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Comcast Launches New $5 Month Ad-Supported Streaming TV Service
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Many of Comcast customers do not have data caps. Sadly, the areas that have data caps are most likely the areas with little to no competition for Comcast. So they can enforce these caps and there is little the customers can do.
Do you live alone?
My family does a lot of streaming, but only one TV that is 4K, and we average about 1.5TB-2TB a month.
That is a lot of data. I am sure your data usage is well above average.
This would be about the equivalent of streaming 4K Netflix on 4 different TVs non-stop for a whole month. For someone watching just HD Netflix, it would be the equivalent of almost 20 TVs streaming HD Netflix non-stop for a whole month.
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Yeah, but that doesn't necessarily mean a STB. It looks like a STB is included with the $5.
That's just it...Xfinity WANTS to be your favorite box. That is why they added Prime, Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, Tubi, and MoviesAnywhere to their boxes. to make THEIR box the only box you need.
If you use ANOTHER stream box, you might say "I have a ROKU with all these apps..." or "I have an AppleTV and just use these apps" and you'd maybe mention Xfinity Flex in passing. but if you had the FLEX box...then you say I have Xfinity Flex with subscriptions to these others that I can all do on that box.
/s
The fee for modem/router, the local city fees, the required term contract, the upgrade fee for internet, the install fee, the DVR fee, the price $30 per month. Next year the Real price will appear on the bill. $50 per month.
Comcast has contract’s containing hidden fees that the best lawyers in the would could not figure out.
Buyer beware!
The fee for modem/router, the local city fees, the required term contract, the upgrade fee for internet, the install fee, the DVR fee, the price $30 per month. Next year the Real price will appear on the bill. $50 per month.
Comcast has contract’s containing hidden fees that the best lawyers in the would could not figure out.
Buyer beware!
Xfintiy is really the only option here for high speed internet. If you don’t want them, you have to accept “up to” 25 mbps speeds. We get Xfinity Home (basic alarm system), a decent UHD cable lineup, 250 mbps internet, and a phone line we don’t use for $110/month. After a year we’ll have to pay $10 for the cable box. At the end of the two-year term, who knows. They’ll probably jack it up to near $200. It’ll all be easy to get rid of if something better comes along as no holes were drilled into walls or doors when the security system was installed. We bought our own modem for $60 when we got started 4 years ago.
I actually like the X1 box. I can summon Netflix or Prime Video, or arm the alarm for the night, via voice commands into the remote. Now that our youngest is married and out of the house, we never go over 300 GB of data. The only mistake they made lately was removing the ability to set DVR recordings from their app. That was very handy.
I actually like the X1 box. I can summon Netflix or Prime Video, or arm the alarm for the night, via voice commands into the remote. Now that our youngest is married and out of the house, we never go over 300 GB of data. The only mistake they made lately was removing the ability to set DVR recordings from their app. That was very handy.
Interesting to see if the Amazon Prime Video and others will support Channels. I would assume the apps will be rather dumbed down.
living in an urban area the outside comCast plant is very old and showing its age here. Big nests of abandon wiring on the over head. The system degrades when its too cold outside and takes a vacation if it is raining snowing. The home cable modem will work for a month than drop out to a total brick where no amount of local resets matter.
conCast is not an option here.
conCast is not an option here.
I'm up against my 1TB cap every month, in fact I usually have to set Netflix to use the lower-bandwidth option partway through the month to avoid going over. Unfortunately I can't seem to find a way to set Prime Video to use a lower bandwidth on Apple TV, so that also means I will restrict my family to Netflix content (and non-4K at that) during that time until I'm sure I'll "make it". It's a sucky situation.
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That's what I already did. And even then Comcast keep creeping up the internet price almost on a monthly basis, and has a 1 TB data cap. Even though I'm probably paying more for Playstation Vue, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, I like the flexibility it offers. For example, I could drop Netflix for a few months and sub in Disney, or change Vue out for YouTube TV, add and drop HBO at will, etc. With cable you often find yourself locked into inflexible packages that are hard or expensive to change. And if you don't own a house, the 2-year contract they want to lock you into for lower pricing isn't an option because who knows how long you'll be there?
I can see this being what Comcast would like, but I still think it would be more successful to have an app on other boxes or for built-in Smart TV Apps.
Maybe Comcast is looking for this to be the next Firestick, ATV, or Roku, but I don't see it happening.
