Community Chat

[Jordan2]

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@Spurt wrote:

@CherryHugs  @LisaMofSLC  @hayseed00

What's funny when Time Warner became Spectrum they announced no more pricing games and what's listed as their price is the final offer---No more negotiating if you call to complain about the price or call to cancel....

A friend contacted them and that's the stand they took with her....."That's our price" (a take it or leave it attitude) , but when my sister called they negotiated a lower price for her.....Either business must be bad in certain parts of the country, so now they play "let's make a deal"..OR ...some of their Reps/Supervisors didn't get the memo....

I'm glad I'm with an independent cable company that always promises to beat Spectrum in price, but they are only available in certain areas in the local vicinity....

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@Spurt, Spectrum back in December of last year made a multi million dollar settlement. They are suppose to take 62 million dollars of the settlement to pay $75 to their 700,000 customers ( big deal). I think Spectrum has taken a PR hit, could be why they are more willing to  negotiate with customers. You would think they would want to hold onto their customers since a lot of people are cutting the cord with cable, I really think this is the future of how we watch our shows.

[Spurt]

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@Jordan2 wrote:

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@Spurt wrote:

@CherryHugs  @LisaMofSLC  @hayseed00

What's funny when Time Warner became Spectrum they announced no more pricing games and what's listed as their price is the final offer---No more negotiating if you call to complain about the price or call to cancel....

A friend contacted them and that's the stand they took with her....."That's our price" (a take it or leave it attitude) , but when my sister called they negotiated a lower price for her.....Either business must be bad in certain parts of the country, so now they play "let's make a deal"..OR ...some of their Reps/Supervisors didn't get the memo....

I'm glad I'm with an independent cable company that always promises to beat Spectrum in price, but they are only available in certain areas in the local vicinity....

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@Spurt, Spectrum back in December of last year made a multi million dollar settlement. They are suppose to take 62 million dollars of the settlement to pay $75 to their 700,000 customers ( big deal). I think Spectrum has taken a PR hit, could be why they are more willing to  negotiate with customers. You would think they would want to hold onto their customers since a lot of people are cutting the cord with cable, I really think this is the future of how we watch our shows.

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@Jordan2

I bet your right regarding that Spectrum settlement and willingness to negotiate now

If chord cutting is the future.....

1.  They are going to have to come-up with better technology for streaming as customers are already complaining about freezing and pixelating even with the best internet. Google  complaints about Sling TV 

2.  Better solution to access local changes than buying an updated version of "rabbit ear" antennas.

3.  Pricing ---Some prices for these cable alternatives are already going up....And most peple won't be content with Slings $25 offer, so more than likely people will add Blue/Orange Package $45, high speed best internet is $79.99 in my area, so that's over $100 already, add in a couple channels for an extra $5 each per month, another streaming service, Netflix, $7.99-$10.99, and another service, Hulu- $5.99 for $44.99 for Hulu + Live TV. ...Are chord cutters just making do or satisified with LESS --OR--are they not really saving much at all????.

(BTW I used a chord cutting calcultor from a consumer website and it would cost me $39 more a month to cut the chord to get what I have now with cable)

I bet Amazon won't throw in Prime Video with their Prime Membership forever--mark my words, and I bet Roku will change from---just buy our equipment and look all you can watch for free, to a monthly subscription of some sort....

Pretty soon we wont have cable, but we will be paying as much as we did for cable.  It's the old adage---the more things change the more they remain "the same"......

4. We will still complain, there's nothing on to watch despite the viewing options....

Just my 2 cent$.....

[corita]

        Interesting to read this thread today.  I was getting ready to pay my Spectrum bill and noticed it went up from last month!  I was so surprised.  Two months ago, I had dropped some channels and went down a tier because they were networks that I did not watch very often.

        I called and the lady was very nice, but could not tell me why the cost went up!!  All she could say was that since I dropped one level, that changed the 'bundle' price.  I kept insisting that was ridiculous.   I dropped because the cost kept going up and then the cost went up anyway!!  I only have cable and Internet with Spectrum.   I gave her several opportunities to lower my price, but no deal.  I don't want to drop

cable because there are some networks that I do watch!!  And, am not sure that changing to any other cable company would be any better!! 

[Jordan2]

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@corita wrote:

        Interesting to read this thread today.  I was getting ready to pay my Spectrum bill and noticed it went up from last month!  I was so surprised.  Two months ago, I had dropped some channels and went down a tier because they were networks that I did not watch very often.

        I called and the lady was very nice, but could not tell me why the cost went up!!  All she could say was that since I dropped one level, that changed the 'bundle' price.  I kept insisting that was ridiculous.   I dropped because the cost kept going up and then the cost went up anyway!!  I only have cable and Internet with Spectrum.   I gave her several opportunities to lower my price, but no deal.  I don't want to drop

cable because there are some networks that I do watch!!  And, am not sure that changing to any other cable company would be any better!! 

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@corita, Spectrum really gets you with their “bundles”. I called to try to get my bill lowered, because they changed the codes my internet went up because I had a different package. My $30 savings I was promised actually was a $15 savings.

[Bridgegal]

We got our cable bill lowered by dropping cable when we moved.   We were with xfinity for 16 years and never once had a problem.  I could do commercials for them,our long experience was so good.   So, when we moved to NM, we got xfinity internet and Hulu with live TV.   Our bill for both is 1/2 what it was with cable and internet.   And I no longer have to call annually and ask them how 'we' can lower our bill.

