We Got Cable TV

Yesterday I shared that we recently purchased a new TV. Well, we also knocked another item off our list of stuff to buy shortly thereafter -- we got cable TV. Here's a quick run-down of our cable-related decisions/activities:

• Those of you who have antennas know that the switch to digital hasn't been all that great. We had some stations totally disappear and depending on the weather, some stations we "knew" we could get were spotty at times. After missing our neighbor's daughter on Jeopardy as well as almost missing my appearance on the local news (work-related, positive stuff), I said enough was enough. We HAD to get a reliable signal.

• We had received a promotional flyer from Comcast a month or so earlier (money saving tip: keep hold of those promotional flyers) and had stored it away in case we were ever shopping for cable (we knew we were getting a TV, so cable has been an option for awhile.) My wife had called to check on the price and was told that basic cable and the "sports package" (which includes the Fox Soccer Channel) was $22 a month (plus $49 installation), so we assumed this is what we would pay. We decided to proceed with the purchase once we got the TV.

• Just to note here, we didn't really consider a satellite-based option since I didn't relish climbing up on my roof in mid-January to shovel two-feet of snow off my dish so we could watch AFV. Not a pretty picture.

• We then misplaced the Comcast flyer (which was valid until early September), so my wife called Comcast to reconfirm the pricing. This time she was told the pricing would be closer to $30 a month for the basic cable and the sports package. Ugh. We started a frantic house search for the promotional flyer.

• In the meantime, I was informed by a friend that if we wanted the true HD experience we needed to get the "HD box/package" from Comcast and that this would likely be an additional charge. After seeing one over-the-air show in HD, I HAD to have it. So we decided to add it to the list.

• We finally found the Comcast flyer and my wife had great notes on it (including all the costs, who she talked to, etc.) One key learning: it was a different phone number from the "regular" Comcast number she had called a couple days earlier. Very sneaky, Comcast -- different numbers for different offers.

• My wife called Comcast and hit the jackpot. She was quoted $17 for basic cable (plus $25 for installation), the sports package, the HD box, and a recorder (not sure what to call it) that allows us to both "freeze" a show in progress as well as record something like 250 hours of programming (this is for a one-year contract). Oh yeah, sign me up!!!!

• The Comcast installation guy came out a few days later and he was a piece of work. (Question #1 for Comcast: Do you have any sort of dress code for your employees? This guy was a slob -- he looked like I do after having mowed the grass on a 90-degree day.) Anyway, he seemed to know slighty more than I do (which is not much at all) about cable TV and was having a problem getting it up and working. (Question #2 for Comcast: Do you tell your installers to take their shoes off (or use footies) when working inside and then outside? Our guy was in and out and left tracks all over our house.)

• The Comcast guy said he needed to drill a hole in the side of our house to run a cable in. Now I'm not too excited about anyone drilling a hole in my house, and I was especially not excited about him doing it (since it appeared he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.) I asked that if I allowed him to do this was he sure he could find a cable that worked. He said, "no." So why again was I going to let him drill a hole in my house?

• Anyway, I finally told him that I needed some sort of guarantee that the drilling would be fruitful. I walked him around the house, we found the cable he wanted to use and I asked him if he could test it prior to drilling. He said he could. (Duh!) I asked him to do so, he did, and it worked. Now knowing that we had a working connection, I gave him the ok to drill. I figured that if he screwed it up I could sue Comcast for a ba-zillion dollars anyway.

• As he started to drill, my daughter said, "He may be destroying our house, but Dad's sure going to get his cable TV." :-)

• Anyway, all went well and it got installed. Bonus of bonuses: the NFL channel is included in the sports package. My son and I spent our first night with the cable watching a great show on that channel in chrystal-clear HD. This weekend we watched both Arsenal and Liverpool play as well as parts of the PGA Championship in HD. It was wonderful. ;-)

• We not only get the Fox Soccer Channel, but GolTV as well. Our new TV also has a computer port that we'll be able to use to view ESPN360.com soccer events. There shouldn't be a major soccer game on TV that we won't be able to get.

That's about it for now. I'll end with a question: Anyone want to come over for a Super Bowl party in 2010? :-)

Comments

[Matt]

I remember this deal and then my year ended and now I pay $122.50 for basic HD/TIVO and internet.

[rwh]

Yes, that sounds very cheap. It must be an introductory offer. You still might end up with a dish if Comcast more than doubles the price on you in 12 months.

I hope for the sake of all of you in Michigan that the Lions are in the Super Bowl! That would be worth the price of the TV.

[Angie]

The best deal I could find was $40 for the same package with a $50 installation charge. This is still a far cry from our last cable bill which was $208 (including internet). But I'm still disappointed as to why yours is half of our best offer. I think we are going to try the antenna and see what we get.

