We just signed up for cable - Verizon fios. Phone, internet, and TV/cable will be $89 a month. We did not get the premium channels. (Have lived without cable all this while - we figured we would not need all the channels to start with.)

I suggest you do what Sue did and say you are canceling.

PS We have TiVo and love it.

We pay $205 per month. This is for Comcast cable (no premium channels). We do get the HD channels and we have two of the cable boxes that record. We also have their high speed internet. We don't have the phone service. I think this is awful. We have had sattelite, but I hated it. It was always messing up if we had a hard rain or snow. I have to say, our cable very, very rarely messes up.

when you include internet in comparing people's rates unless everyone puts up their speed, you can't compare at all. you can get turtle speed modem 768 kbps, similiar speeds to DSL, cheaply or pay much more for speeds capable of downloading HD movies in no time 20 mbps. different areas also chage different taxes too.

here in orlando, i have turbo high speed internet w/ 20 mbps w/ digital HD cable & HD DVR, no channels that cost extra. our base rate is $110 plus $10 in fees/taxes. we have to have that internet speed for DH's MS degree courses and projects. i've looked into cheaper alternative's for cable but we need that internet speed and w/o a combo you pay much more for internet. plus Dish or satelite is out because from May-Oct we have bad afternoon storms and dishes are notorious for going out here. not to mention in 2004 we had 3 hurricanes over 6 wks and people in orlando w/ dishes that blew away went for 8 wks before they got cable dishes back... ~ liz

I guess most of you will feel better about your cable charges when you read ours. We have Optimum here on Long Island. They provide us with gold package service which includes most everything as far as viewing. 2 cable boxes, DVR, phone service (negotiated to 15.95) half price forever, high speed internet, (one tier below the highest). $264.89 per month. Our service rarely goes out, even stayed on all during hurricane Sandy. It is a big expense, but we use all of it and never go out to movies. Long Island is a very expensive part of the counrty.

Here we pay $169.99 for phone, internet and TV. No extra channels like HBO or Starz.

The good thing is is that when we come down to Florida we can put it on vacation for $30.09.

My kids, who live near big cities use the antennae that looks like a piece of 9x11 paper.

With it they get all the local channels and then have things like Netflix and Roku. Saves them $.

Google fiber here for basic tv cable and internet. Cost $173.00 a month. I think it is very high for KC area, but others in area are comparable.

I have lived in Central Texas in the country since the 80s. At that time my only choice was satellite DIRECTV, and I've had them ever since. I pay around $119. I get 185 channels, though some 20 to 30 odd are music channels. Their menu/remote control does allow me to hide channels that don't interest me, and I can check what will be on to about 10 days into the future. HBO, Starz, Showtime, and Cinemax channels are available for more money, but I'm not interested.

My larger complaint is my internet service from Frontier. My download speed is between 2 & 2.6 Mbps. I have to have a landline to have internet, so I pay $50 for a combination of local phone service and internet. Fees and taxes bring that total up to around $64. So the total for phone, internet and cable is over $180 per month.

I think our Verizon FIOS is $184 a month. That's for a gazillion channels which I don't watch, internet and landline phones. It is what it is.

ladypat1, I live in the kc area, too - hello!

I 'cut the cable' and watch shows free (other than paying my Prime fee which I would do anyway) from Amazon Prime via Roku. The only thing I get from Comcast is my internet connection at $29 a month.

Also KC basic cable+ is $106. I have not checked recently but there is an even lower type since TW was sold here but last time I checked if I deleted the only an add on to basic the cost was $3 less. Seldom watch tv except during storm season. Have phone and internet with AT&T. Could get a better rate for a year by combining but with our weather if one goes down the other one seldom does.

We have Dish TV, pay $118 a month, no premium channels like HBO, but we do have the highest number of channels you can get without it. In MN, we use Midco for internet and have no landline. Under the first year promo rate, we pay about #35/month. It is suspended now, because we are snowbirds, we pay $5/month cable box rental.

Here in FL, we have Spectrum for internet and landline. $90 a month. They said it's the same price, with or without a phone.

