Charter cable makes me sick....

[Jim O'Dell]

....but they are the only thing I have available to me. Price wise, they are inline with Dish, not sure about the same channels though. Now, we get our January bill and it goes up 10 bucks. They have a history of this. I then turn on the TV and the 2 ESPN channels, Fox Sports SW, CNN and who knows what other channels, are now gone! Anyone else see that happen today? I'd change to satellite just to be able to call them and give them what for, but I don't think it would help me price wise. Plus the fact that we have so many trees we don't get much of a shot at the sky. (pull up the address on Google Earth sat. view and you don't see the house, even on winter shots when there are no leaves!)
Sorry to vent. It's just been one of those days. Jim.

[Jeff Monson]

We are stuck with one cable provider also. Major monopoly and it sucks. The only plus with ours is great customer service. I have direct tv in the summer at our cabin, the dish is no better IMO. Direct TV is always looking for contracts, plus good luck getting someone on the phone that you can understand.

[Jamie Buxton]

Yeah, my old cable company made me mad too. You might look more carefully at satellite. When I switched from cable to satellite, Dish offered more channels I'd watch for less money. And I've found its up-time is higher too.

[John Coloccia]

I have Comcast, and they're worse, believe me. I was thinking of switching to AT&T UVerse, but mysteriously enough they decided to drop FoxNews, and ONLY FoxNews, from their basic channel lineup....in an election year. Bad move. I've been with AT&T for cell phones for 15 years, but that will change soon also. Gotta talk with your wallet.

[Chris Damm]

A few years ago Consumer Reports studied TV providers and Comast was worst and Charte was right there with them! That's when I dumped Comcast and went to Direct TV. It's much more reliable and offers a better selection of channels.

[David Weaver]

I have Comcast, and they're worse, believe me. I was thinking of switching to AT&T UVerse, but mysteriously enough they decided to drop FoxNews, and ONLY FoxNews, from their basic channel lineup....in an election year. Bad move. I've been with AT&T for cell phones for 15 years, but that will change soon also. Gotta talk with your wallet.

I HATE it when they have a bidding war between the channels and the cable company and they either play games temporarily dropping stations or they run messages across the bottom of the stations urging you to call the cable company or urging you to call the channel management. It's like dropping the resposibility for negotiating on the customer.

[Matt Meiser]

In Toledo the cable company and newspaper are owned by the same family so when that happens they run "news" articles in the paper about it too.

We've been happy with Directv overall but I'd love to get the other services a cable company could provide. And our Directv bill is up about 50% over the last 9 years. Some from added services like HD but mostly just increases.

All those ads we skip with the DVR are their only other source if revenue--has to come from somewhere.

[Randy Henry]

Jim, I've tried Direct/Dish both, and always had dial up internet, then went to the Verizon hot spot thing. The cost of the internet, which was worthless for anything but reading the news, combined with the t.v. bill every month was over $115. Charter, after years of asking, finally brought me cable, and I love it. I get high speed internet, t.v., and phone (with free long distance) for a few bucks under my old system. Direct/Dish always had price increases also. However, Charter has not cut any of my channels yet, as I don't have the premium channel package. When I call Charter, I always call my local office, know the lady there fairly well, and get great service. When I used to call Direct/Dish, the calls were routed overseas, and it seemed like it there always communication gaps. After experiencing both, I'll stick with Charter, it's a no brainer for my situation.

[John Pratt]

I think they are all in cahoots to figure out new and inovative ways to separate you and your money while offering minimal programing that you actual want to watch. One technique that really irks me is when you have to move up to the next package deal to get that one channel you want to watch. The next big move will be high speed digital programing where you pay by the channel so you only pay for those channels you want to watch. It has already started and I can't wait until it arrives in my area.

[Bonnie Campbell]

There is only a mom and pop cable service available here. So it's $$$$. I can't get satellite due to trees (someone elses property). So I'm stuck with streaming TV.

