How much do you pay for cable?

[TikiGoddess]

We are paying around $58 a month through Comcast for 'standard' cable -- 50 or so channels. We don't get any of the premium channels or music channels.

So we were thinking about switching over to Dish network because we could get a deal through AT&T. It was going to be about $5 less a month but we would have gotten 200 channels AND a DVR. The guy came out to install it today, looked around our yard, and said it wasn't possible -- unless we were willing to but down a tree or two. Darn!

I know we had someone come out to the house (I think it was someone from Directv) a couple years back and they said we could do it. I'm thinking of calling them and seeing if we could get service but their prices are about the same as what we have right now.

So... am I overreacting? It just seems like we're paying a fortune to Comcast for the services we're receiving -- AND their prices are going up next month another $4!! It'll be $54.99 a month (plus taxes and fees -- at least $60)

What are you paying and what services do you get?
TikiG

[kakn7294]

We have the Comcast "Triple Play" - cable, internet, and phone service. We pay about $150 per month with all the fees and before any pay-per-view events. The cable is digital service and includes the basic and expanded channels, the sports package including NFL Network (can't live without it!) and HBO (came with the package - didn't really want it and never watch it). I'm not sure how many channels we have - probably about 175 channels not including the music channels and including the HD channels which I can't access (no HD tv).

[Ian]

We just recently switched from the Comcast Triple Play package to Verizon FIOS.

For the Comcast we paid about $165 a month. That was for phone with unlimited calling nationwide, high-speed 'Net access, and digital cable T.V. We also had HBO, Cinemax, and Starz, an HD box, and a DVR.

With FIOS we have the same phone service, the 'Net access has higher ul/dl speeds than Comcast did, and the T.V. has more channels overall. Plus we have two HD boxes now and we still get the DVR. The other benefit is is that FIOS is true 1080p high-def, as opposed to Comcast which is only 720. I can tell you from experience that the picture quality difference is significant.

Another huge plus for me was that with FIOS you get the NFL Network included. I didn't have that anymore with Comcast.

The FIOS service costs us about $140 a month.

One thing I will admit (Christine, don't say I told you so!) is that Verizon's customer service is really no better than Comcast's. So far I've been equally disappointed ...

Just FYI ... not sure if you're a sports fan or not, but check before you switch to a dish that you'll still get all the channels you need for sports. Like with me, if I go to a dish I lose all my Flyers, Sixers, and Phillies coverage.

[BronxTigger]

We have the Comcast "Triple Play" - cable, internet, and phone service. We pay about $150 per month with all the fees and before any pay-per-view events. The cable is digital service and includes the basic and expanded channels, the sports package including NFL Network (can't live without it!) and HBO (came with the package - didn't really want it and never watch it). I'm not sure how many channels we have - probably about 175 channels not including the music channels and including the HD channels which I can't access (no HD tv).

I also have Triple Play, but mine is from Cablevision (Optimum). I don't have the extra add-ons like HBO or NFL. I also don't have an HD tv. The total cost is around $100 each month.

[MomPoppins]

We pay about $135 for internet and digital cable, including a DVR. We have around 250 channels, plus on demand stuff. We are with Cox Cable.

Good luck!

[conorsmom2000]

We had switched from Optonline to Verizon FIOS back in January, then switched back in September. Verizon's customer service was awful, and our bill went through the roof. We had our phone, internet and tv through them, and though we cut out all the extras (HBO, etc., )that we had with Optonline, I couldn't get our bill below $200. We spent hours on the phone with customer service trying to get things we were promised and we got nowhere. One day Optonline showed up at our door, offered us their "win them back" package and we went with it - we now have our phone, internet (their "boost" package) and TV through them and we pay $125 a month! :thumbsup: They threw in the DVR service free for a year, and to make up for losing the Boomerang channel (Mike and Conor's favorite :blush: ) they gave us Disney on-demand free for a year.

So, we'll see what happens in a year, when the promotion is over. Supposedly our bill will be around $150 a month (if we dump Disney on-demand) but I've been so fried by these companies the past few years, I'll believe it when I see it.

[RedheadWriter]

DirecTV $62 with taxes included for theier Choice Extra package (about 100 channels, xm radio and all kinds of stuff...I love it.
I was paying $102 for Cox Digital Cbale and got less than now.

