My Comcast rant

[Frank]

I made the mistake of using a son's Netflix account years ago after it
was part of my Comcast package and getting X1.

Netflix announced they were going after shared accounts so months ago I
contacted Comcast to get them to change my login to Netflix but they ran
me around in circles and did not do it.

I was still getting through on son's login but tried to get them to do
it again with another failure.

Finally Netflix shut me down and I contacted Comcast that I was paying
and they had to correct. Run around again and they scheduled a tech to
come over yesterday. Techs usually have access to better contacts then
those that first respond.

He could not solve the problem and Comcast is told to take it off bill
and if I want Netflix I would have to go to Netflix to get it.

In addition they had previously awarded us two free years of Peacock but
wife could not get on.

Tech also tried to help with this but office denied us getting on.
Confused him.

Tech told us that Comcast keeps bringing in these new streaming third
party services and cannot seen to correct problems they have with ones
they brought in.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Frank <fr...@frank.net> wrote:

>. . .

>In addition they had previously awarded us two free years of Peacock but
>wife could not get on.

Wait. What? We're all supposed to have Peacock; it's Comcast's sister
company. I don't use it as it refuses to play on a linux laptop.

[Big Al]

We all had it paid for as part of you membership but as of August or Sept, can't remember the date, but Xfinity stopped
that. You supposedly could get a deal on your own at $2.99 (not 5.99) for a small time period.
I contacted support (billing) and as much as I think I got someone dumber than a rock, she said that I was already
inrolled for a year. I still have the service today, and haven't seen a bill yet from either. I don't pay bills, so I
may never see the change. As long as I have the shows.
--
Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon
Al

[Retirednoguilt]

If you read the fine print, Comcast reserves the right to change your
channel line up at any time for any reason. It seems every few months
they cease providing a few channels and usually substitute equally bad
if not worse replacements. Fortunately for our viewing habits, they've
never deleted a channel we watch. We had Peacock until several months
ago until we didn't. And, it didn't matter that we have a multi-year
bulk contact with them via our condo association. I suspect all the
major communications companies have the same clause in their contracts.
I don't want to open a can of worms by getting into politics, but when
the FCC is controlled by people with certain political beliefs and
agendas, this is only one manifestation of what happens. And let's not
start an argument about net neutrality which has been another political
football at the FCC.

[Frank]

They did make switches like with MGM+ for Starz when their prescription
prices changed.

My problem is their handling of third party apps and this is Netflix and
Peacock and I think I have Peacock on one TV but cannot get on another.

When they go to third party apps you just do not get it on all your
boxes but have to sign in on each and it is a PITA. I had to do this
when HBO Max went to streaming. It also requires use of computer or
cell phone along with TV which is annoying.

[Retirednoguilt]

I suspect they are doing this to minimize "sharing" of login
credentials. Most people using "shared" login credentials don't have
access to the actual subscriber's cell phone. Don't know if you're
referring to cable boxes or set-top boxes such as Roku or Amazon Fire
Stick. As far as needing to sign in on each box, I have 3 Roku boxes
and although tedious, it's a one time exercise and then it's done. I
suspect it's to discourage or even prevent sharing a box for a TV at a
different address.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Frank <fr...@frank.net> wrote:

>. . .

>My problem is their handling of third party apps and this is Netflix and
>Peacock and I think I have Peacock on one TV but cannot get on another.

>When they go to third party apps you just do not get it on all your
>boxes but have to sign in on each and it is a PITA. I had to do this
>when HBO Max went to streaming. It also requires use of computer or
>cell phone along with TV which is annoying.

Just went through that last night. I had created an HBO Max account but
they made it unusable on Linux. I've been receiving promotional email
messages all along.

On the X1 box, it wouldn't accept the password, and the password reset
would not work till I made quite a few tries. Finally I was able to
reset the password, then it took a bit of fussing to get to the screen
into which I had to enter the six-digit numeric code to link the X1 box
to the account. But by that time, I was too tired to watch tv any more
and I went to sleep.

Do I have to sign out from X1 so it doesn't run in background counting
against Internet bandwidth usage? I couldn't find a sign out.

[Big Al]

It's an app on X1's box. If you exit the app back to normal TV then it's not running.
Unlike Roku sticks, when you change the tv input to the xfinity box, Roku is still running. I've done it. Cool ifyou
want to quick check something.

[Frank]

That is true but why jump through hoops on each TV when they should know
from ip address that it is in your home. They might do it for cell
phone or tablet. All of our TV's are on X1.

Last check I still have son's Netflix on my tablet along with Comcast.
Came in handy a few years ago when I was in the hospital for 4 days
where TV sucks and I could watch HBO on the tablet.

[Retirednoguilt]

We prefer to use our Roku boxes rather than the "APP" that might be on
the X1 service menu unless a specific streaming channel is part of our
contract package. Even then, some of those channels on X1 service menu
let you use a set top box by enabling a link to the bulk account when
you first sign in on the set top box. We never sign out of any Roku
channel where we've logged in. When we're through watching that
channel, we hit the home button on the Roku remote and either go to a
different Roku channel or change the input selection back to the cable
box. That way, we never have to log back in. When we can watch a
streaming service either on the Roku or as a menu choice on X1, we find
that image quality is higher on the Roku. (Perhaps the MOCA signal is
more highly compressed than the wifi-transmitted signal used by the Roku.)

Our condo's bulk contract with Comcast provides unlimited wifi so I have
no idea if the Roku continues to use wifi bandwidth for those logged in
channels. In a way, I doubt it because many of the Roku channels don't
require login and Roku would go out of business if everyone with a Roku
box who are on metered wifi ran up huge bills. My understanding is that
the Roku goes "to sleep" after a certain length of time without a remote
button press but wakes up once/day to check for software updates.

[Big Al]

The Roku stick/box has to get the movie from some place. That's why there is wifi on it.
So if it gets it from wifi, then you're paying for the data download. Maybe not in $$$ but in usage/bandwidth.

I prefer my Roku over Xfinity box. The Roku is oh so much more responsive to moving around etc.
The Xfinity box is soooo slugggish.

[Retirednoguilt]

On 11/17/2023 2:22 PM, Big Al wrote:

>>
> The Roku stick/box has to get the movie from some place. That's why there is wifi on it.
> So if it gets it from wifi, then you're paying for the data download. Maybe not in $$$ but in usage/bandwidth.

Not an issue. We have 200 MB/s download. My Roku's best connection
speed shows 47 MB/s. That leaves 153 MB/s throughput available for
streaming on another Roku/TV or tablet, reading e-mail, etc. Only my
wife and I use our X1 services. Your household may routinely use more
bandwidth. It's been years since we've noticed buffering pauses and
that was when download speeds were substantially lower.