December 4, 2025 • 46 mins
Ever wonder how you can actually save some cash on your cell phone bill while enjoying a better signal? Well, buckle up, because Eric just sat down with Rigo Topete from Comcast to spill the tea on all things tech. They dive deep into how Comcast's latest innovations are not just fluff, but real game-changers for your connectivity. If you caught our midweek special last week, consider this your VIP backstage pass to the full interview. From Wi-Fi offloading to the magical Power Boost feature, they’re here to give you the lowdown on how technology is working its magic to keep you connected—so you can scroll, stream, and share without a hitch! Trust me, you won't want to miss this one.
Eric G sits down with Rigo Topete from Comcast to unpack all things tech, specifically how to improve your cell phone signal. This episode pulls back the curtain on a topic that might seem mundane at first glance—cell phone reception—but it’s actually a treasure trove of insights. Rigo shares the magic behind Xfinity’s Wi-Fi offloading technology, which allows users to shift mobile data traffic from cellular networks to Wi-Fi connections. Think of it as the secret sauce that alleviates network congestion, delivering faster and more reliable connectivity, especially in high-density areas like concerts or stadiums. Eric recounts his own experience switching from AT&T to Xfinity, and spoiler alert: he’s impressed. The conversation flows effortlessly as they discuss the seamless integration of Xfinity’s extensive Wi-Fi network with mobile services, making sure you don’t have to suffer through the agony of loading screens when you just want to snap a pic at a concert. It’s all about making your life easier, and let’s face it, who doesn’t want that?
Takeaways:
- The episode dives deep into how Xfinity's technology can boost your cell phone signal, especially in crowded places like concerts or sports events.
- Rigo Topete explains the concept of Wi-Fi offloading, which helps reduce network congestion for better connectivity.
- Eric shares his personal experiences switching from AT&T to Xfinity, highlighting the noticeable improvements in signal and service quality.
- Listeners are encouraged to upgrade their old equipment to enjoy the latest features and avoid outdated technology.
- The conversation emphasizes the importance of seamless connectivity in today's tech-driven life, especially with the rise of smart devices.
- Xfinity's Power Boost feature allows users to enjoy ultra-fast Wi-Fi, enabling smoother streaming and gaming experiences even in high-density areas.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Comcast
- Comcast Xfinity
- AT&T
To get your questions answered by Eric G give us a call in the studio at 833-239-4144 24/7 and Eric G will get back to you and answer your question and you might end up in a future episode of Around the House.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(01:04):
Foreign.
Welcome to around the Housewith Eric G. Your trusted source
for all things home improvement.
Whether you're tackling a DIYproject, hiring it out, or just trying
to keep your home runningsmoothly, you're in the right place.
With over 30 years ofremodeling experience, certified
(01:27):
kitchen designer Eric G takesyou behind the scenes with expert
advice, industry trends, andthe latest innovations for your home.
Home.
It's everything you need toknow without the fluff.
Eric G. Had a chance to sitdown and discuss some ways to save
some money on your cell phonebill with our friends at Comcast.
If you caught our midweekspecial podcast last week, this is
(01:51):
the full interview that youdidn't get on the podcast.
Here is Eric G. Welcome to the.
Around the House show, yourtrusted source for everything to
do with your home.
I'm Eric G. Thanks for joiningme today.
And today we are going to diveinto our lifestyles, technology,
everything that we're doingaround that makes our life a little
bit easier.
(02:12):
I got Rigo from ComcastXfinity brother.
Welcome to around the House.
Oh, Eric, thank you so muchfor having me.
Delighted to be here.
We're coming up again on theholidays and the timing just feels
too perfect.
So thank you for having me, man.
I tell you what, you guys, infull disclosure for everybody out
there, you guys have lent me aphone to use to play around with,
(02:33):
and quite frankly, I'm impressed.
I've been a full disclosure.
I've been an AT&T customer myentire life.
I think since before it wassingular and AT and T and stuff.
And yours works a little bit better.
Works a little bit better.
And I'm that's being kind tomy AT&T people over there.
But I tell you what, there's alot of things, there's a lot of advantages
(02:55):
that I found going when I gotthem right next to each other.
It don't lie.
Oh, that's music to my earsand to to all the folks here that
work hard at Xfinity, becausethat's exactly what we love to hear
from our customers.
E. So glad to hear it.
And no doubt there's a lot ofgreat options out there, but we do
believe in our product andthat it's a differentiated product
and that it's the best one out there.
(03:17):
I think what's cool is youguys do such a great job of combining
your massive network out thereas well as with the phone carrier
coverage, because there's onlyso many towers out there across the
U.S. you guys are on a brand's towers.
But really how it seamlesslymeshes with the basic online stuff
that you see on the stores andthe retail locations and even the
(03:39):
houses in the neighborhood.
You can have a lot bettercoverage just from that seamlessly
working within each other.
That's exactly right, Eric.
And if you don't mind, I'dlove to share a little bit of what's
happening behind the sceneshere to make that work.
Let's do it.
Yeah.
It's a little bit of what wecall WI FI offloading.
And it's this process ofshifting mobile data traffic that's
(04:01):
on the cellular networks andonto WI FI connections.
And what happens when we do this?
It helps reduce congestionwith the cellular networks, which
gives customers such asyourself faster and more reliable
connectivity, especially inareas where we have the strong WI
FI coverage.
Man, I tell you what, I was ata concert and of course concerts
(04:24):
are horrible for trying to doanything on a wifi on a connection
over the top of a. I don'tcare what network you're on, it's
overloaded.
It's overloaded dozens oftimes a year.
You're putting way too manypeople on a cell tower.
It's just the kind of theAchilles heel of a system.
But when there's a.
You guys have a WI FI spotthere, it can snag.
It changes the game all of a sudden.
(04:46):
Oh wow.
I could actually live streampart of this concert if I wanted
to.
Where there's not a chancethat's going to work together on
anybody's cell network in most cases.
Oh, you're spot on and hitsclose to home, or my old home, I
should say.
I lived in Pioneer Square,right near Lumen Field and of great
concerts.
Right.
And that's exactly what wouldhappen to a lot of folks.
(05:09):
And you can see them walkingaround trying to get signal and it's
gridlock.
And so this is where ourXfinity Mobile Power Boost comes
in.
That's a unique feature thattakes WI fi offloading to the next
level.
And when you're on PowerBoost, you're able to get 1 gigabit
per second over WI Fi.
So this means customers canenjoy the ultra fast performance.
(05:31):
Performance for streaming,gaming or video calls or just as
you described it, when you'reout that you can actually stream
it while everyone else couldbe struggling.
Yeah, And I caught myselfbecause even though I am an Xfinity
customer, when I pay my bill,it's not like this is some paid segment
here.
But the thing is with me, myatt, Apple Phone does not work well
(05:53):
because of the way AT and Thas it set up to do that.
Offloading.
Right.
It's always not working right.
It's never jamming on theright stuff.
You guys have got that engineered.
So it works well because thoseother guys don't.
And I'll say that just as acustomer, it's frustrating.
There's times I have to go inand turn my WI FI off and I'm trying
to force it to work.
(06:14):
Not with you guys.
That phone just kept smooth,just smoothly working through that.
And it was impressive.
Yeah, Seamless connectivity.
That's what we're after whenit comes to power boost.
So whether you're at home oryou're on the go, we want customers
to stay connected through theXfinity, through Xfinity's extensive
WI FI network.
And that's exactly it.
(06:34):
You shouldn't feel any kind ofpain when it comes to this.
It should be just like you'rewalking around.
It should be no issue at all.
Getting seamless is what we'reafter and we're very happy to hear
that.
That's exactly what it's beenfor you.
And I know other customers,man, I tell you what.
And I used to live in Seattle,now I live down in Portland.
But I tell you what.
Yeah.
Coming out of a Hawks game,trying to text pictures or a video
(06:56):
to a buddy is not going tohappen, you know.
No, absolutely not.
Right.
You, you could, I can't tellyou how many times, just even walking
around, not attending the game.
But they're in Pioneer Square.
And anytime you have justcongestion of, or density of folks
hanging, walking around,hanging around, you're going to feel
that.
And this is where theadvantage comes in again, a power
boost.
(07:16):
And one of the things, one ofthe data points I want to throw out
there, we've done a lot ofresearch and here's what the Data
tells us.
94% of the devices connect viaWI Fi.
So this is why it's so critical.
It's too important to makesure one, we have a great gateway
and whole home coverage, butwe also want to make sure we have
that on the go.
This is why we're going tocontinue to make investments in this
(07:39):
space.
I want to just throw out a fun fact.
I know you're down in Portland.
I don't have that number, butwe have 100,000 free hotspots in
Washington alone and thatnumber is growing daily.
You know, let's shoot back 10years and we'll talk about your guys
network because I use it heavily.
(07:59):
I'm a kind of a power user onthe residential side because I'm
doing video and this kind ofthing all the time.
So I always go for a littlebit faster connection.
But it is absolutely amazingwhat you guys have been able to do
with coaxial cable out thereto get speeds because I've got a
super fast.
I actually got faster networkspeed here than my neighbor across
(08:21):
the street that's got carbonfiber and I'm on Comcast cable.
