Hidden costs for Xfinity X1

x509

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I don't think I'm a noob, but I can't seem to decipher Comcast's verbiage. I get that there are some benefits, but what are the hidden costs? Can I keep my current ARRIS cable modem? Do I need to replace my current set top boxes? (We have hours and hours of recorded shows to watch, and I don't know if I can transfer all these recordings to a new set-top box.)

If X1 stores some content in the cloud, am I going to incur additional upload/download usage? We currently use about 200 GB a month.
 
No you can't keep your current shows. No DVR usage does not count against data caps. Yes you can keep your current modem unless you are signing up for the xfi complete service to get unlimited data. Yes they'll probably charge you for a rental regardless. Yes they are going to bury you with broadcast fees, sports fees, fee processing fees, etc. Yes they are going to screw up your billing. Yes you'll spend hours on the phone talking to mindless idiots trying to fix it.

Yes you should avoid anything with the word "xfinity" on it.
 
No you can't keep your current shows. No DVR usage does not count against data caps. Yes you can keep your current modem unless you are signing up for the xfi complete service to get unlimited data. Yes they'll probably charge you for a rental regardless. Yes they are going to bury you with broadcast fees, sports fees, fee processing fees, etc. Yes they are going to screw up your billing. Yes you'll spend hours on the phone talking to mindless idiots trying to fix it.

Yes you should avoid anything with the word "xfinity" on it.
Is there anything good about X1?
 
Is there anything good about X1?
If you looked and couldn't find something, then it probably doesn't exist since all these services want to toot their own horn at every opportunity to sell you on it.
 
I'd suggest you get a hdhomerun prime if you have multiple cable boxes and plan on keeping them for a while.

https://shop.silicondust.com/shop/product-category/hardware/?scrollto=410844

They are making more in a limited run. I have one and we have saved tons on not having to rent boxes, and comcast gives you a discount ($5 on our bill) for using our own equipment. You'll need a cable card from them but then you can watch tv on a variety of devices. There a few options to record tv, we are using plex.

We had the x1 for a bit, it wasn't bad but as soon as we wanted more than one prices got crazy on our bill and the hdhomerun paid off after one year.
 
I'd suggest you get a hdhomerun prime if you have multiple cable boxes and plan on keeping them for a while.

https://shop.silicondust.com/shop/product-category/hardware/?scrollto=410844

They are making more in a limited run. I have one and we have saved tons on not having to rent boxes, and comcast gives you a discount ($5 on our bill) for using our own equipment. You'll need a cable card from them but then you can watch tv on a variety of devices. There a few options to record tv, we are using plex.

We had the x1 for a bit, it wasn't bad but as soon as we wanted more than one prices got crazy on our bill and the hdhomerun paid off after one year.
They still use cable cards?
 
They still use cable cards?
Which they are you referring to? Yes to both comcast and hdhomerun prime. Its the only way to get cable channels outside of a cable box. Hdhomerun prime was discontinued a while back because the chips needed for it weren't produced anymore, silicon dust found a bunch of chips so they are doing a limited supply run. I've been using a prime for 7 years now and its been great. Comcast has supported cable cards this entire time because they have been required to (upto sept 2020), but the FCC recently changed some rules that says they don't have to support cables cards going into the future so I wouldn't expect them to keep providing the cable cards for long but I don't think they will drop supporting the existing cards for a while but they could be dbags about it and force us to get an x1 box. I think at that point we would give them the finger and make do with an alternative because getting cable boxes would increase our bill by like $50-75.
 
Which they are you referring to? Yes to both comcast and hdhomerun prime. Its the only way to get cable channels outside of a cable box. Hdhomerun prime was discontinued a while back because the chips needed for it weren't produced anymore, silicon dust found a bunch of chips so they are doing a limited supply run. I've been using a prime for 7 years now and its been great. Comcast has supported cable cards this entire time because they have been required to (upto sept 2020), but the FCC recently changed some rules that says they don't have to support cables cards going into the future so I wouldn't expect them to keep providing the cable cards for long but I don't think they will drop supporting the existing cards for a while but they could be dbags about it and force us to get an x1 box. I think at that point we would give them the finger and make do with an alternative because getting cable boxes would increase our bill by like $50-75.
I didn't even know you could use 3rd party equipment for cable tv. I though you had to rent their shit. I know the cards were a weak spot back in the day for cable and Sat. They were easily jacked and able to pirate cable/sat. It probably been nearly 10 years since I had cable/sat tv.
 
