"In exchange for our sh*tty service you are about to be stuck with for God knows how long, here's a Wii. Enjoy!!!"

Here, take a Wii.. You'll get sick of it around the same time you get sick of our shitty CS!

Has anyone done the math to find out if, for 2 years, you actually recoup the cost of a Wii in fees from comcast, given a particular price for highspeed internet, something other than free TV, and phone service?

@warf0x0r: Or lackthereof service..

@BigPapaCherry: Hey, the Wii is awesome.

Dealing with Comcast, not so awesome.

I think I'd rather buy a wii from a rent-a-center.

@HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak: Hey, I like the Wii. It's just my 360 gets more play. Not that this is relevant...

Sounds like Comcast doesn't want to get stuck in the top two again, but it's going to take a whole lot more than a Wii to change the Consumerist's (collective) mind.

Hey, this is great. While you're dealing with no-show installation techs and service outages, you can at least play the Wii!

In the long run, it's probably cheaper just to buy the console.

Just wait till Comcast goes through the same crap Verizon did w/ it's free TV's, only this time the carrot is a product which usually is not available en masse.

So, when you try and get a prorated refund for their outage, they'll claim they still provided service, i.e. you could have played the Wii?

As cool as the Wii is - Comcast is so much more Comcrapstic.

I'm confused.

They are actually giving away soemthing that has nothing to with their services, and may actually detract/distract from the use of their services as well. Is this Comcast's way of quietly admitting their service is terrible-by giving their new customers somwthing else to do??

Well at $100.00 a month minimum for triple play you could save the money and get the Wii and a game in three months of savings.

I have no choice but to deal with their craptastic service so if you have a choice just save up for the Wii and go else where.

@Posthaus: The Wii has online features and downloads so you pretty much need their craptastic high speed internet for it.

Big deal. Already have one

This is Comcast, of course, so even the press release doesn't really mean what it says.

I just called Comcast and asked about this promotion. The rep said that the terms of the offer vary according to the geographic market. She said that here in Denver, the Wii promotion is only available if you sign up for the Premier package at $159.95 a month. Not only that, but Comcast will only give you the discounted bundle price for the first year. After that, the price goes up to the "correct price" (that's the actual term that the rep used) of $205.94, and that's only if they don't raise rates in the mean time.

By my rough calculations, unless you really need five premium networks (8 different HBO channels, 7 different Showtime's, etc., etc.) you can skip the Wii, go with just about any other package, and still come out way ahead.

Would love to hear from someone who bought into this scam, er, scheme. I suspect the fulfillment of the wii, which will be duly subject to all sorts of conditions not mentioned in their press release, will take weeks, months, if not years. Then, don't dare break the 2-year contract...

Seeing how Verizon did so damn good with the free TVs, I see Comcast doing just as well.

wth? i JUST signed up for a 2yr contract for Triple Play not two weeks ago. I wasn't offered a Wii!

I already had Comcast for internet and cable though, and Vonage for phone service. Comcast actually saves me money when I'm not paying seperately for Vonage. Triple Play wasn't previously available in Sunnyvale...

Contract? No deal. I'm done with contracts. Two years is way too long to be locked into a retail service.

@starbreiz: It might differ in your market, but if I were you I'd give them a call and try to plead your case. Most of the general reps are powerless, so try to at least escalate to a supervisor before you quit trying.

*Triple Play package availability and offers vary by market. Total number of Wii systems is limited.

I don't mind a contract with Comcast, because honestly, where am I going to go?

They're my only choice for cable here. And since my only telephone line is way up high on by the ceiling my kitchen, DSL would be a pain to string the modem from there, so cable modem makes sense.

As long as you're playing the Wii you won't notice how crappy Comcast is and therefore the Wii will actually improve the perceived quality of Comcast's service.

Unless, of course, is this like the family who got a 19" TV as their prize instead of a 60", in which case your free Wii may turn out to be a book of Sudoku puzzles.

Aha!

"Total number of Wii systems is limited."

To two.

@tawni:

True, but it might be a safe bet you likely already had broadband of some sort if you where intending to use it for online play. But even at best, that's only the broadband internet, there isn't any additional reasoning little reason to look at them for phone and cable as well plus a two year contract. if you were lacking one or the other anyway.

