Time Warner Cable? U-Verse? What is my cheapest cable option?

[chadomac]

I guess my promotion-period has ended and now Time Warner is charging me $80 for my cable set up alone. $20 for Roadrunner Lite. So $100 total. I really can't afford to pay that much for cable TV right now. Is there anything cheaper out there or is this how it is for digital cable now? I really don't know if I can justify the expense. Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

I have a nice TV and would prefer to have digital cable because I want to take advantage of my HD capabilities.

[paul253]

If its just about price, ATT is cheaper. The equiptment and internet is definitely comparable, but I would give the edge to Time Warner. I am having a lot of issues where i lose my wireless connection with ATT, but only for a second, and not nearly to the point where I want to call ATT and set up an appointment.

[FVBrewerFan]

It really depends what channels you NEED to have and WANT to have. Both companies have various tiers, of course, but include different channels in those tiers. If HD is important to you, ATT definitely has more, but Time Warner finally woke up and is rapidly adding channels. Also depends how many TVs you have, how many boxes you want/need, etc. Many things to consider.

 

I am constantly tempted to change, but don't want to change my email address, fool around with an all day installation, etc. Plus, when I compare the price based on the packages, services I want the price is within a few bucks a month.

[endaround]

TW does seem to keep email addresses until the end of time. I have an email address from Adelphia cable thats like 6 years old which TW bought out and even though I haven't had an account the email still works.

[RyDogg66]

This is one reason to never use the email addresses provided by internet providers. Gmail for example travels anywhere and doesnt care who your provider is.

 

Anyway, I had this same problem when my expanded basic package intro rate expired with TW and my service went from an affordable $40 a month to an obscene $80 a month...no digital, no HD, just 1-75. I just quit and now I get 4-6 channels over the air and I dont seem to mind, although I might get Uverse if they ever get around to installing it in my area (they have been a block away for about 6 months now).

[chadomac]

I just have one TV and need one box set up. And yeah money is pretty much the main issue. I would like HD Brewer games.... but that's the only thing I absolutely need.

 

I will have to look into AT&T I think. I am in an apartment so a dish it not an option for me.

[rm121978]

My advice would be to go in person to one of their locations (Mayfair, Southridge) and see if they can do some creative manipulating of your account to get another "package" price for a year. It's worked for me a few times.

[FVBrewerFan]

With TWC, you get FSN in HD with the basic digital pkg and basic HD pkg. I'm not sure what ATT's lowest tier is that includes FSN HD. If I remember right, you had to get a sports package, or a higher tier for FSN HD to be included, but I could be wrong.

[paul253]

If I remember correctly, FSNHD on time warner was a waste of a channel as hardly anything was ever on HD. I have ATT now and although I don't watch many Bucks games, I do believe a lot of them were in HD. The HD advantage definitely goes to ATT. They have a lot more channels in HD.

[ewizabeff]

I think that was FSN's issue, not Time Warner's issue. I believe FSN-HD has a lot more games this year.

[chadomac]

I live right in the heart of the east side of Milwaukee and U-Verse isn't available to me yet according to their website. Rats. I also called Time Warner and they were able to knock $5 off my bill (big deal). I'll continue looking for options... thank you to everyone that gave me some information, I appreciate it. It just infuriates me that I have to pay $75 per month for cable when I barely watch it at all other than Brewer games. Maybe I'll give it up completely once the season is over and just get an HD tuner to get local HD channels.

[endaround]

Do you have access to a QAM tuner through someone to see what your building gets? If you are really looking to reduce costs, you might want to just keep internet and pay for MLB.com streaming if thats what you really want. Given how bad FSN's reception usually is you aren't giving up that much.

[sgtcluels]

I think that was FSN's issue, not Time Warner's issue. I believe FSN-HD has a lot more games this year.

Yep it's correct. The only thing FSNHD did differently on UVerse and DTV was to carry all the programs on it in SD instead of HD. TWC just turned it off when it wasn't an HD program (Bucks/Brewers are pretty much it). FSN is supposed to do the majority (160 or so game) in HD this year.

 

To bad it's ST in SD.. while MLBNHD is running a delayed broadcast in HD.

[blatzlight]

Yep it's correct. The only thing FSNHD did differently on UVerse and DTV was to carry all the programs on it in SD instead of HD. TWC just turned it off when it wasn't an HD program (Bucks/Brewers are pretty much it). FSN is supposed to do the majority (160 or so game) in HD this year.

You also get a lot Pac 10 and Big 12 sports in HD. Every Thursday night Pac 10 game was in HD this year baring a conflict.

[jazzytrav]

I am in an apartment so a dish it not an option for me.

 

Is there a specific reason for this? I was under the impression that apartment landlords can't legally prevent you from having a dish; at least that's what the sheet said when I had mine installed. I switched to DISH Network when my promotional deal with TWC expired. The only problem would be if you don't have a clear view of the southwestern sky.