What is Digg?123 Comments
- ahawks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20Cool article. Another trick I learned is that Comcast cable's lowest *ADVERTISED* cable plan is $45/mo, "Extended Basic" (I think that's what it's called). If you call though, you can request the TRUE basic plan, which is about $12/mo. It includes the major networks: ABC, NBC, CBS, TBS, TNT(?), WB. I do miss having USA and at times Commedy Central, but that's what tvtorrents.com is for ;)
I was disappointed with the rest of this guy's site (pfadvise.com). It's just his blog, with very little financial advise. - qwickone, on 10/12/2007, -6/+26You're right, it is TECHNICALLY illegal, but I feel like I'm doing my little bit to stick it to Comcast. They have a monopoly in my area and their rates are ricockulous.
- FreeiPodGuy.com, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17'work for them and get free legal cable': But then I'd have to go to hell after I die. No thanks. I'll pay the fifty bucks and keep my eternal soul.
- qwickone, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18I discovered this as well (I have Comcast too). I also discovered that they have put a box on the cable that connects the jack to the wall. If you unscrew the box and just connect the cable directly from the wall to the TV you get extended cable for free!! That's what I've done, hope it works for you!
I pay 12 bucks for my extended basic :) - CiXeL, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14The Weather Channel? yeah ive got that too.
- Zapf, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16Qwuickone, one would think "sticking it" to comcast would work better if you just didn't subscribe their cable service at all, and encouraged others to do the same.
- SilentSpyder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Cablevision, I hate comcast. They killed Tech TV.
- Sonic84, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10you got my hopes up, I saw "50% off" and "cable", but it was TV not internet. curse you comcast and your exorbitant rates!!!
- databasecowboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Save over 100%: cancel your subscription and sell your tv. You will save on your monthly cable bill, your electirc bill and your time.
- fatb0b, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11http://www.duggmirror.com/tech_deals/How_To_Get_50_Off_Cable_TV_Bill/
For those who don't know - sexycatsinhats, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9If you work at Comcast, you will get free digital cable (all the channels including premium and discounted PPV), free digital voice VOIP service (tests proven a lot more reliable than Vonage and other VOIP companies), and free high speed Internet. One of my relatives work for them and they get no bills, free everything.. well, almost.. If only they did cellular
- vypergts, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@qwickone
Actually, what happens is that you pay for digital service with a certain number of channels and the descrambler box decodes the "extra" channels that aren't included in the next lower package. When you disconnect the box and connect straight to the jack you are just getting all the channels that weren't blocked and don't need the descrambled box to be viewable.
I have my tv set up with a splitter going from the wall to my tv and my cable box and then run my cable box to my TiVo and then to a different input on my tv. That way I can record and watch all the channels I'm paying for on TiVo, but if there is a program that I want to watch conflicting I can just watch it on the other input as long as it isn't on one of the higher channels which the tv won't be able to see and it's all perfectly legal.
@Zapf
The point is that Comcast has a monopoly in some areas and so "not getting there service" isn't really an option unless you only watch NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX and get really good antenna reception. I hate Comcast but I don't have a choice. - wazzzup, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I wonder how well this works in areas where the cable provider has a monopoly. In my area, there's no one else to switch to. They are the *only* provider of high speed internet and cable t.v. I suppose you could switch to satellite and keep the broadband (which goes up in price when you drop the cable).
Anybody have any luck with this where the cable co. is a monopoly? - EtherGnat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"...once everything goes digital in 2007 you will have to have a box..."
There is no reason to assume that cable companies will go digital only in 2007. There is a government mandated switch to digital currently set for 2009 but that affects only broadcast TV--not cable providers. - ninetynine, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9technically it is illegal, the technician who came out to install your services got lazy and forgot to add a filter to trap out the upper channels. enjoy it while you can. once everything goes digital in 2007 you will have to have a box and the cable company will not be giving you services you do not pay for...
- berny227, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This has kinda worked for me with DirecTV. Just call their rentention line and tell them youre looking into switching to Dish Network. I wasnt offered much, but it was definately better than nothing. They knocked off $5 off my bill for 6 months, and got 3 months of free showtime.
Doesnt hurt to try. - Adune0Warrior, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This is great but there is only ONE cable company where I live so its a monopoly here just like many other places they really need to have more than just one cable company for some town/cities to encourage competition more and if that happend then there would be lower cable bills.
