OT: looking for alternative to Comcast

+1 to the above... wish to know more... Comcast bad

 

If Verizon is your local landline company, I guess you've been told that there's no dsl service available to your home. Hard to believe that's the case in the Seattle metro area.

I have not heard good things about wireless internet companies, but it seems Clear Wireless does serve a lot of the Seattle area.

On the outside chance that you live in a Qwest service area (and Verizon doesn't try to compete there by buying the high end of the band in Qwest wireline territory for dsl), Qwest may be able to provide you with an alternative.

Dish Network and DirecTV require line-of-sight path to the satellites, which can be tough in wooded areas.

Or you can go cold turkey on cable (I know that for a hardcore sports fan that's asking a lot) and just put up an HD antenna and pay nothing. That's what I do, and I figure it pays for my annual F-car's service. I get around 30 channels in Portland and watch maybe 10; Seattle should have double that many. I fill in with netflix and the library.
As a result, I probably watch half or a quarter as much TV as I might otherwise, but, in my view, that's not a negative. (When there are can't miss games, I take my kids to the club and we watch in the sports bar over a bowl of nachos. Still less than a week of cable).

 

what brand of HD antenna did you purchase. I am in, my kids watch to much TV now.

 

You can find which channels your house might receive by creating a custom report here:
http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29
I count 30 if I had a rooftop antenna.

Amazon shows several digital amplified antennas for about the price of one month's cable TV service subscription. Hulu and other online services also have many shows that you can watch on the 'net.

Perhaps the FCA should start F1 watching parties. In past years, Gary and Kenny have informed the club of parties to the South and the Eastside.

 

I'm in the same boat Dave and it's been bugging me too. I checked in the past with Click but service was not available at my house. I also looked into the Qwest bundle but it seems like the price would be close to the same as Comcast by the time the "introductory" offer is gone.

There has to be a pretty simple solution but, at my house at least, DSL is supposedly a very slow option because of the route the phone lines take (really old routing station or some other BS) even though my house isn't that old.

I would go the rooftop antenna route for TV but the internet part I don't think I could go back to slower connection.

So in the mean time Comcast keeps soaking it to me too. My bill is about the same as yours!

 

Try calling Comcast and asking them for any promotions they could apply to your account. I get discounts every time I call for 6-12 months at a time (25$ off last time I called for 12 months) so I went from 120 to 95/month for my service just by talking to customer service. As for alternatives, really aren't many except Qwest internet and satellite TV.

 

Two years ago I left the Comcast discount game and so I've been on cell phones, broadcast HD, and wireless internet service. Between the internet access I have at work and via my smart phone I really don't do much internet access from home computers that much anymore. As mentioned, Netflix can get a lot of programs. With family it sounds like you want wired phone service but our kids are out of the house and have their own cell phones.

 

I've got twin HD antennas and a cell repeater on the roof for free OTA HD, for tethered internet, and I do subscribe to Netflix (3 discs at a time).

TV monthly cost: $16.99 (or something like that for Netflix... it may have gone up but it's small enough that it doesn't matter)
Internet monthly cost: $0 (use easytether app, one time cost $10, never pay again).
Phone monthly cost: $ paid for by (wife's) work.

Life is good when you're not paying through the nose for it.

I miss some TV shows, but I get out, get more exercise, and get more projects done than if I had 700 channels of the same-old same-old. I don't feel like I'm missing out for my lack of Jersey Shore. My internet isn't exactly 'high speed' by modern definition, but it's fast enough. (It will stream youtube, but not HD content).

Good luck cutting the umbilical cord... it's really outrageous how high the bill can spiral.

Cheers,
Tad

PS- HD antennas are cheap, it was the cel antenna (WiEx with Yagi) that cost a few ducats... (but still only a couple of months of your bill).

 

Thanks for the ideas. That gives me some things to check into.

 

I like my qwest bundled package of home phone, 3 cellphones, DSL, & DirecTV w/3 DVR & most every channel for around $300.
I will never ever give Comcast another dime.

 

I tried that and got nowhere. In fact after the conversation had gone downhill I eventually told them I was going to look at switching and canceling my service and was basically told, "well go ahead you won't find the same service for less money". I damn near shut it off right then and there.

I'm going to be upgrading my old cell phone soon, I wouldn't want to try the tethering thing with the one I have now, it's too old and slow. Might have to look into that though once I get a new one!

 

I can have my wife call them if you want. She is the best at getting deals. We have comcast and just like you, or package rates rose significantly. We called up Dish Network and talked to one of their reps and wrote down all that they offered. She got off the phone and promptly called Comcast and told them this is what they offer what are you going to do. I think if you have concrete facts and can say that you have spoken to the other company vs. asking for another promo it will work a lot better in the end as it shows that you have seriously considered the switch. When it was all said and done we ended up getting our Internet lowered, Sport Channels up the yin yang, got a ton of HD Channels, and even got all of the Kids channels we wanted and we are paying less than we originally were.

