How to lower your Comcast / Xfinity Bill !

[@igeekone]

The below the line fees are out of control. $46 in unadvertised cable charges is insanity. That's why I like streaming, every cost is upfront, the price you see is the price you pay. These companies are vicious, they don't like educated customers. Glad you took care of your mom.

[@joelallen7]

I normally work at Xfinity as an external billing , tech support and collection agent. I wasn't directly employed by Xfinity or Comcast, but was rather employed by a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company based in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The pay was horrible and next to modern day slavery! And the employee turnover ratio was rather high. They employed 40 persons, and in three months only 12 remaining and in 1 year only 3 remaining. The work was stressful and the call volume high. They didn't want us to take lunch and break some of the time.

[@wonderkind08]

That is an interesting comment from someone who has worked on the other end of the "cable" so to speak. Pun intended. I'm with Cox here in Louisiana but judging from the people that answer the phone when I call, they must be in another country as well. I have absolutely nothing against persons from anywhere in the world and think it's great to have a job in tech no matter where you are but Cox, Comcast and others fail to understand is that when customers call for assistance they are usually frustrated and the last thing they wish to deal with is a language barrier. Just one of the many reasons I'm going to be cutting the cord this year once I have a suitable streaming service tested and vetted.

[@joelallen7]

@@wonderkind08 The majority of time, you are the barrier as a language barrier do not exist. You are speaking to someone who have good command of the English language. But you guys tend to be racist and stupid. I got a lot of customers like you calling in and saying that they want to speak to someone that speak American, which is not a language. Regardless of your opinion, you cannot stop globalization and foreign companies also hires millions of Americans. So if you don't like It that way go and create your own company.

[@CantankerousDave]

I knew someone who worked customer service for them directly, and as help-desk agents they were expected to meet an up-sell quota. They were penalized if they didn't trick people who were calling for help into buying services they didn't need. If they failed to make the quota often enough, they were fired. Most of them quit well before then.

[@lambda2857]

The reason they went down to Jamaica, and other places outside the United States is because they could then give you no benefits, and fire you at will.

[@RoastBeefSandwich]

I have helped a few seniors "cut the cord". I usually start by hooking up an antenna to their TV and showing them what they can get for free. Generally, they decide that cable news/weather/etc is not worth $100+ per month and they decide to live with antenna television.

[@bland9876]

And they are ok with the picture cutting out all the time?

[@RoastBeefSandwich]

@@bland9876 Doesn't happen if you set up a good antenna on a mast outside. Picture is perfect and reception is reliable. Granted there are people who live outside of reliable reception areas, but the people I've helped aren't in those areas.

[@bland9876]

@@RoastBeefSandwich And then you have to leave one of your windows open so that the cable can come in. Definitely not something I'd be okay with.

[@jackb1803]

@@bland9876 You have drunk the kool-aid! If you are in a metro area, you likely can access 100+ over the air digital channels. Also, the cable coming into the house is hardly any different than the cable "coming through the window". My connection works fine with an indoor antenna.

[@bland9876]

@@jackb1803 all I know is that I just use the internet for everything so I don't know a lot about this.

[@bmiller949]

I turned my cable off during the Great Recession and my contracting hours plummeted. I got use to not having cable TV and just bought the shows off Amazon.

[@ventilate4267]

Thought you were a time traveler for a second there

[@brokenmummy232]

Glad to see you calling out these Slumm Comcast Xfinity criminals LON. doing the hard work like your doing is their worst fears!

[@sbutler888]

So glad I found your channel! I’ve already done the things you explained in this video but kick myself for not taking the time many years ago, to do what I just finished doing in early January. We’re exclusively streaming and very happy with the reduction in costs associated with doing so. Keep up the awesome work!

[@BenCossette]

I just got rid of Comcast. I saw the fiber trucks around and got excited. Then we got ads on our front doors, so I called. I now have Frontier 1gb, also got DirecTV stream and we haven't had a house phone in years. The issues I faced was because Comcast likes to bundle. We had Comcast doing our internet, TV, and Mobile. So I had to find 3 companies to move to. I settled on US Mobile for cellular. They use Verizon's network.

[@RoastBeefSandwich]

The bundling makes it more difficult to switch, as you learned. Also raises ARPU (average revenue per user). That's why the companies love it so much.

