So what is everyone paying for basic cable and internet these days. My rates just went up and Im not getting and special channels or HD....to put it bluntly...its a rip off. What is the general consensus on the best rates or providers.

2/9/2010 9:48:58 PM

try searching tech talk, I've seen quite a few of these in there before

2/9/2010 9:49:50 PM

They need cable a la carte. I am not going to pay $45/month for cable that i watch at most an hour a day. Of the 70-80 "standard cable" channels most of the ones i watch are broadcast.

I can survive without the history, espn, and spike channels.

2/9/2010 10:19:38 PM

$90 a month for internet and cable.

2/9/2010 10:29:50 PM

^^ Might just be best to invest in a decent antenna and save yourself the money, then. I mean, really, once you move past watching TV all the time it's really easy to forget. I use the internet for 99% of my entertainment, and I use TV for educational stuff when I don't feel like doing anything. I watch UNC TV's HD channel and learn something cultural for an hour and that's about it. I watch less than an hour of TV a week at my place, and at other people's places it's usually at most three or four hours a week.

But in Portsmouth, VA I have Cox and pay $49.95 for internet and get 20mbps down and 3mbps up. It's reliable and fast and I get steady throughput all hours of the day. Complete 180 from time warner cable. I love it. Cable TV here (with the decent channels) would cost me ~$130/mo with internet. The bitch who sets up the cable here was arrogant about how much it costs so I never set it up. OH YOU AN ENGINEER YOU CAN AFFORD IT. I've at least got enough sense to know that I could spend money on the cheapest netflix subscription and get more entertainment out of that than I'd ever get with cable TV.

[Edited on February 9, 2010 at 10:33 PM. Reason : ^]

2/9/2010 10:33:45 PM

what company are you paying 90 for internet and cable

2/9/2010 10:50:57 PM

time warner cable here in raleigh. It is actually $89 a month. It is the most basic TV package and decent internet.
It helps that I have had this account for the last 7 years, and argue if they try and raise it.

[Edited on February 9, 2010 at 10:56 PM. Reason : .]

2/9/2010 10:55:19 PM

~$135 for basic digital + internet

comcast

2/9/2010 11:12:57 PM

just switched to u-verse

$121 for cable (u200 package) and internet

plus DVR

2/9/2010 11:29:26 PM

$75 for dish (silver/200 with HD, DVR, & showtime), $29 for internet

embarq/centurylink/whatever they call themselves now

just dropped showtime, so that bill will go down by $12ish

[Edited on February 9, 2010 at 11:30 PM. Reason : ]

2/9/2010 11:29:44 PM

twc 39.99 for standard cable and roadrunner standard at 7mbps.

2/9/2010 11:47:14 PM

TWC finally crossed the line on me about 3 months ago. I said F U and haven't looked back.

I have Clear internet (which I'm not that crazy about cause of unreliable service), their "fastest" package (6 down 1 up) is about $50. For tv I have digital rabbit ears, and I stream sports and anything else from the interweb with a VGA cable to my Samsung.

[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 12:24 AM. Reason : ]

2/10/2010 12:23:05 AM

$54.95 @ 15/1.5 w/Suddenlink, but considering switching to
$34.95 @ 10/1.0 w/Suddenlink promotion, or
$39.95 @ 10/1.0 w/CenturyLink if they won't let me jump on it anymore or terminate my service because my roommate loves googling torrents instead of using private trackers.

2/10/2010 4:03:21 AM

i pay $29.99 for earthlink 7mbps/384kbps and $29.99 for TWC digital cable (the ~200 channel tier)

2/10/2010 7:41:15 AM

The roomie and I are thinking about switching to Direct TV tomorrow...anyone have any bad experiences with them? We live around the Brier Creek area

2/10/2010 9:11:18 AM

is Earthlink DSL? How does it compare to Time Warner's "express" package or Pro package whatever it is that's the first high speed upgrade. All I know is that lately it's been very unreliable

2/10/2010 9:20:55 AM

Quote :

"~$135 for basic digital + internet comcast "

yeah that's what I pay but it's gonna go up in September when their offer expires. From what I hear, you can just be like "Yo I'm done. I'm canceling my shit" and they'll give you the promotional rate for another year.

2/10/2010 9:24:11 AM

my wife and I are moving and I am canceling my service at the apartment and then having her open a new account with Charter (ugh) at the house we are moving to so we can get the promotional price for 6 months. When the promotion runs out, I'm hoping they'll extend it if we try and cancel the TV portion. If not, well then we're actually going to cancel the TV portion and just run off the antenna for awhile.

It pretty much sucks that there isn't much of an "in between" (or better yet just a la carte). I probably only watch ~5 "cable" stations whenever I actually have cable. But, in order to actually get those stations, in HD, you jump from paying $0 a month (for the network stations OTA in HD) to $50 or more (not including any promotional stuff here). /obvious rant is obvious

[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 9:39 AM. Reason : ]

2/10/2010 9:38:52 AM

I'm shocked that they can still charge this much for cable.

Internet + Media PC + Netflix + Boxee + Antenna


If they ever go a la carte I'll probably purchase a few channels.

2/10/2010 10:17:12 AM

Quote :

"The roomie and I are thinking about switching to Direct TV tomorrow...anyone have any bad experiences with them? We live around the Brier Creek area"

i'd take a hard look at dish network too. i've only used direct for a couple of weekends at my aunt's house but i hate the interface. dish's dvr was rated higher than tivo by cnet. direct usually works out to be more expensive b/c you have to pay for the box[es] and tivo service costs more.

message_topic.aspx?topic=538007

[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 10:18 AM. Reason : fuck you and your non-autolinkingness]

2/10/2010 10:17:29 AM

I pay ~$200 for a combo of DISH Network, home phone (wife swears we need it), DSL, and cell phone. Not great, but everything is reliable. I'd like to drop the home phone and get a cheaper cell plan, but I'd still be at ~150 even if I did that because of the bundle savings. Oh yeah and the taxes on phone plans are just silly expensive.





