Saving a few bucks on cable bill

[tomz]

We have Brighthouse for TV, phone, and cable. Last month the monthly bill went from $130 to $140. Bill and previous bill in hand, I went to the local Brighthouse office and asked what happened. The customer service guy started playing around on his computer as customers backed up behind me. After a few minutes, he looked up and said "I think you're going to like this. I found a deal for you." Bottom line: my new bill is $105 a month. I guess they really want to stop losing so many customers. Moral of the story - if you don't like what they charge you, don't be afraid to ask for a better deal. They won't give you a break automatically.

 

[tmm99]

I've found that out too, so I now back to my cable company every so often to check the latest promotion deals, but still, I cannot believe I pay so much for cable when I don't watch TV all that much.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Yeah, I tried that with Time Warner. They hiked the price yet again, so I called and they said that's the best price they offer (unless of course you're a new customer, which are charged considerably less than if you're a loyal long term customer). So I'm now looking into the best alternatives to cable, which will be some combination of OTA, streaming, and a DVR.

 

[tomz]

Here's a recent article from Business Insider: about the decline in cable subscribers.

All the major TV providers lost a collective 113,000 subscribers in Q3 2013. That doesn't sound like a huge deal — but it includes internet subscribers, too.

 

[Dawg52]

Here's a recent article from Business Insider: about the decline in cable subscribers.

I can believe it. When there is free TV and $7.99 a month Netflix, it's hard to justify the high cost of cable TV.

 

[jebmke]

I can believe it. When there is free TV and $7.99 a month Netflix, it's hard to justify the high cost of cable TV.

Cable is cheaper than a divorce lawyer.

 

[travelover]

Ditto for phone service. If you don't ask, you won't get a discount.

 

[Dawg52]

Cable is cheaper than a divorce lawyer.

Probably so. That's something I don't have to worry about.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

My MIL has Brighthouse in Spring Hill, FL, and we jokingly call it Dimbulb.
Slow, complicated to use, and frequent problems.

 

[lemming]

My "free" tv is just not working out for me anymore. My antenna is only picking up 5 stations unless I move it to get 4 diff stations and lose the picture on the first batch. I'm ready to sign up for cable (FIOS actually) for the first time in my life but you guys have me scared.
They are advertising 99.00 for phone/internet/tv.Add the taxes they don't mention and it will be about $40 more then I am paying for now-phone and internet. Worth it I guess for the aggravation relief .

 

[timo2]

My "free" tv is just not working out for me anymore. My antenna is only picking up 5 stations unless I move it to get 4 diff stations and lose the picture on the first batch.

could you have two antennas?

 

[lemming]

Two antennas? I don't think so. I think I only have one connection outlet.
I am going to put a second tv in the living room downstairs anyway and I'm pretty sure the reception is even worse down there.
I don't know why I put this rant in the thread that is saying how to save money, sorry for sidetrack.

 

[F4mandolin]

I was on Comcast the first 2 years we were here. I told them at the end of the contract that we would be moving to someone else if their prices (which had just jumped again) weren't lowered. We went to Directv. When cancelling....Comcast THEN offered a lower rate. Too late. I knew at the end of this 2 years that it will be the end of cable for us. I only want to pay for what I use.

 

[JP.mpls]

I can believe it. When there is free TV and $7.99 a month Netflix, it's hard to justify the high cost of cable TV.

Dawg52,
I'm doing the same thing. My cable TV bill slowly ramped up from $75 to close to $125/month, and there wasn't that much to see.

I still buy internet access from the cable company, and it is working out very well.

The big downfall to this strategy:
I don't get ESPS or the local baseball games. I miss that. I listen to football and baseball on the radio while working in the garage or around the house. I'm more productive, and I think I like it better. A football game is about 50% commercials anyway.


Take care,


JP

 

[clifp]

As my internet/cable bill moved up to $120. I started investigated options. I signed up for Direct TV, it would be cheaper for the first couple of years, but after that it would be a only slightly cheaper.

I called up the cable company told them "I am switching to Direct" viola my bill dropped to $95/month and they threw in a free on demand movie a month.

I had to call the cable company up a remind them about the free movie when they tried and charged me.

Interestingly enough the Direct TV was at Costco the last couple of months and when I told them my cable price, they said they could not help me. I said, oh but you already did "you saved me $25 me a month"

 

[keegs]

My (broadband only) cable bill went from $50 to $55 p/month about a year ago. Not sure how much leverage I have with them.

 

[JP.mpls]

My (broadband only) cable bill went from $50 to $55 p/month about a year ago. Not sure how much leverage I have with them.

Keegs,
Mine is only $40/month, but I haven't looked for a while. It has probably jumped to $60 by now.

They kind of have me on this. It is really fast problem free service, and I like the wireless router/modem setup that communicates with my laptop and Blue Ray players.