So it's amazing how you guyshave taken technology and advanced
it so far and they'recontinuing to do that because the
speeds keep getting better and better.
That's right.
And it's a lot of that has todo with the investments in our gateway
in the home we're after.
Not just certainly we'remaking investments in our infrastructure
(08:43):
and we always have to continueto make improvements there.
We believe we have the bestnetwork, but it really comes down
to how it feel how that WI fiworks in your home.
And so the investments havebeen on in that gateway.
We want to make sure thatcustomers have the best experience
in the home.
Whether they're in one of thebedrooms or they're in the garage
or wherever they are, theyhave to have the best WI FI experience.
(09:07):
And that's what we really leanon when it overall, when it comes
to the network.
It's making sure we have greatWI fi.
And what's cool with that isthat's the foundation for what you
guys have done with thecellular coverage.
Because if that's not workingright, then of course, when you jump
onto some to a hotspot WI filocation, if that's not working great,
(09:27):
you're still in the same boatof not having a great connection.
But with that speed andbandwidth, it seems it makes.
It makes it work really seamlessly.
That's exactly right.
And that's what customers havetold us.
You mentioned a little bit ofthat pain point you had with one
of our competitors.
That's exactly what we hearfrom customers, and that's why we've
made these investments, is wewant folks walking out there and
(09:47):
we don't want them to eventhink about it.
They need to be focused onenjoying the experience, whether
it's a concert or a game.
And just to be able to usethat handheld device seamlessly and
not think twice about, oh, whyis it slow?
Or why isn't it transferring over?
And to your point earlier,around how much the technology has
advanced in the last severalyears, it is amazing.
(10:08):
I recall those Moments ofhaving some of those challenges of,
hey, why is it not trying tomake a WI fi call?
And it's just, it was so clunky.
And that's been.
Our mission is let's solve that.
Let's make sure that's as easyas possible for the customer.
Yeah.
And even the web access fromthe phone, because we use our phone
so many different ways now.
It's not only are we using itfor directions, but we're sitting
(10:29):
there looking up the latestgas prices on the app or we're messaging
back to somebody that, hey,here's our.
Here's my location.
I'm on my way there.
There's so many different usesand it's so amazing when I look at
how much WI fi I actually useversus cell coverage on our phones.
To find out more, head toaroundthehouse online.com around
(10:50):
the house will be right back.
(12:29):
What's up?
This is Sticks it in Ya and.
Satchel from Steel Panther.
And you are listening toaround the.
House with Eric G. Yeah, welove Eric G. And you should, too.
1987.
Welcome back to the around theHouse show.
(12:50):
Now let's get back to theconversation with Rigo Tapiti from
Comcast and continue theconversation about technology and
saving some serious money onyour cell phone bill.
Again, there's a new app for that.
That's exactly right.
And there's.
You just reminded me ofsometimes car rides or when we're
on the go.
We could be simultaneouslydoing four things at once.
(13:12):
You could be using yournavigation, you could be looking
up restaurant and everythingelse you just described.
So it.
That's why it's so importantto make sure that we have these hotspots
because there's a lothappening on the device.
We need to make sure that WIfi, that connection is just perfect.
Again, we're just doing moreat once, more simultaneously than
(13:33):
ever before.
Or that most frustrating part,when you go to use that app that
you haven't used in a month ortwo because you're using it for special
situations like traveling orwhatever, and you go to hit it, it
goes, oh, I have to update first.
And when you've got one barout in the middle of nowhere, you're
like, I don't know if this isgoing to work.
Yeah.
So you get stuck.
Yeah.
You just reminded me of mylast trip I went out to.
(13:55):
Was it Cannon Beach?
And I was out hanging out inOregon, my first time there.
Beautiful, by the way.
And I read.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's funny when you're out atCannon beach, like that same kind
of thing.
The other one that's most frustrating.
And I'm an Apple user, right?
So that's what I have on myeveryday carry phone.
(14:15):
But I have so much stuff on there.
Everything's in the cloud.
I go to press to show someonea video that I did and it's frozen
for five minutes trying topull down the video off the cellular
network.
And it's another pain point asI'm nervously standing there going,
give this a minute.
And everybody else goes, Ihate the icloud for that because
now it's, you gotta wait theretwo or three minutes for it to play.
(14:39):
And you're like, I was justtrying to show a video.
You nailed it.
We're in this new age ofhaving things on servers, right?
Whether it be Apple, the Applecloud, or I have Google Drive.
And there's nothing morefrustrating than when you run into
that you want to.
You're hanging out with yourfamily, you want to show them something
and it's just not connecting, right.
Because of the congestion orthe cellular network just can't keep.
(15:01):
But when you're on the powerboost, that's the benefit.
You're going to see that seamlessly.
It's going to feel just likeyou're at home on your own network.
And again, that's.
It's to make sure thateveryone can feel great about those
special moments when you'rehaving lunch with a friend and you
don't get to see their friendtoo often.
And it should just be a greatexperience no matter what.
(15:22):
There's nothing worth tryingto flag down the waiter, waitress
or whoever's serving you andsaying, do you guys have a WI FI
password here?
Yeah.
And then security.
Now you have to worry aboutsecurity too.
You log on to some of thesenetworks and you don't really know
what you're accepting, right?
And you don't know who's onthere behind the scenes.
That's something you justwon't have to worry about when you're
with Power Boost, right?
(15:43):
That's all that all protectsyour data, it protects your phone.
And you just reminded me howmany times are we going to restaurants
now?
And they're digital menus, right?
There's a QR code and you gothere, right?
So we're using that more andmore and that's not going to stop.
It's only going to continue to be.
We're going to continue,continue to use that more and more.
And I'm seeing it more andmore common that I'll Just say that
(16:05):
the guy sitting in the cornerof the bar with his laptop open or
coffee shop and he's got amirrored WI fi signal to what's in
the coffee shop.
And wow, that was easy.
Got into that one.
And now they have full accessat times into your system.
So you need to be very carefulwith what you're clicking on out
there.
Yeah.
It is a new age, I think, toyour point.
(16:26):
I loved your point earlieraround how much we've evolved with
technology and connectivity.
But we all also know thatbrings other challenges.
Right.
And that we're in this age nowwhere we have to really be mindful
about what networks we connectto and protecting our data.
There's just so much nowcoming up and it's not to scare us
or anything.
(16:46):
It's just a reality.
And that's why we love ourproduct is you're not going to have
to worry about any of that.
You're.
You don't have to worry about that.
You know, that potentialperson in the coffee shop doing what
they might be doing.
Hey, forget it all.
Throw it out the window.
If you're on power boost,you're protected.
Don't even.
You don't even think about it.
Man.
That is a good way to go.
(17:06):
And you guys offer way all thephones out there as well.
I'm a. I'm an Apple guy, so Iwas trying to learn the, I guess
the Samsung way of things withthe phone that you guys sent, which
is a little learning curve.
It's two languages.
When you're.
Let's call Apple French andSamsung Galaxy World of things out
there as English, you gottalearn some language things on there
(17:29):
because they completely work differently.
They do.
And I'm a Android user myself.
I cheat.
I have Apple for work.
I have Android for personal.
But you're right, they arelike two different languages.
And that's one of the thingswe really focused on is in our retail
experience.
We've expanded our retailstores throughout the Pacific Northwest,
(17:52):
both in Washington and Oregon.
We're now up to 64 retail locations.
And the reason I bring this upis it's all about the experience.
We get customers walkingthrough our doors every day that
are longtime Apple loyalistsor longtime Android loyalists, but
they're interested in tryingsomething else.
And one of the benefits iswhen you come into our store, we'll
(18:13):
sit down with you, we'll makesure that everything gets transferred
over carefully and that it'sas seamless as possible for you to
transition to trying that out.
We know it's not easy.
Again, we're all creatures of habit.
So when you go through thatkind of change, we want to be there
to support you and help you.
Yeah, I know, it's.
I don't know, once you getinto that language, it's so easy
to be like, okay, now I'msucked in.
(18:34):
And brands do that.
Of course they do.
They want to, they want to do that.
Once they get you, they wantto keep you.
So I get that that's a smartbusiness model for them.
But, but somebody that uses aPC all day.
And then I learned Apple, it'sone of those things.
I don't do Apple at work.
But I tell you what, it's niceto have that.
But I totally get the Androidthings thing of things because it's
(18:55):
so versatile compared to thebox that Apple is working in.
So there's plus minuses.
You nailed it.
And I think that you, if yougo and ask a hundred people, you
might get a hundred different things.
But ultimately when I.
That's the way I look at ittoo, Eric, is it just, it's a little.
Android is a little moreversatile, but if you really like,
you know, simplicity and justa certain, what I call consistency,
(19:20):
Apple may be the way to go.
I think it just comes down tothe individual and what kind of works
better for their rhythm.
For me, I again, I enjoy both,but I tend to lean a little more
on the Android side.
Yeah, I get that, I get that.
And there's.
And the other thing is too isthat it seems like the Android side
has a few more apps and stuffout there because sure, Apple's got
a death grip on that.
(19:40):
That's what they.
Yeah, there's a little more flexibility.
Exactly, exactly.
