Comcast Says Its Disappearing Subscribers Aren't Cord Cutters

I’ve never had cable – despite my kids’ pleas – and I see even fewer reasons to get it now. The internet gets us everything we need or want, and more. Cable is toast. The phone companies are next.

i quit comcast this year because i was in a contract plan for 66$. when the contract expired they kindly asked me to start paying 156.00 for the same services. after repeated attempts to figure something out with some of the worst customer service people, i declined and went with a new subscriber. i got a call from comcast afterwards asking me to come back at the original rate.

They increased there pricing 15% a year. My bill went from $100 a month to $200 in 5 years. I call and ask to get a deal they refuse so I changed to Fios for $115 for next two years. Comcast calls me up 2 days after I give them there equipment back and offers $100. They deserve to lose all there customers.

I joined comcast last year and have to say it has been the worst experience. Their technology is severely outdated and they need to be brought up to 2010. The menu and DVR functions are still in 1998 and customer service is horrible. Maybe they need to start looking internally…because you really cannot blame everything on the economy!

Until the other services get easier and the options are the same. I’ll take the quality and convenience of cable. I can afford it and I still love my TIVo (which is getting long in the tooth)

“So we’re still stuck where we’ve been for a while: Lots of people — many of whom are the kind of people who read sites like this one — say that cord cutting is either here or inevitable. And the incumbent cable companies say they see no sign of it.” Sounds like the cable companies are Baghdad Bob.

I cut the cable because of the economy, but also because I was fed up with paying for channels I never watch and refused to support. Seriously, I have to pay for the garbage on Planet Green and MTV to get ESPN? Until the cable companies start offering an a la carte service where we can pick which channels we want (the tech exists, so don’t give me that), I’m not doing cable/satellite.

Netflix and iTunes are supplying my entertainment need and at a cost far cheaper per month.

Of course they are cord cutters. Why do I want to pay 75.00 a month for commercial programming with NO movie channels when for 40.00 a year I can have unlimited movies and programs through my XBOX via Netflix. They don’t even ask you why you are cutting off the cable so how do they know anyway. I’d say they are complete denial and their service sucks.

I just don’t see cord-cutting for the masses, all things web I believe are additive to the company you choose for core entertainment.

I just connected by NEW Sony GoogleTV — guess what, NO WAY I’m leaving DIRECTV. Not a slam on GoogleTV as I also connected my new AppleTV for personal media and music to this new Sony, browsed Hulu, watched Netflix, listened to Pandora, checked my gmail and read up on some sports on ESPN.com.

This commentary should be a sure sign to anyone who reads this that I am the type of person that loves technology and will find new (read ADDED) ways to enjoy it.

My paid entertainment comes from DIRECTV — for as far as I can see all new gadgets, apps and content will be children to this decision.

I cut my cable about 9 months ago. I didn’t do it to save money (although that’s a plus), I didn’t do it because I can watch stuff online or through netflix (which I do on occassion). I did it because there is nothing to watch. There is only so much biggest loser, jersey shore, dwts, shark week you can watch until its the same rehash as last week. There just isn’t anything worth watching. I’m just no longer engaged by the dozen CSI shows all with the same story every week in a different locale, or the same Law and Order shows. Give me something new and clever and I’ll watch it; but I’m not going to pay $70/mo to just flip channels for 45 minutes and give up.

I cut the cord last December and just bought rabbit ears last week. I have been surviving on Netflix through my blu-ray player, hulu through my macbook, and ABC through my iPad. Saved $100/ month and have no intention of going back to cable. I am planning on buying the apple tv at some point and I look forward to seeing it grow.

I’m not going to give Comcast or DirecTV $150 a month so they can serve up a smorgasbord of poor programming and 500 channels I don’t want, block local TV statiions, and lock me into “equipment fees”
The reality is Americans are now smarter and have more choices than being locked into Comcast’s lousy service and hold the customer hostage mentality. So, Brian Roberts, here’s a novel idea: why don’t you see what the market wants and not try and do a fluff PR campaign about how America cannot afford cable. America is just tired of Comcast’s high prices for the past 30 years. Hey, cable was a great ride for the Roberts family (owners of Comcast). But it is a sunset industry. I don’t need your pipe or whatever you put in it for me to smoke any more.

Haven’t had cable in 13 years. Just rabbit ears. Anything on HBO etc, I can rent on Netflix, or find online. I also don’t have much time to watch TV, so not sure how that plays into the mix. It would be interesting to know the average number of hours those who are cutting the cable.

At a $130 per month I feel like my non-cable watching ways are brilliant on my part. I used to be a huge couch potato and wasted to much time watching to much crap content. When I got rid of television 15 years ago the quality of my viewing habits skyrocketed. When Netflix came a long and started the delivery paradigm that was it, I was in bliss to never ever look back to crap cable.

Cable is already irrelevant as a content bottleneck and just like the music industry it will come to the realization too late to make the shift they need to make! Eventually they will be the dumbpipes they need to be, to just pipe in user bandwidth.

I dropped Comcast about six months ago. Don’t like their inflated prices, their position on net neutrality or their monopoly on cable TV in my neighborhood. I dropped it because of them — plain and simple. Now I buy DVDs and download shows off iTunes.