Good luck on getting Comcast to lower your cable bill after the promo period. I hear they are notorious for not doing the "call and match" promo offers you always advertise. So likely your bill will be around 100 after the promo period and you will have a hard time giving up your DVR!

[FMF]

rwh --

I'm just hoping for one win this year!!! ;-)

[FMF]

Angie --

If the new fee is $100/mo, then I know the answer: buh-bye.

But if nothing else, the process we'll go through to try and keep the same/a similar deal should make for good blog fodder!!!! ;-)

[Strick]

Well done! New entertainment center, TV, cable and (I'm guessing) Audio center and blue-ray to come! Glad to finally see some 'lifestyle inflation' occur for someone who has plenty of margin for error (seems like most people I come across either experience lifestyle inflation equal to their paycheck or are the opposite: good with money, living below their means, (often authors of other financial blogs) and constantly warning against any lifestyle inflation.

[Jason]

That is a pretty good rate. Here in Austin, TX with TimeWarner you pay $20/mo for basic (25 channels) and no HD. HD with the standard package is about $60-$80/month. I ditched cable and installed a 6-ft long VHF/UHF antenna in my attic - I now get crystal clear digital signals over the air (OK it helps that I am only 9 miles away from the TV towers).

[KevinC]

I hope you do better research on other items - you don't need to scale your roof for a satellite hookup.

[Travis]

Every 6-12 months I call comcast ask for a reduction in price and if they say no tell them to turn off the cable. I've essentially been able to keep the introductory price for a few years now.

[Jim]

I'm guessing $17 /month is a promo. rate. Basic, sports, HD & DVR would run about $30 full price from Comcast around here.

Given its Comcast and that you got quoted different numbers every time you asked, I'd be prepared to have them bill you something else than the $17. Thats what happened to me. Had to call them and make them fix it. Their explanation was that their website gave me a deal it shouldn't have.

I bet the installer was an independent sub-contractor that doesn't work directly for Comcast but instead they hire for extra work. The Comcast installers here have been great and very professional. But then I think Comcast is a collection of cable companies so I might be dealing with part of Comcast that was some other company a few years ago.

[Mike S]

The "snow problem" is a myth. I've had DirecTV since 1995; and only lost the signal once due to snow. I live right off Lake Erie. I'm not saying DirecTV is great; as they have received many complaints from me over the years...but I often hear people avoiding satellite due to the "snow problem."

Cable sucks; DirecTV sucks less.Enjoy your new setup!

[Old Limey]

I have been with Comcast for many years and this is what I pay per month in N. California.

Digital Video Recorder + HD (DVR) - Rental $15.95 - not available for purchase.
Standard + Basic + Expanded Basic $59.95
One extra Digital-Analog adapter - Rental $1.99 - Needed because I have 4 TV sets.
Total (w/taxes) = $84/month.
This gives me hundreds of channels but no special sports or movie channels. I also never use Pay to View.

The Comcast DVR is fantastic - we couldn't live without it.
It contains two hard drives so that you can be watching one program, pause it whenever needed, restart without missing anything, and at the same time be recording another program.
The recording feature is great for building up a large backlog of programs to watch during the summer doldrums when there are masses of reruns.

The remote is quite easy to use, you can construct a "Favorites" list of channels which makes it easy to see what's on at a particular time on all of your favorite channels. Select a program, press the Info button and you get a nice synopsis of the program.

Combine this with a Samsung LCD set and you have the state of the art in picture quality.
Add in Netflix for renting DVDs and a DVD player and you have a lot of entertainment available.

Netflix is not an old fashioned rental situation like going to a box store, they have an excellent website where you can search their whole inventory by genre, nationality, actors, awards and much more. After you have rated a lot of movies they also start showing you lists of movies that they believe you will like. If I return a DVD in the mail on Monday, the next one in my queue is delivered on Wednesday. They pay the postage and there are no late charges.
The other feature that I find invaluable and that has saved me from watching Duds, is to peruse the "Reviews" of a movie and see what other viewers (and critics) thought after watching it. Once you have a good size number of movies in your queue, it's surprising that there will also be a few that are available for instant viewing on your computer.

[JimL]

For those of you that want a REAL upgrade, take a look at front projection!!! The prices have really come down. You can now find deals that will give you a 100" screen for around $1000 (projector and screen).

My wife and I now have our "date night" every Friday night in our home theater. We pop in a Blu-ray, DVD or pick out something from our current service (Uverse) and enjoy movie theater quality (actually better) without leaving the comfort of home.

[Rich A.]

