Is Comcast going to implode?

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by Morpheus 02, Sep 15, 2009.

  1. Spot's Meow

    Spot's Meow Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Hotel California
    I wish so so badly that there was an alternative in my area to Comcast. We can't get satellite because we live in an apartment complex and the signal would not work from our balcony anyway. Comcast is a hugely sucky company and nothing they offer is reliable in any way. I can't even access On Demand 85% of the time...I have to unplug the whole system from the wall and plug it back in then wait 20 minutes to use it. And that of course causes the guide to empty out. Fucking stupid.

    The biggest factors in which apartment we choose to live in next time we move will be whether it has a washer and dryer and if it will be an acceptable location for receiving satellite. I love my TV and movies and Comcast is fucking it up.
     
  2. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Here is the most recent article I could find, which shows profits are up despite fewer subscribers. Subscribers are declining because we're in a recession, of course, but also because Comcast is jacking up prices. Subscribers were increasing as late as Q1 this year.

    This is probably the most interesting part:

     
  3. Teelie

    Teelie Vice Admiral Admiral

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    May 1, 1999
    I hate monopolies, especially ones run under inefficient, ineffective and deceitful ones like Comcast's. True few monopolies are ever good or beneficial to their customers but Comcast is an example of a particularly bad one even by the standard.
     
  4. mredom

    mredom Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I've had Directv for about 7 years now. I have been extremely happy with the price and the service. Do I like everything-no, but I don't think that's ever going to happen.

    I wouldn't subscribe to Comcast if it was the only thing I could get. I would rather just watch dvd's and internet feeds than deal with the Comcast customer service and pricing.
     
  5. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Hate comcast. paying over hunderd for cable and internet. since going to digital ( oh wow ) you now have to use the cable box, which makes it hard to record lots of different channels on the multiple VCRs I use. pain in the ass really.

    who has direct tv, does rain interfear with the signal? got trees acrss the street how bout that?
     
  6. cylkoth

    cylkoth Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2003
    Soon, ConCrap-as well as other cable cos, will be reducing basic cable service down to a bare minimum 22 channels, mostly, the local broadcast stations, and a few low rent basic networks. The AVS forum (avsforum.com) is filled with posts from around the country mentioning ConCrap switching to a predominantly digital model, where they provide you with 1 or 2 cheap jack free QAM tuner like boxes to unscramble the Extended Basic tier.
    http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1170940
     
  7. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    I have Dish Network and unless it is raining like crazy--and I mean raining so hard you're worrying about flash flood warnings--the signal comes in crystal clear. The days where any stray raindrops nuke your signal are long gone. If the dish is installed properly, it takes a damn ferocious storm to knock out the signal, and even then it'll only be until that part of it passes.
     
  8. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    ^ What about the dish being physically knocked off your roof? That's always a risk during a storm, innit?

    And don't you still have to have two dishes - one for normal service and one for local channels?
     
  9. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    Location:
    Far North Chicago Suburbs
    ^ Chicagoland area here (DISH). I have 1 dish and get all the locals and the"Americas 200" (or whatever the number is now).

    A second dish would only be necessary if I wanted 2 (I think) more local channels (1 Spanish language and 1 low end public TV channel), neither of which I care about. This is due to (for some reason) those routing through a different satellite.

    And yeah, it's always possible for high winds to knock anything down, mine is on a 2nd floor apartment balcony, so it's kinda protected.

    And like I mentioned earlier, I only lose reception when an extremely powerful storm is first passing through, usually before the rain even starts. Just during that first dark front hitting. It just has to be aligned as well as possible.
     
  10. thedude

    thedude Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Location:
    Central Illinois
    You guys who have Comcast in Chicago, just be happy you don't have to deal with them in Central Illinois. They used to be Insight here until about 2 years ago, and they're still trying to figure all the wiring out. When I first got high speed at my townhome it would go out every time it rained, and every Friday at 5:30 PM, usually until about an hour before the tech could get there Saturday at 3 PM. Then they never found a problem, so couldn't do anything. It wasn't until a senior tech came out from Indiana did they realize this was affecting everyone on the block, and I was the only one calling about it. There was a "standing waveform loopback" in the wire from the main street, and it was cancelling out service for everyone at peak loads...

    Oh, and to top it all off, they're closing the Peoria office, so now tech support loads will increase even further.

    And to top it off, I'm paying over $100 for 10 Mbit service, with about 25 or 30 HD channels... I don't even watch standard def TV anymore, buy they refuse to offer any competitive deals with what Dish and DirecTV offer with all HD for like $30/month. So I'm just going to cancel TV now that baseball is over and just get all my TV shows elsewhere...
     
  11. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Nah. We've had gale-force winds in Indiana (50+ mph) and the dish doesn't even budget.

    You only need one dish, too. Current dishes can handle both the regular signal and the "spot beam" used for local channels.
     
  12. thedude

    thedude Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    You really should instill better spending habits in your dish so that it doesn't go into debt... nothing worse than a broke dish!
     
  13. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Shit! :lol: Obviously, I meant budge. Stupid typos.
     
  14. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    Far North Chicago Suburbs
    ^ It's OK. My dish doesn't budgie either, but other birds have been known to perch on it.

    My mom is looking into getting internet, and CC says they don't offer it in her area...those idiots. On top of it, her cable TV looks like crap most of the time, I'm gonna talk her into getting the DISH, more channels for less $$ anyway.

    Then she'll have to settle for some other form of internet access.
     
  15. HairOfTheDog

    HairOfTheDog Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Satellite tv FTW.

    Dish Network customer, here. :)
     
  16. melancholymecha

    melancholymecha Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Aug 21, 2002
    that sucks! we can only afford Comcast basic + expanded!
    We also have Comcast for highspeed internet. I dont know about satellite, being from Miami we get lots of rain/storms. :(
     
  17. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Most of these are complaints that have been prevalent about cable service since the industry's beginnings.
     
  18. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Is DSL available in her area? There's also wireless broadband, although all the major providers cap that, as far as I know. I had DSL at one time and was quite happy with it.
     
  19. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    Pretty much every other option is available. I hoped to get her the CC for the lower price since she already has the cable TV.

    AT&T is probably the way to go, I don't figure she's going to be an internet junkie like me.
     
  20. TemporalFlux

    TemporalFlux Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I know how you feel about Comcast; I have the same thing with the Cable One monopoly in my town. We only get about 60 network and cable channels, and there's only 25 or so that are available as HD.

    Of course, satellite is an option for people who can use it; but in a rural city, you often run into the problems of immovable obstructions to the signal (such as the large number of trees surrounding the house of one of my friends). For me, the problem is that my property is a lightning rod due to an underground river; any satellite dish I put up would be struck by lighting and fried a day or two after installation.

    I've been hoping AT&T cable will become available here, but most of the phone lines in my town are still century old copper and thus unable to carry the signal. They are replacing with fiber optics, but it's at a snail's pace; they don't even had an ETA on it (and given that my area still doesn't even have something easy like AT&T 3G, I can't imagine the fiber optics will be finished within the next 15 years).