I didn't even know you could use 3rd party equipment for cable tv. I though you had to rent their shit. I know the cards were a weak spot back in the day for cable and Sat. They were easily jacked and able to pirate cable/sat. It probably been nearly 10 years since I had cable/sat tv.
I'm not sure how you would steal one and pirate tv. You have to pick up the card from comcast and then you have to call them when you get home and pair it to device you want to use the card in. If someone took the card out it wouldn't work in another device unless you called comcast and got it paired to that new device. You would have to steal the entire device with the cable card in it to have it work, but I think at that point who ever is paying the cable bill would know somethings up and cancel service or get a replacement device which would deactivate the old cable card. Maybe non comcast cable companies are more lax and let the cable card work in what ever device you stick it in, but comcast doesn't.
 
I just upgraded to 200mb from 100mb for $15 less lol. I am getting over 300mb up/down also. Get shit on Comcrap!
 
Their 'dvr' cable box doesn't actually have an hd now ( it may stream from the cloud now, I do have more than 4 concurrent recordings now, had up to six, I think), I think, unless they crammed it down to an m.2 ssd or the like. my new box is about 1"x6"x10". And they include hbomax/peacock & a couple of other streaming services from the menu. I did get the 300Mb service that needed a docsis3.1 modem, but that's mine, no rental that I can find on my bill.

Edit: this is NOT an endorsement of their services.
 
They have their own 'roku' like box they provide free with Internet plans, and there's no charge for it now (hook them first drug dealer approach).

I'm shocked that you needed a 3.1 modem for just 300Mbps--even the old sb6183 (even sb6141) could have handled that with ease. There's a lot of planned obsolescence being pushed on consumers from every direction. I can't wait for the revolution where we go back to buying something that lasts a while rather than on a continuous upgrade train that feeds big business.
 
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They have their own 'roku' like box they provide free with Internet plans, and there's no charge for it now (hook them first drug dealer approach).

I'm shocked that you needed a 3.1 modem for just 300Mbps--even the old sb6183 (even sb6141) could have handled that with ease. There's a lot of planned obsolescence being pushed on consumers from every direction. I can't wait for the revolution where we go back to buying something that lasts a while rather than on a continuous upgrade train that feeds big business.
You don't need a 3.1 modem. They will hassle you on the phone and tell you older modems aren't supported or aren't reliable. You can just lie to them and tell them its a newer modem and then give them the mac/serial number and it will activate just fine. The activation system will activate modems that they say are incompatible just fine and they work fine, I've done this a few times, you just have to tell the rep that its a newer model.
 
Meh, I kept getting notified that I had to upgrade the modem for the 300Mb download, I was seeing 200-ish with the 3.0, at least on the system here. Once I replaced it with a 3.1, (and a lot of annoying support calls) I saw 300Mb consistently.
 
You don't need a 3.1 modem. They will hassle you on the phone and tell you older modems aren't supported or aren't reliable. You can just lie to them and tell them its a newer modem and then give them the mac/serial number and it will activate just fine. The activation system will activate modems that they say are incompatible just fine and they work fine, I've done this a few times, you just have to tell the rep that its a newer model.
Great tip! Thank you for sharing!
Meh, I kept getting notified that I had to upgrade the modem for the 300Mb download, I was seeing 200-ish with the 3.0, at least on the system here. Once I replaced it with a 3.1, (and a lot of annoying support calls) I saw 300Mb consistently.
Interesting. I know when I got an unsupported modem at one point, I couldn't get my service speeds because there wasn't a config file for it. Maybe this is something similar except the config file is purposely limited to force people to upgrade. I'd really like to know on the carrier side what it is about newer stuff that makes it so valuable.
 
Meh, I kept getting notified that I had to upgrade the modem for the 300Mb download, I was seeing 200-ish with the 3.0, at least on the system here. Once I replaced it with a 3.1, (and a lot of annoying support calls) I saw 300Mb consistently.
Could be that your line is sketchy. Newer modems will use more channels so if you have a questionable line then more channels will help you out.
 
Great tip! Thank you for sharing!
Interesting. I know when I got an unsupported modem at one point, I couldn't get my service speeds because there wasn't a config file for it. Maybe this is something similar except the config file is purposely limited to force people to upgrade. I'd really like to know on the carrier side what it is about newer stuff that makes it so valuable.
I've seen that on modems that can't hit the max speed but not ones that are capable of hitting the speed. So for example a sb6121 can only do roughly 160mbps, if you have a 200mbps plan it won't cap out at 160, you'll get a config for 100. Maybe they do that as well for certain other modems that should be able to hit the plan speed, I haven't seen it but I only use Motorola/Arris modems.
 
Could be that your line is sketchy. Newer modems will use more channels so if you have a questionable line then more channels will help you out.
I don't think any modem would perform decently on a bad line.
 
