Despite being a gadget freak (way beyond Clark), I’ve been with Comcast so long, my original cable company was existed before Comcast was anyone’s strategy and then was bought out. Now I have TV, 4 mobile lines, and Internet. There’s plenty of savings opportunities, but they never seem to work out. For example:
Internet: Comcast was the only game in town. None of the mobile phone providers work well here, and the land line company doesn’t have infrastructure. Prices aren’t awful but keep rising. LiveOak fiber just arrived, and I had it installed. Planned to unbundle. Unfortunately, fiber service is well under the 2gbs tier speed and only one third to one half of my Comcast speeds. This is bizarre. Head to head, prices are very close, so no reason yet to change. I told LiveOak I’d stay with it per month, but so far, they have no explanation.
Mobile phones: With multiple lines, Comcast is the best deal going here. 4 lines @ $25 each unlimited everything, hot spot, decent international and so forth. US Mobile was next best for what I want and offers some operational advantages. To get a deal comparable to Comcast requires paying for a whole year in advance for all lines. US Mobile is an MVNO for all three networks, so there is money to be saved on ATT or T-Mobile, but Verizon is strongest here.
It’s neck and neck, but that brings us to TV. Originally, I could have saved nearly $100 on TV by unbundling. The savings weren’t in the Comcast packages as much in not needing the equipment they require or paying the fees on top of the package price. Planned to use YouTube (no bargain anymore) but the Disney/ESPN dispute began, so I am waiting. Looked at other services, but then I have to use an antenna and on and on and the combo of packages required to see the 6 or 7 channels we watch offered no savings. Called Comcast, and magically, they found a way to save $45 monthly.
It’s never as simple and the consumer people make it sound.
Head to head