Didja know that Comcast is slowly forcing people into digital cable. Yeah, it’s true. I first wrote about it in November of last year and I’m still upset about it. I understand that the switch will net everyone more HD stations and faster Internet, but it also forces digital boxes onto millions of TVs, which in turn will raise rates for a lot of people - including me. Comcast, bless its heart, will provide two boxes per household but will expect a monthly payment for the rest you’ll need.
It seems I’m not alone in my disgust either. This lovely note just dropped in our tips inbox and I thought a lot of you will enjoy seeing it. Some of you will not if the numerous flaming comments from my original post is any indication of your loyalty.
Do you find yourself out and about in the city enough that you hardly use your broadband at home? Neither do I, since said broadband is usually downloading the latest this-and-that while I’m gone, but it might be nice to have a “second line” of high-speed internet for when I don’t want to compete with 20 other people for a cafe’s wi-fi. Others, in cities where free wireless isn’t quite as plentiful as in Seattle, may find wireless broadband a more compelling option, and pretty soon you’ll be able to get it through Comcast in a few choice areas.
I find it interesting that Comcast says they’ll be offering the service, when really they’re doing no such thing. They’re offering Clearwire’s service and splitting the bill. At any rate, if you have Clearwire in your area, chances are you’ll soon be able to get it through Comcast and bundle it with your TV and stuff for a better price. Portland will be the first to see the service, so you Oregonians can do your little victory dance. I’ll wait.
The service, called “Comcast High-Speed 2go Metro” because someone thought that was a good idea, will run you $73 a month, but call now and you can get it for $50, a savings of $23(RIP Billy Mays)! You can also throw down an extra $20 to get access to Sprint’s 3G network. Not my style, though. For a blogger, the internet is his leash, and if you’re carrying it around with you, you’re never off. That’s assuming we’re ever really even on.
Cable providers Comcast and Time Warner might be late to the Internet video party, but that doesn’t mean they are going to let us enjoy content for free that they pay for. Oh no, the TV Everywhere Model is designed to give Comcast and Time Warner paying subscribers access to content and block-out everyone else. And this system might find its way into Hulu.
You can’t blame the cable operators for their plans. They have to pay good money for access to cable stations. Then they, of course, pass along the cost to subs via a monthly bill. The thought is that those people that pay for the content should be able to watch all of it on both their TVs and computers.
Of course the other side is that if you don’t pay for those services, then you’ll be shut out. This authentication system will be used initially on sites like Comcast’s video site, Fancast, but there is always the possibility that it could eventually make its way on to Hulu.
I just had to share this interesting exchange I had with Comcast’s Live Chat service. I highly recommend it for those of you with simple issues like billing or connection trouble, by the way. It’s a bit weird at first because the chatters are obviously pasting in bits of script, so there’s the occasional non-sequitur (above), but sometimes you can get results fast. I opened my chat up at about 11:15 and now, at noon my time, the Comcast guy has come and gone and internet is back up. That’s good, because I can’t spend another week blogging from coffee shops — that much caffeine makes me paranoid.
If you’ve ever looked at your Comcast bill and thought, “That seems expensive!”, don’t worry. The company used some of your money it to put the biggest video wall I ever did see inside its corporate headquarters in Philadelphia. And can you really blame a company for using your money to build a giant TV?
Bad news for DirecTV subs. If you have been waiting, and waiting to upgade your old TiVo Series 2-ish DirecTV DVR, you are going to have to wait a bit longer. It was reveled in the quarterly earnings call that the DVR isn’t going to be available this year, rather sometime in 2010.
You may recall that exactly one week ago, your old buddy Doug got all bonered up about NFL Network and Comcast finally reaching an amicable agreement. In particular, it was starting to sound like Comcast subscribers would not only get NFL network at no extra charge, but that we’d also get the very-excellent Red Zone Channel for free as well. I mentioned that it “seems way too good to be true” and, as it turns out, it looks like it is indeed too good to be true.
Is this a trick? IT FEELS LIKE A TRICK! I’m either dead or dreaming because not only did Comcast and NFL Network just reach an agreement to make NFL Network part of Comcast’s Digital Classic package, but Comcast subscribers will also get access to the Red Zone Channel that’s usually shown only on DirecTV as part of the insanely expensive Sunday Ticket package.
Everyone’s favorite content provider to hate is claiming they are now a major player in the home phone game taking the number three spot after AT&T and Verizon. Its digital home phone service now has 6.47 million subscribers, overtaking Qwest’s 5.96 million subs. We all know how Comcast got so many subscribers too, right?
Well, first there is the triple play with intro pricing that’s too good to turn down. It also helps that every call to Comcast involves a discussion about the service. But, folks, once that trial period is finished you may wanna look elsewhere for better pricing after the intro ends and your price shoots up to $39.99 a month.
Some Comcast broadband subscribers ought to notice a significant speed bump in the coming months, as CFO Mike Angelakis announced on a recent earnings call that the company would have 65% of its data network upgraded to the DOCSIS 3.0 standard by year’s end.