[baby minnie's mommy]

We get a Comcast Triple Play - $33 each for cable, phone, & Internet. For our area it includes higher channels like both the Disney ones, plus HBO. We also pay a small fee for HD service.

You might want to call Comcast and tell them you need to bring costs down - they may be able to give you a promotion you weren't aware of.

Years ago when my family had Direct TV it would lose the picture when it rained! Which is rough, because it rains a lot here and that's when you're inside watching tv. Maybe it's improved, but I'd ask someone who has one before deciding on a dish.

[RedheadWriter]

baby minnie's mommy wrote: Years ago when my family had Direct TV it would lose the picture when it rained! Which is rough, because it rains a lot here and that's when you're inside watching tv. Maybe it's improved, but I'd ask someone who has one before deciding on a dish.


I have lost my DirecTV singnal once since last April.It was for 5 minutes and was during a thunderstorm that was directly over my house. So far so good!:)

[Hammer]

No, Ian, I'll be nice. I'm still trying to get the DSL removed from my Verizon bill. I just feel better knowing it's not me!

As Ian eluded, I work for Comcast, so I no longer have a cable or internet bill as I receive these services (full digital package with all the premium channels) for free as an employee. Before that, I paid about $60 for standard cable. I did not use them for internet before joining Comcast.

[princessjojo]

We would love to have cable service but can't get it at our home, although we can see the house at the end of their service line from our bedroom window (basically 200yd away at the MOST, across the street!!). That said, we have DirecTv as well. For the most part, we've been pleased and only lost service during a severe thunderstorm like RedHeadWriter said, and a couple years ago when we had enough snow to cover the face of the dish and we just knocked it off and kept on going.

We though pay $128/mth and have the premium package with all movie channels, DVR service so I don't miss anything, & 5 receiver boxes (although only 1 is a DVR box) but no additional sports packages. If we need sports that we don't get, we just go across the street and watch at my dad's house where they have Time-Warner Cable.

We don't have any phone service with our DirecTv package, unlike that that's available with other cable services and would love to do away with our phone line, but with our home alarm service and DirecTv we have to have a phone line weather we use it or not and we don't. Telemarketers use our phone line more than we do.

Don't know if I've given you any helpful info or not, but I guess there's good and bad in all of them. Good luck with your choice!!!

[Speedy1998]

Dish Network guy here. $74.95 including taxes for 250 channels 2 receivers and DVR. Though soon I will be paying a little over $80 per month, we got an HDTV for Christmas and want to get the HDTV programming.

[MsMin]

We pay about 125 a month and that's no phone. I am not impressed w/ Cox phone service. My mom and sister switched to it in 05 before Katrina and guess who didn't have service after the storm??? There phone goes out often so I still haven't made the switch to that bundle.
Mine includes the internet, digital pkg w/ DVR and we get a discount b/c I"m @ LSU. I have the service plan b/c they let me add it when our cables were burned out by lightening right before the storm too. I'm not a big TV fan so I think it's a lot of money..... but I love the DVR and hate watching TV w/o it b/c I fast forward through the commercials.

[DisneyLandMomma]

We have Charter Digital cable and we pay around $120 for phone, internet and cable, which we get like EVERY channel including music and on demand stuff. For $11 extra we could get a DVR but we haven't done it yet.

[DizneyRox]

Righ now, we're at about $150 for the Comcast triple play, and if there was anything I could do to NOT use Comcast I would do it.

DirectTV and Dish couldn't get anywhere with all the trees, and their INternet was hardly what I would call broadband.

I knew what I was getting into and Comcast didn't dissappoint. They were 2 hours late for the install and scewed it up when they did it. At least they are consistent.

Hopefully U-Verse comes through these parts, I'm not a big fan of Verizon either. I do miss Cox, their customer service was top notch, but I do think we were paying a little more. It was worth it though.

[jillluvsdisney]

I have Time Warner. Knock on wood, I have never had problems with the service. I pay 98 dollars monthly for basic cable (no premium movie channels) and high speed Internet. I do not have a home phone so I do not have digital phone with my bill. I think cable is the biggest rip off but I'm a slave to it and could never live without it. :mad:

By the way....this was my 500th post.:cheer:

[prprincess]

We have the Comcast triple play package as well, and are paying about $150 per month. It would be cheaper had I just went with the regular digital package, but I upgraded to the one with more premium channels.