But nonetheless it makes itreally easy.
And then I've noticed how youguys really combine things together.
So now you're taking theresidential Internet bill or cable
bill depending on whateverybody's plan is, whether they're
streaming or if they've gotthe full on package of every movie,
(20:03):
every TV channel.
And then you're putting yourcell phone plan within that and it
really gives a pretty goodpackage with one company.
You know, that's been.
Our mission is to offer upwhat we call the total home solution.
But now adding in, having thatmobility tied to it, we know how
important that is and wereally at the core it's our Xfinity
(20:25):
Internet product in home.
But tied to that we know isvery important is also entertainment.
Right.
Television.
We offer protection with ourXfinity home service, whether it's
Self monitored or we offer amonitored service as well.
And with new technology comingout, Eric, that, that we call WI
FI detection, more to come here.
(20:46):
But what's exciting about thisis there, there is a new technology
that will allow devices inyour home that are connected to your
WI fi to be able to alert youabout what's happening surrounding
your home.
To find out more, head toaroundthe house online.com around
the house will be right back.
(23:14):
Welcome back to the around theHouse show.
We would love to hear from you.
Have a question or comment,hit us up on social media or our
website aroundthehouseonline.com now let's get back to
the conversation with RigoTopiti from Comcast and continue
the conversation abouttechnology and saving some serious
(23:34):
money on your cell phone bill.
So you're going to start, I'mgiving you a sneak, sneak peek.
It's early, we haven't senttoo much out yet.
Technology.
I was the home, I was the, thesmart home tech speaker for the national
association of Home Builders.
And so there is some amazingstuff with this.
Using that same technology youcan actually, if you've got grandma
(23:55):
in the house alone, you couldactually use that to detect falls,
for instance.
With that losing privacy, you,you know.
That it's big thumbs up.
I have a 90 year oldgrandmother who I just love and care
so, so dearly and that's areal thing, right.
We want to make sure thatshe's safe.
She has it in her home andthose are the kind of those that's
(24:15):
the benefit of thistechnology, right?
It's protect and help also letus know if something goes wrong and
we can check in on her.
She, she's absolutely for itbecause it helps also make her feel
safe.
But that's the great benefitof this technology.
The other thing I'd call outis just going back to our earlier
point around protection.
You know, it's the same thing, right?
(24:36):
We got folks, you want to havea secure WI FI network.
This isn't just a dumb pipe, right?
Our service, we've invested somuch into our infrastructure and
ensure that everything isproperly encrypted to protect our
users.
That's what it's about.
We don't, we, it's a smartpipe to ensure no one can get into
your, into your data.
Because again that's wherewe're headed now.
Right.
Folks are now shifting as wehave more and more of our information
(25:00):
online we tend to see folks goafter some of those soft spots and
that's why it's critical tohave secure service in the home.
And I'll.
I got a new one here for you.
I have.
I had in my last house that Ijust sold, two of the cameras, just
the camera only not monitored,but two cameras out in front, kind
of by my front door and one infront of my driveway.
(25:21):
When my house was on themarket, I could hear what is.
What does every person do whenthey come.
Walk through your house that'son the market?
They walk through the house,they walk out in front in the driveway
and they have the conversationwith the realtor of what they like
and what they don't like andeven what they might offer.
And your microphones arereally clear.
(25:44):
I could hear every discussioncoming out of that.
Now.
We fully disclosed we hadcameras on the outside of it.
But human nature is human nature.
And I learned more about whatpeople liked and what they didn't
like and what they thought thehouse was worth before they had even
left the property.
It was kind of funny.
That's awesome.
You know what?
I didn't even think of that.
(26:04):
I haven't sold a home recently.
Congratulations, by the way,on that.
Data is so powerful, right?
How you collect data and ithelps us.
I'm sure you made someadjustments based on what you were
hearing.
And I had a notebook that Iwould just sit there and bring it
up and go back on the.
Have my phone out.
I just go on the app, go backand go, okay, here's where they start
(26:25):
talking because it's markedclearly on the app.
And put my headphones in.
And if I even wanted to cheat,I would just download that and throw
it in my AI transcriber and itwould transcribe it for me real quick.
And then I could just readthrough it, but you'd see what the
comments were.
Real lifetime.
It was pretty funny.
Oh, that's hilarious.
But I love that.
Super smart on your end.
And that's another piece, right?
(26:47):
You think of AI and how that'staken off and it's all tied to connectivity.
Right.
And we're all.
Everything is designed.
Technology is designed to justmake things easier.
So that's another piece that Ithank you for bringing that up.
The benefit of AI, but it'sall tied to how well you're connected
to it.
It's only going to work asgood as your conn.
(27:08):
So great.
Yeah, it's fascinating.
And AI is going to be again aswe as apps change.
You know, if you notice overthe last few weeks, as you're using
Google and Edge, all of asudden they're really pushing the.
Do you want to search usingour AI platform?
And all of that stuff takesbandwidth and if you don't have it,
you don't have it.
(27:29):
And it's gonna, it's gonnacost in the user experience personally
if you don't.
So it's more and more important.
It's not.
It's kind of like when I was akid and we had aol, right.
You did all you could withinthe bandwidth and otherwise it was
just a really slow day.
Yeah, I remember those days.
The dial up AOL connection.
(27:49):
Oh my God, how patient were we?
Oh my.
And then remember when itwould just.
It would kick you off like you were.
It felt like it was goingsmooth and then all of a sudden you
had to reset it and, And.
Oh man.
Yeah, somebody was calling onthe phone and was trying to get a
hold of my mom and I was a kidand we had the one phone line in
the house and he'd been tied up.
The phone.
Well, yeah, yeah, I'm with you.
(28:12):
I, I was in that kind of home too.
We had one line and it was,there was always some.
A little bit of shouting backand forth.
You're tying up the line.
I got a call coming in fromgrandma or from someone else and.
Oh yeah, and here we are now,now with AI and a lot of people are
scared of it out there.
And I always just say whenyou're scared of something, play
around with a little bit soyou understand it, you know it.
(28:32):
You can really get some great information.
Of course it's not 100% truth.
It's doing the best at findingstuff, but every month it's getting
smarter and smarter and it cansave you.
I was using it trying to findout history of my dad because he
worked for the government andwasn't always clear exactly what
his job was.
And so I got into aconversation on my cell phone with
Grok going back and forth andsure enough I found out more stuff
(28:56):
about my dad that I'd never know.
My family didn't even know,but that could dig deep and that
would have saved.
That would have taken me daysof research and in 20 minutes I had
way more information than Ihad before.
So there's some great uses forit out there.
Of course it's scary.
It's just like when theInternet was coming on.
It's scary, but it's going tochange and speed things up a bit
(29:17):
for us too.
I completely agree with youand I hear the same out there.
The echoes around theuncertainty and the fear around it.
But I think that's what comeswith any new technology.
I was having this conversationwith my mother recently and she for
the first time starteddabbling a little bit with it and
she's like, hey, but I just,you know, is it safe?
And will my.
(29:37):
Will someone take this information?
And I think we're in thislearning stage, but I really talked
to her about embracing thetechnology, learning through it and
I.
We haven't even scratched thesurface, right?
And I'm no expert in thisspace, but really love to tell people
about embracing technologybecause there's ultimately going
to be, there's an opportunitythat comes with it to grow from it.
(29:59):
And this whatever reminds meof too is we just, with all of this,
all this new technologycoming, the demand on bandwidth,
the on making sure we have theright amount of capacity, that's
what we've been working ontoo, Eric, is we know there's companies
out there that are making biginvestments to continue to add, build
(30:20):
up their servers.
But all this is capacity.
Right.
And we have to continue tomake investments there.
We're in a great position today.
We feel we're the leader inthat space.
But we also know what's ahead.
Have to continue to make those investments.
Man, it's so funny.
And I'll say this, and this isnot just because you're here.
Like my mom's house, she'slate 80s and in her house there is
(30:45):
not.
You guys aren't in herregional area.
So another cable company comesin there.
I walk into her house and oh,I just had the cable.
They put a new box in and Ilook at it, I'm like, I had this
box with you guys like 15years ago, 20 years ago.
And I'm like, oh, it's thatold remote, that old silver remote.
Okay, that's new.
(31:07):
It's shocking at how manyother companies out there that are
other competitors of yoursthat are just using that dirt slow
old technology and they'restill throwing a band aid on it and
kicking it out the door whereyou guys every couple years have
the latest, newest, greatest stuff.
That's fast.
Yeah.
Thank you for sharing that.
It breaks my heart when I seethat box you just described with
(31:30):
the old silver remote.
At one time it was great.
When it was back 10 year, itwas, it was the, it was the newest
and the latest and the greatest.
But we've come such a long waywhen it comes to equipment especially
tied to entertainment or wi fi.
And I see that on the Y, onthe Internet side as well by the
way.
I've been my travels.
(31:51):
I have family throughout thecountry and some of the areas where
we don't service.
I have family out in Texas andthere's a good part of Texas we don't
service.
Here in the Dallas metro theyhave some equipment that's just so
dated they're not even on Wi Fi.
Wi Fi 6.
Right.
So they're on our old docs'slegacy equipment.
