Xfinity

sucks2beme

I live in an area with few choices. Xfinity or AT&T dsl.
Dsl is a no go for me due to data caps. I have had Xfinity internet and TV for a while.
Once you go with Xfinity, they no longer allow any of those
Great pricing options. Running about $172 a month using my
Own internet box. And they are rolling data caps back out.
With my contract about up, my understanding
Is sports franchise and other service fees are going up.
I'm pretty sure it will be at least $15 more plus whatever deal they offer.
I just got a team mobile 5g internet gateway that costs a flat $50
A month. I'm also looking at Philo TV for $25 a month. The only two things
I'd really not have is Fox news and QVC. Yes, the mrs watches that all the
time. Good news is she never buys anything.
I can add Fox nation for $7. Local would be via antenna. (Local news only).
Qvc can be had with an app. I'm looking to use roku to make it all work,
Since Samsung doesn't support Philo or the qvc and Fox app.
2nd device is a tablet.
I'm overlapping sevice right now. The team mobile 5g was set up in a couple
Minutes. I tested some streaming using a PC and the tablet via hulu using
A couple of movies. Worked fine. Hulu will be gone in a couple of days.
The 5g device is not even in a window and I have 4 bars signal.
So 50 +25+7 is $82 a month. I may rotate in other services like Netflix
Here and there. Total would still be under a 100 smackers a month.

Clipdat

Clipdat

Stupid Comcast/Xfinity keeps steadily raising my rates for TV & internet, it was at like $190/month and now it's up to $250/month. Really need to call them and complain so they give me the "promo price" again.

pitdogg2

Clipdat wrote: »

Stupid Comcast/Xfinity keeps steadily raising my rates for TV & internet, it was at like $190/month and now it's up to $250/month. Really need to call them and complain so they give me the "promo price" again.

My friend does that every time his rates expire. They suck it up and give in. The problem is the sports, Disney and others rape the broadcasting groups. I like how Charlie E. at Dish plays his cards. Now if Dish, Comcast/Xfinity and others would all band together and just drop them all every time they try to bend them over we consumers might just start winning. When you start taking millions and millions of subscribers offline the folks that buy commercials start yelling because they just paid billions for their spots and no one will be watching/seeing those commercials.
Greedy bastiges!

sucks2beme

Local channels,sports and fees are the three that are doing it in.
I'd keep Xfinity internet at a lower speed if they dropped caps.
Someone ran fiber into the subdivision . They stopped there.
I really wish suddenlink would show up. But for now, team mobile
seems to get the job done. I only need entertainment.
My working career is done. I've dropped down my cell contract
Cost down. I don't need much data except for here and there.
Add senior discount and that has become pretty reasonable.
My property taxes will be down by a third after next year.

Nightfall

I just do internet. Gigabit, cap limit removed, router rent, $100/month. All the streaming stuff is relatively inexpensive.

BlueFox

I have Comcast/Infinity for TV and Internet, and pay $177/month. Currently, for TV I have the extended package, but only watch the news channels when I watch anything beyond the basic channels. I should cancel the extended option and just watch the basic channels. However, I do like getting the channels in high definition versus regular TV video.

Nightfall

I don't think I know anyone that still has cable, my demographic of friends and acquaintances are 40's and under though.

tonyb

Comcast has the best but they also charge you the most, no different than anything else.

My Xfinity bill was 300 bucks a month, with just HBO, the next one down from the top tier channel package, and internet/wifi. What makes them costly, is the rental fees for the boxes, the router, and all the extra taxes like a utility bill tossed in.

Soo, about a year ago, and again about 6 months ago, I call them and tell them they have to do something for me or I have to start looking at other options. Mind you, I've been a customer of theirs for 15 years. Nada...zip, can't do nothing except start removing services, lowering packages if I want to reduce costs.

A month ago, I finally went with Youtube live, and HBOMAX. Already had Netflix. BTW, Youtube live is a great option at about 65 bucks a month and includes local channels. But...if you want the 4k content, fork over another 15-20 bucks. Netflix only charges a few bucks more for their 4k content. So I call Xfinity back to cancel everything except the wifi. After 15 minutes of back and forth, a supervisor gets on the phone and tells me I can get everything I wanted for 171 bucks a month.

Now, granted...that's cheaper than what I'm paying now but out of principle of them telling me to go scratch twice, a 15 year customer, I said sorry, too little too late. Not many choices for wifi in my area either and comcast does have the fastest most dependable service in the area so I kept that. If your going to go all streaming, you better have an unlimited data plan and it best be fast and dependable.