Hubby is dying for the FIOS cables to be laid in our area, but there are no immediate plans for that. But when it finally happens, we are definitely going to switch over to Verizon.

[KarenP]

We pay $58 for basic cable with Comcast.

We have tvs in our living room, kitchen, and family room and we each have one in our bedroom. Having so may televisions is why I have not switched to anything else. It is my understanding that I would have to pay for a box for each television.

[kakn7294]

We pay $58 for basic cable with Comcast.

We have tvs in our living room, kitchen, and family room and we each have one in our bedroom. Having so may televisions is why I have not switched to anything else. It is my understanding that I would have to pay for a box for each television.Hey Karen, you can have digital cable on only your primary television and only pay for one box. That's what we do. 4 of our tv's all get the basic cable channels while the main tv in the family room has the digital service box and gets the digital services we pay for. We have Comcast and I think we live fairly near you - I'm in Brighton Twp.

[Dakota Rose]

We had Dish for almost 5 years at both our old house in CA and our current home. My suggestion would be to wait a month or two and then call Dish again and have another installer come out. When we first had our Dish installed, the installers were great. About a year later we had some problems and had a guy come out. He basically refused to do anything saying our dish wasn't installed properly and he couldn't touch it and we shouldn't have been able to get the service, blah blah blah. After a few rounds with customer service I finally got a manager to come out and he fixed the problem. So my advice would be to try again because maybe the installer was just lazy like the guy who came to our house.

BTW, we have Midcontinent now and pay $140 for digital cable on 4 TVs w/2 DVRs, high-speed internet and phone with long-distance and all the "options".

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I recently switched to Verizon. I've had a few glitches since I switched but they resolved them quickly. I pay about $150 for phone, internet & TV with almost all premium channels.
I had a horrible time getting my refund from ComCast. I actually had to go to the Better Business Bureau to get the amount I had overpaid. I swore I'd never go back to them, that I'd buy a dish first if I didn't like Verizon.

[Ed]

We've had Dish Network for about 5 years now, and I'm about to dump them and switch to DirecTV.

I honestly don't know exactly what we pay per month, because that's all handled by my resident bookkeeper (aka my DW) and we pay a full year at a time.

We've got a middle-of-the-line package with 3 standard receivers and one HD receiver. I can predict thunderstorms in our area when they're an hour away, because we lost the signal, often for an hour or more. And one receiver keeps giving me a message about a problem with the switch (which mysteriously goes away when I cycle the power to the receiver).

Their so-called "customer service" is pitiful, if and when you can get through to a live human being through their aggravating automated switchboard. I've tried several times to negotiate an upgrade with them, pointing out their ads promising the sun and moon to all new subscribers; their response has always been "Sorry - - that's only for NEW customers. You're out of luck. Thanks for choosing Dish Network." Yeah, right!

And last but not least, when we upgraded to HD service about two years ago, one of their techs managed to put his foot right through the ceiling in my garage, creating a 4' x 4' unwanted skylight to the attic, and it took them almost four months to finally pay for the repair.

Goodbye, Dish. I won't miss you.

[Lorraine444]

Interesting thread Kathy. I guess you can call me cheap, or loving putting the Xtra $$ in my savings account. The shows that I watch are on regular T.V. ,if they weren't I give them up.
T.V. is something I refuse to spend an outrageous amt. on.
Here it goes...
Cox cable - basic, basic 27 channels (all don't come in) = 12.00
Cox telephone - with only caller I.d. (if my phone is busy they can call back) = 25.00
Cox high speed internet = 25.00
my bill is around 69.00 with taxes....
I good with this.

[Dakota Rose]

We've had Dish Network for about 5 years now, and I'm about to dump them and switch to DirecTV.

I honestly don't know exactly what we pay per month, because that's all handled by my resident bookkeeper (aka my DW) and we pay a full year at a time.

We've got a middle-of-the-line package with 3 standard receivers and one HD receiver. I can predict thunderstorms in our area when they're an hour away, because we lost the signal, often for an hour or more. And one receiver keeps giving me a message about a problem with the switch (which mysteriously goes away when I cycle the power to the receiver).

