We have a Boxee Box so we have a few different TV and movie apps for when we can't find something on Netflix.

We're also thinking of getting apple tv for the other room, apparently that's really good, too.

DaltheJigsaw

MaryAnne said:

I switched to Direct TV (satellite) and I get way more channels for what amounts to the same $$ (once the introductory bargains are done in 12 months) that I was paying for Comcast with HBO and Showtime. There are pros and cons to this switch.

Pros:

Excellent HD reception on every channel.
Lots of sports channels of all kinds - if you're into sports.
Watch recorded stuff in any room on any TV.


Cons:

*Slow response time on remote (I thought I would get used to this, but it drives me absolutely nuts)
*Many, MANY of those 'extra channels' are BS channels-- like 24/7 informercial channels, religious channels, home shopping channels, etc.
*Paid-for movies and documentaries run a little more $ than Cable pay-to-watch movies.
*They can't bundle the TV with modem and phone in some areas. Couldn't in my area, so I'm not saving as much as I thought because I still have Comcast for internet and phone.
*And no matter what they tell you, bad weather DOES indeed affect your signal. It may only go out for a short time -- 3, 5, 10 minutes -- but it does go out. BUT, unlike when you lose Cable service, you CAN still watch whatever programs or movies you have recorded in the meantime. So that helps.

I've had Direct TV for 6 months now.... signed on for a 2 yr contract. Will I renew at that point? Not sure. Some days I lean heavily towards "no"... some days I think "it's OK."

But yes!! Comcast is a rip-off and getting more expensive year after year. Other technological things get cheaper as they grow, Comcast only gets more expensive!

I'm also thinking of going to DirecTV as well!

DaltheJigsaw

RebeccaS said:

LeonBasin said:

RebeccaS said:

We cancelled our cable recently and just use Netflix now. It's totally working for us

Good idea! But it seems that they been getting rid of many good movies? I guess I will go back to that then. Keep the internet and just go with Netflix?

Well, I guess it depends on what you're looking for. They have tons of stuff, and we use unblock-us.com which lets you get Netflix from different countries - I watch Stargate sg1 on Canadian Netflix and pretty much everything else on American Netflix - it's a cool service.

But yeah, I think it depends what you're looking for. We have a Boxee Box so we have a few different TV and movie apps for when we can't find something on Netflix.

We're also thinking of getting apple tv for the other room, apparently that's really good, too.

I'm basically into Movies, specifically Comedies, Documentaries, some T.V. shows and Sports.

RebeccaS

Netflix movie selection really isn't amazing, but they have a great documentary selection. They have a lot of scifi and British TV which is great for me as well as a lot of NBC shows.

But with the Boxee we get HBO and other networks from a different app, and I can stream things I'm watching on my iPad or iPhone directly to the tv which is really useful.

I think apple tv has the best selection, but I'm not sure how their pricing works.

person

LeonBasin said:

person said:

I just went to basic broadcast channels and internet from them ( I pay $54 a month now), for some reason the On Demand service allows me to watch most cable channel shows even though I don't get the channels. At first I thought it was a mistake but there are some channels that don't let you watch their shows without a subscribtion.

Interesting! That's what I'm thinking of doing. $54 is really good! The internet would be $60??

$54 is what I pay total, I think the internet price is reduced because of bundle and the only channels I get are regular broadcast and CNN as well as things like UPN and WB but like I said I can watch lots of cable shows on On Demand for free from channels like AMC, BBC America, SyFy, and History. I can't watch free shows from TNT, FX, Comedy Central or any of the sports channels.

Ejou

Oh the irony... I quit my job **Coughcast** because of the self-esteem that I gained through my new practice, and here it is again. lol I didn't appreciate the internet that I had until I moved back in with my parents in east bumble... 1meg internet on a good day. I can't get comcast or verizon, or anything comprable... unless I'm willing to pay to have them string 3 miles of cable at $100 a foot...

karasti

Netflix lost their starz contract which is why they lost so many movies. We use it a fair amount though. We have cable tv/cable internet. We have around 100 channels (no dvr) and 5mbps internet for $104 a month. We thought about switching to satellite because there are a couple channels we can't get that we really miss, but because of our trees we'd have to have the dish on the roof and climbing up there to dust off the snow all the time is very unappealing. My mom has satellite and it's always going out in snow and rain storms, and when we are busy watching the MN Twins lose, losing reception is just not an option, lol.

One thing we really enjoy is amazon's video service. We have a prime account, which we got because of the free/reduced shipping (we use amazon A LOT living where we do) and as a result, we get a bunch of free streaming movies and tv shows.

DaltheJigsaw

Wow! I called them and they were able to get me a deal! $70 with the Internet and Cable! They even threw in HBO! The only bad part it's a 2 year contract. However, I can cancel, but the fee will be $75, but after every 3 months it will go down by $7. Not bad! Highly suggest calling them and speaking to them!

vinlyn

^ Interestingly, several of my friends have called to cancel, and when they did got similar special deals.

jessie70

I think this thread may be the most informative, and valuable thing I've gotten from this site!

zombiegirl

I have basic cable and internet (I upped the speed and paid a little more) through WOW (Wide Open West) for like $70 (maybe $80?) a month. I'm beyond my contract now so I guess that's their basic price. They're okay. I will say that their employees are soooo much better than Comcast's. I've had so many bad experiences with Comcast.

vinlyn

I think Comcast service depends a lot on where you are. I had very good service and great service people back in Northern Virginia, but here in Colorado it's very much hit or miss. One sub-contractor told me that Comcast had given him no training whatsoever in terms of installing and setting up Comcast.

budzen

I got rid of cable and tv and now I pay 0$ and included on that price I have more time to read and do other stuff

karasti

We have thought of putting our cable tv on hold for the nice months, but my husband is a baseball nut, and if he doesn't watch it on tv then he'll be sitting in the car 3 hours a day listening to it on the radio, lol. I'd rather have him in the house We really don't watch all that much tv, hours wise. We're too busy, but when we watch it quite often in the winter. I love to read, but I can only read so many hours before I need something else to do, lol. The kids like to watch the science channel and such. I think tv can have value, it just depends what you watch. If you spend 6 hours a day watching Keeping up with the Kardashians you probably aren't expanding your mind much, though Heck my 16 year old gets up early every morning just to watch "How the Universe was Made" and the fact he gets up on his own is worth the cost!