Our cell phones are: mine, smart phone on Total Wireless, a prepaid plan, owned by TracFone. I pay $35/month, 5G of data, unlimited talk and text. DH is on Tracfone with a flip phone, $20 every 90 days for 120 minutes or so (can't remember exactly), which I believe doubles.

Imagine all the $$$ we've all tossed down the cable drain since this started in 2010. My bill is $180 for cable /phone/internet. No premium channels but Epix has about 5 channels with movies w/o commercials. I've heard something about Spectrum being thrown out of NYS so we'll see where we go from here.

I wish I could have a choice as to what channels I pay for but you have to get the packages they offer. If I could I would get HGTV and a movie channel but I can't so I watch local station for free.

I think the prices you are all paying are not reasonable at all and a perfect example as to why so many people are turning to other options; especially when you’re paying for so many channels that you don’t want or use.

Streaming is so much better now than it was in 2010, there are lots of options and you’re never bound by a “contract”. Plus when you compare the pricing posted in 2010 to the pricing in the current posts, it seems that there’s been about a 20.00 increase or more.

With the individual Dish plan we have, we recently received a 5 dollar increase, (27 to 32/mo) it’s the first since we started the service in 2012. We have a DVR box and a Roku in the livingroom but use just a Roku in the bedroom.

For the phone we use Ooma, which has a zero monthly fee for the service all you pay are the taxes charged by the Government (3-4 dollars/mo.). The call quality is excellent and DH even makes calls internationally with it. I wanted some bells and whistles so the plan we chose is 120/year.

We use Comcast for the internet, it’s 69/mo but I’ve been told that after the first of the year, I can request a decrease for the plan we have which is already faster then we need. We bought our own modem for less than 100 so we don’t have to pay the perpetual rental fees.

It was about a 270.00 investment for 1 Ooma, 2 Rokus and a modem. Our total for the month now, including a Netflix subscription is 123/mo and we don’t miss anything that we’d be interested in.

ETA: We don’t use our cells much at home, but we pay 89.00 through Verizon for 2 smartphones with unlimited calling and 4 gigs of data. Any unused data gets rolled over to the next month.

luk if you add your services together they are over $400. Separately they do not sound like much. But.

Edited to add since this thread was started in 2010 it would be interesting to see what increases if any the original posters have had it that time.

I don’t know how you get 400.00, they are no where near that.

32/mo dish

8/mo Netflix

69/mo Internet

14/mo for Ooma (10/mo (or 120/year) plus tax 3-4 dollars)

89 / Verizon (for both phones)

Thats 123/mo before the cell phones and 212 after.

We’ve had our equipment for years and the savings covered that years ago.

$69 + $270 + $89= $428 per your first posting. Oops I see the $270 may be for equipment

Yeah. That was the the initial “investment”. My point is though that there are so many options now, no one should have to pay what’s equivalent to a car payment for tv, phone and internet.

If only car payments were that cheap.

I didn't post when the thread was new, but here we have the choice of WOW, ATT, Dish, or Spectrum. I had been with WOW for years but cut the cord when my cable + internet --- basic cable, no DVR, 30 mps internet speed -- hit over $120 and they would only give me a niggling reduction.

They did give me a better price on internet alone ($35/month), although Spectrum is sending out offers of about half that right now. I bought a Roku, and signed up for PlayStation Vue which gives me far more desirable channels (although also way more sports channels that I will never watch) than WOW ever offered for another $40. I also pay the $60/year for access to PBS on demand. I am satisfied with this set up, but will still look around for a comparable but less expensive streaming service.

I also use TracFone: $7/month, minutes/data/texts roll over. I mostly text and pay $5 for 1000 additional texts over my basic plan. I basically never use my phone for internet searches etc.

Raee you may want to take a look at Sling which you can access on Roku, they have a pretty good variety of channels. And, Directv has started offering a DirectvNow app on Roku as well, I’ve heard it’s the same as satillite, but not as expensive and it doesn’t require a contract.

