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Posted by: Vijay Balakrishnan - December 29, 2011 10:29 AM
Hi, My cost for Digital economy is 49$ with $7 for Modem rental.It is far above the 29.99$/mo that you mention. I specifically asked them for the 29.99/mo package with Limited basic and that came to $49. I don't even want Limited basic TV.I just want Internet and it costs me more. I just cannot understand this monopoly anymore. Vijay
Posted by: Angela Southwick - June 06, 2012 01:38 PM
Thanks for providing this information. I called Comcast awhile ago (about a year ago) asking for a lower cost option than the Digital Starter package -- because I had a lower cost package in the past -- and they told me that there were no lower cost package. They also indicated that the package that I had previously no longer existed after the digital conversion. I will call again. Hopefully there response will be different than Vijay's.
Posted by: Sande Corbett - March 17, 2013 12:04 AM
It would be good to have an update of this, given the recent digital conversion in which Comcast is forcing all customers to use a digital adapter which basically disables the customer's ability to use their existing VCR. The Limited Basic package still exists at about $15/month (at least for those of us who already had it before the conversion), but Comcast/Xfinity has no options to add DVR service to a Limited Basic package to make up for the loss of VCR functionality. Customers are forced to upgrade to the $60/month package (plus extra for the DVR option) just to be able to record programs for later viewing.
Posted by: Amanda Fritz - March 25, 2013 10:53 PM
Thank you for your comment. For an update, try http://consumerist.com/2009/02/05/ten-ways-to-take-100-off-your-cable-bill/
Posted by: Keith Walker - March 27, 2013 06:13 PM
I thought I would add to the comments, because for local tv viewing, there is another option that has some upfront costs, but no recurring costs - HD antenna service. I have had limited basic with Comcast until this month (03-2013). The price with taxes in east Portland (Sellwood) was about $13/month. I was able cancel service, and convert my tv service to over the air digital tv antenna service (OTA-DTV). Broadcast towers now transmit in HD signal, so there is no degradation in viewing quality if you have the an HDTV. If you have an old analog tv, that does not receive HDTV signals, then this option is not for you. There is a website that is indispensable for predicting if your home will be able to receive OTA-DTV for your individual address: http://www.tvfool.com It is a free website. I was able to enter my address, ascertain signal strength, and azimuth. In non-geek terms, it allowed me to choose the proper antenna type, size, location, and where to point the antenna. I was able to purchase an antenna and after mounting, I was able to aim it with a compass smartphone app: https://catch.com/resources/mobile/compass/ My tv reception is excellent and all the HDTV channels are received in HD. In retrospect, the signal strength is so strong that I could of used an indoor antenna to get reception. The comcast channel offering of limited basic is just that. You get the local channels (CBS channel 6 was not carried in HD by comcast to my knowledge), and Discovery Channel. So for $13/mo. back in my pocket I only lost the Discovery Channel, yet gained CBS in HD signal. Additionally, my TV has an MTS feature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multichannel_television_sound This allows me to receive OPB's channel 10-3, which is an audio service. OPB transmits three radio stations on 10-3: 91.5 FM OPB Simulcast Music stream 1 from opbmusic.org (contemporary music) Music stream 2 from opbmusic.org (jazz) Comcast may of offered OPB's music channels in their costlier packages, but not limited basic, to my knowledge. btw, I still have Comcast internet service, which is really good service, so I am not knocking comcast as a service provider. By my calculations, the investment in installation and equipment will pay for themselves in one year. I hope this helps.
Posted by: Mark F - March 30, 2013 02:27 PM
Dear Commissioner Fritz, Thank you for pointing to the other website, but the tactics they describe there dont work well when Comcast is the only option for anything but very very basic DSL speed internet service. The real problem is that Comcast internet service is priced far above the lower tiers of cable service. At times in the past Comcast told me that internet only is more expensive than a package of cable TV and internet service. Look here and you will see that even their 6 Mbps service is $49.95 per month. http://wwwb.comcast.com/internet-service.html What I really would consider reasonable is 15-20 Mbps internet only service for about $20. That way I could choose to have only more basic cable tv or even none at all. Anything else available to me besides Comcast is 1.5Mbps which is not a reasonable speed for anything these days. So another thing you could do would be to facilitate other companies to install faster services in the areas where Comcast is the only option. Competition is what we need, not a monopoly. Post a Comment (Sign-In Required) |
Commissioner Fritz et al,
I appreciate this blog. Even though your discussion(above)2 years 'old', it was the best option available of all google hits when searching for the Comcast cable package options. I was interested in downscaling to the economy. However, even comcasts search options did not steer me to a description!
Also, it is good to know David Olson is/was in the same role as I knew him when working as manager in HR, at City of Portland (1987-2002)My best wishes to him.