How is your service from Comcast? (Phone/TV/Internet)

[Gotadimple]

There is no other good internet option where I live.

We don't care about watching the shows on the nights they're broadcast, we always watch on DVR, and skip the commercials. We hate watching commercials.

I have the impression that most of the streaming programming still has commercials. Is that correct?

Hulu has commercials up front and during the shows, but instead of 8 or so, the count is 2. You can pay them a little more for no commercials. Netflix doesn't have commercials. Both services are around $9 per month. If you have Amazon prime, they also provide streaming included with the cost of Prime (so at $99 about $11/month) - but you get other advantages with Amazon prime.

Some of the best TV programming IMO now comes from Netflix and Amazon - equivalent in standards to PBS.

Search for cutting the cable here on Early Retirement, there were a few threads about this. Also take a look at Cord Cutters News - All the news cord cutters need about cord cutting! Covering, Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Netflix, Hulu, & More!

- Rita

 

[misanman]

We have Comcast and consider it very capable and reliable. Two years ago we had some issues. After 2-3 customer service visits without success the sent out an engineer who was actually a Comcast employee. He told us to call him direct on his cell if we had any issues. They ended up laying new cable along the street. Been rock solid ever since. Also, we really like the x1 system.

 

[aja8888]

I have lived in the Houston area for 25 years now and have Comcast. No other reliable options where I currently live (yes, I have tried).

You can bet that the mid level channel line up (Preferred package), fast internet (25+ MB/sec), and the Voip phone will come in at ~$125 - $150 per month (introductory rate). Then in two years (or less) you will be at $230/month.

Comcast raises their rates every 6 months.

If you want to do the "self install" of the equipment, they will charge you $30 for the kit and $30 to mail it to you. How nice of them!!

They will nickel and dime you to death.

 

[ERD50]

Do you just plug in phones all over the house like I do now?

Yes.

Careful there!

If you want to plug your phones into the house wiring by plugging the new phone adapter into a wall jack, you need to make sure the phone company is disconnected from the line. This can usually be done by finding the box where the phone wires enter your house, unplugging that (or disconnecting the wires), and labeling it so nobody plugs it in by accident.

If the phone company still has their tip/ring -48 V on it, it will fry your telephone adapter. Also be aware, their first step in troubleshooting any problem is to have you disconnect from any house wiring. I finally added a second wireless base near our TA, so I only have short wire runes to each, w/o all the house wiring loading the circuit.

-ERD50

 

[exnavynuke]

Just have them for internet, but haven't had any issues with it for the years they've been providing internet to the house.

 

[Texas Proud]

I use to have AT&T DSL and phone.... since they did not have a fast speed for me I went with Dish.... to be fair, I had Dish at my last house and liked it...


But, too many times service dropped or was just real crappy... so finally went to Comcast for phone and internet.... I am into my second year and am paying a bit more than AT&T (well, more than I was paying.... I think they would still be higher looking at my mom's bill).... I kept Dish since the plan I have was cheap enough that it would have cost me more to go with Comcast to get the same....


Now, some reasons for Comcast... (I think Dish will allow this if you get their best DVR).... you can go back and watch a show you missed or did not record... I think their schedule has more days than Dish.... I can only look 8 or 9 days out to record... if a new program is coming on and you are going to be gone 2 or 3 weeks... sorry, you do not get to record it... (this has happened to me)....


Oh, a downside to Comcast... and I do not know why it does this or if it can be fixed... at times when someone calls and I pick up and say "Hello"... they do not answer... I say it again and they do... I have asked and they say they never heard me the first time... so it seems there is some connection issue...

 

[Dawg52]

I have the impression that most of the streaming programming still has commercials. Is that correct?

Playstation Vue has DVR built in the software(cloud) and keeps whatever you record for 28 days. I also watch movies through Amazon Prime and you get a quick ad about other programming at the beginning, but no commercials during the show. There are plenty of free movie channels out there but you do have commercials to deal with.

 

[exnavynuke]

There is no other good internet option where I live.

We don't care about watching the shows on the nights they're broadcast, we always watch on DVR, and skip the commercials. We hate watching commercials.