And it just breaks my heartbecause the technology further we're
(32:12):
so further ahead.
But some companies out there,I won't call it call out any specifically.
Yeah, I'm not here to bashpeople but it's just, it's a fair
comparison.
Like in Cannon beats same thing.
Not close.
It is dirt slow.
To find out more, head toaroundthehouse online.com John and
Eric would love to hear from you.
(32:33):
Send them a message on thewebsite aroundthehouse online.com
around the house.
We'll be right back after aword from our amazing sponsors.
(34:50):
All right.
Welcome back to the around thehouse show.
We would love to hear from you.
Have a question or comment,hit us up on social media or our
website aroundthehouse onlinedot com.
Now let's wrap theconversation with Rigo Topit from.
(35:13):
Com and get back to Eric and John.
Exactly.
And so we can't do that to our customers.
Our customers expect thelatest and greatest.
We have to make those investments.
We know that it doesn't.
It's quite an investment.
But it's the right thing to dobecause that's what customers are
looking for.
They want to make sure theyhave what's the newest and we have
(35:33):
to keep up with that.
Yeah.
When your data speeds haven'tchanged in a decade, you might be
slightly behind the curve.
And I'm just going to say thatto the other people out there, you
might be slightly.
It's like somebody going, hey,thanks for signing up with us.
Here's your brand new iPhone 4.
Enjoy it.
Yeah, that's right.
And one of the things westarted to do, we start to send these
(35:55):
emails out to our customers.
For any of our existingcustomers out there and any of your
subscribers, they probablyhave received this where we send
you a report card essentiallyon your network on how it's working.
We send you updates on when weupgrade your speeds at no additional
cost through the investments.
That's what you should expect.
Haven't.
If you haven't.
(36:15):
If you're on the to yourpoint, if you haven't had an upgrade
or a speed in 10 years weshould be asking why, what's, what's,
why are we not makingenhancements or investments we want
and we feel we still have anopportunity to even do more of that,
which we will, but it's soimportant to continue to make those
investments there as well.
Yeah.
And guys out there, if you areComcast affinity customers, and I'll
(36:36):
tell you this, and sorry togive away a bunch of your boxes,
but if you've got equipmentthat's four or five years old in
there, head down to your localXfinity store and get it upgraded
because you're missing out onthe latest and greatest.
So make sure you've gotupgraded equipment because I tell
you what, it's a game changing difference.
When you get into that stuffwhere you're Quad View and some of
this other stuff that you canwatch for your favorite football
(36:58):
games on Sunday or.
Whatever you're doing, you'respot on, Eric.
We've started some trials ofproactively reaching out to our customers
and encouraging exactly whatyou just said is to, to bring in
their equipment into our localto their local Xfinity store.
We have great teammates thereready to take care of you, walk you
(37:19):
through the whole process andensure that you walk out of there
and set up a box with it seamlessly.
So when you get home, it'sready to go.
But we want you all to bringin your old equipment to get the
latest and greatest.
I tell you what, not having torun coax cable and having those wifi
TV boxes, I haven't had to usemy cutter sit in a long time because
I don't have to worry aboutsitting there making custom cables
(37:41):
and doing my own install,which I can do.
But it's like nice to be ableto just plug it and go.
It'll fit right there.
I have to run cable under thecrawlspace and out.
Oh, I remember those days.
I've moved around quite a bitin the company.
I won't bore you through myjourney, but I spent a couple of
years in technical operationsand not an easy thing.
(38:02):
So I'm right with you, Eric.
So excited about theenhancements there.
I still remember putting onthe ends.
Doesn't surprise me that youfigured out a way to do that very
effectively.
I just want a little bit ofyour background.
But yeah, we've come a long way.
Yeah, it's nice.
And again we were starting outtalking about phones, but this is
all that background base stuffthat makes that so reliable that
(38:24):
it just really helps.
And boy, it's sure nice notHaving to look around in a restaurant
and go, what's the WI fi in here?
What's going on?
Trying to figure out the passcodes.
What works?
Yeah.
If you're on Xfinity Mobile,you'll never have to worry about
that.
Forget about that.
It's not even going to be onyour mind ever again.
Man, I love it.
(38:44):
Mine's a little old, so abouthalfway through the day now it's
doing that.
It's paid for.
So halfway through the dayit's going.
You could charge me.
Oh, yeah, it's.
You get.
It's a creature of habit.
It's charged all night.
But again, smartwatch isanother one of those health things
that's really smart.
And I wanted to get asmartwatch because if I fell and
for the safety, some of thesethings in the safety, from heart
(39:07):
monitoring to exercise to howmuch you're moving to fall safety,
if you fall and don't react,it can actually call your emergency
contact.
Again, safety stuff's key for me.
I love that you call that outbecause think about what's also changing
in the health space.
Right.
Rings are out there, watchesand you name it, that's so important
(39:31):
to us.
And that's what technology offers.
And by the way, that all tiesto what connectivity.
And so it goes back again.
Health data, all of that.
You wanted to be.
You wanted to be protected.
We feel we're again in a greatposition now and we're making investments
to be in the same greatposition in the future for all of
our customers.
Man, that is awesome.
(39:52):
That is awesome.
And yeah, I mean that smartspace is just getting started and
you might as well get preparedfor Black Friday.
It might be time for me toswitch over.
Now.
You got me thinking that's apretty good deal.
Cause my phone's almost paid for.
I'm like, okay, okay, might bethe time to do it.
Please bring.
Consider it.
Because we have some greatdeals with what we call the tips
(40:13):
where you get.
We.
You get an extra payout duringthis period because of the deal on
top of what you would havereceived under the normal window
or of time throughout the year.
So if there was any time andyou've been thinking about it, pop
on in into one of our Xfinity stores.
And that's why we keepopening, opening those up because
our customers love them.
(40:34):
And these are mobile expertsthat are going to make it easy for
you to upgrade your phone orswitch from the other carriers.
And I tell you what, guys, noreason to jump on.
I want 800 number call youguys up when you can just walk in
and deal with somebody face toface, and they handle it.
To me, I'm old school like that.
I'd much rather just walk inand have a smiley face, deal with
it with me and work through itand leave with whatever I need versus
(40:55):
the other way around.
So for me, that's the best way.
Those stores are awesome.
Awesome.
Yeah.
That's my style, too, Eric.
We know.
Yeah.
The folks can certainly go onto xfinity.com or call 1-800-XFINITY.
But I'm a little what I woulddescribe as old school myself.
And I like to walk in, laydown on the table, and let the experts
do the work.
(41:16):
That's what they're trained for.
While you can sit back andrelax, watch a game or whatever we
have on the TV that you wantto watch, we'll take care of you.
That's awesome, Rigo.
Thanks for coming on today, brother.
I really appreciate it.
And, guys, there's the hotbreaking news there with that sale.
That's a good one.
Yeah.
Thanks you so much, Eric,again, for having me.
You're doing such a great jobhere and just appreciate you giving
(41:38):
us some time.
No problem, brother.
I appreciate it, Johnny.
I love talking to the guysover there at Comcast Xfinity, but
it also sounds like asponsored segment, even though it's
not.
I just like saving people some money.
And quite frankly, I'm goingto do the same name.
So I'm going to switch overand get rid of my at&t.
Sorry.
At&t.
Because it's going to save mea few grand a month, a year, just
(42:01):
on switching over.
So that's going to save me acouple bucks.
Yeah, that's where the loyaltylies is to your wallet, my friend.
Yes, it is.
Yes, it is, man.
Speaking about loyalty, I was.
We only got a minute or twobefore we run out of time here, but
I was really shocked today.
I found out reading the CheapTricks Live at Budokan was not recorded
(42:24):
in Budokan.
Did you know that?
I did know that.
Oh, man.
I had no idea that was in Osaka.
And the Budokan tape sucked.
Oh, no.
We've all been taken for aride for the last 50 years.
My childhood is broken now.
Oh, wait a minute.
It already was.
I'm like, I've been lied tofor since I was a child.
(42:44):
Just put that head back in thesand and pretend you never heard
that.
Because when I hear the crowd,I like to believe it's Budokan.
Just leave it at that.
Yeah.
If it has been for 50 years.
Doggone it, it's.
It is.
Okay.
Okay, well, ship.
We'll write the ship.
It's still Budokan.
This is how American history works.
(43:05):
We just say stuff and thenit's history.
That's how it was.
History again.
You know that's right.
We've changed so much historyin the past that the wisdom of John
Dudley again for the win.
That's all I got, brother.
That's it.
I wanted to thank everybodyout there as we go out here to break.
And this has been a really bigweekend here, and I just want to
thank all of our listeners inPortland, our new hometown station,
(43:29):
our old hometown station, fortuning in on FM News 101, KXL.
You know this to you guys thatdidn't hear the first hour of the
show here, I just want to saythank you for tuning back in.
It is so nice to be hungry.
You know, this show around theHouse started on KXL when It was
an AM channel back in 1988.
(43:49):
So that is where the roots were.
And it went from 88 all theway to 2019.
And then when Alpha Media wentthrough its troubles, they got rid
of all the weekend stuff.
We changed over to Salem Media.
They were gents to us overthere and they had been nothing but
awesome.
