More On Comcast’s Move To Digital
Comcast’s plan to transition to digital is well on it’s way in Seattle/Tacoma. Infrastructure is being upgraded in many areas to increase HDTV capacity, which mostly involves upgrading old systems to an 860Mhz system. In some areas, analog channels are already in the process of being shut off. They’re not shut off yet; currently they display a screen with a phone number to call to order a digital cable box, but they’re sure to be shut off in the near future.
The space freed by the analog channels will be used primarily for HDTV. This is something Comcast desperately needs in order to compete with DirecTV and Verizon FiOS. Brier Dudley of the Seattle Times, posted a blog entry that explains which areas are expected to have their analog shut off.
May 17th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
I have spent days researching Verizon Fios and the cable company and satellite offers. Is there anyone out there consider that old school cable is actually better than Fios high speed internet? I would seem that there really is no comparison between the options when talking about the pure speed of the network and funtionlality for viewing.
May 17th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Comcast has actually been making an effort to upgrade their networks for the past year. FiOS is almost certainly better than cable in terms of picture and internet speed, due to the fact that they can carry more information on their network, but Comcast has been closing the gap significantly over the past year.
Interestingly enough, Qwest has also been upgrading their networks. They recently rolled out fiber to the node in my area, and are offering 40mbit internet.
It seems as competition has increased significantly over the past year.
Currently I have TV and Internet through Comcast, and I’m honestly satisfied with the service in my area (service quality tends to vary based on location). Although, if FiOS were available where I am, I would probably switch to that.