Comcast started charging for previously free TV adapters

[cameo]

I've just got an email from Comcast with the heading "We had to correct
some charges on your bill" that requires my review and approval. The
changes cancel the hitherto free two TV adapters I've got when Comcast
went to encrypted digital and now wants to charge $5.99 for it, that
supposedly is the cost of only one adapter, but the other one still
remains free. II called them up for explanation but all I could get out
of them that I was only entitled to one free adapter even though at the
time of digital conversion they gave me two boxes for free. It was
supposed to compensate us for losing the full functionality of our TV
sets which essentially were delegated to glorified display panels, with
no use of their built-in tuners.

I don't recall that the free deal on the boxes had a time limit. Can
anybody here recall what the deal was at that time? It just pisses me
off that they do such petty fee increases just when they got a huge
corporate tax cut.

[cable...@comcast.net]

On Thu, 11 Jan 2018 15:34:45 -0800, cameo <ca...@unreal.invalid>
wrote:

2 years or maybe one with all adaptors free then they charge for them
was what I recall in 2010.

When I lost my free cable they started charging for them so I swapped
one for a HD box and cable card. Always remember this - nothing is
free from Comcast. It may be "included with your monthly charge" but
never free.

Converters add years of service to old TVs that would be discarded if
not for the tuner that outputs RF channel 3 keeping them in use.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Talk to a supervisor. Remind them that there was supposed to be no
additional charge for them. It's Comcast. Expect to have to renegotiate
your bill from time to time.

[cameo]

I tried as my first contact escaleted my call to some guy when I asked
to cancel my TV service. But even he could not bend, but he did say that
one of the TV adapters is free. I think they give credit relatively easy
for service interruptions though. I just might ask for it now because
since I talked to that guy, I cannot get the HD channels with the
adapter that is connected to my HD digital set. My analog TV also is
acting up since then and only a few channels come through on that one.
Of the 3 major network affiliates only CBS works. Interestingly among
the 2 cable news channels CNN works, but Fox News does not. Figures.

[ByTor]

In article <p38s4s$qoq$1...@dont-email.me>, ca...@unreal.invalid says...

Be glad they were free this long. They started at .50 cents a month to
now $5.99. It was all part of the plan from the beginning of the
conversion to *control* all individual outlets in the home isolating
them as opposed to analog that you can hook up *more* TV's without a
box.

If I remember correctly the *gubmint* had an offer for these conversion
boxes to be free but was limited I believe (maybe that applied to the
free airwaves I think). Comcast was giving them free of charge but
obviously played it safe and never said in the *future* they will
charge, their *play* on words is a business manipulation obviously. They
used to say *unlimited* in their high speed internet years ago. Yes,
unlimited *access* to the internet which means nothing, but when asked
it does not apply to unlimited *downloads*. An argument I had with them
years ago before they tried caps to set up up their *tier* pricing which
eventually they got but only applies to "speeds," I'm suprised they
didn't get their way with *caps* like they wanted to, they would have
rates seperate for data limits along with speeds. I won't be suprised in
the future they have dowload limited tier pricing.

All bullshit. I'm amazed lately that these companies are getting away
with so much bullshit, especially these "contracts" when it's supposed
to be a free *competitive" system (that our gubmint is supposed to
regulate), how can it be competitive when you are *locked* into a
contract than get penalized for backing out getting charged for each
month remaining when finding a better rate with another company. I was
told by CUMcast that if I shut off my service I wouldn't be able to
reactivate it for 3 months.

But, unfortunately, because they were allowed to get so *big* they can
do what they want basically. They may also be looking to recoup some
money lost becuase of the big bonuses they gave out that our *leaders*
are loving taking the credit for but yet NO ONE of them or the news
reported the RATE increase that was released a week before they made
their wonderful success announcements, go figure.

[VanguardLH]

cameo wrote:

> I've just got an email from Comcast with the heading "We had to
> correct some charges on your bill" that requires my review and
> approval. The changes cancel the hitherto free two TV adapters I've
> got when Comcast went to encrypted digital and now wants to charge
> $5.99 for it, that supposedly is the cost of only one adapter, but
> the other one still remains free. II called them up for explanation
> but all I could get out of them that I was only entitled to one free
> adapter even though at the time of digital conversion they gave me
> two boxes for free.

