Comcast

[MoroneSaxatilis]

I'm going to "buck a trend" here and play "Devil's Advocate" (TWO clichés in ONE sentence!).
I pay $$130.00/mnth for my Comcast Digital Hi-Def TV service w/dual tuner DVR plus high speed internet.
Comcast claims D/L speeds of up to 4 MBS (6 in some areas). I don't know if this is different from actual "connection speed" (if there IS such a thing). Raven, could you tell me how to check my speed? I'm very interested to know. I DO know that I rarely, if ever, experience any connection problems, and when I D/L something, if I blink, I miss it.
We are BIG TV fans here (we have FOUR young children). We have the package that includes all the channels they offer, plus all the HBOs (HD, Zone, Comedy). Comcast's On Demand feature, combined with the dual tuner DVR, gives us great viewing flexibility. We can watch one show while recording another. We can record two shows while watching one of them, and we can record two separate shows while watching a third that we already recorded. Not to mention the ability to pause and rewind live TV (which we use all the time), featuring 4 rewind and fast foward speeds. You wanna REALLY see if that receiver had possession of that ball? Try rewinding the network's slo-mo replay in slo-mo, and all in crystal-clear Hi-Def! I suppose that purchasing a unit such as the Sony hard disk recorder would offer me many of these features, but if it breaks, I have to pay to repair or replace it. If my Comcast dual tuner DVR craps the bed, they simply come out and switch it with a new one.
On Demand is constantly adding offerings. There is a seemingly endless variety of programming that we can tune into anytime, from family oriented, to science and nature, to do-it-yourself, to advant guard, to adult.
And of course, there are MOVIES: The pay movies are a bit different than "old fashioned" pay-per-view in that we have access to anything we buy (for anywhere from 2 to 4 bux) for 24 hours, which makes it more akin to renting a DVD at Blockbuster.
There are also free movies available to view any time at the touch of a button. Most of these are older movies, including many classics.
On the rare occassion that we do have a problem,or need some sort of service, I never have a problem getting through on the phone to a customer service rep, and they are always curteous and eager to help.
Does any given cable company have a monoply in its respective area, thus eliminating competition and increasing price? Most certainly. We have SEVEN TVs in the house; two of them Hi-Def. One in each of the four bedrooms, one in living room, one in office, and just added one in work-out room.
In terms of value, bang for the buck, I'm pretty much satisfied with my service.

Uhhh.. no.. I don't work for Comcast.

[TheSpecialist]

Raven we do Netflix, and at first I was against it. We get 3 dvd's in the mail, and once you watch one you put it back in the mail and a new one is sent out. The return address for them is in Brockton Ma. You go online and make a list of the movies you want to see, and they work off of your list. Turn around is very quick, and it is like 20 bucks a month. If you want to get real creative, with the right software, and a dvd burner well you guessed it, sent them back same day you could probably do 30 movies or more a month...


Verizon is lagging on the copper facilities, because they are going to FTTP, not wireless. FTTP ( Fiber To The Premise ot House) as others have mentioned it blows Comcast out of the water, and the price can't be beat. We are building a whole new network for it. Itwill be worth the wait....

[Raven]

because the movie's spread was on a brochure...

and you can bet "broke back mountain" won't ever be watched.

the only good thing about hollywooD is the friggan sign...

i partied with this cool hawain dude behind
the "D" for fatty... in 72...after this huge hollywood
kegger bash. people were (crashed) asleep everywhere
like seals on a rock....lol
- it was a BoB Marley reggae PARTY.

[Moses]

Originally Posted by MoroneSaxatilis

I'm going to "buck a trend" here and play "Devil's Advocate" (TWO clichés in ONE sentence!).
I pay $$130.00/mnth for my Comcast Digital Hi-Def TV service w/dual tuner DVR plus high speed internet.
Comcast claims D/L speeds of up to 4 MBS (6 in some areas). I don't know if this is different from actual "connection speed" (if there IS such a thing). Raven, could you tell me how to check my speed? I'm very interested to know. I DO know that I rarely, if ever, experience any connection problems, and when I D/L something, if I blink, I miss it.
We are BIG TV fans here (we have FOUR young children). We have the package that includes all the channels they offer, plus all the HBOs (HD, Zone, Comedy). Comcast's On Demand feature, combined with the dual tuner DVR, gives us great viewing flexibility. We can watch one show while recording another. We can record two shows while watching one of them, and we can record two separate shows while watching a third that we already recorded. Not to mention the ability to pause and rewind live TV (which we use all the time), featuring 4 rewind and fast foward speeds. You wanna REALLY see if that receiver had possession of that ball? Try rewinding the network's slo-mo replay in slo-mo, and all in crystal-clear Hi-Def! I suppose that purchasing a unit such as the Sony hard disk recorder would offer me many of these features, but if it breaks, I have to pay to repair or replace it. If my Comcast dual tuner DVR craps the bed, they simply come out and switch it with a new one.
On Demand is constantly adding offerings. There is a seemingly endless variety of programming that we can tune into anytime, from family oriented, to science and nature, to do-it-yourself, to advant guard, to adult.
And of course, there are MOVIES: The pay movies are a bit different than "old fashioned" pay-per-view in that we have access to anything we buy (for anywhere from 2 to 4 bux) for 24 hours, which makes it more akin to renting a DVD at Blockbuster.
There are also free movies available to view any time at the touch of a button. Most of these are older movies, including many classics.
On the rare occassion that we do have a problem,or need some sort of service, I never have a problem getting through on the phone to a customer service rep, and they are always curteous and eager to help.
Does any given cable company have a monoply in its respective area, thus eliminating competition and increasing price? Most certainly. We have SEVEN TVs in the house; two of them Hi-Def. One in each of the four bedrooms, one in living room, one in office, and just added one in work-out room.
In terms of value, bang for the buck, I'm pretty much satisfied with my service.