I have the impression that most of the streaming programming still has commercials. Is that correct?

No commercials on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu (for Hulu you have to pay to avoid them, and a few programs still have them) with subscriptions to those services.

Amazon Prime pays for itself in shipping savings from stuff I order, so I don't count that cost towards my entertainment budget, and Netflix and Hulu get me almost everything else I want to watch for ~$20/month.

 

[pb4uski]

... Right now I'm thinking of moving to a cheaper cell phone and cell phone service than my present iPhone on Verizon. All this is not so much for me to save money, as to get the most value for my money. YMMV

DS uses PagePlus (Verizon) and likes it. We use Airvoice Wireless (AT&T) unlimited voice and text and 1GB of data for $30/month... $20/month if you only need 100mb of data or pay-as-you-go for as little as $10/90 days/100 minutes if you don't use your cell for much.

I looked into Ting a while ago and liked their approach. $6/month for 1 phone plus "blocks" of voice, texts and data... a phone with 100 minutes of voice + 100 texts + 100 mb of data would be $15/month.. if you use more they bill you more... if you use less then they bill you less. See https://ting.com/rates But alas, it uses the Sprint network which does not have coverage at our main home so it was a no-go for us.

 

[kimcdougc]

I agree that this sounds like a really good time for the OP to consider dropping TV and landline phone service.

I dropped both 2-3 years ago, saving about $150/month, and honestly I don't miss either. Right now I'm thinking of moving to a cheaper cell phone and cell phone service than my present iPhone on Verizon. All this is not so much for me to save money, as to get the most value for my money. YMMV

I am currently with T-Mobile. Have been for about 12 years. You can get unlimited voice/text and data for $45 per month.

Reception is very good everywhere we go in the US and we have been across the country in our rv twice in the last year.

 

[Slow But Steady]

Careful there!

If you want to plug your phones into the house wiring by plugging the new phone adapter into a wall jack, you need to make sure the phone company is disconnected from the line. This can usually be done by finding the box where the phone wires enter your house, unplugging that (or disconnecting the wires), and labeling it so nobody plugs it in by accident.

If the phone company still has their tip/ring -48 V on it, it will fry your telephone adapter. Also be aware, their first step in troubleshooting any problem is to have you disconnect from any house wiring. I finally added a second wireless base near our TA, so I only have short wire runes to each, w/o all the house wiring loading the circuit.

-ERD50

Thanks for the heads-up on this one.

We have one wireless base upstairs and one down. Other than disconnecting the phone company, is this practical?

 

[Ronstar]

Are you happy with the product? With the customer service?

I'm happy with the product now. I had modem issues (their modem) for the first month with Comcast. Customer Service is not so good, but it's been a few years since I needed customer service.

We would be getting a DVR. Does yours work well?

Yes, but I believe DW has an issue with limited ability to record multiple shows simultaneously, etc.

When you get their phone service, does the phone signal somehow find its way into all your house wiring so you can use the same phones?

Yes we use the same phones.

 

[Bamaman]

My Comcast account creeped up in price constantly. Every 6 months, I'd have to go down to the office to see what special deal they were authorized to offer me. After 6 months, the program would expire and I'd have to go back in and beg for a lower cost--and I'd get another.

I just get tired of begging to save $20 a month.

My Dish tv program is better and much cheaper--guaranteed 2 years.

 

[kgtest]

same problems as others. Introductory rate, or preferred customer rate increase after a year and begging to decrease is quite the hassle. But I'm willing to fight for every dime.

 

[misanman]

We would be getting a DVR. Does yours work well?

We like the X1 DVR capability. They supply one DVR but it works as a system with any other attached TVs. We have two locations (kitchen and rec room) in addition to the living room where the DVR is located. You can record or play back from any location simultaneously. The old system did have some limitation on record but I don't recall what they were. The X1 system may have some limitation but, if it does, we've never run into them.

Also, we use the voice recognition system often rather than to scroll through the channel guide.

As another poster mentioned, most shows are available for a time on demand, so that if you don't have the show recorded you can still watch it.

