So disgusted with Cable Company!!!

[kandb]

I had to post because I find this totally unacceptable. We live in Northern NJ, and our cable/phone/internet costs us around $170/mo. I have the "silver" package for television. My son was looking to watch the Smithsonian channel because he is into nature/science etc and I saw that we did not get the channel. I called our cable company and they said in order to get the Smithsonian channel, I would have to upgrade to the "preferred" package which includes HBO for an extra $30/month. I just find this ludicrous that and educational channel is not even being given in the "middle of the road" cable package. I am so sick of the cable company's, all their extra fees and inflated prices.

 

[sissy_ib]

I had to post because I find this totally unacceptable. We live in Northern NJ, and our cable/phone/internet costs us around $170/mo. I have the "silver" package for television. My son was looking to watch the Smithsonian channel because he is into nature/science etc and I saw that we did not get the channel. I called our cable company and they said in order to get the Smithsonian channel, I would have to upgrade to the "preferred" package which includes HBO for an extra $30/month. I just find this ludicrous that and educational channel is not even being given in the "middle of the road" cable package. I am so sick of the cable company's, all their extra fees and inflated prices.

There are many channels I wish I had but I am not willing to pay for more than the basic package. I don't see how that is unfair??? You want more, you need to pay more. Even though it is educational it is still a premium channel.

 

[sonnyjane]

We don't get Smithsonian either which is a bummer because when I look at the guide I always see an interesting show title, but like you I'm not willing to pay extra. We get 200 something channels with our current package so not too shabby.

 

[Grandmatoniko]

I totally agree with you...we live in NJ too and my cable/phone/internet is very closely priced to yours. I want to switch to dish or something...we lived out of state for a few years and didn't pay nearly as much as we are now.....

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I'm mad at mine right now because I just upgraded ours not long ago and got the box and Internet as well as my phone with them. To hook everything up they charged me a fee, which I was unaware about, plus I had an upfront fee for one month on top of my regular bill. No one told me this would happen. I have been a customer for years.

So imagine my surprise when they called this last week asking to upgrade me with phone and Internet. I told him that I didn't have time to talk and he said, "we can offer you $200. to upgrade". I held my cool and told him that I already have those services with them.

They drive me crazy!!!

 

[Eastern]

And they just started charging some kind of 'sports programming surcharge'. It's like $3 per month. I told them we don't watch sports, and they can take all those channels off. She said too bad you still have to pay it.

I am calling shenanigans on cable.

 

[RIDisneyFan]

We are currently paying about the same as you. DH just called the other day to see what we can do to lower the price. At the end of next month we are going to drop the home phone (use our cell phones only instead) and go down to basic cable and internet (need internet for my job). We're keeping the DVR, so it will only save us about $60/month (I was hoping it would be more.) We signed up for Netflix (first month free, then $10/month) so that will replace some of the channels we are losing. It's not worth it to pay so much for channels we rarely watch. Since we will be saving $50/month (after deducting the cost of Netflix), I told him we should put $50/month towards our next Disney trip!

 

[DOREEN1779]

There are many channels I wish I had but I am not willing to pay for more than the basic package. I don't see how that is unfair??? You want more, you need to pay more. Even though it is educational it is still a premium channel.

It is unfair. The prices are not fixed and vary from state to state. They bundle the package prices by consumer history usage and charge more for different demographic regions.

 

[DawnM]

Maybe you can find a show you like to watch here:

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/sc/web/full-episodes

We got rid of cable/satellite TV over 2 years ago and most things we can find a way to watch without it.

So far, in 2.5 years, I have saved almost $3,000. We are going to need a new car, so all of that (and my $3K cell savings for switching to prepaid) have gone straight into the car account.

Dawn

 

[captainjen]

I'm with you on this one. I do not understand why we can't pay extra for the one channel that we want than having to shell out a ton of money for an "upgrade" to a a different package. I have RCN and I have realized that no one actually pays the same amount. Some people luck out and get in on a special offer, but it is almost impossible to find out what their specials are, they tell you to just keep calling back and checking They make tons of money and it is almost impossible to get free TV service now a days unless you know how to stream it through you computer which is way more complicated than someone like myself can do

 

[MSSANDRA]

You just have to decide if you are willing to pay what they want or not. You will have to see if there are other companies that you can get what you want cheaper or not. Sometimes if you tell them you are dropping, they are willing to do a 2 year supper special deal, sometimes not and when that two years are up....then you have to decide again. We have dropped cable and our land line. We do have net-flex and DS does some streaming, but we are perfectly fine with what we have and save a ton of money over what we used to pay. They often move channels around to put the more popular one in the higher tier. I like TLC and it kept moving up to the higher tier till I said no more!

 

[DawnM]

http://www.connectmycable.com/articles/a-la-carte-cable-channels.html

I'm with you on this one. I do not understand why we can't pay extra for the one channel that we want than having to shell out a ton of money for an "upgrade" to a a different package. I have RCN and I have realized that no one actually pays the same amount. Some people luck out and get in on a special offer, but it is almost impossible to find out what their specials are, they tell you to just keep calling back and checking They make tons of money and it is almost impossible to get free TV service now a days unless you know how to stream it through you computer which is way more complicated than someone like myself can do

 

[tzeitel]

Another option is Roku - Smithsonian just added their channel and it is free

 

[sweetdana]

And they just started charging some kind of 'sports programming surcharge'. It's like $3 per month. I told them we don't watch sports, and they can take all those channels off. She said too bad you still have to pay it.

I am calling shenanigans on cable.

I love it. I called it 2 yrs ago and save 800$ a yr ish now.. ( includ cancel home phone, but adding in Netflix n red boxing instead).

 

[Boardwalk Gal]

i agree with your frustration!! I wish cable companies will allow us to chose the channels we want...We have many channels that we don't even watch but had to get it as part of a package!! It need to be competitive!!

 

[gillenkl]

I become so frustrated with my cable bill that I finally just said ENOUGH! We bought a ROKU box, HD antennae (DH put it inside our attic) and we have amazon prime. So for an initial cost of about $100 we no longer have a cable bill. Our cable bill was $90 a month - minus our startup costs we're saving over $900 a year!

 

[cookingqueen123]

I become so frustrated with my cable bill that I finally just said ENOUGH! We bought a ROKU box, HD antennae (DH put it inside our attic) and we have amazon prime. So for an initial cost of about $100 we no longer have a cable bill. Our cable bill was $90 a month - minus our startup costs we're saving over $900 a year!

THIS!!!! Just did it last month and have no regrets, well, I do miss Burn Notice, but I will live!!!

 

[DISzy]

So here is my question about Roku. Do you have to pay for channels?

 

[mikehn]

I sympathize. Cable companies are crooks and one day soon, they are going to get theirs. It wont be long indeed. The only reason I get cable is for cable news. As soon as the news organizations start streaming the news, I am done with cable.

 

[gillenkl]

So here is my question about Roku. Do you have to pay for channels?

We have the basic roku and get about 40 free channels including abc, cbs, nbc, pbs. There are also free channels with free movies. Only had ours 2 weeks so I haven't explored all the features yet.