But when my buddy Mark cameback over as the new GM over there,
he invited us back over.
(44:11):
And it is so nice to be backhome over there where the roots of
around the House, where it'snice to be back home again and all
is right in the world withthat and it feels good to be doing
it.
And it's post Budokan, sowe're safe.
Exactly.
So we're safe.
No revisionist history needed there.
These are real roots we'retalking about, kids.
(44:31):
Yep.
Nothing fake about that.
And hey, guys, we want to hearyour feedback as well.
If there's something that youwant to hear from us or you want
to hear us talk about, makesure you send us a note over over@aroundthehouse
online.com.
we really would love to hearfrom you.
And we've got so many episodesup there on the podcast.
If you're listening on theradio and you're catching us for
the first time, dive into theWayback machine.
(44:54):
There's thousands of episodesout there for you to take a look
at.
So if there's a subject thatyou want to hear, you can just search
and find it there on yourfavorite podcast player.
Johnny, thanks for coming on today.
Man love doing this stuff.
And what a great earlyDecember holiday kind of episode
here.
Celebrating coming back on theair in Portland.
(45:15):
I appreciate it.
Here we go.
Thanks, brother.
I'm Eric G. And for Johnny D,you've been listening to around the
House.
Foreign.
Welcome to around the Housewith Eric G. Your trusted source
for all things home improvement.
Whether you're tackling a DIYproject, hiring it out, or just trying
to keep your home runningsmoothly, you're in the right place.
With over 30 years ofremodeling experience, certified
(01:27):
kitchen designer Eric G takesyou behind the scenes with expert
advice, industry trends, andthe latest innovations for your home.
Home.
It's everything you need toknow without the fluff.
Eric G. Had a chance to sitdown and discuss some ways to save
some money on your cell phonebill with our friends at Comcast.
If you caught our midweekspecial podcast last week, this is
(01:51):
the full interview that youdidn't get on the podcast.
Here is Eric G. Welcome to the.
Around the House show, yourtrusted source for everything to
do with your home.
I'm Eric G. Thanks for joiningme today.
And today we are going to diveinto our lifestyles, technology,
everything that we're doingaround that makes our life a little
bit easier.
(02:12):
I got Rigo from ComcastXfinity brother.
Welcome to around the House.
Oh, Eric, thank you so muchfor having me.
Delighted to be here.
We're coming up again on theholidays and the timing just feels
too perfect.
So thank you for having me, man.
I tell you what, you guys, infull disclosure for everybody out
there, you guys have lent me aphone to use to play around with,
(02:33):
and quite frankly, I'm impressed.
I've been a full disclosure.
I've been an AT&T customer myentire life.
I think since before it wassingular and AT and T and stuff.
And yours works a little bit better.
Works a little bit better.
And I'm that's being kind tomy AT&T people over there.
But I tell you what, there's alot of things, there's a lot of advantages
(02:55):
that I found going when I gotthem right next to each other.
It don't lie.
Oh, that's music to my earsand to to all the folks here that
work hard at Xfinity, becausethat's exactly what we love to hear
from our customers.
E. So glad to hear it.
And no doubt there's a lot ofgreat options out there, but we do
believe in our product andthat it's a differentiated product
and that it's the best one out there.
(03:17):
I think what's cool is youguys do such a great job of combining
your massive network out thereas well as with the phone carrier
coverage, because there's onlyso many towers out there across the
U.S. you guys are on a brand's towers.
But really how it seamlesslymeshes with the basic online stuff
that you see on the stores andthe retail locations and even the
(03:39):
houses in the neighborhood.
You can have a lot bettercoverage just from that seamlessly
working within each other.
That's exactly right, Eric.
And if you don't mind, I'dlove to share a little bit of what's
happening behind the sceneshere to make that work.
Let's do it.
Yeah.
It's a little bit of what wecall WI FI offloading.
And it's this process ofshifting mobile data traffic that's
(04:01):
on the cellular networks andonto WI FI connections.
And what happens when we do this?
It helps reduce congestionwith the cellular networks, which
gives customers such asyourself faster and more reliable
connectivity, especially inareas where we have the strong WI
FI coverage.
Man, I tell you what, I was ata concert and of course concerts
(04:24):
are horrible for trying to doanything on a wifi on a connection
over the top of a. I don'tcare what network you're on, it's
overloaded.
It's overloaded dozens oftimes a year.
You're putting way too manypeople on a cell tower.
It's just the kind of theAchilles heel of a system.
But when there's a.
You guys have a WI FI spotthere, it can snag.
It changes the game all of a sudden.
(04:46):
Oh wow.
I could actually live streampart of this concert if I wanted
to.
Where there's not a chancethat's going to work together on
anybody's cell network in most cases.
Oh, you're spot on and hitsclose to home, or my old home, I
should say.
I lived in Pioneer Square,right near Lumen Field and of great
concerts.
Right.
And that's exactly what wouldhappen to a lot of folks.
(05:09):
And you can see them walkingaround trying to get signal and it's
gridlock.
And so this is where ourXfinity Mobile Power Boost comes
in.
That's a unique feature thattakes WI fi offloading to the next
level.
And when you're on PowerBoost, you're able to get 1 gigabit
per second over WI Fi.
So this means customers canenjoy the ultra fast performance.
(05:31):
Performance for streaming,gaming or video calls or just as
you described it, when you'reout that you can actually stream
it while everyone else couldbe struggling.
Yeah, And I caught myselfbecause even though I am an Xfinity
customer, when I pay my bill,it's not like this is some paid segment
here.
But the thing is with me, myatt, Apple Phone does not work well
(05:53):
because of the way AT and Thas it set up to do that.
Offloading.
Right.
It's always not working right.
It's never jamming on theright stuff.
You guys have got that engineered.
So it works well because thoseother guys don't.
And I'll say that just as acustomer, it's frustrating.
There's times I have to go inand turn my WI FI off and I'm trying
to force it to work.
(06:14):
Not with you guys.
That phone just kept smooth,just smoothly working through that.
And it was impressive.
Yeah, Seamless connectivity.
That's what we're after whenit comes to power boost.
So whether you're at home oryou're on the go, we want customers
to stay connected through theXfinity, through Xfinity's extensive
WI FI network.
And that's exactly it.
(06:34):
You shouldn't feel any kind ofpain when it comes to this.
It should be just like you'rewalking around.
It should be no issue at all.
Getting seamless is what we'reafter and we're very happy to hear
that.
That's exactly what it's beenfor you.
And I know other customers,man, I tell you what.
And I used to live in Seattle,now I live down in Portland.
But I tell you what.
Yeah.
Coming out of a Hawks game,trying to text pictures or a video
(06:56):
to a buddy is not going tohappen, you know.
No, absolutely not.
Right.
You, you could, I can't tellyou how many times, just even walking
around, not attending the game.
But they're in Pioneer Square.
And anytime you have justcongestion of, or density of folks
hanging, walking around,hanging around, you're going to feel
that.
And this is where theadvantage comes in again, a power
boost.
(07:16):
And one of the things, one ofthe data points I want to throw out
there, we've done a lot ofresearch and here's what the Data
tells us.
94% of the devices connect viaWI Fi.
So this is why it's so critical.
It's too important to makesure one, we have a great gateway
and whole home coverage, butwe also want to make sure we have
that on the go.
This is why we're going tocontinue to make investments in this
(07:39):
space.
I want to just throw out a fun fact.
I know you're down in Portland.
I don't have that number, butwe have 100,000 free hotspots in
Washington alone and thatnumber is growing daily.
You know, let's shoot back 10years and we'll talk about your guys
network because I use it heavily.
(07:59):
I'm a kind of a power user onthe residential side because I'm
doing video and this kind ofthing all the time.
So I always go for a littlebit faster connection.
But it is absolutely amazingwhat you guys have been able to do
with coaxial cable out thereto get speeds because I've got a
super fast.
I actually got faster networkspeed here than my neighbor across
(08:21):
the street that's got carbonfiber and I'm on Comcast cable.
So it's amazing how you guyshave taken technology and advanced
it so far and they'recontinuing to do that because the
speeds keep getting better and better.
That's right.
And it's a lot of that has todo with the investments in our gateway
in the home we're after.
Not just certainly we'remaking investments in our infrastructure
(08:43):
and we always have to continueto make improvements there.
We believe we have the bestnetwork, but it really comes down
to how it feel how that WI fiworks in your home.
And so the investments havebeen on in that gateway.
We want to make sure thatcustomers have the best experience
in the home.
Whether they're in one of thebedrooms or they're in the garage
or wherever they are, theyhave to have the best WI FI experience.
(09:07):
And that's what we really leanon when it overall, when it comes
to the network.
It's making sure we have greatWI fi.
And what's cool with that isthat's the foundation for what you
guys have done with thecellular coverage.
Because if that's not workingright, then of course, when you jump
onto some to a hotspot WI filocation, if that's not working great,
(09:27):
you're still in the same boatof not having a great connection.
But with that speed andbandwidth, it seems it makes.
It makes it work really seamlessly.
That's exactly right.
And that's what customers havetold us.
You mentioned a little bit ofthat pain point you had with one
of our competitors.