I might give it a try in about a year when I switch back to Comcast from FiOS for my ISP, but I doubt it would be something worth keeping after the new customer promotion is over and the internet prices increase.
I agree.
Another thought is it is easier to switch ISPs when you already maintain the box yourself. so maybe they are trying to tie the hands of the customer to the box. if you switch, you'd need to get your own box. Overall, I don't see a lot of greatness with the idea. but...to companies these days it is about the subscription model. THEN you can better balance the books/forecast an on-going income, not an income based off of when can we make the consumer pay a larger amount, you just say we have the consumer each month for a "low" rate that'll slowly increase.
I bet it won’t go against it since the cap like other Comcast stuff. They already have other streaming services and they doesn’t count against the cap.
We come close. 4 people in the house and stream everything, we went over a few times. Just because you don’t, but others might.
Works for Hulu.
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I used to Really hate Comcast.
They have really gotten unbelievably better!!
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I get 300 mbps for $50.00 per month from Xfinity.
from what I have been reading it sounds like there's still ads and it's just a $5 add on to all your other fees to be able to watch on smart phones and tablets.
What ever Bell and Rogers is, trust me, Comcast is worst. They’ve topped Most Hated Company in America polls many times over.
Plus, “Bell and Rogers”? That name alone disqualifies then from competition.
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I’m sorry, did you really mean to type 54 *terrabytes*? If so, who, what, when, where and why? That is so hard to fathom. Even if you had 5 kids, and they were each addicted to their own 4K never ending shows, I still don’t think you’d hit 54TB. All the data I’ve generated and (decided to save) over the last 30 years is maybe half that—and I hold on to a lot more isht than most. Are you running some kind of “server type thing”?
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Wow, that sounds like the opening to a dystopian sci-fi novel. Maybe you should keep writing and see what happens?
[doublepost=1553493574][/doublepost]I read the article and every single comment, and I still don’t understand what the eff this product is?
If someone tried to explain it to me I think I’d only become more confused. Waiiit, so this is a set top box for people who don’t already have the traditional cable set top box? Is that it? I was under the impression this was for people who already had cable...
Well, if that’s it, who in their right mind is savvy enough to have an internet connection without a cable package—yet not sure how to watch the content they’re into?
If I finally understand this, then that’s what didn’t click. It didn’t even occur to me that someone might have broadband internet without cable, but with an unfulfilled desire to watch TV or online content... Who is this mythical creature Comcast is after, and how is $5 a month (with ads) better than one-time $30 Roku?
Why voluntarily allow Comcast into your life any further than they already are? Are there people for whom their list of problems and dissatisfactions just isn’t long enough? People who’d like to be angrier than they are now, but not sure how to do it? If someone like that exists, then whatever the flock this free/not free Comcast service is, it should do the trick.
just so you all know:
there is not a lot of competition for internet, cell and basic cable this side of the Atlantic.
slightly rural areas, 5 minuites from town may only have one internet provider.
Permanent for Now!! --There are Always price increases for Cable/Internet!!
ETA: I notice Comcast/Xfinity is running Specials(I guess in selected areas where competition is brisk) offering good specials on their internet pricing. And Xfinity "Overprovisions" their posted internet speeds by 20%.
For instance I pay for 250 mbps and get 300mbps.
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I know, I’m one of you hicks too. When the DJ puts on a slow romantic ballad I get to chose between Comcast and Comcast as my dance partner (though it feels very much the other way around). What would Comcast look like in human form? That’s an interesting question. Definitely a large white mile with no tan and a penchant for jean shorts and black death metal concert t-shirts. Has the build of a middle linebacker who blew out both knees in the middle school football league. Quick to judge, easily frustrated—and for sure hears voices. How ever, he is never, ever, ever, wrong about anything, so it’s best not to even imply as much. Claims to be even-tempered savant, despite a lifetime of tests and anecdotal evidence suggesting the opposite. Iffy short-term memory, highly questionable mid-term memory and no long-term memory at all. Gone. Apparently “can” read and does, but it’s never been observed. Sole hobby growing up was to kill neighbors young pets, shortly after they’d be brought home—and in extended, mercilessly torturous ways.
Your situation is probably the worst I’ve ever heard of though. And the way you described it really caused me to feel for your situation. Maybe Musk will save us all. And if he can’t do that, I’d rather he, uh, maybe discount some of his electric cars.