My parents use Verizon for everything but their cell service, but once their promotional period is over the prices go up quite a bit.

Hope that helps,

RB

 

I am using Qwest DSL/Phone and DirecTV though I am not bundled (prefer to keep separate than save $10/mon).

Qwest DSL (at 7M/1.5Mbit) is GREAT. Because it is not a *shared* medium like cable, the usage experience is better than cable (on the whole). Although cable is *occasionally* faster, it sometimes bogs down to almost-unusable during peak-times. I like the dependability of Qwest-DSL -- it very rarely goes down, and the support is fantastic.

I loathe Comcast for TV too, and would understand why you'd want to move. First, they COMPRESS the heck out of HD to the point that it's not really HD any more. Sure, it's high-resolution, but the amount of digital quantization noise and artifacts just completely ruin the watching experience. Then there's their DVR. I think they are powered by out ZX81 microprocessor stock. Tortuous to use, I'd rather stick knitting needles in my ear canal than have to live with that. The DirecTV HD DVRs are fantastic. I have 4 of them linked up via cat-5 ethernet(*), and each DVR can access any other DVR's material stored, so I have four times the amount of storage in theory. The new Smart-Search is super-easy to use, intuitive, and adding "season passes" for shows you like is very easy. The comcast box is just a painfully slow, frustrating experience. The picture quality on DirecTV is vastly superior to comcast, and if you have a 42"+ TV you'll really notice the difference, especially in fast-movie scenes like sports or action-movies. Customer support at DirecTV is very good indeed, and they'll often be aggressive with introductory pricing if you are considering moving from a competitor (that reminds me, if you get serious -- email me -- and I'll shoot you a coupon that gets $100 off your bill and also nets me a benjamin too). Their customer account page on their website is very good too, so it's easy to adjust your programming/features.

What else. Hmmm. Avoid DirecTV for internet access -- the latency is a big problem, and results in an effectively slow transfer rate. The on-demand works a little differently on DirecTV than it does on comcast. For DirecTV, to enable OD, you must have your DVR hooked up to the internet via ethernet cable. When you browse OD titles, you add them to a queue, and they are downloaded in the background. If you have a fast internet connection you can start watching an OD show that is still downloading, and it won't be a problem, especially if you let it buffer for a few minutes. The 1080p PPV movies on DirecTV are breathtaking -- somewhere between a DVD and blu-ray (and closer to BR) in terms of image quality.

(*)Technically you're supposed to connect DirecTV DVRs via the satellite RG6 cable which requires a special switch and newer versions of the HD DVR that support this. However, if you contact customer support and know what to tell them, they can enable the connectivity via ethernet (which was necessary for me since I had older DVRs, and an older switch. Using ethernet saved me about $600 in equipment upgrades). The DVR-to-DVR traffic is therefore (by default) multiplexed on the satellite cables and won't impact any internet/ethernet traffic, so this is a better solution and will be what you'll have if you buy/lease new equipment from DirecTV. (You need to let them know you want "Whole Home" if you want this capability).

 

Thanks for the referral coupon and the info Paul. I made the switch and I'll find out on Monday just how happy I am with it.

For at least a couple years it will at least cut my bill in half or so. After that I suppose it wont' be a whole lot different but at least I hope customer service will be better!!

 

Wow, that was quick John.... they were able to schedule a satellite install that quickly, I'm impressed.

You'll love their DVR. Anyone going from the Comcast POS box to the DirecTV box will be blown away. It's like being transported from 1989 kickin' and screamin' into the 21st century. Apparently TiVO are going to once again offer a DirecTV DVR but it's been subjected to many delays. Honestly, if someone told me that the Comcast box uses an 8086 processor, my reply would be "ahh, well that would explain it then".

 

Digging up an old thread for an update and some more questions...

I love the Direct TV including the DVR. Much better picture and much easier to use than the old Comcast one. Very happy with this part of the switch.

Internet is a different story. Before I switched I compared what I would supposedly be getting with Qwest DSL and it seemed like it would be comparable to my basic Comcast service I had. I was getting around or just over 1Mbps with Comcast but am lucky if I get close to 200Kbps with the Qwest DSL. This is painful, almost like going back to dail-up from years ago!!

A couple folks mentioned tethering to my cell and that seems like it may be the way to go. I already have the unlimited ATT data plan grandfathered in and did finally get a new cell phone too. My only real question is it looks like ATT expects to get another $20/month to "allow" me to tether. With the unlimited plan I have though why would I need to pay more per month? Even if I do need to pay the extra $20 it would still work out because I will cancel the Qwest DSL.

