I Cut the Cord-How it Went and Grades for each of my new App Services

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

So, Friday, I called Comcrap to cut the cord. After discussing what products I was offered for cord cutters with the rep, he informed me about the Flex box at no charge. The Xfinity Flex box allows streaming, and he put in the order request to have it shipped to me. He assured me that my current TV box in my living room would not be interrupted until Tuesday when the box arrived.

Unfortunately, that was not the case when I turned on the TV before 1 yesterday. However, not knowing that and thinking it was a regular interruption, I called and provided the code display of XRE00250. The idiot there told me that the service will be back up in an hour. I was a little pissed in that I wanted to see the Michigan game, but life goes on. Ran to Kroger and did a few other errands along with a quick meal stop. Got home 2 hours later, and it was still out. I call and reached a woman who finally told me the truth-they disabled the system at 6 AM early Saturday for my old box. I got an apology and a $5 credit on my next bill due to being misled.

If I had known that I would have ordered a Roku or another Fire Stick along with another OTA antenna more quickly to have in the living room. While my existing current Fire Stick works great, it is in my bedroom. To compound matters, my OTA antenna was screwing up and not getting channel 7 for whatever reason.

So, I tried out the Sling TV I signed up for on Wednesday. My internet will have a hiccup here and there, but nothing horrendous. I got a very choppy stream with frequent freezing, and it was also very slow. It couldn't keep up with the plays. After watching a few 3:30 games, I watching the Florida and Utah game. I got tired of the choppy nature of it. The service gets a D+ with me overall. It also had a weird glitch that wouldn't let me watch ESPN. Plenty of channels including MLB Network, but what does that mean if you can't watch them enjoyably. D+.

After doing some research, I found that the Fox Sports app had the Cleveland Guardians and Mariners game. It had a clearer and less choppy picture than Sling, and the app was free! Weird. I also noticed that the menus were more well thought and allowed me to get into what I was watching more quickly than Sling. For what it is, it's an A-. They also had Wisconsin and Illinois State available at no charge.

And being bored and only having a few other OTAs minus WXYZ still, I dug and found the XFinity Streaming App. It had and still has most everything except for locals, WGN, and a few others because I am still an internet customer. That would have been nice to know. Pretty much everything Sling has except for MLB network but has the Big Ten Network. No Bally's though. The menu isn't great but better than Sling. There is some choppy picture and delay in changing channels but liveable. B-

TLDR: Needless to say, I am very disappointed in Comcast's service. Sling sucks, but the XFinity app is useful as well as the Fox Sports app.

Should be interesting to see how this Flex Box works. My new Roku comes Wednesday.

[Bryce]

That's the main issue I have with cutting the cord. I watch very little coble programming anymore. I absolutely must have a cable modem for internet. With much of what I do, I need the download and upload speeds. Things may be different now, but, years ago you couldn't get a cable modem unless you subscribed to cable TV too.

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

Have you tested your in home internet download speed recently? Just curious if the issue resides with Sling or with your WiFi internet signal.

I think the issue may reside with my Firestick. It is two years old, but it is much slower than the Roku. I got the Roku today even though Amazon had said Wednesday, The speed was much quicker with Sling and my other app. Not sure whether it has the XFinity stream app because I was loading everything else today.

And yes, I do have a cable modem, but the signal is wireless because the port is in my spare room.

[craig11152]

Do you rent your cable/router from Comcast or did you buy your own?
I spent way too long renting from Comcast Now I have my own Modem and router as two separate units. The wifi in my house has gotten exponentially better with my own stand alone unit.

[TC Talks]

That's the main issue I have with cutting the cord. I watch very little coble programming anymore. I absolutely must have a cable modem for internet. With much of what I do, I need the download and upload speeds. Things may be different now, but, years ago you couldn't get a cable modem unless you subscribed to cable TV too.

I moved from ISDN to a cable modem in 2006. Back then I had to purchase my own equipment which I was about to upgrade to get really good speed in both directions.

I have been streaming since a few months after Netflix started. I cancelled cable just about then.

I recommend hard reboot your modem and router at least once a month.

[SolarMax]

Hard reboots are definitely a great idea if reliability isn't what it should be. Also reduces infiltration risk, I would assume.

Purchasing your own Xfinity-compliant modem is definitely the way to go. My current modem is one I own. I either purchased it from bestbuy.com or amazon.com (cannot remember which one). Paid less than $90 for it.

My understanding regarding cable modems is that, if you have the ISP's rental modem, speed and other updates or upgrades are automatically sent out from time to time to flash it. If you have a self-provided unit, like a Moto SurfBoard or Arris, an occasional power cycle or full reset will force those updates on reboot. I've done this for the last few Xfinity speed bumps, now at around 330Mbps down/12up routed thru a VPN.

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

Do you rent your cable/router from Comcast or did you buy your own?
I spent way too long renting from Comcast Now I have my own Modem and router as two separate units. The wifi in my house has gotten exponentially better with my own stand alone unit.

Fair warning, this post is everywhere.

I have my own router, but I did rent the cable modem from them. As part of this whole thing, I had to upgrade my modem from an X3 box to an XB8. I am very bad at setting stuff up. I got the new cable modem box and Flex box on Wednesday and worked out most of the bugs in the last 3 days.

Even after the upgrade, I still have some speed issues on Sling especially late at night. I have reset the modem 4 times. Same speed problems whether I am in my bedroom or living room with both so it's not my Firestick. Although, Sling TV is working better than before.

Alexa is not allowing me to change to the new Wifi network though. Everything else has been setup and speed verified on my own.

My new Roku came Thursday, and I got that setup too. No difference in speed. Great during the day and marginal late at night.

Found out that the Fox Sports app which had FS1 and Big Ten Network was a preview that conveniently ran out right before the Michigan game. However, I found Michigan-Hawaii on YouTube.

I recommend hard reboot your modem and router at least once a month.

The new modem has been rebooted four times, but I have not rebooted the router. Trying that now.