[David G Baker]

I have had Charter for years and haven't had any real problems with their service. When they jack the price up every year I call them an threaten to dump them for Dish and keep just the high speed Internet service, I then get a reasonable price for another year. This has worked for quite a few years but I know that at some point it will catch up with me and I will then do the Dish switch.

[Jim Matthews]

I've just begun streaming with a cheapo Sony Blu-Ray player (http://www.ehow.com/how_5862530_stream-netflix-sony-blu_ray-player.html) and an Xbox 360.

The amount of content available is staggering. We stream NHL game center live to watch hockey.
You need a robust cable feed, but you're not locked into the Charter channels that way.

DirecTV is pretty expensive, for what it actually offers in the way of programming.

I turned of the DirecTV in June and haven't missed much.

[Larry Frank]

I had ComCast for years and got sick of it and the costs. Not only that but the equipment was old with limited amount of space on the DVR

I switched to DirecTV and so far am happy. I have the DVR and the Genie units which make other TVs able to get HD and anything recorded on the DVR. The recording capacity of the DVR is huge. We watch mostly recorded shows so we can zip thru the commercials. I think in my case, the picture quality is better with the satellite. I know that I will probably encounter some times when the weather causes issues but it will be far less than the outages I had with ComCast. It seems like everyday, I had an outage and with a bad storm, it could be many hours or days before I got it back. It is also significantly cheaper.

Unfortunately, none of the cable or satellite options are cheap and they seem to go up every year.

[Jim O'Dell]

I have had Charter for years and haven't had any real problems with their service. When they jack the price up every year I call them an threaten to dump them for Dish and keep just the high speed Internet service, I then get a reasonable price for another year. This has worked for quite a few years but I know that at some point it will catch up with me and I will then do the Dish switch.

We have had good service on the cable TV part from Charter, at least the working part of it. About 3 years ago, they dropped OLN, and that ticked me off because it was the only way at that time to see the Tour de France. This recent channel drop keeps me from watching Baylor Basketball, men and women's programs, the Rangers baseball, the Stars hockey, and the Mavericks basketball.
I know I can't duplicate the internet service from a speed standpoint, and the wife would kill me if I forced her to change providers and thus the email address. So I'd have to keep Charter for the Internet. But ironically, the internet service is where we have had most of our problems. Seems at least twice a year when the temps start to change drastically, the service goes out. TV is still fine, but internet drops out. One repairman told my wife that there is something at a junction that has to be re-aligned for the temp problem. Next time no one knows anything about it. But it's usually 2 days or so each time without internet service.
And they used to give us some specials for a year at a time, but that has caught up with us and the last person I complained about the service and price hikes to basically said sorry bucko.
I checked Dish prices and service, and it would be about even with the TV, that's if it would even work. I might get them to come out and see if there is a place to mount the dish that be workable for a good signal. But at my previous work, anytime there was a hard rain, we lost signal. That would not make me happy. Thanks for the notes and for hearing me out. Jim.

[Jim Falsetti]

Jim,

Have you considered just ditching cable altogether? We did that at least five years ago because we had over 200 channels but nothing worth watching, the cost just kept going up, and the signal quality stunk. Of course, if we still had kids in the house, cutting the cable would have been impossible.

We have a video rental store about three minutes away.

Jim

[Matt Meiser]

We have a video rental store about three minutes away.


I wouldn't rely on that long term. As far as I know there's exactly one left in our whole county. And it's not in the biggest city.

[Jim O'Dell]

Jim, I can watch just about what ever movie I want from the internet. My biggest beef is with the loss of local sports. I could probably live without ESPN though I wouldn't like it. Losing Fox Sports Southwest is a deal killer. I've still got to do some research to see which way is best to go. I really don't think I can get a working signal with satellite because of the trees. I might have to see how badly Charter wants to keep us. I'm not sure a year deal at a time is worth it though, if that is even doable at this point. Jim.

