Why is cable so expencive

[Two Rivers]

We have cable TV basic,phone service, and Internet with Mediacom. Our bill jumped 50.00 a month. This is crazy. How do I deal with this.
It seems all the cable company's have hidden charges that do not show up until you sign on. Why not just be open with the charges up front instead of putting it in fine print so small it takes a magnifying glass to read.

This jump is not the one you receive after the year contract is over it just seems like corp. greed to me. The service is the same just at a higher price..
I have been looking at other cable services and they all seem to be deceptive to a point.

Mediacom said if we cancel our service then they would give us the lower going special rate. Why not just give us this rate now instead of having us cancel the service first. Makes no sense to me.

[jyl]

I've been looking at dropping the phone part of the cable bundle, and using an Internet phone - some here like them, I think Hugh is one.

The cable company makes it look like dropping the phone part doesn't save enough to make it worth bothering, but someone who works in the cable biz told me the hidden part - a lot of the fees, taxes, and add-on charges that make upa good chunk of the bill go with the phone service, so they would get dropped too.

I have not checked this, but you might want to.

[vash]

i use Direct TV.

my Sat box is acting up. i rent it from them. getting it fixed is damn near impossible. they charge you to show up to fix it or repair it. i hit that damn reset button bi-weekly.

i am thinking of cancelling, and then restarting the contract with a new box. PIA. i wish i hated TV. but i dont..i love it.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by jyl

I've been looking at dropping the phone part of the cable bundle, and using an Internet phone - some here like them, I think Hugh is one.

The cable company makes it look like dropping the phone part doesn't save enough to make it worth bothering, but someone who works in the cable biz told me the hidden part - a lot of the fees, taxes, and add-on charges that make upa good chunk of the bill go with the phone service, so they would get dropped too.

I have not checked this, but you might want to.

We dropped cable completely, then went back for Internet only. Even pay extra for the internet only, we are still paying less. DISH costs less and offers more. We have a Vonage line which is less than the cost of the Cable phone service.

Be careful about the cheapest VOIP phones. I bought 4 Nettalk phones last year and 2 of the devices died.

[Hugh R]

My phone is internet in that it is part of Time Warner's cable bundled phone, internet, and tv. The opnly down side is that the phone modem like the other modem plugs into the wall, so if power goes out the phone goes out, unless I hook it up to my gererator.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by vash

i use Direct TV.

my Sat box is acting up. i rent it from them. getting it fixed is damn near impossible. they charge you to show up to fix it or repair it. i hit that damn reset button bi-weekly.

i am thinking of cancelling, and then restarting the contract with a new box. PIA. i wish i hated TV. but i dont..i love it.

Switch to DISH. They let me "turn on" the repair service and then have a service call. I just upgraded my recievers so that I could use Sling boxes. You don't need to buy the sling adapters from them, just get the 700 series DVR. With the sling adapter, the unit will stream video from your DVR to iPhone, Android device or a Web Browser. No extra charge per month. The sling adapters are available for less than 1/2 the price from Ebay.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

My phone is internet in that it is part of Time Warner's cable bundled phone, internet, and tv. The opnly down side is that the phone modem like the other modem plugs into the wall, so if power goes out the phone goes out, unless I hook it up to my gererator.

I'd take a closer look at your modem/phone box. Usually they have a battery built in.

[homer944]

Having worked on the corporate side of a cable company I know where some of these costs come from. I can tell you, when it comes to video most cable companies are making maybe $1 - $2 per customer at the most. Every few years contracts are redone and the channel providers are always wanting more for programming. For the typical basic package they are usually losing money because of the fees charged to them.

Where cable companies make their money is in Internet & video on demand/PPV. They also make it on HD, but not as much. There isn't much profit on the phone side, but it is more then the video side. It is true about the phone side having most of the fee's/taxes. It is a pretty good chuck if you have it included in a budle.

