Comcast's 'Free' Streaming Box Actually Requires an Additional $13 a Month Fee

Comcast made headlines last month when it announced plans to give a free streaming box to all of its internet-only subscribers -- except, there's an extra fee that Comcast didn't clearly disclose at the time. From a report: It'll only give the box to internet-only subscribers who also rent a modem and router from the company for an additional $13 per month. After the free offer was announced last month, a Comcast spokesperson told me the rental requirement would be dropped "in the coming weeks" so that all internet-only customers could get the device for free. But a month later, that requirement is still in place, and Comcast's checkout interface has even been updated to emphasize that its streaming box, called Flex, is only included when you rent the company's modem / router combo, the xFi Gateway. The Comcast spokesperson now says the ability to use your own router and avoid the fee is "coming imminently."

"Free"

[DarkRookie2]

Everything that an ISP says is free is not.
Not that you would want to use their shitty modem/router/switch hybrids that just seem to all suck.

Re:"Free"

[Pascoea]

Not that you would want to use their shitty modem/router/switch hybrids that just seem to all suck.

Not to mention that their device also provides the "XfinityWifi" network to anyone with a Comcast account. I have ZERO trust that they are able to completely segregate their "Free" network from my personal WiFi. They can keep their modem/router, I'll use my own, thank you.

Re:

[groobly]

Even if they do segregate it, the freeloaders are using up the bandwidth of your wire.

Re:

[Aighearach]

Even if they do segregate it, the freeloaders are using up the bandwidth of your wire.

Especially for people like me who live in an old building where they already can't deliver the full speed. They can say it doesn't affect your speeds until they're blue in the face, but when their pipe sucks my speed would have to go down.

Re:"Free"

[jwhyche]

I still think ditching comcast was one of the best things I've done I will admit that I miss the xfinitywifi hotspot. When I was on the road a few years ago those things where everywhere and the performance was much better than the crappy wifi the hotel provided. One of the hotels I was in was using comcast as it provider but they had netflix and other media services blocked. I was able to hop on xfinitywifi, get 3 times the speed with none of the blockage.

That being said, would I go back to comcast? Are you fucking high or I would have to be. fuck'em.

Re: "Free"

[ethanms]

You're fortunate to have options...

I can have gigabit Comast with no data cap for $90/mo

1Mbps DSL for $55/mo

Various LTE options in the 3-30Mbps range depending on tower loading, and with different tiers of speed or usage caps for $40-hundreds per month, all behind carrier grade NAT

Comcast is my only real option.

Re:

[anonymouscoward52236]

It reminds me of that Southpark episode with the cable company reps. *rips down shirt flaps* So you want extra streaming service, huh? *rubs nipples*

Truth in advertising?

[Fly Swatter]

Why aren't these telcos held to the (horribly) normal advertising standards? They have been using asterisks to get out of telling the true cost of service for years :(

Re:

[DarkRookie2]

They should honestly not allow those or showing a lower price because of a mail in rebate.

Re:

[postmortem]

Why would the be? They are essentially gov't extension. One can only hope that some day we the people will find a way to dismantle telecom monopolies.

Re:

[Aighearach]

They are essentially gov't extension.

Maybe in your backwards State, but in my State there are no internet or cable monopolies. And yet, we have all the same problems.

You're just derping out talking points you heard somewhere.

Re:

[unrtst]

Under the new FCC chair, Ajit Pai, a bunch of rules were repealed (ex. the net neutrality stuff). Part of that included rules that required cable providers (and others) to display the full price of the services when they had those specials listed (like "signup today and it's only $20/month for the first year**" ... but the bit that "**" references used to state the actual value or at least had a link to get that, and now they don't show it at all).

In short, trump.

Completely free

[enriquevagu]

For an extra $13 you can get it completely free. It seems to be crystal-clear to me.

Portlandia

[mschaffer]

This reminds me of the Portlandia skit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
It's free after you pay for it.

Re: Portlandia

[ethanms]

"It's just a one time fee... that you pay annually"

"That's not one time."

I'm going to switch to Fred's Cellular

"It's one time in that you just pay it one time per year"

And so

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Scam. Modem and router are not $13 a month.

It's like those late night infomercials, where they say, "And you can get a second one for free, just pay shipping and handling!", where the business model is to profit off the overpriced shipping and handling.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[twocows]

I'm sure the fine print covers their asses.

Re:

[Aighearach]

It's funny because Europeans also complain that Americans are too lawsuit-happy.

In Europe, you'd have the righteous indignation of a person who knows they were wronged. But since it is so much more of a hassle to sue people there, you wouldn't actually be able to do anything about it unless you managed to get a bunch of people to join in a street protest. And that would work anyways, regardless of the prior rules.

Americans could totally sue to force them to honor the contract, but there is a catch; in order

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Golden Poo Award Winner

[thechemic]

They weren't a two-time Golden Poo Award winner and two-time runner-up for nothing!!!

Re:

[Thelasko]

They weren't a two-time Golden Poo Award winner and two-time runner-up for nothing!!!

I'm pleasantly surprised that website is still up and running. [consumerist.com]

Free as in Willie

[aSplash0fDerp]

The best part about having a service economy is being overserviced. /said-noone-ever

Well...

[twocows]

The device itself is free, it's just useless without the $13/mo equipment. At the moment, at least. According to TFA, the Comcast rep he talked to did say that would change, but the timeframe he gave already elapsed a while ago.

At the very least, if you ask them for the free device, the worst that seems that could happen is you get a free brick that might become useful in a few months or years or if you decide to cave and pay instead.

Re:

[b0s0z0ku]

It's useless anyway. It doesn't do anything that the Pirate Bay doesn't do better.

Does this have positive value?

[AvitarX]

Is this box good enough that I wouldn't want them to pay me?

I imagine it at best is a rebranded Roku, but more likely some garbage terrible to navigate laggy One Demand style interface.

Is there anybody with internet only that hasn't already figured this out and would be willing to give up and HDMI hole for it?

In the past they've tried to pay me $5/month to get basic cable, and that didn't seem like enough money to deal with the box to me.

Of course they want you to use their shitty modem

[eap]

One of the scams Comcast runs is to set up a guest wifi network using the customer's router and internet service. You pay a monthly fee to enable other people to use your bandwidth as guests.

If they have control of your router they can, theoretically, spy on your internet usage. Not to mention the fact that these modem/router combos typically perform more slowly and have worse security than a dedicated modem and switch owned by the user.

Fuck Comcast

[Smonster]

That is all.

really shows how much spying on u is worth

[Waitfor1t]

You'd think BYOD is cheaper but the $$ is in tracking everything you do. Same with Facebook and all the other "free" services... it's like "free" anal sex by a prison gang. Sure... it's "FREE".