is at least 1 cable box required?

hi, 

I had the same problem. I bought a Roku device for the same reason. returned the cable box the same day I hooked up Roku and it worked fine without the cable box at my house for 3 weeks until the return of the box had been completed. and posted to my account as soon as that happened all my channels said I had to subscribe to watch them. it took 3 days, talking to 2 different people on the chat online. still didn't work. The next day I actually talked to 4 tech people live. took over 10 hours total. what they finally had to do was delete my account information and re-add my account services. they tried to tell me I needed the box but that didn't make any sense because it should not have affected my streaming on my laptop, tablet, or Xfinity phone. I got the same message on all my devices. I needed to subscribe to watch, it just wasn't recognizing my account and the fact that I already had a cable tv package with my internet services. at first, I was nice and patient with the service techs but in my last conversation with them, I was getting very frustrated and threatened to cancel my services. on the morning of the third day after all that I turned on Roku and the stations were there to watch. if you are able to talk to someone and explain what happened make sure you ask for a credit on your account for not being able to access your stations. I just wanted to stop paying to rent an Xfinity cable box to receive their cable services. a customer should NOT be charged a fee for the equipment to receive their services. hope this helps and good luck.

Hi @debb54,

Thank you for sharing your experience. Yeah, it's really frustrating. I spent hours speaking to a number of reps, but none had a solution. The last rep offered to ship a new box to me for free and promised to credit the $5/mo rental. I got my channels back right after she provisioned the box, even before I received it. But even with the box remains un-hooked up, the monthly $5 credit never applied, and I'm being told she couldn't have had the ability to do a monthly credit in the first place! Bunch of lies...

Were you able to tell exactly how you got your channels back? Are you still without any cable box and still have all the channels in your package?

Thanks!

Mike

Same problem here. I just downgraded to basic to cut cost and was told by the first rep that I can keep my 2 DTV boxes for free (included) and then I can return the X1 box to the store to save $5/mo on rental. I returned it to the store the next day and the device is no longer showing up in my Comcast account, but a month later when the bill comes, they still charge me the $5 box fee, which I don't have anymore. I just got off the phone after 40 minutes with the billing department and they said they cannot take out the $5 box fee even though I don't have it.  They can only give me 3 months credit for the $5 box or donwgrade to just streaming only service (no live TV).

I am very frustrated that they nickle and dime everything. Anyone else got a resolution?