Spectrum in my community is $55 for 120mbps. It's been that way since 2014. We stream via Roku and watch local tv for news.

Wow! You guys have it good. I'm with Optimum and I pay $268 per month for phone, cable and internet and no extra channels like HBO or sports packages! On top of that, they had the nerve to have a lady call me up and say, has your internet been slow? have you been having trouble with pixilating on the TV? Well for $15 more per month, we will upgrade you so your problems should go away!!! Grrrrr!

verizon Fios: 3 boxes, one DVR, HD package, no premium channels. upgraded internet, 50/20 or something like that, and house phone, $202 per month....

i think its high but Comcast is worse. i will say our TV pic is great, always have internet. had one incident were we lost power and when power was returned it burned out the box in our house. it did take them about 1 week to fix it, a lot of outages and downed power lines, but they did give us free data for the week & upgraded our cell phones with 12 free gigs a month for a long as we have Verizon.

i am sure there are better ways but we won't look into anything till all the kiddos are outta here :)

I was using Shaw Cable here in Calgary. For Cable and Internet, I was paying $235Canadian per month. Then Telus knocked on my door and won me over: first 3 months free. Then $100 a month for 9 months. Then $170 a month for 12 months. Plus a $100 credit on my cell phone bill as I also use them for our cellular. I'm saving over $2500 over 2 years.

One thing to ask about when following the special rates is how long do they last. Standard here is one year. If you chase rates be prepared after a couple of years to ineligible for cheaper rates.

$140/mo here near Chicago for Comcast Xfinity for two TV's, DVR, Internet, small charge for DH to watch his Bears and Cubs at home and away. (Our two cell phones are on DS's 'family plan' @ $10/mo each.)

We've had perfect service for three years until the Thanksgiving snow. We had no internet for over 30 hours. No explanation. (Anyone *know*? This wasn't the first bad storm ever.)

We stream *something* almost daily from Amazon Prime ($100/year) and record a few PBS programs. We could probably drop the DVR now that Amazon offers more Masterpiece Theater programs. We could buy a modem/router for about $60 and save renting @ $20/mo.

I love the interactive Xfinity remote. You can verbally request something, and it will connect to a channel -- or display something, like team or player stats during a game. It will show the trajectory of a pitch and display 'scorecard' information. You can go back in a live broadcast or watch only key plays for a recorded game. Other systems seem pretty clunky after this!

If one incident is the only trouble you’ve had with Comcast Sue, then you are very lucky. IMO, Comcast is the worst of the worst, I’d drop it completely and never look back if I could, but It’s the only option available in our area.

I've had Comcast internet service for the last 8 years and it's been great. It's been consistent and the speeds have been ever increasing over the years as they've installed equipment upgrades in my area (as per my conversations with the company). No complaints at all. Anyone experiencing problems should of course contact the provider(s) and try to get them resolved.

Not too terribly long ago, I experienced unpredictable peaks and valleys in speed. I called them, a tech came out the next day, and found a pole mounted piece of equipment in the neighborhood needed to be replaced - normally the problem would have been detected automatically but wasn't. It was fixed and life went on. No complaints about their responsiveness.

I understand that like anything else, quality and customer experiences can vary from place to place and situation to situation.

It's not like anyone has a choice of cable carrier when considering internet/TV/etc providers. Like other "utilities", cable companies are given exclusive territories from one city or town to the next. So if you don't like the cable company for your neighborhood, likely your only other choices are the phone company for comprehensive service offerings and a satellite carrier for TV (or internet in rural areas).

I've had Comcast/Xfinity for at least 10 years, both for internet and cable. I have found the service to be excellent overall (if not exactly inexpensive) with very few problems, most of which can be fixed by a restart from their local office or by following their phone instructions. I live in an area where power goes out frequently but internet or cable service is seldom bothered (thanks to partially dedicated generator).

I have an 'expanded' cable service that offers something like 150+ channels (most of which I have never viewed) but no premium channels. I opted for the expanded service as it allows me to view several channels I favor (HGTV, Discovery, National Geographic, etc.) that are not offered by the basic package. I do subscribe to a couple of additional screening services and their monthy bills are paid via Comcast/Xfinity.