Uhhh.. no.. I don't work for Comcast.

Except for a couple minor details, I have the same set up at home and love it. Convenient for wife, kids and me. If they're happy, I'm happy.

But, if Verizon can actually deliver what they say is coming, I may have to switch.

http://www22.verizon.com/FiosForHome...netForHome.asp

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by MoroneSaxatilis

I'm going to "buck a trend" here and play "Devil's Advocate" (TWO clichés in ONE sentence!).
I pay $$130.00/mnth for my Comcast Digital Hi-Def TV service w/dual tuner DVR plus high speed internet.
Comcast claims D/L speeds of up to 4 MBS (6 in some areas). I don't know if this is different from actual "connection speed" (if there IS such a thing). Raven, could you tell me how to check my speed? I'm very interested to know. I DO know that I rarely, if ever, experience any connection problems, and when I D/L something, if I blink, I miss it.
We are BIG TV fans here (we have FOUR young children). We have the package that includes all the channels they offer, plus all the HBOs (HD, Zone, Comedy). Comcast's On Demand feature, combined with the dual tuner DVR, gives us great viewing flexibility. We can watch one show while recording another. We can record two shows while watching one of them, and we can record two separate shows while watching a third that we already recorded. Not to mention the ability to pause and rewind live TV (which we use all the time), featuring 4 rewind and fast foward speeds. You wanna REALLY see if that receiver had possession of that ball? Try rewinding the network's slo-mo replay in slo-mo, and all in crystal-clear Hi-Def! I suppose that purchasing a unit such as the Sony hard disk recorder would offer me many of these features, but if it breaks, I have to pay to repair or replace it. If my Comcast dual tuner DVR craps the bed, they simply come out and switch it with a new one.
On Demand is constantly adding offerings. There is a seemingly endless variety of programming that we can tune into anytime, from family oriented, to science and nature, to do-it-yourself, to advant guard, to adult.
And of course, there are MOVIES: The pay movies are a bit different than "old fashioned" pay-per-view in that we have access to anything we buy (for anywhere from 2 to 4 bux) for 24 hours, which makes it more akin to renting a DVD at Blockbuster.
There are also free movies available to view any time at the touch of a button. Most of these are older movies, including many classics.
On the rare occassion that we do have a problem,or need some sort of service, I never have a problem getting through on the phone to a customer service rep, and they are always curteous and eager to help.
Does any given cable company have a monoply in its respective area, thus eliminating competition and increasing price? Most certainly. We have SEVEN TVs in the house; two of them Hi-Def. One in each of the four bedrooms, one in living room, one in office, and just added one in work-out room.
In terms of value, bang for the buck, I'm pretty much satisfied with my service.

Uhhh.. no.. I don't work for Comcast.

$130 for all that
I have comcast and I think I am getting screwed.
It just went up AGAIN and my bill is about 115 or 120 for intenet connection, 2 ditgital boxes with the cheapest plan that comes with that, no HBO, no DVR, no HD

Maybe they gaff me in the town I live in, maybe different towns charge different rates WTF
I'm calling them when my wife gets off the phone
for 10 bucks more I'll go for the DVR, HBO sucks so I don't care about that so much but if it includes all of them, maybe it's worth it.

[Raven]

quote:
Raven, could you tell me how to check my speed? I'm very interested to know.
============================================

do it free at cnet.....


http://reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html

[EricW]

The sony 715 was not cheap. It was 599.99 I think. I usually don't check after I buy something, but one of the web shopping indexes shows it at 499 to 699. I got mine at circuit city which still lists it at 599.99. So it may be out there for a little less. It does seem high and it is, but the main reason I got it is because I have a 3 year old. We don't watch a ton of tv, but we can now watch things uninterrupted. This gives us the ability to pause live tv, record something at 9:00 come in to the room at 9:15 and rewind to the beginning and watch it to the end. It records to the end while you watch the beginning. We also have a library of shows for us and the little one to watch whenever you want. And you can make dvd's of whatever you record on the HD. You can also hook up a camcorder digitally to it and make dvd's. The video editing is not as good as on a computer but you can do the basic editing out scenes etc. It has this stupid tv guide system (which may work with cable, but I have a dish). that makes it look like tivo, you just click on the program listing you want to record. I have heard bad things about that, but since I just have it tune my dish for me and record it works great.
It does a bunch of other stuff I haven't tried. I also really enjoy not having to dig out a tape when you want to record something.

[fishaholic18]

Originally Posted by Raven

quote:
Raven, could you tell me how to check my speed? I'm very interested to know.
============================================

do it free at cnet.....


http://reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html

Just ran mine, 728.1 kilobits per second

[mikecc]

ran mine and 1318.7 kbps

[EricW]

sometimes the speed of the server sending you the data is not that great.

I got 1400k at cnet but 4026or so from this giganews test .
I have 4.4 mbps max from comcast

Try this one too.

http://www.giganews.com/performance.html

[MoroneSaxatilis]

Originally Posted by Raven

quote:
Raven, could you tell me how to check my speed? I'm very interested to know.
============================================

do it free at cnet.....

Thanx, D00D.
1601.9

I got 6149 kbps from Giganews, but that's D/L speed which I'm assuming is a different measurement than bandwidth calculation.

[beamie]

What are some of you guys saying about VerizonDSL at $15 a month. Mine is around 46 or so. They suck you in with introductory offers for 3 months then whack you. Although I am pretty happy with the DSL.

When that fiber comes around that will be nice.....but look for a hugh rate increase.