[Jim O'Dell]

Lee just pm'd me with some information. Thought I'd show you what I'm talking about as far a the satellite thing goes. This is Google's street view:252302 Yes, there is a house in there. You can see my van at the back...it's parked in front of the garage at the northwest corner of the house. The front door faces the south. This picture is looking north/northeast. Google's satellite view shows about the same from above! Jim.

[Curt Harms]

We had DirecTV and were happy with it - HD was gorgeous - but Verizon FiOS bundle was too attractive - HD is excellent too - and SWMBO would not consider dropping landline service. Have you looked into streaming media like Netflix or Hulu or something like that? I don't know if any streaming services carries real time sports programming or not. As far as satellites and signal loss, I think installer expertise plays a role there. For DirecTV HD we needed to 'see' 3 satellites so it was a bit of a balancing act for the installer. We didn't lose TV due to weather all that often. Satellite services do carry some local programming in the larger metro areas. For instance DirecTV was carrying Comcast Sports Net Philly in our area.

Trees are a problem with satellite service. If you were to stand on the peak of your roof and looked about 40 - 50 degrees above the horizon to the south or southwest, is it still green? Here is a satellite location gadget:

http://www.dishpointer.com/

[Brian Elfert]

One thing with live streaming is that the major sports franchisers typically won't allow live streaming to broadcast their games. I don't know if any local TV stations have live streaming, but local radio stations certainly do. I know at least one of the local radio stations replays old programming during sports broadcasts. The major sports want to keep the money from Internet streaming for themselves.

[Phil Thien]

With the # of people dropping cable TV service, watching whatever they want on their computer or streaming devices, and also the # of people dropping their landlines in favor of cell or VOIP, I'm going to bet that the price for high-speed Internet is going to go way, way up.

I'm hopeful the Google experiments with very high speed city-wide Internet prove fruitful.

Regulators would be smart to get in front of the issue now, preventing cable companies (for example) from extracting their pounds of flesh from customers that only want Internet service.

The cable companies will ultimately have to change their models and reduce a ton of overhead because they are going to transition to Internet Service Providers, like it or not.

[Mike Wilkins]

As long as our government allows monopolies like this to exist, us small folks can do nothing but moan and groan. Same monopoly in this neck of the woods. Another cable company advertises here, but their service is not available. No competion equals higher prices-basic business practice.

[Jim O'Dell]

Curt, like this?252322 I added captions and arrows to try to show where things are. See why I doubt a dish would work? :rolleyes: The large brown area to the right of the shop is the back yard that is dirt during the summer months. (has rye grass during winter) If the top of the house at the peak is 20', then the trees, especially the 4 pecan trees that surround and cover the house, are about 75' tall. We did have to take down 4 more trees this past year that are still in the photo above, but 2 are in the back yard on the North side of the house, and 2 are at the very South part of the front yard closest to the street. In other words, I think I'm locked in to my only option. :( Jim.

[Montgomery Scott]

TV is generally a waste of time and money so I don't pay for any TV service. I'm better off using my time and money elsewhere.

[Myk Rian]

To get around the tree problem, put the dish on a tower.
A TV antenna will give you HD local channels.

[Jim Matthews]

Jim, I can watch just about what ever movie I want from the internet. My biggest beef is with the loss of local sports. I could probably live without ESPN though I wouldn't like it. Losing Fox Sports Southwest is a deal killer. I've still got to do some research to see which way is best to go. I really don't think I can get a working signal with satellite because of the trees. I might have to see how badly Charter wants to keep us. I'm not sure a year deal at a time is worth it though, if that is even doable at this point. Jim.

I get ESPN and all the variants though my XBox live account. It's streaming, so there are some limitations on live broadcasts.
It's a smoking deal, with a simple interface and amazing picture quality.

[Jim O'Dell]

To get around the tree problem, put the dish on a tower.
A TV antenna will give you HD local channels.

A 75' tall tower? Bet that wouldn't be part of the free installation!! :D:D And I doubt that I could get the spousal approval for that either. Jim.

