Demanding Comcast lower their prices?

[Melena]

I think I only yelled at a comcast rep once in my life. My TV has 2 HDMI and 1 component (old ass 32" samsung 1080i). My wii is hooked to component, so I told them I need an HDMI box. The first two boxes we got, half the channels we were supposed to have (including showtime) would not come through. On Demand also refused to work. They admited the HDMI boxes that don't have a DVR in them are crap and won't work. I told them i'd take a DVR box, but I refuse to pay for it. 3 Phone calls over the course of the year, I finally lost it on the rep because they kept telling me to take a normal HDMI box or use composite (which doesn't work for HD) or pay the ten dollars a month. Finally got a supervisor with half a brain who got me a package with DVR included.

[Cephius]

FiOS customer here. It's worth it. You need to sign a 2 year contract for their triple play service, when it's time to renew just speak with a representative, tell them you're thinking about going back to competitor X, and they'll re-up you if you lock into another 2 year deal. Repeat ad naseum.

[quannum]

FiOS, offering service (which I hear is superior) for $99/mo for a year.

I'm thinking of calling up Comcast and basically telling them "charge me $99/mo, or I walk"...

do this, don't bluff.

[Julian]

Don't even call Comcast (well, do to cancel) and go to FiOS. Seriously.

[Kohan]

FiOS is the way to go. You don't like Verizon, yet you're cool with Comcast? The latter is rather talented at sucking a more heinous amount of cocks than the former. Beyond that, the FiOS-related hardware within your apartment will be about the size of a shoe box—nothing to fret about.

[Caiyuo]

I called Comcast to say I had to cut my budget, and that I couldn't afford their rates. They gave me another year at the 1/2 price rate instead of cutting off my service. Better than nothing. Will revisit my budget in 6 months. They kept a customer and were great about it. I didn't threaten at all.

I tried this last week hoping for the same result, my new customer 6 month promo had run out and I was hoping to get it renewed, and when I called to cancel and told the CSR I liked the service, but it was out of my budget, they just said "cool" and processed it. lol Wasn't really sure how to pull out of that in order to try again, not really sure what to do now other than switching service or paying $60 a month.

[Dimmauk]

But seriously, call and do not be a dick about it. As I said with me on supe calls, if the customer is nice and just telling they cannot afford it due to pricing and do not yell, hey, I can slap a 6mo 20% off discount on there. Act like a retard and yell, I will say "If you want to disco services, I hate to see ya go, but I can process it for you right now."

I was nice about it, I also mentioned that my wife was pregnant and we were looking for ways to cut bills.

[Talus]

The FiOS installation at my house (SFH) took about four hours. The guys were nice enough to go up into the attic and drop a line from the splitter so that my guest bedroom would have cable too - didn't charge me extra. The router goes at your main computer, and they install the battery backup as well (the shoebox/box thing people have talked about). Most people get the backup installed in their basement/garage. In an apartment, of course that would be trickier.

I had Comcast and I wasn't even a heavy user - didn't torrent at all, didn't stream a lot of stuff, mainly used internet for browsing/e-mail/gaming/porn. At times though I noticed service kind of sucked... like I was being throttled, which speedtest.net confirmed. I was RARELY getting the bandwidth I paid for, even at off-peak hours, which I found odd. After the switch to FiOS I've had no complaints. The picture seems better, tuning happens faster when switching channels, and the internet was much much faster. I was paying for 25/25 (the middle package at the time) but I was regularly getting 30+/15+ (a little low on the up side, but like I said I don't really torrent so IDGAF).

I'll add my voice to the chorus and say switch to FiOS if at all possible.

[Francisco]

I got $20/mo off - plus free HBO (lol, is HBO even worth a damn?) for a year when I called... no obligation to stay, so I took it for now.

What's FiOS cost once the $99/mo runs out?

Also, is the giant basement shit required? I don't want to do any major stuff in the basement or the landlord might turn around and try to charge me for "damages" or some shit.

Oh - I pretty much need the phone service as well. I absolutely refuse to carry a cell phone for various reasons. I'm sure that statement alone will send this thread off topic...

