When will it end?

[TNGTony]

For those that say that phone bills don't go up, I just got a notice from my carrier that my data plan is going up 5 bucks per month (a 17% increase) and the unlimited texting that used to be part of the talk minutes plan are being de-bundled and will cost an extra $10 a month for a total of a $15 a month increase or a 30% increase in my monthly bill. So it never ends.

 

[comfortably_numb]

For those that say that phone bills don't go up, I just got a notice from my carrier that my data plan is going up 5 bucks per month (a 17% increase) and the unlimited texting that used to be part of the talk minutes plan are being de-bundled and will cost an extra $10 a month for a total of a $15 a month increase or a 30% increase in my monthly bill. So it never ends.

Are you with one of the Big 4 cell companies? Most of the big companies are reducing their plans...you might want to call your carrier and re-negotiate your contract

 

[TNGTony]

I am with Cincinnati Bell Wireless. They were A TOOONNNNN cheaper than the other guys. Now they are getting a little closer to the big guys.

 

[Gobucks]

I am with Cincinnati Bell Wireless. They were A TOOONNNNN cheaper than the other guys. Now they are getting a little closer to the big guys.

I've had Verizon for years and I regularly paid about $100 a month. Verizon in my area has really good coverage. So yea I just bit the bullet and paid it. When T mobile stared shaking things up. The big guys finally took some notice. Now they offer a lot more cheaper options. I now pay $60 a month for the same exact service give or take a few $ for taxes. That is unlimited Talk, Text and 2 gigs of Data(I'm on wifi at home and work). That also includes being eligible for phone subsidy.

So all those years before my bill was the same. It never ever went up. Now finally with more options it has went down. I hope someday someone in the TV industry shakes things up. Yea I know it will never happen but I never thought I would pay less on Verizon either.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I've had Verizon for years and I regularly paid about $100 a month. Verizon in my area has really good coverage. So yea I just bit the bullet and paid it. When T mobile stared shaking things up. The big guys finally took some notice. Now they offer a lot more cheaper options. I now pay $60 a month for the same exact service give or take a few $ for taxes. That is unlimited Talk, Text and 2 gigs of Data(I'm on wifi at home and work). That also includes being eligible for phone subsidy.

So all those years before my bill was the same. It never ever went up. Now finally with more options it has went down. I hope someday someone in the TV industry shakes things up. Yea I know it will never happen but I never thought I would pay less on Verizon either.

Isn't competition GREAT!!!

 

[dare2be]

Isn't competition GREAT!!!

Yes it is. We all see the reverse happen in the tv industry when content owners consolidate, collude and extort...record profits and out of control prices.

 

[rusty813]

I think what dish needs to do, that if we own the receiver, and not lease it. We don't need to pay the dvr fees. Having the hopper made my bill higher, I used to be paying 142, now its 152 per month. Directv is actually cheaper then for 129.99, because their multisport package is included in their premier package. With dish you have to pay 10.99 for the multi sports package. If that's the case we should be able to watch all the professional teams on every single regional network channel.

 

[dangue]

I think what dish needs to do, that if we own the receiver, and not lease it. We don't need to pay the dvr fees. Having the hopper made my bill higher, I used to be paying 142, now its 152 per month. Directv is actually cheaper then for 129.99, because their multisport package is included in their premier package. With dish you have to pay 10.99 for the multi sports package. If that's the case we should be able to watch all the professional teams on every single regional network channel.

Dish has no control over mandated Pro sports blackouts. Blame the leagues for that.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[primestar31]

Yes it is. We all see the reverse happen in the tv industry when content owners consolidate, collude and extort...record profits and out of control prices.

It's quite obvious they are already doing this. I just hope the Supreme Court agrees when they hear the Aereo case, and slap down the providers a bit.

 

[Yespage]

I think what dish needs to do, that if we own the receiver, and not lease it. We don't need to pay the dvr fees. Having the hopper made my bill higher, I used to be paying 142, now its 152 per month. Directv is actually cheaper then for 129.99, because their multisport package is included in their premier package. With dish you have to pay 10.99 for the multi sports package. If that's the case we should be able to watch all the professional teams on every single regional network channel.

Just out of curiosity, is there anything that Dish isn't responsible for, like game blackouts, where the blame won't be put on Dish?

 

[Gobucks]

I think what dish needs to do, that if we own the receiver, and not lease it. We don't need to pay the dvr fees. Having the hopper made my bill higher, I used to be paying 142, now its 152 per month. Directv is actually cheaper then for 129.99, because their multisport package is included in their premier package. With dish you have to pay 10.99 for the multi sports package. If that's the case we should be able to watch all the professional teams on every single regional network channel.

I was hoping Dish would throw us a bone and add multisport in with the AEP. You know since it's went up $20 the last two years. Nope not at all. They didn't even make the premiums that were SD only HD. $20 is a lot over two years and nothing added. Oh well.