[@stevemcphail4746]

The new scam is Fiber There is no Fiber! Until they can provide me HSI at my residence in a downtown location 1 mile from At&T's main hub They only install that in new apartment construction. And I am limited to 5 up and 2 down.

[@mrguystarr]

One of the reasons why we canceled cable tv is when my provider increased the rental box fee from $8 to $12. Same box, same equipment, nothing new ... literally over night they jacked up the price. Taxes and rental fees accounted for nearly 30% of the the entire bill. That's when decided to say see ya.

[@martonem]

I tried to remove the DVR ($10) from my Optimum bill and they told me that would result in a higher bill due to add-on. Only in CATV does subtraction equal addition.

[@ventilate4267]

Don't even get me started

[@nunyabizns]

Another great video Lon. You might want to check contract terms. In NJ, an Xfinity contract only binds the customer to keep/subscribe to at least one Xfinity service for the contract term - which means we can dump all but one bundled Xfinity service at any time while under contract without breaking the contract and getting hit with a penalty fee.

[@RoastBeefSandwich]

He touched on that, perhaps not on this video but on a different video. If he dropped voice for example, they would not longer be bundling cable and internet and thus would be paying more for the remaining services than they're paying for the three as a bundle.

[@cc103acs]

Great show! A previous viewer mentioned OOMA as a phone option. We have been using it for 11 years and I have a simple modem. OOMA works on my Cat 5 network. Consumer reports assessed it and it had a rating higher than the AT&T wired phones of days gone by. There is, of course, an upfront cost for the equipment but mine has been going for so long I have no idea what it is going for now. So I assume there is no antenna going up at mom’s house? Antenna and Sling (for cable news and more) gives me all of the TV I can stand.

[@bland9876]

Why are you using phone service that has to go through CAT5 cabling? How do you leave your house with your cell phone? If I get into a car accident I want to be able to call people for help for example.

[@GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou]

@@bland9876 I believe this is only for a wireline home service. Mobile service is totally different. Some older people prefer to have a separate _“traditionally_ wired” service at home. With an internet connection, there are multiple options, such as; Google Voice with Obihai, MagicJack and Ooma that can do this for nearly peanuts annually through VOIP service. This is most probably not far off from what Comcast charges $360/annually for. Ooma is a bit too cagey with their mandatory monthly fees and taxes for my tastes, and the basic device is $100. Customer service is supposedly good though. Magic Jack has two current plans $43 for 1 year and $109 for 3 years, but these don't factor in with the complementary first year of service with the $50 purchase of their device. I utilised Magic Jack for a couple of years and was satisfied with the service enough to recommend it. Google Voice with Obihai is totally free after the purchase of the Obihai device and setting it up with Google Voice, but I have heard that Obihai and Google are at odds currently and may not be providing this interoperability at some point in the future; otherwise, this is what I would absolutely suggest to go with. It's 2023, no one is counting their cellphone minutes, even on a cheap plan. We, as a society, are at a point where phone service is ubiquitously personal, and as long as one is not utilising a wired service for their business interests, cutting that cord can be advisable. If it is a number worth maintaining service for practical reasons, porting it to Google Voice and using it with the app is a great option.

[@SpynCycle57]

@@bland9876 OOMA is a VOIP service. Uses the internet to provide landline replacement. I've been with OOMA since 2014. Great service. I can't speak for the customer service, since I've never had a problem with them.

[@cc103acs]

@@bland9876 Your confused - I have a mobile phone. This is a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone and is similar to what you get when you have a Comcast phone package… but less expensive. It is connected to your WIFI router via a CAT 5 cable.

[@matthewburden2699]

I ditched Xfinity's cable service years ago because of these practices. Unfortinitly, I am stuck with Xfinity internet as there are no options in my town, but I reduced my bill from $350 a month to $125 a month (It would have been even cheaper if I had ditched the security system as well).

[@davidchristensen6908]

In the 3 counties in Oregon. Portland metro area. I have 3 internet choices I dumped Comcast for Frontier when Frontier first came in. Fiber optic at gigabit up and down for 60 dollars a month. That rate has not changed in 5 years. Free router and I paid 75 dollars and bought a second Wi-Fi access in my house. Frontier sold to Zipply internet service a few years back and they have been wonderful to work with. I would leave xfinity just because they way they up sold your mom ohh I would have been unreasonable.

