Cable???

[whynot1986]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Already rolled out in South Cobb. My combined HD Digital Basic+Internet+Phone package is now $129.95 a month, and the HD DVR monthly fee went down to $9.95 from $14.95.

I may be a few pennies off; this is from memory.

Thanks for the info. I have Triple Play (I call it Triple PAY, ha ha) and been a bit displeased with their rate hikes lately. So... is this xfinity a sort of 'free lunch'? Seems like you get more for less? What's the catch? I am paying about $157, which has climbed steadily from around $99 at first (teaser rate of course). Have one full HD box and one little one (forget what they call it), and not a whole lot of tv options as we don't watch a lot of tv.

[noah]

Recently called and they offered a rate of $75/ for 6 months, $95/month after that -- this is for internet + digital starter which they state is 150 channels -- no dvr.

This rate seems to be less then what was offered in the past, maybe competition is coming into play finally.

Originally Posted by whynot1986

Thanks for the info. I have Triple Play (I call it Triple PAY, ha ha) and been a bit displeased with their rate hikes lately. So... is this xfinity a sort of 'free lunch'? Seems like you get more for less? What's the catch? I am paying about $157, which has climbed steadily from around $99 at first (teaser rate of course). Have one full HD box and one little one (forget what they call it), and not a whole lot of tv options as we don't watch a lot of tv.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by whynot1986

So... is this xfinity a sort of 'free lunch'? Seems like you get more for less? What's the catch?

OK....now I feel like a spokesman for Comcast. I'm not. Don't work there, and don't know anyone who does. Just to get that out.

I know that a lot of folks don't like Comcast for many reasons, some valid and some not. Some people just like to jump on a bandwagon when they see one coming down the street. Personally, I find their support and customer services lacking, but there product and service they deliver is excellent. When you compare price/performance, they are cheaper and better than most alternatives out there (note I said...most).

Xfinity is a marketing gimmick...nothing more. Comcast recently set out to remove the legacy analog services that were sucking up its capacity for little to no return. 2/3 of the bandwidth for cable TV was being taken up by analog channels below 100.

Recently Comcast and other cable systems began to go all digital. This freed up significant capacity to deliver new HD programming, HD channels, and VOD services. This also allowed an increase in Internet speeds with a newer type of service called DOCSIS 3. They have also been providing a very stable and very feature rich phone service based on VoIP, that uses a private network (not the Internet) to carry the calls, and uses QoS to ensure voice quality.

Xfinity doesn't inherently cost anything more than before the new branding took place, but there are added capabilities, so I don't understand your comments.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by whynot1986

Thanks for the info. I have Triple Play (I call it Triple PAY, ha ha) and been a bit displeased with their rate hikes lately. So... is this xfinity a sort of 'free lunch'? Seems like you get more for less? What's the catch? I am paying about $157, which has climbed steadily from around $99 at first (teaser rate of course). Have one full HD box and one little one (forget what they call it), and not a whole lot of tv options as we don't watch a lot of tv.

XFinity seems more like a rebranding than anything else, at least so far.

Keep in mind that there are additional fees I wasn't counting ... a $5 modem rental fee still exists for the digital phone, for example, and there are also a couple of taxes. The total bill is still around $155 or so with everything rolled in.

The only two things I've noticed are:

(1) We had a promotional $19.95/month rate on our digital phone for the first year, and that rate just expired, so I was expecting an increase of $15 or $20 per month, but with the Xfinity rebranding the new bill is not any higher.

(2) I noticed that the itemized fee for the DVR is $5 less than it was.

For us, it seems to represent a slight price drop, but it's hard to tell because the Xfinity changover occurred at precisely the same time as the one year anniversary of our initial digital phone and HD DVR service with Comcast so it may or may not change next month. We'll see.

[whynot1986]

Originally Posted by neil0311

OK....now I feel like a spokesman for Comcast. I'm not. Don't work there, and don't know anyone who does. Just to get that out.

I know that a lot of folks don't like Comcast for many reasons, some valid and some not. Some people just like to jump on a bandwagon when they see one coming down the street. Personally, I find their support and customer services lacking, but there product and service they deliver is excellent. When you compare price/performance, they are cheaper and better than most alternatives out there (note I said...most).

Xfinity is a marketing gimmick...nothing more. Comcast recently set out to remove the legacy analog services that were sucking up its capacity for little to no return. 2/3 of the bandwidth for cable TV was being taken up by analog channels below 100.

Recently Comcast and other cable systems began to go all digital. This freed up significant capacity to deliver new HD programming, HD channels, and VOD services. This also allowed an increase in Internet speeds with a newer type of service called DOCSIS 3. They have also been providing a very stable and very feature rich phone service based on VoIP, that uses a private network (not the Internet) to carry the calls, and uses QoS to ensure voice quality.

Xfinity doesn't inherently cost anything more than before the new branding took place, but there are added capabilities, so I don't understand your comments.

Sorry. Didn't mean to imply any sort of spokesmanship. Am genuinely interested in acquiring this if, as it might, it reduces cost. I don't mind giving up analog channels. Your explanation was good. What I need to do is just call them and get it figured out, but as you pointed out they are a pain to talk to on the phone. We are still trying to sort out an errant charge from three months ago that they said they'd remove but haven't yet.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by whynot1986

Sorry. Didn't mean to imply any sort of spokesmanship.

