[sunny46]

Can anyone help me through the cable maze? We changed to Direct TV a year ago and now they are raising my bill $35.00 more a month since my rebates have expired. I notice all of these companies only guarantee a price for 6-12 months! I am getting tired of switching every year! Help!

[villagetinker]

This is not just a villages thing. I have seen this type of pricing all over. I suggest that you specifically ask what the price is going to go up to when the "Introductory Price" expires. Also, check to see what additional services you might have been given as part of the special will expire. Comcast, just raised my rates after the initial year, and it looks like I have lost several sports channels as well.

I dread making the call to discuss this..............

[JGVillages]

All the TV and phone companies offer an initial "deal" to get you to sign-up. Knowing this I can't imagine one would not ask what your cost would be after the promotion. DirecTV, Comcast, Century Link all publish their post promotion pricing on their websites to avoid the "after" suprises.

[UpNorth]

You can easily get rid of your cable company and satellite dish if you are willing to make some changes in your viewing habits. Just get a simple internet connection and use a streaming box (Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, etc) to get loads of programming. Get a Netflix or Amazon Prime subscription and access all kinds of movies and network shows. Not "live", but very current and often available the next day. An antenna installed in your attic will get all the major networks for free (ABC, CBS, PBS, etc) with better picture quality than cable can provide. If absolulely must have live cable-only channels (I bet you can do without them), you will be stuck paying for their overpriced "packages".

[bettymg1866]

direct TV did the same thing to me and come March i will go back to comcast... not a solution but certainly better than Direct TV. the "promo" package was about $119.00 per year for the triple play - well here it is year 2 and i have reduced my TV package and i am still paying over $200.00 a year..... disgusting....

[sunny46]

I didn't mean to imply that it is a village problem. That is just the area I was concerned about. I did not check their price after the intro ends. Thanks for that thought. Bettymg1866, don't you mean $200. per month?

[snowbird22154]

Originally Posted by UpNorth

You can easily get rid of your cable company and satellite dish if you are willing to make some changes in your viewing habits. Just get a simple internet connection and use a streaming box (Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, etc) to get loads of programming. Get a Netflix or Amazon Prime subscription and access all kinds of movies and network shows. Not "live", but very current and often available the next day. An antenna installed in your attic will get all the major networks for free (ABC, CBS, PBS, etc) with better picture quality than cable can provide. If absolulely must have live cable-only channels (I bet you can do without them), you will be stuck paying for their overpriced "packages".

This is EXACTLY what I did as after 3 years and getting 90% of the channels I didn't want we Cut The Cord to Diash and got Netflix for $8 a month and now planning on attic antenna. It's ridiculous all the "monthly cost" that add up and cutting cable helped by $70 a month !

[MikeV]

Originally Posted by UpNorth

You can easily get rid of your cable company and satellite dish if you are willing to make some changes in your viewing habits. Just get a simple internet connection and use a streaming box (Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, etc) to get loads of programming. Get a Netflix or Amazon Prime subscription and access all kinds of movies and network shows. Not "live", but very current and often available the next day. An antenna installed in your attic will get all the major networks for free (ABC, CBS, PBS, etc) with better picture quality than cable can provide. If absolulely must have live cable-only channels (I bet you can do without them), you will be stuck paying for their overpriced "packages".

I have both Netflix and Amazon Prime. I find it very difficult to find shows I want to watch or movies I have not seen. I have 3 other TV's that are not smart TV's so how do I get these services on those? Also how many TV's can hook up to one attic antenna? My DirecTV just went up also because my year is up. My bill is now $128/mo and I still have Comcast for Internet at $67/mo. Still below what I was paying for Comcast TV and Internet but the number of channels I actually watch is less than a dozen.

[Villager Audio Video]

You can hook up all your TV's to an attic antenna but you don't need one of you're using Comcast Internet. :-)

Smart features (Netflix, Amazon Prime, ect) are easy and cheap to get on any display device with a Blu-ray player or a Roku device.

[TNLAKEPANDA]

I will say one thing... the people who answer the phone at Brighthouse are actually very nice to deal with and you can get to talk to a Rep fairly quickly. The only down side with all Cable companies is the equipment they are still using. It is very old technologic compared to what the satellite companies use. I would be willing to pay extra for modern equipment.

[quirky3]

I keep track of the rebate months, and make a note in my calendar just before they expire. I call the company and ask for a replacement discount. I have to be patient and mentally prepared for them to follow their scripts.
- They may just give me a replacement discount (not always equal to the prior discount) and I ask for how long and make a note.
- They may say that they can't give me a discount but they will connect me with a different department who can. Repeat step one.
- They may tell me that I already have the largest total discount available (when you take into account free HD for life etc.) and sometimes I am out of luck.
- I point out that there are charges on the bill that don't make sense (like paying extra for "whole home DVR" when I only have one TV.) They don't care.
- I end up with multiple discounts expiring at different times and have to make these "begging calls" more often.
- Each time you talk to someone they will go into a sales pitch for bundling or a more expensive package. Grrr.

But so far I have been able to contain the costs pretty well after the original rebate expired.

[lamplighter]

Originally Posted by snowbird22154

This is EXACTLY what I did as after 3 years and getting 90% of the channels I didn't want we Cut The Cord to Diash and got Netflix for $8 a month and now planning on attic antenna. It's ridiculous all the "monthly cost" that add up and cutting cable helped by $70 a month !

Where do we get this antenna, model? Price? Who installs it?

We cut the cord, have roku and just kept basic cable. Apparently, Google and Apple are working on systems and in the near future predict an a
End to cable.

[PennBF]

Of course the Government is responsible to control these networks lik the phone companies, etc.etc. Why does everyone complain about the Cable Companies as they are just exploiting the consumer and the government does nothing. Maybe they should be replaced until one of them is honest enough to go after the Cable Companies who use the public airwaves.

[UpNorth]

If you have another home outside TV and pay for cable service there, you can always hook up a Slingbox to that location and "ship" your service down to your house in The Villages. You can watch anything you have up there including your DVR recordings. All you need in The Villages is an internet connection, plus a windows computer, a tablet, or a TV connected to a Roku box. Like having a super long extension cable from your other house down to your house in The Villages (or anywhere else in the world that has internet service). Not perfect, but works fine most of the time.

[yabbadu]

We have Brighthouse and have great service and no problems.