[@jeffschmeganheiman]

I cut services down to basic, and they doubled my cable bill to 320 dollars. I've been talking with them since January, trying to resolve the issue, but nothing came of it. I am dropping all my services for Verizon 5G home. Saving a ton of money versus Concast, where I was a customer for 15 years.

[@christiann1994]

I was at dish network for almost 5 years as a technician. The amount of rip off they do to people is unbelievable sometimes i even had to get on phone with customer service to fight for the customer. Technicians would add stuff on their bill just to keep their jobs to make sales at the end of every work order. I always told my boss that i would not do things other techs will do just to keep my job they will always take advantage of elderly. This one time one of the technicians sold 2 4k hdmi to a spanish family who didnt even have hd tvs and just left the item behind the tv. It was sickening the amount of times i would check account history and find rip off sales on there everytime i show up to fix something. Also every tech and cust service rep were taught to use the top down approach when selling if you dont do your numbers you are out of the company.

[@onlyzach1]

Great video again! Have some thoughts I'm going to lay out below. 1. If you still have the DVR boxes, can you please do a side by side comparison with the new Roku interface? I'd like to see if there's any delay there. 2. Does your Mom need the Phone line? If so, you can port it over to Google Voice (there's a couple hoops to go through) and get a Obihai OBi200 adapter to hook it up with her house phone's. 3. I have KZbin TV and it's great for the most part. I'm sure for her once you teach her the interface it'll have nearly everything she wants. Looking forward to the next video!

[@benfreeman6175]

Gee... I just can't figure out why people are cutting the cord... this is exactly why I laugh whenever I read comments/stories saying streaming is more expensive... for sure it can be but the month to month option to cancel is a HUGE benefit...

[@rickmccart4109]

Good Job!! Taking care of your parents cable bill. A few months ago, I dropped my Frontier TV and just kept the phone and Fiber internet (saving $135 per month) And just have a few other streaming options using my Roku Ultras 2022, that I got on sale a few months ago for $60 each.

[@GregM]

Being in Canada never realized how nickel and dimed some US locations were. There are no modem rental fees here (that was something here several decades ago) and no regional sports fees. I thought my 3 TVs PVR, landline and landline was expensive at $140 CDN a month but that was apparently cheap compared to Comcast there. I have that down to about 1/2 cost now with no TV service. The provider I was with was month to month so no contract involved. The other provider a major cable company has contract and no contract plans for their services. You have to drill down in their price list to find the no contract costs though.

[@antikommunistischaktion]

You pay slightly cheaper TV prices for some of the most expensive mobile internet prices in the world. Canada didn't even have access to unlimited data plans until extremely recently, and unlike US carriers that'll just throttle you when you hit your data cap (if you're even on a capped plan) they hit you with overage fees which I have not seen in the US for over a decade.

[@daproyaknow7056]

Everybody here in Toronto uses black market IPTV bro.....Rogers pricey PVR's no thanks

[@GregM]

@@daproyaknow7056 Do those black market IPTV boxes still pull their content from streaming websites that one can use with a web browser on before a DRM claim takes down the content bro?

[@KameraShy]

A few years ago the Comcast "broadcast TV fee" was about $7 a month. That was when I returned the box. I never watched "TV." I have an antenna in the attic made of coat hangers, aluminum foil and scrap wood that gets a great picture. But I still never watch TV.

[@mjv5864]

Did the same for my folks in CT. Xfinity Internet w/ $30/mo discount for the Affordable Connectivity. Roku. YTTV. Old Ooma box with no monthly fees.

[@jons_vlog3]

I just helped my grandmother dump. Comcast went to T-Mobile. She is saving. $270 just by canceling Comcast and paying $30 a month for T-Mobile home Internet. We have 3 Roku boxes And one Roku TV

[@angelachavez7720]

I am getting ready to turn in my equipment. Within the next 2 to 3 weeks. My cable bill was raised. That was it for me. I am going to internet TV. I will be hooking up my antenna also.

[@miguelhamrol6567]

Fees and more fees, fees for everything, and more. It's just ridiculous. Fortunately, we don't have that here where I live. There's nothing like competition to decrease prices. Competition is always good for the consumer.

