Who's your Cable Daddy? (to rent, home, buy)

[NewHomeHappy]

This idea sparked from a previous thread.
There are so many options out there. So let me ask. Are you bills all-in-one? Cable TV, telephone and internet? Do you have all the premium channels like HBO/Showtime? I'm contemplating a change so I would really be interested in your replies. They all see to be thick as thieves - everything is "an extra" and really, why should we have to pay extra for HBO ????
That's stoopid !
Almost as stoopid as that annoying "Ai Oh Digit toll cay bowl" commercial !!!!!!!!!!!
{controlling urge to choke the guido in the serpent suit}

[Bill Keegan]

Originally Posted by NewHomeHappy

This idea sparked from a previous thread.
There are so many options out there. So let me ask. Are you bills all-in-one? Cable TV, telephone and internet? Do you have all the premium channels like HBO/Showtime? I'm contemplating a change so I would really be interested in your replies. They all see to be thick as thieves - everything is "an extra" and really, why should we have to pay extra for HBO ????
That's stoopid !
Almost as stoopid as that annoying "Ai Oh Digit toll cay bowl" commercial !!!!!!!!!!!
{controlling urge to choke the guido in the serpent suit}

It's stupid? What's stupid about it? They make a product you want. In order to get it, you have to pay them for it. Why should yo have to pay extra for it? Because it's theirs, and thy have the right to ask as much as they want for it, just like you have the right to not buy their product. Where's the stupid part? This is simple capitalism, so far as I can see.

[JerseyG]

Originally Posted by Bill Keegan

It's stupid? What's stupid about it? They make a product you want. In order to get it, you have to pay them for it. Why should yo have to pay extra for it? Because it's theirs, and thy have the right to ask as much as they want for it, just like you have the right to not buy their product. Where's the stupid part? This is simple capitalism, so far as I can see.

The commercials are annoying as heck and seem to last waaaay longer than your average commercial.

At first I thought the little "rap" commercial with the mermaids and all was for an all "language other than English" station...didn't pay that much attention...then it was on over and over and over again...the other commercials they have come out with are just as annoying. Simply annoying and waaaay over the top that you aren't even really sure what is being sold...with the rap music/mermaids/old ladies fixing cars/etc.

Just for the point of the way they market I wouldn't sign up with them...and who is it anyway? See, that's how BAD of a marketing job they do. What it IO? No Clue.

[NewHomeHappy]

Originally Posted by Bill Keegan

It's stupid? What's stupid about it? They make a product you want. In order to get it, you have to pay them for it. Why should yo have to pay extra for it? Because it's theirs, and thy have the right to ask as much as they want for it, just like you have the right to not buy their product. Where's the stupid part? This is simple capitalism, so far as I can see.

I M O ; when paying for CABLE TV the consumer should get CABLE TV as in all the cable(s) i.e HBO, Showtime.... Why isn't it included. B/c they can make more $ of us by splitting it all up. I understand that. I'm saying its STOOPID ! k ?

[njkate]

Cablevision for TV & Computer..HATE THEM THIEVES!! I think they have now bumped 9-10 stations included in my package but I now have to rent a converter box to veiw them wtf....they should reduce my bill if I can no longer veiw with out that stupid box

verizon for landline phone..basic local service only..my cell has nationwide long distance, can't see paying for that twice...all though Verizon has now jacked up the caller id to $9.95 a month and the TAXES are $11.95 a month, something don't sound right there. When I have a spare day and I do mean day I'll call them....it's almost impossible to get a HUMAN on the phone at Verizon.

[Gravy Boat]

Originally Posted by NewHomeHappy

I M O ; when paying for CABLE TV the consumer should get CABLE TV as in all the cable(s) i.e HBO, Showtime.... Why isn't it included. B/c they can make more $ of us by splitting it all up. I understand that. I'm saying its STOOPID ! k ?

Actually, the majority of cable companies make more money because all of the channels are bundled together (like in a typical Basic package you get Lifetime, ESPN). If cable companies really went "a la carte," (what a lot of consumer advocates are pushing for) where you could just choose to pay for what you actually watch, I think cable bills would be cheaper and a lot of the cable channels would just disappear. I personally would not pay for 95% of the cable channels I am forced to subsidize through "bundled" pricing. The cable companies do not want "a la carte" pricing and fight it tooth and nail.

Oh, I have had Verizon FIOS for everything - for about a year. Love it. No complaints at all.

[ottomobeale]

You wont get a la carte. BET and other minority channels would die. Dont bet on it.

HBO etc are extra services. If they were included "free" basic cable would be 40 dollars higher.

[nicolem]

I chose other. We have DirectTV which I love. As a sports fan living away from home-I will never go back to cable. We have the football, baseball and hockey packages. We also have the out of market sports channels from around the country so we get YES, MSG, etc. DirectTV is also adding a lot more HD channels sometime this month. I also read an article that they will partner again with HD Tivo next year as the HD Tivo is not compatiable with the nnew HD dish- so that makes me very happy. We only get the movie channels when they have series on like The Tudors on Showtime. If there is no series that we are interested in at the time-we cancel and reup when something we want to watch comes on.


For phone and internet we have the "double play" with our local cable company up here called Metrocast. We could techincally have a triple play with the dish if we signed up for phone and interent through Fairpoint(used to be Verizon). However-they only offer DSL where our cable company has high speed. I work from home so I need high speed.

[affi]

I used to Have Comcast. I now live in NC where there is no COMCAST. I have Time Warner!!!

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by njkate

Cablevision for TV & Computer..HATE THEM THIEVES!! I think they have now bumped 9-10 stations included in my package but I now have to rent a converter box to veiw them wtf....they should reduce my bill if I can no longer veiw with out that stupid box

verizon for landline phone..basic local service only..my cell has nationwide long distance, can't see paying for that twice...all though Verizon has now jacked up the caller id to $9.95 a month and the TAXES are $11.95 a month, something don't sound right there. When I have a spare day and I do mean day I'll call them....it's almost impossible to get a HUMAN on the phone at Verizon.

most of the "fees" are flat rates, so it doesn't matter if you have a $100 plan or a $15 plan, the fees remain the same. i have verizon, basic of basic plans, and taxes/fees account for 80% of my bill.

to answer NHH, I have directv - LOVE IT. we have about a billion and half stations (ok, about 175), 8 HBO's (which we'll probably drop if Curb Your Enthusiasm doesn't start soon). 3 TV's, 2 TiVO's, 1 HD DVR and our bill is about $90/mo. If I drop HBO it'll go down to $78.

i had comcast prior to directv and hated it. big ripoff. i originally only stayed with it b/c i wanted high speed. after I got directv my work luckily paid the $70/mo for cable modem (since I didn't have cable TV, they really raked me over the coals). Once DSL came to my area I was all over it. I'm not 100% thrilled with DSL, but refuse to pay over double what I pay now just for cable modem. I would consider bagging it all for FIOS if and when it gets my way.