LOL, oh yes they are. I know I was!

http://www.anonymize.it.tc

I guess my wife and I are cord cutters as of this last July. Feels like we got out of a bad relationship. Going to buy a mac mini for our living room tv soon, should pay for itself in 7 months and we’ll also have a fully functional desktop mac on our 46″ LED. Hulu/plus and Netlfix are good options. As well as a traditional rabbit ear antenna for live events. Sounds silly but it actually works quite well with all newer tv’s and it’s appears to be broadcast in High-Def. Makes you think the cable companies do something to intentionally dumb the signal down when they charge you for standard-definition or charge you a premium for HD service that’s freely available over the airwaves… Well it upset me when I found out that little fact. Im all for down with the cable companies but honestly it’s nice only paying $50 a month for internet and also getting all my tv needs out of it. Once cable companies figure this out they’ll then be known as Internet companies and then I’ll be paying $150 for internet.

Enjoying it while it lasts…all you slow adapters please take your time.

I moved recently to a home in LA that wasn’t substantially wired for cable, and I was only committed to the place for a year, so a two-year DirecTV commitment didn’t make sense either. So, I got a $15/month AT&T special rate on 3-mbps broadband, and no cable. I’ve watched some Hulu shows, have Netflix through my Xbox (and plenty of other odds and ends) and am pondering that $99 iTV to stream my zillion bits of content on my macs, ipad and elsewhere, and watch more shows. I’m not missing much TV, except for my version of reality TV, which is sports. For that, which I DO miss, I’ll need to head to one of the two sports bars within half a mile. I’ll see how long I last during the Lakers season.

I left TV signal in the dust over four years ago and haven’t looked back. I became a “cord cutter” primarily because programmers seemed to be planning shows around commercials instead of vice versa. Also, out of the bazillion channels I was paying for, I watched only a handful (but to get those, I had to subscribe to said bazillion).

About a year ago, I discovered Netflix, a service I consider to be the new model for TV viewing: On demand and no commercials. That’s heaven. Cable and satellite companies really missed the boat by not developing à la carte subscription services.

I was a customer of Comcast until last night. Yesterday I received a new digital converter box that is going to be needed by everyone to keep watching t.v. with Comcast. After hooking it up I found that I had lost picture quality. I called to complain only to discover during the course of the conversation that I had been overpaying for the last five years. I had been paying $61 per month for a service that requires a comcast digital cable box to utilize the entire package. The package I should have had was $31 per month. I was not credited or even given a deal or anything. So after getting my bill reduced to the service it should have been at I found that I could only get 28 channels in my room. This is where I had installed the new digital converter box, which is different than the digital cable box. I called back to find out what was going on because I had been watching all of my usual lineup of channels before I fixed my bill. It turns out that in order to keep getting the channels in my room I would have to go back to the $61 per month. I asked how long I had until the digital change would happen and found out I had until the 15th of November. I was very angry at this point. Not only had I been overcharged for the last five years, but now I would have to go back to the $61 per month to keep the same service only with a poorer picture quality. I unhooked the digital converter and instantly all of my channels were back. So it is just a fancy way to get us to filter our services and pay more for less. I got right on the internet and looked up DISH. For the same price I am now paying($31) I get 120 channels in up to four rooms. Lets take a look at what my options are. Comcast offers 50 channels on one t.v. and 28 channels on a second t.v. for $31 or 80 channels on one t.v. and 50 channels on a second t.v. for $61. Or I can just go with DISH and get a lot more for a lot less. That is why I am leaving Comcast. I am sure I am not alone in this kind of shennanigans. I only wish I would have done this sooner and saved myself $1500 of overcharges. I am going to start looking for a new internet provider right after this is posted also.

“Nope, says the cable giant. It’s evidence that the economy sucks.”
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Nope, says the consumer. It’s evidence that your company SUCKS! When a 30 year customer calls and asks how to go about cancelling service and the CS rep says “all you have to do is call this number…” instead of offering deals. That is a clear sign. Another clear sign is here in Houston, the BBB refuses to endorse Comcast because their customer service sucks.

We are ‘cord-cutters’ opting for Netflix via Roku.

As a former Comcast customer, I believe this is mostly due to the fact that Comcast overcharges and underdelivers. The fact that they are bragging about remaining customers paying more is a clue. They keep milking their customers for more and more cash while it is becoming increasingly easier to get the same or better content for less money. They are milking their cash cow dry. They are operating with the old cable-monopoly mentality, and that ain’t going to last.

I left them and kept my cord, they are to expensive and they have terrible customer service. Their internet billing does not coincide with the billing at your local branch. One month the bill is this the next it is that. They have the power especially if they control the area to leave you without any service. It is a shame that cable companies do not compete for business with each other for lower prices. The bottom line is cutting down the expenses is what it is all about and if a company cannot offer affordable services for its customers they will loose the clients in droves. It will get worse hopefully so then maybe they will get the message, LOWER YOUR RATES and stop robing us.

I, like several below, used COMCAST for a long time (13 years). When my bill went up 30% I called and asked how we could adjust it. The package I was put in ended up costing even more. Got DirecTV and had to lock for 2 years (wanted Uverse but wasn’t available). Not sure if I’ll stick with them in 2 years because the signal goes out whenever it rains or is windy.

I don’t look forward to going back to COMCAST though. Service started out great but became non-existent in the end. I laugh at the shared experience of COMCAST offering a great deal when they know we are “cutting the cord”. I told the rep they should have made the offer before I was locked into a 2 year contract with Direct. Unfortunately this loss of business will most likely result in low ranking individuals losing their jobs while the policy makers will cash out and continue to claim that “no one is cutting the cord, they are just not watching TV”.