Cablevision Needs to Stop Lying
If you are a cable subscriber, no matter which company you get your services from, I’m sure you’ve been bombarded with commercials every day about how much better cable is than Verizon FiOS (or any other phone company television services). They used to club us over the head with how much we could save getting their Triple Play (television, internet and phone), but now they are clubbing the phone companies and telling us how expensive they are versus the cable offerings. Here is one such advertisement that I constantly see:
Before I go any further, I must state that I am a Cablevision customer. I’ve tried a number of times to switch to a phone company offering (my only option is AT&T’s UVerse) but because of a lack of certain sports channels and the higher cost, I’ve stuck with Cablevision. I’ve been a subscriber for almost three years and have had a difficult time finding good things to say about the company.
I used to get cable television (with DVR) and high-speed internet for $143.50 per month. I don’t have access to my bills back that far, so unfortunately I can’t break down the specific costs. However, I received a phone call one day to try to sell me their Triple Play package (I would simply have to add phone service) and my bill would be cut dramatically. With no need for a phone line, I was hesitant, but if it lowered my bill why wouldn’t I do it? So I did. And how much did I save per month? $11.64. That’s almost $140 per year of savings, so I was pretty happy. I won’t get into the fact that the phone number they assigned me was already assigned to a massage and nail salon close to where I live and now I get calls all the time to set up appointments…
What really bothers me about the entire Cablevision anti-FiOS campaign is how much they slam them for having “up to $20 in taxes and fees on top of it.”
Here is how my monthly bill breaks down:
So let’s see here. $39.95 for cable + $9.95 for DVR + $29.95 for internet access + $29.95 for phone service = $109.80. That leaves me with $22.06 in taxes and fees, even though they seem to list only $6.66 for that figure, as if “Additional Outlet” and charging me for my cable boxes and remotes are not fees. So looking at this, I should be saving a few dollars in taxes and fees if I switch to the phone company.
Cablevision has me locked in because they are cheaper than the phone company and they have one channel that AT&T UVerse cannot offer me where I live; but enough with the implications that they are fee and tax free.
Are you offering a rub and tug with your new phone line?