@SleepyTime

We don't find streaming to be inconvenient at all.  It is easy and straight forward.   Once we upgraded our old modem or router there has been no buffering at all.   We are happy with it.  When Game of Thrones comes back in April , we'll add HBO and then drop it.   When Homeland is back in June, same thing.   Pick and choose; add and drop with a click.   

We figured we'd give it a try and if we didn't like it , we'd call xfinity cable.  I don't see us making that call.

[Spurt]

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@corita wrote:

        Interesting to read this thread today.  I was getting ready to pay my Spectrum bill and noticed it went up from last month!  I was so surprised.  Two months ago, I had dropped some channels and went down a tier because they were networks that I did not watch very often.

        I called and the lady was very nice, but could not tell me why the cost went up!!  All she could say was that since I dropped one level, that changed the 'bundle' price.  I kept insisting that was ridiculous.   I dropped because the cost kept going up and then the cost went up anyway!!  I only have cable and Internet with Spectrum.   I gave her several opportunities to lower my price, but no deal.  I don't want to drop

cable because there are some networks that I do watch!!  And, am not sure that changing to any other cable company would be any better!! 

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@corita

I bet this is why your rates went up, check current bill vs previous one and see if the fees went up.  This is probably why....my rates went up $10 this was the explanation--

RATE ADJUSTMENT OVERVIEW: EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2019

While we strive to keep prices as low as possible, we – and our entire industry – continue to face dramatic increases in the costs we are forced to pay large corporate broadcasters and cable networks for the right to carry their programming. These networks are charging increasingly higher fees to make up for lost advertising revenue due to fewer consumers watching their programming. Because of these rising programming costs, we are forced to make adjustments to our rates, recovering only a portion of those increases and absorbing the rest.

• Broadcast TV Surcharge will see an increase of $ applicable to customers with cable packages with Basic TV or higher
• The Sports Surcharge and Entertainment Networks Surcharge will see an increase of $2.19 applicable to customers with cable packages with Expanded or Preferred TV or higher

[Spurt]

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@Bridgegal wrote:

We got our cable bill lowered by dropping cable when we moved.   We were with xfinity for 16 years and never once had a problem.  I could do commercials for them,our long experience was so good.   So, when we moved to NM, we got xfinity internet and Hulu with live TV.   Our bill for both is 1/2 what it was with cable and internet.   And I no longer have to call annually and ask them how 'we' can lower our bill.

@SleepyTime

We don't find streaming to be inconvenient at all.  It is easy and straight forward.   Once we upgraded our old modem or router there has been no buffering at all.   We are happy with it.  When Game of Thrones comes back in April , we'll add HBO and then drop it.   When Homeland is back in June, same thing.   Pick and choose; add and drop with a click.   

We figured we'd give it a try and if we didn't like it , we'd call xfinity cable.  I don't see us making that call.

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@Bridgegal

Please answer a question for me---

Do chord cutters pay fees and surcharges this is reason my cable went up--

Franchise Fee 7.10

Regulatory Fee 0.06

Municipal PEG Access Fee 1.38

State Sales Tax 8.68

City Sales Tax 2.78

Broadcast TV Surcharge 16.45

Sports Programming Surcharge 13.64

Entertainment Networks Surcharge 12.85

[spot555]

I lowered my bill permanently-  I got rid of cable over a year ago.  I'll never go back to watching TV- I'm DONE. 

First of all, I got really tired of their games concerning the price. I had lower-tier, & it was almost $100.00 per month! Yes, I did call a couple of times & spoke with a supervisor....they couldn't have cared less. 

Have you ever turned on the TV, & clicked through channel after channel, & there was nothing but garbage on? What about the amount of commercials? When I watched a 30 minute show, I think at least 40% of it were commercials.....for big pharma, mostly.

I stopped watching TV news a long time ago- what a waste of time. I only watch DVD's that I choose to buy, & it's perfect. I listen to music, & I love it. It feels so good to NOT watch television PROGRAMMING. I'll never go back to that- ever. 

[Bridgegal]

@Spurt

Honestly, I don't know the breakdown on our internet.  We didn't get the basic internet (I think we could have and be fine but DH wanted the next level up)  $60.00 pm

Hulu with Live TV is $44.95 a month total.  None of those additional fees.  They just have a flat fee.  We get live 70 channels + all Hulu movies and series.  Best of all, I haven't missed one football or basketball game that I wanted to see.   We'll see about baseball.

HTH

[sunshine45]

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@Bridgegal wrote:

@Spurt

Honestly, I don't know the breakdown on our internet.  We didn't get the basic internet (I think we could have and be fine but DH wanted the next level up)  $60.00 pm

Hulu with Live TV is $44.95 a month total.  None of those additional fees.  They just have a flat fee.  We get live 70 channels + all Hulu movies and series.  Best of all, I haven't missed one football or basketball game that I wanted to see.   We'll see about baseball.

HTH

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we have a basic hulu account. it actually is going to go down by $2 a month beginning in february. we are charged tax on our account. perhaps it has to do with the state you live in as to what the taxes and fees are?

for our cable/internet/phone with xfinity we pay a total of $31.98 in fees and taxes.

not going to be giving up our cable anytime soon though.

universal connectivity charge $1.03

regulatory recovery fees $4.12

regional sports fee $8.25

broadcast tv fee $6.75

tv franchise fee $9.55

tv fcc regulatory fee $0.06

tv state sales tax $1.17

911 fee $1.00