We got Comcast in January and love the DVR, but you can only watch the shows on the tv where the DVR is. We'll probably switch to AT&T Uverse. With their DVR, you can record 4 shows at a time and watch them on any tv in the house. AND, you can set the DVR to record them from your phone if you forgot to set them up earlier.

[JimL]

Rich,

We have uverse and love it for the reasons you mentioned. You can also select things to record from the internet. Also, there are times where I am flipping through channels and come across a movie that is already in progress. There is a feature that lets you pull up future showings of that same movie and allow you to select it for future recording.

[anonymous]

Too bad I've been a Comcast for years. I pay $139/mo. for extended HD programming, DVR (one tv only), and high-speed internet. I tried to get the lower deal by calling, but was told I was not eligible for their promotion. I don't know why we don't have more available cable communications options. We do have Verizon Fios, so I will be calling them soon.

[CJ Perry]

I got into cable on some promotion but ended up canceling it because it became too expensive. I do miss my football but everything else I can get via Netflix.

[Denise]

I finally convinced my husband to turn off cable. We live in the middle of nowhere, with no competition, and the price was ridiculously high for bare bones cable. We're trying the stream through your computer deal and I'm interested to see how that ends up working. If it doesn't work as well as we would like then I think we are going to go with the lowest level of netflix that allows you to download programs in addition to getting programs through the mail.

[Matt H]

anonymous:

You have to be more aggressive with Comcast. Here's how you start the conversation about lowering the price: "Hi. I'm calling to cancel my service." It's not like doing that with the gas company or something where they just shrug and say "OK, we'll have it disconnected in a couple days and send you your final bill soon afterward." No. They turn you over to the Retention department. They act like a desperate, clingy lover that you're trying to break up with. "Why do you want to leave us? [sob] I thought everything was going great. Is there anything I can do to get you to stay?" It's hilarious. At that point it's not time to say "it's not you; it's me." Instead, say "my rates have risen to a level where the service is not worth it to me. Also, FiOS is available where I live now, and they're making some very attractive offers." They'll definitely make you a new offer. Ask "is that the best you can do?" Finally, "OK, you've given me something to consider. Which number should I call back after talking to Verizon?"

Worst case scenario is they call your bluff and you go with fiber optic service, which you were considering doing anyway.

[Al]

for a site that preaches oh money nirvana and tell its readers to be informed about their finances, dont you think you should of done your homework on how cable tv works? did you honestly think Comcast was going to magically beam TV signal from outside your house to inside your house without drilling a hole? the recorder?

for beating a dead horse for so long on whether to buy a new TV, you'd think you research how to get TV signal to it

[billy]

FMF,

What deal did you work out for internet & phone service? I assume you use a different provider since you didn't mention a bundled service.

[t]

If you watch normal TV series shows and have high speed, you should look at media boxes like Myka (http://www.myka.tv), M2TV, and Western Digital WDTV then couple that with EZTV.it and bittorrent.

You might want to look at getting a better antenna like
http://www.summitsource.com/product_info.php?ref=1&products_id=7809 and a RF amplifier.

[Jordan]

You have to be more aggressive with Comcast. Here's how you start the conversation about lowering the price: "Hi. I'm calling to cancel my service." It's not like doing that with the gas company or something where they just shrug and say "OK, we'll have it disconnected in a couple days and send you your final bill soon afterward." No. They turn you over to the Retention department. They act like a desperate, clingy lover that you're trying to break up with. "Why do you want to leave us? [sob] I thought everything was going great. Is there anything I can do to get you to stay?" It's hilarious. At that point it's not time to say "it's not you; it's me." Instead, say "my rates have risen to a level where the service is not worth it to me. Also, FiOS is available where I live now, and they're making some very attractive offers." They'll definitely make you a new offer. Ask "is that the best you can do?" Finally, "OK, you've given me something to consider. Which number should I call back after talking to Verizon?"

It all depends on who you get at Comcast. I tried that twice and they told me to bring them the box by Friday. On Thursday I called to ask where to bring it exactly and they finally ended up giving me a better deal.

[Matt H]

Jordan,

It might also depend on how long you've been paying full price. Try calling a few different times. You can also try the sales department.

[FMF]

Kevin C --

So the people in my neighborhood who have their dishes on the roof of their homes do so for decoration?

Al --

My home has cable outlets in almost every room -- the previous owners had something like seven TVs. I thought Comcast would be able to use these without needing to drill.

Billy --

We went a different way with internet and phone. May consider cable internet in the future, though our current DSL is fine (and inexpensive.)

