Saving Money on Cable

[TinkOhio]

We currently have a bundle with Cox for our internet, cable, and one land line. Although we really like service, the price just keeps rising and is becoming ridiculous. We don't know much about streaming, but we are willing to try different options to save money. We might still want to keep a landline, and we need very fast cable because of all the school work that needs to be done each night.

What options can you suggest to help us save?

Thanks for any help!

 

[bluezy]

You can call your current cable company and ask if they have any special discounts for long-time customers. If they say no or don't have an offer that's appealing to you, tell them you're going to have to switch to a different company. If they don't make a better offer at that point, ask what phone number you need to call to cancel your service when your ready to do that. Usually once they hear the word "cancel" they can make a different offer. I've actually reduced our cable service (internet, TV, and land line bundle), satellite radio, and our newspaper subscription that way.

 

[kj2mom]

I second giving them a call. When we decided on vacation I knew I had to cut wherever I could. I have Comcast and gave them a call to figure out if there were better options for me. The bad news was I was already on the best one for me but the good news was they could roll back my price to what it was years ago. I am now paying $70 less per month. I was very happy they did that for me, sooo glad I called to äsk.

 

[MillauFr]

I canceled our landline and bought an OOMA device. It routes your calls using your internet connection. The monthly charge is around $5 per month. I had Comcast for cable and was paying $15-20 per month for about 30 channels. I called and asked if they would cut it to $10 per month and they said no so I canceled it. Comcast kept increasing the price of my internet and was charging me $50 - $60 per month before I called them. I said cancel that to unless you cut the price to less than $40 per month inclusive of all taxes. They did agree to that so I've been paying $39.95 a month for the last 5 years.

 

[gatormom2tots]

We cut all cable a couple of months ago and now stream all of our tv. LOVE IT!!!! But........comcast is our internet provider. Unbeknowest to us...they set limits on internet usage a couple of years ago and Atlanta was one of their "target" cities to start this trend. Never knew because never even used 1/3 of the data before streaming. First month into streaming, we were at 100% of our data by the 15th of the month. Thankfully, comcast gives us 3 months to go over before they charge.

Looks like we will have to upgrade to their business class to get unlimited streaming since we are "not a typical family usage." Unfortunately this is how comcast keeps those strings attached- and as more families stream, typical usage will increase and comcast will continue to charge for going over limits.

The moment google optics becomes a posssibility in our area we will switch...unlimited data and only like $10 a month!

As a side note, I don't *think* comcast has these limits in all areas. Like I said Atlanta was one of their test markets...but definitely check into this as we were caught very off guard!

 

[robinb]

I have Dish and they don't bargain with you if you want a cheaper price. It has been on my "to-do" list to look around for other options. I don't think we can stream until we can pay for specific channels and I would still need a DVR.

 

[worm761]

We have Cox too. A few years ago we decided to cancel cable for many reasons. We signed up for Netflix and Hulu. DH called to cancel the cable and they offered him deal after deal and he kept saying no. Right up until they dropped the price to less than the cost of the internet alone. Then he said fine. When that contract was up, he called to cancel again and we ended up with HBO (Game of Thrones fans). Now that HBO will be offering HBOGO without an HBO subscription, he will be calling to cancel again as soon as our contract is up.

So my advice would be to call to cancel the phone and cable portion of your bill and up your internet to the highest they offer in your area. That's how DH got all those offers.

 

[SharonZ]

I've had great success with DishNetwork. I've had them for many years and have always been successful with negotiating better prices. A few months ago, I was able to knock $45 a month off of my bill for a year. Then in a year's time, I'll call back again.

 

[Madteaparty001]

Netflix and Amazon Prime is what I use for movies and tv, and I pay comcast for internet, tried the landline thing and it just didn't work for us. Sling TV has a promotion where you pay 3 months up front and they give you a free fire stick or roku stick or a $50 credit towards Fire TV or a Roku box.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I liked it best when we had a roku box. But now it costs more to the land line, which we need as I don't need a cell phone and the cell phones don't always work in the house. We also have a business. It was nice just paying a low price for the phone internet and having Hulu Plus and Netflix,

 

[marinejjh]

We got rid of ours over a year ago. We just have an antenna. We don't miss it or the bill. I took a pay cut a few years ago and we had to cut and that was one we cut.

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

We have Hulu and Amazon Prime and have dropped cable completely.

 

[Nanny oly]

We used to bundle....It was under my hubbys name, we called canceled returned the equipment....paid any remaining fees due....then resigned up undermy name...the only difference was we dropped the land line and signed up for a google phone number which gets transfer to my cellphone....I love it, If i dont answer all voicemails get transcribed into my emails which i tend to check more than my voicemail cause I HATE to be on the phone!! LOL! the google number was free....I was able to choose a easy number that my kids could learn that spelled out a portion of our name! plus i was able to get $200 in VISA gift cards for my "new" service.

I saved 140.00 a month by doing these things....If they raise our rayes again, I guess I will cancel and repeat the process but back under my husbands name.

 

[Jess_S]

We used to do as others have suggested and negotiate lower rates. I usually said something like, "I love your service and would hate to go to a competitor, but my budget is tight. So-and-so is offering me X price for my current services. Is there anything you can do to get me closer to that price?" It always worked.

Last year, I switched to a job that pays much less than my prior job and we cut cable altogether. We have internet through the cable company, which comes with the ability to stream certain channels. We also have Amazon Prime. Between streaming and my digital antenna for broadcast channels, I have plenty to watch. The only downside is that our internet bill is $40 per month because they won't give us any discounts without a bundle and that's only $20 per month cheaper than just having cable.

 

[lroger01]

I cut the cable last fall after a job layoff. I bought an outside antenna and installed it myself. It isn't as high up as I'd like, but it works for now.

I also got a Tivo box for DVR'ing ($15 per month), Netflix ($8), Amazon Prime (avgs out to $10), and Hulu ($10), and MLB At-Bat ($50 for season). That adds up to about $50 per month, plus $60 for cable internet and $10 for a cable phone line (needed for work) - $120 per month. I was paying close to $175 before then. The best thing is I own all the equipment and can cancel individual services whenever I need to. I love the flexibility and I still watch pretty much everything I want to watch. I also save lots of time because some of the cable programs I thought I would miss I don't, since I'm not seeing ads for them all the time.