It seems that Comcast is trying to quickly sweep its Super Bowl porn broadcast under the rug. According to an unsubstantiated claim on Consumerist, the company is offering Tucson, AZ subscribers $5 off their next bill for their unwanted porn experience. But a one time $5 credit? Really? Did they see the video?
Oh man. Someone is going to lose their job [life?] over this. The story goes that just after the Cardinals scored their last touchdown, Tucson, AZ Comcast viewers were interrupted with a bit of porn. We’re talking male full frontal swinging in the air nudity here and not just a brief wardrobe malfunction from a few years ago. The peep show continues on for about 10 seconds and ends halfway through the male protagonist’s helicopter impersonation.
We’ve all had bad experiences with Comcast but hopefully no one’s coax network looks like this one in a Hanover, MD neighborhood. According to the Baltimore Sun, Comcast techs ran cables in such a way that they are simply laying on sidewalks and over a couple of driveways. Then there is the cable junction box cluster *uck shown in the picture above. And it was installed like that for over a year.
We’ve made it a sort of hobby to post our Comcast experiences here at CG, more often than not because they’ve been terribletastic and we needed to be angry publicly for our own satisfaction. This time however it’s quite a different case so read on if you’d like to hear that rarest of tales: a tale of good customer service. Read More
According to a tip from a Comcast guy, consumers can get a free HDMI cable if they trade in their component cable. The stipulation is that you have to ask for one. This is great news for people that were stuck by $5 HDMI cables from Monoprice and Amazon, along with the chumps purchasing $100 HDMI cables from Monster Cable. Everyone wins!
Comcast is slowly converting markets into 100% digital, which happens to free up bandwidth for a lot high-def stations. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some HDTV, but how they are doing it will infuriate millions - including myself - with digital set-top boxes on every TV and dramatic price increases. The transition shows the weakness of the companies coax network that relies on copper to deliver the signal to neighborhoods and fiber-optic for the backbone only. Once this conversion hits, cable will lose any appeal over satellite or fiber options.
I had been dreading this call all day. I was going to have to dial-up Comcast and attempt to order a couple of Cable Cards for a TiVo HD XL and I wasn’t looking forward to the ensuing conversations. To my absolute surprise though, the call went well.
The billing specialist listened to my needs, recommended the right solution which happened to be two cable cards and didn’t try to rape me on the price. I simply have never had such a pleasant experience with a Comcast tool before. Even when he offered Comcast Digital Voice and found out that I had been a Vonage subscriber for five years, he didn’t keep forcing the issue - first that has ever happened.
So to the Comcast billing specialist that wasn’t bitchy and rude, thank you. Hopefully more of your fellow associates follow your lead.
Update: I’m back to hating Comcast more than anything else in the world. Anything. The dude mentioned above that I could pick up my Cable Cards at my local Comcast office today. So I just went up there only to be told that, no, they cannot give ‘em to me and they were going to charge me $35 to install them on Wednesday. Gawd, I hate Comcast. Superman and Lex Luther are tighter buds than I and Comcast.
$35 isn’t that much, but it’s the fact Comcast earned a bit of respect after the my pleasant conversation early today, only to lose every last bit of it with a visit to my local Comcast office.
Reader Jason just sent us this e-mail he received from Comcast outlining their excessive use policy change:
Dear Comcast High-Speed Internet Customer,
We appreciate your business and strive to provide you with the best online experience possible. One of the ways we do this is through our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The AUP outlines acceptable use of our service as well as steps we take to protect our customers from things that can negatively impact their experience online. This policy has been in place for many years and we update it periodically to keep it current with our customers’ use of our service.
On October 1, 2008, we will post an updated AUP that will go into effect at that time. Read More
So Comcast is implementing a 250GB monthly bandwidth cap starting next month. While some consumers are up in arms about the true meaning of “unlimited” internet access, others have focused on how these caps will affect the innovation of web-based services, particularly video streaming and downloading.
Roku, maker of the Netflix-streaming box (reviewed here), isn’t too concerned, according to NewTeeVee. Tim Twerdhal, VP of consumer products, says:
“It really doesn’t give me a lot of concern. It’s unfortunate that the limitless possibilities are being capped by an ISP, but it has no direct business impact on us.”
Comcast has now jumped into the downloadable video content game with the Fancast Store. It’s a lot like many other video download stores in that you can either rent or buy movies and TV shows, it requires you to install proprietary media management software in order to download and view your content, and it’s not Mac compatible (you can, however, order content from a Mac and download it on a PC later).
Purchasing content allows you to download it on up to three computers, while renting content ties you to whichever computer you use to download the content. Rented video files must be consumed within 30 days and, once initially played, must be watched within 24 hours or they’ll expire.
Didja know that Comcast is slowly forcing people into digital cable. Yeah, it’s true. I first wrote about it in November of last year and I’m still upset about it. I understand that the switch will net everyone more HD stations and faster Internet, but it also forces digital boxes onto millions of TVs, which in turn will raise rates for a lot of people - including me. Comcast, bless its heart, will provide two boxes per household but will expect a monthly payment for the rest you’ll need.
