Xfinity

When we moved we had to change internet/cable carriers.

We had Mediacom Cable in Iowa, for quite a hefty monthly fee I might add. Over the years we had checked into satellite dishes but the trees around our home prohibited its usage, unless we wanted the dish in the front yard.

When we were arranging all things for the move we had to consider what to do for our internet and tv. Somehow we could not be without either.

The main cable carrier in this area is Xfinity. We would see signs advertising its usage all over. When I called I discovered it was just the residential division of Comcast.

The agent helping me set it up was quite helpful. I could have done it online, but there were way too many packages to choose from and I felt I needed a human voice.

In the end, for quite a monthly reduction, we got a much better package. And a few surprises a long the way.

When the installer came, on a Sunday morning at 8 am, he informed me of the amenities to my package.

1) We no longer needed a base station for WiFi. (You can see how outdated we were. As was our router. The Xfinity guy almost laughed when I told him the name of our router.)

2) We can go to another room in the house and watch tv real time on any device. (Not that any room now is that far away, but this will be nice once we are really settled in.) No more televisions in every room needed. (I was watching HBO on my iPad at home, not in real time, but at least we were in step on this one.)

3) Our remote has an audio button. You just press it and tell the remote what station you want. Remember when the remote was a lazy way to change the channel? Now you don't have to scroll the guide, remember the stations, press any number buttons. You can also name a movie, actor, etc. This is retirement.

4) And when you do a search you can search an actor and all movies, programs involving this actor will show up for you to either watch or record.

Now, in fairness, maybe there are the same features on Mediacom and we just had not investigated an update, but we were already paying an arm and a leg and more features meant more money. So we never pursued a different package.

However I must say I am getting spoiled now. I love Xfinity. It would be hard to go back.