So I'm ready to cancel my cable.. what should I do?

ps99472

ps99472

New member
Cox just upped my monthly from $88 to $96 for basic cable (HD only for the network channels) and internet.  We don't have much time for TV but do enjoy Food Network, Modern Fam when we have the time.. So I'll be shopping DirectTv, Dish, and maybe even a big OTA antenna on my house.. download speeds are around 3Mbps with Cox (i got the cheapest internet plan) so going with DSL is ok.  Oh yeah I guess TNT and FSW would be needed when the NBA comes back.  I'm working on getting my first HDTV (currently 480p Panny Plasma from '05) and wife is signing off on the ok soon.  Any suggestions appreciated, I'm willing to pay around $100/month for service but just more then what I'm getting for the money now.. 
 
Does the $96 include your internet?

And do you have landline phone with Cox?

I thought I saw some Cox deal for $100 with all 3... it's for new customers only but if you call them and tell them you are going to switch to Dish or DirectTV because they have a sub-$100 plan (actually much lower), they will probably throw you a discount.

I should call... I think I pay > $150 for all 3.
 
We dropped the TV package 3 or 4 years ago.  I bought a small antenna (<$10) for the upstairs bedroom, connect to a computer with EyeTV ($150) and stream to other parts of the house.  The kids watch Netflix streaming.  We don't get any of the specialized cable channels, but we save some money.
 
ps99472 said:
Cox just upped my monthly from $88 to $96 for basic cable (HD only for the network channels) and internet.  We don't have much time for TV but do enjoy Food Network, Modern Fam when we have the time.. So I'll be shopping DirectTv, Dish, and maybe even a big OTA antenna on my house.. download speeds are around 3Mbps with Cox (i got the cheapest internet plan) so going with DSL is ok.  Oh yeah I guess TNT and FSW would be needed when the NBA comes back.  I'm working on getting my first HDTV (currently 480p Panny Plasma from '05) and wife is signing off on the ok soon.  Any suggestions appreciated, I'm willing to pay around $100/month for service but just more then what I'm getting for the money now..
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I threatened to cancel and they dropped my monthly payments to $70 for cable/internet (including the hd box and the second to the fastest internet speed). 
 
I think the main reasons why I keep cable are:

1. Being able to DVR shows:
While I can pretty much find any network (or even cable) show on the Intarwebz... many of them have commercials which I can't really skip through.

2. HD non-network programming:
Gotta watch House Hunters, Chopped and the UFC in HD.

3. Bundle hostage:
I do internet and phone also with Cox... Dish or DirectTV doesn't have any similar speed Internet service and I will not deal with AT&T anymore.

4. Customer service:
I've always received quick service from them, and having a Cox retail store in several places around Irvine makes it convenient to replace defective equipment.

I'm probably going to upgrade to the whole house DVR... so we can watch DVR'ed Sing-Off episodes in the master.
 
We have Cox for internet and phone.  We have DirecTV for TV.  The main reason we stick with DirecTV is for NFL Ticket.  The wife is from the midwest and needs to watch her team's games that they don't play locally here.  Otherwise, we'd probably switch to a lower cost TV solution.

My coworker dropped cable/satellite altogether some 4 years ago.  Their family lives on Netflix and catch everything else on the internet.  He's built a media center PC that records shows and they haven't looked back since.  If it suits you, it can save you money.

I love the UFC too (actually all MMA, Versus, FuelTV, HDNET) so the internet probably wouldn't work out for us.  Not sure if Hulu and all the online streaming services have much kid shows.  We'd need that too.
 
Ive had COX for 2 years now and I hated not having another option. I was really close to switching to DirecTV when an AT&T knocked on our door. Apparently they are wiring the neighborhood with fiber optics so U-Verse was now an option. Personally, i dont like AT&T because of past problems, but the wife thought it was worth a shot. They came and installed U-Verse on Saturday, so far TV and internet is excellent. Plus i can record 4 shows at one time.

Its about $80/month promotionally, then about $130/month afterwards. If I am not satisfied, I might try DirecTV.

AT&T said it costs around 50K/house to lay groundwork for fiber optics. Not sure how true this is...
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Does the $96 include your internet?

And do you have landline phone with Cox?

I thought I saw some Cox deal for $100 with all 3... it's for new customers only but if you call them and tell them you are going to switch to Dish or DirectTV because they have a sub-$100 plan (actually much lower), they will probably throw you a discount.

I should call... I think I pay > $150 for all 3.
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yes, that includes internet...  my landline is with AT&T which is about $15 a month...  do i get to keep my phone # with Cox tel?
 
ps99472 said:
[[...] do i get to keep my phone # with Cox tel?
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Yup... they port it over for you and that sends a cancellation to AT&T (you may want to check... but ours auto-cancelled our AT&T service so I was glad I didn't have to call them and wait on hold for 20 minutes just to tell them I'm dropping them).
 
I'm fortunate that my wife grew up the way I did -- without cable TV.  :'(    Neither of us feel like we are missing anything by not having it.  The only time I've paid for cable was for a short time with a roommate that really wanted it.  I didn't feel like it was worth the cost and we would get overbilled by Cox almost every month, forcing one of us to deal with their award-winning customer service agents (that last part was a joke). 

Instead of paying $1,000-1,500 per year for cable my wife & I spend $8 per month for Netflix and use the savings for family vacations, something that I will never regret.  One thing I've noticed is that people who have cable/satellite tend to spend a lot more time on the couch than I do.  My time is better spent playing with my kids or pursuing my hobbies & interests.  There really isn't time to watch the amount of TV that I would need to in order to justify a $100 cable bill.  Unlike other utilities, cable is not billed based on usage.  You pay for it whether you use it or not.  You also need to endure endless advertisements for this priviledge of paying $100-150 per month.  It's a total ripoff.

So my advice to the original poster is to read some books, play with your kids, pursue a hobby, or even play some video games.  In other words, live life.  Your time & money will be better spent.
 
I got sick of the Cox price increases and switched to DirectTV.  I get a lot more channels at a lower price.  I did kept the Cox internet.
 
Just found out my Internet with Cox is $35 per month for 3mbs download, that's slower then my cells 3G!  AT&T has a $20 per month dsl at 6mbs download.  Anyone else has suggestions for DSL?
 
Usually you only have one choice for DSL in Irvine and that's AT&T... I've had numerous service issues with AT&T which is why I switched to Cox 2 years ago.

$20 is pretty cheap... is that a limited time price?
 
Good for 1yr, cancel anytime, it's from their website.  Price might even remain the same after a year.
 
ps99472 said:
Just found out my Internet with Cox is $35 per month for 3mbs download, that's slower then my cells 3G!  AT&T has a $20 per month dsl at 6mbs download.  Anyone else has suggestions for DSL?
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PS9, call them and ask for a promotional price.  They offer crap like that year round, I have a package deal for cable internet/cable TV for like $70 bucks.  Don't remember internet speed but they told me second fastest one they have on their package...
 
You are not going to get a better deal without Promotions unless you work for that company.  Once your promotion ends they up your price and when you call them they'll pull another "special promotion" out of their butt. 
 
We got rid of cable years ago.  Get yourself an OTA antenna for live HD viewing, a $99 roku box, and a streaming service.  We have hulu+and netflix and our streaming costs are less than $20 per month and we watch a ton of stuff.  The only thing you will really miss is sports on channels like TNT...there just isnt a good alternative today for that.
 
I got a one year deal from Cox with Internet, phone, and basic cable for about $85 including fees.  Pretty happy with it especially since they were charging about the same for network channels/on-the-air channels only.
 
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