Feel luck. Comcast has been charged me $9.95 *EACH* for the "TV boxes"
aka decoders. Only one decoder is included in the TV service but we
have 2 other TVs where we want the cable programming.

> It was supposed to compensate us for losing the full functionality of
> our TV sets which essentially were delegated to glorified display
> panels, with no use of their built-in tuners.

That was the FCC forcing broadcasters to change to digital encoding
presumably to open the frequencies for other analog use. The airwaves
are crowded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_television_transition_in_the_United_States

For awhile back then, you could get one DTA (aka DTV) box for free per
household that let old TVs with analog tuners receive the new digitally
encoded OTA (over the air) broadcasted TV channels. The DTA was only
needed if you used the antenna input on your TV to receive OTA
broadcasts, not if you were using the analog input (antenna) on the TV
to get Ch3-4 from a decoder box needed for cable TV programming.

That did not obviate needed one of their "TV boxes" at each television
to decode their cable TV programming. You tuned your old analog TV to
channel 3 (or 4) to see the TV box aka decoder that was connected to
your analog TV's antenna input.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/all-about-cable-boxes

I'm not sure if you are asking about a DTA (to let you receive digitally
encoded OTA broadcasts on your old analog TV) or asking about a decoder
box (each TV needs one to receive their cable programming). If you want
OTA channels, you use a DTA with an old TV that has an analog tuner. If
you want cable programming at the TV, you don't use a DTA but instead
connect their decoder to the TV's antenna (the decoder's RF output was
analog channel 3 so your old TV could use that signal). Those are
pretty old converters with the Ch3-4 RF output.

As with other old equipment, Comcast wants to roll them out of their
inventory. The small decoders have RF in (for the cable) but only HDMI
out (to the TV) and component video outputs (to the TV). Tuners go out
of tune so they're a headache to service and probably why Comcast wants
to get rid of them. We still have an old one for the main TV that is
huge by comparison and it has half a dozen output types, including RF
out (Ch3-4 to the TV). You won't get one like it anymore at the Comcast
store or their tech installer. One day Comcast will recall that one,
too, or maybe like you they'll make us pay for equipment they want to
get out of their inventory.

Your bill will give a name to those boxes. What does Comcast call them?

> I don't recall that the free deal on the boxes had a time limit. Can
> anybody here recall what the deal was at that time? It just pisses me
> off that they do such petty fee increases just when they got a huge
> corporate tax cut.

It's likely they want to ensure all those old decoders get replaced with
newer ones. Eventually they will force me from HD programming using old
decoder boxes to their X1 programming that requires a newer decoder box.
It's getting more difficult to get the older XR2 remotes: they keep
trying to give me an X1 remote that won't work with the old decoders
when I bring one in as not working (buttons are too flaky because
they're rubber membranes pressing against foils on a PCB, and typically
they dole me out a used one previously returned). They've been trying
to push me to X1 for quite awhile but none of use here like the tiny
text in the channel info dialog and their channel programming listing is
more complicated than a simple list (more glitz with no additional
content [that we care about]). They threatened that when our 2-year
promo ends that we will be forced to the X1 setup in the next contract.

With the old decoder boxes that had TV tuners in them (to use Ch3-4 to
the TV), you could string multiple TVs on that RF out from the decoder
to see the same channel selected at the decoder on multiple TVs. I'm
sure Comcast didn't like this usage model: one decoder to multiple TVs.
From the one RF out on the old decoder, you would run a cable to
splitters to run the signal to multiple TVs (just like you can run the
one RF lead from an antennae into the house to feed multiple TVs except
with tuners in the TVs then you could pick different channels on the TVs
versus the same channel on Ch3-4 RF out from the decoder getting sent to
all those TVs). By getting rid of the tuner from the decoder, they
could charge for additional decoders (beyond the first one). Many
households have more than 1 TV so Comcast realized they could capture
another revenue stream for additional decoders.