I've seen that on modems that can't hit the max speed but not ones that are capable of hitting the speed. So for example a sb6121 can only do roughly 160mbps, if you have a 200mbps plan it won't cap out at 160, you'll get a config for 100. Maybe they do that as well for certain other modems that should be able to hit the plan speed, I haven't seen it but I only use Motorola/Arris modems.
I had gotten a motorola gateway combo that wasn't officially supported and instead of the 150Mbps I was supposed to get, I only got 15Mbps. When I called them about it, they confirmed that the modem was just getting a generic config file since they didn't have one set up for it. I returned that and got the sb6190 which has worked very well despite all the puma scare stuff posted about them. In fact, I was able to pick up another one open box new for nearly nothing because someone was freaked out about it and it too has been running perfectly at another site. And the kicker is that both sites are connected through both modems and the link is regularly with an application that's latency sensitive (rdp). The sb6190 ends up being a great value used because of all this.
 
I had gotten a motorola gateway combo that wasn't officially supported and instead of the 150Mbps I was supposed to get, I only got 15Mbps. When I called them about it, they confirmed that the modem was just getting a generic config file since they didn't have one set up for it. I returned that and got the sb6190 which has worked very well despite all the puma scare stuff posted about them. In fact, I was able to pick up another one open box new for nearly nothing because someone was freaked out about it and it too has been running perfectly at another site. And the kicker is that both sites are connected through both modems and the link is regularly with an application that's latency sensitive (rdp). The sb6190 ends up being a great value used because of all this.

I had a 6190 for a year, it was okay for the first 4-5 months. After that time period I started to get random disconnects and lag, started out small then got worse as time went on. By the time I replaced it a year after I originally bought it, it was constantly lagging and disconnecting. You may be fine at the begining but it will get worse as time goes on.
 
I had a 6190 for a year, it was okay for the first 4-5 months. After that time period I started to get random disconnects and lag, started out small then got worse as time went on. By the time I replaced it a year after I originally bought it, it was constantly lagging and disconnecting. You may be fine at the begining but it will get worse as time goes on.
The only time I've ever seen issues like this is when the ISP was having issues, and once those were corrected all was good. Sounds like you had a normal hardware failure that could happen with any modem. Both of mine are now going on their 4th year and one has been subject to 100F for the summer months.
 
The only time I've ever seen issues like this is when the ISP was having issues, and once those were corrected all was good. Sounds like you had a normal hardware failure that could happen with any modem. Both of mine are now going on their 4th year and one has been subject to 100F for the summer months.

Well I am glad yours have worked problem free, after my bad experience I just make sure to warn people about it. I really wish mine had been stable and worked fine, but I was not lucky there.
 
I dropped Comcast cable tv. I was tired of the fees increasing seemingly every month. It’s crazy how $60 a month turns into $110 a month after fees and before box rentals. Switched to fuboTV.

I still have their gig speed internet but I use that as a backup to my fiber symmetrical gig.
 
Well I am glad yours have worked problem free, after my bad experience I just make sure to warn people about it. I really wish mine had been stable and worked fine, but I was not lucky there.
Yeah, but I think you simply had a bad modem. I'm actually surprised my one that's been in the 100F environment hasn't failed, but it's been solid. Generally the arris sb6xxx series were pretty bulletproof to begin with, and hence why there's so many in the used market.
 
I dropped Comcast cable tv. I was tired of the fees increasing seemingly every month. It’s crazy how $60 a month turns into $110 a month after fees and before box rentals. Switched to fuboTV.

I still have their gig speed internet but I use that as a backup to my fiber symmetrical gig.
How do you have it setup as a backup? Are you using a multi-wan router?
 
I dropped Comcast cable tv. I was tired of the fees increasing seemingly every month. It’s crazy how $60 a month turns into $110 a month after fees and before box rentals. Switched to fuboTV.

I still have their gig speed internet but I use that as a backup to my fiber symmetrical gig.
It is why I like fios. The price is up front. They advertise $40 a month and that a all I pay.
 
It is why I like fios. The price is up front. They advertise $40 a month and that a all I pay.
I've had fios before and loved it. I currently manage 4 accounts--1 comcast, 1 wow, and 2x charter/spectrum. I've worked with fios and att as well and plan to add an att connection at one of the sites for redundancy.
 
It is why I like fios. The price is up front. They advertise $40 a month and that a all I pay.
The only reason I still have cable is because I love watching the NBA and I wanted to legal option to watch my team. Fios isn’t available here where I am but I have 3 different providers. Trying to get work to help pay for xfinity gig pro haha. They pay right now for xfinity backup which is actually more than my symmetrical fiber.
 
