Stickin' it to the cable man

Curtis said:

I am one of the "lucky" ones who has two of the big evil corporations to choose from; Fios and Xfinity.

Xfinity offered $49.95 for 50d/5u and it changed to $74.xx after a year
Fios offered 50d/50u for $39.99 and it goes to $47 after a year.

No brainer.

I wanted to cut cable as well, but Fios will only offer me $60/mo for 75/75, locked into a 2-year agreement.  If I were a new customer, I could get 100/100 for $39/mo with no annual contract. They treat loyal Comcast customers better then their own loyal customers!   Even if you can't match the price 1-1, how about a $60 for 100/100?  Yeesh.  

In reply to pinchvalve :

It's $150 a month out here for a 1000/40 connection, $126 for 100/10, $87 for 60/6, and $70 for a 30/3. All have data caps associated with them and there are no other options for providers. I mean I am sort of out in the country so according to the cable company I'm one lucky guy to have internet, but still. I don't do the 4k thing and it's enough to support two 1080p's streams and browse the internet reliably so I don't complain too much.

I don't miss Verizons bullE36 M3 but I do miss that sweet sweet symmetrical 75 Mbps connection, no caps, and $60 a month connection I had in California. Only up side is that the all-in-one FIOS modem/router was a raging hunk of crap and I don't need to deal with it anymore.

oldrotarydriver said:

szeis4cookie said:

maschinenbau said:

Comcast/Xfinity slave here. Never had true cable TV, we exclusively use streaming services.

I pay $78 for "75 Mbps" and whatever minimum basic channel set they force you to buy. I speed test regularly and it's rarely up to 10 Mbps. Recently got an email saying "Good news! We've increased your internet speed from 75 to 100 Mbps!"

Speed test is still under 10 Mbps. Guess how much their customer service over in India cares?  And threats to switch are empty because the only other option is ATT which is twice as much for "up to" 1.5 Mbps. 

 

Out of curiosity, do you own your own modem/router or do you rent from them, and how old are those two devices?  You may need a newer cable modem compliant with the DOCSIS 3.0 standard in order to take advantage of your higher speeds.

What Szeis4cookie said, but realize that not all DOCSIS 3.0 modems are equal.  The earlier modems like the SB6120 are only 4-channel bonding, a current SB6183 does 16-channels in the downstream (towards you, the user), and the 'new hotness', the SB8200, can bond up to 32 channels of DOCSIS 3.0 goodness for over a gigabit/sec of speed inbound.  The SB8200, in the right market, can also latch into the DOCSIS 3.1 spectrum for immediate future-proofing.

 

I didn't realize the state of the art had advanced so far, thanks for that. Might need to look into upgrading my SB6121.

We got a mailer announcing the arrival of FIOS. I called cable to see about them price matching.  The woman giggled and told me I couldn’t get FIOS on my block. She ended up being right.  

Wally said:

We got a mailer announcing the arrival of FIOS. I called cable to see about them price matching.  The woman giggled and told me I couldn’t get FIOS on my block. She ended up being right.  

I strongly suspect this is my issue as well, they know they're the only game in town other than AT & T, whose internet speeds don't allow for proper Poogling. 

Ditched cable in 2009. OTA tv, Netflix, and internet and I'm set. I have a free DVR program that gives me a program guide and allows me to schedule recordings just like an expensive service. 

Thanks for the reminder.  Getting back to my HTPC project tomorrow.

maschinenbau said:

Comcast/Xfinity slave here. Never had true cable TV, we exclusively use streaming services.

I pay $78 for "75 Mbps" and whatever minimum basic channel set they force you to buy. I speed test regularly and it's rarely up to 10 Mbps. Recently got an email saying "Good news! We've increased your internet speed from 75 to 100 Mbps!"

Speed test is still under 10 Mbps. Guess how much their customer service over in India cares?  And threats to switch are empty because the only other option is ATT which is twice as much for "up to" 1.5 Mbps. 

berkeley cable and internet companies. berkeley them all. They should either be public utilities or regulated in a way that allows competitors. It is not free market when you have no competition and you can berkeley over your customers however you see fit. 

The only power I have as a customer is to simply not have internet and entertain myself in ways that don't involve binging on latest Netflix series. Which maybe I should think about. 

No to being regulated by the gov't.  They are the last group of people that should be given any more power.

