It sounds like trying to save a buck is in your best interest,for that I would recommend for you to change providers every 2 years(there are alot who do this,I did it once) you get alot of channels at a cheaper price so the savings is all in your corner.Good Luck!
Plus you would only have to put up with DISH every 2 years!
Probably what I'm going to do.
I've got to admit, I kind of like sticking with what I've got. Was with cable for years and years, but the prices got too high and they wouldn't give me a loyalty bonus or anything, even though 60% of their customers had some sort of a promotional rate by their own admission in the newspapers. So I said screw it, but a few weeks later I couldn't take not having anything, so I hopped over to Dish. Next up, maybe Directv (Though I hear they want $300 upfront if I fail a credit check- and they're not getting $300 upfront from me, so there may be a phone call where I try to sign up, they say I fail a check, and I say "Guess I'm stuck with Charlie"). Or maybe back to cable (If they'd just add that RSN alternate already- which I'm not sure Direct has in their lower packages in my area either, but Dish does).
It would make life a lot simpler if someone would just give us what we want at an everyday affordable price, though, wouldn't it?
I mean, when I had to go crawling back to cable for Internet (6 months after leaving), it would up taking several weeks to sign up, an Internet series of forms, an Internet chat, a couple visits to their physical office, a few phones calls, a visit to my apartment, a missed appointment from them, and an article in the Consumerist from me about them not wanting to take my money and making me jump through a zillion hoops. I finally was like "Screw this, I'd rather access the Internet through that horrible Virgin Mobile service I'd been using". But they made me an offer I couldn't refuse (Not in a mafia sort of way, in a really cheap price sort of way). No one else can deliver their speed and reliability in my area- nothing even semi a little bit close. It's like dealing with a monopoly provider, because everything else reminds me of AOL circa 1996- there is really no other modern reliable Internet where I am. So when the regular price kicks in, I guess I just have to pay it- or downgrade to their economy Internet, or get tv bundling to make it cheaper for a while. Not super eager to see what the cable company has in store for me this time if I try to sign up for tv again after the Internet debacle, but...
Not a monopoly with tv, though. With tv I have options that I can switch between. It's just that everyone always makes switching such a hassle, and there's always some catch with every provider- something that's missing that should be there channel wise, credit checks that make you pay upfront and not have HD, that kind of thing.
As much as I complain about Dish, in a way I'd love to stick with them and not have to deal with flipflopping around. But I don't want SD forever, I don't want a new commitment with them knowing that they'll probably drop some of the channels that make tv worthwhile for me, and I want NBCSC and MSNBC in a package I can afford regularly.