Anybody try this with the cable TV company?

I have basic and expanded basic services. The price (Comcast) is going up yet again this time by a hefty nearly ten percent so my monthly bill will be approximately $49. It all comes thru unscrambled into my home without the need for a converter box. You only need a converter box when you start getting into the digital channels and the pay channels. Basic service which is local channels only is only $11 a month. My friend says he only pays for the basic but all the local plus the expanded come thru just fine. I wonder if I choose to switch to just the basic package if I would continue to receive the expanded basic as well (CNN, ESPN, etc.) or do they have a means to shut that part off from making it to the inside of my house?

I can only shake my head at these constant cable price increases which continue to rise at a rate far above that of inflation. I wonder how they can justify and get away with it? I live in a condo building otherwise I would be so there with a dish. Maybe there's so many people that live in community living or other situations where they can't use a dish so that they know there's millions of people trapped in a situation where it's either cable or nothing?

That happened to me when I was in college, we plugged in a VCR and found out we had cable, apparently they forgot to turn it off.
My parents have the dish and its price goes up every so often too so its not really any better.
IIRC there are laws that prevent the Condo association from not allowing a dish.

Comcast realized that my Mom had been paying only for basic cable but somehow in their system was listed for expanded basic (must have been for 15+ years and even kept it through a move from a house to an apartment)... Late last year an internal audit must have caught the error--they came and installed the notch filter to kill channels 37-69.

My in-laws had expanded basic, went to basic, notch filter went in. How have digital (foreign language service) and basic now seems to include a few channels (animal planet, CNN, Weather Chanel, and some History channel in the random 50's and 60's). Not sure if that is an accident or on purpose (digital service channel mask) in the switch from analog/digital to full digital (digital cable box is supplying the old analog channels now--changed in the last month).

I am paying for basic (analog) + internet. And that is what I am getting (new Comcast service about 1.5 years ago).

-Bill

once had ocassion to have the output jack of the cable 'locked' with a threaded steel tube screwed on over it..
did you know you can take a visegrips and pinch the tube in the middle which expands the threaded end and so comes right off --- nyah nyah, and free cable..

I pay for comcast internet and get comcast extended analog (don't have a digital receiver) free. I'm sure I get digital too if I had a way to check.

zigziggityzoo said:

I pay for comcast internet and get comcast extended analog (don't have a digital receiver) free. I'm sure I get digital too if I had a way to check.

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who else is getting this?

I took my notch filter off once and they knocked on my door and angrilly accused me of stealing cable. I pay full price now. (He saw that I had removed the filter.. If I could disable the filter that'd work better, then they could see that it's still there. For comcast internet only, they ahve another filter that disables everything but 2-4 maybe.

I pay for my cable. I would not have it any other way. If there was a gas station down the street that had a pump that did not shut off...would you drive down and fill up after the owner left for the night? Theft is theft in my book.
Topper

Ok, you answered my question then. If I switched to basic only, more then likely they would come and install a filter to mask out the rest.

greenlight said:

who else is getting this?

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I dont have Comcast, but I believe the same idea is going on here with me. I pay the cable company for just cablenet, as we prefer satellite. When they installed the new line for my cable modem, they had a straight cord from the pole outside, 75 yards away, to the modem in my bedroom. Not a single splice, juntion or anything. The cable comes into my bedroom through a hole they drilled, so not even a nice wall plate here. I think I discovered why. In my efforts to record 24 on my computer, I split the connection near the modem so I could hook the cable to my TV Tuner card. Come to find out, I get it all. With a straight shot, I figure they assume I would not have tried to connect a TV.

-Cameron

Topper said:

I pay for my cable. I would not have it any other way. If there was a gas station down the street that had a pump that did not shut off...would you drive down and fill up after the owner left for the night? Theft is theft in my book.
Topper

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I understand that sentiment. And for the ~3hrs per month I watch TV, I think it's a fair trade for the ~20 hours over the course of 3 weeks it took for me to convince them to actually come out and setup my internet.

I'm stealing their opportunity cost. They stole my cell phone minutes and a whole lot of my time. Which is more valuable?

zigziggityzoo said:

I pay for comcast internet and get comcast extended analog (don't have a digital receiver) free. I'm sure I get digital too if I had a way to check.

Click to expand...

greenlight said:

who else is getting this?

Click to expand...

I get the same thing with cox. I only have internet with them but they include the basical analog channels for free. Awhile ago a cox tech came by and offered to block the analog channels if I wanted. I told him I didn't even know I had analog channels. He said that it is normal to get analog channels with the internet package. I told him to not change anything since my internet works fine right now. He said ok, and there were no changes made to my bill or my service. I still have the analog channels but I don't use them (I have directv). I thought it was kind of odd that he asked if I wanted them removed. Maybe it has to do with homes where the parents may want to block the tv from kids watching, etc.