What if there were lots of cable companies...you'd have cable and fiber lines running all over the place, and hundreds of junction boxes at every street corner.

This song is called "I Hate Banks," but Mojo talks about his disdain for cable companies as well.

We ditched cable years ago. Between our AppleTV, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon (and YouTube), we have plenty to watch--or still play the "There's nothing on" game.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Mojo said: 

Now, lemme tell you people something...
The only banks I like, well, I like Ernie Banks alright.
And I like the banks of the Mississippi River...
Yeah, and I like banks of fender twin reverb...
Electric guitar amplifiers behind me, raging on the stages...

onemanarmy said:

maschinenbau said:

Comcast/Xfinity slave here. Never had true cable TV, we exclusively use streaming services.

I pay $78 for "75 Mbps" and whatever minimum basic channel set they force you to buy. I speed test regularly and it's rarely up to 10 Mbps. Recently got an email saying "Good news! We've increased your internet speed from 75 to 100 Mbps!"

Speed test is still under 10 Mbps. Guess how much their customer service over in India cares?  And threats to switch are empty because the only other option is ATT which is twice as much for "up to" 1.5 Mbps. 

berkeley cable and internet companies. berkeley them all. They should either be public utilities or regulated in a way that allows competitors. It is not free market when you have no competition and you can berkeley over your customers however you see fit. 

The only power I have as a customer is to simply not have internet and entertain myself in ways that don't involve binging on latest Netflix series. Which maybe I should think about. 

No to being regulated by the gov't.  They are the last group of people that should be given any more power.

What if there were lots of cable companies...you'd have cable and fiber lines running all over the place, and hundreds of junction boxes at every street corner.

It's almost like line sharing is part of Title II or something.

I have nothing really to add, but my provider was recently changed to an even bigger name through a merger that should have been illegal....

So I have a 20x1 cable connection. It was on a $35/mo promo rate before the merger. After the merger, they offer 100x2 for $65/mo. My promo rate expired and I tried calling to get them to give me another promo rate. 

They kept saying "up to 100Mbps" and I said they can't even deliver the 20 they promise. I ran a test while on the phone and got 8. I told him I'd be willing to pay up to $35/mo for that, since it was still slow. He laughed and apologized.  I told him to go tell his manager what I said. I could hear them laughing. I pay $45/mo for crap, but the best crap per dollar available here now. 

Unrelated to that story, my house had never had cable until I had it installed for internet a few years ago. I actually felt kind of bad when they ran the line.

Their newest push to get rid of customers is requiring a digital converter box for every tv, with some kind of decoder. While I understand the technical need for going digital, I find it annoying that you now need THEIR box at $5/mo for every TV. 

If you'd like to try out a firestick I have one I can probably send your way.  We use it to watch netflix, youtube, and to listen to music on our TV.  Unfortunately it doesn't work for us out here :(

I hear there's a thing called 5G coming...might push mobile phone-tethered internet into the realm of "fast enough" for us non-gamers.   

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

At 10 bucks a gig my bill would be... roughly $6,300 a month, subject to "reasonable network management practices." The only industry group that is lower in customer satisfaction than cable companies are wireless providers.

The0retical said:

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

At 10 bucks a gig my bill would be... roughly $6,300 a month, subject to "reasonable network management practices." The only industry group that is lower in customer satisfaction than cable companies are wireless providers.

You know, there is such a thing as "too much p0rn".  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Never.

It's mainly only using video services instead of having cable so we eat up a pretty good chunk of data every month. I did the tethering thing at one point (when I lived in a field at the end of a private grass airstrip in a converted cow scale house) it really isn't an acceptable alternative to true broadband. I keep hoping the OTA spectrum sale vacated by TV will yield some results but WiMax failed pretty miserably and all the good spectrum was sold off to incumbent ISP's.

Att fiber at 1000 down/ 1000 up ($70 a month), Roku with prime and netflix.  During the week the TV usually doesn't even get turned on.  

David S. Wallens said:

This song is called "I Hate Banks," but Mojo talks about his disdain for cable companies as well.

We ditched cable years ago. Between our AppleTV, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon (and YouTube), we have plenty to watch--or still play the "There's nothing on" game.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/bMehSfTmnbY?rel=0&showinfo=0

 

Holy crap - Mojo Nixon on GRM!  Loved the look on my moms face when she finally listened to those lyrics as a punk teenager!