Interesting Article - Former Cord Cutter Goes back to Time Warner - Customer Service !
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/83786.html?google_editors_picks=true
The moment one signs a contract…
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I will NEVER sign a contract with a cable company or satellite service. Did it once, never again. Long live OTA - whatever it takes to get it going.
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The mistake was in going back… I’m in to my second year as a cord cutter, and would never think of returning to DirecTV or signing up with the local cable provider for TV service. In fact, I cringe at the thought of a significant boost in cost for my internet service at the end of my 2 year commitment, recently negotiated (150 Mbps-700GB monthly data cap- $59.99/month - 2 year price lock) and wish we had a decent competitor in the area, but we don’t.
Anyway, you have to be careful about all the extras. I’ve come to expect additional charges for each TV connected, DVR fee, etc., but the additional fees beyond those of almost $40/month in this case seem excessive. Also, I don’t know why anyone would want to bundle VoIP with a cable provider with the independents being so much cheaper.
I haven’t seen any numbers on this, but I wonder how many people who have successfully cut the cord end up going back. Most folks that I’ve introduced to OTA and helped set them up with an antenna are astounded at the quality they get, and are enjoying significant cost savings.
You mention, “How many people who have successfully cut the cord…” The key word is “successfully” since it takes a bit of an effort to get the antenna right, then augmenting that with the right streaming package(s), establishing the networking and finally settling on the interface devices (such as Roku or NP).
Not too many people are aware of all of these components and feel there is a “magic box” out there that will make the cord cutting easy and quick. When that doesn’t happen…
Some people cut the cord and don’t even pursue OTA, not even through PS Vue or SlingTV or the like. I think they are missing out, but I’m okay with it. If in that camp, it becomes really really cheap and easy because there isn’t a big upfront investment.
Reading that article, what I’d like to know is after the installer didn’t show up the first time and TWC told Mr. Brady they had simply canceled the install he continued with it. He was just asking to be taken advantage of, in my opinion. Which is exactly what TWC has done. Ugh.
Right on, mate. The writer is a real berk.
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Exactly, he had a second chance to think through the situation. Talk about rushing into the fire!
He must not have paid attention to his previous bills or otherwise he would have noticed all these extra charges that inflate the cost. That his $89 “bargain” became $150 eventually…incredible.
There’s a certain amount of determinism here. It seems as if he couldn’t conceive of NOT having TV and rushed in a second (and third) time. Most of us grow up with the TV continuously on and feel that it just has to be a constant in our lives. Cable provides that continual “feed” and “fix.” But they don’t think through the alternatives and wind up paying highly inflated prices that are built upon apparent bargains (an item here, another item there). If one thinks that cable provides bargains, those bargains get itemized “upwards” incrementally until the cable company actually winds up getting what IT wants.
I estimate that his “extra” cost will actually be about $2,500 over the two year contract period (which he didn’t want to pay but will wind up doing so nonetheless). P.T. Barnum got it right…
Instead of investing that money into his own environment (OTA, streaming, etc) it will go into someone else’s pocket.
Technically, I am now a cable tv subscriber (as of January), but I don’t use the tv service at all. I received a very good deal from Comcast, where I get 300 Mbps internet for $70 a month, as long as I also subscribe to the very basic cable package. I could even have a free cable box, but only if I use their standard def box (which is worthless to me).
The best part is that I did it with no contract at all and no installation fees (had to negotiate that part). I see the package still available online, but with a 3 year (!) contract. The only negative is that there are fees with basic cable, so I pay about $78 a month.
I do think cable and satellite companies are trying to compete better because of cord cutting. Dish has the same intro price for 2 full years, and they have a cheaper “flex pack” where you create your own channel bundle. DirecTv includes two receivers for no cost, as well as no initial equipment or install costs. Unfortunately cable (like Comcast) still has extra fees for DVRs and HD boxes.
The only thing that may make me go back to paid tv is when Google fiber finally gets to my neighborhood. But that may be another 12 months or more at the rate they are going in Nashville.
Soon, I will have google fiber @ 1G for $70. I use google voice for phone and will stream as much content as I can pipe through that fiber. Looking forward to being fully “cut”. Net savings $1200 first year. That is a lot of “on demand”…
Cord Cutting Malaise Continues in Q2: Pay-TV Operators Drop 1.3 Million Subs in Past Year
“The pay-television biz kept up a slow pace of descent as U.S. cable, satellite and telco TV operators shed a collective 757,000 subscribers in the second quarter, according to Wall Street analyst Craig Moffett — the sector’s worst quarterly performance to date, and down 1.29 million over the past 12 months.”
What this means is that the market is expanding for Tablo.
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I ended up going back to cable after a couple years of OTA and workarounds to get the programming I want to watch. Use this app/device/combination to watch program X just became too much. Adding premium HD stations to my internet only package was only $30 more. Yes, 30 bucks is 30 bucks - but I was paying close to that in Sling and aggravation. I still use Tablo to record and use cable to On-Demand or shows not on OTA.
So much happier with antenna for local channels and Netflix/Prime for on demand. I will never go back to cable. I don’t even understand the live streaming bundles. People get excited when new services appear and more channels get added to existing ones - but that is just cable in disguise. It is like the media companies are tricking cord cutters into signing back up for their overpriced packages and for some reason, people are falling for it. Why bother? It is like you love the idea of being a cord cutter but you really want the cable experience. I don’t get that. I don’t want that.
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Why bother? It is like you love the idea of being a cord cutter but you really want the cable experience. I don’t get that. I don’t want that.
For myself, it’s not necessarily that I dislike cable/satellite. I don’t. I actually like some of the content. What I don’t like is paying the artificially inflated prices to support their semi-monopoly. I like the idea of something like Sling TV because, yes, I do actually want some of the channels on cable/satellite, but I don’t want to pay for things I don’t want or 100 “music choice” channels, just so the provider can say you’re getting “340 channels!.”
It’s bad enough that the only cable provider where I live is also the only provider of high-speed internet so that just to get 50 Mbps I have to pay $70 a month ($55 a month for the first year, $70 a month after that with no cable sub and providing my own modem). I have considered subscribing to DirecTV, which would still be a little less expensive that going with cable but I’d still be paying for things I wouldn’t watch. So, not for me.
That’s why cord cutting is attractive to me.
Greed is good.