How much is your cable bill?

[Dakota731]

We got ours today from Comcast and it went up to $220! We do have internet included but no premium channels. I think this is crazy but we live in an area with no competition between suppliers so we either have to use them or get a dish which I'm not too sure about. I'm also afraid to just cut the cord and get rid of cable altogether. But the thought that my Comcast bill is higher than my electric, gas and water bill combined seems ridiculous especially in this economy when our health insurance is also rising big time next year! I just don't know what to do.

 

[havaneselover]

$150 for Verizon Fios including a landline and high speed internet. I have a home DVr and a second cable box. Package is fairly basic (no movie channels).

 

[prprincess]

We got ours today from Comcast and it went up to $220! We do have internet included but no premium channels. I think this is crazy but we live in an area with no competition between suppliers so we either have to use them or get a dish which I'm not too sure about. I'm also afraid to just cut the cord and get rid of cable altogether. But the thought that my Comcast bill is higher than my electric, gas and water bill combined seems ridiculous especially in this economy when our health insurance is also rising big time next year! I just don't know what to do.

It's the same deal with me and my town in South Jersey. All the surrounding towns at least have a choice and can go with Verizon FiOS, but my town and a few neighboring ones are stuck with Comcast if you don't want dish. We're just at $190 now (phone, cable, internet), and that's only after mine went well over $200 and I asked for a concession.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Is that for 2 services (cable/internet) or 3 (with unlimited phone)? How many cable boxes do you have to rent? Do you rent a router, too?

I admit my company tried to increase my triple service pack with mid-cable (had espn and sports channels and a lot of hi def, but no pay channels, like HBO/Showtime), mid-internet, and phone with one cable box to $220 earlier this year after I had paid $135-$145 for 8 years (started at $135 and rose about $1-2 a year). So, once they wouldn't budge down further than $205, I made an internet check on the other provider in our area, checked cost, and had my husband call to cancel...and miraculously, they worked with him to bring our bill down to $123/month. Now, I had to drop to lowest cable (but I don't really miss the sport channels and excess HD channels) and lowest internet (but no noticeable speed loss), but now I pay less than I was willing b/c they wouldn't originally work with me. I also got a 2 year lock with no cancel fee, so I feel good for 2 years (and figure I get to skip at least 1 year of worry)...

So, I wouldn't discount thinking about canceling and following through, if only for a few months, so they can try to lure you back...

 

[Ranger111]

You need to take it from Evil Danny and try Sling (Sling has been discussed on this board a few times) -- btw, Danny is actually a really great guy, got to know him through a business project.

 

[Madivan]

We were paying $175 for bare bones - 1 box, no DVR. I'm cheap and that was ridiculous. We just cut down to just Internet and subscribed to Playstation Vue (you don't have to have a PS) and already had Netflix & Amazon Prime.

We're going to be paying $85 for Internet & Vue and, I'm not even kidding, get every single channel we ever watch, sports, etc. plus get a cloud DVR with it.

PS Vue was way better than Sling. We tried both.

 

[niffer5150]

ours is $50, internet only. it was lower but we bumped up the speed so cover all the stuff we stream with hulu, netflix, and prime. i thought i'd miss it, but i really don't. with cable t.v., it was $260... and then we realized what a rip off it is.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We pay $175 for home phone, high speed internet and cable with a sports HD package and 2 DVR boxes.

 

[ImDMous]

We pay $80 for the highest tier internet. Dropped everything else because it was ridiculous and we didn't watch most of it. I think I watch more shows now with Netflix and Hulu than I did when we had TV.

 

[cglaura]

In South Jersey. Mine is $113.99 Digital Economy (One Box) and Blast Internet.

Internet alone w/out the bundle discount of $69.95 would have been $102, so at $11 more, I took the Digital Economy .. even though I don't think it is worth $37.95 "rate price", it is worth $11.

XFINITY TV
Digital Economy Package $37.95
Includes Limited Basic Service, Digital Converter And Remote

XFINITY Internet
Blast! Internet $69.95

Other Charges & Credits
Broadcast TV Fee $5.00

Taxes, Surcharges & Fees TV ($1.09)
Franchise Fee 0.81
State Sales Tax 0.16
FCC Regulatory Fee 0.08
Monthly State Assessment 0.04

Total Amount Due $113.99

 

[cedricandsophie]

We are just outside Chicago and pay over 240 a month partly because we have five Tvs and four of them are HD so we pay extra for all the boxes. We have all the movie channels, pretty much everything but Playboy. That's just for cable. My internet is with ATT.

