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I have a very reasonable cable bill of about $35/month for basic TV and internet services.
My local cable provider is changing and my rates are set to triple for the same level of service!
Of course the claim to justify the increase is that more service is being provided, but my level of consumption will not change, and they simply don't offer inexpensive basic services.
Is there anything I can do about this besides cancelling my service? Is there no regulation on cable companies, how quickly they can raise their rates, and their monopolistic divvying up of territory?
I have a feeling the answer is "no" to all my questions, but I just thought I'd ask.
I have a very reasonable cable bill of about $35/month for basic TV and internet services.
My local cable provider is changing and my rates are set to triple for the same level of service!
Of course the claim to justify the increase is that more service is being provided, but my level of consumption will not change, and they simply don't offer inexpensive basic services.
Is there anything I can do about this besides cancelling my service? Is there no regulation on cable companies, how quickly they can raise their rates, and their monopolistic divvying up of territory?
I have a feeling the answer is "no" to all my questions, but I just thought I'd ask.
Rates may be regulated thru a franchise agreement with your local political body (city or county)... might check with the city clerk.
They don't have a monopoly since you do have other options to get service - there is competition... primarily from satellite or dish providers.. might check one of them out.
They SUCK! They all SUCK!
There's nothing better I like than being held-up or held hostage EVERYDAY 24/7 by a cable company!
I've complained, gripped, yelled, written lengthy and demanding letters- for what?
A Blue face, and a raised vein on my forehead right where the coax cable gun was pointed!
Sadly, I think it's just the way things are going. I wanted to get a DVR from my cable provider. The only way to get one was to upgrade to digital cable. So now I have to pay more for channels I do not want. I called two days ago to see if there was a cheaper plan than one one I'm on. Their only offer was to pay $1 more per month for 31 more channels. I don't want more, I want less channels for less charges. No such luck. And the whole "bundling" their services doesn't help because I don't have a home computer and have no desire to get one. Also, I rarely use my home telephone so I wouldn't need/want to bundle that into a service package either. Everything has turned into bulk purchasing....you can't just get the minimum anymore.
Good luck to you in your quest. I hope you find a cheaper solution.
It might not be a monopoly, but it sure is an oligopoly. Consequently, we don't have cable or satellite TV because as much as I'd like to have it, I don' t feel like spending around $50/month and almost all of my entertainment comes from the Internet.
The best move right now for TV is internet. The networks have full episodes of their popular shows online and websites like hulu can get them for you in one place, and set up queues for you. So instead of paying $110 through Comcast for cable and internet I pay $45 for internet through clearwire. The connection is a tiny bit slower but it isn't $65 slower.
The only thing I miss a little bit is my state is on a northern border and with cable I got a canadian channel which had one of my favorite shows. Their network has the show on its website but only canadians are allowed to access it! So for that show I have to watch it in three parts on youtube which is sort of cheating and I feel kind of guilty about it. It's getting cancelled soon anyway.
Anyhoo, dropping cable has been a much easier experience than I thought it would be and I urge anyone who is unhappy with Comcast to do it.
The best move right now for TV is internet. The networks have full episodes of their popular shows online and websites like hulu can get them for you in one place, and set up queues for you. So instead of paying $110 through Comcast for cable and internet I pay $45 for internet through clearwire.
i ditched cable for satellite, and then ditched satellite for a home theater PC w/ an outdoor antenna hooked to it, plus hulu and netflix streaming, and another app called 'secondrun.tv'.
we have all the programming we could ever need "on demand", and the HTPC dvr function records everything we watch from the networks off the antenna.
saw no point in paying for all those channels we never watched.
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