Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › Rant – Comcast Bait & Switch
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December 9, 2008 at 4:45 pm #588949
GenHillOneParticipantAnyone else see this story on KING this morning?
After telling us for months that if you “are currently connected to Comcast, you don’t have to worry about a thing” when the digital conversion takes place in February – still says that on website – they are now saying that anyone with basic expanded cable (most of us?) and an analog tv will need a box to be able to view channels above 30. They will provide boxes for up to three sets, after that, boxes are $1.99/mo. So not only is it a pain in the a$$, but you may need to pay additional monthly charges if you have multiple sets. Will upgrading your service to digital cable (also additional charges) work if your tvs are analog? Can you imagine all of the customers looking for and installing these boxes between now and February?
We planned to live with analog tvs until they died, then upgrade as needed. Now I feel like Comcast is either in cahoots with electronics manufacturers to move merchandise, LOL – sort of, or sticking it to their customers, again. I really do hate Comcast.
December 9, 2008 at 4:57 pm #649435
JenVMemberoh yeah, I saw it. After the 1st of the year, I will be switching to directTV. I have been sick of Comcast for years, but it’s such a pain in the butt to switch. Now that my remote is held together with duct tape AND they pull this crap, I am outta there. ;)
December 9, 2008 at 5:56 pm #649436
AnonymousInactiveI put off switching for years for the same reason. Thought it would be a huge hassle. Wasn’t at all. You can order and schedule an installation appointment online. From beginning to end it was a flawless transition with outstanding customer service. Something I never received in the 20 years with comcast. I love DirecTV and will never, ever, ever go back to cable.
FYI, I have both analog and digital TV’s. Looks great on both.
December 9, 2008 at 7:07 pm #649437
beachdrivegirlParticipantJT, I am with you and loving DirecTV. We had Comcast @ our townhome and it was a pain in the a** with all the discipencies we had with their billing, then when we moved we got Dish Network. Dish Network kept dropping the satelite so we switched to DirectTV after a few months. Never been happier. :)
December 9, 2008 at 7:32 pm #649438
ellenaterMemberI am sick of Comcast too but haven’t been able to bring myself to switch. Tell me what is so good about Direct TV. I have a DVR, HD TV, and we need to get the soccer channel for my soccer addicted husband. Is there any On Demand like thing on Direct TV?
December 9, 2008 at 7:35 pm #649439
beachdrivegirlParticipantThey do have DVR but no On Demand (I will admit that I do miss that feature @ times.)
December 9, 2008 at 7:44 pm #649440
clark5080ParticipantDecember 9, 2008 at 7:50 pm #649441
ToddinWestwoodMemberAll of the cable companies are crooks.
Back when I was a kid, you could get at least 7-10 different channels “over the airwaves” here in seattle.
Once they went in with the local cable providers and had to run local stations on cable, They turned their broadcast power down to the point where everyone had to get cable just to watch local broadcasts.
Now here is my other beef with cable. This day in age, you can watch anything you want “on demand” and sign up for NFL, NBA, Nascar packages and there is no problem.
How come I cannot choose the channels I want and pay by how many I get? I mean really. I would pay for Discovery, NICK, Disney, TLC and maybe E! and thats about it.
Imagine if you could pay for, lets say, 10 channels, your choice. 20 channels, your choice. ect. you would be much happier huh?
But I cant, so “F” them.
December 9, 2008 at 7:55 pm #649442
beachdrivegirlParticipantJim,
They couldnt give us answers. They continued to blame it on the wind but our neighbors who had DirectTV didnt have that problem. Because of their lack of resonse to our problem with paying a bill when we didnt have the TV we switched. Since we switched we have not lost the signal with DirectTV.
December 9, 2008 at 7:56 pm #649443
kiridaParticipantWe switched from Comcast to Direct TV. While I enjoy the savings, I do miss the On Demand features. It looks like Direct TV does have On Demand, but I think it requires an HD DVR receiver(http://tinyurl.com/5hqqen). I’m not sure how much more it costs.
December 9, 2008 at 7:58 pm #649444
KenParticipantI have Dish and it is just fine. As long as direct and dish are competitors, the services, price and offers should be about the same.
Here in some WS neighborhoods, the frequency pollution is so bad you might need the attenuator to get the radio remote control to work properly with either company.
I fled comcast after they refused to fix the signal drop after the 06 windstorm.
Saved quite a bit too since I dropped the premium channels and just download shows I want from an undisclosed location.