The only reason I still have cable is because I love watching the NBA and I wanted to legal option to watch my team. Fios isn’t available here where I am but I have 3 different providers. Trying to get work to help pay for xfinity gig pro haha. They pay right now for xfinity backup which is actually more than my symmetrical fiber.
Interseting. I'm not into sports so this may be a dumb question, but doesn't the NBA have their own streaming? My wife's company has a per diem for her phone, but I still handle all the Internet stuff at our place even though she is 100% wfh for at least the next year or two. She just had a clover pos system delivered to the house and I was like, where are you going to set that up?!? like she does whenever I bring anything computer related home. :ROFLMAO:
 
Interseting. I'm not into sports so this may be a dumb question, but doesn't the NBA have their own streaming? My wife's company has a per diem for her phone, but I still handle all the Internet stuff at our place even though she is 100% wfh for at least the next year or two. She just had a clover pos system delivered to the house and I was like, where are you going to set that up?!? like she does whenever I bring anything computer related home. :ROFLMAO:
They do but it’s blacked out for your local team. So that means you have to wait a day to watch which isn’t as fun.

To your other questions yes I have a 2 NAS with 10Gb connections and almost all my pcs are currently in the middle of getting 10Gb upgrades.
 
They do but it’s blacked out for your local team. So that means you have to wait a day to watch which isn’t as fun.

To your other questions yes I have a 2 NAS with 10Gb connections and almost all my pcs are currently in the middle of getting 10Gb upgrades.
Ah yes, the good old blackouts--welcome to WGN and TBS back in the 1990s, lol. No one in ATL or Chicago could watch local games on the local stations--they had to subscribe to satellite to watch it live.

Nice! Sounds like an awesome setup. I bet you have some other servers in there too like a home lab. :)

PS, love the username--I have a 2002 e55 AMG with under 40k on it. :)
 
Ah yes, the good old blackouts--welcome to WGN and TBS back in the 1990s, lol. No one in ATL or Chicago could watch local games on the local stations--they had to subscribe to satellite to watch it live.

Nice! Sounds like an awesome setup. I bet you have some other servers in there too like a home lab. :)

PS, love the username--I have a 2002 e55 AMG with under 40k on it. :)
Yea I have a lot of other stuff and I keep adding more every year. Working on a new one this year.

I had a 2011 c63 amg for a long time until I sold it because I was just driving too much (I was putting 22k miles a year on her) also had to pay for my wife’s med school loans. I will probably get another in the future maybe a amg GTR or an e63 amg wagon this year. Still debating on that vs taycan.
 
Yea I have a lot of other stuff and I keep adding more every year. Working on a new one this year.

I had a 2011 c63 amg for a long time until I sold it because I was just driving too much (I was putting 22k miles a year on her) also had to pay for my wife’s med school loans. I will probably get another in the future maybe a amg GTR or an e63 amg wagon this year. Still debating on that vs taycan.
Nice. I love how server prices are dropping considering how much capability they have. :) And then there's clustering...:D

Very nice. Yeah that's a lot of miles for sure. I don't drive mine much as I gave it to my dad as a gift and have a bunch of other cars that I don't drive much either due to life in the last few years. But one thing my wife has changed in me is that my next car and last car will be the new Tesla Roadster--it will have all I will ever need. I enjoy the torque of my wife's Model 3 waaaay too much and the lack of any maintenance makes it a joy to own. Something to consider since a top end Model Y would probably give the Taycan a run for the money.
 
Nice. I love how server prices are dropping considering how much capability they have. :) And then there's clustering...:D

Very nice. Yeah that's a lot of miles for sure. I don't drive mine much as I gave it to my dad as a gift and have a bunch of other cars that I don't drive much either due to life in the last few years. But one thing my wife has changed in me is that my next car and last car will be the new Tesla Roadster--it will have all I will ever need. I enjoy the torque of my wife's Model 3 waaaay too much and the lack of any maintenance makes it a joy to own. Something to consider since a top end Model Y would probably give the Taycan a run for the money.
My wife has a Model X performance so I know all about that. I already have enough suv in the garage I want a sedan or wagon for a daily driver and something exotic for my weekend car.
 
My wife has a Model X performance so I know all about that. I already have enough suv in the garage I want a sedan or wagon for a daily driver and something exotic for my weekend car.
Ah yes, and I mixed up the Taycan with the Macan. :oops: I haven't talked cars regularly in years now, so apologies for the goof. You would enjoy the new model S then, especially in plaid trim. I would be surprised if anything more exotic would have has much performance, although I do personally miss the feel of a good cabriolet or targa when driving the wife's 3 even though it would have less performance and the downside of regular maintenance, which is all I seem to be doing on all my cars.
 
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