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67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned)

Member

Comcast and WOW Almost the Same Price?

Used to be, there was almost a $15.00 to $20.00 price difference between WOW and Comcast.

Now, with having to pay for WOW's Ultra to get faster speeds and Comcast starting to provide the same speeds for their regular price, the difference has evaporated and I find that Comcast is only about $5.00 more expensive than WOW (at least for me--digital with 2 movie channels and 3.0Mbps HSD).

Whereas I found $15.00-$20.00/month savings a compelling reason to stay with WOW, I'm not sure anymore if higher uploads and the extra 4GBs of newsserver downloads is worth it if Comcast offers other advantages that I feel are worth more than $5.00. The upload and news isn't compelling for my particular case.

Any thoughts as to what WOW will do, if anything, to stay competitive? The addition of Starz had to be done. Otherwise, they would have fallen behind.

Inflex
join:2002-09-05

Inflex

Member

said by 67845017:
Now, with having to pay for WOW's Ultra to get faster speeds and Comcast starting to provide the same speeds for their regular price
If you are going to compare the two, then compare apples to apples. You have to compare Ultra to Comcrap Pro. Now you're back to a $50 price difference.

tadmaz29
join:2002-05-30
Mount Prospect, IL

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Stay with WOW. Here is my reasoning: Comcast is called commycast and comcrap. WOW has no bad nicknames, for a good reason.
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned) to Inflex

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to Inflex
said by Inflex:
said by 67845017:
Now, with having to pay for WOW's Ultra to get faster speeds and Comcast starting to provide the same speeds for their regular price
If you are going to compare the two, then compare apples to apples. You have to compare Ultra to Comcrap Pro. Now you're back to a $50 price difference.
With the recent speed increases being rolled out by Comcast, my comparison is apples to apples.

Phoenix2088
join:2002-12-04
Strongsville, OH

Phoenix2088

Member

67845017 See Profile does have a very good point. He is comparing apples to apples. Both the Ultra and Comcast's home service will be by the years end supposedly the same. If indeed Comcast is going to upgrade the speed then it will have something for WOW to worry about. Then again WOW does have tiered levels and most people would not even need the Ultra service with middle packages serving them just right. But if you are already on Comcast's network when they upgrade speeds and think about switching to WOW for the Ultra a 5 dollar difference will not be to enticing to go through the hassle of switching. But then again Comcast has not stated if a rate increase will take effect because after all this is Comcast we are talking about .
[text was edited by author 2003-09-09 17:20:34]

Inflex
join:2002-09-05

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Is Comcrap offering 3mps to your area now?

No?

Then you have to compare to Pro. You can't compare what WOW gives you now to what Comcrap may give you in the future.

Edit:grammar
[text was edited by author 2003-09-09 17:21:48]

J D McDorce
Premium Member
join:2001-12-29
Westland, MI

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said by 67845017:
With the recent speed increases being rolled out by Comcast, my comparison is apples to apples.
When did Comcast start offering 500 kbps up?
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned)

Member

said by J D McDorce:
said by 67845017:
With the recent speed increases being rolled out by Comcast, my comparison is apples to apples.
When did Comcast start offering 500 kbps up?
Implicit in my message was that Comcast's upload speed is slower than WOW's. And, then as I stated, the extra up isn't worth it to me. So, taking that upload speed out and extra news download allowance out, it's apples to apples (at least for me and likely the vast majority of users).
67845017

67845017 (banned) to Inflex

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to Inflex
said by Inflex:
Is Comcrap offering 3mps to your area now?

No?

Then you have to compare to Pro. You can't compare what WOW gives you now to what Comcrap may give you in the future.

Edit:grammar
[text was edited by author 2003-09-09 17:21:48]

Actually, no, I don't have to compare Ultra to Pro.

By the time my contract expires and my rates increase by $5.00 next year and become the same as Comcast's (barring any price increase by them) and Comcasts speeds are increased everywhere, then I will be comparing very similar services. As long as Comcast doesn't raise prices of course.

Everything else being the same, for the $5.00 less and faster uploads and extra News, it's likely worthwhile staying. But, if Comcast has other features more compelling to me, I may switch. At the price differential, WOW definitely does not have a lock on me like they used to.

wowwoww
@wideopenwest.com

wowwoww

Anon

Do you honestly think that comcrap is going to offer the 3meg speed with no price increase?? You MUST be dreaming if you think the price will stay the same.

imrf
Premium Member
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI

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before you jump ship next year, you may want to watch this situation in Comcastland, »High Pings in Chicago . Looks like they have not fixed anything over in IL for a while now.
Dartpro
join:2002-10-25
Westland, MI

Dartpro

Member

If you were a mediaone subscriber when Comcast took over (new years day) and remember the weeks, uh months without service or very poor service and the the oh so knowledgable tech (lack of) support and the customer service support that you could talk to after a three hour wait on hold and the flawed cd loaded with spyware they wanted you to install, then not install, the caps, no newsgroups and... I could go on. I would happily pay an extra $5 - 10 a month to stay with WOW for all the above reasons. I have had very minor problems with WOW and when I did, thier customer service and support was great, unlike the money hungry morons at Comcast.

