What ?

tonyb

Want to hear a good one ?

I call Comcast, complain about my 230 buck a month bill, + taxes makes it around 260. They offer me a different package that would bring it down to around 160 + taxes. I tell them I don't need the land line phone but they have no packages that get rid of the phone and would be cheaper.

Call AT&T, they can get rid of the landline phone and offer me roughly the same package as Comcast for 110+ taxes. I say cool, sign me up. Schedule the install for today, call Comcast to end service tomorrow.

This morning I get a call from AT&T, saying they need more info to process the order. I call back.....turns out, they want 449 bucks plus an additional 119 activation fee BEFORE THEY CAN INSTALL. I start screaming at the idiot, you guys told me no cost to install when I signed up, now you want just short of 600 bucks ? Cancel my order.

This is B.S. and I don't know how they constantly get away with this type of practice...and cable companies wonder why they are hated as much as they are.

mrbiron

I think the solution here is quite obvious............have a Snickers you angry b@stard!

You turn into a raging Italian when you are hangry

mhardy6647

Yeah, I really enjoy the "public utilities" we have today.
Up here we have basically two choices -- Comcast or smoke signals.
OK, three choices. Moonbounce amateur radio would work, too.

Mikey081057

We need more regulations!

mhardy6647

we need something --

I remember the days -- you had a TV, you turned it on, there was stuff to watch. Some good, some bad -- but there was stuff. And it was free.
Paying money to watch TV is fine if there are no commercials. Commercials on a pay service are double jeopardy, the way I look at it.

No commercials on cable TV, right?

mhardy6647

I figure soon our electric company will enable technology to pop little advertisements out of the wall sockets.

heiney9

DSL isn't near as fast as Cable..............you could take the speed hit?

heiney9

I am really close to cutting the cord. Still need internet so they can bend me over a barrel for that. But even with Dish TV and Comcast internet we pay just shy of $200 and both went up again. I don't feel I get $200/mo value out of it all.

The thing is more people will jump ship and eventually in 3-5 years Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Sling TV will all be raising their prices and we'll be back in the same boat again.

If it were me Tony, take the Comcast reduced offer and be done with it.

H9

BlueMDPicker

tonyb wrote: »

Want to hear a good one ?

I call Comcast, complain about my 230 buck a month bill, + taxes makes it around 260. They offer me a different package that would bring it down to around 160 + taxes. I tell them I don't need the land line phone but they have no packages that get rid of the phone and would be cheaper.

Don't plug a phone in. Revenge on the robo-callers and scammers. Sweet!

rpf65

Can't really see a difference between 720 and 1080 unless the screen is bigger than about 32 inches.

Can't really see a difference between 1080 and 4K in screens up to around 45 inches.

These are just my personal observations between same model numbers of different sets that I could personally compare.

Just thinking will you really see a difference between 4 and 8K on sets less than 50 or even 55 inch screens? Just thinking out load, and wonder how many 8K sets they would sell without the need to change the HDMI protocol.

rpf65

Sorry wrong thread

mhardy6647

heiney9 wrote: »

...
The thing is more people will jump ship and eventually in 3-5 years Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Sling TV will all be raising their prices and we'll be back in the same boat again.
...

Yup, sort of a zero sum game, methinks.
Save a little scratch here, spend it there.

pearsall001

I hear ya Tony! Every two years I jump ship when the prices get out of hand. First Comcast, then DIREC TV then Dish. Now I'm back with Comcast. Two yr contract for 89.99, really 110.00 for two rooms. Includes upgrading Internet to 100 speed, Showtime, Encore, 220 channel package. After this 2yr contract is up I'm definitely looking into cutting the cord. The only downside is Comcast is my only choice for Internet. Absolutely no competition at all for Internet service. Maybe in 2 yrs things might change. I'm not holding my breath though.

heiney9

Is there truly a market anywhere that has a direct competitor for internet? Comcast is it here too for internet. AT&T, Dish are available, but not near as fast as cable and still not that much cheaper.

H9

Erik Tracy

You know the saying, right?

The grass is NOT greener on the other side - it's the same color....brown.

I deal with (W)Rect*m...ah...Spectrum problems all the time, but locally when I ask about other services the litany of problems is just as bad.

tratliff

I have the same frustration. These cost are out of control and the customer service is pitiful. I have recently installed an over the air antenna and was very surprised at the number of channels and how much better todays antennas are then what I tried about 10 years ago. But that really depends on location and market.

I am considering cutting the cord! But all the providers seem to have many things to give away when you are canceling. Where did customer loyalty go? Charge the guy who has been paying for years more and more. And offer the new guy specials. <rant over>

rooftop59

heiney9 wrote: »

Is there truly a market anywhere that has a direct competitor for internet? Comcast is it here too for internet. AT&T, Dish are available, but not near as fast as cable and still not that much cheaper.

H9

Yep, here in TX we have whoever just bought time warner and grande, which is a better deal. I semi cut the cord and get 300 mbps cable internet for 60 plus tax.

There are some advantages to living in this god forsaken state!

Legender

Antenna for TV (free) and HD quality and $40 a month for internet. All I need.

mrloren

I wish I could go just internet, Cox mid range package is around $60 a month for internet. Wife need her TV so I am stuck with the $180 a month bundle.

Every April we have to call Cox and get a different bundle. funny when I tell them my price better not go up or I am calling AT&T, for some reason they keep it the same.

Ricardo

Hate them, must have them. I have DirecTV so my nightmare is with internet/phone. I've been going back and forth between TWC now Spectrum and Cincinnati Bell. Every 12 months or so I change to get the 60ish rate for new customers. A year comes by and they increase to over 100. I go back to the "other" provider. So stupid they can't just keep you in a decent rate.

