Our Verizon bill, a very confusing beast with weird surchages, constant shuffles, etc., is currently $235 a month for premium TV, internet, and landline phone.
What's too expensive? What's fair? Are there more efficient ways of getting good content at a reasonable price?
Should we severe our landline?
I find Verizon, Time-Warner, and others have very confusing packages, which are always changing. Of all the bills I pay, this one makes me feel the most unsettled.
I'm in the same boat as you (and several of the other posters). I fight with them, I get my bill lowered, and each month it creeps back up. It's a never-ending cycle.
This is what you get when you don't have real competition. You get treated like crap, they charge whatever they want, the customer service is non-existent.
I've been exploring "cutting the cord" as well. Have the Roku, have Netflix. Have installed media server software that talks to my Roku that gives me some fun options. I've kept the land-line for the same reasons cited earlier; but have it on bare-bones service.
I despise the cable companies. Many of us do. They know this. And they don't care.
Posted by: John | November 26, 2013 at 07:58 PM
I'll put it to you this way: If I had a standard cable/dish connection, I would just be watching the same things I'm watching now, but paying at least three times more. I'd get to see the same nightly shows same-night, and the kids would be watching the current season of the cartoons they're currently watching, and that privilege would cost roughly $400 more per year. Add in the paltry few premium channel shows and now it's over $700 more per year.
No thanks.
Posted by: StarHalo | November 26, 2013 at 09:22 PM
We have been OTA reception here in Sacramento for 22 years. 18 Mbps fiber internet and phone cost us about $95 per month. Adding u-verse like Ip television, including HD and HBO, added about $12 per month to that bill, through a local provider, Surewest. While most of what we watch is still network stuff, I do enjoy regional sports channels, and the HGTV network programs.
That being said, we have a cottage up near Chico, where to cut my commute down, I spend about three nights each week. OTA there as well, but only 13 stations, six of those network based and in HD, plus streaming service from Netflix, Hulu, and amazon prime, used at both locations. Looked at options from Dish, Direct TV and Comcast, but the bill would still be about $80 per month, or about $7 per night on average. pass. Bought a slingbox 350, so now I stream the cable fare over the internet, driving the cable box remotely.
Bottom line is that $200 per month or more is a choice, but OTA is an option. That said, if you watch a lot of sports, cable or dish is your best choice. For standard network fare, over the air hd quality is likely better than anything served up by cable, and costs you nothing.
Posted by: Tapokata | November 28, 2013 at 10:07 PM