I can save $10/month by buying my own modem, but if I have problems they can blame my modem, so I've hesitated on doing that. I think nice ones are about $100.


JP

 

[keegs]

Keegs,
Mine is only $40/month, but I haven't looked for a while. It has probably jumped to $60 by now.

They kind of have me on this. It is really fast problem free service, and I like the wireless router/modem setup that communicates with my laptop and Blue Ray players.

I can save $10/month by buying my own modem, but if I have problems they can blame my modem, so I've hesitated on doing that. I think nice ones are about $100.


JP

Thanks JP... I'm getting about 15mbps with this cable and regarding service, they're much better than the local phone company. No Fios or other cable services in my area either and DSL is a bit slower, so this is the best bet I think.

I use internet access for the phone (Vonage) and I connected the TV to a small PC (running Windows Media Center) for streaming Charlie Rose, Comedy Central, Hulu and such.

 

[Dawg52]

Dawg52,
I'm doing the same thing. My cable TV bill slowly ramped up from $75 to close to $125/month, and there wasn't that much to see.

I still buy internet access from the cable company, and it is working out very well.

The big downfall to this strategy:
I don't get ESPS or the local baseball games. I miss that. I listen to football and baseball on the radio while working in the garage or around the house. I'm more productive, and I think I like it better. A football game is about 50% commercials anyway.

JP

That is the main downside. No ESPN or Golf Channel. Actually I won't be without cable totally. I'm planning on buying a condo around Orange Beach, AL soon and the condo fees include cable. It will just be when I'm home here in MS that I will be without cable. I certainly won't be able to justify cable living just part time here.

My (broadband only) cable bill went from $50 to $55 p/month about a year ago. Not sure how much leverage I have with them.

I pretty much have to use cable broadband too as At&t's internet in my subdivision is slow. They only offer the slower version here. But if I end up spending the majority of my time on the coast, I may just opt for the cheapest and slowest service just to have something while I'm here.

 

[JP.mpls]

Keegs,
I just checked. My Comcast internet service is $40/month. This includes the taxes and fees.

JP

 

[ERD50]

Two antennas? I don't think so. I think I only have one connection outlet.
I am going to put a second tv in the living room downstairs anyway and I'm pretty sure the reception is even worse down there.
I don't know why I put this rant in the thread that is saying how to save money, sorry for sidetrack.

Check out this thread - maybe the stations you are trying to get are VHF? This requires a VHF (generally larger) antenna unless you are in a very strong signal area.

-ERD50

 

[whitestick]

Two antennas? I don't think so. I think I only have one connection outlet.
I am going to put a second tv in the living room downstairs anyway and I'm pretty sure the reception is even worse down there.
I don't know why I put this rant in the thread that is saying how to save money, sorry for sidetrack.

All it takes is to bring the cables from your two antennas into a splitter/combiner and the common tap then goes to your tv. This was commonly done back in the day, when OTA was the only solution. Radio Shack should have one for about 15-20.

 

[scrabbler1]

Is there any way I can get my cable TV provider to stop sending me junk mail every week or two trying to get me to add services such as internet and phone, followed by phone calls from them trying to do the same? Why can't they STOP doing those wasteful things and cut my bill a few dollars a month? Also, my cable TV provider has as part of their basic cable a channel (the YES network) which includes a $3 monthly charge I cannot get out of. I on't watch the YES (sports) network but I am being charged for it as if it were a premium channel like HBO but unable to opt out of it without sacrificing nearly all of the remaining cable channels. I told one of their aforementioned telephone flunkies about this but all he wanted to do was to sell me MORE services in the name of "saving" me money.

On the flip side, I get lots of junk mail from my phone and internet service provider (Verizon) trying to get me to sign up for cable TV service and higher speed internet service. At least they don't call me all the time but between these two companies I get half of my junk mail which wears out my paper shredder and wastes my time disposing of it all. Can't they stop spending money to print and mail this garbage and cut my rate a few dollars a month?

How can I opt out of this endless stream of junk mail from both companies?

 

[zinger1457]

My (broadband only) cable bill went from $50 to $55 p/month about a year ago. Not sure how much leverage I have with them.

Just received a notice from my cable company that my internet rate was going up from $40 to $47 a month. Called and switched to their lowest tier plan $32/month. I really don't see any difference when Internet surfing but it is noticeable when downloading big files. What little video streaming I do seems to be OK. My cable company has been regularly increasing the speeds for each of their plans so the lower tier plan is actually where the mid tier plan was about 2-3 years ago.

 

[Bikerdude]

My basic cable is 26/mo plus 8 for Netflix. I buy the least amount of internet speed that I can get by on. I would have to be house bound 24/7 to spend 140/mo for cable tv.