Legender

"Every April we have to call Cox and get a different bundle. funny when I tell them my price better not go up or I am calling AT&T, for some reason they keep it the same. "

My dad does the exact same thing every year to get the intro price year after year. They'll rip you off if you let them.

Nightfall

Comcast one of the most hated companies in America along with Charter/Time Warner, Wells Fargo, Sprint, and Mylan.

http://247wallst.com/special-report/2017/01/10/americas-most-hated-companies-4/

nooshinjohn

mrbiron wrote: »

I think the solution here is quite obvious............have a Snickers you angry b@stard!

You turn into a raging Italian when you are hangry

It's not a Snickers issue... it's those damn steroids he is on for his upcoming adadicktomy...

Dabutcher

Netflix 9.99 a month. Internet w Comcast $69.99 a month. Antenna on chimney. RadioShack. $35.00. Redbox for blu rays. Been this way for ten years. Feel your pain bro. Peace. D

hochpt21

We just dumped Dish this week. We have a Roku on each TV, and we use Hulu and Amazon Prime apps on it.

Our home is technically in a Bluegreen Resort, so we can get a limited cable package for dirt cheap. No DVR, though, hence the Hulu.

simm

Cut cable about a month ago due to rising costs and seemingly increasing number of commercials. Kept internet service from Timewarner at about $90.00 a month and bought indoor antennaes. Miss some of the shows I used to watch but no plans to go back anytime soon.

Gatecrasher

You hear that Comcast is the most-hated cable company in America but a lot of that has to do with the fact that they are also the biggest cable company in America (by a large margin). So obviously they are going to receive more complaints. I move around a lot for my job and have had a lot of different cable companies. To be honest, they are all pretty-much the same but there are some small differences.

The best cable company I ever had was in Ohio called "Buckeye Cable". It's a smaller company delegated to the Buckeye State but their customer service was a notch above the big guys in every aspect. Their package was a tad better for the money but nothing earth-shattering. Just a better value overall.

The cable company I have now is called RCN and it probably the worst one I've ever had. Comcast was better because they had better channel selection and the Xfinity DVR and interactive was better. Also Comcast had Palladia (which became MTV Live) and RCN doesn't which sucks because I used to watch it a lot. Charter is a tad better than RCN too.

I currently have the RCN "Gold" package with high-speed internet, phone, and all the premiums channels and my bill is $230 per month. Nothing to sneeze at but my bill was about the same with Comcast.

mrbigbluelight

We cut out all the bells and whistles and went strictly internet service and pay $6x a month.
Between my laptop, 2 Xbox's, 3 TV's, 2 tablets (grandkids), bunch of laptops and towers, and 4 smartphones, we've never experienced any signs of slowdown even with the majority of them going full tilt.

Checked my usage for last month for just my laptop:



If you can gain inexpensive internet access, it's all good. ALL good.
Our provider is always offering "upgrade" package deals, but by the time you add everything up .... whew !

teekay0007

Got DirecTV thru Sam's - two rooms with HD boxes and a shared HD DVR. First year was $37 a month for over 300 channels, periodic premium channel sample offerings, and the NFL Sunday Ticket for the first season. Second year, $57 a month and no Sunday Ticket.

After that, the price jacked to over 2.5x in the third year and more in the subsequent years - we're probably at about year five or six now. And we'd filled most of the DVR storage up with movies and crap from the premium channel sample weekends that we'll get around to watching "some day".

We watch mostly network stations. I watch one news channel (most of which I could do online thru my "Premium" membership) and someone else in the house watches every dam Real Housewives of Timfaaktu series there is on Bravo! Good Lord, please don't get me started!

So, I feel like we're being held hostage by the Bravo channel and the movies, etc. on the DVR which we don't want to lose ('the Life of Pi', from a few years ago, etc.) With the huge money we've blown, I could have gotten a good over the air HD antenna for all of the network TV and I could have probably written, directed and produced half of the movies on the DVR - or at least Red Box rented them on blu ray.

So,I feel I could cut the cord if I could find somewhere I can get Bravo separately and an easy to use, non-DirecTV (or other carrier) HD DVR.

Anybody?........Anybody?.........Buehler?

Jimbo18

Charter internet and phone for $73/mon. including fees. Several Roku boxes, Netflix that I share with my daughter, Amazon Prime that she shares with me, and Mohu leaf indoor antennas. Add HBO Now and we would still only be around $100 including the house phone.

Fortunately, we are close enough to Charlotte that the antennas pick up about 40+ channels and the reception is very good and the picture great. Worst part of no cable TV is the lack of the NFL channel and ESPN.

charley95

Legender wrote: »

"Every April we have to call Cox and get a different bundle. funny when I tell them my price better not go up or I am calling AT&T, for some reason they keep it the same. "

My dad does the exact same thing every year to get the intro price year after year. They'll rip you off if you let them.

We just upgraded to a better package last week with Comcast for the price we were paying for our previous package. They are starting to wise up on the threat of switching providers when one threatens to switch. Once you lock into a package with them and tell them later you don't want it anymore, they will hit you with a $250 cancellation fee.

We'll have to ride the package out until it expires before we threaten to go elsewhere and see what they offer us. Their scam usually consists of migrating a few channels you already have to a more expensive package in the middle of your contract without warning you in advance. Get a idiot on the phone while trying to get things worked out is another part of the scam. Ask to talk to a supervisor and they will tell you that he/she is not in and you can leave them a message in which they won't call you back.

Comcast is a gypsy scam in which there is not much anyone can do but, switch to another provider to encounter the same crap!