[Myk Rian]

A 75' tall tower?
If that's what it takes.


Bet that wouldn't be part of the free installation!!
Obviously not.


And I doubt that I could get the spousal approval for that either.
Then you're pretty well stuck with what ya got.

[Matt Meiser]

It's a few grand for a 75' tower and I bet Directv won't climb it.

[Jim O'Dell]

Well, this just got more aggravating.....I turned on the TV tonight to see what is on, and 35 or so MORE channels are gone. I'm too mad to even call right now.

[Brian Elfert]

With the # of people dropping cable TV service, watching whatever they want on their computer or streaming devices, and also the # of people dropping their landlines in favor of cell or VOIP, I'm going to bet that the price for high-speed Internet is going to go way, way up.


The cost of wholesale Internet bandwidth continues to drop year by year. There are companies still paying the same amount for high speed Internet as they did in the late 90s, but they are getting 150 to 200 times the speed for the same monthly cost. There is no good reason the cost of Internet to the home should go up since the costs to move data across the Internet continues to decline.

The main cost to all cable/satellite companies is programming. The providers of programming aren't going to reduce their prices to zero just because people are choosing streaming instead of cable or satellite. ESPN alone costs about $4.50 a month per customer and ESPN2 and other ESPN channels cost about $1.50 a month on top of that.

I wish a la carte channels would ever see the light of day. Since I would probably choose about 15 channels I suppose it wouldn't end up costing any less.

[Charles Wiggins]

....but they are the only thing I have available to me. Price wise, they are inline with Dish, not sure about the same channels though. Now, we get our January bill and it goes up 10 bucks. They have a history of this. I then turn on the TV and the 2 ESPN channels, Fox Sports SW, CNN and who knows what other channels, are now gone! Anyone else see that happen today? I'd change to satellite just to be able to call them and give them what for, but I don't think it would help me price wise. Plus the fact that we have so many trees we don't get much of a shot at the sky. (pull up the address on Google Earth sat. view and you don't see the house, even on winter shots when there are no leaves!)
Sorry to vent. It's just been one of those days. Jim.

They've got you addicted. Get some methadone and just cut it off, and tell them WHY you're cutting it off. If more people did that in protest they'd start to change they way they do business.

I haven't had cable in over 15 years and I've never had satellite. My parents have AT&T U-verse and all Dad ever watches is Fox News and Local News, and Mom watches Antiques Road Show. I rarely find anything worth watching that I can't get on Hulu or Netflix, and with those services I watch when I have time, not when they decide to broadcast. And they're a LOT cheaper. Of course, I don't give a wit about sports, so that might be a real downside for you.

[Curt Harms]

With the # of people dropping cable TV service, watching whatever they want on their computer or streaming devices, and also the # of people dropping their landlines in favor of cell or VOIP, I'm going to bet that the price for high-speed Internet is going to go way, way up.

I'm hopeful the Google experiments with very high speed city-wide Internet prove fruitful.

Regulators would be smart to get in front of the issue now, preventing cable companies (for example) from extracting their pounds of flesh from customers that only want Internet service.

The cable companies will ultimately have to change their models and reduce a ton of overhead because they are going to transition to Internet Service Providers, like it or not.

I think some wired broadband internet providers have monthly caps now or are at least talking about it. I would not be surprised to see that spread, or have a graduated rate structure. Something like X GB. for $20/mo. , X+10 GB. for $30 etc. The major ISPs, Comcast, Verizon FiOS, Charter etc. sell both TV and internet. They are not going to willingly let one part of their business cannibalize the other.

[Jim O'Dell]

Sports is the major hold back for me. I can already watch regular broadcast from major network TV shows on replay the next day if need be. Yes, I'd love to have channels a la carte. 15 channels sounds about right for me too, 8 of which are local channels. Jim.

[Rich Riddle]

A 75' tall tower? Bet that wouldn't be part of the free installation!! :D:D And I doubt that I could get the spousal approval for that either. Jim.
It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission or approval.