Reviews:
 ·ooma
 ·Optimum Online
 ·Verizon FiOS
| forest for the trees apparently broadband caps don't prevent consumers from getting rid of video services. also the anti-competitive rise in prices and non-existent discounts are what is forcing consumers to cut back on services.. and the FIRST to go is video... Comcast faces two competitors which refuse to compete.. AT&T with their pitiful dsl technology and Verizon which signed a non-compete pact with Comcast sold millions of subscribers out for a few profitable frequencies. one or more of the big 3 companies will have to be broken up for things to change (or at least it's looking more and more like this is the only solution). |
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1 edit | said by tmc8080:apparently broadband caps don't prevent consumers from getting rid of video services. also the anti-competitive rise in prices and non-existent discounts are what is forcing consumers to cut back on services.. I believe why people are cutting back on services is from a lack of self control with their finances. Everyone is up in arms in regards to this bad economy but were living pretty good up until the point it collapsed. This country puts a lot of emphasis on education and degrees but virtually nothing on being smart financially. You do not need to be a millionaire to afford these services as long as you keep your needs and wants in perspective. I do not agree with the argument about these providers raising their fees and the "I need it cheaper" mentality. How about not blaming the providers but blame yourself when you can't afford a $.30 per person / per day entertainment package. |
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| said by The Truth:said by tmc8080:apparently broadband caps don't prevent consumers from getting rid of video services. also the anti-competitive rise in prices and non-existent discounts are what is forcing consumers to cut back on services.. I do not agree with the argument about these providers raising their fees and the "I need it cheaper" mentality. How about not blaming the providers but blame yourself when you can't afford a $.30 per person / per day entertainment package. Well, the cost of food, and fuel have risen considerably over the years. Cost of money is low but that's about it. Cost of higher education has gone through the roof and for the most part, the cost of student loans has risen through the roof. There is over a trillion dollars in student debt. Wages are not keeping up with inflation and cable hikes outstrip inflation by a long shot.
The cable bill is a easy target for those looking to cut something out on their budget. At 150 dollars a month, that transmits to 1800 dollars a year. That is more then pocket change to be sure. If your line of site of OTA HD, I highly recommend it. That's a great value for no money  |
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| I agree the cost of virtually everything has risen except borrowing money. We just refinanced our mortgage from 6.25% to 2.875%, more than enough savings to cover our yearly cable bill AND finish paying off our mortgage in four years. But then again we live off of 30% of our household income so our cable bill is a "want" that we enjoy and provides us with a lot of value for the money. To each their own - OTA HD is a good choice but there are initial costs with that too. In the end its what you can afford and how much time and effort you can dedicate to it to make it worth it. |
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1 edit | said by The Truth:OTA HD is a good choice but there are initial costs with that too.
Well, if you have a HDTV with a built in digital antenna, and line of site to the towers like I do, then a 20 dollar indoor antenna (one time cost) is marginal to paying 150 every month.
The point is how they raise rates. Through charging more carriage on crappy channels because they are tied and bundled to popular ones.. and by adding the most expensive carriage channels like ESPN to almost all the popular bundles. This is how content holders like Disney can force the rates to skyrocket past the rate of inflation. For me, its the same mentality to pay 2.5 times more for a X86 apple computer then a X86 PC computer. The Apple does not provide me 2.5 X more value. Even though I can afford it, I choose not to pay for cable's hikes and the whole corrupt model of carriage bundling/extortion. I protest it on principle and will not be duped into paying more through extortion.
And for those that don't believe it, well Disney has already yanked ABC affiliates and other channels from subs after providers did not want to pay more carriage on some crap channel that Disney owns. Usually after which a compromise is met and rates go up. And guess who lobbies Washington with millions to keep it this way? I think you can guess that answer.
The real reason content providers lobby so heavily against a la carte programming is that channels would have to compete on their own merit. Individual channels would have to compete for viewership based on quality, and not just any reality, infomercial etc.. crap that they may want to put on with no care being they get the carriage they want through carriage/extortion. |
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| said by HiDesert:said by The Truth:OTA HD is a good choice but there are initial costs with that too.
Well, if you have a HDTV with a built in digital antenna, and line of site to the towers like I do, then a 20 dollar indoor antenna (one time cost) is marginal to paying 150 every month. The point is how they raise rates. Through charging more carriage on crappy channels because they are tied and bundled to popular ones.. and by adding the most expensive carriage channels like ESPN to almost all the popular bundles. This is how content holders like Disney can force the rates to skyrocket past the rate of inflation. For me, its the same mentality to pay 2.5 times more for a X86 apple computer then a X86 PC computer. The Apple does not provide me 2.5 X more value. Even though I can afford it, I choose not to pay for cable's hikes and the whole corrupt model of carriage bundling/extortion. I protest it on principle and will not be duped into paying more through extortion. And for those that don't believe it, well Disney has already yanked ABC affiliates and other channels from subs after providers did not want to pay more carriage on some crap channel that Disney owns. Usually after which a compromise is met and rates go up. And guess who lobbies Washington with millions to keep it this way? I think you can guess that answer. But not everyone has the proper equipment (HD TV with proper tuners) or the expertise to wire their entire house for it (properly). Sure, anyone can rig one tv with an antenna but what about a household of eight tv's? In addition, there are no free (legal) ways to receive internet or phone service so theres an added monthly expense. |
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2 edits | said by The Truth:said by HiDesert:said by The Truth:OTA HD is a good choice but there are initial costs with that too.
