comcast cable internet

buckle97 · Oct 26, 2004

If your system works like Adelphia's, you'll have TV. 

Don, very interesting. I am going to try hooking up a TV tonight when I get home. I'll report back what I find out.
The main reason I use DirecTV instead of cable for televison is because I also have DirecTV in a second home (it was my Grandparent's, and I "inherited" it) which I stay in one or two nights per week. DirecTV allows me to pay just a pro-rated charge for the second house based on how much I watch it. So I don't have to pay the full $45 per month for a full hookup. They can tell when my box is on and that is what they charge me for. Works out pretty well for me. I remember visiting my Grandparents in the summers growing up and they would only have two channels of television. Now that nobody is living in that house full-time, we get over 150 channels /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

Lawrence

OkeeDon · Oct 26, 2004

A pro-rated charge for a second house? I wasn't aware of that! We have a cabin in the mountains where we only have 2-3 channels, no cable. I'd be very willing to switch to Direct-TV in order to get satellite at the cabin, which we only use a few weeks a year. I wonder how they handle it if both locations are in use -- for example, my wife spends at last 2 weeks a year up there while I stay home.

Of course, the other problem I'd have to solve is that the cabin is on the North side of the mountain. I think the only place tht would have an line to the satellite would be the top of the chimney, otherwise I'd have to run a cable up the hill (through vacant property I don't own) about 300' to the summit.

thcri · Oct 26, 2004

Don,

We have a dish both at our cabin and our house. We just move the reciever from one place to the other. No we can't watch at both places at the same time.

murph

Henro · Oct 26, 2004

Comcast kind of sucks but it is essentially all we have at our address...

I say it sucks because about a year ago they forced us to take basic cable TV or pay the same whether we took it or not. Well that is not completely true. They said take the TV and keep the current rate for internet access for six months, or refuse the cable TV and start paying an additional $15 per month immediately.

So we took the cable TV (which we never use) and saved $75. They had to send out a guy to do the wiring, which cost them bucks...

Comcast sucks but they are still better than the alternative...dial up...

If there was an alternative I would dump comcast in a blink of the eye...but since I don't have another high speed option I live with them...

Did I mention Comcast has left a bad taste in my mouth???

Don't want to be too blunt...but...Comcast sucks...in my opinion...only because they have forced me to pay an additional $15 per month for TV service that I don't want or need...

Gatorboy · Oct 27, 2004

because they have forced me to pay an additional $15 per month for TV service that I don't want or need... 

That sucks. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Gomez · Oct 27, 2004

( ...Comcast sucks...in my opinion...only because they have forced me to pay an additional $15 per month for TV service that I don't want or need... )

How else could they afford to buy Mickey and friends? /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

buckle97 · Oct 27, 2004

Well what do you know, Don? I hooked up my TV to my cable line when I got home last night and I was recieving channels 2-57. I can't believe I never thought of trying that before. I guess CableOne's "basic" level of service is 56 channels. I looked over my bill one more time and there is definately not a charge for cable TV on there, just cable internet.
I wasn't sure about the two house DirecTV setup at first, sounded too good to be true. But after talking with a rep at Best Buy, I called DirecTV and they confirmed that I would only have to pay for ONE full hookup and then just what I used at the second house. We bought a three room reciever set. We have two recievers at our house and one reciever we keep at our second house. We were told in the beginning that we would have to call DirecTV and have them turn one house ON or OFF depending on which one we were in. We have had the system for over a year now and I have never called DirecTV and the boxes have worked at BOTH houses at the same time every time. Our bill is right at $60 for the Total Plus package with Local Channels and 3 recievers (they charge $5 for each reciever past the first one). That includes our "pro-rated" charge each month of about $4 for about six nights of viewing at our second house. I was able to buy a second DirecTV dish off of EBay and just installed it myself, so I didn't incur any additional costs from DirecTV there.
Let me know if you have any other questions about this setup. I sure am enjoying it /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

Lawrence

OkeeDon · Oct 27, 2004

The basic cable thing on internet only is kinda neat. Before I retired, having the TV at the store was like a perk -- I really didn't want it badly enough to pay for it, but as long as it was there, I was sure going to use it.

Your solution for the two locations holds some real promise for me, if we ever get back to being able to use the cabin on a regular basis.

Nasty135 · Oct 30, 2004

kokopelli2, I live in southern Md. and got comcast through a trial offer for 6mos. at 19.95 It didn't work at first because my house was wired with rg-9 cable which had too much loss in the cable so I got some rg-6 from the Cable Guy and by passed all the splitters to get to the modem, installed mini- hub and now run 4 computers at the same time which is sweet /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif But the CLAIMED download rate of 3MB (originally) now I believe 4MB is not obtainable!And I've tested connected with just one PC to the modem and at best I get about 500-600k which still much faster the dial-up.
I have never lost service YET but I have heard the horror stories of people trying to get digital TV and could never get it working.
Basic limited cable is really basic cable with a filter installed at the pedestal,if the filter should fall off ...you would HHMMM, you know.
I would get DSL since I work for the company but its not available out here yet! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif There is however a BIG PUSH to get it deployed everywhere ASAP then I'm sure they will offer TV as well just as soon as the RED tape can be cut through ,Its just a matter of time ...COMCAST is on its LAST LEG. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Gatorboy · Oct 30, 2004

And I've tested connected with just one PC to the modem and at best I get about 500-600k which still much faster the dial-up. 

Your speeds depend on how many people are logged on in your neighborhood -- cable is shared bandwidth.

 installed mini- hub and now run 4 computers at the same time which is sweet 

I suggest a router instead of a hub -- which will guard against unwanted entry into your PC and home network. If you don't have a router, I hope you are running some type of firewall protection (e.g. ZoneAlarm). The problem with this type of setup is that the computer running ZoneAlarm (Master) must be on all the time to allow the other PCs (clients) access to the internet.