When Comcast was doling out voice-capable cable modems, they included a
backup battery. It was the smaller capacity one but, at least, it kept
the phone line up for maybe an hour during a power outage. Then I got a
replacement and the battery was missing. They wanted to charge $70 for
a battery I could get at eBay for $20. Instead I got a UPS just for the
cable modem (well, and a lamp with LED bulb for emergency lighting).
There probably isn't an easy a solution for the decoders. Comcast sends
code to each one (called provisioning) to allow it to decode their
signals. With RF out, they couldn't regulate how many TVs were using
the same decoder. Without RF out, they can regulate the use of the
decoders and charge for extra ones.

Wait until late this year when prices get hiked for cable programming.
If your contract runs out this year and after the above-inflation-rate
price hike, you'll be paying more (estimated 10% more). We're going to
get screwed again when that happens when our 2-year contract expires
around October.

http://bgr.com/2018/01/05/cord-cutting-options-2018-pay-tv-prices-rising/
http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/comcast-directv-dish-rates-prices-increase-2018-1202647927/

I forgot what is the regulation but remember reading something else is
getting dropped (besides Net Neutrality) that will allow cable providers
to hike prices again and likely to be a more significant hike. The new
FCC crew is definitely pro-deregulation.

That's when we will drop Comcast's TV service and go to Sling TV (both
orange and blue channel lists), add Netflix, and our total bill with
both Comcast's Double Play (telephone and Internet) + Sling TV + Netflix
will be about half of what we pay now for Comcast's Triple Play, and
even less than half when they hike their prices. Lots of Comcast
customers are cutting the [TV] cord. Comcast thinks their new Xfinity
Instant TV for streaming channels will compete against Sling TV, YouTube
TV, Hula TV, and others except all Comcast offers is a bundle of local
channels. You can get an antenna for the digitally encoded OTA
broadcast channels to hook to the antenna input on your TV (assuming it
is free since their new[er] decoders use HDMI to connect to newer TVs).
I'm sure when the cord cutting gets severe enough, Comcast will lower
its bandwidth cap so their customers will have to pay for the overage.
Of course, with the impending loss of Net Neutrality laws, Comcast can
also apply network shaping to choke the bandwidth from those streaming
sites. If you think Comcast won't enforce a lower bandwidth cap, you
haven't been a customer long enough to remember the customer noise when
Comcast introduced a cap. If you login and go to My Account -> Services
-> Internet -> View data usage. I believe they may allow a one-month
overage at their discretion as a means to forgive a one-time overage but
they will definitely charge if you keep using more than your cap. I'll
have to look into how much bandwidth that Sling TV and Netflix will
consume for my normal watching habits when I switch to those.

https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/6/13192832/comcast-xfinity-home-internet-data-caps-one-terabyte

[ByTor]

In article <s16an5ytw0h5$.dlg@v.nguard.lh>, V...@nguard.LH says...

I predict soon they will eliminate the *out* coax connection on all
cable boxes as well as AV outputs.

Imagine that now, no more coax out and AV connections. Will have to
upgrade all TV's with HDMI (isolating TV connections even more). Chalk
one up for stimulating the industry and economy engaging in pure waste
just so the consumer can spend more money.

[John Legere]

On 01/11/2018 06:34 PM, cameo wrote:
> I don't recall that the free deal on the boxes had a time limit. Can anybody here recall what the deal was at that time? It just pisses me off that they do such petty fee increases just when they got a huge corporate tax cut.

You didn't read the 4pt type on the initial offer, did you? Seriously though, maybe Comcast needs to replace their air fleet with some new Gulfstream G650s?

[cameo]

John Legere? Good one! Just watch out for law suit for using his name.
BTW, he is my favorite CEO these days.

Anyway, I have a good news to report this morning. When I turned on my
standard def TV, all channels were working again. However, my HD TV
could still not get the HD channels. When I tried to tune in one, I
would get the "(118 - UKIDS) channel is not authorized" message with
Status Code: 580.

So I called Comcast again from my landline which instantly identified me
to their system and I got to talk to a pretty knowledgeable rep in
Houston. After I mentioned that DirecTV was actively courting me she was
able to offer me a promo deal on the Digital Starter package for two
years that costs me actually less per month than the current lower level
Digital Economy. So now I have more channels than before for less money
and I'll be moving before the promotion runs out, anyway. Life is good
again.

[ByTor]

In article <navh5dpceuja6oqpe...@4ax.com>,
no...@none.invalid says...

