[bwhitney]

In the last few weeks, I received three "Loyal Customer" letters from Xfinity inviting me to call a particular phone number to review the exclusive offers available for my Xfinity services. I finally called and was informed there were no offers available at this time . Being on the verge of "cutting the cord" anyway, I called customer retention to see what incentives they could offer. After over an hour on the phone reviewing what was available, I decided on a package and options that were worth staying with Xfinity, until we got to the fine print. I chose self-install and was informed they will send the equipment and I needed to return my TiVo Cable Card, which would be decommissioned upon my order being shipped. I objected as I wanted to keep the TiVo for the bedroom. No matter what the CS agent tried, the system requires the CC be returned. I tried upgrading on the web site and the phone app, and got the same pricing and CC results, the CC must be returned, or turned over to the installer if I chose to not self-install. The system automatically adds an X1 STB that cannot be removed from the order and states Cable Cards must be returned within 10 days.

I made a similar post about this new restriction on the Xfinity Support Forum and was contacted today by Xfinity Support. The agent thought he could arrange for me to keep my Cable Card and still do a package change on my account. However, he had no success. He checked with his supervisor and was told CC must be returned with any package change. With package changes the computer will add at least one X1 box to your account and remove any activated Cable Cards. We found I could add xFi Complete or increase Internet speed if I keep the same TV & Internet package, but the cost is much higher than picking a package with the options you want.

Based on this experience, and the number of people I have talked to at Xfinity giving me the same story, Xfinity is starting to purge Cable Cards by no longer providing CC to new subscribers and requiring existing users to return them if they make any changes to their TV & Internet package, at least in the NE region.

 

[Soapm]

Yup, I'm grandfathered too. They want us to use their X1 platform but I like my Tivo much better. I think they're X1 is unresponsive and lacks things like 30 second skip.

 

[morac]

I just got a deal this past Sunday and didn’t have to turn in my cards. I called in before my contract expired and my price went up and they were able to renew my deal for another 24 months. The only change was my download speeds increased from 600 to 800 mbps, but my modem can’t really handle the faster speeds so that doesn’t matter. ‘M in NI and I didn’t have to turn in my cable cards.

 

[cwerdna]

Yup, I'm grandfathered too. They want us to use their X1 platform but I like my Tivo much better. I think they're X1 is unresponsive and lacks things like 30 second skip.

This sucks. I hope this doesn't bite me for a very long time. I'm in California.

I had to rent their X1 box for a few weeks when the stock 3 TB drive on my Bolt+ went belly up and I was waiting for a replacement drive. Overall, I was not impressed. There were a few pluses and things it did better than TiVo but overall, it was a huge net negative, besides also costing more (due to box rental fee).

 

[bwhitney]

I just got a deal this past Sunday and didn’t have to turn in my cards. I called in before my contract expired and my price went up and they were able to renew my deal for another 24 months. The only change was my download speeds increased from 600 to 800 mbps, but my modem can’t really handle the faster speeds so that doesn’t matter. ‘M in NI and I didn’t have to turn in my cable cards.

You must have Blast Internet. All Internet download speeds were increased in October and Blast went from 600 to 800Mbps. If the only change was the download speed, then no package change was required, just a renewed contract for the package you already had. Good Deal!

 

[morac]

You must have Blast Internet. All Internet download speeds were increased in October and Blast went from 600 to 800Mbps.

Yes I have Blast, primarily for the upload speeds. Comcast plans to increase upload speeds to 100 mbps, but only for XFi Complete customers. They are supposedly planning to include all customers at some point. Once that happens I can drop down from Blast as it’s basically overkill for me currently. Nothing on my network can handle those speeds as 600 mbps was already pushing the limit.

 

[CommunityMember]

The "system" wants CableCARDs to not exist. CSR's will push that. Two weeks ago I walked into a Comcast office for a client who wanted to update their (very very legacy) service (who had four CableCARDs (don't ask)), the CSR wanted to have all returned for the new plan and provide me with an X1 branded box, I objected (with rate card in hand to show what was possible). They talked with their manager who agreed it was possible to continue to use CableCARDs, and the order was processed (saving my client around $30/mo with a over double triple HSI speed increase).

So, when you can't get what you want, ask for a supervisor to "help" educate the CSR.

Realistically the number of customers with CableCARDs are in the fractional percentage number(s), and the CSRs only are familiar with what they have been trained on, and CableCARDs are not among the trainings, so I was not surprised when the CSR had no idea that CableCARDs were really a thing, but I am persistent.