Maybe I am a little jaded, after feeling jilted by shitty cable service; but also I don't see any good reason to put all your eggs in one basket, especially if Comcast is the one holding it for you.

So you will get bored with the entire Wii library in 2 weeks and be stuck with Comcast for another 23 1/2 months.

I'm not going to do this because Comcast is the devil incarnate, and I won't use their dish competitors because of spotty service. OTA is right out! Problem is, all the TV service providers suck. I am all for doing things like they do in the UK: impose a television license fee and make a free service provider.

@The Great Aussie Evil:

There are more than a dozen "free" service providers - the OTA stations. Difference is, in the UK you _have_ to pay for them (don't like the BBC's content? tough, you're paying for it by law), while in the US you have the choice of patronizing the broadcast networks or not.

Effectively, this works out to Comcast giving you $10 off/month for two years (a bit less, NPV and all that, but still).

Of course Comcast will make you sign a contract. Cue the never-will-come-to-your-house-unless-you-don't-need-it music please...

As long as they don't require customer's soul...

Called and inquired ... I was offered a 24 month contract, but I had to have HBO and Starz. totaled $129.99 per month, plus my "HD" DVR, I would be pushing $150 after taxes.

Not worth it to me, as the extra cost would be over $50 a month x 24 months, I can buy a Wii for under $600.

No deal/.

I just saw the commercial for that today...

Anyway, I believe I may now quote Admiral Ackbar... *Ahem...*

"IT'S A TRAP!"

Are you sure they aren't just duct-taping two Gamecubes together?

Hmm... I could not get Comcast services, and get Verizon internet for $30 a month, and with the money I saved by not getting cable, I can go buy a Wii!

@Belabras: It is, particularly since they make you sign up for a phone line that quite a few people won't use.

@spoco: I figured they wouldn't let you get by with just getting the "basic" triple-play package. What they want to charge for digital cable is enough of a rip-off as it stands. That's why we still have basic analog cable at home and probably will stay that way until they turn it off.

Comcast is a rip-off. Go with dry loop dsl, dish, and use your cell phone. What 'average' user needs the '16mb' speeds that Comcast always likes to gloat about in their ads. (Of course, they don't tell you up front that those speeds aren't included in their Triple-Play.)

Not even close to being worth it. Seriously, I wouldn't subscribe for an xBox, a PS3, 2 Wii's, a WiiFit...

I signed up for their "double play", and just got the $250 rebate. 6 months later.

That sucks that they want you locked into a two year contract. I signed up for the Triple Play back in January, but the reps assured me that Comcast does NOT do contracts. I guess this is how they make sure that they get people to stay.

Like some others have said, avoid this b/c the rate that you're given at sign-up is only for 12 months.

I checked the rates here in Miami, and in Philly (I used the Mayor's office for the address) and the rates are:

Preferred Plus is $129.99 for 1st year (before taxes and fees, approx. $15), $188.10 after 1st year
Premier is $159.99 for 1st year(before taxes and fees), $219.45

*Rates after the 1st year do vary among markets

So for two years of Preferred Plus, it's gonna be $3,817.08 (before taxes and fees) and Premier will cost you $4,553.28

All for a $249.99 console.

@Craig: Or a Chintendo Vii.

@Carl3000: Hmm I don't know about the boring library. I stayed-up until midnight yesterday playing blastworks. Before I got that game I was playing Super Fantasy Zone. Before that Castle Shikigami III. We have a PS2, Wii, and some DSs and SPs and the Wii is the one we play the most but we do go through phases. Like my oldest son and I recently played a lot of Lego Indy on PS2 and my wife and I Puzzle Quest on PS2. But those games are both available for DS and Wii as well, its just simply that we were able to get better deals on the PS2 versions.

For our family it seems that the exclusive Wii games are very well targeted to us. The games that are exclusive to 360 and PS3 tend to be the same old 3D stuff. The board and card games on 360, well we have and play the actual board and card games. There is some nice downloadable stuff for PS3 here and coming soon like EchoChrome and LittleBigPlanet that is appealing but the games in the stores not so much.

But I have to admit that 8 player Buzz on the PS2 and karaoke with 4 or so tipsy friends has won out over all the party games for Wii at our house. And Brave for PS2 was probably the most engaging children's game I have ever played together with my kids.