Just dropped cable because price was going up.

Just dropped cable because price was going up. Keeping the lowest priced Internet. They keep telling me what a deal I had with a special rate but when they increase to the next special rate it becomes almost as much as I paid for my duplex monthly for 10 years - just keep cutting corners. Gas, electric, water tell us to cut back then they want higher rates so they have the same income -

was really bad - clearly it was deliberately degraded so that I would upgrade my cable package.

I cancelled.

I watch The Daily Show, South Park and a great selection of anime there. Also iTunes and Android phone downloads for some stuff, including free podcasts of Racheal Maddow's show. All a day late, but that doesn't matter much to me.

I like Rachel and Jon Stewart

I will miss family channel, hallmark, and sometimes lifetime - the rest was violence or reality so there was nothing on for that price

I only watch television so occasionally that I can't justify a monthly subscription. Pay per show is okay - I'll download stuff from itunes.

What really sucks in that news is their plans to load shows with as much commercial time as regular tv. Count me out :-(

I found myself constantly surfing to find something better to watch and never seemed to watch a complete program. Now I have only 12 channels but I get them free and over the air and in high definition.

The best entertainment dollars I have ever spent were to get Netflix (one dvd out at a time) and have access to its thousands of movies, documentaries, and tv shows so I always have something to watch. I use a Roku box so I can view the Netflix streaming video on my 50" plasma and it looks great to me. I highly recommend it.

That's what I did. I have $30 taken off my satellite bill, that also included my internet and phone service. Some companies would rather keep your business even if you are paying them a lot less. Try it. Tell them you're broke. And then ask to talk with a supervisor if the first person won't help. It's a buyer's market and a lot of companies will lower your monthly bill, but you have to ask them first.

Anyway, it's just a suggestion.

Instead of threatening to take my business elsewhere, I was nice about it. I asked if they had a better deal than what I was getting, because I was out of a job, and in desperate need of cutting back. Not only did they knock off about the same ($30) from my monthly total, but they threw in a bunch of movie channels too. Guess they really are desperate to keep customers right now.

Good job, I'm glad you negotiated!

That's the reason why we switched from Dish over to Direct, because we'd heard that they were better with offering these kind of deals to their customers. We've not only been able to get free channels and reduced bills, but also free HD DVR's for just the price of shipping (usually $20). Actually, we've never paid anything but shipping for a receiver/dvr. We pay enough for monthly service and have been with them long enough, we figure they owe it to us. ;)

Cable companies sell commercial time on every cable-only channel, if people switch from cable to antenna, they lose those eyeballs that they sell to your local furniture company.

I have a calendar with dates listed about what specials end w/which utilities, so that I can call them back as soon as it ends and request another deal.

Here's how to play CSR Roulette:

1) Make sure your bill is completely paid up (hopefully on time).

2) Be as sweet as can be and also personable. CSR's are bored to death and appreciate this!

3) Tell them the truth: "We've been hit especially hard by the recession and are facing having to make some hard decisions about cuts which need to be made. Is there anything you can do to help me save more money on my bill?" They will either say "Yes, I can help you!"; "Wait, let me let you speak with someone else." OR "No, I'm sorry but there's nothing else we can do for you."

4) If you hear the last choice, kindly thank them and wish them a good day. Don't get mean or nasty, do NOT threaten to stop the service because they may just do it and you'll have nothing! Don't threaten their job or demand a supervisor (but you may ask, "Is there another person who is ABLE to better help me with this situation??")

5) Here's the Roulette part: Wait at least 48 hours, then call again! Call at a different time of day. The odds are VERY GOOD that you'll speak with a completely different CSR (and repeat steps 2-4).

We have successfully managed to lower bills with AT&T (cell), DirectTV (they are THE BEST with special deals), our home phone with AT&T, our pool service, bug service, etc. It takes patience and forethought but it is SO WORTH IT.

His landline is now $12. a month. He recently got his full basic cable bill reduced to $32., all taxes and fees included. They also threw in 5 HBO channels free of charge for as long as he stays with them.

They delivered what they said they'd deliver, and they did it fast. The install guy was kind of a nut, but he got it up and running and the roof doesn't leak, so I'm a happy guy.

they just kept telling me even with the $10 a month increase it was still lower than that service without discounts - I asked how much an hour they made and if they could justify spending a whole days pay on cable each month - NO

You have other options as well...

almost two years ago I didn't buy a TV and didn't get cable to save the money. (I left the one and only TV behind. This was a divorce-inspired move.) Because there's a lot I can watch over the internet I really don't miss it at all, and in the long run I think I'm actually better informed, because I don't get the absurd wall-to-wall coverage such as happens when a fading singer/songwriter/performer dies.

I wake up every morning to the BBC and then Amy Goodman, and I generally watch Keith Olbermann at night and my friends on DU generally keep me aware of anything real important out there.

