Analyst asks how much would it take for you to switch TV providers
By Richard Lawler 
posted February 4th 2010 4:22PM
posted February 4th 2010 4:22PM
posted February 4th 2010 4:22PM
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If FIOS was available in Nashville, TN I would jump ship...but that's easy to say since I don't know how the pricing compares to comcast.
@wryker I live in New Jersey and lucky to have FIOS. Its great and get well over anything Comcast has to offer for my price range. For $110 I get over 300 channels and 20MB down/ 5 MB up and it even includes my set-top boxes. Before making the switch I had Comcast with basic cable and 15 down/ 3 up for the same price excluding the boxes. There's no comparison. I've never been much of a fan of Verizon due in part to issues with its wireless division but FIOS has made me appreciate them more then I thought I ever could.
They'd have to be free to get me to switch to cable or satellite. I don't want to deal with those bafoons.
I currently use OTA, Netflix and PlayOn to get my content. Netflix is the only one with reoccurring charges (tons less than cable or satellite). I expect streamed content to continue to improve as time goes by.
My cable co/isp has a ridiculous 75gb monthly bandwidth cap. Fios is being wired in my city. I'm switching asap.
We would have switched to Verizon but they can't broadcast MLB. If an alternative company can offer the same services as what I get now there is no reason not to do it.
This article read my mind, i am just about to jump ship from Mediacom here, switch DSL and cut the cord and feeding the pig...My set up now would be Qwest DSL 12mb//OTA//NetFlix about 70bucks a month.
@dramanebila80 im 25 mb down , analog cable , netflix 4 dvd plan for around the same, got a deal for the net, they didnt tap my tv connection after cut digital.
@gamedude360 sorry 30 mb down
@dramanebila80 home phone is via ooma voip no monthly fee
LOL. Mute point. There isn't enough choice in the market to even to be able to find a deal let alone another service provide.
@iPaul
Moot. Moot point.
@iPaul I thought it was "moo point"
Gee, look at that. It tracks perfectly the age of the delivery system's availability.
Funny how that works huh?
Comcast's Alchemy program to the rescue. Our one year low price rate with U-Verse just ended. Right in time to coincide with a price bump. The total price increase was significant. Then 2 weeks ago an Alchemy street team showed up at our door.
Long story short, the installer shows up tomorrow afternoon. Besides a 35% decrease in our bill, we'll more than double our internet connection speed, gain 100 additional channels and add a home phone line which we didn't have before.
I'm thinking about switching from DirecTV as I type this. I like the service, but the prices keep going up. Sunday Ticket is really getting up there especially in HD.
I'm gonna try U-Verse despite the mixed reviews. If I don't like it, then it should be fairly easy to go back to satellite. That includes going from ADSL to VDSL, but if they put a cap limit on it (which I hear they might soon) that is too low, I'll probably switch again.
I want to be able to watch movies in 1080p while having HD video conferencing and playing multiplayer games all at the same time and not worry about a cap limit. Would I do that every day? Probably not, but I don't want to worry about it.
150 GB cap limit is not enough, AT&T. Aren't 1080p movie downloads like 20-25 gigs or something? So, that's about 6 or 7 movies a month without doing anything else and you're done. Not gonna cut it. 500 GB/month would be more doable.
Fix the bandwidth another way, providers ... unlimited should mean unlimited.
price is meaningless if there are dramatic differences in service/quality/content.
I could pay 20 bucks a month for crappy analog local cable or I could pay 100+ a month for halfassed lineup of cable channels (of which channels 2-70 are STILL analog and only a handfull are HD) and terrible customer service.
Or I could be smart and pay 80 a month to Dish Network for all the channels I want, most in HD, with no problems (aside from maybe going out once a month in a big storm... but that's what DVR is for!)
@LazarusDark
How does your DVR help you if the signal goes out in a storm? Can it magically record the signal during the storm and play it back after? I think your logic is flawed.
@glennS Meaning, if the signal goes out, then fire up a show that you recorded earlier.
Since Optimum Online is the only decent high-speed internet option on my block, I'm going to stick with Cablevision for now. When Verizon builds FiOS out here, I'll probably switch.
On U-Verse, and quite happy with it. The multi-room DVR hooked me, although I was fairly happy with DirecTV prior. But U-Verse works during rain/snow, adds channels more frequently, and the Internet is nice. And there's no cap...and while there has been rumors of a cap coming for a couple of years now, no sign of it.
Plus, it's cheaper.
I wouldn't go back to cable at gunpoint. If I moved somewhere where U-Verse or FIOS wasn't available, I'd go DirecTV.
@cdheer actually there is a cap... be careful :\ i believe its 250gigz... but that multi-room DVR is sweeeeeet... Only thing thats annoying is the a-la-carte pricing PER box... not per house...
@andyg8180 Uh, no, there is no cap. I know this because (A) there's not a single piece of documentation stating there is, and (B) because if there was a cap, I would've exceeded it.
Don't state something with certainty if you don't really know.
Not sure what you mean by the per-box comment -- pretty sure all providers charge you a fee for additional boxes.
@cdheer There is a cap in only 2 markets as a trial, so you're both kinda right. I think its like Reno, NV and some area in TX, at its a 100GB cap. Everyone else is free from it, including me.
Couple of funny things... the idea of people still having landline phones. We haven't used one in years. Not any point in one.
Keeping U-verse for any reason. We had it for two months. It was horrible! We now use it only for internet service. On the TV front we're back to Directv and couldn't be happier. Quite frankly U-verse is a poorly made system, the interface is lousy (why are HD channels in the thousands instead of the same channel?) and the quality was horrendous. Plus the customer service was very, very bad (installation, wait times on hold, customer service reps, chasing around different numbers, forcing users to have an ATT email address to use the online portal...just awful).
I'm on Time Warner Cable right now and would jump ship to anything, if I could. Unfortunately I can't get satellite and FIOS is not yet available. I hate giving money to cable companies who held a monopoly for so long on us.
I am probably in a more unique situation since I use Windows Media Center and CableCARD tuners. This leaves me pretty much no choice in provider, but the ability to use Media Center outweighs the benefits of switching to another provider.
I'm a Time-Warner customer in a rural area. The local custsvc reps have been pleasant and easy to communicate with, so no complaints there.
My main complaint about cable (or satellite) service is that by the time you build an interesting lineup it's costing over $100/mo (plus extra for internet). I've learned over time there are only 4 or 5 channels I can actually stand to watch. So what I did was to cancel cable tv altogether, keep my internet, and stream or download the shows I want to watch. Life is so much better without commercials, Morning Shows, Daytime TV, Reality Shows, Oprah, The View, Springer/Wilco and Infomercials for ladies undergarments that will push your bum up for you.
So, my preference for a consumer model is a Hulu/Netflix type online model where I choose the content. If I want to watch a variety of shows or 10 episodes of 1 show, its up to me.
This is over coax, it will never work wirelessly as long as carriers impose download limits. When wireless data become robust and cheap enough, then maybe I'd switch.
Bottom line: Cable, satellite, or OTA? I'll take None of the Above.
@HairyPoster
P.S. - DSL? Since it seems one can't get dsl without also paying for a landline...Until they impost the death penalty for telemarketers I will never, EVER, have a landline again.