Off Topic! (you've been warned!) Your Comcast bill just go up? Off Topic!

RRP

Just got my bill and next month that sucker is going up 22% to $231.50! Like H*LL it is! I'm going in Monday to talk to the man to see what kind of fast one they just tried to pull. Anybody else get that 22% bump?  

Botch

All the cable/sat providers do that.  It's a business model that infuriates me to no end; offer a "great" deal for the newbies, then once you become a long-time customers, cut-n-bleeed you.  
I cut the cable a year ago, went with a dish-based intranetz provider and tried to go with just OTA digital signals.  Unfortunately, once a very large building was completed on Hill AFB, right between me and the broadcast antennas, my OTA went to crap.  
Someday, it'll all be intranetz-based (you can already get a lot of programming over the 'net); not yet, though.  
 
EDIT:  If you're going into Comcrap personally tomorrow, and it's not too difficult to remove, bring the cable box in with you, to show you're serious about dropping them if they don't cut you a deal.  I'm told you can do that over the phone too, but I've not had good luck doing it that way.  

RRP

It's probably too late from me to try to get out now, but we have been 100% Comcast for a few years now - TV, Internet and Telephone - I passed on security! 

cajunrph

The satellite companies do the same thing. Get you in with sweet deals, then raise the prices out the roof. I'd cut the cord if it wasn't for the Mickey Mouse sports networks strangle hold on college football.

Davec433

Cut the cable Ron! Id cut the cable if we could but we've been with Direct Tv for about a year and we have another to go before we can cancel. We barely turn the TV on now at it is. 231 is crazy talk.

Shiff

My Comcast bill went up about 3%.  Make sure you speak to the retention specialists since it is their job to keep you as a customer and they have the most power to offer discounts.  Bring some satellite literature in with you and tell them you are considering switching to satellite.  You can do all this on the phone and it may be easier since the local office doesn't have as much clout as the main customer support number.

NPHuskerFL

Kinda glad we don't even have the option for Comcast out here in the woods. Their infrastructure hasn't got to our area. DirecTV has been good for us. The ATT&T merger didn't hurt our rates &/or service. 

Davec433

We don't have the option for Comcast either but they are always digging up our lawns to lay wire, annoying.

HeavyG

What Shiff said.

Don't know where you live but do you have another cable company besides Comcast? If so, just call them up and say that you are going to switch to "XXX" but you're giving them the chance to offer you a better deal. Chances are they'll offer something. In my area both cable companies are pretty aggressive about offering discounts to get and keep subscribers.

If you don't have a cable alternative just tell them you're switching to DirecTV or Dish.

henapple

I just bundled all 4 and saving around $2400 a year. No special offers. 

SmokeyPitt

Agree with @Shiff and @HeavyG.  Save yourself some time and just call and say you are cancelling your service and get to the retention specialist.  

Fred19Flintstone

I just relayed this conversation with Wilma.  She said she's ready to go back to sat tv (we had dish), but in deference to me, we'll wait until after the Super Bowl to address it.  In the past, when it snows hard here, our sat goes kaput.

DoubleEgger

Just call and ask for the retention department. They'll drop their pants faster than a Kardashian. 

RRP

Question for Dish users...I've heard that the Internet side isn't all that great, slow and weather problems can knock you off or out. True or False?

Davec433

Satellite internet sucks period regardless of the provider. I would keep my Comcast internet if I was you.

Just to give you an idea of how slow it is my FIL had satellite internet but they ditched it to tether with their phones.

Direct Tv uses Geosynchronous Sattelites that travel at an altitude of 35,786 km from where they send the info then to the satellite and then back down so it's a lot slower than cable.

pgprescott

RRP said:

Question for Dish users...I've heard that the Internet side isn't all that great, slow and weather problems can knock you off or out. True or False?

I have Comcast internet because sat. Internet is slow and expensive. You pay a $15 premium for not bundling. Then I'm directv and no phone.  It took me years to convince the Mrs to cut out phone. Best thing ever. No weekend bs calls. Only people I hear from are those I wish to talk with. Good luck Ron. It's like chinese water torture. Drip, drip, drip, drip..........

