How much is your cable bill?

[MomToOne]

$19.99 + a few cents tax, but that's actually satellite - DishNetwork to be precise. I have the "Welcome" package which I don't think is offered anymore, but they let those of us on it stay on. It includes local channels, the basic standard cable channels (TBS, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, etc) and a bunch of ESPN channels I never watch. It also includes the charge for 1 receiver (a total scam in my book) free with the package. It is officially an SD only package but rumor has it there are actually HD channels there now - but I still have 2 SD TVs, no HD ones so I wouldn't know (I refuse to buy any new TVs until the old ones die. And they've been going strong for close to 15 years now LOL). My receiver is a 10 year old model, and I have one 10 year old extension box (have no clue what it's officially called) for the 2nd TV - so no DVRs. The receiver broke last year but they were able to send me a refurbed replacement for only a $15 shipping charge.

Yes, I'm cheap And no, I haven't seen whatever the latest and greatest HBO series is

My internet is still pretty slow DSL, through AT&T attached to our land line (I still have one - I'm want it to ensure the best 911 service) - the internet is $35ish a month if I remember right, it might be $40 now. Total phone bill for both the land line and DSL around $75. I refuse to upgrade to whatever their fancier service is because it is ridiculously more expensive once you get past the first year deals.

 

[disny_luvr]

OP, I could have written your exact same post. DH and I have been contemplating ditching our triple play through Comcast but when I price out Internet and phone (I like having a landline while my boys are still young), it's still expensive and that's without Hulu, Netflix, etc. Anyway, our bill two months ago was the same as yours - $220 - and I put down my foot; that's ridiculous! We went to our local Comcast store and had a fabulous sales rep that walked us through different options. Unfortunately, we still had to call in to negotiate. In the end, we got them down to $159, with all fees and taxes. That includes an HD box, two non-HD boxes, the basic HD plan, a modem, fast Internet and phone. I'm happy! I'd definitely call and ask for retention and see what they can do for you.

 

[pens4821]

We pay 220 a month through Comcast including all taxes/fees. We have the triple bundle, hbo, and 3 hd boxes, plus two non hd boxes.

As others, we have no other options suitable to us. I was just shopping around a couple weeks ago. If we would go with direct tv, we wouldn't have ended up saving much, maybe $10-15 as we need fast internet speeds for work and that alone was going to be around $100 through Comcast.

I looked into vue and sling, but the first thing I look for is root sports. I watch the penguins/pirates more than anything and honestly can't go without that channel but I neither offer it.

I hate paying that much, but they know they got you in my area. Fios isn't around, other internet sucks, and lower plans (and other competitors) don't offer sports.

 

[Mom3girls]

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.

Just curious...what town do you live in? We also live in South Jersey

 

[Mom3girls]

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

Curious to see where you live in South Jersey too. We live in Williamstown. Was shocked to see two responses that both said were from South Jersey

 

[dclpluto]

South jersey here also Cumberland county 266 a month with all the fees and taxes.. that's for triple play through Comcast with premium channels.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

We have Comcast. Our bill for internet only is $90/month.

 

[cglaura]

Curious to see where you live in South Jersey too. We live in Williamstown. Was shocked to see two responses that both said were from South Jersey

I am very south, down towards Cape May. I actually renegotiated my Comcast bill last night thanks to this thread and was able to cut $38 from the total.

I now have Blast Internet and 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.

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.

--

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Curious to see where you live in South Jersey too. We live in Williamstown. Was shocked to see two responses that both said were from South Jersey

Me too!
I'm in Cherry Hill and we ditched Comcast and switched to Fios back in 2009. I think the service is better, or at least compared to what my Philly-residing coworkers discuss about Comcast, which they are stuck with. They complain that their internet is "out" very often which we don't have that issue. Ever. I don't know if Comcast has upgraded their internet since we had them but back when we switched, fios was way faster.
DSL would torture us and with 2 teens streaming videos and both of us surfing, we're all about the speed.

Our bill is $223. That is for extra fast internet and 5 boxes, 2 of those are HD, which is crazy because I don't even watch TV except an occasional snippet of news. Dh doesn't even bother watching in HD and even when he has the TV on, he's usually on his laptop too and barely pays attention to the TV show that's on.
Around a year ago we considered ditching the landline & fios tv. We did a 1 month trial with a digital antenna on our roof. They are no longer the huge tree-looking things we had as a kid. It's smaller than modern sat dishes and barely noticible from the street. It cost around $80 at BJ's. Dh ran the antennae cable to our kitchen & living room TVs and set the the TVs to search for channels. We got about 30 local channels, mostly in HD since that's what the big 3 broadcast in anyway. Being only 10 miles east of the Liberty Bell, we got great reception and it was a beautiful picture.
Unfortunately, dh really likes his Fox News on the big screen, even though he could watch it on his laptop. So this is why he abandoned the idea of wiring the kids TVs to the antennae also and we're back to using the cable boxes. Ds19 doesn't even watch TV in his room and I keep saying I'm going to return his box and have it dropped off our bill, but I never get around to it. Really we should move it to the living room and return dh's HD box that's there now.
I was wanting to give it another try but then a tree fell on our house last spring and smooshed the roof, chimney and the antennae so now I'd have to convince dh to install another antennae.
Unbundling the package of 3 would raise our internet to $79 + tax. They wouldn't budge on the price and it's all based on your zip code so not everyone pays the same in all parts of the country. We considered dumping Verizon altogether and just getting Comcast's fastest internet only but their price was the same as Verizon's.