Sent from my Galaxy S4

 

[truckracer]

For many years I was over the air antenna, free to air C / KU band, and now Roku boxes.

I like Dish service. I am a top 250 pkg subscriber. If prices get too crazy I will go back to my previous sources.

Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[Scherrman]

I was hoping Dish would throw us a bone and add multisport in with the AEP. You know since it's went up $20 the last two years. Nope not at all. They didn't even make the premiums that were SD only HD. $20 is a lot over two years and nothing added. Oh well.

Sent from my Galaxy S4

Man that would be nice but it makes way too much sense. Remember when going to the AEP actually saved you a little money? Now it's just the AT250 with premium movie channels, no difference in price at all.

 

[harshness]

I think what dish needs to do, that if we own the receiver, and not lease it. We don't need to pay the dvr fees. Having the hopper made my bill higher, I used to be paying 142, now its 152 per month. Directv is actually cheaper then for 129.99, because their multisport package is included in their premier package. With dish you have to pay 10.99 for the multi sports package.

Make sure you add up all the fees on both sides. Having an HD DVR on the DIRECTV side adds an instant $25 Advanced Receiver fee; even if that's the only box you have.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Make sure you add up all the fees on both sides. Having an HD DVR on the DIRECTV side adds an instant $25 Advanced Receiver fee; even if that's the only box you have.

Seems like each provider takes turns being least expensive/most expensive. When I switched to Dish, my total cost before credits was less than Direct, but now that each has restructured their pricing a bit, Direct would be cheaper- but not by much. Five bucks or so. I think they're both probably about the same. But watch out- if they merge, any competition pretty much goes out the window. Especially if the only players are Comcast and DishDirectTVMegaopoly!! Or even worse, NBC-Comcast-Universal-DishDireCTVMegaopoly

 

[dare2be]

Or even worse, NBC-Comcast-Universal-DishDireCTVMegaopoly

Don't forget SprintTmobileGoogle-NBC-Comcast-Universal-DishDireCTVMegaopoly

 

[Mariah2014]

The cable company here did that for awhile after taking on a certain base package with all of the digital channels. They kept it for a couple years that way and went back to the system we all complain about. If it wasn't for the sports I would have cut the cord awhile ago. To many of the channels are no longer what they used to be. Networks like Discovery and the learning channel have just become networks for mainly realityTV anymore. I agree that I wouldn't be paying any less if it was alacarte, but I know I receive more for that same high price now that I would be paying anyway for less content under alacarte.

Have you seen their pricing? Lets take Shaw Direct (formerly Star Choice) as example
Their "Bronze" package...which you need to get anything else is 54 bucks!!

But anywho. What providers do is split up channels to different themes. Not all channels are alacarte. Here are some examples
History is in one bundle, H2 is in another
CBNC, CNN and HLN are in one bundle, MSNBC & Fox News are in another
Sports are broken up into 2 themes. NFL and Speed are in one bundle, NHL, BTN are in an other

 

[Symbol]

The wife and I rarely watch TV but pricing has gone out of control. 2 Hoppers,Protection Plan and A120 is $90ish a month.
Add $60 for 10mbps cable and phone and its $150 a month.(This is Puerto Rico btw)

The cable co is offering 20mbps,phone ,1 HD DVR, 1 HD receiver for $120 a month sure its not the same as the hopper but judging on how crap pay TV has gotten lately its worth the downgrade. Haven't left since dish offered me a $40 discount for 12 months for staying. After that, I might switch or just drop TV all together.

 

[Aidan8et]

With the explosion of different internet streaming services these days, I cut my cable cord altogether. Now I have my cable internet & a couple pay sites that I watch. Even they have free options (add commercials and/or delayed access to new episodes). Really I just realized that I watched very little tv before & mostly just "grazed" rather than actually paris attention to what I watched. That made it a whole lot easier to able scale my entertainment budget down to $65 for internet & ~$15 for tv-like services.

 

[MikeD-C05]

With the explosion of different internet streaming services these days, I cut my cable cord altogether. Now I have my cable internet & a couple pay sites that I watch. Even they have free options (add commercials and/or delayed access to new episodes). Really I just realized that I watched very little tv before & mostly just "grazed" rather than actually paris attention to what I watched. That made it a whole lot easier to able scale my entertainment budget down to $65 for internet & ~$15 for tv-like services.

Unfortunately I think that will be the decision that most people will make in the future. Priority 1 for most people is you have to have internet access and are willing to pay for it. Tv will fall by the wayside due to higher and higher costs. But of course once everyone is willing to pay for internet in the $50.00 - $70.00 a month range , you will see the internet companies start going up on the costs and we will soon be paying what we pay for tv for just internet. They are going to get paid anyway they can. Pay tv might change it's delivery mode, but the cost will always go up . The only time tv was FREE was when we had 3 or 4 ota tv stations . Now with tv you have 100s of channels with nothing on, more than what used to be on those 3 or 4 ota stations, and it is now FEE not Free.