Time Warner that is. The have the charming habit of hiking my cable bill, just be cause they can. This month they hiked it up $7. Just because they can. Or so they think.
The telephone company, good old bankrupt Fairpoint, has recently installed a DSL booster on Three Mile Hill, which brings DSL to my house. I could take DSL broadband ($29.95) and satellite TV ($32) and only pay $61 to get TV and broadband. As of this month's rate hikes, I'm paying $60 to get the same services from Time Warner.
7 comments:
Did they hike just the TV portion or was it across the board?
I ask because the cable companies don't have as much control over the costs of video portion of their operation as in the past. The content providers control the price, even the over-the-air providers. Internet service, on the other hand, is very profitable as they have more lee-way because they can always shop for a better deal from the high-level providers. It also requires a lot less in the way of equipment compared to the video side of their operation.
Is it any wonder video subscriptions are either flat or falling for a lot of cable/satellite operations?
Good question. I don't really know. I keep records of how much I pay them total, I don't save the bills or record the breakout between TV and broadband. So I don't know just how they broke my cable bill down last month.
About the only thing I watch much on TV is Fox News. And the Sunday pundits. For movies I get Netflix in the mail. I'm beginning to think I could get by on just broadband DSL for $29.95 a month.
If the DSL is fast enough you could always drop Time Warner and get your video through Netflix, Hulu Plus (which carries much of the same programming as 'regular' cable), or the network websites directly. The only downside is that you might not be able to watch live sports.
You never know how fast it is until you try it. Fairpoint is claiming megabit speeds, but I can remember a couple of other providers who claimed that kinda speed but delivered dial up speed.
Does Netflix or Hulu provide Fox News? And if so, is it timely, or is it old? An hour or two old is OK, a couple of days old is not.
You never know how fast it is until you try it. Fairpoint is claiming megabit speeds, but I can remember a couple of other providers who claimed that kinda speed but delivered dial up speed.
Does Netflix or Hulu provide Fox News? And if so, is it timely, or is it old? An hour or two old is OK, a couple of days old is not.
Speed is dependent upon on how far away the DSL Concentrator/DSLAM is from your home. I know my In-Laws get 5 or 6 Mbs with their Fairpoint DSL.
For Fox News you should be able to go right to their website, though I haven't checked to see if they stream real time. I know WMUR makes their newscast available in its entirety (though I understand that might not be your cup of tea).
I just checked the Fox News website and they stream live, so it shouldn't be a problem, assuming DSL is fast enough.
BTW, do you know how far the DSLAM is from your home? I can probably give you a good estimation of what you might expect in the way of speed.
The other alternative is to drop the video portion of the Time Warner subscription and keep just the Internet service. We have Internet service from our local cable company and we pay about ~$40/month for 15Mbs down/2Mbs up. We get 'real' TV via satellite for a lot less than it would cost us from cable. And if John McCain gets his way the days of programming bundles may be numbered as he's been pushing for a la carte programming, meaning you only pay for the channels you want. The content providers hate the idea but the cable TV & satellite guys seem to like it.
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