Any tips, trick, or ideas would be appreciated.

 

One thing to keep in mind with DirecTV is they value new customers of loyal ones. Been a customer for 8 some odd years, and recently upgraded to HD with a HD DVR. My bill is in the neighborhood of $80 a month. When a client asked me to look in to a flyer he got from DirecTV to setup his HD service the bill would be around $50 a month for the first year. When I asked about the difference I was told because he was setting up a new line of service. I asked if I should have cancelled my service first she replied I would be eligible for the same discount.

 

We have Frontier Fiber for Internet with an all you can swallow long distance at about $100 a month. The fiber is fantastic and we pay for the fast speed and love it.

The DTV antenna brings in more channels than we care to watch and Netflix, Hulu, and so forth fill in what time is available.

-sc

 

Here is something that is pretty telling as to the actual bandwidth available from your internet provider and what kind of traffic shaping they may be doing:

Netflix performance on top ISPs:



http://techblog.netflix.com/2011/05/netflix-performance-on-top-isp-networks.html

 

Do you have an old home? The telephone wiring inside your home may be to blame for poor DSL performance. You should call Qwest and complain about the performance and see if they can observe anything on their network that they can adjust or fix. I use Qwest DSL and can achieve 5 to 7 Mbit download performance routinely. Use dslreports.com for performance benchmarking.

You cannot get a tethering plan with AT&T without giving up your grandfathered-in unlimited plan *permanently*. You need the "DataPro 4GB" plan with tethering ("personal hotspot") -- this is $45/month total (instead of the $30/mon for the unlimited plan). I do not recommend this for your "everyday" internet connection at home. It's the same problem of a "shared-medium" (the cell site in this case) as that of comcast/cable -- it could give you 1-2Mbit one moment, then be 0.1Mbit the next (or completely unavailable). The latency can be a big problem too. Totally avoid if you ever want to use gaming or video-conferencing/skype, the latency and spotty bandwidth issues are just too problematic a lot of the time.

DSL is your best bet, and I'd do everything I could to get to the bottom of why you are experiencing poor throughput -- whether it's your internal wiring, the distance to the CO, or a Qwest network/hardware issue so that you know what steps to take next.

Good luck!

 

Thanks Paul. I talked to Qwest already and they said it's the old lines or equipment in my neighborhood. My house is only about 25 years old but the neighborhood is much older. It looks like they are making some improvements to the phone lines in the area but they couldn't tell me if it would eventually improve my service. In fact I think their words were "I don't see any improvements in your area".

I asked if there was anything that could be done but the answer was a simple no. When I said I would be switching service then, the only thing they said was "sorry our service isn't working out for you".

 

25 years can is old copper (possibly heavily corroded), plus the copper was not of very good quality "back then" because good quality copper was not needed for POTS (plain old telephone service). Is there any way you could plug your DSL modem into the jack on the outside of the house (the box owned by qwest) -- if you get better throughput there, you then know that it's your internal wiring.

Otherwise, it looks like you'll have to use tethering and a 4GB datapro AT&T plan on your cellphone. Be aware that 4GB can be consumed pretty quickly -- a high-quality HD movie can range from 0.2 to 0.6 GB of transferred data. Given that it's $10 per extra GB, this equates to about $5 for *just* the data transfer costs once you exceed 4GB per month (and 4GB is obviously eaten up by about 8 HD movies). (Note that not all HD movies are really HD -- they're so heavily compressed that they use much less data at the expense of image quality. These pseudo-HD movies use fractions of GB, but "true" HD such as that on Blu-Ray disc use around 20GB for a full-length feature (Therefore, true Blu-Ray HD would cost $200 just to deliver over AT&T's data plan -- which explains why everyone in the content-delivery business has worked to reduce the data size of HD at the expense of IQ).

 

Reviving a dead thread for a reason....

My mother mentioned in passing that she is thinking about changing from Direct TV to Comcast so I thought I would ask, those in the know who have used both, what are the pro's and con's? We have had Direct TV for over 10yrs and are happy (especially me because I get all the racing channels) but Direct TV is always trying to slip in hidden fee's, try to make us pay for something we never ordered and we are at our wits end. For instance on the 23rd of last month I ordered "Taken 3" on PPV (first PPV order in years) but Direct TV took it upon themselves to provide us with a subscription to Showtime, an extra $13 a month. I caught their little scheme and promptly called them out. Now here is the kicker....if I canceled this subscription before one month we would be charged an extra $10 fee!!!! The customer service rep thought she was being smooth when she said she would take 50% off the $13 when we cancel on 6/11. Were do they get the gall to charge us for something we never ordered and they cannot verify who ordered the subscription??