[ale] OT: DeKalb Sets Public Meeting On Comcast

[Geoffrey]

Byron Jeff wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 06:40:33AM -0500, Geoffrey wrote:
>> krwatson at cc.gatech.edu wrote:
>>> DeKalb Sets Public Meeting On Comcast
>>>
>>> DECATUR - DeKalb County will hold a public meeting on Friday, Feb. 19
>>> at 6:00 p.m. at the Manuel J. Maloof Auditorium, 1300 Commerce Drive,
>>> to discuss Comcast Cable Communication's desire to renew its
>>> franchise with the County.
>> Comcast is by far the worst company I've ever dealt with when it comes 
>> to 'no customer service.'
> 
> While the script monkeys are difficult to deal with, at least they do
> answer the phone quickly. I can still remember the 45+ hold times when
> Media One was running the shop.
> 
> My biggest frustration is a technical one. After touting during the OTA
> digital transision that you needed to change nothing if you were a Comcast
> customer, they went Ninja Assassin on their analog offerings and started
> converting large portions of the their basic cable tier to digital.
> Considering the 6 for 1 channel swap between digital and analog, that is
> understandable.
> 
> What is not is their insistance on then encrypting those channels and
> forcing the use of a box in order to decode them. They can spout all the
> crap they want about it being best for the customer. It's not. It's a
> blatant naked control/money grab to force folks into a box for every TV,
> though all modern TVs have digital clear QAM tuners that are perfectly
> capable of tuning in digital channels if they are not encrypted.
> 
> As a MythTV user with 3 analog tuners, I am incensed. Not only are my
> current tuners going to be obsoleted eventually, there is no alternative
> for grabbing the encrypted digital content as their boxes have no reliable
> mechanism for obtaining it. Couple that with the monthly fees that CC wants
> for their crappy boxes, and you can see why I'm not happy.
> 
> Being able to get analog content without a box was the one clear advantage
> that cable has/had over the alternatives. I don't want anyone else's DVR
> system. No flexibility. No expandability.
> 
> I'm shopping for an alternative. It really would be no problem if I were
> not a sports junkie because pretty much everything is available online in
> one format or another. But content like ESPN or NFL Network is much more
> difficult to get online reliably.
> 
> Any suggestions. The best I've come up with so far is OTA digital/HD for
> broadcast content coupled with a satellite box and HD/digital grabber for
> the rest.

I'm with you all the way.  Seems everyone's jumping on the 'one box per 
tv' wagon.  I went with AT&T uverse, which requires the one tv per box. 
  I will say the support has been unbelievable.  It's like a totally 
different company then AT&T/Bellsouth I'm used to.  Actually had a field 
supervisor stop at my door to inquire as to how things were going.  I'm 
not happy with the one box per tv, but I'm so glad to be rid of Comcast.

> 
> BAJ
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-- 
Until later, Geoffrey

"I predict future happiness for America if they can prevent
the government from wasting the labors of the people under
the pretense of taking care of them."
- Thomas Jefferson