Didn't think you did. Was just clarifying so I didn't appear to be an employee or someone hawking the service.

[kaabye]

Originally Posted by [LEFT

southkakkatlantan[/LEFT];14609969]Thanks for the clarification on Clear.

I actually may consider only doing [LEFT]internet[/LEFT] at first, so if anyone has any experience with Clear...please, do tell...

I have clear with no contract and have been [LEFT]satisfied[/LEFT]...it has gone down a couple of times but over all it is still better than the DSL I had and then [LEFT]comcast[/LEFT] (which has the most frustrating customer service ever).

[Mgyeldell]

Originally Posted by neil0311

OK....now I feel like a spokesman for Comcast. I'm not. Don't work there, and don't know anyone who does. Just to get that out.

I know that a lot of folks don't like Comcast for many reasons, some valid and some not. Some people just like to jump on a bandwagon when they see one coming down the street. Personally, I find their support and customer services lacking, but there product and service they deliver is excellent. When you compare price/performance, they are cheaper and better than most alternatives out there (note I said...most).

Xfinity is a marketing gimmick...nothing more. Comcast recently set out to remove the legacy analog services that were sucking up its capacity for little to no return. 2/3 of the bandwidth for cable TV was being taken up by analog channels below 100.

Recently Comcast and other cable systems began to go all digital. This freed up significant capacity to deliver new HD programming, HD channels, and VOD services. This also allowed an increase in Internet speeds with a newer type of service called DOCSIS 3. They have also been providing a very stable and very feature rich phone service based on VoIP, that uses a private network (not the Internet) to carry the calls, and uses QoS to ensure voice quality.

Xfinity doesn't inherently cost anything more than before the new branding took place, but there are added capabilities, so I don't understand your comments.

I normally wouldnt rep Neil because I don't like some of his views on different issues but with the Xfinity he is spot on. It really is a gimmick, I currently work for ComCast in Management, at one of the main Call Centers in Charlotte, and I can say that Xfinity is nothing more than a marketing gimmick; a way to make a few extra dollars. Yes you get more HD Channels and MOre HSI speeds, but if you already dont have the equipment and currently are in a promotion you will be paying a lot more for your cable bill. One thing that they did not tell the customers with the Xfinity launch was a new back door policy that when your promotion ends you have to wait six months to get a new promo, so all that new equipment that you get, the 2 HD DVR boxes, the 1 EmTA (Phone and Internet Modem), the other HD box in your bedroom, and the Box that you have in you kids rooms plus the full market rates for the three services is going to kick you in the Behind, So lets say you are on that beautiful 6 month Promotion for 119.99 for all three services and have 2 HD DVR and 2 HD BOxes and 1 regular box. your bill would come to around 150 with taxes. now when the promo ends this is what you will be paying.

2 HD DVR = 31.90 at 15.95 a piece
2 HD Boxxes= 19.90 at 9.95 a pice
1 Reg Box= 6.95
1 EmTA= 5.00 lease unless you buy your own which we will not fix
Digital Premium is 74.90 just for services
HSI(Internet) just for services is 42.95
Plus the 50mbs speed is 20.00 (I think I'm not sure)
plus the phone w/out feature is 42.95
I'm not going to add up all the features but all of this comes up to 244.55 which is without taxes and other crap that should be added on like the Service Protection Plan. your bill could easily be over $260 a month which is insane to pay to a cable company.

But anyways Comcast does have great service, one of the best lineups in the Nation for the Atlanta area its just that the prices are way to much for entertainment purposes.

I wish I could have comcast tho I'm stuck here in CLT with TWC with no promo and wouldn't dare get a dish because it storms here almost everyday in the summer.

[brownhornet]

I just switched from charter to direct tv.. got tired of being raped on my bills. $170 a month for basic cable + expanded package because the regular package SUCKS and basic internet. Direct tv I got a promo for $59.99 a month with over 300 channels, nfl sunday ticket, and hbo, showtime and cinemax for 12 months. I cancelled the internet altogether as I have a 4G sprint phone and get good 4G coverage inside of my home. So when I need to use the internet I just flick on the mobile hotspot feature of the phone and it turns it into a wifi router... and connect to my laptop. I get like 5-7 meg downloads for free when i was only getting 10 from charter. Total savings... over a $100 bucks a month.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by Mgyeldell

your bill could easily be over $260 a month which is insane to pay to a cable company.

Mine is approaching that, but I don't think it's insane. That includes my phone, high speed Internet at 22/5 Mbps, and every TV channel and movie channel Comcast offers. I used to pay Verizon $60 just for phone service up north. Yes, I know that Vonage and other VoIP providers are cheaper, but so is the quality, and Comcast and the other telcos provide E911 trunks directly to the PSAPs....which means if you've just collapsed and can't speak, they know where you are, something you don't get with a cell phone or Vonage.

I guess it's all relative. To me, I want the choices and the speed. $200 to Comcast isn't an issue for me, but I can see how it might be for others. I like my sports channels and HD, and we have 3 DVRs to allow recording/pausing in any room. It does add up.