So I’ve gotten more than a few people hitting my site from search engines from the word “Comcast” and since I just adjusted my plan (again) I thought I’d mention my current Comcast plans and maybe save y’all a few bucks. First I’ll mention that I try to pay attention to recurring costs and utilities especially paying attention to my cable / internet bills since they are more of a luxury that heat or electricity.
If you don’t care about (possibly) saving money, don’t read the rest of this…Cable TV – I generally just get econo-basic, it’s generally available on most cable systems (I think many cities/townships require a cheap plan in the contract), it’s just generally the first 20-30 channels on the cable system, it’s on $12 (on my system) and usually doesn’t require a cable box (on most systems). I don’t want many more channels than that so it suites me fine. I think the next package up these days is $29.99 so that’s a big jump if I don’t want all those channels anyways. Here’s the thing if you want internet, the prices there quote for internet are $15 more if you don’t have cable so it’s really $3 cheaper to have cable TV with your cable internet.
Remember, just because one sales person doesn’t know about a service doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. If someone can’t help you, call back later and check with them.
HD TV – So on top of the econo-basic I pay $7 a month for an HD box (it just jumped up from $5), this gets me most of the major networks and a few more channels in HD. Please note, I do not have a HD TV, so I don’t get the full benefit, but it does look like it’s DVD quality (it’s definitely better than digital cable).
Cable Internet – Every 6 to 12 months I call and complain about the rates ($43 a month 6,000 down/384 up). I mention other offers (competing companies and DSL) and they usually drop my bill about $5-$15 a month for the next 6-12 months. Last time I called they offered me the deluxe service for $30 a month and this was 8,000 down/768 up so I took the offer. It’s normally $53 a month but it was a promotion and this expired this week so I canceled it. I do notice it’s a little slower (I actually think it’s the slower up speed that I’m noticing) but I’m debating if it’s worth $120 a year for the faster speed…
And don’t forget you can buy your own cable modem and save $3-$5 a month. If signing up for new service (via Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, etc.) you can generally get these for free after rebate so it’s really worth doing…
Here’s the thing when I called yesterday to change the plan they said they didn’t have any other packages (besides these 6,000 and 8,000) but I just checked my bill to verify these costs for this post and I seen they have a 4,000 (4 meg) plan (the bill was clarifying the names of the new plans starting May 1). FYI, they usually offer a $25 service too that’s 384 down (I think it’s 384 up), that’s not too fast but it’s better than dial-up (and it’s always on).
UPDATE: Tonight, no one seemed to think the 384 down service still exists, which is very funny since they just renamed it to “Economy”. So I’ve had two people tell me the Performance Lite at 4,000 (4 Meg) is $25 ($24.95 actually) in my area so I switched to it (that would really be some savings from $43 a month). But when they switched me I’m just getting 384 up and down, I’ve had this happen before when they’ve offered plans to me. So, it turns out that he thought that it’s an either the Economy (384 down) or the Performance Lite (4,000 down); both are $25 a month, I will be calling back in a few weeks to double-check that is really the case. But they did give me $5 off a month for the next 12 months for the time it took (about 50 minutes) so that’s something; I’d rather have had 4,000 down for $25 a month…
So the end result of tonight’s call is that 4,000 down for $24.95 (performance lite from Comcast) is not an option in my area but it might be in yours (or a similar plan from your company). Just test it while you’re on the phone to make sure it’s really that fast before you hang up…
Just found your blog and wanted to say as far as Comcast is concerned, many times the people answering the phones aren’t really aware of what’s going on with different plans and such. I don’t know if you are connected with the SE Michigan call center or the call center in Pennsylvania, but the SE MI call center has a lot of employee turnover. There are so many cable, internet, and phone plans floating around at any one time it’s difficult for the phone techs to keep up. They’re supposed to, but they are under a lot of pressure while working. I don’t work at the call center, but my husband is a field tech.
The employees put up with a lot of crap from customers because of bill increases, etc. The majority of the time the employees have no control over what happens.
I subscribe to DirecTV. I have HDTV, but am not currently subscribing to all HD channels (which, right now, include ESPN, ESPN2, Discover Theater in HD) because I’m waiting to the arrival of a whole slate of HD programming the provider will offer once new satellites lauch and bring greater bandwidth to make the carriage possible.
My DirecTV package includes locals, HD in locals, plus TNT, occasional FSN events, and HBO (the only premium channel to which I am currently subscribed). The standard definition channels to which I’m subscribed are comparable to digital cable offerings, including Biography Channel, Sleuth, Nicktoons, Boomerang, Fuse, Current, DIY, and SoapNet.
I use WOW! • Internet • Cable • Phone for high-spped Internet service.
For telephone, I don’t bother anymore with landline service and have been, for some time, cellular exclusive. I have Sprint PCS.
The best advice I can give is to continuously comparison shop if you’re not all that happy with current service.