[Christy]

We were offered a DVR upgrade from Comcast, only to find out on the next bill that there is monthly charge for the DVR. Seems abnormally cheap that you would get the cable TV, HD transmission, DVR, plus a special package for only $17 per month. The starter (ie-teaser) rate for digital cable here in Houston is $29.99 for 6 months then it goes to $51.50 per month. That is with nothing extra. If you want a cable box it's $5/mo to rent, "sports package" is $7.95/mo, HD Access is $6.95/mo and DVR is $10.95/mo.

I bet we will be hearing more about your experiences with Comcast! !

I wouldn't mind to try a satellite dish, if they didn't require the 2yr contract. Also heard the Fios (fiber optic)is great but they don't offer it in our neighborhood.

[chynalemay]

ANTENNA, professionally installed and also stream shows thru a computer to your tv! Lots to watch - virtually FREE (this IS FMF website correct? $139~ for TV! #&$^#^&#&@#^(*!!

P.S. I get over 20+channels in HD plus a few analog: movies, kids programming, shopping and spanish too ....and football is on two over the air networks and FREE

[Sarah]

Wow, nice deal, FMF.

I think you'll like the DVR. It completely liberates you from the necessity of watching TV shows when they're actually on. My big problem is that I keep filling up my hard drive with classic movies faster than I can watch them!

[Chris]

FMF - I'm a huge fan of the website. But believe me when i tell you that there is zero chance you will be getting all of those services for $17 a month for anything more than the first month. Be prepared for a suprise when you see that first bill. I would call Comcast just to confirm and hopefully you still have the name of the person you spoke with and the date of the call. I had been given quotes from Comcast only to see my first bill balloon up to $40 higher than expected.

They probably needed to drill the new hole to get an upgraded cable into the house. I moved into an old apartment, got set up with HD DVR (the recorder you spoke of) and then the HD signal would fade in and out. Really frustrating. Had to wait a week for Comcast to come back out and fix it. Just be glad you avoided that situation, I can't imagine having to wait for the HD signal, especially with kids in the house!

Best of luck, and be sure to give a follow up on your first bill, regardless of what happens since this obviously struck a chord with many of your devoted readers!

[Marisco]

Welcome to 1980.

[Old Limey]

Chris:
I couldn't agree more. The HD(DVR) alone rents for $15.95 and you can't buy it. It's a well built Motorola product with a lot of fancy features and built-in software. Comcast is an aggressive company that is not planning on going broke anytime soon. Some of the ads from Dish Network are also very deceptive, they show a price for a limited period and never say what it will be when the period ends. They remind me of those companies that sell items during commercial breaks. You know, the ones where they say they will double the item and throw in a free gift as well, and you just pay double S&H. Those commercials are for suckers, but we all know there's a sucker born every minute.

[Jane]

Just to back up Kevin C, you don't have to put the dish up on the roof. Of course the only reason why I know this is that several of my co-workers live in a Neighborhood where the home owners association doesn't allow dishes on the roof and there is no standard cable available. All of them have a dish on a pole out in the back yard.

[chynalemay]

BTW: Law changed in 1997 to allow anyone who ownes building/property (or leases apartments for example) that persons cannot be denied access to airwaves, thus homeowner assoociation, housing development "rules" that prohibit: dishes, antenna's etc., are void and have been tested in court. ( Mine had such, I printed the FCC law and showed to development assoc guru's and enjoy my entenna now and I'm NOT alone! ) Even apartment dwellers (renters/condo folks) can put a dish/antenna on a balcony for example. Losers are condo owners since the assoc "ownes" the outside walls, they ARE prohibited still....look it up at the FCC website and enjoy lower cost of FREE TV! Most of metro/urban US gets 6~, 10~ or more channels ( I also get about 20 stations to include: all movie, childrens, weather, religion, music, 6 networks, 3 PBS, etc., stations over the air FREE!) Remember, cable tv was deeloped for RURAL areas w/o access to 2 or more networks back in the 60's! Today, new antenna technology allows most readers here w/ exceptions of rural, multi-path interferenceareas, and like to otherwise DUMP the dish and cable and enjoy Over the air or internet streaming. Let's see $100~ a month saved times years and years = A LOT of $$$. Go to antennaweb.org, TVfool.com, AVS.com websites and se YOUR reception pattern!

[FMF]

Chris --

Bill #1 arrived as was agreed. I'll let you all know if anything other than the expected occurs. :-)

[William]

Satellite TV involves receiving signals from a satellite where as cable TV stations entails airing programs. The biggest advantage a satellite TV service has over cable TV is the picture and sound quality.

[FMF]

For those of you watching this post, bill #2 arrived (for the second month) and was 100% correct.

[John]

I remember a deal like this. It was 20 something a month then they jacked it up to $100 a month. I was like no way I am paying $100 a month. Then they said it is a 2 year contract, either pay $100 a month or pay the $500 cancellation fee. F*ck