"Survey" about digital cable prices (1 Viewer)

[Michael Napier]

I am just curious what people in other parts of the country are paying for digital cable.

Here in Fort Smith, Arkansas we have ONE cable company (Cox) and right now we are paying about $55.00 for digital cable. This is with NO premium channels.

I feel like this is too high. Especially when one can get DBS for around $30.00. I live in an apartment so the satellite option isn't really there for me.

Anyway, this is only for my own information.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[Steve Phillips]

That's about what they ask for it in Las Vegas (also COX). For an additional $10.00 you can now get HDTV through COX here.

Me, I have analog basic.

 

[LDfan]

Hi,

I have Cox digital cable here in Northern va. Your price qoute seems about right. I pay around $82.00 a month for basic,extended, all the digital tiers(discovery, sports,movie(encore,lifetime movie,etc..) plus the HBO package. That price is with 2 digital boxes and 1 analog box.


Jeff

 

[MickeS]

Seems about the same as here. We pay something like $65 for Comcast Digital Cable, with all the digital channels + HBO.

/mike

 

[Jim__B]

I pay 99 plus tax for Comcast Digital Silver Package. This includes Modem rental, Internet, Digital Box, and 1 set of premium channels(hbo).

 

[GordonL]

I hate Cox with extreme prejudice. Not only are they outrageously expensive, they engage in deceptive advertising and provide poor service.
If it's available to you, go satellite. For $86/month, you get the cable equivalent of basic, extended, locals, and all the premiums, all in digital. And if you have DirecTivo, you get Tivo services for free!
Jeff, correct me if I'm wrong, but in Fairfax County, aren't basic and extended still analog? At least that's what their website says. How can they charge you that freakin much for analog?

 

[RichO]

West Coast, Bay Area

AT&T Broadband Premium with Fox Sports and ESPN pkg

$82.99 or there abouts

 

[Roberto Carlo]

Cox in Fairfax. VA: $72 for digital cable with 10 HBOs. This also includes regular analog cable in an additional 2 rooms.

 

[Joel Mack]

With Cox Cable Omaha, I'm paying about $58 for digital cable and HBO. It's another $35 for my cable modem service.

 

[JasenP]

Here in Michigan we have Charter Communications and I have the "Charter Digital Leadership Package" which includes all the Premium channels and "Charter Pipeline" 1.5 mbs as my ISP. I only pay $94 a month for everything.


HBO-East
HBO Family-East
HBO 2-East
HBO Signature-East
Cinemax-East
More Max-East
Action Max-East
Showtime-East
Showtime Too-East
Showtime Showcase-East
Showtime Extreme-East
Showtime Beyond-East
The Movie Channel-East
TMC Xtra-East
FLIX-E
Starz!-East
Black Starz!-East
Starz! Family-East
Starz! Cinema-East
Encore-East
Encore Westerns-East
Encore Mystery-East
Encore Action-East
Encore Love-East
Encore True Stories-East

 

[Michael Napier]

Hmmm....

I guess it just seems like too much here because most other living expenses are cheaper than most places. So most people's income is lower as well.

I rent a 1-bedroom apartment that's fairly decent sized for $275.00 a month. It's not super nice but far from a slum.

So when things like rent are that low I guess it seems like the cable is too high. My total bill is about $92.00. That is for digital cable in one room and broadband internet. I just signed up for an HBO special. I get 4 HBO channels for $5.89 a month, for 3 months. After that it goes to abour $12.00.

 

[LDfan]

GordonL,

Yes you are correct. The basic and extended channels 1-100 are analog.


Jeff

 

[MickeS]

Considering that the picture quality is better on analog (at least here), I wish they ALL were analog.

I've been thinking about switching to Dish because they have local channels now (DirecTV still have no plans to carry local channels here), but it turns out that they don't have the local NBC affiliate for some reason, so I'm sticking to cable.

 

[TheLongshot]

Jeff, correct me if I'm wrong, but in Fairfax County, aren't basic and extended still analog? At least that's what their website says. How can they charge you that freakin much for analog?