While looking at his paperwork, I noticed that there is a cheaper internet package available for $29.95 (1.5mbps) than the one I had. I told him I would have probably signed up for that if I had known about it but I am fine with the package I have now. When I called to set up my internet awhile back, the rep never mentioned the cheaper package and I can't find it on their website.

btw, I switched to cox because my qwest dsl was always going down. The cox connection is much more reliable, ping times are lower and bandwidth is higher.

peter

zigziggityzoo said:

I understand that sentiment. And for the ~3hrs per month I watch TV, I think it's a fair trade for the ~20 hours over the course of 3 weeks it took for me to convince them to actually come out and setup my internet.

I'm stealing their opportunity cost. They stole my cell phone minutes and a whole lot of my time. Which is more valuable?

Click to expand...

There are some who would say, that two wrongs don't make a right.

but three rights makes a left.

zigziggityzoo said:

I understand that sentiment. And for the ~3hrs per month I watch TV, I think it's a fair trade for the ~20 hours over the course of 3 weeks it took for me to convince them to actually come out and setup my internet.

I'm stealing their opportunity cost. They stole my cell phone minutes and a whole lot of my time. Which is more valuable?

Click to expand...

You honestly do not understand stealing is wrong? Do you honestly expect me to believe "they" stole "your" cell phone minutes? Things might work different here. Where I live "I" get to decide if I want to call them for a hook up.. They don't just call my cell phone and force anything. I had to contact them then sign an agreement.

This thought pattern that I see with many folks these days worries me.
While some might think "shoot its just a cable company" "they charge to much any way" can run a little different in some crowds. "Shoot ain't nobody home and they got insurance" I hope you see my point. Theft is wrong.
I am mostly all for the "to each his own" but stealing will always be wrong.
Topper

In my case, Broadband comes with Basic cable . However, it seems Cox cable cannot provide my Broadband service without providing Expanded Basic. They tried cutting my Expanded Basic off, but then my Broadband stopped working. (I don't need it anyway because I have Directv.)

And, although their customer service reps are told to deny it, you can receive high-definition locals free through basic cable if your hdtv has a QAM tuner, which almost all newer hdtvs do have. By law, cable companies HAVE to provide it, but they don't have to tell you about it. They want you to believe that you need a cable box to receive HD locals.

You get a much better HD picture over-the-air than over cable, but I have to use it sometimes because of weather, or for some reason the local station is off the air but on cable.

Topper said:

I pay for my cable. I would not have it any other way. If there was a gas station down the street that had a pump that did not shut off...would you drive down and fill up after the owner left for the night? Theft is theft in my book.
Topper

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fill'er up! lol

Thanks, you help make my point. I like to be able to look at myself and know I am honest. Honest goes a long way. I hope other folks will post on this.
Topper

Topper said:

You honestly do not understand stealing is wrong? Do you honestly expect me to believe "they" stole "your" cell phone minutes? Things might work different here. Where I live "I" get to decide if I want to call them for a hook up.. They don't just call my cell phone and force anything. I had to contact them then sign an agreement.

This thought pattern that I see with many folks these days worries me.
While some might think "shoot its just a cable company" "they charge to much any way" can run a little different in some crowds. "Shoot ain't nobody home and they got insurance" I hope you see my point. Theft is wrong.
I am mostly all for the "to each his own" but stealing will always be wrong.
Topper

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I didn't ask them to forget to put the filter on, nor did I remove a filter from the locked box myself.

It's as if Comcast put a silver tray with $100 bills on it in my living room, and said "We're putting this here. It's not yours, but we're never going to check if you take it. Don't take it, OK?"

Bad analogy, as this is a "good" vs. a "service", but still, the point stands.

You are correct, I didn't have them call me (at first, they did call me back "48 hours" later, and then again after that). It still shouldn't have taken that much for the service to be set up.

"Hi, I'd like to give you my money. What's that? I have to argue with you until I can give it to you?" Do they not want my money? Obviously not enough. If it really mattered to them, they would have better customer service.

Sir, with all due respect. Lay 1 million dollars on a paper plate in my house,check back in ten years and you will find a lot of dust on your million dollars.
Honesty, Entegrity words that mean something.
Topper

It's difficult to try picking out just the posts that endorse illegal activity, so I'm just going to shut the whole thread down.

My thanks especially to any that advocated honesty.