Free Peacock for thee but not me?

May 20, 2021 8:49 AM

Hope me figure out how to get Peacock free via my Xfinity account. Of course, there are snowflakes...

Xfinity gives their cable tv customers Peacock Premium for free. On their website, they say all you have to do is say "Get Peacock" into your spiffy X1 voice remote and sign up. However...

I am, apparently, the only Xfinity cable customer without an X1 device or voice remote. All I have are a couple of STBs (basically, digital converter boxen). So, obviously, I cannot speak my request into anything, and there aren't instructions (that I can find) on the Xfinity site providing an alternate method.

I can go to the Peacock website and sign up, but there doesn't appear to be any way to link that back to my Xfinity account in order to get Peacock free.

I've asked on both the Xfinity customer forums and the Xfinity subReddit, but the answers have been less than helpful.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to get me Peacock? FWIW, I plan to access Peacock via my Roku streaming stick.

posted by Thorzdad to Grab Bag (7 answers total)

We do not have an X1 device or voice remote - we only pay for internet through Xfinity, not cable service.

To get access to Peacock via our Xfinity subscription we had to request a (free) "Flex" streaming box. It's literally sitting in a box in our basement, unconnected to anything, but that step was required for our Xfinity internet service to qualify as providing access to Peacock.

Then you should be able to choose Xfinity from the provider section after you create a Peacock account, according to this page .

We stream it through our AppleTV and it works fine.
posted by misskaz at 9:04 AM on May 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

Xfinity implies Peacock Premium is free only for their X1 and Flex customers, which seems to be a special tier/plan (not just cable). Maybe you're not on that plan? Presumably that plan automatically provides the advanced streaming boxes instead of the regular STBs, so that might be why the directions start with the voice remote and don't provide other options.
posted by bluecore at 9:04 AM on May 20, 2021

Huh, I have Peacock Premium through Xfinity and no box. I can't remember how I actually did it, but knowing me I almost certainly signed up online. My recommendation would be to sign up for a free plan on the website and then try to upgrade to Premium and see if it allows a "sign in through Xfinity" or something. My "Plans & Payment" page has a line for "Linked Provider" and shows my Xfinity as being linked.
posted by brainmouse at 10:21 AM on May 20, 2021

Best answer: Do these directions help any?
posted by General Malaise at 10:49 AM on May 20, 2021 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: General Malaise...I...I think...I think I love you...
Thank you!

seriously...how the #$&@ did i miss that page???
posted by Thorzdad at 12:02 PM on May 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

I have Peacock, it came with some kind of interwebs box thing that I had (and still have) no use for other than trying out Peacock.
So commercials are still a thing?
Ok, yeah, no thanks.
posted by evilDoug at 10:09 PM on May 20, 2021

I don't understand why you can't add it as a channel through the Roku?
posted by TimHare at 11:16 PM on May 20, 2021