I hate cable and phone companies.

[John Schmidt]

Our "bundled" service for TV, internet, and phone is $157/month with Bright House which is now Spectrum. I'm debating about going with Vonage so I asked our current co. how much our bill would go down if we dropped the phone service. Much to my chagrin, I was told my monthly bill would go up. I told the guy they had best not tell the gas companies about that practice. If they did, the cost would go up per gallon if you bought less than a full tank; i.e., if I bought 20 gal. the price would be $2.29. But if I only bought 10 gal. the price would be $3.29/gallon. Then I asked how much would you bill me if I dropped your service totally. He didn't think I was funny, I told him I didn't think his company was funny either. Told him nobody appreciates getting billed for a few hundred channels, the majority of which are of little or no interest to the viewing public. And since Spectrum has taken over, we've had service interruptions out the gazoo....assuming I even have a gazoo! I've talked to my wife about making a change but she doesn't want to rock the boat. OK, then what!  A little over two years ago I changed to have all my services mentioned handled by the cable company and it saved us just over $75/mo.  But in the interim, they have kept raising their rates(as expected) so that now that $75 savings is no longer there. My wife wants a landline....really needs one with her situation. She's barely able to use her cell phone(not a smart phone either) but is able to handle the larger cordless landline unit. I'm at a loss, I know in another couple months our cable bill is going up substantially, guess I'll wait until then and switch. Really irritating to know a single company can exercise so much control of the local market. 

Sorry for vent, really bugging me lately and there really doesn't seem to be a way out.

[..]

One of these

https://www.amazon.com/large-number-cell-phones/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Alarge%20number%20cell%20phones

Connected to

https://www.totalwireless.com/wps/portal/home. About $40 a month

Indoor antenna for local channels. I use a Mohu Leaf
https://www.walmart.com/browse/electronics/indoor-antennas/3944_1060825_133270_1208164

Roku to get access to Netflix plus many other streaming channels
https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=the+roku&index=aps&tag=geminipcstand-20&ref=pd_sl_1fha3wlzba_e

Netflix for entertainment  $10 a month

[Serk]

South Park sums it up pretty well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBsJ9VSQvbE

[old2soon]

Agreed John. dumped century link when THEY TOLD me I had no other options.  Dumb sonsabitches. I Do have other options-in my particular case it is Cable America. Far as the boob tube goes I'm on an antenna and reasonably happy with the results. Got VERY tired of dish "giving" me something and then my bill going up 5 or 10 bucks or so. Asked em nicely to quit "givin me free stuff" as i couldn't afford the "free stuff"!  When I told them I couldn't afford the "free stuff" it went right over their head.  Good luck on finding other options. I tried-unsuccessfully-to get dish to give me a package I wanted with out all the crap I wasn't gonna watch no how no way! I wuz politely informed that what I wanted wuz NOT an option. Oh-one other item of interest-when I call Cable America I talk to a nice lady in Houston Missouri-bout 25 miles from my casa. She told me when I'm in the area stop by for a cup of coffee.  How kewl is that? RIDE SAFE.

[Jess from VA]

I have no idea what your alternatives are John.

I do know that in my dealings with these outfits, when my contract (if any) is expiring and the rate is set to increase (like foking clockwork), I have simply called the sales assholes, plead retired poverty and threatened to cancel.  This invariably results in being put on hold to be transferred to the special deal and promotion people, who generally allow you to stay on board at the same price, without the increase.  I have had to sign a contract for a couple years (quid pro quo), to get the good deal, but since that means I won't have to go through this for a couple years, I make the deal.

This call takes a long time and is frustrating and makes you homicidal, so plan ahead and do some transcendental meditation or take some downers before making the call.

YMMV.  If there is no competition, this may not work at all.

[solo1]

I gave up on ANY cable or dish type crap.

I get 5 local channels direct with simple antenna.  I pay 87.50 for internet and landline.  I pay 8.95 for Netflix which has some decent movies but mostly crap.

I have a simple Tracfone cell phone that I pay 22.bucks for 3 months and 120 minutes.  I now have about 3,000 minutes since I only have it for 'emergencies'

I like the landline. My machine screens all nuisance calls and I don't hafta mess with them.

Yep, I miss some cable but don't miss the @#$%^ increases it seems like every month.  I can check in on cable news on the monitor screen.  Don't need a humongus screen to watch all the BS.

And NO CONTRACTS.

[scooperhsd]

EVERYBODY bitches about it -

What it comes down to is can you really live without it ? Sounds like O2S has decided he can.

There are some alternatives depending on what is important to you.

