Comcast alternatives please?

[BBGuest]

Newfangled machines!

Comcast here (again)today.Verdict: there is no way that ONE remote control can be used for my TV. This is the 3rd trip out to do this. This TV is about a year old.

Apparently all 37+ codes Comcast has mean the TV manufacturer is to blame. Thing is this TV worked when it was in a different room with one remote control so I know this isn’t the problem.

I am so disgusted but every person has a different solution. This one was going to be $8 a month more, to swap out the black box for a new black box. I was willing to pay it just so I wouldn’t have to use one to turn the tv on, and another to change the channel, then back to the first one for volume….

And we can go onto the computer and look at someone’s backyard in another country!

I need a cure!

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[dhg]

Model of TV? Kinda relevant. I use a Logitech Harmony Remote because it is programmed through the PC.

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[redblack]

the city needs a serious review of comcast, their budget, and their business practices.

$65+/month for expanded basic (and no premium channels) is pretty stupid.

hopefully the mayor will find the cajones to stand up to comcast, the city council, and all of the lawyers and implement our own city-wide broadband, like he discussed when campaigning.

$65/month should pay for television and internet access, without bombarding all forms of media with advertising.

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[BBGuest]

The TV is a Emerson HDTV LCD Model SLC195E8. After a phone conversation with Comcast this morning, the agent told me it could be the remote that they use and maybe the reason it worked before ‘the chenge’ may have been their remote at the time….

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[BBGuest]

oops, meant the change not chenge

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[angelescrest]

and cojones not cajones…which is funny!

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[redblack]

i left my chenge cojones in my change drawer. or something.

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[funkietoo]

I canceled Comcast two years ago..Expanded basic is way too expensive–which is what happens when a Monopoly exists. Where are the folks that believe competition is healthy?

Also…there are people that need three different remote controls for the TV’s and accessories. Complicated.

I’d rather rent movies or if a television series, rent a full season and watch it without commercials.

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[angelescrest]

you are very funny, redblack!

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[johnnyblegs]

Alternative to cable? Streaming video via PC.

It’s easier than you think. If you have a newer tv (and computer), all you need is an HDMI cable then an audio cable for the sound.

If you have an older tv like me, buy this – http://tiny.cc/gzoa0 Since my computer doesn’t have an s-video output I used the vga cord instead.

This cost me a whopping total of $30. Seems like the way to go versus paying double that per month x years.

After all that was hooked up (in minutes) voila! I use it with my Windows Media Center. Hulu has a pretty nice desktop app that is user friendly (and also free to download). The Netflix membership also allows free instant streaming from my couch. Other sites online have free streaming, including sports and other free (legal) movies. You can buy a fancy media center remote but I find my wireless mouse works just fine. A little funny – using the mouse via the couch but it works :)

The setup isn’t state of the art, but it works well and way cheaper. Also, online streaming is the way of the future. Cable companies are digging their own graves with their high prices.

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[bsmomma]

johnnyblegs………..would you please come over and do this for us? hahaha! I have been wanting to do the switch but I just can’t seem to bring myself to do it. Comcast is like a drug in our house. Do you have any knowledge about getting the streamline stuff in other rooms of the house?? I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to make that call Comcast!!

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[ellenater]

I want to cancel Comcast but need the hight speed internet. Comcast sucks. I hate them.

Good luck!

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[BBGuest]

After MANY hours on the phone with Comcast and on the live chat… then calling to cancel at least a portion of my service… a real person showed up on my doorstep today.

He actually spoke to the problems. He was knowledgeable about the product. He had answers and solutions. It took about 5 minutes.

Live chat had given me codes for the remote that 3 different techs (that were here,at the house in the past months)couldn’t figure out. So I was able to program it myself and get one remote to work for everything. Yippee.

The technician lives here in West Seattle. His name is Aaron, email is Aaron_Loomis@cable.comcast.com

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[redblack]

i hope aaron isn’t the guy who wandered up my driveway last year – uninvited – claiming he was looking for signal leaks with his P-87 modulator thingy.

when i told him he was trespassing, and that coax lines enter the house from the alley, he tromped into my neighbor’s yard.

i told him he had no business there, either, as they have dish network.

he was pretty rude and seemed to be laboring under the impression that comcast is a public utility.

