Internet TV bundles. (Iowa City, Colo: sale, buy, college)

[rerod]

Even though I'm not dissatisfied with mediacom. I'm stopping service here soon. $150 is to much.. Is that how they reward long term customers?

Anyway, my coworker suggested Qwest..

Who do you used and prefer? And do you jump around to continue to get the cheaper intro price?

[Plainswalker]

I pay $100 monthly just for my internet. They have a legal sort of monopoly with Centurylink. They don't give a crap about loyal customers. I've hounded them quite a bit.

[lurtsman]

I was paying 60/month for internet when I lived near Iowa City. After I moved to Colorado, I got a better connection and it's costing me $20/month right now, usually runs around 35. There is no competition in IC and the prices reflect that. The market is deigned to prevent competition as the bigwigs got together and marked off the territory in charts to avoid competing. The CEO of a major cable company actually stated this in his arguments for why the firms should be allowed to merge. Since they had already agreed not to compete, it wouldn't reduce competition.

Yes, you are going to get screwed on pricing for as long as you are there.

However, these are the rankings

Comcast <<<< Mediacom << Qwest

Never ever buy from Comcast. There managers have been recorded lying to customers about charges, then admitting they lied and stating that lying is a company approved negotiating tactic. The folder that holds the company's legal status should be shot and buried. There is absolutely nothing legitimate about them.

[rerod]

I just spoke with a Verizon manager since I have a phone plan with them. At the end, he said get Century link Comcast..

Problem is everyone locks you into a 2 year contract and the intro price runs out long before that..

Im tempted to forget the TV and do everything online.

[lurtsman]

I find cable TV to be a waste of money. Had it for about 6 months in college. A useless product.

I signed a one year deal with century link. If it's two years out there, the companies are just having fun mocking people in Iowa. Phone deals are usually 2 years. Internet deals are usually one.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by lurtsman

I find cable TV to be a waste of money. Had it for about 6 months in college. A useless product.

I signed a one year deal with century link. If it's two years out there, the companies are just having fun mocking people in Iowa. Phone deals are usually 2 years. Internet deals are usually one.

Cable companies very often have 2 year agreements. It is quite common.

I'd go with Centurylink (formerly Qwest)

[lurtsman]

Interesting Elle. Have you encountered that in Arizona as well? IIRC you moved to Phoenix or Tucson, therefore you should have access to the benefits of competition. In the Midwest the deals I was offered were generally awful because there was no competition. Living in Oregon and Colorado I never had internet companies require a two year deal just to get internet. It was self hookup, so they had pretty much no employee involvement in the process. I'm curious about if my situation is actually unusual or if the frequency of two year deals is simply a thing in the Midwest.

I'd definitely agree with using Centurylink.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by lurtsman

Interesting Elle. Have you encountered that in Arizona as well? IIRC you moved to Phoenix or Tucson, therefore you should have access to the benefits of competition. In the Midwest the deals I was offered were generally awful because there was no competition. Living in Oregon and Colorado I never had internet companies require a two year deal just to get internet. It was self hookup, so they had pretty much no employee involvement in the process. I'm curious about if my situation is actually unusual or if the frequency of two year deals is simply a thing in the Midwest.

I'd definitely agree with using Centurylink.

The 2 year contract I have encountered is here in AZ. This is for an internet/TV bundle

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by rerod

I'm tempted to forget the TV and do everything online.

If you have good antenna reception, then it might help to invest in a simpletv.com . It's expensive upfront, but you have a big advantages. You can play back delayed over the air broadcasts and skip commercials. Even sports can be more fun. You simply start recording the game, then begin playing back 20 minutes later. That way you can fast forward through commercials. If your DVR catches up to real time, call a sandwich break and come back 20 minutes later.

While most series are available on hulu or individual websites, you still have to watch commercials. In addition you have to wait at least 12 hours and sometimes a week.

A Premier Lifetime (Premier Service for life) is $349.99 plus another $100 for a disk. That is for a two tuner system. If that seems like too much, there are the older single tuner systems on sale on e-bay (often brand new with the lifetime service for $150).

Television viewing is a lot about habits. You can get news from websites, and often watch news analysis. You can see TV shows, but often late. You have to lose the habit of flicking through the channels. You have to pay for some services. Acorn TV at $25/year is a good addition to Netflix.

You can be assured that within a year, cable will begin offering low cost "over the top" (i.e. delivered by internet) services with some popular channels that you can only find on cable this year. Simple economics tells you that these services will get better as the years go by. Cable companies can't afford to write off millions of potential customers.

[lurtsman]

Get rid of the TV and you solve so many problems.

Sorry about the two year thing Elle. I had never seen that in a real city, and I would consider Phoenix / Tucson to easily qualify as real cities.