It is true that basic and extended are analog, but he has the digital tiers, which are additional channels on top of analog cable. Basic and extended is about $47 right now. (My total bill is about $83 a month, with cable modem and $1 HBO until the end of the year or until they upgrade my area to digital, whichever is sooner. The former is more likely.)

Jason

 

[LarryDavenport]

We pay $104 for AT&T Digital Cable Ultimate package in Seattle(though their are foreign langauge channels you have to still pay extra for).

 

[GordonL]

Digital != Better

In my limited experience, it is. Way better. At one time, I had both DirecTV and Cox simultaneously because DirecTV didn't have locals so I kept basic cable. The difference for me in terms of picture quality was like going from bad VHS to DVD, it was that much better. I got tired of the poor picture quality/service and constant price increases. Despite what they claim, cable outages did/do occur from time to time. I've experienced outages from hours to as long as a week. They claim they're holding prices because of the number of complaints while they switch over to digital. It's pure BS - they stopped providing free TV Guides and started shifting channels from one package to the other to force you to upgrade. They claim they're losing money in this area (Fairfax County). They're way behind schedule in switching everyone over to digital and they're getting hit with penalties from the local government. You want to know what's going to happen as soon as the switchover is complete? You're going to see your rates jump probably by 10% or more. How can they not, especially if they're losing money? Its practices like that that turned me off to Cox. If you're happy with Cox then good for you. I'm disgusted with them and will never go back.

 

[TheLongshot]

I've been moderately happy with Cox. Service for me has been pretty good. I don't have much downtime with the cable, and it has never lasted longer than a few hours. (Tho it is down right now, but I suspect that it is weather related) The cable modem has been down a little more often, but only to give me a minor annoyance, and again, only a few hours at the most.

On the other hand, Cox's customer service is atrocious. I've had two service calls which they haven't shown up. I did get my $35 chargebacks for those and three months of Cinemax out of the deal, but it still doesn't make me too happy about service.

The reason why I said that Digital isn't always better is that digital gives the companies the excuse to overcompress the signals to try to squeeze as many channels as possible out of what limited bandwidth they have, causeing digital artifacts. The cable companies are guilty of this as well. Actually, I'm looking forward to the digital upgrade, not for the digital channels (which don't interest me) but for the fact that I can toss the cable box.

If it does go up to where it is not worth it anymore, then maybe I'll consider satelite. I'll still keep the cable modem, since it still is the cheapest solution, and I don't have to deal with that other evil monopoly in this area. (Verizon)

Jason

 

[Vasanth B]

Time Warner is the cable company in my market. The "digital" cable here is a joke, IMHO...with the local stations still being analog. It's a dirty little secret that TW doesn't want you to know about. Also, the quality of the digital cable is atrocious for many channels.

I switched to Dish Network and haven't looked back since. A huge advantage of satellite is the integrated DBS / PVR devices. I also save about $10/month even with TW still as my high-speed internet provider.

 

[Larry Price]

Time Warner Cable/ NYC $61.
including 6 HBO channels.

If I decide to get Roadrunner (broadband) its 105 and includes the 5 "families" of premium channels.

My sister and parents (separately) have TWC/analog
w/o 1 HBO about 33
w/HBO about 45.

 

[MarcS]

I'm anxiously awaiting delivery of my Dish 6000 package today!

I blew off TimeWarner cable here because they just didn't understand that I had an HD box that was bad--every time they checked the system, they said I had a regular box. Then they wanted me to subscribe to both HBO and Showtime in order to get my replacement HD box (I'd only had one or the other in the past), which they thought was the first one for me anyway--which would require a tech to come out to verify I really had an HD set...etc...

I was paying about $58, which included the one HD box, digital tier I guess, and one premium (HBO or Showtime)--I can get both HBO and Showtime, plus the 100CD package from Dish for about $56--plus all digital, and I'll get the CBS hi-def feed for another $1.95 (no waiver needed), and I'll have Discovery HD available. Cable can't touch that!