[@dianastacey919]

Apparently Xfinity cannot supply service in my area. They had to cut the hours they are open. You wait in line for getting your name on a list and the same guy is trying to help the people sitting in the lobby for an hour who got on the list. This is to take 60 seconds to return a piece of equipment. Maybe they cannot afford to hire people? I feel terribly sorry for their poor staff who are trying so hard and seem to be losing their minds.

[@jmr]

I'd be checking into something like Ooma(VOIP) or the Straight talk(Cellular) home phone service after the contract is up.

[@antikommunistischaktion]

You can also still get an Obihai (Polycom now) phone that works with Google Voice. They offer a $14/year service to enable 911.

[@jmr]

@@antikommunistischaktion I was a huge fan of Obhai. I was very active in the forums and I was a beta tester for their business phone. They sent me one free of charge because I was sort of an expert back then. I haven't had much dealing with Polycom since they took over. I also own the 202 and 110 models. I set one of my friends up with the 200 using Google Voice to replace his MagiJack. He's been very happy with it for several years. An interesting hack you can set up is pairing a cell phone with the Obi unit to take over in the event you lose internet. Tracfone offers a super cheap plan for around $50 per year. That can provide 911 and 1500 minutes of backup calling. It also comes with 1500 SMS and 1.5 GB of data which can be nice.

[@reycaribe]

Magic Jack is even cheaper

[@jmr]

@@reycaribe Cheaper then what?

[@reycaribe]

@@jmr umm Ooma. Magic Jack is 49 bucks for the year.

[@maurob13]

No competition in an area of Phoenix as of yet. Stuck with cox. I have been checking quantum fiber and other companies; they have fiber networks near me . Hopefully in the near future I can benefit from competition.

[@mabbaticchio]

I have an extra ARRIS TM1602A modem that supports coax internet and voice that I used with my Optimum service. If it is compatible with mom's service, I will send it to you to give to mom. Since I upgraded to fiber I don't need it anymore.

[@CantankerousDave]

You have to have a Comcast ID to access the com-castrate-card (might want to add a strategic hyphen to that link between comcast and rate), so it's not useful if you're an outsider trying to help a Comcast subscriber. My own mother is being nickel and dimed like yours, but I'll have to walk her through accessing that information before I can help.

[@irocz5150]

I'm at Florida and I have 1GB Internet with Frontier...no issues in 3 years since it was installed.

[@saintsandsin3885]

Fire Comcast!

[@izzyhope58]

I honestly have no clue what the environment is like around where I live in Washington State (cause I've lived in a small town where comcast was the only option. and now I live at my school which has there own internet) but I hope that more internet competition id becoming more of a thing through the US. Maybe in 3 years when it's time for me to buy my own internet the environment will be better and most locations have at least 2 reasonable options. But glad to see it's happening in some places

[@vaughanhillman-vm4qz]

I forgot to mention that Xfinity prepaid service can be stopped and started with no on going or restarting fees other than the weekly or monthly plan cost. $45 per month or $15 for a week. 50mb down 10mb up

[@heysb]

Here on the west coast, Xfinity does a $10/mo discount if you sign up for automatic "paperless" billing. I'm not sure if it's available there, but worth checking into.

[@bikemanAMDR7]

Have Comcast Ultimate TV Here, 1 Physical DVR box (used alot) Xi5 wireless box, Rented Gateway with Voice, and Do have Cap here in Michigan and Xfi Complete Unlimited Internet, average usage around 1650GB-2205GB a month

[@doublet147]

I wish I had more competition where I live. Xfinity is the only service that offers internet speeds over 100. It's frustrating 😡

[@ca3rice]

Best bet is to call or go into a retail location if you want to repackage. Phone can be removed. Best deals will not show or be available until AFTER the current promo ends.

[@BenReese]

I'm curious how the 5G options stack up in your area? My parents are using T-mobile for ~$50/mo and get 300 x 30. I'm using Verizon (not officially available at my address) for ~$25/mo and getting 200 x 20. The speeds aren't consistent, of course, but plenty fast for our techy needs and way cheaper than Spectrum. May be a good option for your mom until Frontier is ready to light up her house. I'll certainly be switching to fiber once it's available, but this will get my by for a couple years.

[@wiziek]

of course those aren't enough, why are you even recommending this if there is cable and fiver available?