Myself - Landline is now BYOD VoIP - I use Callcentric for my provider - landline typically runs me $8-$10 / month. My internet (100 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up) is from specturm, at $60 / month. Dish AT120 for TV - $75 /MONTH. I could cheapen down on TV and use streaming and OTA - (I have OTA for bad weather backup of DBS anyway)

[Tourus]

   I agree with you John, bright house/spectrum sucks. I guess if your the only cable provider you don't care if you suck and they are raising prices. Imagine 1 gas station, 1 grocery store, 1 auto repair shop and on and on we would have to go to the 1 bank for a loan to pay all the other over priced companies.i know I could cancel my cable and install an antenna, a friend installed one and gets 43 channels. I could take my I pad to just about any fast food restaurant and get free WiFi and drink a cup of coffee. I have mentioned it to the family but their not ready yet but I think the antenna would be a great start

[John Schmidt]

I'm thinking seriously about going to an antenna. We have a large tall chimney that would make a perfect place to strap it on, I'd have to do it without my wife being aware....she doesn't like the thought of "an ugly old TV antenna stuck on the roof." By coincidence, in the mail today we got a letter from Spectrum informing us of an increase coming in July, with taxes will be ~$17.00 more. So, I called their customer service and asked what I'm getting for the extra $$....."oh, nothing has changed, we're just increasing our prices due to costs."  I told her in another couple months part of their costs will be going down 'cuz I'm changing service....then hung up. Few minutes later some dude called and complained that I had threatened one of their employees. Seriously? So I related to him exactly what I had said and was told that's not the story he got. Sorry sport, then your female employee flat out lied to you...and I hung up. You either have to laugh or cry at such stuff.....so I sniffle a bit. 

[..]

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tv+over+the+air+signals&t=ffab&ia=web

[The emperor has no clothes]

I'm thinking seriously about going to an antenna. We have a large tall chimney that would make a perfect place to strap it on, I'd have to do it without my wife being aware....she doesn't like the thought of "an ugly old TV antenna stuck on the roof." By coincidence, in the mail today we got a letter from Spectrum informing us of an increase coming in July, with taxes will be ~$17.00 more. So, I called their customer service and asked what I'm getting for the extra $$....."oh, nothing has changed, we're just increasing our prices due to costs."  I told her in another couple months part of their costs will be going down 'cuz I'm changing service....then hung up. Few minutes later some dude called and complained that I had threatened one of their employees. Seriously? So I related to him exactly what I had said and was told that's not the story he got. Sorry sport, then your female employee flat out lied to you...and I hung up. You either have to laugh or cry at such stuff.....so I sniffle a bit. 

Man, I don't think I'd be laughing. That's pretty piss poor customer service on both of their parts.

[RainMaker]

Time Warner / Spectrum left me high and dry without service anytime there was bad weather.  The last time was for 5 days.  So changed over to ATT Uverse and dropped Vonage at the same time.  Use the VoIP with the Uverse, tv and internet.  Faster and more reliable plus cheaper.  Since I have the internet for business and the phones for business, expense most of this.  Service 5x better with the Uverse over cable.

[Crackerborn]

Time Warner / Spectrum left me high and dry without service anytime there was bad weather.  The last time was for 5 days.  So changed over to ATT Uverse and dropped Vonage at the same time.  Use the VoIP with the Uverse, tv and internet.  Faster and more reliable plus cheaper.  Since I have the internet for business and the phones for business, expense most of this.  Service 5x better with the Uverse over cable.

You're lucky you can get Uverse. In my slice of the Banana Republic all AT&T offers for TV is Direct TV. That gives you separate customer (no) service, no service in rain, snow or wind over 5 MPH. When my DSL line is down I am told it is on my end (not) and when I call for a credit on the either side when the service is out for most of the day, I am told that no credit is coming since they can't control the weather or the fault lies in my equipment. Since all the customer (no) service centers are in India or the Philippines, getting any intelligent response is unlikely. OTA is in the near future if I can get fast internet at a decent price from any provider. 

[Patrick]

I feel/felt about the same as you.
Here we had TWC which is now Spectrum.
In Florida we had Bright House which is now also Spectrum.
I hated all 3 companies, but, I refuse to hang a dish on the house.
Have had problems with all 3 companies. Finally after several service visits and even more phone calls a tech was sent that actually knew what he was doing and also was a nice guy. He straightened everything out and left enough cable and a splitter so I could move some equipment. I even made a visit to their office and got the monthly charge reduced. [  He said their splitters would not reduce the signal like the old cheap ass units did. He said Spectrum is now using quality products. Time will tell. All I can say now is the splitters weigh about 3X what the TWC and Bright House units weighed.]

[sutterhome]

iptv goggle it up

[Firefighter]

When my Time Warner changed to Spectrum the price went up and my favorite programs were gone. I was on the phone and at the office several times and finally figured out that they moved the programming around. In other words if you wanted the same channels as before you would have to buy bigger more inclusive packages for more money since the silver package now had this channel but not that one and so on. After going into alarm over the phone the nice lady turned on my favorite channels just to keep my business. I am kinda happy for now but am paying 141.00 a month with all the taxes for internet and tv which will not only go up 30 dollars after the year but I bet my channels will go away also.

I am ready to drop it, my wife has to have fox news and I need internet.  Scam
am

[art]

For the past year I've had Century link here in S.Oregon.  Internet only at $45 a month on a one year contract knowing it would go up after the year is up. Sure enough it went up to $77. I checked around and then called to cancel due to the cost. I know $77 in not a lot of money but to me on SS and a small pension it is a lot. They finally lowered it to $39 for 6 months and then $49 for 6 more months. I also got a refund on the difference between $45 an $77. Good.  I've read on another forum for RVs that if you have roadside assistance with Good Sam club you can negotiate a much better price the same way. Good to know.