Botch

Fred19Flintstone said:

I just relayed this conversation with Wilma.  She said she's ready to go back to sat tv (we had dish), but in deference to me, we'll wait until after the Super Bowl to address it.  In the past, when it snows hard here, our sat goes kaput.

With another dish provider I had, years ago, someone told me to spray Pam cooking spray onto the dish, that lets the snow slide off.  It seemed to work.
 
DuPont now sells a two-spray set called "Nev-R-Wet", that is extremely hygroscopic (hope that's the right word) and am tempted to try it.  

Mikee

I dropped cable TV about 8 years ago and just use an antenna. I had DSL for internet but that was getting expensive because the provider required a POTS connection which was useless. Price for a 6Mb connections was $75 per month. Talked with my neighbor and now I pay him $480 year to share his 60Mb connection.

One of the issues that cable TV providers are experiencing is the loss of customers. So as they loose customers they got to jack up the prices for those who remain. As a former manager cable TV manager, I did not like the way the industry was moving starting in the mid1990's. We were adding 4 useless channels a year and upping the monthly rate by $2 a month. Those channels, for the most part, cost us nothing per month or a times we basically got paid to air that new programming. A good example was when VH1 was launched. Viacom paid for all the headend equipment including the satellite dish. Not only was VH1 free but we got a discount on MTV for a period of 2-3 years. After that initial period we would then have to continue to air VH1 and pay for it and MTV went back up in price. It was a no brainer. We did not wait until that introductory period was over before we increased the monthly subscription rate. The monthly rate increased as soon as we added VH1. These type of deals continued year after year. Cable TV was a good value in 70's, 80's, and 90's. Now it is way too expensive and the value has depreciated.

Chubbs

I just climb the pole and slice my neighbors cable. 

Botch

I just climb the pole, fall down, and watch free cable in the hospital.  
 
@Mikee, thanks for some "insider" info; greed just ruins everything, dunnit?  

RRP

Maybe the Comcast cable devils are yanking my chain but we have been trying to watch the Packers-Cardinals game tonight and the friggen service goes up and down! And they want $230 a month for this aggravation?

Mikee

Ron:

$230 a month is nothing compared to what Bell Atlantic had in mind in the mid-late 90's. Bell Atlantic was looking to buy-out TCI which was the biggest cable TV operator back then. Not only did TCI have the most cable customers but they were also a major investor/owner in satellite programmers. That deal never happened. Bell Atlantic felt they could pump out $360 per month from subscribers by the end of 10 years. That $360 per month would have been TV, internet, and phone by the mid 2000's.

I was promoted to manager of a couple of small systems back in 1986. The company I worked purchased them for $1.9 million dollars. I resigned in 2001 and those system were valued somewhere between $35-40 million. Granted the company had to spend on extensions which increased customers but a significant increase in the price per subscriber was due to the profitability per subscriber. In 1986 the monthly rate was $12.95. In 2001 the monthly rate was roughly $40 per month.

RRP

Mikee said:

Ron:

$230 a month is nothing compared to what Bell Atlantic had in mind in the mid-late 90's. Bell Atlantic was looking to buy-out TCI which was the biggest cable TV operator back then. Not only did TCI have the most cable customers but they were also a major investor/owner in satellite programmers. That deal never happened. Bell Atlantic felt they could pump out $360 per month from subscribers by the end of 10 years. That $360 per month would have been TV, internet, and phone by the mid 2000's.

I was promoted to manage a couple of small systems back in 1986. The company I worked purchased them for $1.9 million dollars. I resigned in 2001 and those system were valued somewhere between $35-40 million. Granted the company had to spend on extensions which increased customers but a significant increase in the price per subscriber was due to the profitability per subscriber. In 1986 the monthly rate was $12.95. In 2001 the monthly rate was roughly $40 per month.

Thanks for the insider info.

DoubleEgger

eggsurance_agent

I hate having to call Direct every year. But if you don't, it will never end!