What is the breaking point?

[navychop]

I think when I order my next car I'll specify cloth seats, a four cylinder NG engine, no radio or sun/moon roof, no a/c, a manual transmission with a 4:10 rear axle and cruise control. Oh, and an oversized steering wheel from a truck.

I wonder how far I'll get with that.


Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App using an iPhone.

 

[MikeD-C05]

In 2000 had AEP for $69.99 which had all premium channels + what would be today the top 250. Over the years I have dropped down to just top 250 , then top 200 and this year to the top 120 without the RSN. The only way to go from here is to drop to the Welcome pack if the prices keep going higher. I also call in about twice a year to get freebies and $10.00 - $20.00 off for 6 months to further reduce all those damn FEES. To me anything over $100.00 a month to watch tv is TOO MUCH. But the alternative is ota and no dvr unless I stay with the Welcome pack. I have kept my prices down on my cell phone bill , cable bill for internet only, and by using low priced streaming only Netflix. I also use the magic jack for just my house phone and to talk to my 14 year old boy when he is at home alone. It is a constant battle to keep these prices down ,but if you call in and haggle a bit, you can get promos that will keep your prices down. It is a bit of hassle sometimes but it does save you money monthly. I also keep my car and house insurance down by shopping around and changing when I need to in order to keep my prices down. It's too bad I can't haggle over gas , food and electrical bills. Maybe I should look into solor panels.......

 

[ChadT41]

Remember when cell phone bills were under $100/month for 2 people.....

 

[dishfan82]

I played CSR roulette today and the first rep I spoke with said I was getting the best deal possible and how Dish is the lowest priced provider and gives you the most for your money. He suggested I drop one of my hoppers on the account and that would save me 12.00. So I did remove the protection plan and that was a 7.00 savings. I said I didn't want to drop to the top 200 since there's channels we watch in the 250. He then suggested Dish pause and I said that's great but we watch live tv though. So I said I guess I'll just cancel. He suggested I call in and speak with someone but then said If I wanted to speak with someone on chat he could transfer me to Dish Loyalty. The rep in the Dish Loyalty department was great. He suggested I drop to the top 200 as many channels in the 250 were in the 200 package. After looking at what we watch in the 250, I was surprised at the channels we watch are in the 200 so I did that and saved 10.00. After that he offered 10.00 off for 10 months on his own without me even asking. So the 27.00 in savings really helped in bringing it down to 63.00 a month before taxes and that is a tremendous amount of savings. Plus my wife really didn't want to switch as she was happy with Dish. A happy wife is a happy life.

 

[dishfan82]

Remember when cell phone bills were under $100/month for 2 people.....

This could be a great breaking point topic. It was fantastic when cell phone bills were under $100 for two people. Now you pay for a data package on your phone in addition to the monthly plan costs. Sure you're given unlimited minutes and text but unlimited data has been faded out at least by Verizon and AT&T. Thankfully we have unlimited text because last month I told my friend she had a total of 10,500 text messages, that's a lot of texting.

 

[Scherrman]

This could be a great breaking point topic. It was fantastic when cell phone bills were under $100 for two people. Now you pay for a data package on your phone in addition to the monthly plan costs. Sure you're given unlimited minutes and text but unlimited data has been faded out at least by Verizon and AT&T. Thankfully we have unlimited text because last month I told my friend she had a total of 10,500 text messages, that's a lot of texting.

Once again, when people were paying under $100 for two phones what were you getting for that amount? Were you getting much for minutes or texting? I'm sure you didn't have a smart phone then so there was no data. You can go back to having a bill below $100 for two phones but you'd have to go back to basic phones with basic plans.

Some of these price points still exist. We just need to be willing to give up all of the nice additions we've been spoiled by over the years. I will admit that sometimes we are not given options and are just screwed too.

 

[ChadT41]

That was my point schermman. With the advances that have come to place, I am satisfied with what I pay. Granted, I sorta cheated that one, and got the employee discount and all premiums back free as long as they run that for employees. Lol. But there was awhile there that I didn't have that, and I still payed. Without issue even. Yea I called in looking for some specials. But when the declined, I wasn't mad.

 

[Tampa8]

In 2000 had AEP for $69.99 which had all premium channels + what would be today the top 250. Over the years I have dropped down to just top 250 , then top 200 and this year to the top 120 without the RSN. The only way to go from here is to drop to the Welcome pack if the prices keep going higher. I also call in about twice a year to get freebies and $10.00 - $20.00 off for 6 months to further reduce all those damn FEES. To me anything over $100.00 a month to watch tv is TOO MUCH. But the alternative is ota and no dvr unless I stay with the Welcome pack. I have kept my prices down on my cell phone bill , cable bill for internet only, and by using low priced streaming only Netflix. I also use the magic jack for just my house phone and to talk to my 14 year old boy when he is at home alone. It is a constant battle to keep these prices down ,but if you call in and haggle a bit, you can get promos that will keep your prices down. It is a bit of hassle sometimes but it does save you money monthly. I also keep my car and house insurance down by shopping around and changing when I need to in order to keep my prices down. It's too bad I can't haggle over gas , food and electrical bills. Maybe I should look into solor panels.......

I think you speak for many in that post....

 

[stardust3]

I'm on the welcome pack & it's more than enough for us. My main "go to" for tv is streaming. We used to absolutely love our dish service, but have lost almost all interest in it. Main factors for dissatisfaction are programming content, commercials & cost, in that order.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Remember when cell phone bills were under $100/month for 2 people.....

