Comcast/Xfinity Streaming

Gepetto

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#1
Anyone on the forum on Comcast and streaming with Roku or other device? Comcast just jacked the prices again with the new year and I have reached my limit with them. I have started converting to Roku WiFi devices to cut down on the cost of the Comcast video boxes. I need to go further to cut down the monthly $$$ I pay for content I don't want and need. Would rather pay for the content I want, not that Comcast wants to feed me. Unfortunately Comcast is the only high speed provider in my area so I don't have a choice on high speed broadband.

Anyone else on the forum doing the same?
 

BlazeES

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#2
Comcast is a tough nut to crack but it's doable. How much you paying Joe? Calling their corporate offices or getting escalated to their Corp Customer Care group (used to be called the Retention Dept...) can yield positive results. The problem therein lies with how well you can stomach being forced into packages with channels you simply don't want. Comcast has made it tougher the past few years.

For example: If you get a digital package with HD that has a few sports channels, they then grab a separate fee for sports redistribution. Then there's the fee that wasn't around 15+ years ago for Local channel redistribution. Then there's the rental fees and their HD service fee.

In any event, a year ago I was fed up with the high prices & fee stacking. Ended up on the phone with regional customer care and got a 2 year lock on the Digital Starter package and Blast internet. ~103 bucks a month out-the-door. I own my own modem (have forever...) and I run a TiVo box as the DVR. Come the end of this year I'll need to arm wrestle them again because the total package price will probably be in upwards of $180. Not worth it !

You should be able to get a 2 year lock on Blast or Performance (the slower tier...) internet for around 50 bucks or less per month, both being plenty fast enough for cord-cut streaming. Believe it or not, there are Comcast digital TV packages labeled 'Latino' that give you quite a few less channels, zero sports and therefore no sports fee - that are geared towards the lower income market segment and that are priced even below the 'negotiated' rate I a pay. But their website makes it nearly impossible to find & decipher those packages. We had that Latino package for several years and it was around 80 bucks a months + taxes. You get a few more Telemundo type channels with it but it's mainly just a slimmed down Digital Starter package without sports. You can always stream ESPN if you need it ... for us MNF wasn't a requirement, so we were cool not having it and saving a s h ! t ton of money. Plenty of network channel football to watch on Thursday & Sunday's.
 
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Gepetto

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#3
Just went from $250/mo to $290 a month Tony - yikes, $40 just for getting to a new year. If I ditch all their TV boxes and put in Roku I can get rid of ~$50/month. Then I will arm wrestle them on the more basic package and pay for HBO ala carte. If Verizon ever gets here with FIOS (or CenturyLink), I will have some bargaining power.
 

mlucitt

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#4
I have the free digital over the air FCC-mandated channels and it meets my needs. Lots of commercials and re-run shows, but there are a few good channels. The service is best in larger cities with more local channels, but even smaller communities get a good selection of content.

I could do Wi-Fi, but the setup is a challenge and our Wi-Fi signal is not great where we are.
 

BlazeES

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#5
Dude. WTH? That's astro-nonsense-nomical. You're entitled to one basic box under FCC rules, no charge, that you could use on your - say - family room or man cave TV. But the rest of your bill looks outrageous to me. You could be saving way more than just ~$50/month.

$290 sounds like a triple play package with premiums to me ... but anyways - regions are different. $290 is like a &^%$-ing car payment ... o_O
 
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Gepetto

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Dude. WTH? That's astro-nonsense-nomical. You're entitled to one basic box under FCC rules, no charge, that you could use on your - say - family room or man cave TV. But the rest of your bill looks outrageous to me. You could saving way more than just ~$50/month.

$250 sounds like a triple play package with premiums to me ... but anyways - regions are different. $290 is like a &^%$-ing car payment ... o_O
Yup, outrageous which is why I am exploring streaming to the extent possible. Xfinity is already experimenting with figuring out how to lock that down too, I can see it happening. To get broadcast channels you have add the Xfinity Streaming (Beta) application. The beta is my key to the comment on them experimenting to see how to monetize streaming as well when folks are looking to cut costs by moving to streaming. They are despicable. That is why we need competition here.
 

BlazeES

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Yup, outrageous which is why I am exploring streaming to the extent possible. Xfinity is already experimenting with figuring out how to lock that down too, I can see it happening. To get broadcast channels you have add the Xfinity Streaming (Beta) application. The beta is my key to the comment on them experimenting to see how to monetize streaming as well when folks are looking to cut costs by moving to streaming. They are despicable. That is why we need competition here.
When 5G really rolls out, a lot of &^%$ is going to change. Until then, these municipal controls on competition are screwing folks big time.
It's local governments that divy up access to service providers ... and then they add franchising fees on top of the controls.

One positive thing I can say about Cali is they look out for consumers and impose infrastructure sharing. We had Comcast, AT&T U-verse and a local company called Sonic as competitors for consumer business... plus the satellite dudes.
 

BlazeES

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Yup, outrageous which is why I am exploring streaming to the extent possible. Xfinity is already experimenting with figuring out how to lock that down too, I can see it happening. To get broadcast channels you have add the Xfinity Streaming (Beta) application. The beta is my key to the comment on them experimenting to see how to monetize streaming as well when folks are looking to cut costs by moving to streaming. They are despicable. That is why we need competition here.
I agree. It's coming. We use that Beta app on our two televisions to get access to channels over wifi and free On Demand content. They ixnayed VOD via TiVo a few months ago... it's all part of their big scheme. The Streaming App will exit Beta and become a $14.99 per month fee soon !
 
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Gepetto

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#16
When 5G really rolls out, a lot of &^%$ is going to change. Until then, these municipal controls on competition are screwing folks big time.
It's local governments that divy up access to service providers ... and then they add franchising fees on top of the controls.

One positive thing I can say about Cali is they look out for consumers and impose infrastructure sharing. We had Comcast, AT&T U-verse and a local company called Sonic as competitors for consumer business... plus the satellite dudes.
Yup, choice is the great equalizer. I have choice here too. Choice one is 15Mb internet and the other is 300Mb internet. Some choice.
 

orange

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#17
I haven't had cable since the late 90s. Just antenna TV. Have at least 50 things to watch.
 

Gepetto

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I agree. It's coming. We use that Beta app on our two televisions to get access to channels over wifi and free On Demand content. They ixnayed VOD via TiVo a few months ago... it's all part of their big scheme. The Streaming App will exit Beta and become a $14.99 per month fee soon !
The infrastructure guys like Comcast are scrambling to figure out how to compete in a 5G world when that starts really happening. Lot easier/cheaper to install and maintain that infrastructure compared to all that strung cable...
 

BlazeES

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The infrastructure guys like Comcast are scrambling to figure out how to compete in a 5G world when that starts really happening. Lot easier/cheaper to install and maintain that infrastructure compared to all that strung cable...
Millennial kids aren't suckers for cable or satellite bloat jobs. Many of them stream using their phones as hot-spots with unlimited LTE data plans and cast to their big screens ... however frequent or infrequent that might be anymore. For more & more people, their smart phones are their TV portals - their computers - their life. 5G LTE even at around 1 Gbit speeds and at great distances is gonna be a huge game changer for sure ! OTA internet like a WiFi connection for all. Damn near monkey proof and even a cave man can do it [Geico reference]
 
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