Save $25 a month on comcast cable TV

[duhh]

I called up to cancel my digital cable to go the way of DirecTV. I was offered $25 a month off for 16 months if I chose to stay with Comcast. Just thought I'd pass the word along.

 

[voyagerbk]

Originally posted by: duhh
I called up to cancel my digital cable to go the way of DirecTV. I was offered $25 a month off for 16 months if I chose to stay with Comcast. Just thought I'd pass the word along.

I don't know how good your Comcast cable reception is, but here in Ogden Utah, it is about as bad as an off-air antennae. I only have basic comcast cable because it is for my bedroom and it is only $2 extra/month instead of just having comcast cable internet. $55.95 for just cable internet or $67.95-$10 if you have both cable internet and basic cable=$57.95

If I were you, I'd go for DirecTv-which I have. BETTER SELECTION of programming, BETTER RECEPTION on all channels and BETTER PRICING.

 

[Samus]

i pay 21.99 a month for comcast basic cable, plus 7 dollars in taxes (lol) and use a blackbox to get every channel they offer in absolute perfect analog reception.

i had their internet access and dropped down to just tv after putting up with 100-150kbit downloads consistently during the evenings. went to 6mbit/600kbit sbc dsl for 44.95 a month and its the badass of the crib right now. how many people got four t1's worth of downstream? speedtest gives me 5906mbit and i download a megabyte in 1.6 seconds.

". . .and use a blackbox to get every channel they offer" You can't advertise theft here, or we will have to take you at your word, and then boot you. The children . . . think of the children.

--Anandtech Moderator

 

[carmat4]

Originally posted by: Samus
i pay 21.99 a month for comcast basic cable, plus 7 dollars in taxes (lol) and use a blackbox to get every channel they offer in absolute perfect analog reception.

Is that legal? If it is where can I get on this deal?

 

[weepul]

comcast analog reception here in the bay area is pretty decent. but duhh is talking about digital cable, so the quality isnt really controlled by the cable lines themselves since everything is digital and i highly doubt they'd be worse than directtv.

//krunk (^_^x)

 

Originally posted by: Samus
i pay 21.99 a month for comcast basic cable, plus 7 dollars in taxes (lol) and use a blackbox to get every channel they offer in absolute perfect analog reception.

i had their internet access and dropped down to just tv after putting up with 100-150kbit downloads consistently during the evenings. went to 6mbit/600kbit sbc dsl for 44.95 a month and its the badass of the crib right now. how many people got four t1's worth of downstream? speedtest gives me 5906mbit and i download a megabyte in 1.6 seconds.

don't black boxes work only on channels 1-125? (the analog ones)
in which case, why pay for cable at all? If your already stealing, why not just splice the cable that goes to your modem, it might be slower but I think it would be way cheaper?

 

[duhh]

Yeah sorry I did mean digital cable. It averages in the range of about $40 - $50 a month usually. Lots of channels are still broadcast on the analogue spectrum, so they still look like crap depending on wiring, etc. Most of the digital channels are DECENT, but a lot of channels drop audio & video frames for about 2 seconds at least once during every show. I have also determined that this is not localized to my specific location, as I've been to roughly 10 peoples houses in the same state with digital service and I've witnessed it happen on everyones set. The initial start to decode the digital steams is much longer than DirecTVs as well. The Moto box comcast gives you takes up to 3 seconds (virtually killing channel surfing). My Hughes DirecTV receiver takes I think 1 second

Also, I did use a modem to get my guide data, but for those that are getting it over the cable, it fricking sucks ... the guide data drops out constantly, so the program names are always yet to be announced. THe guide data is missing more than it is there.

 

[Mawashi]

Originally posted by: Samus
i pay 21.99 a month for comcast basic cable, plus 7 dollars in taxes (lol) and use a blackbox to get every channel they offer in absolute perfect analog reception.

i had their internet access and dropped down to just tv after putting up with 100-150kbit downloads consistently during the evenings. went to 6mbit/600kbit sbc dsl for 44.95 a month and its the badass of the crib right now. how many people got four t1's worth of downstream? speedtest gives me 5906mbit and i download a megabyte in 1.6 seconds.

