Cancel your cable.
Seriously. Do it right now.
First of all there’s nothing good on cable anyway (expect college football) and you can always watch that at a bar – or at a friend’s house. You can get good movies, kids shows – even TV dramas and comedies – on Netflix and Amazon Prime (the latter of which we pimped out here).
But that’s not the real reason we’re telling you to cut your cable. The real reason we’re telling you to cut your cable because you can save as much as 40 percent on your current cable bill by … cutting your cable.
How? Because cable companies are desperate, that’s how.
We’ve talked to several friends recently who tell us they got massive discounts in their monthly bills by simply calling up their cable providers and threatening to bolt.
And not only did they get massive discounts, these new rates were locked in …
As it always is the American free market is evolving … and one of the most overpriced commodities on the market right now is home entertainment. As we noted back in April, “with cable and satellite bills running $100 per month or higher (and nothing really worth watching on those hundreds of channels), we can easily see bargain hunters increasingly hooking their massive high definition screens up to online-only content.”
23 comments
I hate Charter more than the fire of 1000 suns.
Remember when everyone was afraid to ditch their land lines? It’s the same thing. Get an Apple TV or a Roku and ditch the cable.
Even better, remember when the phone companies sent out $50.00 and $100.00 checks that when cashed would switch your service. In about a month you would get a similar promotion from your old phone company. TBG made about $700.00 over a 2 year period!
I dropped cable two years ago. If I want to watch just about anything sports related on ESPN I can find it on Justin.tv. The quality isn’t HD, but it’s free.
I just got my new cable bill from Charter. A 24% increase because, they claim, when we signed up a year ago we got a “promotional discount”. Well, that’s interesting because when we signed up, we asked for and received assurances that this wasn’t a temporary discount. $134 for basic TV (no movie channels) plus Internet is not enough for them. They want $167 dollars a month. I’m going to call them but no negotiating: Zero price increase, not a dollar more, or I cancel. If history repeats, after I cancel, they will bombard me with direct mail trying to get me back by offering a price much less than I am paying! Just leave me alone and it’s a win-win. It’s a crazy marketing scheme they Charter, and AT&T Uverse engage in and I’m tired of playing.
Here’s what Charter did — they increased the speed of the internet, therefore they raised the price. They only have one speed of internet now, so no choice. Our bill increased (just for internet) from 29.99 to 59.99. I think I’ll start looking elsewhere. In my book – it’s a 100% increase for the service.
We have TV, too, but no land line. We can get AT&T, but it has to be with a DISH network. No U-verse or whatever they call it. Talk about lack of choices.
Our Internet speed under Charter has not increased since we signed up. It’s pretty fast, but no faster than it was a year ago. It’s really the TV portion I object to most. $720 per year not including fees and taxes is pretty strong when all I really watch is ESPN.
Waiting to face my ordeal with Charter in November, the first renewal of my contract (currently with one year “special introductory price”) — keeping a full bottle of Jim Beam Devil’s Cut 90 Proof handy to bolster myself for the mental battle.
However, for dealing with Charter’s customer service folks I give them high marks for knowledge, willing to get a problem answered or resolved, and courtesy. Every one actually sounded as though they actually enjoyed their jobs.
If you could buy channels a la carte, it would go a long way to improving TV.
Each channel could offer a subscription direct to the consumer via the Internet and leave out the cable company. I’d sign up for that.
I hate TWC more than any company I have ever dealt with. Couldn’t ditch them fast enough!
For years, once a year I call them and tell them I am shopping around and I want to give them the option of giving me their best offer to keep my business. Every year they drop my rate. Of course, it creeps back up – which is why I call them again. Like clock work.
TBG believes* that cable companies and cell phone companies are have have instituted theft as a part of their business model. Almost every bill seems to be just a little higher than the last. Thirty cents or so doesn’t seem like much…but when done to millions of people month after month after month…it adds up.
*TBG hopes the use of ‘believes” will prevent him being sued for liable.
Shifty is on Charter (still in first year contract) with internet and a landline phone. Three times Charter has slipped in a 50 cent TV tax, and five times put in a $5 late charge not owed. They are maggots when trying to squeeze some extra dollars, so customers have to be alert. Unfortunately for Charter, Shifty knows how to get those corrected when dealing with customer service.
Verizon is my cell phone provider, but those little slip-ups are easy to get corrected with them.
Here is something Verizon did recently, that TBG thought was [*no offence!*] shifty:
For years they had an “Unlimited(?) Calling Plan for $70. you could add lines for $10 each. Recently, they started advertising “Unlimited Calling” for $60 with added lines still at $10. So you save $10, right? RIGHT?
Wrong. The first plan included your phone and each additional line cost $10. The new plan comes without a phone, so you have to add your phone for $10. End result…you pay the same.
Ever notice that about once a year they introduce a “new billing format” that is supposed to be “easier to understand,” but is, in actuality, even more confusing than the previous format?
Pro Tip:
There is profit in confusion.
Cut cable and dish 7 years ago. All my favorite TV shows download to my computer automatically for free. They show up on my AppleTV and play in 1080p HD with no commercials. Why on earth would anyone pay $150/month?!
Got rid of my cable over ten years ago. Thought I was going to go into withdrawal the first week without “The Weather Channel” (which I understand now sucks), “TV Land”, and a few more things. Ten years later, if I hit the Powerball jackpot tomorrow, I wouldn’t get cable again. What do you get, endless commercials, absolute shitola like Honey Boo Boo, and other crap where camera crews follow a bunch of stupid rednecks around as they “look” for bigfoot or such. It absolutely is NOT worth the money.
Back in the early 80’s, it was worthwhile. You had all manner of shows and networks with interesting programming. MTV was about MUSIC. The beginning of the end started when they launched that stupid, annoying, game show. Another thing, early cable boasted either no commercials on some channels or at least fewer commercials. Now, cable has as many or MORE commercials as regular TV.
It just isn’t worth it.
Come on, you must miss the Weather Channel’s Weekend Update ?
—-and those beautiful, sexy women?
Every year the cable company and I have the same conversation:
Them: Hello, Friendly Neighborhood Cable
Me: Yes, I’d like to cancel my service
Them: Let me connect you with customer service
Clcking on line
Them: Customer Service
Me: Yes, I’d like to drop my service
Them: We’re sorry to hear that may I ask why
Me: Same reason as last time, you raised your rates
Them: we sir you had a promotional rate and…
Me: yes, I understand that but the rate is to high so I’m dropping my service, please come get your stuff.
Them: Well sir, we could extend your rate…
I’ve had the same cable charges for the last 5 years.
Ok, you may, or may not like cable. I’m not here to debate that, but
the internet part, I’ve got a little something to say about that. A couple of
weeks ago a guy came to my door trying to sell me a package. Told me that his
internet was a lot faster, because it was on a “dedicated fiber optics
line” and not on a “network” like TWC. He explained that for
each person that gets on the TWC network, it slows down. I listened to him run
his mouth, making comparisons etc. Then I stopped him, and asked, your telling me
that you will run fiber optics all the way into my house, and to the back of my
computer. He looked surprised, and said no. Then I explained to him, that’s
where the bottleneck is. From your junction box, to my computer, there’s a
copper wire. Copper doesn’t carry a signal nearly as fast as fiber optics. So,
I would have no noticeable increase in speed, and since you’re selling it with
these promises, why should I foot the bill for a new connection? Thank you for
your time and have a good afternoon.
I could not live without ,The Weather Channel,and my cable is free*…(*yeah,well)
The Weather Channel does have lots of beautiful, sexy women. So did CNN when they used a rotation system because the women kept getting pregnant!