I'm with T-mobile and I two flip phones ( I know I don't use it for anything but talking)and my bill is about 52.50 a month with tax included. I get 1000 minutes and I can call my wife anytime for free. I also get a state retiree discount of like $7.00 a month. I would upgrade to smart phones except ,where I work I barely get signal to even talk, unless I go outside or hold it at the right angle in an open window. But T-mobile says that by the end of next year I should get good reception since all the repairs will be finished on the hwy where I work off of.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I played CSR roulette today and the first rep I spoke with said I was getting the best deal possible and how Dish is the lowest priced provider and gives you the most for your money. He suggested I drop one of my hoppers on the account and that would save me 12.00. So I did remove the protection plan and that was a 7.00 savings. I said I didn't want to drop to the top 200 since there's channels we watch in the 250. He then suggested Dish pause and I said that's great but we watch live tv though. So I said I guess I'll just cancel. He suggested I call in and speak with someone but then said If I wanted to speak with someone on chat he could transfer me to Dish Loyalty. The rep in the Dish Loyalty department was great. He suggested I drop to the top 200 as many channels in the 250 were in the 200 package. After looking at what we watch in the 250, I was surprised at the channels we watch are in the 200 so I did that and saved 10.00. After that he offered 10.00 off for 10 months on his own without me even asking. So the 27.00 in savings really helped in bringing it down to 63.00 a month before taxes and that is a tremendous amount of savings. Plus my wife really didn't want to switch as she was happy with Dish. A happy wife is a happy life.

See, I told you if you call in and ask about freebies and discounts they will deal. Glad you got a good discount and a lower bill.

 

[the mack]

it's just crazy paying what they want us to pay for the same tv stuff we've mostly seen over and over for years.

+1,000,000......
I am starting to wonder why I give Dish $117.00 a month to watch the same sh*t I have seen a million times as well..lol

 

[acostapimps]

If it was up to me, I'll cancel service and use OTA and just be on Internet for streaming Netflix and others, But the wife and kids(not the show ) are just too stuck to the television.

 

[dishfan82]

If it was up to me, I'll cancel service and use OTA and just be on Internet for streaming Netflix and others, But the wife and kids(not the show ) are just too stuck to the television.

My wife is the same way, there are too many shows she watches and most you can't get the new content such as Bravo without a TV subscription. Thought about going OTA and streaming services but a lot of tv station providers are putting the hammer down and making their content only watchable if you have an existing tv subscription. I no doubt was going to cancel yesterday but with that 20.00 in savings plus I just got 15.00 in referrals it's a big relief that my Dish bill is at 63.00 again.

 

[Scherrman]

For me it's worth the price to have that many channels on all of my TVs in HD. It's worth it to have an integrated DVR on all of my TVs. I love the fact that I can record all the shows I want to. I love the convenience that the Hopper system adds to my TV viewing. With the top 250 I have access to all the channels I want to watch. With the free previews they offer I'm able to load up my DVR with movies I can watch at my convenience. With the Multi-Sports pack I'm get all kinds of sports. I never miss any Cubs games and my wife never misses her Cardinals games. The Redzone channel is one of the best sports channels ever created.

I see all the complaints on here and I just don't get why. You either like what you have and pay for it or you feel like you're wasting your money and you lower your package or drop Dish altogether. It just seems simple to me.

 

[bobvick]

Do you still expect to pay the same $30 you were paying 15 years ago?

Over the past 10 years, inflation has averaged out to about 2.5% per year (excluding energy and food) the price of multichannel programming has increased at between 4.5-5% per year, not including the fee increases. Now, I pay a lot every month for TV, probably waaay too much, with Dish, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime (averaged out over the year) and Shaw Direct, probably around $300 or so. I wouldn't mind it as much if they would just keep up with inflation and not two times the average inflation. I remember back in the early to mid 90's I thought that $600 a year was highway robbery for everything on C-Band, LOL!

 

[Scherrman]

Over the past 10 years, inflation has averaged out to about 2.5% per year (excluding energy and food) the price of multichannel programming has increased at between 4.5-5% per year, not including the fee increases. Now, I pay a lot every month for TV, probably waaay too much, with Dish, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime (averaged out over the year) and Shaw Direct, probably around $300 or so. I wouldn't mind it as much if they would just keep up with inflation and not two times the average inflation. I remember back in the early to mid 90's I thought that $600 a year was highway robbery for everything on C-Band, LOL!

I agree that it's a lot more than what inflation is but the product has not remained the same. The product has also added more. More channels and more features. You can't compare it to gas, electricity and food because they haven't really changed at all. They are all the same products they were 20 years ago but the prices have gone up. At least Dish has added value along with their price increses.

 

[mike123abc]

Over the past 10 years, inflation has averaged out to about 2.5% per year (excluding energy and food) the price of multichannel programming has increased at between 4.5-5% per year, not including the fee increases.

The problem is that food and energy make the inflation rate a lot higher. It looks good on paper but cannot be ignored, people still need to eat and need electricity. Companies will raise prices to cover all their expenses, not just what a government report says inflation should be. In reality most things are going up far faster than the rate of inflation. The rate of inflation is very quirky. For example if a PC gets more powerful but costs the same it lowers the inflation rate, you are getting more for the same money, even if it still costs the same. The only reasons prices tend to go down outside the PC industry is if they items are more cheaply made, not that the costs would not be lower if they were made the same way.