[@BenReese]

​@@wiziek If fiber is available, use that. 5G will definitely compete with cable in most cities now. That 200 x 20 is more than enough for 99% of the country it's the actual speeds I got when paying Spectrum $75/mo, so same service at 30% of the cost is a win to me. Plus more potential for faster speeds at the same cost as there's actual 5G competition in most of the country - unlike cable where almost every city has a monopoly. I get that some need gigabit and that's just not available most places with 5G (I've seen it personally though). Most of the world does not.

[@BenReese]

FWIW, I work from home in IT. We homeschool our kids and all 3 stream their lessons. I frequently have large downloads running in the background - Linux ISOs and such. Sure, faster speeds are better; but it's not necessary like the cable company wants you to believe.

[@KameraShy]

I am in a suburb of a major city. 5G everywhere - city and burbs - is spotty to non existant.

[@jackb1803]

5G has nothing to do with a cable or fiber connections. It relates to cell phone technology. People often confuse "5G" with the 5 GHz signal from their modem. I use the lower 2.4 GHz signal as it goes through walls better.

[@jmdennis1967]

I had home phone with Bright House but then got rid of it once I got a cell phone. My Internet went way up after the year. I do not pay for cable TV since I do streaming TV.

[@pyroyuy]

Look at getting a Google voice line and using that with I forgot the name of it but basically you can have phones set up in the house. This way somebody can call your mother's cell phone line and it also ring the house phone as well

[@DavidErato]

Effectively, our neighborhood had only 1 option. The cable is fine, but we only had 50mbps DSL, so no fiber. However, last December I tried T-Mobile Home Internet, and that's worked amazingly well. There's a few issues, but overall it's great. The kicker is T-mobile had a promo $25/mo price locked for life. My speeds are 200-300 down and 60-70 up.

[@ricktaylor26]

i cut the cord yesterday .I kept the internet but they didn't give any kind of deal

[@dailyjean7785]

If you're on autopay and paperless billing, you'll get a $10 discount. And if you have availed at least 2 services from XFinity, you will get a $20 discount together with the contract discount as well. You can also give Xfinity a call for a promotional discount - if available, so that your mom's bill would be lowered. ;)

[@scooterjes]

What about one of the streaming services like Philo or KZbin TV?

[@TheRetroMess]

Is there a kind of Fairness and Transparency in Service law or are there proposals currently in the works on the federal level? And how well is your mother taking the streaming interface/home screen barrier? I know my parents are just used to turning on the TV and there being something playing already (usually live) on the screen without fiddling with much past the guide or (in the old days) knobs on the TV or (now) the remote.

[@pokerus4511]

People do not realize that with the TV cutting that is happening is just leading them to increase internet prices to offset lost revenue. It has also lead to increased prices for individual subscriptions due to them knowing they can because people are cutting their TV plans. Don’t blame companies for needing to make money because of the increased demands from up the chain. Don’t be surprised if in the future companies only offer Internet, and charge more so they do not have to deal with TV, and stick it to the companies who sell channels to the ISPs who then have to sell as a bundle.

[@dougbas3980]

great Info, Thanks👍

[@jamesmcelhenie5265]

Been shaving the cord for years with your last month we cut the cord completely. I have crap cast with data cap so I have to there modem to get unlimited data.

[@lawyer1165]

I just checked my Internet plan. Spectrum is charging me $80 per month for 300 Mbps. If our politicians weren’t so corrupt, Americans would have Internet service comparable to that in the rest of the western world (that is, much faster service for a fraction of the cost).

[@roopey]

I feel you. Same here in Germany, too. High cost at laughable speeds. In many places you won't be able to get more than 100 Mbit/s (phone cable). Coax has better offers but heavily depends on location. Fiber is a minority...

[@antikommunistischaktion]

@@roopey Seems like this isn't just a US issue (I knew that, but it shocks many Americans of a certain political persuasion).

[@KameraShy]

@@brandonchutt312 Same Comcast prices in the big cities.

[@buyerclub2]

Watching your video and a few comments. It is amazing how many companies want revenue from people who do NOT use their content. For example, local TV amd Sports channels. My recommendation, is first firgure out what YOU want to watch and then find an Internet service like Sling, or Your Tube TV that provides that. You will save lots of money and not have to pay fees for something you dont watch. Personally I think local broadcast (TV) stations are silly. They provide 3 types of product, and 2 I dont even care about. They provided locally produced content like local "news:, they provide syndicated programs and they provide their affiliated network programs. The ONLY thing I care to watch are the network programs. I wouldnt care if they others were not offereed. (

[@alexthepunk]

On Spectrum/Charter, everything is digital, and you can't remove boxes. There is NO way of watching their cable on a TV, without a box. You can use the streaming service, but still have to pay all of the extra fees.

