[Dianehb]

My daughter moved into her first apartment--in Omaha and on the edge of Ralston--and needs cable service. (The apartment is only set up for cable.) She wants to get COX, which we use for internet and television, and she wants (make that needs) the lowest possible price. We thought there might be a family-type discount since we've paid them a small fortune over the last three years--the customer service person she called said that's not possible.

Does anyone know of a COX discount? She *needs* internet, and she'd like basic cable. Her laptop only works while plugged in, so she couldn't take it to the coffee shop down the street, even if she had a car. (She's proud to have moved out, but suddenly she's got her own apartment, she pays for it with her own full-time wages, and she lives in a brand-new paycheck-to-paycheck world.)

She's got a basic service TRAC-phone, so no internet access there. We wanted to put her on Verizon with us, but evidently we'll lose our unlimited text messages if we so much as breathe on our current plan, so that's out.

Can anyone make some suggestions? Like I said, internet--broadband--is the most important thing.

[ecd.]

Besides the $25.99/month Basic Broadband from Cox (768 kbps down) and without an unlimited data $25/month Virgin Mobile plan (which could be used to tether the laptop), I think the only other option is using the internet at the library.

Unfortunately, Cox did bump up their prices. I used to pay $19.99 for that same plan.

[iamjacobm]

You might be able to get a deal with CenturyLink. I know they have some specials to try to move into the market a bit.

[Dianehb]

My daughter is going with Cox internet--they are doing a "no payments 'til January" and free setup. (Yes, I know they always have free setup, but it will come in handy for her.) She'll pay $36 a month for the middle tier of service, which I think is similar to what we pay. Given the number of channels my husband insists we *need*, it's too depressing to check the bill more than twice a year.

Anyway, not paying until January helps her through the first couple of months on her own.

[Dianehb]

Originally Posted by ecd.

Besides the $25.99/month Basic Broadband from Cox (768 kbps down) and without an unlimited data $25/month Virgin Mobile plan (which could be used to tether the laptop), I think the only other option is using the internet at the library.

Unfortunately, Cox did bump up their prices. I used to pay $19.99 for that same plan.

I didn't clarify the first time: she picked the "Preferred" internet, which (they claim) downloads at up to 15 Mbps and the upload is up to 2 Mbps. The "up to" is key--we've never gotten anything close to that, but we are in a spotty service area. My sons are at 96th and Q; they get much faster speeds and their service never goes down.

For television, she put a ROKU on her Christmas list.

[harshbarj]

I have their premier account and the speads are great. I regularly see downloads hit between 3 and 3.5 megabytes a second, so a 700MB video takes around 3 and a half minutes to download and a 4.7gig dvd around 25 minutes.