That's exactly what we hearfrom customers, and that's why we've
made these investments, is wewant folks walking out there and
(09:47):
we don't want them to eventhink about it.
They need to be focused onenjoying the experience, whether
it's a concert or a game.
And just to be able to usethat handheld device seamlessly and
not think twice about, oh, whyis it slow?
Or why isn't it transferring over?
And to your point earlier,around how much the technology has
advanced in the last severalyears, it is amazing.
(10:08):
I recall those Moments ofhaving some of those challenges of,
hey, why is it not trying tomake a WI fi call?
And it's just, it was so clunky.
And that's been.
Our mission is let's solve that.
Let's make sure that's as easyas possible for the customer.
Yeah.
And even the web access fromthe phone, because we use our phone
so many different ways now.
It's not only are we using itfor directions, but we're sitting
(10:29):
there looking up the latestgas prices on the app or we're messaging
back to somebody that, hey,here's our.
Here's my location.
I'm on my way there.
There's so many different usesand it's so amazing when I look at
how much WI fi I actually useversus cell coverage on our phones.
To find out more, head toaroundthehouse online.com around
(10:50):
the house will be right back.
(12:29):
What's up?
This is Sticks it in Ya and.
Satchel from Steel Panther.
And you are listening toaround the.
House with Eric G. Yeah, welove Eric G. And you should, too.
1987.
Welcome back to the around theHouse show.
(12:50):
Now let's get back to theconversation with Rigo Tapiti from
Comcast and continue theconversation about technology and
saving some serious money onyour cell phone bill.
Again, there's a new app for that.
That's exactly right.
And there's.
You just reminded me ofsometimes car rides or when we're
on the go.
We could be simultaneouslydoing four things at once.
(13:12):
You could be using yournavigation, you could be looking
up restaurant and everythingelse you just described.
So it.
That's why it's so importantto make sure that we have these hotspots
because there's a lothappening on the device.
We need to make sure that WIfi, that connection is just perfect.
Again, we're just doing moreat once, more simultaneously than
(13:33):
ever before.
Or that most frustrating part,when you go to use that app that
you haven't used in a month ortwo because you're using it for special
situations like traveling orwhatever, and you go to hit it, it
goes, oh, I have to update first.
And when you've got one barout in the middle of nowhere, you're
like, I don't know if this isgoing to work.
Yeah.
So you get stuck.
Yeah.
You just reminded me of mylast trip I went out to.
(13:55):
Was it Cannon Beach?
And I was out hanging out inOregon, my first time there.
Beautiful, by the way.
And I read.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's funny when you're out atCannon beach, like that same kind
of thing.
The other one that's most frustrating.
And I'm an Apple user, right?
So that's what I have on myeveryday carry phone.
(14:15):
But I have so much stuff on there.
Everything's in the cloud.
I go to press to show someonea video that I did and it's frozen
for five minutes trying topull down the video off the cellular
network.
And it's another pain point asI'm nervously standing there going,
give this a minute.
And everybody else goes, Ihate the icloud for that because
now it's, you gotta wait theretwo or three minutes for it to play.
(14:39):
And you're like, I was justtrying to show a video.
You nailed it.
We're in this new age ofhaving things on servers, right?
Whether it be Apple, the Applecloud, or I have Google Drive.
And there's nothing morefrustrating than when you run into
that you want to.
You're hanging out with yourfamily, you want to show them something
and it's just not connecting, right.
Because of the congestion orthe cellular network just can't keep.
(15:01):
But when you're on the powerboost, that's the benefit.
You're going to see that seamlessly.
It's going to feel just likeyou're at home on your own network.
And again, that's.
It's to make sure thateveryone can feel great about those
special moments when you'rehaving lunch with a friend and you
don't get to see their friendtoo often.
And it should just be a greatexperience no matter what.
(15:22):
There's nothing worth tryingto flag down the waiter, waitress
or whoever's serving you andsaying, do you guys have a WI FI
password here?
Yeah.
And then security.
Now you have to worry aboutsecurity too.
You log on to some of thesenetworks and you don't really know
what you're accepting, right?
And you don't know who's onthere behind the scenes.
That's something you justwon't have to worry about when you're
with Power Boost, right?
(15:43):
That's all that all protectsyour data, it protects your phone.
And you just reminded me howmany times are we going to restaurants
now?
And they're digital menus, right?
There's a QR code and you gothere, right?
So we're using that more andmore and that's not going to stop.
It's only going to continue to be.
We're going to continue,continue to use that more and more.
And I'm seeing it more andmore common that I'll Just say that
(16:05):
the guy sitting in the cornerof the bar with his laptop open or
coffee shop and he's got amirrored WI fi signal to what's in
the coffee shop.
And wow, that was easy.
Got into that one.
And now they have full accessat times into your system.
So you need to be very carefulwith what you're clicking on out
there.
Yeah.
It is a new age, I think, toyour point.
(16:26):
I loved your point earlieraround how much we've evolved with
technology and connectivity.
But we all also know thatbrings other challenges.
Right.
And that we're in this age nowwhere we have to really be mindful
about what networks we connectto and protecting our data.
There's just so much nowcoming up and it's not to scare us
or anything.
(16:46):
It's just a reality.
And that's why we love ourproduct is you're not going to have
to worry about any of that.
You're.
You don't have to worry about that.
You know, that potentialperson in the coffee shop doing what
they might be doing.
Hey, forget it all.
Throw it out the window.
If you're on power boost,you're protected.
Don't even.
You don't even think about it.
Man.
That is a good way to go.
(17:06):
And you guys offer way all thephones out there as well.
I'm a. I'm an Apple guy, so Iwas trying to learn the, I guess
the Samsung way of things withthe phone that you guys sent, which
is a little learning curve.
It's two languages.
When you're.
Let's call Apple French andSamsung Galaxy World of things out
there as English, you gottalearn some language things on there
(17:29):
because they completely work differently.
They do.
And I'm a Android user myself.
I cheat.
I have Apple for work.
I have Android for personal.
But you're right, they arelike two different languages.
And that's one of the thingswe really focused on is in our retail
experience.
We've expanded our retailstores throughout the Pacific Northwest,
(17:52):
both in Washington and Oregon.
We're now up to 64 retail locations.
And the reason I bring this upis it's all about the experience.
We get customers walkingthrough our doors every day that
are longtime Apple loyalistsor longtime Android loyalists, but
they're interested in tryingsomething else.
And one of the benefits iswhen you come into our store, we'll
(18:13):
sit down with you, we'll makesure that everything gets transferred
over carefully and that it'sas seamless as possible for you to
transition to trying that out.
We know it's not easy.
Again, we're all creatures of habit.
So when you go through thatkind of change, we want to be there
to support you and help you.
Yeah, I know, it's.
I don't know, once you getinto that language, it's so easy
to be like, okay, now I'msucked in.
(18:34):
And brands do that.
Of course they do.
They want to, they want to do that.
Once they get you, they wantto keep you.
So I get that that's a smartbusiness model for them.
But, but somebody that uses aPC all day.
And then I learned Apple, it'sone of those things.
I don't do Apple at work.
But I tell you what, it's niceto have that.
But I totally get the Androidthings thing of things because it's
(18:55):
so versatile compared to thebox that Apple is working in.
So there's plus minuses.
You nailed it.
And I think that you, if yougo and ask a hundred people, you
might get a hundred different things.
But ultimately when I.
That's the way I look at ittoo, Eric, is it just, it's a little.
Android is a little moreversatile, but if you really like,
you know, simplicity and justa certain, what I call consistency,
(19:20):
Apple may be the way to go.
I think it just comes down tothe individual and what kind of works
better for their rhythm.
For me, I again, I enjoy both,but I tend to lean a little more
on the Android side.
Yeah, I get that, I get that.
And there's.
And the other thing is too isthat it seems like the Android side
has a few more apps and stuffout there because sure, Apple's got
a death grip on that.
(19:40):
That's what they.
Yeah, there's a little more flexibility.
Exactly, exactly.
But nonetheless it makes itreally easy.
And then I've noticed how youguys really combine things together.
So now you're taking theresidential Internet bill or cable
bill depending on whateverybody's plan is, whether they're
streaming or if they've gotthe full on package of every movie,
(20:03):
every TV channel.
And then you're putting yourcell phone plan within that and it
really gives a pretty goodpackage with one company.
You know, that's been.
Our mission is to offer upwhat we call the total home solution.
But now adding in, having thatmobility tied to it, we know how
important that is and wereally at the core it's our Xfinity
(20:25):
Internet product in home.
But tied to that we know isvery important is also entertainment.
Right.
Television.
We offer protection with ourXfinity home service, whether it's
Self monitored or we offer amonitored service as well.
And with new technology comingout, Eric, that, that we call WI
FI detection, more to come here.
(20:46):
But what's exciting about thisis there, there is a new technology
that will allow devices inyour home that are connected to your
WI fi to be able to alert youabout what's happening surrounding
your home.
To find out more, head toaroundthe house online.com around
the house will be right back.
(23:14):
Welcome back to the around theHouse show.
We would love to hear from you.
Have a question or comment,hit us up on social media or our
website aroundthehouseonline.com now let's get back to
the conversation with RigoTopiti from Comcast and continue
the conversation abouttechnology and saving some serious
(23:34):
money on your cell phone bill.
