want to get rid of cox cable

[rasczak]

hi everyone. i'm currently using cox cable (hd dvr, premium channels such as hbo and showtime) but i find them terribly expensive. I live out in san diego ca. and was wondering from your experiences if the switch to direct tv or dish network would give me nearly the same channels but at a lower cost?

my current cable bill is roughly 168 a month, about 20.00 to my internet and 20.00 to my phone. everything else to my stupid cable bill.

roughly 120.00 is for my cable bill alone. ridiculous if you ask me, hence why i am switching.

any help if greatly appreciated.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

We pay more than that without HBO and Showtime. Comcast is a rip off. I'm just too lazy to switch to FIOS and I don't really want them digging up my yard.

 

[rasczak]

comcast?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: rasczak
comcast?

the nation's largest cable company. if your town is serviced by cox, you probably don't get comcast service. SD isn't the middle of nowhere, so you might still have a couple land-line alternatives.

you should be getting a discount for having tv, phone and internet services. $10 off of each is the going rate.

$20 each for real phone service and cable internet is about as good as it gets.

they're called premium channels for a reason. excluding introductory offers, hbo will cost the same no matter what you're hooked up to. if your tv bill is over $120/month, perhaps you could get by with a less expensive package. for $120/month, that is the biggest package, right?

 

[toekramp]

my cable provider is amazing, and it's only 30 bucks a month... Giganews woooo

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler

Originally posted by: rasczak
comcast?

the nation's largest cable company. if your town is serviced by cox, you probably don't get comcast service. SD isn't the middle of nowhere, so you might still have a couple land-line alternatives.

you should be getting a discount for having tv, phone and internet services. $10 off of each is the going rate.

$20 each for real phone service and cable internet is about as good as it gets.

they're called premium channels for a reason. excluding introductory offers, hbo will cost the same no matter what you're hooked up to. if your tv bill is over $120/month, perhaps you could get by with a less expensive package. for $120/month, that is the biggest package, right?

from the looks of my bill, no. i pay 21.00 a month for two premium channels. that's it. my internet portion is 21.95 and my phone portion of the bill is 19.99. roughly 60.00 for those services. the rest or my 168.00 dollar bill goes to the cable service itself. it's a rip off if you ask me. i can't buy any other digital boxes so i have to "rent" what cox has. there's an HD/DVR service fee. a box rental fee, (i have two boxes so double that fee of 5.95) an assurance fee (whatever the hell that is) basic channels = 12.95 and extended services (i.e. cable channels from 99 up) = 46.95, and then digital service another charge. i'm getting ass raped. everytime i ask to have a service downgraded, they tell me that i will be paying more on my monthly bill to do so. (downgrade my internet service from 7mb 512k to 1.5 256k ) will actually cost me more money than what I am paying at the moment. ( from 21.95 [at a discounted rate. full rate for this tier of service is 46.95 amonth] a mo to 26.95 a month. how the hell does that make sense?)

sorry for the rant, regardless of quality of picture, moving my cable service is more a matter of principle at this point more so than anything else now. i am getting the same channels that cox provides with directtv for only 44.95 for 12 mo. and 59.95 there after. including two premium channels (hbo and showtime) i'm thinking that the directtv deal seems much better. dropping my internet to the lower grade speed will save me another 25 bux a month. plus my phone will be switching over tovonage for roughly 28 bux a month. so in the end i save myself 68 dollars a month.

screw cox. if i could i owuld leave their internet service as well. OHEOHIOWIHEfoweihf9weyr (bastards!)

joe

ps just a quick note. installation for dtv is going to be 21.95 and there is a 5.99 rental charge for having more than 1 box.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

wow, that's weak.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbes
We pay more than that without HBO and Showtime. Comcast is a rip off. I'm just too lazy to switch to FIOS and I don't really want them digging up my yard.

If I could get FiOS where I am, I'd not only let them install it - I'd even help them dig up my yard. (OK, I live in an apartment, so I don't have the yard. But you get the point.)

Anyways, as to the OP's question: I doubt you'd save much, if anything at all. Taxes on phone bills tend to kill any savings on land lines. If you can go completely cell, that's an option that might be worth exploring (additional lines = cheaper than a new landline).

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbes
We pay more than that without HBO and Showtime. Comcast is a rip off. I'm just too lazy to switch to FIOS and I don't really want them digging up my yard.

If I could get FiOS where I am, I'd not only let them install it - I'd even help them dig up my yard. (OK, I live in an apartment, so I don't have the yard. But you get the point.)

Anyways, as to the OP's question: I doubt you'd save much, if anything at all. Taxes on phone bills tend to kill any savings on land lines. If you can go completely cell, that's an option that might be worth exploring (additional lines = cheaper than a new landline).

yea, the land line though isn't much of an issue. the issue is the stinkin expensive cable service.

cox sux :/

 

[mshan]

My parents have had Dish Network (top 200) and price has been stable at around $50/mo for years. Dish's non high definition dual tuner model (Dish 322) has no dvr, but if you keep it always connected to phone line, they don't charge you for second tuner (which you can run to another room via rf cable and has rf remote).

This includes locals and at least for then don't get lots of local and state surcharges and taxes.

I remember reading that AT&T might be taking them over (IMO, bad), but as long as Mark Cuban is running show I have high marks for Dish.

There are occaisional weather related outages in New York, but might be less in California.

If you find some package on Dish you like, call back Cox and tell them you are going to cancel and switch and see exactly how good a deal they can offer you.

Also, how much of your bill is local and county taxes and surcharges (e.g. if you punt the landline and just get cable internet, you might be able to avoid all surcharges there - at least that's the way it works for me in Virginia with Cox).

If you don't make or receive a lot of telephone calls, you could also just got with a pre-paid cell phone like Page Plus Cellular (uses Verizon network) and again avoid another layer of taxes and surcharges. http://www.cellguru.net

EDIT: I bet you get a ton of high definition content Over The Air from major networks, and you can save $5/mo using Dish that way, though you may not be able to flip seamlessly from OTA to cable.

 

[Illusio]

I have dish and I really like it. I have the top 100 package with HD and my bill is only about $30-40 a month. I was paying over twice that when I had comcast.

 

[rasczak]

is dish network better than directtv?

does anyone have an opinion on that?

 

[Illusio]

I've never used directTV, only dish. I compared the 2 a year or so ago when I was looking to get satellite. I ended up going with dish because it was cheaper for basically the same content.

 

[mshan]

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