- MCHampster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I also have Cox Cable / Internet in Phoenix. I originally signed up for the internet service only ($50/mo). After a couple months, they called and asked if I would like their basic cable for free. After verifying several times they they truly meant free forever, not just for a few months, we said yes. We've been enjoying their basic cable (20 channels or so - local plus WGN, TBS, Discovery) for almost a year now at no cost. They way it appears on the bill is $50 for our internet, -$10 for the discount you get with cable, -$6 promo discount +$16 for basic cable (the #'s may be slightly off here) to get back to $50 a month.
I've heard though that if I sign up for the "normal" analog cable with more channels and then cancel, I will more than likely keep the extra channels. In order to really turn off the cable, they would have to come out to the house and install some filter on the cable box to remove those channels again and I guess they don't find it worth it. I'm afriad to try because if it doesn't work, I don't want to have to pay for the basic cable again, which I get now for free.
The point of this story? I don't know. - othersomethings, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I have the same problem. Our cable company sucks pretty bad, but there aren't any others, and similar service from satellite companys is considerably higher priced.
- ReqX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Wait for one of deepdiscountdvd.com's semi-annual 20% off sales. They already have the lowest prices and free shipping. Once you add the 20% off coupon, things get REAL LOW. Just wait until they have one again then buy a whole lot of seasons.
- FreeiPodGuy.com, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4They do keep track. They aren't supposed to let you get one discounted period immediately following the previous one; If I remember right they told me I would have get a discount for 6 months and pay full price for 6 months before getting another discount.
- sexycatsinhats, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Just tell them you're paying too much. You don't even have to tell them you want to cancel, They'll lower your price to somewhere around $24 for a couple months and even make your speed higher. You can keep telling them and not end up paying the regular price. It works, I've tried it.
- poet_will, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4You can get a satellite TV service just about anywhere in the US can't you? I see commercials all the time on TV for them.
- pkulak, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Yup, that's what I do. It's analog too, so you don't get any of the over-compressed MPEG2 crap.
- Drewskey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I agree with everyone's good comments. I would like to add that doing this with your ISP is also very feasable. I went through the exact same steps, except with cable internet vs. DSL and my cable company bought it. After they got tired of giving me a discount, I convinced my DSL company (Alltel) to give me the top service for lower than the "lite" tier price. How you might ask yourselft? Just keep calling the sales line until you get a sales person that is willing to make a deal. Mine told me of a VERY unpublished deal that she could give me since I was as I put it, "leary of DSL performance as compaired to cable." Here I am 6 months later, paying 19.95/month for 35.99 and up dsl!!!!! :) Good luck price hunting!
- spadin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3For a second there, I thought you were talking about The Weather Channel (TWC), but I'm assuming you are talking about Time Warner Cable.
- kazem, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5$16 a month, I do believe. You can get basic cable off of their web site.
- duncantuna, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Do the same thing with your credit card intrest rate. I forced a co-worker to call his credit card company, and I mean forced. He was paying 18.9% interest .. Stop what you're doing, call right this freaking moment, tell them you want a lower rate or you are leaving. 10 minutes later, he had a 3.9% rate for 6 months.
- crawf061, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4if I got 90 bucks off my bill it would be free =P
- TheThirdWheel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is only working because the installers are forgetting to trap your analog channels. There is a special trap (filter) that is supposed to prevent you from receiving any video channels when you are a broadband only customer. Sounds like they have lazy installers in your area.
- saleens281, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Apparently this article was actually "how to get 50% off your Cable Internet Bill". Unfortunately the site was hosted on said cable line, and the trick was to only pay for half the month :(
- evasivejay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Being in the cable service, yes you can lower your bill by pretending to cancel your service, but for rep that is actually train well, and looking at your billing history and can notice a pattern of getting discounts. They well still go ahead and cancel your account. Me noticing that for years I'll call the customer bluff. If you get those rookie customer service reps, yeap you can get away those guys. that my 2 peso's.
- dancpsu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Don't pay for Hi-Def, just put up a good antenna and receive it free over the air. It's digital too.
- deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Article's dead but my advice is to threaten to downgrade your service to BASIC without a cable box.
No cable box = no pay per view or video on demand $$ for your cable company
No cable box = no chance to upgrade you over the phone with new services
No cable box = no monthly rental fee (it adds up over a few years)
They'll do ANYTHING to keep that little box in your house. - riverside71, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4wake up sheeple.. everywhere I look there are monopolies. Switch where and to whom?
