I have been with Dish for 9 years and have had no complaints other than the price going up and up. I am looking to save some money. I already have Xfinity Internet only and love it. I know that I could save money if I bundle services. My only concern is that I would be downgrading my picture quality. We have a new Sony 4k UHD HDR television. All my neighbors have Xfinity and have never had Dish or DirecTV so they have nothing to compare with. My cousin said that I should get the specs for both Xfinity/Comcast and Dish and compare them. I just don't want to jump ship with Dish and have horrible picture quality. I am also open to switching to DirectTV. My son has AT&T for his cell phone provider. Thanks in advance.
Thinking Of Switching From Dish To Comcast/Xfinity
- Thread starter lkrause
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Most people I know who have Comcast for TV do not complain about PQ. I cannot say the same for Dish/DirecTV which have both evangelists and detractors. That said, I would personally just talk to Dish Retentions to see what kind of deal they will offer you to stay if you just want to save money and are happy with Dish otherwise. Any deal Comcast offers you will come with an expiration date just like any other provider, and then you'll be back in the "wanting to save money" mode again. There may be other valid reasons to switch to cable, but your priorities of PQ and cost don't necessarily point to a cable subscription in my mind.
Only you can judge how you feel about Comcast's PQ (and AQ).
People don't complain about Comcast PQ because there's no point given that Comcast is the franchised carrier and they are guaranteed no cable competition.
Saving money with Comcast usually doesn't last long and to get the best deals, you have to commit. If you don't watch your bill, it can double overnight and for that reason, I recommend not subscribing to auto-pay.
My local Comcast offers no 4K linear programming. The latest model receivers can stream 4K from Amazon, Netflix and YouTube, but you can get similar or better access to that with a $40 one-time investment in a FireTV 4K stick.
People don't complain about Comcast PQ because there's no point given that Comcast is the franchised carrier and they are guaranteed no cable competition.
Saving money with Comcast usually doesn't last long and to get the best deals, you have to commit. If you don't watch your bill, it can double overnight and for that reason, I recommend not subscribing to auto-pay.
My local Comcast offers no 4K linear programming. The latest model receivers can stream 4K from Amazon, Netflix and YouTube, but you can get similar or better access to that with a $40 one-time investment in a FireTV 4K stick.
I switched from Dish to Xfinity when I moved here 5 years ago. I had been with Dish quite a while. My primary motivation to switch was the bundled price. As others have mentioned the bundled pricing does expire but I haven't had any problem walking into an Xfinity store and extending for whatever the current promotional price is.
Overall I am happy with Xfinity and in particular the X1. I have found the X1 to be more reliable then the VIP receivers I had with Dish. No experience with the Hoppers. Xfinitiy has a better On-Demand library if that is important. Remote viewing via apps works great plus material recorded to the DVR can be downloaded to the app. Picture quality looks great to me. Can't comment on UHD yet as my older X1 model does not support it. I intend to remedy that soon. Main thing I have found missing compared to the Dish hardware is external Hard Drive support. Just isn't there so I have to be careful not to get too far behind watching my DVR content.
Overall I am happy with Xfinity and in particular the X1. I have found the X1 to be more reliable then the VIP receivers I had with Dish. No experience with the Hoppers. Xfinitiy has a better On-Demand library if that is important. Remote viewing via apps works great plus material recorded to the DVR can be downloaded to the app. Picture quality looks great to me. Can't comment on UHD yet as my older X1 model does not support it. I intend to remedy that soon. Main thing I have found missing compared to the Dish hardware is external Hard Drive support. Just isn't there so I have to be careful not to get too far behind watching my DVR content.
I've been switching back and forth about every 2 years between Dish and Directv for over 20 years. Doing this allows me the best deals and newest equipment. Last week I decided to try XFinity X1 and so far it's great! Same pic quality as satellite. I have the triple package of phone, internet and TV and my bill is $170... My phone and internet bill before adding TV was $100... I have the signature package with HBO. This also includes Netflix... The internet speed is 400mbps
Before I switched I had problems with Directv DVR not working correctly because of one of their updates. I complained a few times and they knocked $60 a month off my bill for a year and gave me all the movie channels. I kept it for about 6 months and just decided to try XFinity.
Before I switched I had problems with Directv DVR not working correctly because of one of their updates. I complained a few times and they knocked $60 a month off my bill for a year and gave me all the movie channels. I kept it for about 6 months and just decided to try XFinity.
