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Oh, No -- It's Comcastic | 28 comments (28 topical) | Post A Comment
Yes, but...[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#8)
by Anonymous User on Mon Feb 25, 2008 at 11:12:19 AM PDT

Sure, everyone charges monthly service plans. However, I find Comcast to be more expensive than most other plans if you want anything decent.

When I bought an HDTV this past year, I looked at upgrading the cable package to get HD across all the channels I do get. Which isn't many; I get Comcast's very basic service, mainly because if I don't, it actually costs MORE to just get Cable internet by itself. Comcast tells me I'm getting a "discount" for signing up for both services.

When I called, I found out that it wasn't just a matter of getting digital cable, or adding an HD package --I had to upgrade to digital cable, then move two tiers up from standard, and THEN I'd get HD --I believe I had to pay an additional fee for that as well.

I told them to forget it. I get the local channels in HD, and I'll settle for that for now --until Dish Network lofts a satellite this year that will allow me to receive my local channels in HD. When that happens, I'll be able to switch to AT&T, and get my phone, Internet, and a 100-channel package with HD for far less than Comcast wants, and it won't be a "for the first x months then the price goes up" package.

Comcast really does nickel-and-dime, and it adds up really quickly. As a result, I'll spend my nickels and dimes elsewhere as soon as I can, and take what little I have been giving them away.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]



Comcast HD w/o Digital Stations[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#12)
by Seaan on Tue Feb 26, 2008 at 01:23:52 AM PDT

This can be done, at least in the California central coast region. I had extended basic service (approx 60 channels), but I never found it worthwhile to get digital cable (incidentally this also meant I stopped purchasing PPV since Comcast no longer offers that on analog).

When I bought a HDTV, I looked at the options and found there is an option for extended basic + HDTV. They don't advertise it, but most regions have it. I had to pay $5 a month per box extra, and it is basically the same box you get for DVR/digital cable. BTW - their HD line up is slowly improving but still way behind satellite (now have around 10-15 channels, up from the 6 they had last year).

The DVR option is a joker, they will not sell you the DVR functionality without Digital cable - e.g. $30/month more than I'm paying now. It does not take very many months of that to make buying a HD Tivo a much better deal! Which I have not done yet, but I'll leave DVR discussions for another post.

One odd thing about this is the partial channel receptions. Of course I don't get most of the digital cable stations - no problem with that. But I do get some - for example our local PBS station has 4 or 5 digital broadcasts that I can receive. I also can use the Comcast OnDemand (a good feature that - one of the few places Comcast is doing something right) occasionally to view material from a digital channel that I don't receive live (hmm, maybe there is a benefit to this being a little known option).

[ Parent | Reply to This ]



Oh yeah - Disclosure[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#13)
by Seaan on Tue Feb 26, 2008 at 01:37:24 AM PDT

BTW - just for disclosure purposes, part of my job is related to the AT&T Uverse system. I'd take that over Comcast any day, but (without any insider knowledge) I suspect this is unlikely for a while - being that my somewhat remote home town only got DSL 3 or 4 years ago!

I also had to rule out satellite TV. I have not tried it, but I live in a deep valley and my next door neighbor could not hit the satellite because of a mountain in the way. I'm not a great fan of DirectTV's DRM policies, but short of Uverse or FIOS they have the best lineup of HDTV channels.  

[ Parent | Reply to This ]



yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#26)
by maderikapapa on Sat Jun 28, 2008 at 01:48:13 AM PDT

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[ Parent | Reply to This ]


See what you've got before you pay Comcast more[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#16)
by Anonymous User on Tue Feb 26, 2008 at 07:23:05 PM PDT

We just bought a flat-screen TV for our workout room, the first HD-capable TV in the house.

We plugged it into our purely analog Comcast cable, and - hey! it found around 50 digital channels, including the digital version of all of the local channels.

Some of the digital channels are garbage, but a lot of them aren't. (Some of them look like a menu screen from one of their On Demand products.)

[ Parent | Reply to This ]



Re: See what you've got...[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#17)
by Anonymous User on Wed Feb 27, 2008 at 09:09:43 PM PDT

Hi,

I'm the OP who posted about buying a new HDTV.

Yes, I did get additional channels; if you purchase a television with a QAM tuner, it can pull any digital channels that Comcast doesn't choose to encrypt. This will generally mean all the "basic cable channels", and possibly analog channels you already got will also be available in digital.

All but your local channels will be standard-definition, even in digital format. Your local channels will probably be in HD, or at least they will be for content created in HD. However, if you want any of your non-locals in HD, you need to upgrade packages. In my area, the standard (which isn't a "basic" package, either) digital cable package isn't enough --you need to go to the next package up. That's another $40-50 per month for me, and I'm not sure that includes the fees it would take to add HD on to the channels.

Comcast's prices in my area for their package when compared to AT&T bundling phone/DSL/Dish Network are highway robbery for all but the most basic package. The only reason I haven't switched yet is because Dish offers all BUT the local channels in HD. Their plan is to launch another satellite this year that will take care of this; if that happens, I'll be able to add the features I want, while paying a maximum of $20 more per month (perhaps nothing if I play around with internet speeds or phone features) and getting more than double the TV channels WITH the included HD package. Too bad AT&T doesn't have their U-Verse service in my area; I'd have signed up already.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]



yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#28)
by maderikapapa on Sat Jun 28, 2008 at 01:48:26 AM PDT

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[ Parent | Reply to This ]


yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#25)
by maderikapapa on Sat Jun 28, 2008 at 01:41:04 AM PDT

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[ Parent | Reply to This ]


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