I really can’t understand cable companies. They give you a nice discount to sign up and then if you decide to stick with them, they raise your rates. I mean, it would make sense to me that if you continued with them longer, they should REWARD your loyalty by giving you perks or lower rates or something. So why do they charge you MORE for staying with them?

I signed up for Comcast’s “Triple Play” last year, which gave me cable for $33, high-speed internet access for $33, and digital voice phone service for $33 a month. Of course, there’s always hidden fees like modem rental, $10/month extra for DIGITAL cable, cable box rental, etc. Plus taxes on the phone service, but that’s going to happen regardless of your phone service.

So this year I found out that after this startup deal was finished my rates were going to go up by almost $50 a month. I called them this last week to find out how much prices were going up and to compare my options. I also looked at all the other options I have for Cable/Satellite TV, I found out that DISH Network had the best prices overall. $29.99/month for the Top 100 package. DirecTV was over $40 for a similar package. Comcast’s basic digital cable was going from $43 to $69 a month. Basic analog cable is $54 a month and I could get it down to $37 if I dropped all the “interesting” channels like History Channel, Disney, Nickelodeon, etc.

Once I called Comcast today to cancel my cable service (since I just got DISH Network installed), they offered to give me a discount and stay basically at the current rate if I kept all 3 services. While I saw that as a decent option, I’d already signed up with DISH. My internet access is going from the original $33/month to $43/month. Phone service is going from $33 to $45, but I need to keep it because otherwise the internet service will go up to $57/month. Plus $3/month for the cable modem rental. And then they surprise me with an extra $18 charge for them to “downgrade” my cable, meaning come out and pick up the receiver and disconnect the cable TV service.

And all because I can’t get DSL at this house. Otherwise I’d use Earthlink for DSL, DISH for satellite TV, and something non-AT&T for phone. But apparently we’re in a pocket where DSL just doesn’t reach, so if I want high-speed internet access (and I assuredly do), I have to use a cable modem.

BTW, DISH has some discounts now that basically give me HD service for free. At least for $10 months. But I can downgrade if I need to when it comes to it. Unless I get so addicted to HDTV that I’m willing to pay a little more for it. So now I pay about the same as I used to, but I have DISH network with HDTV and local channels in HD right through my satellite box.