So you're going to start, I'mgiving you a sneak, sneak peek.
It's early, we haven't senttoo much out yet.
Technology.
I was the home, I was the, thesmart home tech speaker for the national
association of Home Builders.
And so there is some amazingstuff with this.
Using that same technology youcan actually, if you've got grandma
(23:55):
in the house alone, you couldactually use that to detect falls,
for instance.
With that losing privacy, you,you know.
That it's big thumbs up.
I have a 90 year oldgrandmother who I just love and care
so, so dearly and that's areal thing, right.
We want to make sure thatshe's safe.
She has it in her home andthose are the kind of those that's
(24:15):
the benefit of thistechnology, right?
It's protect and help also letus know if something goes wrong and
we can check in on her.
She, she's absolutely for itbecause it helps also make her feel
safe.
But that's the great benefitof this technology.
The other thing I'd call outis just going back to our earlier
point around protection.
You know, it's the same thing, right?
(24:36):
We got folks, you want to havea secure WI FI network.
This isn't just a dumb pipe, right?
Our service, we've invested somuch into our infrastructure and
ensure that everything isproperly encrypted to protect our
users.
That's what it's about.
We don't, we, it's a smartpipe to ensure no one can get into
your, into your data.
Because again that's wherewe're headed now.
Right.
Folks are now shifting as wehave more and more of our information
(25:00):
online we tend to see folks goafter some of those soft spots and
that's why it's critical tohave secure service in the home.
And I'll.
I got a new one here for you.
I have.
I had in my last house that Ijust sold, two of the cameras, just
the camera only not monitored,but two cameras out in front, kind
of by my front door and one infront of my driveway.
(25:21):
When my house was on themarket, I could hear what is.
What does every person do whenthey come.
Walk through your house that'son the market?
They walk through the house,they walk out in front in the driveway
and they have the conversationwith the realtor of what they like
and what they don't like andeven what they might offer.
And your microphones arereally clear.
(25:44):
I could hear every discussioncoming out of that.
Now.
We fully disclosed we hadcameras on the outside of it.
But human nature is human nature.
And I learned more about whatpeople liked and what they didn't
like and what they thought thehouse was worth before they had even
left the property.
It was kind of funny.
That's awesome.
You know what?
I didn't even think of that.
(26:04):
I haven't sold a home recently.
Congratulations, by the way,on that.
Data is so powerful, right?
How you collect data and ithelps us.
I'm sure you made someadjustments based on what you were
hearing.
And I had a notebook that Iwould just sit there and bring it
up and go back on the.
Have my phone out.
I just go on the app, go backand go, okay, here's where they start
(26:25):
talking because it's markedclearly on the app.
And put my headphones in.
And if I even wanted to cheat,I would just download that and throw
it in my AI transcriber and itwould transcribe it for me real quick.
And then I could just readthrough it, but you'd see what the
comments were.
Real lifetime.
It was pretty funny.
Oh, that's hilarious.
But I love that.
Super smart on your end.
And that's another piece, right?
(26:47):
You think of AI and how that'staken off and it's all tied to connectivity.
Right.
And we're all.
Everything is designed.
Technology is designed to justmake things easier.
So that's another piece that Ithank you for bringing that up.
The benefit of AI, but it'sall tied to how well you're connected
to it.
It's only going to work asgood as your conn.
(27:08):
So great.
Yeah, it's fascinating.
And AI is going to be again aswe as apps change.
You know, if you notice overthe last few weeks, as you're using
Google and Edge, all of asudden they're really pushing the.
Do you want to search usingour AI platform?
And all of that stuff takesbandwidth and if you don't have it,
you don't have it.
(27:29):
And it's gonna, it's gonnacost in the user experience personally
if you don't.
So it's more and more important.
It's not.
It's kind of like when I was akid and we had aol, right.
You did all you could withinthe bandwidth and otherwise it was
just a really slow day.
Yeah, I remember those days.
The dial up AOL connection.
(27:49):
Oh my God, how patient were we?
Oh my.
And then remember when itwould just.
It would kick you off like you were.
It felt like it was goingsmooth and then all of a sudden you
had to reset it and, And.
Oh man.
Yeah, somebody was calling onthe phone and was trying to get a
hold of my mom and I was a kidand we had the one phone line in
the house and he'd been tied up.
The phone.
Well, yeah, yeah, I'm with you.
(28:12):
I, I was in that kind of home too.
We had one line and it was,there was always some.
A little bit of shouting backand forth.
You're tying up the line.
I got a call coming in fromgrandma or from someone else and.
Oh yeah, and here we are now,now with AI and a lot of people are
scared of it out there.
And I always just say whenyou're scared of something, play
around with a little bit soyou understand it, you know it.
(28:32):
You can really get some great information.
Of course it's not 100% truth.
It's doing the best at findingstuff, but every month it's getting
smarter and smarter and it cansave you.
I was using it trying to findout history of my dad because he
worked for the government andwasn't always clear exactly what
his job was.
And so I got into aconversation on my cell phone with
Grok going back and forth andsure enough I found out more stuff
(28:56):
about my dad that I'd never know.
My family didn't even know,but that could dig deep and that
would have saved.
That would have taken me daysof research and in 20 minutes I had
way more information than Ihad before.
So there's some great uses forit out there.
Of course it's scary.
It's just like when theInternet was coming on.
It's scary, but it's going tochange and speed things up a bit
(29:17):
for us too.
I completely agree with youand I hear the same out there.
The echoes around theuncertainty and the fear around it.
But I think that's what comeswith any new technology.
I was having this conversationwith my mother recently and she for
the first time starteddabbling a little bit with it and
she's like, hey, but I just,you know, is it safe?
And will my.
(29:37):
Will someone take this information?
And I think we're in thislearning stage, but I really talked
to her about embracing thetechnology, learning through it and
I.
We haven't even scratched thesurface, right?
And I'm no expert in thisspace, but really love to tell people
about embracing technologybecause there's ultimately going
to be, there's an opportunitythat comes with it to grow from it.
(29:59):
And this whatever reminds meof too is we just, with all of this,
all this new technologycoming, the demand on bandwidth,
the on making sure we have theright amount of capacity, that's
what we've been working ontoo, Eric, is we know there's companies
out there that are making biginvestments to continue to add, build
(30:20):
up their servers.
But all this is capacity.
Right.
And we have to continue tomake investments there.
We're in a great position today.
We feel we're the leader inthat space.
But we also know what's ahead.
Have to continue to make those investments.
Man, it's so funny.
And I'll say this, and this isnot just because you're here.
Like my mom's house, she'slate 80s and in her house there is
(30:45):
not.
You guys aren't in herregional area.
So another cable company comesin there.
I walk into her house and oh,I just had the cable.
They put a new box in and Ilook at it, I'm like, I had this
box with you guys like 15years ago, 20 years ago.
And I'm like, oh, it's thatold remote, that old silver remote.
Okay, that's new.
(31:07):
It's shocking at how manyother companies out there that are
other competitors of yoursthat are just using that dirt slow
old technology and they'restill throwing a band aid on it and
kicking it out the door whereyou guys every couple years have
the latest, newest, greatest stuff.
That's fast.
Yeah.
Thank you for sharing that.
It breaks my heart when I seethat box you just described with
(31:30):
the old silver remote.
At one time it was great.
When it was back 10 year, itwas, it was the, it was the newest
and the latest and the greatest.
But we've come such a long waywhen it comes to equipment especially
tied to entertainment or wi fi.
And I see that on the Y, onthe Internet side as well by the
way.
I've been my travels.
(31:51):
I have family throughout thecountry and some of the areas where
we don't service.
I have family out in Texas andthere's a good part of Texas we don't
service.
Here in the Dallas metro theyhave some equipment that's just so
dated they're not even on Wi Fi.
Wi Fi 6.
Right.
So they're on our old docs'slegacy equipment.
And it just breaks my heartbecause the technology further we're
(32:12):
so further ahead.
But some companies out there,I won't call it call out any specifically.
Yeah, I'm not here to bashpeople but it's just, it's a fair
comparison.
Like in Cannon beats same thing.
Not close.
It is dirt slow.
To find out more, head toaroundthehouse online.com John and
Eric would love to hear from you.
(32:33):
Send them a message on thewebsite aroundthehouse online.com
around the house.
We'll be right back after aword from our amazing sponsors.
(34:50):
All right.
Welcome back to the around thehouse show.
We would love to hear from you.
Have a question or comment,hit us up on social media or our
website aroundthehouse onlinedot com.
Now let's wrap theconversation with Rigo Topit from.
(35:13):
Com and get back to Eric and John.
Exactly.
And so we can't do that to our customers.
Our customers expect thelatest and greatest.
We have to make those investments.
We know that it doesn't.
It's quite an investment.
But it's the right thing to dobecause that's what customers are
looking for.
They want to make sure theyhave what's the newest and we have
(35:33):
to keep up with that.
Yeah.
When your data speeds haven'tchanged in a decade, you might be
slightly behind the curve.
And I'm just going to say thatto the other people out there, you
might be slightly.
