I don’t know what’s going on, but Comcast has served me very well this year. In prior years I haven’t had much positive to say. Maybe it was the possibly intoxicated installer who had to be escorted out by the Verizon installer, or his replacement who drilled a hole through our dresser, or the three visits to get the TiVo Series3 operational, channel lineup issues, unusable broadband, etc. But this year, Comcast has really been on top of their game (service and support) and they deserve some public lovin’.
When I joined Sling in February, I figured I’d want a little more bandwidth to stream up to 3 Slingboxes simultaneously. So I reluctantly gave up my Verizon DSL (capped at 384Kbps up in my apartment building) and moved on over to Comcast which offered 768Kbps. The process of adding broadband was very smooth and the service has been very good – fast and reliable.
Sometime in the spring I decided I didn’t need all these extra digital channels, but I did want to keep ESPN, Discovery, etc in HD on my S3. I called Comcast and they were able to cut the digital tier (~$15/mo) but retain the HD channels… for free. Nice! Also nice: In my region Comcast doesn’t charge for CableCARD rentals.
I gave Comcast a call this morning asking if they had any deals on the movie channels. Unfortunately they didn’t have any promotions running and it looked like the cable television portion of my bill would nearly double. However, the phone agent was very patient and went through a variety of TV packages and deals on my broadband until we found something agreeable. He asked if my CableCARDs were in a TV or a TiVo (!) and then put me on hold while he called in the changes. HBO HD and Showtime HD magically appeared (on both tuners). Then he wished me a good day, good week, and good weekend.
Maybe this competition thing (satellite, FiOS) is finally paying off for us consumers.
Ironically, we just finished watching Season 3 of Deadwood (Netflix) last night which motivated me to subscribe to HBO figuring Season 4 had just begun… only to discover Deadwood is on an indefinite hiatus. D’oh! Oh well, I did add Season Passes for Entourage, Weeds, and John From Cincinnati. Anything else I need?
Huh? Weeds is on Showtime. And Deadwood is, well, pretty much dead.
Big Love (HBO, Mondays) is good too.
I got all the Showtime and HBO channels. I’ll update the post to make it more clear. I just added Season 1 of Big Love to my Netflix queue and I’ll start recording episodes now in case we dig it – thanks.
HBO and Showtime suck.
I was amazed when I moved to Comcast from DirecTV last year at how much better they had become since I dealt with them in 2003 when my wife and I bought our house and left Comcast for TV (they are, unfortunately, the only high speed option in the neighborhood – then and now). I had excellent service when we moved back to cable, and then this year when I bought my Series3 and scheduled the install that also went terrifically.
I’m not sure what’s going on at Comcast, but I hesitate to call it “wrong.” ;)
Trying out Big Love is a good move. I was pleasantly surprised by the show and am now hooked. I’m normally not into the Premium channel series. Dexter is the only other show that I consider must-see.
flight of the conchords, you will love it, trust me.
Dexter and Flight of the Conchords Season Passes added! I’m off to CA next week, but when I get back (if not sooner) looks like I finally need to pick up an eSATA drive so I have enough storage for all of this.
Entertainment needs grow when you travel a bit!! I loved your headline. What’s wrong with them is that it took em so long to get decent!! Maybe the upcoming Tivo on comcast will rock the boat.
I had Comcast come over for two cable card installs (when I got an HDTV and then when I got a series 3). Both installs went w/o a hitch. I use them for cable and broadband. Neither have given me any problems in 2.5 years and the installs were painless.
Comcast took over Boston’s Cablevision franchise a few years ago. Cablevision was a mess and it probably took Comcast some time to clean things up. But they’ve been working so well, I really don’t have any complaints.
They also did a seemless upgrade from analog to digital cable throughout the city over the past few years. And they provide a nice line-up of HD channels below the premium ones. So I can’t even argue about content.
I thought we’re suppose to hat the cable and phone companies and spew at their customer service people :-)
Noticed the same thing Dave. Comcast in MC MD is on a roll. Give them an A+
Verizon completely screwed every step of a home and business line move. The VZ agents and technicians who I spoke with related how screwed up they are.
I would not dream of changing to FIOS now.
Dave,
I totally agree with you, Comcast has been great this year. I had an issue with my cable not getting a strong enough singnal. The guy came out, changed all my cables, redid the wiring and fixed it. After he looked at me and said “next time you want to hook up your slingbox and a cable box give us a call we’ll make sure you have al the correct cables….at no cost!” I also sadly have to deal wtih Sudden(suck)link at another location. There Tech’s are pretty good but customer service and offerings are very VERY weak.
Dexter is insanely great. Hopefully you’re watching Season 1, which I think they’re repeating now. I don’t think Season 2 will be on till the fall.
Dexter, Dexter , Dexter
Wow, I’m standing here speechless. Comcast… good service… ???
Though I haven’t given them a shot in the last year or so (usually afraid to call their support lines for anything), perhaps its time to give them another chance. Their service in the Chicago area hasn’t been super in the past, but it hasn’t been exactly “horrible” either. Still, kudos to Comcast for working on improving their service and support.
Comcast in DC is still a clusterfeck….probably because there’s no competition in large portions of the city proper….
THE WIRE considered the greatest television show in history, a must see, FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS, sorry for the caps but I just cannot stress how awesome these two shows are.
I’ve seen some of the Wire (Season 1) via Netflix and enjoyed it though it was slow developing. Makes me wonder if I should avoid B’more. ;)