I called them previously...like half a year ago, a couple of years ago etc and they would never lower the rate. One of my friends have been doing this for a long time, renewing his promotional $29.99 rate 6 months at a time.
I pay $50 also, because I don't have bundled cable or digital phone service. I will try asking for a price match and see if I can get a discount.
I guess it's not what you say, but how you say it. I'm sure the notes on my account are a mile long. I call tweaking my service all the time for discounts.
In Baltimore, I just got Comcast Digital Cable, Internet, and phone for $99/month. So far the service on all three has been good. And I do get NBA TV with the standard channels.
Looks like we can kiss HBO West goodbye, among other things. I'm not happy about losing my email address. I doubt "myname"@comcast.com" exists. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4824450.html Comcast prepares for switch Company gives more details on changeover By BILL HENSEL JR. Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle For Comcast in Houston, June 19 is a big day — the local cable company now known as Time Warner Cable will finally be known as Comcast. But that marketing push won't require its customers to do anything, at least not right away. Comcast, which has been running the Time Warner Cable system in the Houston area since Jan. 1, has kept a low profile, using the time to beef up its network and hire 200 more people, to bring its staff to 2,700 workers. This is a big, rapidly growing competitive market — with about 40,000 homes added per year — and Comcast is investing to win that business, said Tony Speller, senior vice president for Comcast's Houston region. During a session with the editorial board of the Houston Chronicle, Speller and Ray Purser, Comcast's vice president for public and government relations, offered more details about how this switch-over will affect customers who depend on the company for television, Internet and digital telephone services. Beginning June 19, the company will offer 21 new channels in its various programming packages. This will include the NFL Network, for those who pay for the package that includes added sports programming. But Comcast has also dropped 15 channels, which in some cases offered the same programing on a different schedule. Among the changes promised will be faster high-speed Internet service and improved video on demand. "We will be adding content going forward," Speller said. He said the video on demand ultimately will offer thousands of programs, many for free. But some consumers will have to adjust in the future. While the basic box needed for service will not change for those sticking with the same level of service, e-mail customers with Road Runner addresses have until year-end to get Comcast addresses. Company officials recognized an address change can be a big adjustment for those who have worked hard to get their e-mail addresses out. They promised the Philadelphia-based company would work to avoid surprises. "We want to stress that our plan is to communicate with our customers often during this whole process, and we will use every resource available," Purser said. "We always give our customers 30 days advance notice of any lineup changes or price changes, and we are going to go beyond that." The company recently sent out a booklet to consumers offering some details but also raising questions and concerns of users who were wondering if this name change would also come with rate increases. The Comcast executives said here's what else customers can expect come June 19: Q: Will Comcast be raising rates? A: Rates essentially will stay the same. There is a $1-per-month reduction in the price for digital basic cable. The price for a digital video recorder with the digital basic cable package will drop by 4 cents per month. "We don't have anything planned for a price increase," Speller said. Q: Will customers have to switch out their cable boxes? A: No. Q: Some changes already have been made by Comcast in the cable arena by dropping certain networks. Can you outline what those were? A: A total of 15 networks, most West Coast feeds, were dropped due to lower viewership and viewer interest, Purser said. These included the West Coast feeds of some HBO channels that offered a schedule preferred by some viewers. With more viewers using DVRs to record shows for later use, and the ability to watch shows on demand, these feeds weren't being used as they once were. Q: Will the company be adding additional networks and making other changes? A: A total of 21 networks, including the NFL Network, will be added to the cable lineup. Various cable tiers will be renamed, but the lineup won't change much. For example, Standard Cable will be called Expanded Basic Service. And the current $5-per-month Movies Plus for Digital Cable will be folded into Digital Preferred package at no charge. Q: What about those customers who have their e-mail addresses through the company? How will those have to be changed? A: Customers will have until the end of the year to change their e-mail addresses. Customers who have not switched as of Dec. 31 will have their Road Runner addresses disabled.
More on the email change. http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2007/05/here_are_more_details_about_comcasts_email_pl.html May 21, 2007 Here are more details about Comcast's e-mail plans I've been hearing from lots of Time Warner/Road Runner customers who are nervous and upset about plans to change their e-mail address as the takeover by Comcast progresses. Changing an e-mail address is never trivial. Some folks use their RR e-mail for business; others have had it long enough that the it will be a major hassle to contact correspondents and get them the new address. Today, I was able to get some details on how the switchover will work during a meeting between the Chronicle's editorial board and two Comcast executives -- Tony Speller, the senior vice president for Comcast's Houston region, and Ray Purser, the vice present for public and government relations. The changes to the cable Internet service will begin in July, as previously indicated, and that includes the e-mail switch. The houston.rr.com e-mail domain will go away, to be replaced by comcast.net. Because Comcast doesn't use region-specific domains -- there won't be a houston.comcast.net -- customers will likely have to change the first part of their addresses because of conflicts with other, established Comcast users. For example, chances are there already is a dsilverman@comcast.net somewhere among the service's millions of subscribers nationwide. I won't be able to use that as my address. Road Runner customers will be notified of the change via both e-mail and snail mail. The former will come with a "migration tool" which will help with the e-mail switch, Purser said. Although Comcast executives at first said customers would have a grace period of about a year, it will be less than that. Instead, Speller said Houston customers will have until the end of the year -- Jan. Dec. 31 -- to change their e-mail addresses. There will be multiple notifications, but customers who have not made the switch by that date will find their Road Runner addresses disabled. Some TechBlog commenters have argued that there's no technical reason why the houston.rr.com domain couldn't continue on. I asked Speller about this, and he said the switch is necessary "because we're moving customers to the Comcast network." "We've done this before many times as we've acquired other networks, and it's not as painful as people think it will be," he said. "We'll make it as easy and as simple as we can." By the way, I've heard from a handful of Road Runner customers who suffered an e-mail outage over the weekend that may still be continuing. Some of them were told by Comcast tech support that it was because of the switch. Both Purser and Speller vehemently denied that, and said the changeover will not begin until July. Purser said there was no general e-mail outage in Houston this weekend, and any e-mail problems were "one-offs".
Damn it man, now we have to deal with TW here in dallas. Their service rate has been slow as hell. Took them a week just to active my internet line! Can't wait for FIOS now to take over now.
Are they still going to have the International Channels? My parents are going to be pissed if they can't watch the Zee TV version of Idol.
Am I the only one who isn't looking forward to this? More on demand options... namely HD on demand for HBO subscribers. Faster internet download speeds. Better interactive menus/software for digital cable. And most importantly... NFL Network! Sure, customer service may suck... but its not like its all that great for TW right now anyways.
Everything that comes on HBO-W is available on the on-demand option. You're not getting less programming.
From the article posted above... "Among the changes promised will be faster high-speed Internet service and improved video on demand."
In addition to NFL Network, they also offer ESPN2 HD. It seems like they have every channel that Time Warner was refusing to add.
