DVR Chatter

Frank · 01-23-2008 5:45:55 PM

Consumer Reports have rated customer satisfaction among subscribers to Triple Play services (Cable, Internet, Phone). According to The Consumerist, these are the results.

They're a little funky to read. The first number is the overall score, followed by the company name, Internet Service Rating, TV Service Rating, and Phone Service Rating.

250 Verizon FiOS 84, 84, 82
222 Bright House 75, 69, 78
222 Cox 74, 69, 79
221 Verizon/DirecTV 73, 74, 74
221 Qwest/DirecTV 72, 74, 75
221 AT&T/Dish Network 72, 70, 74
214 Cablevision 72, 65, 77
208 Time Warner 71, 63, 74
199 Comcast 66 ,62, 71
188 Charter 61, 59, 68

Georgia Guy · 01-23-2008 9:20:06 PM

Wow, Comcast is really bringing up the rear.

All in all, Comcast has provided me with pretty decent cable tv and service. I did have a lot of problems with my 6412 before I returned it, but had no other big problems, and my Tivo S3 works quite well with their service.

Anyone here use all of their services: phone, internet, and cable? Any good?
My Bellsouth phone is getting really really expensive and I've been wondering whether its worthwhile to look into the Comcast bundle. Thoughts on this?

Frank · 01-23-2008 9:56:31 PM

Georgia Guy wrote:
My Bellsouth phone is getting really really expensive and I've been wondering whether its worthwhile to look into the Comcast bundle. Thoughts on this?

My only thought is this:

199 Comcast 66 ,62, 71

If you're cool with be 66.3% satisfied, go for it.

Based on the number of outages while I had Comcast, I would never consider giving them my phone. In fact, a big portion of my decision to change to Verizon was the reliability of my phone service (knock wood). They seem to run things in a "mission critical" kind of way being a public utility.

jganyard · 01-24-2008 12:07:25 PM

I have a Comcast triple play package... can't really complain.

Phone- Service was a bit of a pain at first because they did not transfer my old BellSouth number and I got stuck with a new number for a couple of weeks.

Internet- Has been stable. Never had an outage that I know of. Fast.

TV - Quirky DVR issues, low storage. Decent job adding new HD channels.

I have the full-boat package with two DVRs, all premiums and pay ~$185. Though I am considering cutting back to no premiums and only one DVR which would save about $50 a month.

Georgia Guy - I've been getting mailers from AT&T, they've got a new local phone plan that is cheaper and comes with only a limited set of features. No more getting hamstrung with "Complete Choice" if you just want the most popular stuff. Still hard for them to compete with the Comcast deals though.

Georgia Guy · 01-24-2008 3:35:49 PM

Thanks jganyard. The $185 includes the cable tv, internet, & phone?

I'm presently paying $100 for Comcast cable tv ("Digital Preferred Sho", one dig.box, 2 cablecards), and about $155 for At&T (Bellsouth) phone & Xtreme 6.0 dsl, so all three services total around $255 per month. The dsl portion is $47, I think. My phone service is the Complete Coice thing, plus a second bare-bones line.

I used to have Bellsouth cable tv (we can only get them or Comcast here), but they never offered HD programming so I dumped that and went to Comcast.

jganyard · 01-25-2008 9:48:28 AM

Georgiaguy:

Yep $185 for the full boat. Triple Play Premium is the package. Base price is $159.99. I pay for an extra DVR (one is included in the base price) so subtract $11.95 and you're looking at about $173 after taxes and fees. I also get a monthly credit for the $5.99 Add'l Outlet fee each month (be sure to ask for that).

Latest price sheet that goes into effect in February for our area shows Cablecards will be $1.50 each. So add that to the $173. I'm not sure what their charge is for an extra phone line, but I know they can do it.

I recently priced a BS/AT&T + DirecTV bundle and it was a few dollars higher because of the extra $$ DirecTV charges for HD service (rightfully since they do have more). Plus the upfront DVR costs. With your investment in a Series 3 Tivo, I doubt you'd even consider that as an option.

I'm actually considering cutting back to the Triple Play Starter (base $99), Preferred ($115.99) Triple Play Preferred + HBO&Stars ($129.99) since I really haven't been watching the movie channels lately and my wife and I tend to only watch the HD channels almost exclusively and we're really paying for more than we need/watch.

BTW: The Speedboost on Comcast's internet service can be wicked fast sometimes. I've seen short bursts of 15-20Mbs when downloading smaller files. Can't say I've ever seen a lot of lag, but that supposedly can differ depending by neighborhood.

Georgia Guy · 01-25-2008 12:05:43 PM

Thanks for the info.

I use the cable tv package with just one premium. Like you, we almost never watch movies on the premium channel (was with Netflix, now with Blockbuster online).
We used to get HBO, strictly for Sopranos, Deadwood and 6-Feet Under. Since they left, I switched to SHO for Dexter.

I might do some serious shopping in February. Appreciate the input.

DVR Chatter

#1 01-23-2008 5:45:55 PM

Consumer Reports Rates Triple Play Companies

#2 01-23-2008 9:20:06 PM

Re: Consumer Reports Rates Triple Play Companies

#3 01-23-2008 9:56:31 PM

Re: Consumer Reports Rates Triple Play Companies

Georgia Guy wrote:

#4 01-24-2008 12:07:25 PM

Re: Consumer Reports Rates Triple Play Companies

#5 01-24-2008 3:35:49 PM

Re: Consumer Reports Rates Triple Play Companies

#6 01-25-2008 9:48:28 AM

Re: Consumer Reports Rates Triple Play Companies

#7 01-25-2008 12:05:43 PM

Re: Consumer Reports Rates Triple Play Companies

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