Leaving Comcast in favor of AT&T/DirecTV?
May 7, 2017 12:30 PM Subscribe
Using Comcast (for home phone, TV and Internet) for some years but it's expensive. ATT bundled with the above three appears to give a big saving.
What could possible go wrong? Your thoughts and advice needed please.
I got rid of DirecTV years ago and only use Comcast for internet, and got a chromecast with subscriptions for Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, Showtime, and Curiosity Stream. Comes in way cheaper every month. Plus, you can cast YouTube, Pandora, etc.
posted by poppunkcat at 12:46 PM on May 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by poppunkcat at 12:46 PM on May 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
DirectTV started charging us extra for "local" stations which annoyed me and a lot of the time they wouldn't come in right. Their prices were decently low but their technology was ten years old (it felt like) and wouldn't work in snowstorms. We ditched it and replaced with Playstation Vue.
posted by jessamyn at 1:00 PM on May 7, 2017
posted by jessamyn at 1:00 PM on May 7, 2017
One thing you should know is that if DirecTV installs a satellite dish on your roof, they just leave it there when you cancel, so if you want it gone, you'll have to remove it and patch up the holes and stuff yourself.
posted by ernielundquist at 1:41 PM on May 7, 2017
posted by ernielundquist at 1:41 PM on May 7, 2017
Response by poster: Many thanks for your answers. We are not sports-oriented in any way. I have heard that reception can be poor during heavy rain, and snow is unlikely in Florida.
posted by lungtaworld at 2:11 PM on May 7, 2017
posted by lungtaworld at 2:11 PM on May 7, 2017
Make sure you know what kind of AT&T internet you're getting. In my area, AT&T only offers DSL, much, much slower than cable internet.
posted by primethyme at 2:44 PM on May 7, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by primethyme at 2:44 PM on May 7, 2017 [2 favorites]
Call Comcast and see if they will match AT&T's price.
I did the opposite switch - left AT&T and changed to Comcast. The Comcast internet is much faster and much more reliable than AT&T.
posted by tmharris65 at 4:07 PM on May 7, 2017
I did the opposite switch - left AT&T and changed to Comcast. The Comcast internet is much faster and much more reliable than AT&T.
posted by tmharris65 at 4:07 PM on May 7, 2017
Yeah, even if Uverse is available it can be hit and miss in terms of speed. I'm supposed to be able to get 75Mbps here (bonded 40Mbps pairs, actually, but since the provider is doing the bonding, it works like a single line synced at 75Mbps would..a single stream can use the whole pipe), but after weeks of work they were unable to find a second pair that works, so we're stuck with 24Mbps, which is the fastest speed they will sell me on a single pair. Never mind that it could easily support 40-50Mbps, their business logic doesn't allow it here.
As far as weather outages go, it's not nearly the problem that some people make it out to be, so long as you have a good installer that properly aligns the dish when they are setting it up. Only the most intense thunderstorms directly between you and the satellites will knock it out. Most places, that's a couple times a year for 5-15 minutes at a stretch. In central Florida summer storms, that could be a few more times a year depending on where exactly you live. If the large storms tend to pass just south of you, it's worse than if they tend to be over you.
That said, with the plethora of on demand content available these days it isn't nearly the issue it used to be. As long as your receiver is connected to your network you can use that instead of live TV for those rare times when it goes out due to weather.
Either way, I strongly recommend making use of an offer that includes a 30 day trial. It's the only way you'll really know if at&t has good routes to the sites you use most. Comcast and at&t both have poor connectivity to certain parts of the Internet that make streaming video unreliable, it just depends on what services you actually use. (Netflix, Hulu, Google, etc. are fine on both, but smaller services can be more hit/miss)
posted by wierdo at 4:20 PM on May 7, 2017
As far as weather outages go, it's not nearly the problem that some people make it out to be, so long as you have a good installer that properly aligns the dish when they are setting it up. Only the most intense thunderstorms directly between you and the satellites will knock it out. Most places, that's a couple times a year for 5-15 minutes at a stretch. In central Florida summer storms, that could be a few more times a year depending on where exactly you live. If the large storms tend to pass just south of you, it's worse than if they tend to be over you.
That said, with the plethora of on demand content available these days it isn't nearly the issue it used to be. As long as your receiver is connected to your network you can use that instead of live TV for those rare times when it goes out due to weather.
Either way, I strongly recommend making use of an offer that includes a 30 day trial. It's the only way you'll really know if at&t has good routes to the sites you use most. Comcast and at&t both have poor connectivity to certain parts of the Internet that make streaming video unreliable, it just depends on what services you actually use. (Netflix, Hulu, Google, etc. are fine on both, but smaller services can be more hit/miss)
posted by wierdo at 4:20 PM on May 7, 2017
Best answer: Comcast is probably slightly faster than DSL, so I'd stick with Comcast.
Cancel Comcast service tell them you're moving somewhere you can't get Comcast, and get your roommate/spouse/etc to sign up for Comcast internet only and get 1-2 years of much cheaper starter rate Comcast.
Cancel your cable get Youtube TV for $35/mo.
Port your home phone to a cheap prepaid cell phone carrier (maybe $30 at T-mobile). When your number port is finalized, port the prepaid number to Google Voice for $20. Then use Google Voice to forward the old home phone number to your cellphone and your roommate/spouse/etc's cellphone.
posted by gregr at 6:04 PM on May 7, 2017
Cancel Comcast service tell them you're moving somewhere you can't get Comcast, and get your roommate/spouse/etc to sign up for Comcast internet only and get 1-2 years of much cheaper starter rate Comcast.
Cancel your cable get Youtube TV for $35/mo.
Port your home phone to a cheap prepaid cell phone carrier (maybe $30 at T-mobile). When your number port is finalized, port the prepaid number to Google Voice for $20. Then use Google Voice to forward the old home phone number to your cellphone and your roommate/spouse/etc's cellphone.
posted by gregr at 6:04 PM on May 7, 2017
Response by poster: Many thanks for your help above, I have marked greg as best answer, though YouTubeTV is not available here.
For future reference, I ordered a bundle from DirecTV, the tech came yesterday, and everything is set up and working well. Excellent HD TV and fast enough Internet for Gmail, YouTube and others. Home phone also ported with same number.
So far, so good. I now have to cancel Xfinity/Comcast, from what I have read, this could be a bit of a struggle.....
posted by lungtaworld at 5:51 AM on May 12, 2017
For future reference, I ordered a bundle from DirecTV, the tech came yesterday, and everything is set up and working well. Excellent HD TV and fast enough Internet for Gmail, YouTube and others. Home phone also ported with same number.
So far, so good. I now have to cancel Xfinity/Comcast, from what I have read, this could be a bit of a struggle.....
posted by lungtaworld at 5:51 AM on May 12, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Countess Sandwich at 12:33 PM on May 7, 2017