IMO, Comcast is the worst of the worst, I’d drop it completely and never look back if I could, but It’s the only option available in our area.

I agree, I have had horrible experiences with them, I could tell Comcast stories all day long. The time when a male Comcast and a female Comcast installer left for 'lunch' (obviously more, from their behavior) leaving cables partially suspended in my back yard, and never returned.

Constant lying about service options, I was told I had to wait for two months to receive a discounted monthly charge. Did what I now do every time, ask to cancel my service, suddenly the discount was there that day.

I have Verizon Fios and pay $158.82 for internet, landline, one digital tv and one old box tv. I don't have any extra stations.I would say I watch MAYBE 10 percent of the channels offered. It really bugs me. I also pay about $12 for Netflix. My cell service costs $87 for two lines. I used to live happily without any of this stuff but now a lot of it is a necessity. I live outside Philadelphia, home to the corporate headquarters of Comcast. I like their office building (with a second one opening soon)but not their cable service.

I take the approach Lucille describes above at the end of her post. We are happy with Comcast but when my rate with Comcast goes up, I call and ask for a better rate. They will transfer you to a retention specialist before they will let you cancel. I have never had to cancel.

When I lived in the big city, had Comcast service and my only complaint over 12 years was when the rates would increase. Their service was excellent and reliable.

Here, where I am rural and amongst hills and valleys, there is currently no dedicated cable or internet service available to my house. (People a quarter mile away, however, have it.)

My internet originally was HughesNet and I absolutely HATED them. I found out about another satellite internet provider named CallerIP and switched. At $50 a month they've been decent. Not fast by any means, nothing in comparison with what a dedicated line can provide, but well above what HughesNet gave me.

For television I use DirecTv at $75 a month. Even their satellite internet didn't come to this house, so it's just for the TV. I've got the cheapest package and it's the equipment and taxes charges that make it so high.

There is a dedicated TV and internet provider coming through this area within the next year. I signed up immediately when I got the notice from them, and they're talking a year to put in the lines. I'll believe it when I see it, but those folks a quarter mile away say the crews are already digging through the rock to lay cable. They haven't come down my little road yet.

MysticalManns, we have had Hughes Net for our internet service the last few years and to say we are not impressed is putting in mildly. Before them, we had Wild Blue (now Viasat) and they were even worse. I have heard that they are better now and we may change once our service agreement with Hughes Net expires.

We always get put on that perpetual merry go round, we had problems with slow and skittish service for over a year before they finally believed there was a problem. After months of complaining and fighting with them, they came out with a crew to “prove me wrong” and discovered someone down the road was illegally streaming a high volume of video (to record unlicensed movies?) and that was the root of the problem. Another time, they hooked our neighbors service up with a long thick cable that laid across 4 houses to a box on the next road over for over six months. They finally came out to finish the job when we collectively called and threatened to sue if someone got hurt. They’re a nightmare to deal with if something isn’t right.

Mystical DirectTV is owned at least in this area by AT&T so you should be able to bundle with them and use the regular phone lines for internet etc. While it may not be fiber optic cable which is probably what is being installed is can be better than satellite in bad weather.

No cable issues here. You do have to call once a year to make sure you're getting the best deal possible. We have expanded basic along with a sports package for dh, and internet. That costs $167/month.

Netflix is $7.99/month

Our 2 cells cost $39/month with Consumer Cellular.

We also still have a landline. I'll never give that up.

catticus -- We are so glad we switched our landline number to a cell phone. We used to get a lot of robocalls, but now...*rarely*. Our city services still link that number to our address -- for an 'alert' or if we call 911. $20/month for two lines is also cheaper.

Sorry some of you had bad experiences with your Comcast people. I'd heard about all that for years, but our experience has been at least a 'nine' -- other than the renewal fee games, which seem to be played by every cable service.

I cancelled Dish years ago because I got tired of them raising the price. Then when I'd attempt to cancel it went from almost $80 to $50 something. It would then creep up again. I don't miss it.

