Thanks, Lucille. I think this was the "Solutions" Department. I can try the cancellation route.

Um...wait a minute. Do you get the same 'bottom line'? We *are* now getting the same price on the 'bundle', just not the same 'no charge' deal on the second box and 'Anyroom HD-DVR'.

Comcast's CEO was quoted in the news, saying they will introduce 'cloud' services later this year -- no DVR boxes and no boxes on remote TV's.

I got the same thing with Cox cable in our area. It jumped up $20 I called in and they offer me premium package which will bring it back down $20. But if I try to drop my landline (which isn't much, but we don't use) and one programming package I picked up with there was a certain show I wanted to watch THEN I'll be charged for my modem...?? It's crazy!!!

I never thought I'd say this, but Comcast isn't as bad as Charter-Spectrum. I've lived in my home since 2003 and in that time I've had Comcast, which traded service areas with Time Warner, which was bought by Charter who decided that a slightly new name was in order to distance themselves from the poor customer service reputation that Time Warner was notorious for having. Since Charter-Spectrum took over, we've been constantly barraged with commercials telling us it's "A new day" - oddly they don't mention that this 'new day' includes huge price hikes, fewer options instead of the lower prices and more choices promised pre-merger, channels being cut and even if you agree to pay more there are some channels that are never going to be back because the company decided they didn't want to pay to extend the contract for those channels' programming. Most people who formerly had Time Warner had promotional rates and saw their bills jump sooner than those of us who didn't try and chase those promotional discounts and are now seeing Charter-Spectrum trying to make it as unpleasant and difficult as possible to keep the channels and services we've had for years instead of switching to one of their new bundles that will increase our bills over a 24 month period to get to their new 'regular market rate' total. It's ridiculous.

Chisue, yes, same bottom line. I'm thinking the folks at the cancellation department don't have quotas or are not on commission, because they do not jerk you around.

I think the "Let's Make A Deal" days of telecom pricing are gone. After the introductory pricing period for new customers has passed (and you can't just cancel and then call back, most require a gap in service of 6 months or more), most are playing the "take it or leave it" game.

For internet service, if you want higher bandwidth and you're not in an area where the telco offers a service comparable to cable, then your choice may be limited to just one.

Don't kill yourself looking for the person or the secret back entrance to where extra special deals kept, there may be nothing and no one to find.

The only thing that will impact the cable providers is mass cancellations. That's not going to happen.

I dropped cable two months ago for savings of $140/month and don't miss it at all, but we are not a sports-watching family. I got tired of effectively subsidizing all of the new customer promotional rates when I was never offered anything but price increases. Brushworks, I think the cable providers are being impacted by streaming services, but I don't know to what degree.

I have a friend who just experienced this with Spectrum. He got mad and cancelled it all. In the end, he said he "cut his nose off to spite his own face" as it's been a HUGE inconvenience, involved new email address and new landline telephone number, and in the end, he's paying only $5 less than what Spectrum offered. And he's spent 3 weeks waiting for service techs and trying to solve all this.

They have us exactly where they want us...

We canceled cable years ago and don't miss it at all. It was quite an adjustment at first, but we have netflix and can watch live news online whenever we want. I won't, however, give up my Sunday newspaper. :)

I also canceled cable years ago and don't miss it. You can stream so much now. With that in mind, our former internet provider (the cable company) imposed data caps and raised the price. Darn the luck, a competitor had just wired our neighborhood with fiber optic. We switched, lower price, way faster internet, and no data caps. It is also why I have a generic gmail account - makes it easy to switch providers without updating your email address with everyone.

I cancelled cable TV years ago also but use Comcast for internet.

We haven't had cable tv since 2012. However, we do have internet services and Spectrum is playing the price hike game since acquiring TWC. Spectrum is the only choice in town. Sometimes the only choice in town is due to a collusion between company and local politicians.

I am lucky that I have the choice of 3 providers (WOW, Spectrum and ATT) but all of them had become too costly IMO for cable. I had been with WOW for years and content with their service, so when I decided to drop cable and just have internet and antenna, I preferred to stay with them. But, I did have to bargain pretty insistently to get a good monthly rate -- both of the competitors were offering highly competitive intro rates, yet WOW was reluctant to match or beat them.

I bought a Roku stick, and signed up with PlayStation Vue, and so I have access to almost all the stations that I did with cable plus more that I did not, and the ability to watch past episodes or save one, for half the monthly cost of my previous basic cable (no DVR) + internet bundle . My only problem has been with antenna reception -- any time it is breezy or a plane flies over (I am under the approach to the local university's airport) the picture is broken up or lost entirely.

I am now the proud owner of FOUR 'customer order' numbers from Comcast! And yet, boys and girls, somehow...nothing has been RESOLVED.