[@tiagoj8020]

Have spectrum with frontier coming into the neighborhood also! Probably switch to frontier for better internet plans.

[@mwjii]

How about frontier fiber/voice, an antenna for local and friendly for cable. Just a thought.

[@chrismv102]

Really excellent piece

[@ReaperHackz]

I'm loving frontier rn the fiber is amazing! im so happy we got it in ohio now spectrum was so overpriced but it was the best we had for years.

[@AllenParks1]

You could Port phone to a Magic Jack, I have used them for years.

[@amazingeric97]

I know in Indiana I get a $10 discount for paperless Eco Billing & Auto Pay. $72 a month. No I am not charged Indiana Tax on just Internet Service. I own my own Modem & Router. I tried to talk to a friend about buying their own modem. They were too afraid that they would have problems.

[@HBRatTheCrossroads]

i only have internet through them and some how i get 3 bills a month and they call it a unicorn account im wondering if anyone else has this same issue

[@digitcreamarepugbabies]

Hi Lon I can't find a review for the Alexa Voice Remote Pro on the channel. I think if I remember correctly that you said a review for it would be coming but I don't see any review. I'd love to know your thoughts on it and watch the review from you.

[@LonSeidman]

I can’t remember if I ordered one or not - will need to check. I think it requires a fire device to work so that may have been why I back burnered it.

[@prime]

Are you going to switch?

[@bbgarnettTotallyNotABot]

Wish we had more options besides Comcast but they're the only game in town where I live and that doesn't look to be changing anytime soon.

[@ferrettail2073]

Same Comcast is basically the only option here too.

[@KameraShy]

Was the same for a long time in my town, a well-to-do suburb of a major city. About a year ago AT&T came in with fiber. Could be a trend.

[@b1rdman]

So, with all these being said, are you going to switch yourself out of the Comcast Fiber you have? Im assuming they put you into a contract but frontier looks much cheaper then you Gig Pro.

[@LonSeidman]

Will discuss next week!

[@KlaasDeforche]

That is so expensive wow. We threw tv out and got an internet only subscription. We just stream tv using the channel's apps. That saves us about 350 euro per year.

[@kosi84]

Is there a way to port local channels from an HD antenna to streaming devices like Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV etc.?

[@LonSeidman]

See here! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmrLeJymnLGnpMk

[@kosi84]

@@LonSeidman Thanks!

[@davinp]

Your service fees are higher then mine. Maybe they vary in each state. Unfortuantely, Comcast/Xfinity just raised fees in January

[@richardmckrell4899]

I have Xfinity in Connecticut, just internet for streaming. I actually reduced my internet download speed plan with Xfinity and my speed actually went up. Not sure why.

[@KameraShy]

I have not changed plans but my Comcast/Xfinity speeds suddenly jumped from 100 to about 130. Unfortunately, upload is still stuck at 12.

[@ZaberfangX]

it's crazy with all the ads they put in the local tv station, then another pocked fee even if don't watch local tv station maybe ones every month. The Crazy part too, that Xfinity still block Linux from using there web streaming tv. But I been looking of dropping cable but someone in house hold still use spanish channels that it's hard to find in other online nextwork they watch.

[@nancybogart3960]

Could they make this any more confusing? Thinking about getting rid of Comcast all together.

[@54carlje]

My area only has comcast right now. :(

[@clanoforophin6780]

You should take a look at Ooma or something like that for phone.

[@Channel-iu7rn]

Don't know if buying a cable modem now is a good idea, DOCSIS 4.0 is coming soon, and the current mid-split rollouts that offer upload speeds of 50/50, 75/75, 100/100 up to 1000/100, 1200/200 and 2000/200 don't work on customer owned modems at this time. Only XB6 modem and up. I got a promotional discount that includes xFi Complete, so I didn't have to pay for the modem rental or unlimited data anymore. I get faster uploads and unlimited data. It is also worth noting that if you have your own modem, unlimited data costs $30.00 vs. $25.00 with xFi Complete. Streaming TV, especially in 4K, uses a lot of data, so I upgraded for this reason.

