Comcast Sees 156,000 New Broadband Subscribers > $148 average subscriber bill .....

I pay $45/mo for my unlimited smartphone bill, and that includes all taxes and fees. I'm on the GSM Galaxy Nexus, so not a shoddy phone, either.

Absolutely. People get so used to the introductory prices on TV, they forget that theyre introductory.

Lets rewind the clock back to the dialup days. TV bill, 2 phones lines, seperate long distance, AOL bill, probably more than $150 / mo lol

What needs to happen is get a grasp on your budget and realize that the cable bill (or satellite, or Uverse ...) is your best bang for the buck at @ $5 per day for (in our case) 2 adults and 3 children which equals @ $1 per day per person for 3 services.

It's funny how people cry about a $148 triple play (high def on multiple tv's, DVR service, wireless high speed internet and unlimited nationwide home phone service) that multiple family members use everyday throughout their home day after day but have no issues paying for a $200+ monthly unlimited smart phone bill. If you are not living beyond your means and understand that complaining about something to get a reduction in price is not the what you really need to do. What needs to happen is get a grasp on your budget and realize that the cable bill (or satellite, or Uverse ...) is your best bang for the buck at @ $5 per day for (in our case) 2 adults and 3 children which equals @ $1 per day per person for 3 services. I've never even blinked at the price of the cable bill due to the fact that at $5 per day I could not even leave the house with our family of five and go to dinner, the movies, the beach, to a park .... for anywhere close to $5 for the day (gas would be at least 2x that). But then again, I don't expect companies to reduce their prices for their services so I can spend that money somewhere else.

Just because the smart phone is overpriced doesn't mean $2000 per year for cable is cheap. And at least the smart phone provides functionality, while all the worthless channels, the DVR, and the obsolete land-line are of little to no value.

"This exercise doesn't count the fact that cable bills rise at about twice the rate of inflation."

Yeap, my 2.5 percent merit increase was just cancelled (hospital wide so no one at my place of work gets anymore money).

The bottom line is through channel bundling content holders like Disney can extort more money through carriage extortion. For those lucky enough to make enough to keep pace with the hikes, I'm happy for ya. Many wages are not keeping up and full time jobs are being replaced by PRN jobs in my field and wages in many cases are being driven down.

For me, I guess I can still afford it but decided a few years ago that the value is not there. That it was no longer worth paying a thousand dollars a year just to watch TV. OTA more then satisfies my occasional use of the TV.

I have never thought of my cable bill as a luxury due to the fact that it really is a small price to pay for all of the service that it provides us here at my home.

2 nights out a month for 2 with a movie, dinner, drinks costs much more than a month of cable tv.

the obsolete land-line are of little to no value.

We are in the $280 range for everything (Video, HSD, Tele and cell phones) and use all three of these all day long for the five of us - a great value.

Buying food at the theater would not be a deal breaker for my family and make us resort to sneaking in food and ripping off the owners of the theater.