Are we overpaying for internet?

Senator McCain introduced a bill into congress today, requiring Cable Television to offer al carte programming choices, and also to prohibit Networks from closing down their over the air broadcast channels and turning them into Pay Cable Channels.

NBC/Universal owns the lowest rated Broadcast Network, and the highest rated Cable Network (USA). I am not sure what is to prevent them from acquiriing new shows for USA, and putting reality show junk on their broadcast channel. It seems like basically there strategy already.

My girlfriend and I were recently paying about $73/month for cable internet through Comcast (no TV service, just internet). Obviously this is way more than we should have been paying. She had called them up once or twice seeing what they could do for us, any specials running, etc., and they basically said to fuck off. So we decided she should cancel and we should switch the service to my name to get the $29.99/month(+fees) for 6 months "new customer" package. She called them up and just by threatening to cancel got our rate reduced to $40/month for a full year, at a slightly higher speed than the aforementioned new customer package.

It's a retarded dance but it works. Just call them and threaten to cancel, and if you live with multiple people, you're not making an idle threat.

Quote: AcesAndEights

My girlfriend and I were recently paying about $73/month for cable internet through Comcast (no TV service, just internet).

My cable company charges $75/month for 75 Mbps Internet (goes up $5 a year for the next two years). Modem is supplied but $5 /month to rent a router. They will usually include "Over the Air" TV stations for free. It doesn't raise their expenses significantly to throw in those channels, and they have the opportunity to rent you set top boxes, DVR's, and Pay per View movies.

You didn't specify, but I suspect your are talking about 15-20 Mbs service.


The VOIP service supplied by the cable company seems to be a bit of a rip off. A Magic Jack is $60 for the first year ($5 a month), and my Cable company charges much more than that in taxes and fees alone.

Telephone Federal Subscriber Line Charge .....$8.50 (not a tax, it is a FCC allowable fee that goes straight to cable company)
Federal Excise Tax .......................................................$0.26
Federal Universal Service Fund ................................$1.32
State Sales Tax .............................................................$0.30
State Gross Receipts Tax ............................................$1.97
State Telecom Relay Surcharge ...............................$0.08
City 911 Fee .....................................................................$1.25
Total = $13.68

Quote: AcesAndEights

So we decided she should cancel and we should switch the service to my name to get the $29.99/month(+fees) for 6 months "new customer" package. She called them up and just by threatening to cancel got our rate reduced to $40/month for a full year, at a slightly higher speed than the aforementioned new customer package. It's a retarded dance but it works. Just call them and threaten to cancel, and if you live with multiple people, you're not making an idle threat.

The cable company usually has a initial teaser rate, then follow up rates for years 2 and 3. With my company those are $40/$45/$50 for 25 Mbs internet. After the third year it goes to retail rate of $89. Retail is like "rack rate" for a hotel room. Only with a cable company you simply need to call them and tell them you won't pay that much. That rate is basically only paid by people who are oblivious. Sometimes it is not even necessary to threaten to drop the service and switch the owner. Just ask for a "retention specialist". They can make a decent profit at the 3rd year rate, and they should give you that rate. They will rarely go back to the teaser rate.

Quote: Pacomartin

My cable company charges $75/month for 75 Mbps Internet (goes up $5 a year for the next two years). Modem is supplied but $5 /month to rent a router.

We had been renting a modem until I moved in; I fucking hate these rental agreements as you can usually purchase the same thing for about 6 months of rental fees (IME). I bought one used from a friend, installed it, and then we promptly kept paying to rent the one that was sitting on our living room floor, functionless. We fixed that mistake with this recent call too.

Quote:

They will usually include "Over the Air" TV stations for free. It doesn't raise their expenses significantly to throw in those channels, and they have the opportunity to rent you set top boxes, DVR's, and Pay per View movies.

We have a traditional antenna to get OTA channels OTA, although we rarely watch.

Quote:

You didn't specify, but I suspect your are talking about 15-20 Mbs service.

Honestly I'm not sure as the account is in her name and I've never looked over her shoulder on the account (should have). I'm reasonably certain it's 20Mbps though.

