Earthlink Cable → will EL with no TV affect my current "free" cable?

Hi!

I’m in South of Boston area and currently 2 options available in my area for HSI are Verizon DSL or Comcast cable. I stumbled upon EL over Comcast plan and it got me thinking about switching since it has a plan with no TV.

Currently I have Comcast most basic cable plan left over from previous owner of the house. We mostly watch recorded shows so having live TV is not a big deal for us, but it’s a nice perk to have and we would watch local news here and there.

If I sign up for EL HSI, would that effectively remove our existing “free” cable? I would switch to over the air antenna in that case, but would love to avoid the hassle. I know we are basically stealing the cable right now, but there is nothing on it that is not available OTA. I just want to know if I need to be ready for it and buy antenna, thread the cable, etc.

Thanks!

The short answer is it depends as to how through the install tech is. But it is very likely that yes, you will lose "free" cable. When Comcast installed my EL cable for me they installed a filter to prevent TV from coming in. I did not like nor want TV from Comcast anyway as I already had DirecTV so no problem for me. I am in Southern MA as well.

the filter is install somewhere in distribution point that's outside the house on a street, right? i have my own cable modem and cable is all connected in the house, so i could probably do a self installation on this. but that won't help me with a filter situation, will it?

There is no filter inside the house. I believe filters are installed up the pole on the street.

A self installation might prevent a tech coming to your house and and installing a filter during your install. I did not do a self install so I do not know. But, Comcast could come by anytime and install a filter on your line, with or without you having EL.