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Post by xzi on Sept 21, 2012 9:27:07 GMT -5
Besides, these days if you aren't watching sports and live events, why don't you just cord-cut, get an antenna with an Apple TV, iTunes, Netflix and Hulu Plus? There's no point in having cable or satellite for anything else IMO anymore.
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Post by BenJF3 on Sept 21, 2012 10:39:55 GMT -5
Much of what my wife likes are the cooking shows and food network which aren't really VOD. I have Netflix and that gets used alot on my Roku box. I don't have much issue with most of TWC's HD here on a calibrated 65" plasma.
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Post by steveb on Sept 21, 2012 10:53:54 GMT -5
UsualNoise,
Retention wouldn't give you another deal? They offered me $80 a month locked in for 2 years when I was paying $160. I still cut the cord and went with satellite. They'd rather keep you for half the money than lose you all together. Maybe it depends on how many times you've threatened to cancel.
I'd suggest going into your local office. I did that yesterday because I had a question about my Roadrunner bill. I was paying $59.99 for Turbo internet when I was only paying $45 when I had cable bundled with it. They said the extra charge every month was normal because those are the flat rates when the services are sold alone. I asked if there was another plan I could be on. The lady took the time and spent a few minutes looking through the system even though there was a line behind me. She found some promo code from some other state and now I'm locked in at $46.99 for a year. If you get a lazy rep over the phone, you lose out.
I could honestly give a crap what channels are in HD. My deciding factor was money. Yes, the picture looks better and I prefer watch my shows on AMC and my Nascar races in HD, but take it away and TV is TV to me. I'm watching for the entertainment, not to marvel at the picture.
Do you really need to watch the Home Shopping Network in HD? Are the colors of the vegetables on the Cooking Channel that much better in HD? Does it affect the taste if you're cooking along at home? I just can't obsess over things like that.
I know it depends on what you are in to as far as programming tastes, but some channels are a waste of bandwidth in HD in my opinion. Let's set aside some bandwith for NASA TV in HD, that way we can watch the earth rotate in stunning clarity!
All those channels WILL be in HD eventually. It shouldn't be a deterrent for switching providers.
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Post by UsualNoise on Sept 21, 2012 21:00:18 GMT -5
UsualNoise, Retention wouldn't give you another deal? They offered me $80 a month locked in for 2 years when I was paying $160. I still cut the cord and went with satellite. They'd rather keep you for half the money than lose you all together. Maybe it depends on how many times you've threatened to cancel. Yeah, I was surprised I didn't get offered anything. I even followed the instructions here: stopthecap.com/2012/03/01/getting-a-better-deal-from-time-warner-cable-five-minutes-to-save-almost-700-in-2012/by messaging @twcablehelp, and they had the local office contact me. The guy I talked to supposedly forwarded me to retention but the guy in retention first offered me $199 / month for signature service. I was like, uh, you know I'm calling because $167 / month is too much?? So he fumbled around on the system and said the best he could do was deduct $7 / month. He tried $139 / month but said I had to have a cable box for that "deal" (I have 2 CableCards). It's possible if I actually call up to cancel and give a hard date they might give me a deal. The only problem is if they call my bluff I don't really have a good alternative. My only other possibility is to go cancel, turn everything in, then have my wife sign up again. My concern there would be if they would allow someone with the same last name to open a new account ... I would assume so, but I'm not positive. Re: HD quality, it also looks good to me. I use a 50" Panasonic plasma with a pre-calibrated THX mode and it looks very nice. |
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Post by BenJF3 on Sept 22, 2012 0:14:27 GMT -5
UsualNoise, I could honestly give a crap what channels are in HD. My deciding factor was money. Yes, the picture looks better and I prefer watch my shows on AMC and my Nascar races in HD, but take it away and TV is TV to me. I'm watching for the entertainment, not to marvel at the picture. Do you really need to watch the Home Shopping Network in HD? Are the colors of the vegetables on the Cooking Channel that much better in HD? Does it affect the taste if you're cooking along at home? I just can't obsess over things like that. I know it depends on what you are in to as far as programming tastes, but some channels are a waste of bandwidth in HD in my opinion. Let's set aside some bandwith for NASA TV in HD, that way we can watch the earth rotate in stunning clarity! All those channels WILL be in HD eventually. It shouldn't be a deterrent for switching providers. I cannot stand watching window boxed and pillar boxed content when an HD feed is available. Yes, there is a major difference watching a grainy shrunken window boxed picture. I didn't invest thousands in a home theater to watch a garbage image. I'm sure DirecTV will add the rest in time. |
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Post by weather88 on Sept 23, 2012 19:38:51 GMT -5
Does DirecTV have the CW in HD?