Any chance you can give us more info on the type of blackbox you're using?

 

[FuzzyPalms]

Originally posted by: Mawashi

Originally posted by: Samus
i pay 21.99 a month for comcast basic cable, plus 7 dollars in taxes (lol) and use a blackbox to get every channel they offer in absolute perfect analog reception.

i had their internet access and dropped down to just tv after putting up with 100-150kbit downloads consistently during the evenings. went to 6mbit/600kbit sbc dsl for 44.95 a month and its the badass of the crib right now. how many people got four t1's worth of downstream? speedtest gives me 5906mbit and i download a megabyte in 1.6 seconds.

Any chance you can give us more info on the type of blackbox you're using?

Doesn't sound legal, I'd be very careful of buying descramblers and using them to obtain channels you don't pay for. Not worth the risk.

 

[saxophonoia]

note to self.......call comcast and tell them I want to cancel.

Note to everyone here: Your low morals are your concern, except here on this forum, where you simply cannot discuss scams of any kind, or you will earn a nice vacation.

-- Anandtech Moderator

 

[dude8604]

I've done that before. I think they gave me $10 off my analog cable bill for 6 months.

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: weepul
comcast analog reception here in the bay area is pretty decent. but duhh is talking about digital cable, so the quality isnt really controlled by the cable lines themselves since everything is digital and i highly doubt they'd be worse than directtv.

//krunk (^_^x)

Comcast Digital cable quality is most definately worse than the analog counterpart. The Digital Spectrum doesn't offer better quality (It can potentially) it offers them to cram more crappy channels into the same bandwidth, the result is poor reception(as anyone using digital cable can tell you).

The black box also doesn't give you "every channel they offer in absolute perfect analog reception", far from it. If you've been paying attention, most of the premium programming has moved off the analog side awhile ago. Its been moved to the Digital Side where the black box is of no help at all.

 

[xchangx]

One of the tricks here at a college city is to get Limited Basic cable for $12/mo

They come by your place and install a cable box (like to old school Scientific America boxes) that limits your cannels to just 12 or 13 channels.

When they leave, unhook the box and toss it in your closet and use your vcr. You know have basic cable for $12/mo

 

[Mawashi]

Originally posted by: xchangx
One of the tricks here at a college city is to get Limited Basic cable for $12/mo

They come by your place and install a cable box (like to old school Scientific America boxes) that limits your cannels to just 12 or 13 channels.

When they leave, unhook the box and toss it in your closet and use your vcr. You know have basic cable for $12/mo

Are you talking about digital or analog? how many channel do you get using your vcr as the cable box?

 

using your vcr, tv, or video card (AIW or TV tuner) will get you channels 1-125 as these are the analogue ones. Although some may be scrambled, it is rather easy to descramble them, unlike digital cable, if you so desire. The only question is, how much is your credibility worth? To be theif over $5 does not seem too rational.

 

[jono8]

do they make you comit to stay with them for the period of the discount?

 

[dabuddha]

Also which area do you live in?

 

[Sesopedalian]

When I called to cancel, they didn't offer me anything. That's fine with me, because it is a no-brainer to switch. Directv is far superior in just about every way I can think of. I wouldn't switch back even if Directv was double the cost of Comcast.

 

[dude8604]

Originally posted by: Sesopedalian
When I called to cancel, they didn't offer me anything. That's fine with me, because it is a no-brainer to switch. Directv is far superior in just about every way I can think of. I wouldn't switch back even if Directv was double the cost of Comcast.

You need to tell them why you're cancelling. Say something like "DirecTV has comparable/better plans for $x a month which is $x less than what I'm paying now. Can you match that price?" That's basically what I did.

 

[mdcrab]

duhh, what area is your Comcast Service located?

My Comcast is going up again in June and I may want to try this or maybe switch over if nothing is offered.

Using Comcast of Harford County, MD

mdcrab