Myself I have cable with HD & all the premium channels, phone & 50mb internet. I refuse to use their cable boxes so I have my own media server with ceton cards & xbox's at each tv. I can record about 500 hours of HD right now which is more then any cable box will give you. Plus I dont have any monthly rental charges for their boxes or remotes.

[Two Rivers]

I was looking at magic jack but there seems to be mixed views. Some like it and others dog it.
And there is two or three different ways to go there also. I took me about an hour of reading there hype to find out there is a ten dollar fee to keep your phone number.
Why not just be up front with that in the beginning. I just get a bad taste when the hidden costs are hard to determine through all the hype crap.

[homer944]

Magic jack is OK, but it depends on your Internet connection. Lose your Internet or if someone is downloading something and your phone will sound like crap.

[fxeditor]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

My phone is internet in that it is part of Time Warner's cable bundled phone, internet, and tv. The opnly down side is that the phone modem like the other modem plugs into the wall, so if power goes out the phone goes out, unless I hook it up to my gererator.

Hey Hugh,
You didn't get a battery back up when you got the phone service? When I decided to go VOIP, ATT Uverse sent me out a huge UPS to plug into the Modem. Try calling Time Warner and see if they have something similar.

Take care,
Michael

[jcommin]

Cable cost is a joke. This is my biggest expense, second only to my rent bill. My electric and gas bill are much cheaper than cable. I have internet and cable bundled. I do not have or need a land based phone. My cell fills that gap.

I wish I could cherry pick the few cable stations I watch rather than the 500+ stations that are available. I do like the On Demand movies. Saves me a trip to the Cinema.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by jcommin

I wish I could cherry pick the few cable stations I watch rather than the 500+ stations that are available.

For the love of dog and all that is holey, this. We only have cable because the wife has to watch her shows

[motion]

I would imagine that the cable, sat and phone companies all know the writing is on the wall, and that their services will be obsolete in a few short years. Their business model is now obsolete. I'm guessing they are gouging on the way out, and not putting money back into service/infrastructure.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by jcommin

Cable cost is a joke. This is my biggest expense, second only to my rent bill. My electric and gas bill are much cheaper than cable. I have internet and cable bundled. I do not have or need a land based phone. My cell fills that gap.

I wish I could cherry pick the few cable stations I watch rather than the 500+ stations that are available. I do like the On Demand movies. Saves me a trip to the Cinema.

I'm pretty sure DISH has a plan like that.

[Superman]

Because they can.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by motion

I would imagine that the cable, sat and phone companies all know the writing is on the wall, and that their services will be obsolete in a few short years. Their business model is now obsolete. I'm guessing they are gouging on the way out, and not putting money back into service/infrastructure.

au contraire -- they are moving into becoming content creators or at least, brokers

cable co.s are usually local monopolies - that is why the packages cost so much

BTW - I own shares of one of the worst offenders, Comcast -- they make LOTS of money

[Flieger]

Well, the TV channels in my apartment here at school are pretty limited. I have pretty much stopped watching TV. Even when I go home. I only turn it on during dinner for a couple hours a night.

Now that the ALMS races are online, I could easily see living without TV.

It is quiet or with iTunes running I can have music without commercials.

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by Two Rivers

We have cable TV basic,phone service, and Internet with Mediacom. Our bill jumped 50.00 a month. This is crazy.

Are you one of those suckers who went for the...

SIGN UP NOW AND
GET CABLE, PHONE, AND
INTERNET FOR
ONLY
$69.99 a month
............................for 12 months.........................................

...deal... and you're at month 13 and that $50 monthly increase is your reward for a sticking with them past 12 months?

If so, I'd like to ask, "didn't you see that coming?" ... and add, "yes, it's crazy all right."

Not poking fun at you, but I see those sucker deals on TV and get them in the mail all the time for various things like cable and satellite TV, internet, phone, etc. and I continually shake my head thinking, "this idiocy must work or they wouldn't be offering it."

Lotsa suckers out there, though.

[MBAtarga]

On average, one single channel, ESPN, is over HALF of your cable/dish/satellite/ip-tv provider cost. And there's no way any provider could offer a package without it.