Quote:

The cable company usually has a initial teaser rate, then follow up rates for years 2 and 3. With my company those are $40/$45/$50 for 25 Mbs internet. After the third year it goes to retail rate of $89. Retail is like "rack rate" for a hotel room. Only with a cable company you simply need to call them and tell them you won't pay that much. That rate is basically only paid by people who are oblivious. Sometimes it is not even necessary to threaten to drop the service and switch the owner. Just ask for a "retention specialist". They can make a decent profit at the 3rd year rate, and they should give you that rate. They will rarely go back to the teaser rate.

Sounds very similar to our situation. They wouldn't give us the $29.99 but came close. Hopefully we'll never pay more than this moving forward.

Quote: AcesAndEights

We had been renting a modem until I moved in; I fucking hate these rental agreements as you can usually purchase the same thing for about 6 months of rental fees (IME).

Std definition set top box is $60 year. You can buy a used one for $30-$50, but our cable company will not permit us to use our own. Legally after they have collected 100% of the purchase price in rental fees, you should be allowed to buy the equipment for the same 100% of the price. That should be all the price gouging permitted for equipment.

Quote: AcesAndEights

We have a traditional antenna to get OTA channels OTA, although we rarely watch.

We have virtually no antenna reception beyond PBS.

OTA includes CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, PBS, My Network TV, ION, CW, Local News, Religious stations, and Weather; Spanish Telemundo, Univision and, TeleFutura, plus Me-TV, THIStv, Retro-TV, Cozi TV, and Antenna TV for oldies.

I figure that's enough TV to watch sports, veg out, and catch the news & weather. You can rent DVD's or watch Netflix for anything else.

The kids just want to be able to purchase HBO To Go as a stand alone product so they can watch "Game of Thrones". They don't want 50 commercial channels. But HBO is part of TimeWarner, and they can't endanger the bottom line of the larger corporate interest.

I live in Ohio. My total bill is $45.34 (internet only, no bundle) from Wide Open West, or WOW.

I call every 12 months to negotiate a discount. I am currently receiving (-$10) off p/month.

I still feel like I'm being ripped off??

Quote: MakingBook

I live in Ohio. My total bill is $45.34 (internet only, no bundle) from Wide Open West, or WOW.

I call every 12 months to negotiate a discount. I am currently receiving (-$10) off p/month.

I still feel like I'm being ripped off??

I feel that is a reasonable charge based on my experiences here on the west coast. But everything should be cheaper in the midwest, so maybe you are getting ripped off?

Quote: MakingBook

I live in Ohio. My total bill is $45.34 (internet only, no bundle) from Wide Open West, or WOW. I call every 12 months to negotiate a discount. I am currently receiving (-$10) off p/month. I still feel like I'm being ripped off??

Our local company cost $39.99/month for 25 Mbs (that includes a modem, but no router). But taxes and fees are extra ($2.05), and the price goes up $5/year for the next two years.
Cable Taxes and Fees
Franchise Fee .$1.69
Regulatory Fee .$0.06
State Sales Tax .$0.30

So your bill seems reasonable if you are getting a decent speed. I've heard of people paying double that amount.

I paid $15/mo. for cable at my last residence. That was the teaser rate for Internet. Cable was "gotten" when the guy put the Internet in. (Yes, I know, I'm a horrible criminal). Ended up leeching off a neighbor's wifi network so was essentially paying $15/mo. for cable.

Quote: theodores

(Yes, I know, I'm a horrible criminal)

The cable companies would make more mistakes in the old days of analog cable. I moved into a place once and plugged into the cable on a whim after two months. I was surprised to get channels. They figured it out a year later and turned it off.

But if you watch TV on hulu and netflix, and even do a low tech solution like plug your laptop into the back of a TV, you don't even need a SmartTV. You can use a cheap Skype VOIP solution (or even Magic Jack). It is possible to take care of all your communication needs fairly cheaply.


If you don't know about it, these bluetooth enabled phones from www.vtechphones.com are $69.95 . They will allow you to charge up to two cell phone lines near the base set, and the incoming calls will ring through the 4 handsets. A video display will tell you which cell phone is calling. You also have the option of plugging in a land line or VOIP phone to the base set. The advantage is that when charging your cell phone at home, you don't have to run through the house to where it is charging to answer it. Also, many people have "dead spots" for cell coverage in their basements. This system eliminates that problem, because you put the base set where you get good cell coverage. You can get more comfortable use out of your cell phones when at home, and purchase MagicJack for $70 bucks as a back up system.