 

[Hikergirl]

Verizon Fios- internet, phone and Cable is $195/mo. That includes premium channels, and 2 DVR cable boxes and their "best" router rental.

 

[cglaura]

Ok, I had to come back and thank the op. I decided to call and see if the $102 for internet alone was still valid, it isn't it is $82.95. BUT, he gave me a deal to keep on TV and I was able to keep the Blast Internet and now have Basic TV (just 20 or so local channels) and HBO for $72.99 + local tax and fees so around $77.99. I am locked in for 2 years as a customer (I can change plans, but not leave without penalty) but that is ok with me.

OP and other posters... you just saved me $38/month!!

ETA: I forgot to mention I own my modem, purchased on Amazon. It was more up front, but no monthly rental charges so less in the long run.

 

[flateacher]

$0 We don't have cable or satellite or dish. We have Netflix $7 and Hulu $7 and an antenna = $14 a month. We pay $100 for internet and home phone/long distance combined. We have talked about giving up the phone but it is tied to our alarm system and I don't feel like switching to a system run via cell phone. Or giving up the 911 locator with small children.

 

[Keira1387]

I can't recommend cutting the cable cord enough! I too was shocked at how much we were paying, and wasn't 100% sold on giving it up at the time. Now, I only wish I would have done it sooner! We have Netflix and Hulu and I don't feel like I'm deprived at all!

 

[Vijoge]

$74.82 for basic cable and internet. We also have Netflix at about $10, VUDU through my brother, and HBO Go, also courtesy of my brother. We mostly watch Netflix, and PBS on Sunday nights.

 

[Miffy]

We also cut the cable last year. Don't miss TV at all. We pay Optimum $65/month for high speed Internet and got Ooma for our "landline." Our Ooma bill is something like $3.48/month and that covers all USA calling.

We're saving at least $80/month over our previous triple-play package with Optimum, and the price probably would've gone up again this year. We had streaming Netflix and Amazon prime anyway. Interestingly, Optimum never offered to lower our package rate, so that actually made it easier to make the decision. Separating out the Internet from the other two services was a bit challenging but it did work out without any interruption in our Internet service.

Optimum calls us every couple months and tries to sell us an even higher speed Internet connection for an additional $15/month, but the one we have seems perfectly fast and fine, and I'm on the web all day for my job. One nice thing about Optimum is the numerous Wi-Fi hotspots all over NYC and Westchester.

 

[MillauFr]

I have Comcast internet. Pay $39.95 per month inclusive of all taxes. I have Ooma for phone and pay $5.57 per month for unlimited calling.

 

[ellie05]

Wow I can't even believe how much some of you are willing to pay. My DH is a master in negotiation we pay $51 a month for direct tv we have 3 boxes one wireless all with DVR mid package and NFL Sunday ticket and no we are not in our original contract we never paid more than that. DH always calls before our rate increase. We pay $55 for internet we don't really have a choice in companies and at first it was $119 but again DH called and they dropped it. Granted our internet is not super fast but we don't really have a choice. We don't have a land line.

 

[5kidsmommy]

We were paying $175 for bare bones - 1 box, no DVR. I'm cheap and that was ridiculous. We just cut down to just Internet and subscribed to Playstation Vue (you don't have to have a PS) and already had Netflix & Amazon Prime.

We're going to be paying $85 for Internet & Vue and, I'm not even kidding, get every single channel we ever watch, sports, etc. plus get a cloud DVR with it.

PS Vue was way better than Sling. We tried both.

This so much! We had a mid level Sling TV package, we kept having to add on. We have a mid level playstation vue package now for the sports. We pay $35 a month for it plus $90 for internet. We have to have the highest internet no matter what because I have a bunch of teens that game. When we had cable it was $180 a month plus we had internet on top of that. The thing I like about playstation vue over sling is the amount of tvs I can stream to. It's up to 5 at a time plus we can dvr shows. I also get my local CBS live station which I cannot get through my antenna. I love playstation vue, it never buffers, Sling tv always did.