>
> On Fri, 12 Jan 2018 11:03:12 -0500, ByTor <By...@snowdog.com> wrote:
>
> >I predict soon they will eliminate the *out* coax connection on all
> >cable boxes as well as AV outputs.
>

> That would actually be fine with me. I haven't used coax out, composite
> out, or sVideo out, on any video gear since about 1999. The video
> quality is simply too poor. I use HDMI or DVI (with an HDMI adapter).
> I've also never used component out, simply because HDMI accomplishes the
> same thing with a single cable.

The issue will go far beyond households *only* needing HDMI, its
implication of those removals will cause quite a problem. Composite I
could care less about. As it stands I can run 3 TV's on 1 box, limiting
to *short* cords for HDMI I can do without. As it stands now I can hook
3 TV's to 1 box, if the industry isolates to just HDMI I think that's
pretty unfair for the rest and have to be forced to go buy capable TV's
because they want to eliminate ports. But than again, the elimination of
analog got them where they wanted to be, again, isolating outlets and
controlling them in the home, so who knows, in the end it seems like
money will always be the motivator. Gotta spend and waste perfectly good
equipment.

[ByTor]

In article <p3b0g6$4lb$1...@dont-email.me>, ca...@unreal.invalid says...

I had what I felt like was a very honest rep on the phone one time. I
was not amused with the pricing packaging manipulation trying to lower
prices and it never seeming to save anything but a few dollars
downgrading, etc., etc. I got what I wanted eventually and the rep told
me that all Comcast cares about is *keeping* the customer and that comes
first. I find that a little contradictory with their tactics in the
market but also actually believed her when she told me this. So they
will bend when they can, its just a matter of getting an *authorized*
person on the phone.

[Frank]

Yeah, unfortunately it's modern life. I told my wife she was a little
too good with them when we got our current offer. Sometimes you have to
go through several people.

I strongly suspect it is worse dealing with FIOS and their old telephone
company mentality when they were the only business in town.

[ByTor]

In article <p3b20v$flm$1...@dont-email.me>, "frank "@frank.net says...

And just think, Concast is getting their talons in the wireless phone
market.

In my mind sometimes watching all these companies over the years (from
old rotary phones, no cells, and UHF/VHF TV, and witnessing advances and
the growth in technology in these business's, that movie Demolition Man
comes to mind when Taco Bell is the last remaining fast food chain. :)

Oh, and I just looked and realized we spoke about this already. Gettin
senile in my age not checking threads. :)

[Adam H. Kerman]

Bill <no...@none.invalid> wrote:
>On Fri, 12 Jan 2018 11:03:12 -0500, ByTor <By...@snowdog.com> wrote:

>>I predict soon they will eliminate the *out* coax connection on all
>>cable boxes as well as AV outputs.

>That would actually be fine with me. I haven't used coax out, composite
>out, or sVideo out, on any video gear since about 1999. The video
>quality is simply too poor. I use HDMI or DVI (with an HDMI adapter).
>I've also never used component out, simply because HDMI accomplishes the
>same thing with a single cable.

I used a component connection for 480p way back when. Comcast used to
distribute five wire cords before they were distributing HDMI cords.
Also, the original HDMI plugs Comcast used to distribute liked to fall
out of the jacks.

As far as I know, component connections don't have the feature that
attempts to prevent copying (which sure as hell isn't illegal if one is
making a copy of a movie or episode that would purchased legitimately
for one's own use).

[Adam H. Kerman]

Bill <no...@none.invalid> wrote:

>12 Jan 2018 22:14:58 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote:

>>As far as I know, component connections don't have the feature that
>>attempts to prevent copying (which sure as hell isn't illegal if one is
>>making a copy of a movie or episode that would purchased legitimately
>>for one's own use).

>HDCP

Thanks

>Right, component connections don't have HDCP, but it's been many years
>since I wanted to copy anything that way, if ever. I can see that being
>an issue for some folks, though. Sometimes, it's the only way forward.

[Say What?]

On 01/12/2018 02:01 PM, cameo wrote:
> John Legere? Good one! Just watch out for law suit for using his name. BTW, he is my favorite CEO these days.

Yah, he's no doubt a charismatic guy.

