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Originally Posted by justjim
It’s shameful what we go through with cable companies. The Cable companies lobby the politicians by purporting that “competition” will make the services cheaper. As my Dad used to say hogwash!
I have never been a fan of regulation but Cable/streaming cellular and access to the internet are necessary like water and electricity today. I have developed a considered opinion that maybe it’s time to regulate this industry. What say you?
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I don't believe this industry will ever be regulated.
These days in order to get out of the cable company price increases is to go with an internet provider like Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Quantum Fiber or Centric Fiber then stream TV either by using your smart TV or streaming stick like Roku, Amazon, AppleTV, etc.. Or you can put a TV antenna on the roof and get whatever free TV is available in your area. Or use any combination of the above.
The problem with the cable companies is they have a lot of overhead providing TV content. So many people have "cut the cord" that cable companies now try to bundle your TV and Internet with cell phone service. All this might sound good, and it can be but the price they offer is almost always a 1 or 2 or 3 year offer meaning it will go up and they tell you that. I don't think this is ever going to change until the cable companies focus on Internet like the rest of the industry because as time goes on, more and more people are going to be streaming vs getting TV from the cable company. I can't tell you how many Villagers talk about paying $200, $300 and more for Xfinity and Spectrum and are just paying the price for whatever reason.
I know not everyone here in the Villages has a choice of internet providers but if you can get fiber internet, it will be almost the cheapest and the most stable priced. If you can't get fiber try one of the fixed wireless services from Verizon, T-mobile or AT&T where it's offered. Since they are a phone company, they will bundle your cell phones and the internet to get you a good price. For most people you will get enough bandwidth from a fixed wireless service as long as you are close enough to one of their towers. Fortunately, they let you try the service and if it doesn't work you can return it.
I would not go with DirectTV or Dish unless you need special programming because they have long contracts.