Cable company deals are easy to find, that is as long as you aren’t already a current customer.

The reason for this is due to the fact the cable TV company wants to build their customer base, thus they are willing to offer you a good deal, usually for the first six months of service. The cable provider figures if you sign up with them, you probably will set up a so-called triple play bundle that includes not only cable TV, but also home phone and internet service.

You can usually get a triple play bundle for just $99 per month for the first six months or so. Consider what the typical cable TV company charges: Basic TV costs $55 per month, high speed internet is $40 per month, and phone service is $35 per month. With prices like this, your overall bill would be $140 per month before taxes and fees that always seem to find their way onto your cable bill.  An alternative is to subscribe to a service like Charter internet service and then add on Direct TV.

But what kind of issues can this lead to? Well think about where you will be once the promo is over. You will have all of your TV’s hooked up to the cable company, your high speed internet including your e-mail address with the cable company, and of course your home line with the cable company as well. But suddenly the price goes up nearly 50%, from about $100 per month to $145+ every month. Now is it easy to switch?

Maybe, maybe not. The best thing to do beforehand is compare companies before making your final decision. Lining up satellite TV vs cable TV ahead of time is the way to go.

While you might say to yourself it is not a problem to switch to some kind of deal from DirecTV or something else from your local phone company like Verizon FiOS. As they say though, easier said than done. Usually the time and inconvenience of switching from cable to satellite TV makes the customer yield to whatever service they have. Even though the monthly bill is high, the subscriber stays with the company because they have all the services on the same bill from the same provider. That is what the cable company counts on when offering short term deals to acquire the subscriber.

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,