That felt good.

Phoenix2088
join:2002-12-04
Strongsville, OH

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67845017 See Profile is just stating that when or if Comcast upgrades their home service that WOW Ultra may have a run for their money for current Comcast customers. This is completely his opinion but I find it unneeded that many people in this forum are so quick to pounce on what he is saying.

imrf
Premium Member
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI

imrf

Premium Member

I agree. It would interesting to see what WOW will do with their speeds. Currently I could switch back to Comcast using their current rates the service would be cheaper. Comcast has a $79.99 deal for most of SE MI that includes Digital cable w/Encore(no Starz) 2 premium stations and internet service. It makes it very tempting to switch back, although Comcast in my area had a lot of problems when I first switched to WOW, but I think that most have been fixed. All the extra services Comcast offers in my area (VOD, VoIP, and HDTV) make it even more tempting. But I will wait and see what WOWs answer is going to be to Comcasts faster silver tier.
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned) to Dartpro

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said by Dartpro:
If you were a mediaone subscriber when Comcast took over (new years day) and remember the weeks, uh months without service or very poor service and the the oh so knowledgable tech (lack of) support and the customer service support that you could talk to after a three hour wait on hold and the flawed cd loaded with spyware they wanted you to install, then not install, the caps, no newsgroups and... I could go on. I would happily pay an extra $5 - 10 a month to stay with WOW for all the above reasons. I have had very minor problems with WOW and when I did, thier customer service and support was great, unlike the money hungry morons at Comcast.

That felt good.
In Naperville, the system was Jones, then ATT then Comcast. And, unil WOW came, there was no cable modem internet service.

Most of what I'm basing my comments on is that Comcast seems to be making promises and actually coming through on them, notwithstanding the ping problem in Chicago.

I mean my whole point in starting this thread was to say that WOW isn't monetarily quite the deal that it at one time was. It's still competitive and the CS is probably much better. But, it isn't as compelling.
clocks11
join:2002-05-06
00000

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Goober - You may be right. Hopefully WOW takes action to maintain their value over Comcast. I figured the price difference would slowly get closer, but not in one year.

djdanska
Rudie32
Premium Member
join:2001-04-21
San Diego, CA

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My parts of chicagoland have yet to be effected by high pings or slow speeds. I am just on the border of downers grove and westmont. (off of fairview, incase you knew the area). Not everybody is having issues yet. I would kill for wow, but with comcast increasing the download speed, i can live with it.

Inflex
join:2002-09-05

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The error you're making is assuming that Comcrap said they were going to 3mbs.

The quotes were made by a Comcrap executive at a conference - not to subscribers, but to other cable industry people. He also said "probably".

Until you are personally informed, don't assume the Comcrap is doing anything.

I sure that if and when they do change speeds, WOW will come right back. Most likely increasing everybody to Ultra with no price increase.
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned)

Member

said by Inflex:
The error you're making is assuming that Comcrap said they were going to 3mbs.

The quotes were made by a Comcrap executive at a conference - not to subscribers, but to other cable industry people. He also said "probably".

Until you are personally informed, don't assume the Comcrap is doing anything.

I sure that if and when they do change speeds, WOW will come right back. Most likely increasing everybody to Ultra with no price increase.
There are at least a couple on the Comcast boards here that can testify to the higher caps.
josephjoe
join:2002-09-08
Chicago, IL

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Well i feel that its more than likely that comcast will increase to 3mbps than not. The chicago area has been problematic for quite some time, but it "seemed" it was due to the particular ip address you were given and the routing of it im not to sure. When they get the kinks out comcast may very well upgrade the silver cap in chicagoland. Also wow should add another higher tier with more upload than any proposed pro account and at least a comparable download speed. At the very least raise the upload to 768 preferrably higher (7000/800) ok im dreaming but it would be better than say a comcast pro package of (6000/512 or 5000/512). Yes i know some officials from wow read this forum so think about the quick fix to keep bundled users happy until hdtv dvr and voip are standard offerings.
[text was edited by author 2003-09-10 00:10:45]

imrf
Premium Member
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI

imrf

Premium Member

Once Comcast increases the caps WOW may follow suit. Even if you break down the package prices, advance comes out to $27, but instead of looking at it that way, you could look at them discounting the tv side(which many cable companies do, instead of the data side to draw in customers) and the prices would be more. But if Comcast does increase the pro package WOW again will more than likely follow suit. If WOW has enough bandwidth they could easily pull off OOL speeds and blow Comcast away. WOW has a small enough user base(even if all possible customers signed up) that they will not even exceed the amount Cablevision has. Especially once they finish off the DOCSIS 1.1 conversion the added QoS features will help out with bandwidth management. This is all hopes and dreams, but we are allowed to do that.

