topic Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases? in Community Chat

Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

Sue98 — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:00:24 GMT

Has anyone discontinued their cable? If so, how much of an adjustment was it? Are you glad you did? Thanks!

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

StylishLady — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:05:25 GMT

I'm considering it. WE've come a long way from the $5 a month we paid for "community cable" and three stations. I seldom go to movies and it is really my main form of entertainment. The offers from other vendors are tempting.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

Carmie — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:06:05 GMT

I would love to cancel it. My DH would not allow it, he is a TV couch potato.

Every once in a while i’ll call the cable company and complain about the hike in price and tell them I am thinking about cancelling because I can’t afford it or that I am going with a different company. They usually offer to discount me about $20 a month.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

Dar321 — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:12:14 GMT

I'm getting ready to pull the plug. My contract is up in July. It's totally ridiculous what cable companys charge now. I spend almost 200 a month, and don't even get movie channels. I've been buying rokus, and I'm just going to pay for wifi....

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

patbz — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:12:35 GMT

We have satellite but cutting the cable isn't an option. It is our main source of news and entertainment and we are three hours from any media market so any form of antenna wouldn't work. Our son did cut cable and uses an antenna, sling and prime. It's OK but not the variety we get (he pays $30 month plus internet. We save by mainly .cooking at home and using Netflix and redbox.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

scatcat — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:15:13 GMT

We had AT&T Uverse for many years. They would raise the rates and I would ask for a better deal. Last year they actually took away a service and upped our bill $40 and wouldn’t budge on price. I cancelled.

I called Comcast and locked in a really great rate for 2 years. Comcast has much more modern features as well.

After this contract is up, we are canceling cable.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

151949 — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:18:30 GMT

We are fortunate that we get basic cable in with our HOA fees. Last year the HOA negiotiated a new contract and no raise in price.I believe that will be for 5 years.We don't get hi def unless we pay extra for the box. I don't see any need for that. Many people here pay to get extra channels. In the fall we can pay extra for 5 months to get a football package DH enjoys - he gets to see the Steelers and Pitt & PSU football.However, we did not get that last fall because they schedule the Steelers for so many Sunday, Monday & Thursday night games that would be free to watch anyway.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

Caaareful Shopper — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:37:59 GMT

I was in Comcast Triple Play (internet, phone & cable). Once I was informed that my account was no longer in the "introductory phase" after two years, my monthly bill went up to $216. I didn't even want the phone part of the package because I do not have a land line phone. But Comcast said if I ever came out of the Triple Play, my bill would be over $270!

So last month I got rid of cable completely. I now only have Comcast's internet service (I must have wifi in the house). My bill went from $216 to $104 (I have to have the highest speed of wifi because I work from home some days during the week)!

I purchased three Roku devices because I have three TVs. I also purchased an inexpensive ($29) indoor antenna where I get some local channels (and QVC & HSN). All well worth their one-time cost.

I realized my TV watching was mostly movies, news and very little network TV, but I did just purchase CBS All Access for an additional $5.99/month, so now my bill is $110/month. Still a far cry from $216/month.

I was already an Amazon Prime member, and subscribed to Netflix when I was still paying for cable, so I truly don't miss anything cable offered.

Very happy!

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

NicksmomESQ — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:36:01 GMT

My cable bill is too high.DH likes having it so going without isn’t an option.I do phone them every year when I get a rate increase.I remind them I’ve been a customer for over 30 years.

I also remind them that I have other options & will move my service in a heartbeat.In fact I’ve priced another one out & they can save me $50!! Upon hearing that they always re work my package.At the end the price either holds or goes down to meet or beat the other providers offer!!

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

CRAZYCATLADY — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:53:03 GMT

Yes, my husband is doing that today as a matter of fact. We have satellite (direct tv) and we pay 126.00 per month. We both decided to cut it off. There is nothing on most times and we are too busy with house maintenance, grandkids, my daughter's wedding preparations, etc. We will have an adjustment period, but for the most part we will be fine.