[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 10:45 AM. Reason : m,]

2/10/2010 10:44:44 AM

^ break that down to what you pay for each service

2/10/2010 10:57:52 AM

$39.95 for Digital Cable + HDDVR
$19.95 for Standard RR

Just do the online chat with TWC and tell them you want the digital access package ($29.95 for digital cable minus music choice) and they'll offer you this.

2/10/2010 11:51:47 AM

$95 month twc RR and digital cable w/ HD DVR

2/10/2010 1:31:41 PM

Quote :

"...with Charter (ugh)..."

About $120/mo for cable & internet. Cable package is one step above the 'basic' services so I can see history, espn, & spike. I wish Cox or TWC would move into the market out here.

2/10/2010 2:04:04 PM

how the hell are you guys getting HD DVR in your cable and still paying less than $100 a month for everything?

2/10/2010 2:27:50 PM

I pay $130 w/ fees for Time-Warner's Digital Cable w/ HD channels, HD DVR, HBO and Roadrunner.

This is NOT a promo plan. I was getting the same for about $100 when I was on the promp.

[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 4:37 PM. Reason : .]

2/10/2010 4:35:56 PM

I think around 100 for Digital cable, hbo, cinemax, standard rr, HD dvr

2/10/2010 4:45:04 PM

I've got AT&T uVerse

U200 Cable Package - $64
Broadband Elite (think its 6Mbs down and 768kbs up - $43
HD Service - $10
Extra box (Settop box, functions as DVR) - $7

So ~$128 with tax I guess (havent got first real bill yet)...

Thats no premiums, but crazy amounts of HD channels.
And I'm getting $200+$60+$20 cash back.

All in all, I'm paying the same thing I was paying with TWC, but I'm getting much better service no matter how you look at it.

2/10/2010 4:56:24 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreambox

2/10/2010 6:38:01 PM

In Scotland Neck I have DISH/CenturyLink.

Internet: 3.0/.512 $39.95
Local Phone: $19.50
DISH Bronze HD 100 + DVR: $54.99

Total with taxes: $130.00

2/10/2010 9:11:08 PM

Quote :

"break that down to what you pay for each service"

$75/month for Dish Network Silver with DVR, two receivers, and ~30 HD channels.

$45/month for ATT house phone (includes unlimited local and long distance)

$40/month for ATT DSL (decent speed, works well for the wife and I)

$40/month for ATT cell phone (450 min/month with rollover, no data plan).

The home phone is what I want to get rid of, but my wife insists that we need it. I hate ATT's cell phone coverage, but I am not big phone person anyway and only use a couple of hundred minutes a month so it works okay for me. I am happy with the DSL and Dish although I'd like more HD channels on the Dish, but do not want to pay for it.

2/11/2010 9:00:56 AM

Quote :

"is Earthlink DSL? How does it compare to Time Warner's "express" package or Pro package whatever it is that's the first high speed upgrade. All I know is that lately it's been very unreliable"

mine isn't...it's just TWC since they own earthlink...i was able to call TWC customer service and they just switched me (i never actually called earthlink)...no replacement of hardware or anything

2/11/2010 9:59:18 AM

I have TWC...I have regular cable in two rooms without boxes and 2 HD DVR boxes with HBO/Showtime, On Demand, HD Package, highest speed internet for $125/month.

2/11/2010 3:21:57 PM

is there a way to use your own DVR, instead of having to rent it from cable provider?

2/11/2010 3:56:37 PM

^ yes

2/11/2010 4:04:14 PM

^ I knew you'd come in here with some asshole comment

2/11/2010 5:21:00 PM

Quote :

"I have regular cable in two rooms without boxes and 2 HD DVR boxes with HBO/Showtime, On Demand, HD Package, highest speed internet for $125/month."

howd u pull that off? how long will it last for? include taxes?

2/11/2010 5:33:50 PM

58.38 after taxes for Direct TV. 1 box with HD-DVR 210 channels and 1 box with standard channels.
19.95 for private Verizon internet loop.

2/11/2010 8:38:37 PM

Digital cable from TWC + Sports Channel Package
"7 Mbps" Road Runner Standard

88.83/month

2/12/2010 12:54:15 AM

01/30-02/28 Digital Cable and Road Runner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94.90
01/30-02/28 DVR Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10.95
01/30-02/28 HD Plus Tier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.95

2/12/2010 10:49:33 AM

^ Lol we sweet talked a lady that I'd talked to a few times at TWC into giving us the sports tier and HD Plus tier for $2/each. We got a call a week later saying there was a price issue and they would have to start charging us more next month if we did not cancel. We cancelled and they left the sports package on but we went back to our base rate of 88.83/month

[Edited on February 12, 2010 at 11:13 AM. Reason : .]

2/12/2010 11:12:36 AM

153/mo



sucks

2/12/2010 12:37:46 PM

Quote :

""I have regular cable in two rooms without boxes and 2 HD DVR boxes with HBO/Showtime, On Demand, HD Package, highest speed internet for $125/month.""

I've had this deal for 5 years now...I used to just switch it in and out of my room mates names year to year to stay on promo, then i got them to lock in the price lock guarantee for the last year (and next as well)...right before i get married in June, I will switch it to my fiance's name and get a better deal. When they tell you that they can't improve your offer any more, ask to speak with a supervisor or the retention department. I have had them work wonders when they think I am really going to cancel my service.

2/12/2010 3:46:01 PM