[hey]

I don't understand why you would say such nonsense without explaining at least one reason.

[Skyylya]

Do Fios it's awesome. I've had them for 4 years and i've NEVER had to sign a contract or anything so i'm not sure who has had to do that or if it's different based on area (i'm in Tampa). I signed up in early 2008 when I moved here from Tallahassee and got a triple play deal (again no contract) for 124/mo for the HD tv package, 25DL/15UL internet and phone line since I was working from home.

When I stopped working from home, I called back and got a new plan for 99/mo for just the TV and internet, except it had more channels and a 25/25 internet speed since that was the plan they had at that time. When I bought my house and moved, they told me about a new promotional plan I could set up at my new house as a "new" customer and for 89/mo I got even more channels and now have a 35/25 internet. In all of these times I have never come across a time when my plan would "expire" and a higher rate would take over.

I have had a few issues with Verizon but calling customer service has fixed every single one of them.

Also, you can cancel/order the movie channels and get the discount specials every time if you do it online. Right now I have every movie channel available for 15/mo for the next three months. Once that is up I will cancel it, wait a few days/week and then re-order online to get the discounted rate. I've been doing that for the last 2 years and nobody has ever said a thing to me about it.

Fios is awesome and Verizon isn't bad. They make mistakes, as does everyone, but i've never called CS and just been told to deal with it or transferred around. Generally they've done warm transfers and made sure i'm on the phone with the right person before disconnecting.

[Guyverarmor]

I was nice about it, I also mentioned that my wife was pregnant and we were looking for ways to cut bills.

I'm waiting for the day when you some how ask for a supe and get routed to me >.>

[Qalbert]

It explains why you use comcast.

[Melena]

Wish we had FiOS in the bay area.

[Tweek]

plus free HBO (lol, is HBO even worth a damn?)

you being srs?

I absolutely refuse to carry a cell phone for various reasons.

I'm basically done with you.

[Jefe]

You need to get a hold of the right person on the other end. Some will help you out and some won't.

Yeah. When I was about to cancel my dsl w/ AT&T they transfered me to the supervisor or w/e and offered a 10 buck deal. I was like I can't refuse that offer.

[Francisco]

you being srs?

Yeah. Not sure what's worth watching on HBO except maybe that Larry David show...

I'm basically done with you.

Okay, I had a cell phone at one point and got rid of it for the following reasons:

- Work can no longer call me in on my days off. If the house phone rings, I can say I wasn't home. If I had a cell phone, they have a reason to bitch that I didn't pick up. This alone made me hate cell phones - that any annoying fuck can expect to reach me on demand 24/7 for any stupid bullshit.

- Text messages. I hated the entire texting culture. Especially when people reply to texts with "lol" "k"... or send out texts saying "sup?"... or text you "hello???" or "u there???" if you don't answer their first dumbass text in 3 minutes or less.

- Found myself just leaving the godforsaken thing at home all the time when I went out, to which someone asked "what's the point of having a cell phone?" - I replied with "good point".

I haven't missed the "convenience" of cell phones since I stopped using one over two years ago. If anything - it just pisses other people off to no end because they can't call me up or text me to verify something like an obscure Simpsons reference while I'm out on a date or at a Red Sox game.

Anyway...

What was the cost of FiOS once the 99/mo promo runs out?

[Bingbong]

Fios and don't look back. I sure as fuck haven't.

^^This.

The box they install on the inside is about 1/4 the size of a normal electric panel. They attached it to the wood panel in my basement that has the panel box on it. Other than that, there's a box on the outside... it's really nothing major. A home alarm system is more intrusive.

[Tweek]

Yeah. Not sure what's worth watching on HBO except maybe that Larry David show...

Yes.. Curb your Enthusiasm
Game of Thrones
Boardwalk Empire
Entourage
True Blood


Lot of people like these too but I don't really watch them
Bored to Death
Treme
Hung
East Bound and Down (used to watch kinda got old to me)

[Francisco]

I'm way out of the loop, other than Entourage (which sounds like a big deal) and Curb Your Enthusiasm... I've never heard of any of those. And I have no idea what Entourage is about.