I can add that I have "over the air" in the ktichen and watch the local news while prepping dinner, cleaning etc. It works fine.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

CatLoverDogsToo — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 13:01:49 GMT

I canceled cable over a year ago and haven't missed it. We were primarily watching either Netflix or Amazon Prime. We did add Hulu a few months after canceling cable.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

Shawnie — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 13:11:43 GMT

I cancelled about 2plus years ago. Cox Cable. MOre money for less service. Made me mad, so I ditched them. And yes if you call and poor mouth them they will lower your bill a few bucks. But that wasn't the point for me. I have to admit that if there is a national/world crisis I miss CNN. But you know what? I think I am calmer for not watching all of that 24/7. I can stream and I get local channels, all the networks, via a tv top antenna. I get all of those please come back offers and just ignore them.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

Spurt — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 13:31:05 GMT

@Sue98

If you have to be careful because sometimes it will end up costing you just as much

You need high speed wifi if your going to streaming options, and if unbundle you are going to get hit there.....Then it depends on the channels you like to watch and what you like to watch...

Sometimes you need to purchase an antenna to get local channels (and these are more expensive than rabbit ears-but its a one time charge).....Some buy Slingo and that depends on what you want....some add Hulu to that because Slingo does have a channnel they want...then some still cant get the channels they want so they get Netflix....and some of these services dont have sports so you have to get that separately.....

Now one thing peope haven't answered me is with sling/Hulu/Netflix do you still pay all the fees and muncipal surcharges that cable tacks on....that costs me $42 out of my cable bill and if you dont pay for the entertainment/sports surcharge and municipality fees that might be where you actually save---because there's no entertainment fee or sports fee surcharge or municipality fee.....

I pay $135 for my cable, which comes with one free box, any other box costs $3 extra a month--which I dont need. but our COA got a discount with a maverick cable company....I have the premium package and ultra sports (the sports extra costs me an extra $4.99 a month to get Red Zone NFL Network NBA TV and they add on other channels too that I dont really watch NASCAR, Outdoor Channel etc)

I know some friends that went the TV alternate route and they came back to cable because these alternate packages didnt have some of the channels they wanted........And it must depend on where you live because cable companies dont let you call and negotiate your renewal rate anymore---at least thats the experience here with AT&T, Spectrum etc...........

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

Spurt — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 13:39:58 GMT

Here's some articles to read........and cord cutting calculator..You need a very high speed internet....

https://cordcutting.com/cord-cutting-calculator/

https://www.debtroundup.com/does-cutting-cable-really-save-you-money/

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

gidgetgh — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 14:04:51 GMT

TV is our main source of entertainment.

We would never ever cancel cable and I would never cancel internet.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

Yardlie — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 14:24:15 GMT

There are lots of those different new services around here. My sister and my nephew recently told me that they switched to different services. It might have been Sling tv. My nephew says that he bought a "package" where he pays something like $35 a month for a group of channels. He got to choose from different packages. I think he had to buy a new tv.

We recently called Charter and told them we were switching to a different provider. They lowered our bill $20 a month. I took it for now until we look into all the different tv, internet, and phone services. We rarely even watch tv other than the news. It's a waste of money for us.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

beckyb1012 — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 14:28:16 GMT

I cancelled my cable in Oct. of 2016 when they were forcing me to get new equipment and pay even more than I was which was just around a $100.00 a month. SInce I only watched about an hour a night before bed I said shut it down. Never watch t.v. even on the weekends before 8:00 pm so I just put in a tape/dvd from my collection and then dose off. Have not missed it at all. Now several trips to the library every week that I would miss. My preference all my life is library over t.v., even as a child.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

nunya — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 15:15:47 GMT

No but I need to. Our cable company is the only one in our area. I pay $100 a month for just basic cable.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

Trinity11 — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 15:21:47 GMT

We pay $200.00 a month for phone, Internet and Cable. We enjoy premium stations and since I have been home a lot more the past two years, I think it's worth it.

Re: Discontinuing cable due to rate increases?

cherry — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 16:16:45 GMT

WE got rid of the movie channels because I bought Acorn and Britbox and netflix. I really like all 3 of them better than the movie packages. We are big fans of British TV and roku..I still have comcast but a smaller package, I wanted to keep my pbs and create channels