There is NO OTHER OPTION but to get the service from ONE and ONLY ONE provider. Apartments won't allow you to put up Satellite so you're stuck with your freaking provider.. it's either that or cancel cable and don't watch anything... I chose that!
it's all booga booga fear this, be afraid of that.. fear some more .. and oh yes.. don't forget to buy this shiny new thing on TV all the time anyway.. - A-Dubb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Everybody is saying the same thing, "Tell them a competitor offered a lower rate". That however doesn't work with landlock. Comcast bought up all the cable and telephone lines in my city and then told the city (With a substantial kick-back I'm sure) that the lines were too old to support any other cable company and the telephone lines are too old to support DSL, so they needed to upgrade them (This was 5 years ago). Bottom line, if you want cable in my city, Comcast is your only choice. If you want high speed internet, Comcast is your only choice.
My bill is $200 a month with internet and DVR digital cable. We have 2 movie channel packages and next to no digital cable channels. 5 years ago we had more channels and cable internet for $90. Comcast showed up and we got screwed. When I told them we were going to move to satellite unless they could offer a competitive rate, the rep laughed, I'm serious, then he asked when would be a good time to have a tech come out and take all the equipment back. They use this to their advantage and no matter what the citizens of the city do we keep getting told the same thing, "Comcast is in the process of beginning to upgrade the lines to allow competition into the city". - Devnull, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Accroding to the FCC your landlord cannot prevent you from putting up a dish. I don't know the exact rule or wording, but I do know they can't stop you.
Sean D. - presto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I managed to get 100% off my cable TV & broadband!
It took 6 months of bad service and think out of sheer
embarassment they offered me the next 6 months free!
They initally misold me the package and told me it would
be a certain speed to start with, but it I had to wait 3 months
till they upgraded it.
Then I used to get randomly disconnected all the time due to
a faulty modem, I had spent hours, days months trying to
convince them it was there problem. Had 2 technicians out!
Now it is working perfectly and it's FREE!!!!!! - Everen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That's really not too bad. Sadly, while their rates are often rather high compared to other providers, they're the only Cable TV game in Lexington (Lexington-proper, that is). Once you get into Nicholasville, Adelphia is King, if I recall correctly.
Having had Insight in Lexington, Louisville and Northern KY, I can attest to their insane pricing for even "Classic" Cable TV. Mind you, that's not the same as "Basic," as mentioned previously by another poster. If you really ask for it, Insight will sell you Basic Cable, which sadly boils down to the four main local broadcast stations and 10-15 channels of crap that you end up feeling dumb paying money to see.
If you're not into the premium channels, I'd say go with a Dish or DirecTV setup and possibly go with the local DSL provider. In Northern KY, we're very fortunate to have an excellent, affordable DSL provider-- ZoomTown (Cincinnati Bell). Yes, yes, I know-- it's an RBOC. But this RBOC isn't like most others. They have decent rates, great speed for the price, very little downtime (FAR less than what Insight has had in the last year).
Also, with a Dish, you wouldn't see many of those anti-dish & anti-DSL propaganda commercials from your local cable company.
OK, sorry. I'm done. :) - dallen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Cox has those people too, at least the do here in NW AR.
- Everen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2DarthTurducken, are you a customer of Highlander Cable?
- DanaG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Basic basic cable is about $7 here, and I get $15 off my cable internet connection. I had the Comcast salesdroid repeat that several times before I signed up _and_ I checked my first bill, but they were right.
- DarthTurducken, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3There can be only ONE!
- Pirkel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Does anyone think I could get very far with bellsouth? I subscribe to the Extreme 6.0 DSL. I don't know if I could get much leverage out of them unless I threaten to switch to comcast & vonage.
- signal15, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I just called Comcast and got $15 a month off my basic cable, $48 down to $33. It's still a ripoff considering what I can get through Dish Network. I hardly watch TV anyway. I wish I could pick the channels I wanted and only pay for those.
- tackle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I use services from Insight Communications for Cable TV and internet. I pay $78 a month (inclusive of taxes) for Digital Cable and High Speed Internet. Does anyone actually get the same services for a lesser price? I thought it cannot get cheaper than that.
- OnTheAir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If you have a balcony on your apartment, or another exclusive-use area, your apartment cannot legally stop you from putting up a satellite dish.
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html - ryogahibiki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is true. I've been playing this "game" with the cable co for years. Finally, a few months ago, after calling 3 different reps, all of them saying they couldn't lower my cable internet bill or pricematch DSL, one rep told me that I had been getting too many consecutive discounts. And he confided in me that I would have to pay full price for 3 months, then I should call back again and try my discount tactic once more. I did what he advised and it worked. so a little FYI for you cable-customer-discount-seeking-newbs.
- jbauer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I work for a cable company and this wouldn't work on us. We let customers go all the time who try this tactic. They end up cancelling their disconnect a few days later.
- The_Dude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I'm gonna give this a try. I'll miss Hi-Def, but I'm sick of paying a ton for TV.
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