YAY! My cable bill just went up $21 (Brookhaven: how much, unemployment)

[krewat]

My promotion for the free cable boxes expired this month. You know, the one where they gave you free boxes after all the analog channels disappeared.

Guess what web site I am visiting right now in another window?

That's right. Verizon.

[kayfouroh]

Originally Posted by krewat

My promotion for the free cable boxes expired this month. You know, the one where they gave you free boxes after all the analog channels disappeared.

Guess what web site I am visiting right now in another window?

That's right. Verizon.

Give VZ a call, you generally can negotiate a deal, like 3mo of HBO or a free DVR.

[krewat]

Free DVR for life, 35/35 internet, phone, ultimate HD with all the movie channels, four tvs for $134.99, $19.99 install for the extra tvs.

At least, that's what my printed-out order says

[Peter B]

Call the cable company, be very nice, tell them how much you love the service, then give a sob story that you lost your job, unemployment won't cover the new price, you're having a very tough time economically, yada yada yada, they'll put you on hold for a minute or so then come back with a price that is equal to or lower then you've been paying. Those phone agents have LOTS of discretion in doing things to keep a customer. Trust me, it will work. I'm paying about the same price for all my service for the last 6 years or so with our local cable company...

Originally Posted by krewat

My promotion for the free cable boxes expired this month. You know, the one where they gave you free boxes after all the analog channels disappeared.

Guess what web site I am visiting right now in another window?

That's right. Verizon.

[kayfouroh]

Originally Posted by krewat

Free DVR for life, 35/35 internet, phone, ultimate HD with all the movie channels, four tvs for $134.99, $19.99 install for the extra tvs.

At least, that's what my printed-out order says

That's for 2 yrs right? Also, DVR is SD or HD? Multi-room? Since you have 4 TVs you should look into the multi-room DVR.

Congrats though, that's a good deal.

[krewat]

Originally Posted by Peter B

Call the cable company, be very nice, tell them how much you love the service, ... SNIP

Trouble is, I do NOT like the service. The video compression on the standard cable channels was recently ratcheted up even further than it was. From across the living room I can now see the pixelation. It's not drop-outs, it's just horribly compressed ...

Originally Posted by kayfouroh

That's for 2 yrs right? Also, DVR is SD or HD? Multi-room? Since you have 4 TVs you should look into the multi-room DVR.

Congrats though, that's a good deal.

Thanks! Yes, 2 years. Multi-room DVR for life. The termination fee on the contract is $230, with $10 off each month, so I figured I could live with that.

Once the 2 years is up, I'll drop most of the movie channels and make up the difference. And even if not, I'll still gladly pay more than cable for the picture quality and other things.

I need upload speed just as much as download speed, and even Cable Ultra can't get better than 15Mbps upload. The package I ordered is 35 by 35, 35Mbps both ways. My current cable is Boost, 30 down, 5 up.

We'll see what I actually get charged after all is said and done, as in taxes and tariff charges. But overall, it's time to jump ship.

[rh71]

competition wins again.

I don't know what you're uploading but even with torrents I'm fine with 5 up.

[mongoose65]

Here we go with another cable vs fios extended thread. Ugh. Starts with cheerleading , then bashing, then the infinite battle over up/down speeds, accuracy of commercials, etc. There I just summed up the next 45 posts in advance.

Best answer: They are behemoth utilities. They both suck sooner or later!

I recommend everyone stick to either cable, fios or satellite. With one of those 3, you just can't go wrong. Nyuk nyuk nyuk.

[Pequaman]

mongoose is right, this will end up with TJ and one of Taz's new ids arguing back and forth. However I want to ask, does Cablevision still have those random outages at night where you have to wait til the next morning to get internet service back? How often does this happen to any current CV customers out there?

@TJ_Lamb , from another thread: I see what you're saying about the new Fios time bar. I didn't notice it at first because I dvr everything. But what a step backwards that was when youre watching-surfing live TV. Stupid.

[alexei27]

Originally Posted by Pequaman

mongoose is right, this will end up with TJ and one of Taz's new ids arguing back and forth. However I want to ask, does Cablevision still have those random outages at night where you have to wait til the next morning to get internet service back? How often does this happen to any current CV customers out there?

@TJ_Lamb , from another thread: I see what you're saying about the new Fios time bar. I didn't notice it at first because I dvr everything. But what a step backwards that was when youre watching-surfing live TV. Stupid.

Honestly, CV is pretty stable. It is rare that we see it go out. Also, their customer service is pretty good also. Not that they aren't a ripoff like the rest.

They are comfortable telling me to (politely) stick it when I call and try to negotiate a better deal, because they are the only game in town in the Town of Brookhaven.