Quote:
Originally Posted by
jeffer96 
I can't say that I'm looking for anything for free. My cable bill (family digital cable, the HD tier, cable internet, and DVR) was $147 last month for a lot of analog channels, and digital channels for that matter, that look like complete crap on a 52" LCD TV. My wife and I have pretty much limited our viewing to the 20 or so HD channels we get through Mediacom, so when new channels do become available, I have to admit that I do feel like I'm getting a bit more bang for my buck (or for my $1764 bucks a year...until they raise the rates again, which I'm sure will happen in January).
That being said, the weeks we have gone without cable/internet in the winter after the plow has again knocked down the cable wire to our house, a wire that has been hung way too low by way too many repair guys, has made me think about a dish from time to time. Sure, having a dish does mean having interruptions from the weather, but I'm not sure that's quite the deterant as having to spend an hour or more on hold after every snow storm to explain to another customer service rep with Mediacom that I shouldn't have to pay for a week's worth of cable and internet we didn't have because Mediacom wasn't able to send anyone out to my house (about six blocks from the Ingersoll location) for five days to reconnect the cable. Throw in the fact that either myself or my wife have to take a half days vacation for the repair guy to show up, even though they don't enter the house outside of a signature they need to show proof they did in fact show up to complete the job, and Mediacom really does become a pain in the arse.
stuff like this is a total legit reason for being upset....i wasn't trying to sound like i was attacking ahyone...i just know what my personal experience was like, but at the same time i listen to people complain all the time over petty things without really being realistic....example of what im refereing to is the jo smo that goes into mediacom who been one a 6 month promotion that he managed to talk into having for 3 years now then threaten to leave because they want there service for free.....or the people that dont realize the land cable companys are under contract with there citys they are in and actually lose money to most of the people.
let me explain;
say mediacom is under contract to be in this city, now in the contract they hafta do various things for the community and offer certain basic stations at a fixed rate (this all happens until local legislation changes it in every city btw) and not to mention cable companies have to be just like a handyman contracter and bid for or negotiate to the networks for packages and cable companies rent all there equipment. OK, now lets say with being undercontract under the city they have to offer basic cable at 25 bucks a month and it cost them 27 bucks a month to even provide it but under contract they cant charge more. where is the extra 2 dollars coming from that the company loses....then on top of that say fox charges them so and so amount for certain channels yet the cable company needs to make a profit...afterall they are a buisness
ok i think you guys see where im going with this....
also why is getting a dish cheaper? goes back to what i said little earlier.....they compete for a certain package price wich gets you a crap lot more channels but most them just east west of everything for a lower price not to mention the digital bandwidth allowed to even have them and without the need of cables in ground or on poles there is no need to have a contract with cities.
think of it as in terms of buying bulk at sames club...the more you buy the cheaper it gets, but when you already have to raise fees to be able to provide the service in the first place like cable companies you cant afford the larger packages.
still waiting on new hd channels.