Didn’t FiOS also drop EHD support for their current DVRs?
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Not sure of dropping the EHD support. But they did add a little red light for recording. I had Comcast last year and was very happy with the picture and the X1 . The downside they only offered 1 premium channel in Hd in my area. Fios had all the HBO and epix and so on in HD . Dish also offered more. But if you want to save some money then go for a Comcast bundle. I have Comcast internet and believe it or not there customer service has been amazing.
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I have Verizon FiOS for Internet and land line. Yes, we find it valuable to keep a land line. Probably drop after SWMBO retires. So FiOS TV is an obvious choice.
But we also have Cox cable as an option in our area. Why anyone would pick them over FiOS I figure is due to ignorance. Had Cox for TV years ago when we lived in a town house. Which is why we have Dish today. NEVER going back to Cox for TV. Or anything else, today.
No Comcast option.
I wonder- if Dish got too pricey, would we go to FiOS or just try OTT for a while. I guess that’s a no brainer.
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But we also have Cox cable as an option in our area. Why anyone would pick them over FiOS I figure is due to ignorance. Had Cox for TV years ago when we lived in a town house. Which is why we have Dish today. NEVER going back to Cox for TV. Or anything else, today.
No Comcast option.
I wonder- if Dish got too pricey, would we go to FiOS or just try OTT for a while. I guess that’s a no brainer.
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After 20 years with Dish and DirecTV I switched to Comcast using a TiVo Bolt VOX in November 2017. I had major concerns about picture quality since I had a new 65”4K TV. Before I canceled DirecTV I ran the X1, TiVO Bolt and DirecTV HS17/C61K side by side. There was a slightly better picture with DirecTV but not enough of a difference to keep me.
Recently my daughter got a new 75” Sony and is on X1. The picture is spectacular!
Also reliability has been excellent. I think there may have been one 10 minutes outage in the last 1.5 years.
Last week we had the Bomb Cyclone Blizzard here. I must have told my wife 10 times how happy I was we switched and I was not outside trying to keep the dish clear. We were lucky and did not lose power or Comcast during the storm, although the power did flicker a few times.
Recently my daughter got a new 75” Sony and is on X1. The picture is spectacular!
Also reliability has been excellent. I think there may have been one 10 minutes outage in the last 1.5 years.
Last week we had the Bomb Cyclone Blizzard here. I must have told my wife 10 times how happy I was we switched and I was not outside trying to keep the dish clear. We were lucky and did not lose power or Comcast during the storm, although the power did flicker a few times.
I should note, FiOS costs more than Dish so the alternative is if Dish ceased operations. Likely MANY years off, if ever.
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Went to X1 from Dish a few years ago because of the bundle deal. The PQ on X1 is worse than Dish. I really notice it like say at the beginning of a HBO movie when their logo is on. A lot of “clouds “ in the background. When my 2 year contract is up with them, I will go looking elsewhere. A company just laid fiber in my neighborhood. 50$ a month for 100 up and down. No data caps, taxes or modem fees. No tv available on their fiber. Internet only.
I have to agree. I have a bundle from Xfinity but usually just use the internet. Xfinity forced me to accept an X1 box so I decided to hook it up and compare to Dish. PQ on SD channels is horrible. PQ on HD is acceptable but Dish is much better to my eyes. I would have to think long and hard as to whether I could switch to Xfinity full time. Having to fight with Xfinity every year to keep my promo price is also an issue.
Nobody pays for dish reception or cable tv anymore.
.......
I just pay $49 bucks a month for 18Mbs internet from Xfinity.
My Roku box gets me thousands of movies and tv shows for free and my outside antenna gets me 44 more channels for free.
.......
I just pay $49 bucks a month for 18Mbs internet from Xfinity.
My Roku box gets me thousands of movies and tv shows for free and my outside antenna gets me 44 more channels for free.
Call me Nobody.
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What antenna do I need to be able to pick up FX, TNT, USA Network, Paramount, TruTV, Smithsonian, History, Military History, Science, Destination America, American Hero's Channel, Travel, Food Network, HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Epix, NHL Network, FS1, NBCSN, MSG, YES, Fox News, Fox Business, Newsmax, Hallmark, Hallmark Movies & Mystery, RFD and Axs for free?