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[clark5080]

Some new interesting products announced by Roku today

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[BBGuest]

To: Clark5080 please bear with me here, but it looks like… with an internet connection (yes, with Comcast) Roku allows me to subscribe to something like Netflix a paid service with sort of an on demand viewing?

So this way I would be able to downgrade my Comcast to internet only and watch TV shows or movies without any commercials! I usually get news and such from the Internet so I could actually have what cable originally marketed back in the 80s, commercial free television. Can this be true?

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[clark5080]

yup

The only possible problem might be if Comcast caps the downloads

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[Semele]

my problem with Comcast is we are stuck with them for internet access. When I tried to cancel cable earlier this year since we don’t really watch TV, found out it would have been MORE expensive to only have internet versus the basic. That makes no sense to me. So, now we pay $75 mth for internet and cable when all we want is internet, when if it was only internet it would be a couple of dollars more. I really don’t get it.

DSL is not an option as the speeds are so slow and that only leaves Comcast. Frustrating!

So, BBGuest, unless you have the slowest internet connection through them you will pay just as much or slightly more by canceling the cable portion.

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[redblack]

semele: DSL speeds aren’t that slow. i have the slowest DSL – fine for my uses – and it’s $20/mo for qwest and $16/mo for my ISP. i can bump it to 1.5 Mbs for $30/mo for qwest and the $16/mo for my ISP.

the reason internet is more expensive without cable is because comcast has to prevent the teevee signal from coming down your line, instead of leaving it as-is, with the whole spectrum intact.

then again, following that logic, you’d think it would be more expensive to not have HBO, showtime, and everything else.

you’re right. comcast… leaves a lot to be desired.

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[JoB]

don’t have comcast tv

do have comcast internet

and DISH

like every “utility”

some days i would like to strangle them

added HULU recently

hubby loves it

i find it too limited…

but there you go

i don’t groc technology :(

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[JoB]

and then there was CLEAR

that sort of worked until they upgraded their towers

and no longer supply a signal where i live…

i can’t count the hours lost on the phone and in live chat trying to convince them that a real person needed to come verify my lack of service so i could get out of my contract…

and what did they send? a man mapping service outages:(

of course mapping lack of service at my house hasn’t stopped them from inundating me with phone calls, emails and paper mail trying to lure me back to CLEAR:(

until service once again becomes part of businesses supplying service

i suspect we jump out of the frying pan and into the fire as companies “upgrade” their technology …

i don’t remember agreeing to work for my local utilities..

or for my grocery store either as far as that goes.

but both seem to be consuming more of my time each year.

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[Carson]

I am sure its illegal, and easy, to run some RG6 to your neighbor and give them a little cash every month to defray their cost. I am also pretty sure its legal to buy your neighbor a nice, new, fast Wireless N Router and if they let you know the password and you bought them a case of beer every month, no one would be the wiser. I have just heard about this stuff, not that it ever happens in the real world. Then again, as long as Comcast forces people to pay for channels they don’t want, maybe its all fair in the end?

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[JoB]

Carson..

contrary to popular mythology..

cable companies have been paying big bucks to successfully investigate “pirated” signals for years..

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[Carson]

Like I said, its illegal, I would never do it, but its pretty easy to do. I pay about $20 every month for channels I will never watch, maybe if they stopped forcing us to pay for stuff we don’t want, our bills can go down and we might all complain less? Maybe when the Comcast contract with the city is up, we need to put fire to the feet of city officials to either piggy-back cable and internet with City Light, or allow 2 companies to compete, like Verizon FIOS and Comcast.

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[JoB]

Carson

if i could pay for only the channels we actually watch i wouldn’t have more than 10 choices… instead of 200+

but to get most of those channels I have to pay for the most expensive tier of programming:(

my liberal heart says that might be fair…

after all those of us who are more affluent and therefore generally speaking likely to be more educated are more likely to be watching those channels…

but it does burn me that i pay a premium so that the masses will have access to FOX broadcasting:(

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[Author]

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