 

[bwhitney]

The "system" wants CableCARDs to not exist. CSR's will push that. Two weeks ago I walked into a Comcast office for a client who wanted to update their (very very legacy) service (who had four CableCARDs (don't ask)), the CSR wanted to have all returned for the new plan and provide me with an X1 branded box, I objected (with rate card in hand to show what was possible). They talked with their manager who agreed it was possible to continue to use CableCARDs, and the order was processed (saving my client around $30/mo with a over double triple HSI speed increase).

So, when you can't get what you want, ask for a supervisor to "help" educate the CSR.

Realistically the number of customers with CableCARDs are in the fractional percentage number(s), and the CSRs only are familiar with what they have been trained on, and CableCARDs are not among the trainings, so I was not surprised when the CSR had no idea that CableCARDs were really a thing, but I am persistent.

I think you may have given me a great idea, go to the store. It is much harder for them to say no directly to your face! I had spoken to two supervisors in the last week, one at Customer Retention and again when Xfinity Support contacted me today, and neither would allow a package change without going to X1.

 

[Rob Helmerichs]

My condo building switched to a new system a couple of years ago where effectively everybody gets free internet and cable, with pretty good packages. At the time, they said I would have to switch to their box, but when the service guy came, he was able to "upgrade" me to the new service with my TiVo.

And since then, my internet speed has gone up twice (just last week it doubled to around 450, although the upload speed remains an astonishing 6). So I'm knocking on wood that if I just keep going with the same old service I'll be OK with my cable card.

Weirdly, when HBO Max launched I switched from the cable channel to that. Before then, my Xfinity bill each month was only for HBO (since everything else was "free," actually paid for by association dues). After, I got a monthly bill from Xfinity showing a balance of something like -1.50. Finally a couple of months ago, I called them asking if they could just cancel the credit so the bills would stop coming. The CSR seemed baffled by the request, and I actually had to be escalated before I got one who actually seemed to vaguely understand the concept. He wasn't sure if it was possible, but was willing to try, and I haven't gotten a bill since so I guess my account is now zeroed out and invisible to them.

One advantage of the new system is that individual condo units can't be metered for monthly usage...literally. They apparently have no way of telling how much data somebody here is using. I found that out when the meter on my account page stopped working, and called to ask about it. It took a couple of escalations to get somebody who understood what was going on, but now I know that any data caps that might be in place don't apply to us.

 

[dishrich]

I just redid my triple-play last month on a new promo & have never had an issue with keeping my 2 CC's - unfortunately, they DID screw up me being able to have separate voice & internet modems, of which I posted about it @DSLR.

lacks things like 30 second skip.

It actually does have it; you just have to enable it (1) time by hitting EXIT, EXIT, EXIT, 0,0,3,0 on the remote

 

[laria]

I had been hoping to go in and downgrade my plan or get another promo, so I hope this isn't the case. My promo on my Triple Play ran out 2 years ago and they extended it one year without me asking, presumably for covid, but that ran out in 2021, and I've just been paying the full price. I can never see new plans on the website, though, the page just never loads, so that's why I go into the store. I always assumed that it was because we had a cable card.

I just went into the store in July mainly to return an X1 box that I'd had forever and not been using and to ask about any promos (they told me no, but come back in October when they usually have existing subscriber ones, which I forgot to do). They had a heck of a time removing the X1 box from the plan with the cable card still on there, because the system didn't want to let them leave the account with no box at all, but they did finally figure out the right magic to do it. Now I'm worried if I go in looking to downgrade or at least get onto the SurePrice discount, I won't be able to without giving up my card.

 

[bakerfall]

The X1 box is slow garbage. One of the reasons I ended up leaving Comcast is they forced me to add an X1 box in order to add the Sports package (with Red Zone) last year. They claimed only the X1 could tune that channel, but my TiVos worked just fine once they added the X1. It sat in a box on the floor until I ended up dumping cable and going streaming.

That being said, the writing is on the wall. Whatever grandfathering there may be, sooner rather than later CCs will be dead.

 

[laria]

Yeah, I originally only took the X1 box because they told me I needed to sign into Netflix from it to get my free Netflix (they pay for it as part of my cable package). Then I never got around to returning it after signing in and getting it activated until now. I have no idea if that was true or not that I needed the box for Netflix to know I was getting it via Comcast. Whatever Comcast/Netflix connection there is, Netflix certainly wasted no time in detecting that my Comcast service was "canceled" (the service was just moving to the new address) and charged me a monthly Netflix fee when we moved, and it showed up as reconnected again later that day without me doing anything with the X1 box.

 

[CommunityMember]

I just redid my triple-play last month on a new promo & have never had an issue with keeping my 2 CC's - unfortunately, they DID screw up me being able to have separate voice & internet modems, of which I posted about it @DSLR.