Sue, I don't mind the robocalls. Caller ID prevents me from answering. I've always hated using a cell. Even now with an iPhone it's rarely turned on. Just not my thing.

We switched to satellite (ATT) a year or so ago because they offered fiber-optic internet, and we wanted that. It is not bundled with phone, but the bill for internet and TV is $126.00 a month. I've considered getting rid of the TV part, but that would only save me $35.00 a month - I got the barest minimum channels and made sure that it has NO extra sports channels on it. If I upgrade my TV at all, all the sports channels get added in, plus a $15.00 a month payment to some football sports organization, and I do not want to give them a penny. We also have antennae that look like sheets of paper, and with those, we can get 127 local channels, about one third of which are in English. We get seven or eight local Armenian channels, not to mention Korean, Thai, Taiwanese, Philippine, Russian, Spanish, etc. We do want a lot of TV on the local channels, as they are not included in the cable. My brother pays the cell phone bills, and so I don't know what that is, but he said it only cost $10 a month to add me to his plan.

We have pretty much no problems with the satellite, as our weather tends to be clear. We no longer have a landline. We only used it when our parents were alive.

I will probably cancel satellite when my two year contract is up. However, I do like the DVR that comes with it, and that's what I use the most.

"After months of complaining and fighting with them"

You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Maybe you're in an area with particularly poor customer service because as a comparison, my few service questions and issues have always received an immediate response and on-site attention. Comcast's field techs even work Saturday and Sunday so they offer 7 days service, something few other businesses do. Have you tried going in person to the local office?

Something to factor in when considering rural or more remote home locations is the frequent lack of adequate telecommunication services. Sat TV is straight across comparable to wired alternatives but Sat internet connections aren't. The lack of high speed internet is a show stopper for me, there are too many things in our daily life that depend upon having an affordable high speed connection..

maifleur, DirectTV is owned by ATT here, there, and everywhere.

Elmer that was what I thought and ATT does have internet access so I think Mystical may not be aware of it since ATT covers most of the country. It would do away with the satellite for internet which would be almost the least reliable method in this area.

Both Sat TV providers Dish and Direct provide bundles that include non-Sat internet service and have for a long time. Now that ATT owns Direct, I suspect all of Direct's bundles include ATT internet. But independent public company Dish also offers non-Sat internet bundles and I suspect that's in partnership with cable providers. Direct had non-Sat internet bundles before it was acquired by ATT.

Maybe it's an FCC rule. I don't think these Sat TV providers can bundle Sat internet in areas where either or both cable co. internet or Telco internet is available. Sat internet is so crappy, limited and expensive, maybe it's just that no one wants it when there's an alternative.

My Hughesnet satellite internet is very fast and reasonably priced. It has never been offline in the few years I have had it and the built-in wi-fi works smoothly throughout the house. I am 100% satisfied.

Ah, 'the phone company' Remember when the dullest people you knew went to work there *after college*? They drove those ugly green cars?

On of the reasons we switched to Comcast was because ATT had promised decent internet for years but it was never coming. When we moved into our new house in October 2001, ATT laid cable along our side fence to the back fence (over 200 feet), where it sat for months. They said they had to wait for schools to be out in the summer so they could hire kids to trench it in. Oh, *suuure*. Get It Done!

<Ah, 'the phone company' Remember when the dullest people you knew went to work there *after college*? >

When I first moved to San Francisco (soon after college) I applied for a job at the phone company because they were one of the few places hiring at the time. They gave me a test that was similar to an IQ test (to test memory), and then they told me that I scored too high on the test and that if hired, I would get bored and quit!

I am stunned at how much some of you are paying. We cut the cable cord well over a decade ago and currently, high speed DSL/phone bundle is about $58 per month, plus we alternate between Acorn, BritTV and Netflix subscriptions. Various channels have free news and other programs via the Roku box. Of course, we only watch about 1 - 2 hours of programs per day, so cable would definitely not be worth it even if it was much cheaper.