HDTV is coming out soon, they already have the equipment in place and are testing it. As for DVR, I was told probably not any time soon, yet there is a channel 110 on the digital service that says PVR service on it and to contact WOW to order it. I tried and nobody knew what I was talking about. VoIP is still unknown at this point in time.
[text was edited by author 2003-09-10 00:15:56]
traFrelliK
join:2003-07-21
Canton, MI

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There is another apples to apples comparison that can be made, quite easily... the customer ratings right here on dslreports. I haven't looked recently, but last time I did do a direct comparison of local ratings comcast was at 2.5 and wow was at 4.2/4.5 or some such.

That says a lot right there.

Now, I'm one of those users that DOES appreciate the extra upload bandwidth, and just today got complements on my ability to host games with my connection. This doesn't mean that everyone will want it, but it seems to me that if they don't care about an extra 60% upload speed, the ability to save some $ with the tiered download offered by wow will become even more important to them.

Another important distinction that was not lost on me was the terms of service. Comcasts TOS is so limiting that it seems almost impossible to do anything except browse and retrieve email without violating it. WOW on the other hand, does not prohibit you from things like hosting games that use dedicated servers, etc.

So, I don't think an apples to apples comparison really does comcast much good, but then again, my apples don't seem to be like other peoples apples.
josephjoe
join:2002-09-08
Chicago, IL

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imrf i totally agree with you about WOW's pricing advantage. I would sign a ONE & ONE HALF YEAR contract to get ool like speeds from them.. to wish upon a star... Anyway i didn't realize the tv side would be the first thing WOW discounted to achieve cheaper bundles. Do you think WOW is considering dropping analog cable because of it being more bandwidth intensive than digital? Does analog cable take up bandwidth that could be used for higher internet speed or is that on a different frequency? I really don't know. Let me know what ya think.

imrf
Premium Member
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI

imrf

Premium Member

I didnt really mean that WOW does lower the tv price in the bundle price, but they technically could, either which way they get the money they want for the package. As for dropping the analog channels, yes, every cable company wants to dump them as fast as they can. It will free up a ton of allocated/wasted space. 1 analog channel can hold up to 12 digital channels. 1 Analog channel is also equal to one 1080i HDTV feed with Dolby Digital sound. One thing though, is that freeing up the bandwidth does not mean that they will use it for the internet service. They will probably put it to use on HDTV, VoIP(possibly) or could be used in the future for VOD(if they decide its worth if, which they dont right now ).
josephjoe
join:2002-09-08
Chicago, IL

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I'd love to see HDTV feeds from Discovery HBO etc. Well at least they are considering it per their website. I thought InDemand was "Video on Demand" i was mistaken. What technically is VOD? Streaming any movie you want to see to your box? That would require a ton of bandwidth/server power .
traFrelliK
join:2003-07-21
Canton, MI

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IIRC, the VHF (normal analog) spectrum is used to handle the upstream, and the UHF (upper analog) spectrum is used for downstream. But I believe they are only using the guard band areas between existing VHF channels, though I'd have to look that up in the DOCSIS stuff. Either way, they could easily use the bulk of the UHF band for digital and still keep it otherwise compatible with analog for the basic channels.

imrf
Premium Member
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI

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Discovery Hd would be nice. The HD channel I would like to see are HD Net and HD Net Movies.

VOD - Video On Demand - a server resides in the headend and/or hub sites that stores all videos on an array of SCSI hard drives. The Digital box requests to see a show and is used like a VCR to control the movie. I have been playing with is on Comcasts system and its very cool, although Comcast charges for most of the content,but thats something I dont have to worry about . InDemand is just a regular PPV channel,you order it and your box allows you to watch it, no involvement on WOWs end.

Porn Dog
@wideopenwest.com

Porn Dog

Anon

Two words: HD Porn

imrf
Premium Member
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI

imrf

Premium Member

LOL. Maybe in a couple more years your dream will com true.
josephjoe
join:2002-09-08
Chicago, IL

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oh my i wonder how many extra subs would sign up for HD PORN Not that i want or need it spice channel suits me just fine lol