The whole situation is sickening but I think as more and more people ditch cable, they will have to do more to keep customers.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Man, I wish I could pay the prices you all pay... I live in an area with no Verizon or Comcast connection and internet through Directv was extremely slow last time we tried it. As a result, I have Directv for tv ($71 for one tv with no premium channels, and that's after I asked for a discount and they actually gave me $20 a month off), Sprint for internet ($112 a month and I only get 30 GB of internet which means we can't really use anything like Netflix because we don't have enough data each month), and AT&T for my phone service ($99 a month after my government employee discount for unlimited data because if I hook my phone to the Wifi at home then we're ending up close to going over our internet data cap!).

Verizon tries to sell me Fios every time I go to the store. I literally beg them to come to my area every time!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Man, I wish I could pay the prices you all pay... I live in an area with no Verizon or Comcast connection and internet through Directv was extremely slow last time we tried it. As a result, I have Directv for tv ($71 for one tv with no premium channels, and that's after I asked for a discount and they actually gave me $20 a month off), Sprint for internet ($112 a month and I only get 30 GB of internet which means we can't really use anything like Netflix because we don't have enough data each month), and AT&T for my phone service ($99 a month after my government employee discount for unlimited data because if I hook my phone to the Wifi at home then we're ending up close to going over our internet data cap!).

Verizon tries to sell me Fios every time I go to the store. I literally beg them to come to my area every time!

I will gladly trade cable bills but only if we can trade property tax bills too.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I will gladly trade cable bills but only if we can trade property tax bills too.

I'm on 17 acres- you might want to rethink that! But our property tax bills in general are not bad compared to some I've seen discussed on here before.

 

[prprincess]

Just curious...what town do you live in? We also live in South Jersey

Pennsauken. Portions of my town got FiOS, as did the surrounding towns - Camden, Cherry Hill (as the previous poster stated!), etc. Apparently in my neck of the woods it's us and a portion of Maple Shade (right behind me) that were left out of the install due to budgetary issues. I have a friend who works for Verizon who filled me in on the situation, and he said that the project is on hold indefinitely so it's not going to happen for us anytime in the near future. I wish I had the willpower to just give it all up and watch TV and movies via internet, but haven't gotten there yet.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I'm in South Jersey too (right in the Pennsauken, Cherry Hill area) and just left Comcast for Fios. I had Comcast for 4 years and was paying around $210 for internet, phone and cable. We had four HD/DVR boxes and all premium channels. Every time my contract was up I would call and renegotiate back down to $210. Well this August my contract was up so I called to renegotiate. My bill was $250. She told me they had no more packages that fit me so I had to pay the $250 a month or give back one of the boxes. She would NOT work with me even after I told her I would go to Fios.

I called Fios and have the same package for $195 (with taxes and fees) a month. We get faster internet now. I like having a landline for 911 calls since the kids do stay home alone at times. I still have 4 boxes all with HD and DVR and 3 premium channels plus Red Zone.

We splurge on cable. We do home date nights with our DVR which saves us money from going out. We like to stay home and watch lots of football (and all sports) including the Red Zone. It works for us.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Pennsauken. Portions of my town got FiOS, as did the surrounding towns - Camden, Cherry Hill (as the previous poster stated!), etc. Apparently in my neck of the woods it's us and a portion of Maple Shade (right behind me) that were left out of the install due to budgetary issues. I have a friend who works for Verizon who filled me in on the situation, and he said that the project is on hold indefinitely so it's not going to happen for us anytime in the near future. I wish I had the willpower to just give it all up and watch TV and movies via internet, but haven't gotten there yet.

I thought all of Maple Shade had Fios. That's crazy.

 

[Dakota731]

Our $220 is no premium channels but the triple play. Originally it was $99 but then they get you signed up and in two years the price doubles. I even called to see if they had lower packages and nothing. There are no other cable services in our area so they know they gotcha. We are not real technical people so all that you have to do and sign up for to get rid of cables scares me! What is sling tv?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Our $220 is no premium channels but the triple play. Originally it was $99 but then they get you signed up and in two years the price doubles. I even called to see if they had lower packages and nothing. There are no other cable services in our area so they know they gotcha. We are not real technical people so all that you have to do and sign up for to get rid of cables scares me! What is sling tv?

Could you cancel and resign up in our spouses name? That's what my coworker does.

 

[prprincess]

I thought all of Maple Shade had Fios. That's crazy.

Do you know where Yellow Submarine is? There are a few neighborhoods in that area that don't.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Do you know where Yellow Submarine is? There are a few neighborhoods in that area that don't.

Yes I do. Maple Shade is so small that I assumed if they did part of it they did all of it.

 

[erin1715]

I want to thank the PP's who have mentioned Playstation Vue! I have never heard of this option before and it looks awesome. We currently have cable only because we got a special price of $80/month for cable and internet (no special channels or DVR). We will continue with that until they start raising the price and then will cancel, which we've done multiple times in the past.

We've had both Dish and DirecTV before but now the trees behind our house have grown too tall and block the signal so both of those options are out.

We've tried Sling a couple times and even received a free Roku because they wanted us back but it constantly buffers and is really annoying when you're trying to watch a live sports game.

So next time, we will definitely try Playstation Vue!