Friggin Comcast!

[drm604]

This morning I was not able to tune in MSNBC. I called Comcast and they tell me that I will need their digital tuners to get it. Even worse, as of June 12 I will need the digital tuners to get anything channel 32 or higher.

They say there's no charge for the tuners, but the problem is that it will break my Tivo! :grr: I could get a newer model Tivo which would work with the digital signal but I've had the current one for years and when I originally purchased it I bought a lifetime contract with it, which means that as long as I have this particular Tivo, I never have to pay for Tivo service. So if I want to continue using Tivo (and after all of these years it's difficult to imagine being without it) I'll have to pay for a new unit and start paying a monthly fee to use it. :grr:

I hate it when these companies force changes on you when they know you have no viable alternatives. I'm also skeptical that they won't at some point start charging for the tuners.

[Junkdrawer]

1. That I can get channels WITHOUT a tuner box is the ONLY reason I stay with COMCAST...

when they make the changeover in Pittsburgh, I go with a dish.

[MADem]

2. No charge? Really? I'm paying a couple of bucks a month for one. NT

[ejpoeta]

12. probably the 'rental' fee. same thing we have with directv... our recievers are older than dirt

as we got them when bob worked for a company that installed directv and did service calls and such. they sent us broken ones that were old already. we still ahve them. they suck. but anyway, we bought a new one at the store and they tried to tell us we were going to have to pay a monthly fee for this new one. though i think it was called a mirror fee. what a racket! all of it. and i swear that this whole digital thing is just a way to force people to go buy new stuff! there isn't anything wrong with the tv I have, but I have to now go buy a converter box or upgrade my tv... now, since i have directv I don't need to do that unless I want to just have a tv that hooks up to the regular tv stations. or, for you having to buy a new tivo unit. it's bs.

[PRETZEL]

3. That explains why I couldn't get MSNBC this morning,

Comcast does suck. DirectTV didn't seem much better either. We were always losing signal for some reason.

Oh, btw, Comcast deals aren't deals. They royally screwed us over and didn't want to hear about their mistakes.

[surrealAmerican]

4. I'm still hopeful that as of June 12 ...

... our digital reception will be good enough to discontinue Comcast. They have been consistently irritating to do business with.

[drm604]

5. That's fine as long as you don't want the cable channels.

Most of my viewing is cable channels.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. can you switch to another company

I've heard that Comcast has a lot of dropped signals

[drm604]

11. I could switch to satellite but that wouldn't solve anything.

It would still break my Tivo.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Sounds Like They Moved It To The Digital Tier

If you already have cable, you shouldn't need to upgrade to anything...your old TV will work fine. The June 12th "flash" date only pertains to over-the-air stations, not the cable. You should still get all your local channels and the lower tier cable channels without having to throw more money at these blood suckers.

What they're trying to do is hook people into the more expensive packages by putting some of the more popular channels on digital...just enough to hope to push you to spend the extra $25 or more a month.

There are ways of getting around the digital cable box. I have a little USB device for my puter that lets me plug into the cable and get all the digitial channels. Suck on it Comcast. :rofl:

[drm604]

9. That's not what they told me.

After June 12 Comcast will be moving everything channel 32 and higher onto the digital tier. So the June 12 date DOES apply. There's no technological reason that I know of that it has to apply, but they've decided to do it for some reason. There's no extra charge (so they claim), I'll just need the tuners to maintain the same level of service at the same price. If I don't get them then there's not much point in paying for cable because there aren't many cable channels under 32 that I even watch.

None of this would be a hassle if it weren't for the Tivo.

[ejpoeta]

13. probably just gives them cover to make it seem like it has to do with the digital conversion. a plo

see, consumer choice sounds great... unless it isn't much of a choice. they can do what they want and there isn't much you can do about it because there is no real competition. i don't know what is available where you are, but here we have time warner cable or satellite... being dish or directv. that's it.

[cbdo2007]

8. tell them your switching services to something else

Then they'll start asking you to stay and offering you different sh*t to stay with them. Tell them to throw in the new box for free.

You do have a viable alternative. Switch to a satellite provider or something.

This is hardly an problem you can't overcome fairly easily.

[drm604]

10. The new tuner is already free. I don't need to negotiate for it.

Unless you have a way to magically make my Series I Tivo interpret a digital signal then it IS a problem that I can't easily overcome.

[ejpoeta]

14. have you searched the internet for any info regarding possible ways to get arond that?

like some sort of converter box for the tivo or something else? maybe there is something you haven't thought about that might allow you to continue using your current tivo. it seems stupid that you should have to now buy a new unit and pay a monthly fee now... ooh that is annoying! there must be some way!

[Junkdrawer]

15. Check this thread on the TIVO Community site...

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=424775

[drm604]

16. THANK YOU!

It looks like there is a way for it to work with the Tivo. So I just called Comcast and I can go over to their local office now and pick up the boxes. So I'll have MSNBC back along with some other things by tonight.

Thank you Junkdrawer! :applause: Now if you can also find me a job I'll bow down and worship you!

[Junkdrawer]

17. Looked good on paper. Hope it works out...

:hi:

[drm604]

18. Everything works perfectly.

And I now have On Demand at no extra charge. Plus some other channels I had lost are back.

MSNBC is back and I'm watching Rachel as I type. :D