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Outside the Cable Box

Posted by michael on from the dust-bunnies dept.

An anonymous reader writes: "Interesting article from the Philadelphia Inquirer that talks about the Cable industry's goal of creating a tv top device that can work in any franchise. 'Some fear that Comcast will wield inordinate clout in deciding what kind of box customers will be able to buy.' It's only their goal because the government made them.

2 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Why Comcast Sucks(not a troll) by phunhippy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Comcast is wielding monoplistic powers(yeah its not spelled right). I recently turned off my cable TV service in favor of DirecTV. However I kept my Cable Modem service as its the only high-speed internet service availble to me(no dsl yet). Comcast tells me they are very sorry i'm changing at that my bill will be $5 more a month now that i don't have cable TV.. fine no problem i say..

    So now 3 months later i get a letter in the mail informing me that the because that they have a great new pricing scheme for Cable Internet. In fact the price stays the SAME at $42 of your a comcast subscriber.

    But if yer not a comcast subscriber its now $60!! ok people thats insane!

    but wait! comcast will offer me(in same letter) truly basic cable tv of 30 channels(remember when that was a lot?) for 12 dollars a month more.. and of course since i would get cable from them the internet would go back down to $42.. and i would SAVE 17 dollars according to them.. Yet either way i still pay at least 15-17 more dollars.. and i don't even want their stinking Cable. Oh and i have 1 week to decide by next billing cycle the letter states..

    No not a abusive monopoly at all.. Now I'm just waiting for DSL to become available in my area and I'll switch first chance i can & Then i'll never have to give money to comcast again. They lost a customer with that horrible "new" policy of thiers.

    1. Re:Why Comcast Sucks(not a troll) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Eventually I'll figure out which tree is the culprit and have it removed.

      Dig around on the net. Twice a year the sun lines up behind the satellites for about a week. All you have to do is go outside and find the sun at the right time for your area.

      You can even check multiple slots on the same day. Go out for 101 (Directv), then come back later for 110 or 119 (either Dish or Directv). If you can see the sun at the designated time, your dish will be able to see the satellite.

      Incidentally, this sun-alignment makes life really interesting for the actual providers, since the receivers occasionally get overloaded for a few minutes. You actually lose channels briefly as it progresses across the sky.