Problem is, at my house, you have to hold a cellphone 50' AGL to get a decent signal on the t-rubble network.  In my opinion, John was a bit overzealous with his Magenta crayon when he colored in the t-rubble coverage map.  He needs to touch it up a bit
with a Bullshit Brown crayon.

[cameo]

Works fine around my neck of wood. Once they deploy the recently
purchases 600Mhz spectrum, thing will be even better.

[ginibl...@gmail.com]

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
3/11/2019
The bums came up with a plan for 2 years that we could barely afford. Today, bill is $30 more! They now want $6.99 per each adaptor. Isn't anyone making ones that I can own myself and get out of this awful rental mess with Comcast? (My husband likes to be able to watch TV in different areas of the house. He's disabled.) Thanks for any advice.

[Frankie Trowbridge]

Coming soon

https://www.silicondust.com/product/hdhomerun-prime-6/

[Peter]

On 3/11/2019 5:44 PM, Bill wrote:

> I'm not sure how practical this will be for you, but what I do is use a
> Roku device running the Xfinity app in areas of the house where I only
> care about live TV (and On Demand and streaming from the cloud DVR, but
> I don't use those parts).
>
> You have the one-time expense of a Roku device and of course the Roku
> needs Internet access, either wired or wireless. After that, there are
> no recurring monthly expenses. You can watch all of the channels to
> which you subscribe. At $6.99 a month per adapter, it won't take long to
> break even.
>
> Rokus go on sale regularly, so watch for that. One way is to use the
> price alert feature at the following link.
>
> https://www.camelcamelcamel.com/search?sq=roku
>
> Click on the specific device that interests you and check the graph on
> the product page to see a price history to know whether the current
> price is high or low, then optionally enter your desired price and email
> address if you'd like to be contacted the next time the price drops.
>
> More info on using a Roku as a (free, no monthly charges) cable box:
>
>
> <https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/1/31/14456092/comcast-xfinity-tv-roku-streaming-beta-now-available>
> Comcast launches beta for using your Roku like a cable box
> By Chris Welch Jan 31, 2017, 2:36pm EST
>
> Starting today, Comcast is letting its customers use a Roku as a
> secondary cable box. If you’ve got a Roku streaming device “released in
> the last couple years” — or a Roku TV — you can download the Xfinity TV
> app beta from the Roku store and give the experience a test run before
> it widely launches later this year.
> [More at the link above...]
>
>
There's a few caveats to the above otherwise excellent suggestion. To
watch the xfinity TV channels that you subscribe to, you need to load
the Xfinity Stream Beta channel on to your Roku. Caveat #1: Note, this
is presently still a Beta version and at any time Xfinity could decide
to discontinue offering that item to Roku users. Caveat #2: See the
follow copy/paste from the Xfinity web site:

"The Xfinity Stream Beta app is available on the following Roku device
models:

The Roku 5XXX, 6XXX, 7XXX and 8XXX series TVs
Roku Streaming Media Players: Express (3700, 3900), Express+ (3710,
3910), Premier (4620), Premier+ (4630), Ultra (4640, 4660); Roku 4
(4400); Roku 3 (4200, 4230); Roku 2 (4210)
Roku Streaming Sticks: Streaming Stick (3600); and Streaming Stick+
(3800, 3810). Devices must be on minimum firmware version 7.5"

I can speak from personal experience as the owner and user of three
different older Roku models, as well as being an Xfinity TV subscriber.
The Stream Channel will not load on Roku models older than those in the
above list. I tried and immediately got an error message on my TV
screen from the Roku. So, if you decide to buy a Roku, new or used,
regardless of vendor, planning to install the Xfinity Stream Beta
channel, be very aware of the model you purchase. There are lots of
older models still out there that work exceedingly well and sell at a
lower price point that the newer ones required to load the Xfinity
Stream channel.

[Tekkie®]

Frankie Trowbridge posted for all of us...

And the fine print:

*conditional access. CableCARD? needs renting from your cable provider.

--
Tekkie

[Frankie Trowbridge]

Good point.  In some areas a cablecard rental is almost as expensive as a standard definition cable box.

Here, Comcast coughs up one free cablecard with any TV package, which is all the HDHomeRun PRIME requires.