Any viable alternatives to Comcast? (Fishers, Carmel: to rent, house, to buy)

[Brssplr]

After looking at my Xfinity triple-play bill last night, I see that Comcast has raised my rates (again) effective with January's bill. I'm about ready to drop them, since my bill is almost $200 per month. I have the Digital Preferred level of service with HD. Turns out that part of the extra charge is for the second outlet, which I wasn't supposed to be charged for when I had it installed last year. I paid for the installation charge, but the line itself was supposed to be free.

Anyway, what other viable options are out there? How do Dish Network, Direct TV or ATT U-verse stack up?

[mike0618]

Originally Posted by Brssplr

After looking at my Xfinity triple-play bill last night, I see that Comcast has raised my rates (again) effective with January's bill. I'm about ready to drop them, since my bill is almost $200 per month. I have the Digital Preferred level of service with HD. Turns out that part of the extra charge is for the second outlet, which I wasn't supposed to be charged for when I had it installed last year. I paid for the installation charge, but the line itself was supposed to be free.

Anyway, what other viable options are out there? How do Dish Network, Direct TV or ATT U-verse stack up?

Regardless who you go with, if you decide to leave Comcast pm me and we will come pickup your Comcast equipment for free. That what my company does.

[sweetana3]

We have Didrect TV and have loved it. The content of TV is the issue with us but not the reception or customer service They say something and keep their promises. A friend has Uverse and has had no serious issues.

Comcase S*cks. From my experience, I would consider no TV vs Comcast.

Mother in law has it and they messed up everything. She is 80 and they had her in tears. They do not keep promises and she only wanted basic.

[ischyros]

We have Comcast but not willingly. I'm trying to convince my wife to just drop cable. We tried Uverse for a while but they force you to use their wireless router for internet and it barely reached one room away while my personal one covers the whole house easily. After many, many tries with Uverse, they never got internet service working very well, sometimes even right in front of the router the laptop would drop the signal. So we went back to Comcast. TV service wasn't bad, but about the same price as Comcast. My only experience with Dish Network is my sister who loses signal anytime it sprinkles. So for that reason I've steered clear of satellite, but I've heard other people that have no problems with it. So who knows.

[msamhunter]

Originally Posted by Brssplr

After looking at my Xfinity triple-play bill last night, I see that Comcast has raised my rates (again) effective with January's bill. I'm about ready to drop them, since my bill is almost $200 per month. I have the Digital Preferred level of service with HD. Turns out that part of the extra charge is for the second outlet, which I wasn't supposed to be charged for when I had it installed last year. I paid for the installation charge, but the line itself was supposed to be free.

Anyway, what other viable options are out there? How do Dish Network, Direct TV or ATT U-verse stack up?

Have had DISH for almost 10 years and really have no complaints about it. An occasional bad storm will knock it off for about a minute but then comes right back up. They have by far the best DVR in the industry and for multiple TVs, you can still opt for a dual Set top (One box controls 2 tv's which saves if you have like 5) or the newer hopper whole house dvr with slingbox technology (but you can get that separate now even with comcast). They will charge you though for every box used esp. if you are renting, always good to at least outright buy one box (about $100) but then again they all do it. Cheaper in the long run to buy a compatible cable modem for comcast than to rent their P.O.S. one but with comcast you can switch from a box to like an adapter which is like 1.99 a month or so if you don't want the uptick that you are paying now for having the digital box. You do lose the guide when doing that though.

I've experimented with U-Verse twice. First time was great, second time it was horrible. I really think they are hit and miss depending on where you live.

[Brssplr]

I just called Comcast, and after being on hold for over 20 minutes, finally was able to speak to a live person. He told me that a "promotion" ended at the end of December, and so the rates went up. But I wasn't aware I was on any promotion, and told him so. He offered to put me on another one-year promotion, which will cut the bill by about $20, so I took it. I'm not happy, but it's better than before. At the end of this year, I might be complaining again, or dropping my service, if I haven't dropped it before then.

[rdwoelfe]

There were a few things I didn't like about DISH when I had them. First was the contract and the rates, my rates sky rocketed after the first year, I knew they would go up but it went almost double the amount I was quoted when I signed up. I am a bit anal about this stuff and I had all the online chats with price quotes etc saved, but that didn't help. Second was their On Demand offerings pretty lacking as far as amount of content available and it used the internet connection to get to the On Demand connection. The internet they recommended was laughable at best, we stuck with Comcast for that.

Ultimately I did like the quality of the signal, except the handful of times it went down because of storms. The customer service of the install tech and the service techs I had out was exceptional when compared to Comcast. The call center customer service was a different story, which I found odd because I had so many friends tell me that was the best thing about DISH.

Because of the price hike that went unresolved I went back to Comcast. So far this round has been excellent, none of the major issues I experienced when I had Comcast before. It could be because I am in a different Comcast servicing region than I was before.

[gabaghoul]

Originally Posted by Brssplr

I just called Comcast, and after being on hold for over 20 minutes, finally was able to speak to a live person. He told me that a "promotion" ended at the end of December, and so the rates went up. But I wasn't aware I was on any promotion, and told him so. He offered to put me on another one-year promotion, which will cut the bill by about $20, so I took it. I'm not happy, but it's better than before. At the end of this year, I might be complaining again, or dropping my service, if I haven't dropped it before then.

Same thing happened to me, I spoke to someone from Calcutta after my "promotion" ended and they put me on another "promotion" for 6 months. My area is only served by Comcast.

[msamhunter]

Originally Posted by rdwoelfe

There were a few things I didn't like about DISH when I had them. First was the contract and the rates, my rates sky rocketed after the first year, I knew they would go up but it went almost double the amount I was quoted when I signed up. I am a bit anal about this stuff and I had all the online chats with price quotes etc saved, but that didn't help. Second was their On Demand offerings pretty lacking as far as amount of content available and it used the internet connection to get to the On Demand connection. The internet they recommended was laughable at best, we stuck with Comcast for that.

Ultimately I did like the quality of the signal, except the handful of times it went down because of storms. The customer service of the install tech and the service techs I had out was exceptional when compared to Comcast. The call center customer service was a different story, which I found odd because I had so many friends tell me that was the best thing about DISH.

Because of the price hike that went unresolved I went back to Comcast. So far this round has been excellent, none of the major issues I experienced when I had Comcast before. It could be because I am in a different Comcast servicing region than I was before.

DISH is known for their exceptional customer service and I've always had great service with the exception of them trying to upgrade my box and do another 2 year contract if I didn't buy it outright. You can use any ISP with DISH, even Comcast high speed.

For everyone looking to change, one thing is common across all of them. You threaten to leave, there will be a "promotion" available just for you lol and they all do it and will you can get promotion after promotion just for staying.

[billydoc]

You guys are scaring me. We are looking at possible move to Indy area this year from NJ. We've been spoiled by FIOS (Verizon product) here. Like all of these companies FIOS has billing and customer service issues, but quality.....worth every penny to us. Please tell me there is FIOS (or comming soon) to Carmel/Zionville/Fishers area?

Thanks.