[@wiziek]

lol soon, how many years this have been?

[@Channel-iu7rn]

​@wiziek, well, the required ampfliers for FDX are done and in Comcast-testing. Mid-split is happening now. The new mid-split amp housing will also fit the new FDX amps so the downtime in the future to upgrade from mid-split to 4.0 will be less.

[@frommatorav1]

Having to pay $25-30 extra for unlimited data is a huge scam. Luckily my service doesn't have data limits. I believe AT&T only has no data caps because their fiber service was new and they're trying to gain market share. My 1 GB down/up is $72 and includes modem rental which is wifi6 plus HBO Max is no extra cost, so I'm satisfied with that. After my 2 year contract ended after Sep ended last year, I got an external antenna in October for $100 plus tax and canceled the DirecTV stream cable service at the end of November. I had 2 boxes. I already had two 4k Firesticks, one of which was a 4k Max and bought another 4k Max for $35. I bought a Tablo quad tuner and a 2.5" 2 TB HDD to go inside it for about $250 total. I can record any prime time show on network TV at no cost. It's March and I've already made that money back in savings.

[@KameraShy]

That would be an excellent topic for a Lon video. My current modem is DOCSYS 3.0 (bought at Goodwill for $3.99, still has the sticker) and I wonder how long it will be before Comcast discontinues support for that one. I still see those for sale at Goodwill. As an aside, Comcast is discontinuing support for email programs that do not support TLS 1.2. They have been warning about this for a while, but the most recent emails say the deadline is set to March 31, 3023.

[@AaronJohnson-mo8rf]

i use yttv, the Problem is Unlike how reliable on a Lot of the higher tier plans comcast has that have classic tv channels these Live tv services Do Not have as of Yet classic tv channels and it makes it slightly irritating trying to Convince youtube tv and other tv services like Hulu to add channels people want

[@BobbyWarren34]

Lon I had to lower my parents bill with Xfinity I got them one box they had 3 box before

[@buyerclub2]

When you are looking at Internet sppeds, think of it as a highway and data as cars. {on even a 2 lane highway, that is not crowded, that car is able to go as fast as it is meant to.) In most households your MAX network can handle data via wifi at about 30 mbps. And other than TVs Nothing in the house goes close to that. To be honest most households, even those using multiple concurrent HD TV {not 4K) can watch even at the slowest offered speeds. (each TV is about 5k mbps down. virtually 0 up. ) Most households do not upload and even a video call is total about 3K. Of course if you are making videos for YT your upload needs willl be much higher. FYI

[@chadsmith7075]

whatever happened to the old $30 a month basic deal? my ex tried turning her cable on under my name

[@LonSeidman]

It’s gone! That’s what I’ve been on for a long time .

[@TubewithMe]

Never used dvr ...missleading information based on assumption. We can actualy see history of things cx records overtime. 6:00 its not good better best service, its based on your needs. Will antena give you same quality and reliability? All you need to do is dnt take the service and forget about it for half a lifespan, check on it regularly, renegotiate your pricing for best available promotions.

[@ginabray2574]

Check out the Flex pay system plan -I had triple bundle an was told It’s old plan . I am in CT. I only had 1 Dvr 1 remote 1200 MBs grown sons can’t play against each other due to xfinity CANT regulate the smart tvs - It’s wrong I’m not going to tell grown men when they can Play so they to this day Don’t get to play against 1 another . I’m trying to return products an Im just going with fire stick or Roku

[@reycaribe]

Could probably save even more if Verizon and T-Mobile home internet is available and up to par.

[@Scotty_in_Ohio]

It's still collusion (IMO) between these broadcast networks and cable providers - they act as though there's really tough negotiations but at the end of the day they agree to continue to pay the ransom/extortion because their subscribers will go to whoever carries the network they want to see. In my area the provider simply takes the channel out of the guide - it's still there but you have to either channel up/down to it or punch in the channel number directly - there's no guide info for it. If (when) my wife finally gets used to watching off of the Android TV app we'll ditch cable TV - we'd not be saving (much) money over cable since the subscription costs equal or exceed the cost of paying my cable provider but I don't get angry at the notion that I'm paying for re-broadcast and "sports" fees for what I don't watch (which is most, if not all, sports-ball).