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Post by BenJF3 on Sept 24, 2012 1:50:51 GMT -5
Does DirecTV have the CW in HD? Not in my division, but Time Warner does. |
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Post by xzi on Sept 25, 2012 8:19:01 GMT -5
Does DirecTV have the CW in HD? I use their AM21 and antenna to get the subchannels, CW and my in HD for Yankees games with DIRECTV--it puts them right in the same guide and can DVR them too so it's a nice solution. |
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Post by UsualNoise on Sept 26, 2012 1:45:25 GMT -5
It's possible if I actually call up to cancel and give a hard date they might give me a deal. Well, I tried this today. The person I talked to was much nicer and more knowledgeable than the previous person. However, the deals still weren't that great. I ended up agreeing to $141 (all taxes included) for cable / phone / internet. This was lower than the $167 I was paying after the promo rate ended, but higher than the $110 I was paying at the promo rate. It looks like they're really not offering the sub-$100 prices anymore, even if you threaten to cancel. (I said I was switching to a competitor on 10/4 and the person I spoke to was ready to cancel my account if I didn't agree to the deal she found.) Oh, the only bonus is I get Showtime and The Movie Channel free. I didn't really care about them, but something is better than nothing I guess. I'm not super happy about this rate, but it's better than I used to pay a couple years ago ($180+) before I found out you can get a lower rate if you complain. I just wish the lower rate was the same as the new customer rate. |
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Post by BenJF3 on Sept 26, 2012 9:14:41 GMT -5
Most places are tighting up the promo rates. I just did an upgrade in service for a customer of mine that wanted to add phone & Internet (already has cable) and couldn't even get the $99 rate because they already have cable. I got them a rate of $110 for the year of Triple Play which is good, but I agree that the days of the sub $100 deals appears to be gone unless you've never had service before.
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Post by steveb on Sept 30, 2012 0:23:02 GMT -5
You gave up too early. They will come back and make you a final offer a day or two later. I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but when I called last month I told them I had an appointment to install satellite in 7 days and wanted to downgrade to internet only. The lady I talked to offered me a crappy $20 off per month and I said no. A day or two later, their retention department in North Carolina called me back and I was offered $80 a month for Turbo RR, a DVR, and a second HD box with Encore locked in for 2 years. I was paying $160 a month and they offered to cut my bill in half. I wasn't their best customer, either. I had 2-3 month balances for over a year while I was out of work. You have to act willing to walk away after the first call. It may be too late now that you agreed to that, but it can't hurt to try again soon. You can get it alot lower than that.
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Post by UsualNoise on Sept 30, 2012 1:20:59 GMT -5
Well, this WAS my second call. The first call was 5 days before and I left it that I was cancelling my service. I never got a call back. The next call I gave the cancellation date and she asked if I had been given any offers to stay. I said yes, but they weren't good enough. I suppose I could have played chicken and left the cancel service date in place, but I had no guarantee there would be a better offer. I already went through TWC's twitter public relations account (which produced the lowest offer for everyone who has used it) and since THAT didn't give me a sub-$100 offer I was not confident I would get one.
It's possible I could get lower, but given that my only alternative is a questionable provider (Fairpoint) for a minimally lower price ($130) it wasn't worth it for me to take the chance. $140 / month for cable / phone / internet is at least reasonable. I may hold out for better next year when this rate expires. Kudos to you for getting the elusive 'new customer' rate!
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