Comcast XFINITY X1 Bait and Switch X1 Cable box ONLY avaialble with Comcast Internet service Nationwide

Ah the joys of working with a duopoly. Recently GigaBit service became avaialable in my neighborhood through municipal broadband.

Long story short, i signed up and dropped my Comcast internet service. All of a sudden i got a notice from UPS that Comcast was sending me a package. When i called customer support and spoke with their "loyalty specialist" who informed me that unless i paid for their slow, congested and overhyped internet service, i would lose my X1 cable box.

No one informed me of this, and in all their advertising and online support documents, this nasty little fact is not refrenced except to say that it "may" be required. In order to have a modern entertainment cable box, i have to spend an additionmal $25 per month to pay for a service i do not want or need.

What i do not understand is even IF the X1 service needs their crappy internet, why should i have to pay for it? When i said you are forcing me to find a new entertainment provider, they said on no sir, did anyone not explain this to you? no they did, all they told me about all the wonderful programming that my $99 month would provide me.

yeah yeah yeah! unless i pay for internet, no voice remote, 2 shows at a time to my DVR, all my current saved shows go away. well guess what?

their solution? give me free internet for a month so i can watch my shows, BUT i have to go into a service center and pick-up a modem, even if i never plug it is. Then when i am finsihed watching what i ahve, take my X1 box and the modem back to the service center, plug in the downlevel box and return to 1999.

My solution? cut the freaking cord! is it any wonder the cable business is dying?