Can we get a break on cable bills

CaptainBennett · #1 12-09-2005, 05:22 PM

It seems like every time I look at my bill, its going up. Currently I am now paying about 135 dollars. Gratned i have HD service and DVR, but my phone bill goes down with special offers. It seems like all the cable specials have hidden costs on them?

I wish i wasnt such a fiend for high tech stuff, otehrwise I would tell the cable companies to shove it.

harrymay · #2 12-09-2005, 05:46 PM

yeah, six months ago my bill was 105 and some change. now it has risen up over 130 and i have not changed my plans or anything else.

ive called the cable company to find out why its going up, they say taxes, but i beg to differ.

ill be getting sat in a few months, ill only need cable for internet.

CaptainBennett · #3 12-12-2005, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harrymay

yeah, six months ago my bill was 105 and some change. now it has risen up over 130 and i have not changed my plans or anything else.

ive called the cable company to find out why its going up, they say taxes, but i beg to differ.

ill be getting sat in a few months, ill only need cable for internet.

couldnt you also go with DSL for internet and blow off the cable company all together.

I really like cable as a service, so I hope competition appears that will bring rates down.

harrymay · #4 12-12-2005, 09:34 AM

i could, but dsl in my area is only 1.5mbps, cable on the other hand its 6mbps, plus my company will pay for my net connection.

Jet-Lee · #5 12-12-2005, 12:54 PM

My cable is my phone. Vonage + 5mbps internet for $75 > SBC phone only for $75.

CaptainBennett · #6 12-13-2005, 04:35 PM

Jet-Lee, thats a pretty good deal. i dont think companies like SBC are available in my area...there isn't much in the way of competition.

PS I like your avatar

Jet-Lee · #7 12-14-2005, 10:41 AM

Yeah, it is a good deal. Especially since SBC promised me DSL within 6 months and a year later it still wasn't available. When asked "Why are you leaving SBC?" I said, "You guys suck!" I like Cox Cable and Vonage a LOT better.

harrymay · #8 12-14-2005, 02:21 PM

ive played around with voip a little.

my comapny save about $20000 a year with voip instead of land line

CaptainBennett · #9 12-14-2005, 04:59 PM

i dont have cox cable around here. just comcast. I think the problem isnt so much the company, as when there is only one company competing.

harrymay · #10 12-14-2005, 05:50 PM

well in my area there are several companies but they seem to have a stronbghold over different areas of that region, 5 miles north i can get road runner, south charter, east cebridge, its pretty weird,

if i want phone the only choice ive got is consolidated and ive done some work with their servers and theyre pretty damn old and nasty

CaptainBennett · #11 12-20-2005, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harrymay

well in my area there are several companies but they seem to have a stronbghold over different areas of that region, 5 miles north i can get road runner, south charter, east cebridge, its pretty weird,

if i want phone the only choice ive got is consolidated and ive done some work with their servers and theyre pretty damn old and nasty

Yeah, I've been in areas like that before. It reminds of of when I didnt get to go to the elementary school my friends went to back in the day because of where we lived. I should have had a choice then, and I should have a choice with my cable companies today.

JLad10687 · #12 12-20-2005, 02:50 PM

Yea, Its monopolies like that that ruin it for everyone. I dont think Sat. will be any cheaper though.

harrymay · #13 12-20-2005, 03:50 PM

i just had a great encounter with my cable company.

i called last tuesday to see what was going on. i had a very snowy picture on all of my channels. they refreshed my converter box, and it died, never came back up. they were supposed to send a mtech out to me that wednesday after 5.

I decided to take off work early to kinda pickup. at 5 i called to see if they were still coming, they cancelled my work order, they attributed my problem to an outage. it stated in the notes that it was the box!!

i reschedule for the following day. i call at 8pm that thursday, they cancelled it once again because of an outage. the notes still said the same thing. so i go ahead and reschedule for the saturday. I got a call back at 7 pm friday telling me that no technicians were available, a lot of them were on vacation, so they cancelled it. they wanted to reschedule again for tuesday the 20th after 5pm. i said go ahead.

so today, i go to work, im here for about 30 minutes and i get a call. theyre technician is at my door. at 8:30. i told them after 5pm. i tried to reschedule again, this time i got told that i was going to have to wait until the tuesday after new years and that they be out between 8:00-10:00. Erm i actually go to work to make money at normal times so i wont be and, and what kind of BS is this that i have to wait another two weeks.

they told me that there was nothing they could do, then i asked to speak to their supervisor, then i asked to speak to their boss. finally i ended up with the regional service manager.

20 minutes later i had a tech at my door with a new box for me. it took less than 10 minutes to switch out the boxes. and im going to get a good chunk off of my bill.

CaptainBennett · #14 12-21-2005, 02:48 PM

i feel your pain man. Right now I have the gf waiting at home to have my high definition channels fixed. They claim they came by twice this week and fixed it by using the box outside the bldg, but to no avail.

Hopefully, things will go better for me than you.

CaptainBennett · #15 12-22-2005, 11:42 AM

So the cable guys came, left and did nothing. I'm leaving for vacation and when I return, I am going to be livid if they dont get off their butts and fix my cable.

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