That must be why all those companies are out of business then? Seriously though, I know very few people who pay for Satellite or Cable TV anymore. Most subscribe to more than one streaming service, and people who want sports get one of the live streaming services like Sling or Hulu Live. What is interesting to me is the people I know who have dropped traditional linear service tend to be affluent, well-educated people with professional jobs. They are the ones who have decided that paying large amounts of money for TV doesn't make sense to them anymore. The ones who still do tend to be older and/or more financially challenged. This seems contrary to what I read in the press about how it is mostly millennials and cord-nevers who are doing this. Maybe my sample size is just too small.
Current YTTV/Philo/Netflix/Starz Encore cord cutter. 25mpbs down, about 2 up. (Ususally get 30 down hardwired, & on 2.4/5Ghz regardless.) Bill is $133. At 25Mpbs, Xfinity Mobile bill is $12.15 per month. (By the gig.) At that speed, most hotspots require me to purchase an internet pass ($$) hrly, daily, etc. Starting at 60Mbps, that goes away. Of course net alone goes up $11.00. My out of market baseball team I purchase seperately through MLB.
Comcast, *current price, Preffered level, HD, 1 X1 but can use streaming app on laptop or Roku (pretty sure they will charge once out of Beta on Roku according to their article on their website..it's buried but in there..) $151.51 with Starz/Encore included. -$5 Eco/Auto is $146.51. Could save $13 more with own modem/router-gateway..but speeds are at 150Mbps down hardwired..(get about 90 down on 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz maxes at about 115 down. Advertised upload speeds are 10, mine always between 18-20 upload on either Wi-fi. Guess with Netflix even added, still keep Roku for other free services, horrid OTA TvFool report, (have made antenna work, but you get NBC, lose ABC/FOX..) PQ on HD compressed very good, slightly sharper (settings between OTA/HDMI @ best possible 1080p 60fps,) SD it depends. Locals in SD look a little worse, within acceptable for me. Would lose DVR unless rent or Tivo or similar. At this point, seems pretty much a wash $ wise. The out of market baseball team is shown (games only..all I care about for that) & of course is included in the Reg sports fee. Yes, 2yr contract, but obvious niche channels I've missed anyway. So I'm trying out 30 day trial of Comcast Double Play. If I didn't keep it within 30 days, only pay for days used of double play. Plus access to the hotspots w/o issue of "buy a pass" because you have a slow speed. Granted 150 down just me is overkill, 25Mbps suits me fine until I go to porch to stream tv. (thick wall, brick, metal all around. So seems to me if PQ is good, workaround for DVR, might try it awhile. Do like the X1 & integration
Comcast, *current price, Preffered level, HD, 1 X1 but can use streaming app on laptop or Roku (pretty sure they will charge once out of Beta on Roku according to their article on their website..it's buried but in there..) $151.51 with Starz/Encore included. -$5 Eco/Auto is $146.51. Could save $13 more with own modem/router-gateway..but speeds are at 150Mbps down hardwired..(get about 90 down on 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz maxes at about 115 down. Advertised upload speeds are 10, mine always between 18-20 upload on either Wi-fi. Guess with Netflix even added, still keep Roku for other free services, horrid OTA TvFool report, (have made antenna work, but you get NBC, lose ABC/FOX..) PQ on HD compressed very good, slightly sharper (settings between OTA/HDMI @ best possible 1080p 60fps,) SD it depends. Locals in SD look a little worse, within acceptable for me. Would lose DVR unless rent or Tivo or similar. At this point, seems pretty much a wash $ wise. The out of market baseball team is shown (games only..all I care about for that) & of course is included in the Reg sports fee. Yes, 2yr contract, but obvious niche channels I've missed anyway. So I'm trying out 30 day trial of Comcast Double Play. If I didn't keep it within 30 days, only pay for days used of double play. Plus access to the hotspots w/o issue of "buy a pass" because you have a slow speed. Granted 150 down just me is overkill, 25Mbps suits me fine until I go to porch to stream tv. (thick wall, brick, metal all around. So seems to me if PQ is good, workaround for DVR, might try it awhile. Do like the X1 & integration
In my area, Comcast internet is good. TV service is poor.
In my area, OTA and Dish PQ is better and you will get annoyed real quick by how you cannot get rid of the unsubscribed channels from the guide in Comcast TV. Get ready to have a printed guide in hand and have to type the exact channel numbers all the time.
In my area, OTA and Dish PQ is better and you will get annoyed real quick by how you cannot get rid of the unsubscribed channels from the guide in Comcast TV. Get ready to have a printed guide in hand and have to type the exact channel numbers all the time.
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