Lunch and Learn with Comcast #XfinityParents

This #XfinityParents campaign was sponsored by Comcast via Houston Bloggers. Opinions are my own.

Last Thursday, I attended a special Houston Bloggers event at Xfinity’s Houston Galleria location. We really got to experience a lot of Xfinity’s products and services and enjoy a guided tour and chat with their representatives. It was a great lunch and learn! That particular location is very well placed to serve a great number of customers in the busy Galleria Area. I was very happy about the location, myself, since it is just a few blocks from where I work and I could easily take a longer lunch and join in on the fun with my fellow local bloggers. They even had some lovely swag for all of us, and one lucky blogger walked away with the TV! A fun fact I learned was the very first store they opened was the Katy one – the store I used when we first became Comcast customers, and still lived in Katy.

An enjoyable aspect of visiting Xfinity’s store is the customer experience. You don’t just get in line and wait like at the DPS, but instead you are greeted at the door and your reason for the visit is logged. Then, your name is added to the TV screen and when it is your turn, your name appears on the big screen. While you wait to be seen by a rep, you can hang out at the iPad bar and be entertained (there’s even a short bar for kids!). Our “tour guide” told us this customer in-store experience directly influences customer retention.

Another cool addition to their stores is the Express Pay booth. Personally, I have my bill set up on auto pay – but if you prefer to pay in person, you can be in and out in no time.

One of my personal favorite things about Xfinity is the Xfinity Home App. I can use it to set the alarm from anywhere. If I’m halfway to my exit and realize I forgot to set the alarm, no worries, just get on the app at the next red light. The app is also great for confirming your kids got home from school safely (and at the time they were supposed to) or even checking up on a pet sitter. The Xfinity Home App lists out each time a door or window was opened and closed.

There’s still more this app can do that I don’t even have set up in my house (and after this luncheon, I want to). If you have the Nest system, it syncs with that nicely and lets you set your thermostat from your phone! This is ideal for energy conservation (and keeping your Texas cooling bill under control). If no one is home all day while you’re at work, you can set your thermostat to a higher temperature, and then change it to something more comfortable via the App on your phone before you leave for work. The temperature will be comfortable when you get home, and you didn’t spend all day cooling an empty house. This system also has a cell phone backup so continues to work even if the power is out.

Another really useful feature is the option to install a camera outside your door, and view it from your TV. I remember many times when I was breastfeeding and sitting on the couch with my baby, and the doorbell would ring. Well, with this setup I could check who’s at the door quickly, and then decide to whether to ignore them or if it was important enough to stop, cover up, and go to the door.  I definitely want this feature!

My DVR recently upgraded and I saw a note that my recordings are now backed up to cloud technology. So the days of DVRs dying and all recorded shows being lost are behind us. Now we can watch the shows we recorded on any device. You can also install the My Account app and run a diagnostic on your equipment or connectivity. So if the cable is out, you can use the mobile network to check into the problem. If the problem can’t be fixed via the app, it schedules a technician for you and lets you track the status and arrival of that technician.  The apps are pretty exciting!

While I’m pretty sure I have the X1 platform, I certainly don’t have all the interesting features that come with it. We got to demo a remote that listens and searches for shows based on what you just told it to do. That’s the ultimate convenience of TV viewing because seriously typing a show name into the search bar using remote buttons isn’t the most fun thing. There is a Kids Zone option for children to enjoy appropriate programming, and easy-to-use parental controls as well. We were also shown a bunch of great apps available as part of the X1 TV platform. Did you know you could install the share app on your  mobile device and record your child’s soccer game or piano recital, then replay it on your TV (without cables)? I also learned you can use the same share app to let Grandma view the video on her X1 system. That is quite impressive.

Our fun tour guide even showed us how he can control his DVR on his Apple watch! Yes, the future is now.

You can use a combination of all these apps and devices to create a dream smart home that is super automated and controllable from anywhere. Check up on kids, protect the safety of your home, and even control the thermostat to save money on the summer cooling bills – that’s quite a few amazing features from Xfinity.

I’m super excited that I got to participate in this event. Check out the lovely group of bloggers (and some kids) who attended.

Thank you so much @comcasthouston for having us at your #XfinityParents event ?? pic.twitter.com/bhVRb1LF0b

— Ashley (@Newmominanewera) June 16, 2016