As some of you know from a previous post of mine, I had an appointment on Friday to have Comcast come to my house and upgrade me from basic cable ( channels 2-28 ) to digital cable with a high-def receiver box. When I made the appointment by phone, I specifically told them that I wanted an HD box with an HDMI connection. I even told them that I would supply the cable if they just make sure the box has the port. They said that they would put those notes on my workorder.

When the technician arrived, the first thing I asked him was if the box I was getting had an HDMI port. He said, “No. None of our regular HD boxes have that. Only a few of our newer HD DVR boxes have that connection.” I wasn’t getting DVR (extra money) so I was out of luck. I said “whatever” and he started working.

Now silly me, but I assumed that when you sign up for “Digital Cable”, that all of your channels are digital. Nope. He informed me that my first 77 channels (all of the regular network stuff) are still going to be analog! Huh? Only the channels above 100 are actually digital. So if I want a really clear picture for the Korean Food Channel, I’m all set.

After finding out that the box didn’t have HDMI and more than half of my “Digital Cable” service wasn’t digital, I was just about ready to tell the guy to forget it. Then came the last straw. He connected it and turned it on. All of my regular analog channels looked way worse than they did before! When I pointed it out to the technician, he said, “Yeah..a lot of people complain about that. I think it’s the way the analog signal has to go through the box and all. If you don’t want it, I’ll just take it off and go. You won’t be the first person who’s decided not to get it once they see it.” So that’s exactly what I did. I did upgrade from the basic cable to the “Standard Cable” (2-77), but I told them to keep their “Digital” service.

The best part is that because my TV has built-in NST/AST/QAM tuners, I actually get about 6 or 8 HD channels now even without one of their boxes!
I still may have to revisit the idea of Direct TV.
OK…rant over.

 

thanks hun, I won't be getting digital cable now.

 

i've been using Direct TV for a long time... i don't think i can really think of any complaints.

and did never like Comcast too much either...

i say revisit the idea

 

I use their HD package and I agree its ridiculous. They only offer about 10 HD channels which arent even that great. Of course the picture quality is very nice. But I also have the box with the HDMI output. Comcast is a ripoff for sure. If I didnt hate satellite even more Id consider it....

 

Damn you and that hun crap!

that wasn't even directed to me and I get all ____ed about it.

 

Glad I could help, sugar pants.

 

That's good to know...thanks. Yeah, I guess I'll start asking more questions.

 

Comcast is the devil. I don't even watch tv. I just get the cable internet because it is the only service that is offered in the neighborhood that is faster than DSL that doesn't cost $1000 a month. It's a ripoff. They have a monopoly and only now is the gov't taking steps to bring in competition. Their service sucks ***** and it always breaks and their staff is incompetent.

 

You got that right. I've had their cable modem service for a few years now, but I just discontinued it and went with Embarq DSL. I was expecting DSL to be way slower because I got the cheapest (slowest) package they had at 1.5MB, but I honestly can't tell a difference. Comcast cable modem was $42 per month...DSL is $24.95.

 

Because I don't get the cable tv, they charge me extra for internet. How stupid is that? I pay $60.95 / month. By itself on one computer, DSL isn't too bad. But I have 2-3 computers on a network at home and my roommate and I are constantly online. We tried DSL and it was NOT an option. (plus back then there were 3 of us living there and all were constantly online) Supposedly the cap is 6Mb/s but none of us has ever gotten faster than 1Mb/s on any program or website. I swear it's a scam and a half.

The biggest joke is trying to find competition. We checked up on 4 of the biggest names in the neighborhood and even the ones that were advertising as better than comcast... were OWNED by comcast. How 'bout that ****?...

 

Holy Cow!! $60.95 a month for internet! On one computer! Wow. Why exactly wouldn't DSL work for you now? You can connect a DSL modem to a router same as cable modem.

 

It's on 2-3 computers. Only two are really used currently. It isn't the hardware or the setup that is the problem. It is the relative transfer speeds. When we tried DSL I almost pulled my hair out. It was about 5 times slower. I got spoiled with cable and I can't bring myself to go back to DSL. There is a new company by the lakefront that is slowly inching its way towards us, but comcast is going microsoft style and blocking them from offering services away from the lakefront. It's very aggrivating.

 

I can understand that. If my experience with DSL was like that, I'd stay clear too. But so far, it's been great. I'm sure I might notice a difference when downloading big files, but for surfing web pages, I honestly can't tell the difference.

 

Cable internet, from my experiences at work, school, and my own and friend's houses is much faster than DSL, and is a good deal for me for not much more tha Verizon DSL.

And of those analog channels, several of those channels can be found in the higher channel listings in digital. Not to mention those channels simply aren't broadcast in digital yet, so stop complaining about Comcast for that.

My gripe with Comcast is that they blatantly and admittedly buy out their competition and then jack up the prices for all the subscribers. And that I have no way to get Dish or Direct TV because of the location of my home.