Recently, Comcast has integrated Netflix into it's system but I haven't used this enough to know if this is much of an advantage.

 

[Walt34]

When it works it's fine. When you have a problem... there's a reason they have one of the lowest customer service ratings in any industry.

This is why I loathe, despise, and detest Comcast. We have just cable TV with them and if it wasn't for DW's opposition I'd turn them off in a heartbeat.

When we first moved to WV we had Comcast for cable and Internet. I was still teaching online via email and Internet would just up and quit, leaving my students hanging with no responses from me. They'd take days to fix it. Finally it was out for three days and they refused to send a tech so I told them "You have until 8:00 AM tomorrow to fix it or I'm turning in the box at 9:00 AM". I went back to dial up for the sake of reliability until DSL was available.

When FIL's house sold we gathered up the three boxes he had from Comcast for the cable TV from the location of the house near Frederick, MD and brought them back here to turn in at the local (to us) Comcast office. They initially tried to tell me I had to turn it in at their Frederick office and I refused, saying that's a two-hour round trip and their internal corporate boundaries are not my concern. Gimme a receipt and I'm outta here. They then tried the tactic that if the boxes became lost and FIL didn't pay for them it would go to collections. Calling that bluff I told them I didn't care, he's in a nursing home, will probably be dead within a year (he was) and DW is handling the finances. I assured them that any further bills in his name from Comcast would be ignored.

Did I mention that I hate Comcast?

 

[Ronstar]

My favorite comcast story.

Years ago, I had Directv for TV and Comcast for internet. Their internet alone is fine. I switched to a single provider - Comcast phone/internet/tv bundle.

I rent the modem(it's a combo phone/internet modem). It took several modems and several installs before I got one that worked.

Generally it is the phone and internet that goes out. TV is fine. One time, I called them from my cell phone to tell them my phone & internet were not working. They said that they would be there between noon and 2 the next day. Nobody showed up, so I again called Comcast from my cell phone. I told them that they didn't show up. They said that I didn't answer their appointment confirmation call. Yep - to my house phone that wasn't working. I couldn't get it through to them that they shouldn't call my non working house phone for confirmation. I had to go to their office and explain the situation. Then they figured it out and got it fixed.

 

[Huston55]

I hate Comcast.

The internet goes down for hours at least once a month. The speed is nowhere near what it is supposed to be. If there's a problem that they can't fix by resetting your modem, it must be in your wiring and they want to send out a tech in a week for a ridiculous service charge.

I have voice plus the medium speed internet. All in, $78 a month. Why google can't put fiber in their own backyard is beyond me. Comcast needs the competition.

My phone number is apparently in the name of someone else with the same last name. How is that possible? Tried to get that corrected twice. Maybe that person should be paying the bill.

I hate Comcast....

This is why I loathe, despise, and detest Comcast. We have just cable TV with them and if it wasn't for DW's opposition I'd turn them off in a heartbeat.

When we first moved to WV we had Comcast for cable and Internet. I was still teaching online via email and Internet would just up and quit, leaving my students hanging with no responses from me. They'd take days to fix it. Finally it was out for three days and they refused to send a tech so I told them "You have until 8:00 AM tomorrow to fix it or I'm turning in the box at 9:00 AM". I went back to dial up for the sake of reliability until DSL was available.

When FIL's house sold we gathered up the three boxes he had from Comcast for the cable TV from the location of the house near Frederick, MD and brought them back here to turn in at the local (to us) Comcast office. They initially tried to tell me I had to turn it in at their Frederick office and I refused, saying that's a two-hour round trip and their internal corporate boundaries are not my concern. Gimme a receipt and I'm outta here. They then tried the tactic that if the boxes became lost and FIL didn't pay for them it would go to collections. Calling that bluff I told them I didn't care, he's in a nursing home, will probably be dead within a year (he was) and DW is handling the finances. I assured them that any further bills in his name from Comcast would be ignored.

Did I mention that I hate Comcast?

This!

First, I should say I think service from any provider is very location-dependent. We've moved 15 +/- times in the past 30 yrs, and have used almost all providers...with positive & negative results.