Now the crux of it all is....I hate streaming everything. Why ? Depending on your TV, everything works differently. Everything loads either faster or slower depending on the TV and it's age. Sometimes apps freeze up and won't load then you have to unplug the TV to reset everything. Even my older Sony 4K TV gets a little funky at times loading app after app. I have a newer Sony 75 in. that I just bought a few months ago and it works fine. Only thing that bugs me is they went all in on Google software runing everything. Also takes forever to find something to watch. They all need a better layout to make surfing the menu quicker. My thumbs are getting a workout though, so I got that going for me. It's also not as instant in the response as a landline connection, and sometimes that makes you wonder if you hit the button or not.

questions still remain....and yet to see. Will Xfinity now throttle down my speeds since I dumped their services ? Some have reported such. I can't see too many older folks going all in on streaming, it can get agravating at times.

sucks2beme

Xfinity caps were the last straw.
The goal here was to slash costs. With both of us home all the time
Caps and streaming might of been an issue. And even using
Just internet from Xfinity you still get hooked with fees.
Wireless means the county doesn't get their slice. Neither does
the rich sports teams get there cut. Sports franchise fees are the
worst. Other than fox news, I don't watch news. I read it.
I stopped watching the overpaid celebs play football years ago.
I used to like it, but at some point it all changed.
Dropping all the sports channels drops the cost a lot.

tonyb

Watching TV these days, is like trying to buy a new car, everything is extra.

Only a handful of services offer local channels, and all of them charge extra for 4k content....but we knew that anyway. Once enough people go all in on the streaming, you know whats going to happen.

Prices will go up, quality of service down, and taxes will be added like any of your other utility bills. You'll exchange one monster for another is all.

Another thing I hate about streaming....is in order to watch all the popular shows, you have to subscribe to 5 different services. Hulu only has Handmaids tale....Disney only has a few shows....Nelflix has there own....etc. Another thing I noticed is video quality. Only the top tier streaming services have equaly good video quality as a landline connection. Even then, on some older movies, the quality is really bad. Never had that issue with comcast. Yes I know, it's all about bandwidth and I'm sure they put it all into the most popular shows and movies....still....I would much prefer a fiber optic run for everything and a better choice/cost ratio than what is currently available.

Not long ago, we used to talk about ala carte cable, where you could pick your channels and only pay for what you wanted. Well, today is somewhat like that in the sense you can pick your own service provider and smaller packages to suit your needs. Only problem is, by the time you add everything up, your not saving much or even paying more. Obviously YMMV, a 2 person household is going to have different needs than one with 3 kids and your mother in-law living in the basement.

I'm wondering, since everything is software based these days, why TV's can't come with pre loaded Xfinity and others over a fiber optic connection. That way, no boxes to rent, you subcribe, pick your channels and your good. That would clear up alot of bandwidth too for other uses. All the media companies can pitch in to maintain the lines. I find those type of connections to be of better quality, and more secure.

pitdogg2

Quit making sense Tony!

Nightfall

Tony get an Nvidia Shield TV & stop using the built in TV stuff & $20 Rokus with cheap slow chips, wifi, & antennas, it's day and night better. Even better if you run Ethernet & ditch WiFi.

tonyb

Seems redundant to me. The NVIDIA Shield seems to be more so for gamers. I don't see the advantage over say an Amzon firestick or Roku. That's the point really, to avoid redundancy. It's an add on, to do what your TV is suppose to do. Call me crazy, but for 2k, I want a Tv that works with everything. My newest TV does, but not everyone has all new TV's scattered around the house. This makes things aggravating. So 5 more years down the road, I can expect everything to be obsolete again and have to buy more TV's...which will be 3k by then.

I don't want to have to buy a bunch of add on pieces, especially when your paying 2k for a TV. Shield, routers/modem/Roku or firestick. I need simplicity, and stuff that just works. The wife has no clue about setting up ethernets or even wifi, routers and modems or the differences. If I am not around, she needs to be able to do this stuff or call a customer service. That's the advantage of landline based services, easy peasey, no hassles, and customer support....crappy as it is anyway.

I'm still going to give streaming a fair run, maybe a year, see if I like it better or not. Maybe I just need to get used to it.

Nightfall

Now you should understand the point of view of the person coming here looking for audiophile sound from a sound bar and we're trying to tell them they need a pre, amp, cables, etc. 🤣

SCompRacer

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Quit making sense Tony!