Anybody know if HBO Max is included if you already get HBO on your Comcast Xfinity TV service-- or do you still have to buy an HBO Max subscription?
I spent a frustrating hour today both online chatting with a Comcast bot and on the phone with more bots-- and still can't get an answer!
Do not think it cost extra as I got it after negotiating new package including HBO before HBO Max was launched. If I had to pay extra I would not get it. First run movies they show there first will end up on HBO in a few months.
Just try it. I think I have it bundled with the HBO I get from Amazon Prime. I don't watch enough TV to justify it tho. I am really thinking of dropping all that crap. (HBO, SHO etc) It turns out most of what is on HBO shows up on regular prime a week or two later anyway. It is really hard to tell tho since it is somewhat seamless. I can't remember the last thing I watched on Showtime.
Finally got through to Comcast today. It is included.
I suspect they are trying to get enough customers from HBO by giving it free now to later charging extra for it. I will drop it if they do.
It sounds more like the cable reliant old HBO will be going away for a streaming service. I really haven't been paying that much attention but I suspect in this internet connected world HBO wants to unhook from the cable companies and sell directly to the customer. I know there was grumbling that Amazon was not going to handle HBO Max but the last time I tried they seemed to be doing it. Bezos may have made them an offer they couldn't refuse.
Ditto here.
I've been a Comcast customer for a long time. My impression is that their products are quite good technically. I'm pretty satisfied with their performance and reliability.
But Comcast's customer service usually sucks as does their business philosophy: i.e., "Stick it to the customer in small increments-- each just below the ouch or complaint point."
After some months and years go by, they've jabbed you for a bunch more dollars a year than you signed up for originally. The TV charge stays the same-- as your contract calls for-- but they jack the equipment rentals and add "fees" which are not covered in the contract.
Another peeve is they've converted several of my favorite channels that were included in the channel lineup I signed up for to an extra paid subscription only.
They also removed several nice features from their land line phone service like texting.
The Comcast X1 system allows access to streaming services. They get a cut by charging extra. I not only access HBO Max but Netflix on Comcast.
Also put them all on my tablet.
Comcast reliability sucks here and when you couple that with poor customer service you can understand why I cut their drop and left it laying in the right of way years ago. I told them to come get their equipment. When the guy showed up and I gave him the cable router in a DSL box he said "That's cold man". My FIL is still screwing around with them and his TV or internet is down at least once a week. DSL may be slow but it always works.
No fiber over there? I live in a total backwater but we at least have fiber here. 400 up/400 down for $40/month. I could upgrade to 1000/1000 for an additional $20/month but that's overkill.
Nope, No fiber. Comcast has a monopoly on the cable biz here and there is no incentive for them to even upgrade the 35 year old copper they inherited from South Florida Cable when they bought them. That is why their service sucks. It looked like they would at least replace that moldy hardline when Irma knocked it down but they just hung the old coax back up. The Telco has fiber at the end of my street but they never brought it into the neighborhood. They are just selling reliability vs Comcast's hit or miss speed. I don't have a good enough signal from Verison to get an LTE modem to give the 25m they promise. Nobody cares. We are just orphans at the end of a dead end road that dead ends in a state wildlife preserve. It is good that nobody screws with us but they don't want to screw with us either. Not enough critical mass to attract a decent "plant" investment. No Nat Gas, no sewer, no city water either.
That's unfortunate. Somehow I got lucky over here.
Not in my experience. When we had DSL, it went out every time there was a thunderstorm. We ended up getting the tool to open the box and reset the NID ourselves rather than call AT&T. It was quicker.
Comcast has been much more reliable.
Cindy Hamilton
You have described it well.
We also have FIOS in the neighborhood and I have a fiber line to my house but just used it for phones which are now dropped. Phone charge was outrageous as it was treated like an old land line with extra cost for long distance and caller id, etc.
FIOS is no better than Comcast and maybe worse with price increases. I have a neighbor that every year or two switches between the two to get the best offer.
We got lucky with that. When Sprint bought out Ma and Pa Kettle they did a massive upgrade to the system and we ended up with very reliable service. Comcast was not as diligent when they bought out So Fla Cable. My neighbor worked for them and he says they didn't fix a thing. They just keep patching up a 35 year old system (some is 50 years old) and sticking their finger in the eye of their customers. Their attitude is if there is no other option, where will people go?
I've tried that too.
Many years back, I switched over to ATT based an in-store conversation with the local ATT store manager. His deal was a two year contract featuring a killer/gimme price guaranteed for the first year so attractive that it almost included beer and pizza delivered Friday nights by an ATT cutie.
The second year wasn't mentioned in the contract but he assured me they'd "take real good care" of me the second year. After 12 months, they jacked the rate so high I damn near got a nosebleed.
And of course when I went back to the store to complain and showed that same store manager my "don't worry, we'll take good care of you after the first year" notes, he denied telling me that.
As it turned out, every ATT retail store shift back then had several folks called "store managers" so I hadn't been dealing with the head hog like I thought I had been. It took considerable escalation from him to Customer No Service to their Regional HQ (that eventually degenerated into threats of legal action, social media and calls to local TV and newspaper consumer reporters) before I got them down to a reasonable- but still too high- rate.
I have always felt the biggest problem with ATT is the old phone company mentality of being the only store in town. So you had to take it or leave it.
When I first got my FIOS line they bugged the hell out of me to increase service to TV and internet, even sending people to the house. Of course prices were ridiculously low but there was silence when I said I would take their offer if guaranteed for life.
Though most of the Ma Bell gang are long-retired by now, the old organizational values and culture live on in the DNA embedded in the walls, carpeting and sound absorbing ceiling tile.
On Thu, 1 Jul 2021 18:40:58 -0400, Frank posted for all of us to digest...
You can also watch U Tube.
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