Currently have Comcast in the SF Bay Area for both TV & internet. Internet works fine; fast enough & dependable. TV (their X1 system) is another story. We've been here 1.5 yrs & it's still not completely right, after multiple service visits. Currently evaluating DirecTV/AT&T pkg as a replacement.

Did I say I hate Comcast?

 

[target2019]

Comcast has very nice building in Center City Philly. They pay decent Dividends to FIL. But they are evil.

 

[Texas Proud]

Some interesting stories... I just heard one from my brother... but it was a small provider...

We tried to call him for Thanksgiving... phone did not work... out of service... Oh well...

So, oldest sis sends him a card and asked for his new number and to come down for Christmas... he did..

Said that the company he had was bought by someone else (do not know who bought either)... but they just decided to cut him off!!! He said he tried to call and got nowhere... so, got a new number as he could not port his old one...

Talk about bad service....

 

[athena53]

Comcast has very nice building in Center City Philly. They pay decent Dividends to FIL. But they are evil.

In the early 1980s I was dating a guy whose sister and BIL were in the business of buying cable TV franchises, adding subscribers and enhancing the channel offerings, and reselling them at a profit. (They wound it down a few years ago- very smart and very rich people.) I asked them what cable company stock they'd recommend and they said Comcast was "a good little company". And so it was. It split several times and my basis was about $2/share (it's at almost $70 right now). I have almost none of it left; I donated it along the way to various capital campaigns to get the tax deduction and avoid the capital gains taxes. It's been a heck of a ride, though.

 

[Slow But Steady]

There were sure some interesting "I hate Comcast" stories.

I've had them for internet for 15 years, and it's been generally good.

I think I may verify exactly what the cost will be, and, if it's as expected, then switch the TV and phone to them as well. I'll sign up for the two-year contract, and during the two years of cost savings, consider cutting the cord on the TV and also getting rid of the phone. My wife seems more open to the idea than I expected.

Thanks, friends, for all your input.

 

[Texas Proud]

There were sure some interesting "I hate Comcast" stories.

I've had them for internet for 15 years, and it's been generally good.

I think I may verify exactly what the cost will be, and, if it's as expected, then switch the TV and phone to them as well. I'll sign up for the two-year contract, and during the two years of cost savings, consider cutting the cord on the TV and also getting rid of the phone. My wife seems more open to the idea than I expected.

Thanks, friends, for all your input.

That is one of the problems with a 'bad' company..... it is only when you have problems when you find out it can be bad... or in Comcast's case when you try and cut off their service (from a good number of the stories I have read)...

As an example, I hate Ford... every one of my Fords have been crappy.... every one!!! But I know people who love them... because there are some 'good' Fords out there... but I will never find out as I will never buy another one in my life... and if I pass it on neither will my children...

 

[Dawg52]

Power lines might be another option in the future for internet. It's not a new idea, but the technology appears to be closer. This would really help rural areas.

Faster, Cheaper Internet Service Coming Over Power Lines, AT&T says | Fortune.com

 

[W2R]

I agree that this sounds like a really good time for the OP to consider dropping TV and landline phone service.

I dropped both 2-3 years ago, saving about $150/month, and honestly I don't miss either. Right now I'm thinking of moving to a cheaper cell phone and cell phone service than my present iPhone on Verizon. All this is not so much for me to save money, as to get the most value for my money. YMMV

I am thrilled to report that I have switched to Cricket for my cell phone. There are some excellent cell phone plans out there, and I seriously checked into quite a few of them (thanks for the great suggestions, everyone!), but Cricket was the best fit for me. I had my number transferred over to my new, free Cricket "LG Spree" phone, and activated the phone about five minutes ago. I called F, and he called me back, and both work beautifully.

As soon as I can get Verizon to stop billing me, my cell phone bill will magically change from $61.34/month to $30/month, so this makes me happy.

Happy, happy, joy, joy...
That's $31.34/month in savings, or $376.08/year, all of which I plan to happily fritter away on discretionary items from Amazon. Plus, I saved another $150/month from dropping my landline and cable TV, so that's $181.34 saved which is about $2176/year.