But not everyone has the proper equipment (HD TV with proper tuners) or the expertise to wire their entire house for it (properly). Sure, anyone can rig one tv with an antenna but what about a household of eight tv's? In addition, there are no free (legal) ways to receive internet or phone service so theres an added monthly expense. At least with internet, I have a choice, between Comcast or Century link DSL. Internet rates are basically flat in my area because of COMPETITION. And for me, I do have two tv's with indoor antennas for around 20 HD OTA channels. But I'm lucky to get that.
There is no real competition between satellite/cable because of how content providers bundle and extort carriages. I don't have a problem with paying for internet or phone services because those are priced more realistically and have to compete on price. I feel so strong about the carriage corruption that even if I could not get any OTA I would do without.
I must add that I only use a straight talk phone for 32 dollars a month 1000/1000 plan. If you want to pay for data on cell, there is passive collusion going on with what the providers are doing on hiking data rates. There is no real competition there either and its a waste of money like Apple computers and cable TV.
A few years back a higher up at Verizon told me that they pretty much give voice away. They make the bulk of their money on data. So I decided good, I'll stick with voice/text on a basic ST phone. Which works perfectly on my hands off voice activated system on my Nissan.
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| So you have a choice between 2 providers which equals some MAJOR competition. Please let me know where in this country there is only 1 service provider (except for BFE in the mountains of Montana). The fact is that many people come in at an "introductory" rate for 12-36 months, saving $50 per month off their bill but freak out when their bill goes up $10 per month. So you saved $600 per year for the first couple of years but now your UPSET on paying an extra $120 per year for the next five years? Ask anyone who had their triple play service, for say $99 per month how long they had it and when it was at that price point they were fine. Only when the contract comes due for the $110 per month (or $125, or $135) now their the victims when thats what they AGREED to. |
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2 edits | said by The Truth:So you have a choice between 2 providers which equals some MAJOR competition. Please let me know where in this country there is only 1 service provider (except for BFE in the mountains of Montana).
I still say that internet rates are flat in comparison to cable TV. I'm paying around 45 a month for centurylink 12 megabit service. And I've had DSL for over 6 years. Regular CL rates are still around that after promo runs out for new customers. But I have price for life so that is very flat indeed. Comcast has a predatory price if you don't sub to their TV so its close to 15 dollars more a month after promo runs out. But even comcast HSI is relatively flat in comparison to how they hike their TV bundles.
I don't know what your point is. I think most people will agree here on dsl reports that HSI is flat on rate hikes in comparison to cable tv/satellite. I'm not talking about cable TV. In that case your correct, after the promo runs out the cost pretty much doubles.. I think that's what freaks people out when they see that first regular bill and then they cancel. After HSI promo ends, your bill goes up by 15 dollars.. not that big a deal. But with CATV, the promo runs out and it goes from 75 to 150.. ouch. I'm not sure where you get your numbers, but the last time I had a comcast promo the bill doubled after it expired.
Yes most people have a choice for broadband and that helps keep the price down IMO. And ALL satellite/cable providers are subject to the whims of the content holders on how they flex their muscle to increase carriages through bundling channels. There is nothing magical about this. Its how they have been doing business for years and there are plenty of carriage disputes you can look up over the years to prove my point. Its corrupt and its wrong. Congress is bought and paid to support this model and its very real. And the sad fact is this model does not encourage individual channels to bring higher quality content based on viewership etc.. Viewership and merit play little in cable tv hikes.
This is my real point here. Lets forget about promos for one second. Its about the rate percentage increases in CATV/Satellite in comparison to the rate of inflation and the rate of increases in broadband in general. Then bring in the carriage model into that discussion and it all makes sense. |
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Reviews:
·ooma
·Optimum Online
·Verizon FiOS
| reply to The Truth
Lead,
You sound like a boiler room cable-tv sales person (sales job depends on subscription quota, or worse.. a cable-tv share holder).. you can't shame people into affording or valuing something that is at a price a consumer doesn't want to pay. If $1800 a year is pocket change.. then you'll be sure to send me some of that.. |
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| said by tmc8080:Lead,
You sound like a boiler room cable-tv sales person (sales job depends on subscription quota, or worse.. a cable-tv share holder).. you can't shame people into affording or valuing something that is at a price a consumer doesn't want to pay. If $1800 a year is pocket change.. then you'll be sure to send me some of that..
Yes I am a Cable Co employee and No I am not a salesperson. What I am is a hard working person with a head on my shoulders, a wife of 25 years and 3 small children and contributing my part to society. I hear from people like yourself on a daily basis in the field and everyone has the SAME story - ".....I want the technology but do not want to pay the price for it" or "..... I want it for what it cost 15 years ago and why did things have to change.". It's really too bad you spend so much time as a watchdog for service provider pricing. In the grand scheme of things if you have set yourself up right in life these issues that you rant on about are such small change. If you are so ignorant to sign up for an intro price for a service and enjoy its benefits at a reduced cost only to flip out when the contract changes (its the same with ANY service provider), then maybe you should live in the hills, disconnect from society and live off the grid. It seems like you rant on and complain about things that most common people can move on from. But then again, I don't (and maybe neither do you) live paycheck to paycheck and have 110% of my paycheck spent BEFORE I get it. ..... And BTW, $1800 is not pocket change by any means but once again I don't have to stress over $1800 yearly either due to the fact that I am FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE. |
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