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This was true for me with Comcast when I lived in the Bay Area (in fact, TV+Internet was about 50 cents cheaper than just Internet access.) However, it is not t

This was true for me with Comcast when I lived in the Bay Area (in fact, TV+Internet was about 50 cents cheaper than just Internet access.) However, it is not true for me now. I live in Austin and have Time Warner currently. To upgrade to a TV package that includes ESPN, Time Warner wants $39.99/mo for 12 months. They have a "Starter TV" package at the $19.99 price point, but it doesn't include ESPN or Food Network. Time Warner's pricing is pretty similar to Google Fiber and AT&T's GigaPower here in Austin. Both want $70/mo for just Internet access and $120/mo if you want Internet + TV. If this can come out within a year, and offer cheap options for multiple TV sets/computers, it'll be a huge hit. Very smart on Dish's part.

justinsb 12y ago
Thanks for the datapoints. I wonder whether Austin is atypical: i.e. has the availability of Google Fiber has forced the incumbents to offer more rational pricing? I would hope that the future is Google Fiber + Dish TVoIP, and this is just the first step. I'm personally not unhappy with comcast, but more competition would be great.
- ericabiz 12y ago
  When Google Fiber came in, all the providers started offering higher-speed Internet access at no additional charge (I'm on 100/10 right now with Time Warner after their latest free upgrade, for $57/month.) I haven't seen cable packages really change, though, and there isn't much incentive given that Google is charging $50/month for TV, as well. AT&T Gigapower is currently available in my neighborhood, but I am holding on to Time Warner until Google Fiber becomes available (I may rethink this if it doesn't happen this year.)
- fluidcruft 12y ago
  In the deep south, AT&T wants $40 to add TV to my phone+internet plan ($90). And that doesn't even include local broadcast TV in HD, which is ridiculous as I already pull them in over antenna anyway. And I'm sure without the HD package it's the same distorted crap they push (presumably in order to entice the HD package upsell--at least based on what I see at my in laws and at the wall of screens at the gym). I was an early adopter of OTA HD in one of the early HD markets and have never, ever had a problem sorting aspect ratios. From my perspective cable seems hell bent on destroying the OTA signal rebroadcast in order to upsell their HD packages (probably because once they moved to digital they couldn't figure out how to differentiate HD from standard def). I will not pay them to burden me with having to manually toggle aspect ratios on my display. I cannot fathom why people tolerate this bullshit.

justinsb 12y ago

Thanks for the datapoints. I wonder whether Austin is atypical: i.e. has the availability of Google Fiber has forced the incumbents to offer more rational pricing? I would hope that the future is Google Fiber + Dish TVoIP, and this is just the first step. I'm personally not unhappy with comcast, but more competition would be great.

ericabiz 12y ago
When Google Fiber came in, all the providers started offering higher-speed Internet access at no additional charge (I'm on 100/10 right now with Time Warner after their latest free upgrade, for $57/month.) I haven't seen cable packages really change, though, and there isn't much incentive given that Google is charging $50/month for TV, as well. AT&T Gigapower is currently available in my neighborhood, but I am holding on to Time Warner until Google Fiber becomes available (I may rethink this if it doesn't happen this year.)
fluidcruft 12y ago
In the deep south, AT&T wants $40 to add TV to my phone+internet plan ($90). And that doesn't even include local broadcast TV in HD, which is ridiculous as I already pull them in over antenna anyway. And I'm sure without the HD package it's the same distorted crap they push (presumably in order to entice the HD package upsell--at least based on what I see at my in laws and at the wall of screens at the gym). I was an early adopter of OTA HD in one of the early HD markets and have never, ever had a problem sorting aspect ratios. From my perspective cable seems hell bent on destroying the OTA signal rebroadcast in order to upsell their HD packages (probably because once they moved to digital they couldn't figure out how to differentiate HD from standard def). I will not pay them to burden me with having to manually toggle aspect ratios on my display. I cannot fathom why people tolerate this bullshit.