Yesterday DH and I visited the Comcast/Xfinity store, having been told they could print out the detailed statement plan. Of course they *couldn't! But In ten minutes we were out the door, having been told our new two-year contract would bill at $127/month, and we'd receive an email confirming that.

Oh, you *guessed*, didn't you! No email. I have just 'chatted' online with someone in billing. He first told me our contract was for $157, then, no, it was $119. Whoops, no that's the current balance due to credits owed from the $157 bill.

What about the $127 contract? "Sorry you were given misinformation. Your contract is for $137."

No. No-no-no! We have accepted no contact -- because, silly us, we want to see it in writing. We didn't spend hours on the phone, then be told to go to the store to get this resolved only to be told we not only have no contract for $127, but your representatives lie to people.

The 'chat' person says he will take it up with 'management'. In the meantime I have my shiny new *number* and another (empty) promise to hear from management within 48 hours by email AND by telephone.

Isn't this FUN?

I knew it was comcast before I even read your last line. I HATE COMCAST and you are wise to get it in writing before you agree to anything. That said, I'd never do a bundle, often times you can do better. For example, we wanted the fastest internet speed, Comcast, (grrr) 65.00/mo, we bought our own router ie no rental fee. TV: Dish Network, we were only interested in local channels and some of the smaller cable channels; cheapest package, 27.00 including the rental fee for the DVR which can be used on 2 tvs but they have many packages and are priced better than those Comcast offers. For expanded tv, we stream with Roku to watch Netflix or Amazon Prime, streaming is gaining in popularity and is a great option. House phone, Ooma, bought the device and pay 3-4 dollars in taxes per month...long distance included. They estimate that we've saved several thousand in fees in the 5 years that we've had it. If you can't get what you need, shop around, there are so many options now, you don't have to stick with something just because.

but your representatives lie to people.

They do lie and I'm sure laugh about it later. One time they (tried) to raise my rate and the customer service person told me that there was a new policy that people had to wait two months before changing or canceling. (That was a real whopper but I bet some people fall for it). I was so aggravated that I actually told him what I thought of him, hung up, called back to the cancellation department and got my old rate back.

So glad I moved and no longer have to use Comcast. There were several times when they had to come out for a service call, that was their issue, (like a bad software update), and they charged us for the service call. Called several times and they said they would remove the charges, but never did. Had to contact the attorney general before they would remove those.

Then I had a mid level package and wanted to downgrade to the basic package. They said no that is not allowed, once you upgrade you cannot downgrade. WTH?

I just laugh at all the stories about cable and satellite. I dropped them about 20 years ago and haven't looked back. I'm not hooked on infomercials, televangilsts and the other garbage on there. So little on cable/sat that interests me and I can watch a lot of it by alternative sources when I need to. Pay a few bucks occasionally to rent something is much better than $100-$150 a month for next to nothing. TV, not unlike cell phone is like a drug to a lot of people and the cable/sat/wireless companies are the drug dealers reeling in their addicts.

Of course I have heard *nothing* from Comcast.

What would you 'prescribe' for us instead? We have one larger smart TV (library) and one little one (kitchen).

DH wants to be able to record some Cubs and Bears games. We also record Masterpiece Theater presentations.

We want HD.

We watch CNN and MSNBC as well as local news stations.

We stream from Amazon through our Sony BluRay. Our grandchildren use the Wii.

We need Internet fast enough TO stream.

We still have a rooftop dish from when we had DirecTV -- dropped it last May because AT&T had no fast internet in our area.

Our cell phone is on a family plan with our DS. Land line is $12/mo -- not part of our cable plan.

If we continue with Comcast we will buy a router, not rent it at $10/mo.

Cynic, how to you get your Internet connection?

chisue, I suspect you knew what you would find before jumping into this hole. I'm not sure why you think it may be different that what you expected. And why you seem to be tormenting yourself over this.

To be clear on the hardware front, what you need to connect to a cable internet signal are a cable modem to handle the external communication and a router to distribute the signal over wires or Wifi in your house. There are separate units, one for each function, or combo units that have both in one box. Buying separate units may be more expensive but they tend to have better functions for each task than a combo but it may not matter to you.

We've been happy with the Xfinity setup during our one year trial -- but not at an inflated price for a two-year contract. This hassle with their billing dept. is the first problem we've had. It's like Xfinity Billing is an entirely separate corporation.

I listed our wants because I don't think there IS another simple option -- as long as DH wants to record Cubs/Bears games to watch later. Games go on too long, and sometimes too late. There's also the "Did they win?" factor. LOL

The service is way more than what we need, so I guess that's part of the high pricing. We're just two people, watching TV. We're not a family with six kids, all 'doing something' with cable.

Latest after 'chatting' again is that we are to hear back from billing by 8 p.m. today. Uh-huh.