Cable is overrated.

ABC, NBC and CBS, but also MTV, VH1, Lifetime, Bravo, History, A & E, HGTV, PBS and more.

Sure, you can't always get the most recent episode or all the episodes of a show, but for that there is Itunes or Netflix.

The only drawback is that there are commercials, but not as many online as there are on cable. I just turn off the sound and ignore em.

The only thing I miss about cable t.v. is that BBC programming isn't available online or to buy or rent-at least so far.

I agree with you about Hulu though.

most of it is a usage fee that's the same whether you use 1 gallon or 10,000

Had to take days off to get those problems fixed (more dollars). I was a little worried at the digital switch - could I still get signals? I do. And have built a small dvd library to fill the gap - costs far less than monthly cable. Have wireless broadband (a little more expensive than cable - but a lot less when there is no cable cost to be coupled with the broadband) If I really want to watch - can often find an internet way to do so. Welcome to the off-grid cable world.

how little you'll miss it.

Cable-free for over a year.

$9.95 a month for local programming only. Great reception, all local stations plus Minneapolis PBS. You have to ask for it, they won't tell you it exists otherwise, but they're required to offer it by federal law. We made it about six months and started missing Colbert and the Daily Show--ended up going with Direct TV, who offered us a better deal than our local cable mooks--more channels for less money, rate locked in for two years.

Just got the notice that the special deal they offered me is expiring and what I have now will cost an extra $20 a month. It doesn't seem like much but with a 6% pay cut looming, I need to cut out all that I can. I just looked at Hulu. Wow! I can get the Simpsons so I'm all set. I watch way too much TV anyway.

Here in Ohio they have raised our bill so high that we switched back to the basic 78 channels. In our rural area they are the only cable provider unless you want to go to satellite which I'd rather not, so they have a monopoly on my area they think they can do what they want when they want.

http://www.roku.com/roku-products

Here is their channel store and there are a number of free and interesting channels as well as others that can be added for a small cost if you like them: http://www.roku.com/roku-channel-store I use mostly the Netflix, but sometimes Amazon to rent a recent movie. I did rent the most recent Star Trek movie through Amazon and paid the extra $1 for the high def feed and it did look great.

Here are the customer reviews for Roku: http://www.roku.com/testimonials I've always liked to read about the experiences that regular people have had with anything I am considering buying.

I have the basic HD Roku and run a wire from my router to it and use an HDMI cable to watch on my 50" plasma. I also run lines from the Roku box to tvs in my other 2 bedrooms and they all look great to me. As I said, Netflix along with my Roku box is the best bang I have ever gotten for my entertainment dollar or almost anything else.

time for me to start saving up...

I am seriously considering dropping cable and switching to this. Thanks for posting!

Julie

Mostly using the convenience of the DVR for a show for one of my kids.

With the Roku Netflix instant viewing box plus DVD rentals as an alternative and having no interest in live sports cable TV is a poor way to spend my entertainment dollars.


Some reports are that 1 in 8 may be doing this. Cable and Dish are about to get a rude awakening.

Put up a quality antenna in the attic. Connected it to a TIVO HD and now I get flawless HD recordings.

Tivo HD + netflix + Hulu is more content than I need and costs next to nothing.

No monthly fee. I am never going back to cable ever unless (and they never will) they offer ala-cart channels.

Figure 40+ years of no cable in the future.

40*12 = 480 months * $70 = $33,600. That figure as shocking as it is really is a lowball because you need to account for cable prices rising and the interest (time value) of the funds not given to cable company. I would much rather have $50K - $100K more in my retirement account than have a bunch of channels I really don't need (and now no longer even want).

If there's something I just have to see, I can usually find it on the internet or Netflix.

i quit cable when we moved out to NC from CA. in CA it was on 24/7 and costing a fortune and all those commercials!
most cable news you can pick up on the web, many, many tv shows are available on Hulu and for $10/month, you can subscribe to Netflix and never run out of stuff to watch.

i will never go back even if i get rich.

I am watching less TV. It keeps getting more expensive year after year, for the same or less stuff. At least 65% of what I watch is available over the air for free. Another 20% is available on the internet. The remainder of the stuff can wait until it's on DVD for Netflix. Add on the issue that the cable company now increasingly wants me to have a leased box to watch TV, as if we're back in the 1980s, and this makes the value of the service worse than ever.

Thousands of movies, plays, BBC TV serials. You can have 10 at a time for one week. After getting rid of cable about three years ago because there seemed to be very little worth paying for, I found things that cable didn't offer - BBC Shakespeare plays (I love the captioning - I don't miss a word), Chekhov, Shaw, Ibsen, etc.; recently released films (many are available), classic films, children's films, operas, documentaries, and many films I didn't know existed about the labor movement, the Weather Underground, history, musicians, etc. No waiting for the mail, no commercials, and free.