Comcast billing update

So it's been a few months and look at the difference between Comcast bills from compared to last year.

Last year:

This year:

... finally I can stick it to the "Man".  That's a savings of $136.29/mo or $1,635.48/yr. Best of all the kids aren't even watching the few channels we have.  Hopefully over the next few years more people will do this and stick it to the cable companies so they can get a taste of their own medicine.

How I lowered my cable bill

Here's an update on my Comcast saga.  After years of paying +$200/mo for cable, internet & phone I've successfully lowered my bill from an average of $210/mo to $79/mo.

I'm fairly certain that to successfully negotiate with Comcast you must be prepared to "cut the cord". This was accomplished in 2 steps:

• Purchase my own cable modem and save $8/mo for the modem rental.  This "Comcast" supported modem actually increased my download speeds by 10MB.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AJHDZSI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

• Port my home phone number from Comcast to Ooma.  Comcast bundled voice into my previous plan for $10/mo. 

    

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I4XMEYA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

• With Ooma I kept my home phone number and my new cost is: $3.81/mo.  You purchase the hardware and they only charge you the cost of taxes (federal, state & e911).
• There is a 1 time cost for porting my Comcast number which will be offset by the monthly savings of the new plan.

1x Cost:

$89.99	Arris Motorola cable modem
$45.36	Number port from Comcast to Ooma
$138.11	Ooma Telo Free Home Phone Service VoIP Phone and Device
$273.46	Total 1x cost

Monthly savings:

$210.00	Comcast - previous
$79.93	Comcast - current
$130.07	Savings/mo

In 2 months I will have re-coup'd my expense and be saving $130 each month.

Now here's the interesting part. I had assumed I'd have to give up everything but basic standard definition TV.  Not so, the rep kept trying to "up-sell" me.  Shockingly yes... I was offered 4 different deals.

• First deal was for $260 which was maddening considering I had clearly told her that my bill was too much and I'm cutting the cord. Just to keep the channels I had (which was pretty much everything).  For people like me that initially got drawn in with the "Triple Play" bundle the cost kept creeping up each year just to maintain the HD channels.
• Second deal was for $179 which cut all the premium channels.  
• Third deal was for $129, again offering me even less.  But I didn't care I kept telling the rep all I want is internet because I'll use Netflix & Hulu.
• Fourth deal was the keeper at initially $99/mo.  This would contain:
• Internet at 105MB
• HD dvr
• HBO Go (yup, they threw in HBO)
• Fifth (and final) deal - $79/mo

I told the rep that after the number port had become effective I'd call back and have her make the changes. Three days later I called back ready to cut the cord.  I ended up speaking with another rep who shockingly lowered my bill from $99/mo to $79/mo.  Crazy, but I'm not complaining.

So in the end I've got a dvr, HBO and 50 channels (including the HD version if the base channel has one).  This is a 12 month deal but who cares, next January I'll renegotiate my plan again.  The way the market is moving with Dish Networks "Sling" TV there will be even more choices and I won't need any Comcast channels.

The downside is the more people that "Cut the Cord" the more revenue Comcast looses.  At some point they will undoubtedly raise the cost of internet access but I'll worry about that another day.

Antenna research

I never thought I'd be installing an attic antenna in 2015 but there's a good volume of free HD TV just floating around out there.  

The government has a website: http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/dtvmaps/ for checking what stations are available in our area.

In my area I'm looking at 20 channels plus some outliers:

Some of the links on Amazon list many more stations but these are all the ones that I care about.

I'm "cutting the cord"

Screw you Comcast....

After years of paying ridiculous monthly charges for a marginal product I'm getting rid of Comcast video and we're only going to have high speed internet.

I've been contemplating this for over a year and now that the Disney Channel isn't our primary channel I can make the change.

Step 1: Purchase a phone service from Ooma.com.  They have a great deal for VoIP (digital voice service). You purchase the Ooma Telo device for $138 and your monthly charges are $3.81 which covers e911 and federal taxes.  You get all the basic telco features voicemail, call forwarding etc.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I4XMEYA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Step 2: Purchase your own modem. Comcast makes millions renting outdated hardware. I found this new Arris/Motorola modem for $89. It has 4,179 4-star reviews on Amazon so it's a fairly safe bet I'll be happy with it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AJHDZSI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Step 3: Purchase an HD OTA antenna. "OTA" stands for over the air that's the local channels. I'm still researching an antenna. I plan to install it in my attic.