It's like somebody going, hey,thanks for signing up with us.
Here's your brand new iPhone 4.
Enjoy it.
Yeah, that's right.
And one of the things westarted to do, we start to send these
(35:55):
emails out to our customers.
For any of our existingcustomers out there and any of your
subscribers, they probablyhave received this where we send
you a report card essentiallyon your network on how it's working.
We send you updates on when weupgrade your speeds at no additional
cost through the investments.
That's what you should expect.
Haven't.
If you haven't.
(36:15):
If you're on the to yourpoint, if you haven't had an upgrade
or a speed in 10 years weshould be asking why, what's, what's,
why are we not makingenhancements or investments we want
and we feel we still have anopportunity to even do more of that,
which we will, but it's soimportant to continue to make those
investments there as well.
Yeah.
And guys out there, if you areComcast affinity customers, and I'll
(36:36):
tell you this, and sorry togive away a bunch of your boxes,
but if you've got equipmentthat's four or five years old in
there, head down to your localXfinity store and get it upgraded
because you're missing out onthe latest and greatest.
So make sure you've gotupgraded equipment because I tell
you what, it's a game changing difference.
When you get into that stuffwhere you're Quad View and some of
this other stuff that you canwatch for your favorite football
(36:58):
games on Sunday or.
Whatever you're doing, you'respot on, Eric.
We've started some trials ofproactively reaching out to our customers
and encouraging exactly whatyou just said is to, to bring in
their equipment into our localto their local Xfinity store.
We have great teammates thereready to take care of you, walk you
(37:19):
through the whole process andensure that you walk out of there
and set up a box with it seamlessly.
So when you get home, it'sready to go.
But we want you all to bringin your old equipment to get the
latest and greatest.
I tell you what, not having torun coax cable and having those wifi
TV boxes, I haven't had to usemy cutter sit in a long time because
I don't have to worry aboutsitting there making custom cables
(37:41):
and doing my own install,which I can do.
But it's like nice to be ableto just plug it and go.
It'll fit right there.
I have to run cable under thecrawlspace and out.
Oh, I remember those days.
I've moved around quite a bitin the company.
I won't bore you through myjourney, but I spent a couple of
years in technical operationsand not an easy thing.
(38:02):
So I'm right with you, Eric.
So excited about theenhancements there.
I still remember putting onthe ends.
Doesn't surprise me that youfigured out a way to do that very
effectively.
I just want a little bit ofyour background.
But yeah, we've come a long way.
Yeah, it's nice.
And again we were starting outtalking about phones, but this is
all that background base stuffthat makes that so reliable that
(38:24):
it just really helps.
And boy, it's sure nice notHaving to look around in a restaurant
and go, what's the WI fi in here?
What's going on?
Trying to figure out the passcodes.
What works?
Yeah.
If you're on Xfinity Mobile,you'll never have to worry about
that.
Forget about that.
It's not even going to be onyour mind ever again.
Man, I love it.
(38:44):
Mine's a little old, so abouthalfway through the day now it's
doing that.
It's paid for.
So halfway through the dayit's going.
You could charge me.
Oh, yeah, it's.
You get.
It's a creature of habit.
It's charged all night.
But again, smartwatch isanother one of those health things
that's really smart.
And I wanted to get asmartwatch because if I fell and
for the safety, some of thesethings in the safety, from heart
(39:07):
monitoring to exercise to howmuch you're moving to fall safety,
if you fall and don't react,it can actually call your emergency
contact.
Again, safety stuff's key for me.
I love that you call that outbecause think about what's also changing
in the health space.
Right.
Rings are out there, watchesand you name it, that's so important
(39:31):
to us.
And that's what technology offers.
And by the way, that all tiesto what connectivity.
And so it goes back again.
Health data, all of that.
You wanted to be.
You wanted to be protected.
We feel we're again in a greatposition now and we're making investments
to be in the same greatposition in the future for all of
our customers.
Man, that is awesome.
(39:52):
That is awesome.
And yeah, I mean that smartspace is just getting started and
you might as well get preparedfor Black Friday.
It might be time for me toswitch over.
Now.
You got me thinking that's apretty good deal.
Cause my phone's almost paid for.
I'm like, okay, okay, might bethe time to do it.
Please bring.
Consider it.
Because we have some greatdeals with what we call the tips
(40:13):
where you get.
We.
You get an extra payout duringthis period because of the deal on
top of what you would havereceived under the normal window
or of time throughout the year.
So if there was any time andyou've been thinking about it, pop
on in into one of our Xfinity stores.
And that's why we keepopening, opening those up because
our customers love them.
(40:34):
And these are mobile expertsthat are going to make it easy for
you to upgrade your phone orswitch from the other carriers.
And I tell you what, guys, noreason to jump on.
I want 800 number call youguys up when you can just walk in
and deal with somebody face toface, and they handle it.
To me, I'm old school like that.
I'd much rather just walk inand have a smiley face, deal with
it with me and work through itand leave with whatever I need versus
(40:55):
the other way around.
So for me, that's the best way.
Those stores are awesome.
Awesome.
Yeah.
That's my style, too, Eric.
We know.
Yeah.
The folks can certainly go onto xfinity.com or call 1-800-XFINITY.
But I'm a little what I woulddescribe as old school myself.
And I like to walk in, laydown on the table, and let the experts
do the work.
(41:16):
That's what they're trained for.
While you can sit back andrelax, watch a game or whatever we
have on the TV that you wantto watch, we'll take care of you.
That's awesome, Rigo.
Thanks for coming on today, brother.
I really appreciate it.
And, guys, there's the hotbreaking news there with that sale.
That's a good one.
Yeah.
Thanks you so much, Eric,again, for having me.
You're doing such a great jobhere and just appreciate you giving
(41:38):
us some time.
No problem, brother.
I appreciate it, Johnny.
I love talking to the guysover there at Comcast Xfinity, but
it also sounds like asponsored segment, even though it's
not.
I just like saving people some money.
And quite frankly, I'm goingto do the same name.
So I'm going to switch overand get rid of my at&t.
Sorry.
At&t.
Because it's going to save mea few grand a month, a year, just
(42:01):
on switching over.
So that's going to save me acouple bucks.
Yeah, that's where the loyaltylies is to your wallet, my friend.
Yes, it is.
Yes, it is, man.
Speaking about loyalty, I was.
We only got a minute or twobefore we run out of time here, but
I was really shocked today.
I found out reading the CheapTricks Live at Budokan was not recorded
(42:24):
in Budokan.
Did you know that?
I did know that.
Oh, man.
I had no idea that was in Osaka.
And the Budokan tape sucked.
Oh, no.
We've all been taken for aride for the last 50 years.
My childhood is broken now.
Oh, wait a minute.
It already was.
I'm like, I've been lied tofor since I was a child.
(42:44):
Just put that head back in thesand and pretend you never heard
that.
Because when I hear the crowd,I like to believe it's Budokan.
Just leave it at that.
Yeah.
If it has been for 50 years.
Doggone it, it's.
It is.
Okay.
Okay, well, ship.
We'll write the ship.
It's still Budokan.
This is how American history works.
(43:05):
We just say stuff and thenit's history.
That's how it was.
History again.
You know that's right.
We've changed so much historyin the past that the wisdom of John
Dudley again for the win.
That's all I got, brother.
That's it.
I wanted to thank everybodyout there as we go out here to break.
And this has been a really bigweekend here, and I just want to
thank all of our listeners inPortland, our new hometown station,
(43:29):
our old hometown station, fortuning in on FM News 101, KXL.
You know this to you guys thatdidn't hear the first hour of the
show here, I just want to saythank you for tuning back in.
It is so nice to be hungry.
You know, this show around theHouse started on KXL when It was
an AM channel back in 1988.
(43:49):
So that is where the roots were.
And it went from 88 all theway to 2019.
And then when Alpha Media wentthrough its troubles, they got rid
of all the weekend stuff.
We changed over to Salem Media.
They were gents to us overthere and they had been nothing but
awesome.
But when my buddy Mark cameback over as the new GM over there,
he invited us back over.
(44:11):
And it is so nice to be backhome over there where the roots of
around the House, where it'snice to be back home again and all
is right in the world withthat and it feels good to be doing
it.
And it's post Budokan, sowe're safe.
Exactly.
So we're safe.
No revisionist history needed there.
These are real roots we'retalking about, kids.
(44:31):
Yep.
Nothing fake about that.
And hey, guys, we want to hearyour feedback as well.
If there's something that youwant to hear from us or you want
to hear us talk about, makesure you send us a note over over@aroundthehouse
online.com.
we really would love to hearfrom you.
And we've got so many episodesup there on the podcast.
If you're listening on theradio and you're catching us for
the first time, dive into theWayback machine.
(44:54):
There's thousands of episodesout there for you to take a look
at.
So if there's a subject thatyou want to hear, you can just search
and find it there on yourfavorite podcast player.
Johnny, thanks for coming on today.
Man love doing this stuff.
And what a great earlyDecember holiday kind of episode
here.
Celebrating coming back on theair in Portland.
(45:15):
I appreciate it.
Here we go.
Thanks, brother.
I'm Eric G. And for Johnny D,you've been listening to around the
House.
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