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats
–Henry Louis Mencken
December 9, 2008 at 8:02 pm #649445
GenHillOneParticipantI hear ya Todd. I’m so tired of paying for things I don’t need. Nothing seems compatible either (i.e. we discovered that we can’t give up our land line if we want to keep our monitored home security system) and the “bundles” offered are all missing some element that we want and if we customize it…the price goes up – and we still end up with pieces we don’t need. *sigh*
December 9, 2008 at 8:12 pm #649446
JenVMemberI wont even miss On Demand, other than having Spongebob at my fingertips whenever needed. They NEVER update the On Demand programming, and I feel like I pay a lot of extra dough for something that frankly sucks. I hope DirectTV is a good alternative – do you need a dish for that? Or is it similar to Comcast? Also, I have 2 tvs – will I need 2 boxes? Thanks all you DirectTVers out there for any info.
December 9, 2008 at 8:14 pm #649447
beachdrivegirlParticipantDirectTV does require a satelite and it does require two boxes. Overall though it is pretty painless.
December 9, 2008 at 8:17 pm #649448
JenVMemberand the cost is similar to Comcast – meaning no matter what I will end up paying too much for tv I rarely watch?
December 9, 2008 at 8:19 pm #649449
beachdrivegirlParticipantbasically yes, and trust me we shopped around alot for the cable and internet. I am defin. in the wrong business. :)
December 9, 2008 at 8:46 pm #649450
yumpearsParticipanthey genhillone
with respect to :(i.e. we discovered that we can’t give up our land line if we want to keep our monitored home security system)
we have a monitored home security system and no landline (we hate qwest). We pay to have it monitored on a cellular system – don’t ask me how it works – but it does.
December 9, 2008 at 8:57 pm #649451
beachdrivegirlParticipantyumpears, what home security system do you use?
December 9, 2008 at 8:59 pm #649452
AnonymousInactiveKirida is correct. They do have on demand with their HD DVR box. I just have the regular DVR. The satellite dish for HD is larger as well but if you take a drive around, I barely notice them on people’s roofs. In over a year, I’ve had one outage that lasted about 2 hours. It was a snow storm with zero visibility, and really, how often does that happen.
You do need a box for each set, but the non-DVR’s are very small. Go to their website for pricing. Pretty much you can set your limit. You can also change it around at any time online. Try movie channels, dump them, whatever. It’s all good.
December 9, 2008 at 10:19 pm #649453
GenHillOneParticipantreally, yumpears? I’m not sure how that works either, but if you’re willing to share the name of your security company, it would be worth checking out.
December 9, 2008 at 10:29 pm #649454
LoweryMemberCon-cast is always doing these price switch scams. 1st (for me) it was the all in one package deal for $99, now it’s this, and I’m sure they’ll think up something clever after this one has run its course. I haven’t experienced that with DirectTV so far.
December 10, 2008 at 12:13 am #649455
yumpearsParticipantWe have security through protection one. We do know that it works because we have accidentally set it off a couple of times. :)
December 10, 2008 at 12:40 am #649456
ellenaterMemberWell our DVR is a rental from Comcast…another one of their scams. I’ll have to check out Direct TV, further. GHO, we have the same problem with bundling. It SUCKS. I wish there were a third company. Sooo frustrating. We have a neighbor with a HUGE radio tower. I hear it interferes with broadcast signals. I don’t see any dishes on our street. :(
December 10, 2008 at 2:37 am #649457
JanSParticipantI’ve had DirecTV for about a year and a half. I need a box for each TV. If you only have one TV, I suppose you only get one box? I have to pay for my second one. While I like the fact that I never have interruptions, there are many channels that I do not ever watch…like the 12 or so religion stations in a row that I get…how many different ways can they ask for my money?
But..I can watch the Mariners, cooking, news, soaps at 1am, Seahawks, and..some interesting movies at times. Also, if you’re in an apartment, they no longer attach the dish to the building. Mine is on a tri-pod thingie on my deck, screwed to the deck floor for stability. I may use it as a trellis next summer ;-)
December 10, 2008 at 4:38 pm #649458
ellenaterMemberYa, the channel thing is just like Comcast. In fact, I find myself watching less and less TV. I’d be happy to get rid of it and just watch videos from time to time. The problem is…BUNDLED. I LOVE my internet and it was LITERALLY ten dollars cheaper to get rid of the phone and TV. They’ve got me right where they want me. I feel confident that some other provider will pop up sometime who will provide a buffet style service plan that is much better than Comcast. As for Direct TV, I hear their menus are confusing.
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