[@slackerr]

KZbin TV with family plan comes out to 75 bucks. 6 members per family. Internet alone shouldn't be anymore than 75 all in for moderate speed. I pay for the KZbin TV and share it and my parents pay for whatever their Comcast internet is (75 bucks). Good amount of savings considering they alone were paying 144 for internet and TV.

[@JordanVic87]

Ive never seen Lon look so angry before 😅

[@tiagoj8020]

Watching this makes me greatful for torrents

[@jecobian]

i live in new mexico and i have no faith that we will never get any actual competition

[@gutwallst6645]

I pay $39.99 Month 300/300 40/yr VoIP

[@pepsipoint]

Get Rokus, get rid of VIOP and use a cell so you can buy your own modem, get rid of channels you dont watch. no one is bamboozled

[@GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou]

QVC used to pay cable companies and is incentivised to be on the most packages as possible! It's literally a free gimmick channel on internet streaming.

[@samfredo8140]

I hate comcast. They are the only option in my area. Why are they not controlling by the PUC?

[@mrpedrodrodriguezsr7628]

Networks and TV stations get a cut even if you NEVER watch their channel! Technology today makes it possible for the cable boxes to talk back to the cable company and report on which channels you watch and for how much time. We should not pay for channels we NEVER watch.

[@trainroomgary]

It is time to cut the cord to Comcast. I use Direct TV Stream and Verizon 5G Home. If you have a Smart TV you will not need the Roku boxes. Every TV now sold in the USA is a smart TV. You best bet is to drop Comcast - Streaming TV is putting Comcast out of business. Comcast is going to start selling Streaming TV at Walmarts later this year. Any person under the age of 30 is not using Cable TV, According to the Wall Street Journal. 🚂

[@gasmice]

Slight mispronunciation - it’s com-castrate-card, because that’s how you feel when you see the costs.

[@davinp]

Every few years they change the TV package that they offer

[@Scotty_in_Ohio]

More ATSC 3.0 can't come soon enough - the downside is the broadcast networks will likely force us to pay to decrypt their feed. Remember when TV was fairly simple? The broadcasters got their money from advertisers and that was that. Cable companies made "bank" after they had put in the infrastructure and that was decades ago. I'm really coming to the conclusion that cable TV (and for the large part TV in general) is a waste of time and money. Sure I'll continue to subscribe to a few streaming services - if I don't have anything left to watch I'll read or enjoy being outside.

[@johntierney3353]

My internet connection is $49.98 for 100 Mbps/2.5 Mbps. No contract.

[@PeterBellefleur]

2 years ago if you had told me frontier was going to be a good choice I would have slapped you in the face. But a few months ago I just moved my mom in CT to the 500/500 plan and YTTV and she's now paying less than $100/mo and my Plex server I keep there now has glorious 500meg upload speeds.

[@JeskidoYT]

Say it with me everybody "Cut! The! Cord! Cut! The Cord! Ban ISP Routers! Ban DVR boxes!"

[@pmascarenas]

Ooma all the way

[@Drew-ql3gq]

You can buy your own cable box

[@Jim.Kramer]

Concerning Broadcast fees... ATSC 3.0 will make antenna users even more obsolete when ATSC 1.0 sunsets. In my area already the Hearst owned 3.0 stations are encrypted and unwatchable unless you buy a specific TV with the specific decryption keys. Once we can all pull in the decrypted signals we'll be subject to whatever the stations want as far as DRM recording and skipping commercials. They're charging you an arm and a leg for retransmission fees, and if you try to use the old-fashioned antenna that they use OUR airwaves to broadcast on they're going to limit you and charge you for anything they want. Remember boys and girls, elections have consequences. Also, let your opinions be known to the FCC and your Congress critters.

[@LonSeidman]

The Antenna Man has a good explainer on this here if you haven't seen it : kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4u2lq2Ja6dklZI

[@daproyaknow7056]

I pay $5 for an IPTV service where I watch EVERYTHING including the UFC PPV this past weekend!!!!!!!!!!

[@wiziek]

ah so you are paying for pirated streaming?

[@daproyaknow7056]

@@wiziek And loving every minute of it!!! Using a VPN of course

[@JoeHusosky]

Send Mom to MagicJack

[@DeuryMota]

Got that