Having separate voice and data modems has always been a niche (two modems) of the small number of customer owned modem(s). Probably even a much smaller total population than those with CableCARDs on Comcast (which is already so small as to be a rounding error). And while if I had a voice line with Comcast I would probably do the same (two modems), I would have no expectation that the billing system makes such configurations easy (the newer billing system interfaces are designed to make it easier for the normal customer interactions (and to sell an iPhone); those customers outside of the norm require using the magic overrides that a normal CSR may not know even exists). And while it would be nice if using the word shibboleet worked, it does not.

 

[cherry ghost]

After recent attempts over the phone to get a new deal and being told I had to lose my CCs I went to a store and the manager was able to override the X1 requirement and I could keep my CCs. I have not committed to the deal yet as the new price was well above my current deal but still below full price. They did offer me a pretty good deal if I was willing to switch to their mobile service but that’s not something I really want to do.

 

[bashf15]

In the last few weeks, I received three "Loyal Customer" letters from Xfinity inviting me to call a particular phone number to review the exclusive offers available for my Xfinity services. I finally called and was informed there were no offers available at this time . Being on the verge of "cutting the cord" anyway, I called customer retention to see what incentives they could offer. After over an hour on the phone reviewing what was available, I decided on a package and options that were worth staying with Xfinity, until we got to the fine print. I chose self-install and was informed they will send the equipment and I needed to return my TiVo Cable Card, which would be decommissioned upon my order being shipped. I objected as I wanted to keep the TiVo for the bedroom. No matter what the CS agent tried, the system requires the CC be returned. I tried upgrading on the web site and the phone app, and got the same pricing and CC results, the CC must be returned, or turned over to the installer if I chose to not self-install. The system automatically adds an X1 STB that cannot be removed from the order and states Cable Cards must be returned within 10 days.

I made a similar post about this new restriction on the Xfinity Support Forum and was contacted today by Xfinity Support. The agent thought he could arrange for me to keep my Cable Card and still do a package change on my account. However, he had no success. He checked with his supervisor and was told CC must be returned with any package change. With package changes the computer will add at least one X1 box to your account and remove any activated Cable Cards. We found I could add xFi Complete or increase Internet speed if I keep the same TV & Internet package, but the cost is much higher than picking a package with the options you want.

Based on this experience, and the number of people I have talked to at Xfinity giving me the same story, Xfinity is starting to purge Cable Cards by no longer providing CC to new subscribers and requiring existing users to return them if they make any changes to their TV & Internet package, at least in the NE region.

My 2-year contract expired the beginning of September this year. I was able to get a new one year contract keeping my cc and not having to get an X1 STB. Next year I may keep the internet and cut the cable. However, I really like my Tivo setup with Bolt DVR and two minis. All three of these are lifetime service. I would have to do whole house DVR and pay out the ying yang to get this through xfinity.

 

[Yuterald]

My 2 year deal is up next August (2023) and it's always been a battle to keep the cost from skyrocketing. Now I see I'll have to probably deal with "this" new mess too...ugh....

 

[3 Cushion John]

I had been hoping to go in and downgrade my plan or get another promo, so I hope this isn't the case. My promo on my Triple Play ran out 2 years ago and they extended it one year without me asking, presumably for covid, but that ran out in 2021, and I've just been paying the full price. I can never see new plans on the website, though, the page just never loads, so that's why I go into the store. I always assumed that it was because we had a cable card.

I just went into the store in July mainly to return an X1 box that I'd had forever and not been using and to ask about any promos (they told me no, but come back in October when they usually have existing subscriber ones, which I forgot to do). They had a heck of a time removing the X1 box from the plan with the cable card still on there, because the system didn't want to let them leave the account with no box at all, but they did finally figure out the right magic to do it. Now I'm worried if I go in looking to downgrade or at least get onto the SurePrice discount, I won't be able to without giving up my card.

I have my own cable cards, from ebay. Had comcast, but not now. You can get 1 for about $10. So maybe you can ask Comcast if they'll allow you to use your own card? Search ebay for ARRIS M-Card 514517-020-00. Might be worth a try. But yes, I see streaming as the only viable option soon.

 

[SNJpage1]

My Triple play package includes the X1 box as part of the plan. It is setting next to my Tivo unit and never use it. But I am not paying for it as a separate charge. My package ia cheaper then streaming.

 

[kdmorse]

My Triple play package includes the X1 box as part of the plan. It is setting next to my Tivo unit and never use it. But I am not paying for it as a separate charge. My package ia cheaper then streaming.

It's kinda a tangent, but is Xfinity still forcing people with Triple Play bundles to have cable modems that support voice lines and that the voice line be periodically tested?

For a while this was a big deal to them (because they needed to prove E911 functionality), and then, it seemed not to be?