Their so-called "customer service" is pitiful, if and when you can get through to a live human being through their aggravating automated switchboard. I've tried several times to negotiate an upgrade with them, pointing out their ads promising the sun and moon to all new subscribers; their response has always been "Sorry - - that's only for NEW customers. You're out of luck. Thanks for choosing Dish Network." Yeah, right!

And last but not least, when we upgraded to HD service about two years ago, one of their techs managed to put his foot right through the ceiling in my garage, creating a 4' x 4' unwanted skylight to the attic, and it took them almost four months to finally pay for the repair.

Goodbye, Dish. I won't miss you.

We got rid of Dish almost 2 years ago. It was the best decision we ever made. We had similar problems to yours and customer service always stunk.

Anyhow, we have Midcontinent now and pay $150/month for broadband, digital phone service and digital cable with 300 channels plus premium movies and music channels. We had been paying $80/mo for 150 channels with Dish, so this is a better deal (and better service) for sure.

[DizNee143]

im another one with comcast triple play..i have the basic package one..we dont get any channels over channel 98...
the bill is $107..

[AvonleaCF]

I pay $130/month for high-speed Internet and cable (basic package, no premium channels, but more channels than I watch/need, plus I pay an extra $10 for the DVR service). Not sure how much it would be without the Internet, since they reduce the rate when you bundle. I have Cablevision/Optimum Online.

[magicofdisney]

We have DirecTV and pay about $96/mos. We get well over 200 channels. This also includes there HD package and the DVR package (we have 4 DVRs). We do not get locals, but I believe that's about $10 more/mos. Our $96 does include NBC-DNS (both in HD and SD).

My husband will occasionally order the NFL package (between $200-$300, not sure) and that's a separate fee.

We love having DirecTV. :number1:

[crazeedizneefinatic]

We live in Pittsburgh and have Comcast. We switched from Dish which I absolutely hated hated, hated. always lost signal and always downloaded info during a show. It was terrible. We suffered with that for about 7 years until we got Comcast. We pay $72 including taxes for Expanded Digital preferred and we also get HBO and Starz. We also have an HD box. This also includes high speed internet. We did not do the phone service and don't think I ever would, my parents have it and the sound is awful, it buzzes and sound hollow when they talk. I have found they have pretty good customer service, although we have not had any real "problems". You can negotiate prices. I have found the best deals with them. One thing I do not like is the 12 month deals. We need to call every year to extend the contract, they have given us the same price within 2-3 dollars so I don't know why they do this, this is the only downfall I found.

[MegaDisney]

I pay about $125 a month for Digital Cable with DVR, Showtime, High Speed "Premium" Internet Access and Digital VOI Telephone with free long distance through Cox in Phoenix. The only problem I have had is a couple of times my DVR cleared all my recordings and programing! That was a pain!

Cox has excellent customer service!

When I had Direct TV I would lose the signal all the time!

[princessgirls]

We have Cablevision like Jen (Conorsmom) and pay $117.54 a month for their "Triple Play with HBO and one box. Now Cablevision took away TLC, A&E, and Animal Planet for those TV's that do not have a box. Well, we have 4 TV's and at 6.22 a box that's another $18.66 a month for the three TV's with no boxes, just cable to them. Those TV's don't get HBO either.
We have Tivo and purchased the lifetime service three years ago. No DVR needed.
I can hardly wait until November when Cablevision jacks it to me when the triple play expires.
That is one greedy company, and they are the only game in town. Direct TV is terrible and Verizon still has a long way to go before it can really compete with Cablevision.
Julie

[SurferStitch]

We pay $124/month for digital cable with HD channels, On Demand, DVR and high speed 15MB internet.

We have around 250+ channels, premium channels, and HD channels (including premium HD channels). We love the DVR! Our internet service is ridiculously fast, too.

We were actually paying about $25/month more for only 10 MB internet with cable, but they upgraded us to the 15 MB and reduced our monthly bill. Hey, I won't complain!

We ditched our home phone and only use our iPhones now. It's so nice not to get telemarketing calls (until that changes).

[Young@Heart]

We were paying $96/month for comcast. We got rid of HBO 4 months ago and they took half the other chanels with it. :mad: Oh, and our bill STILL hasn't decreased, even after several calls! Is it any surprise we're switching to Direct TV in 2 weeks? :thumbsup: