Thursday, July 6, 2017

Ripped off by Cox Cable (as usual) for TV and Internet

Cox Communications

After hours of research I found (what I thought was) the lowest priced cable TV/internet package currently available to first-time customers in Las Vegas; it's called the BRONZE BUNDLE from Cox, and it comes with a landline phone (which I really didn't need).

My service/modems were installed and began on June 30th -- and only 3 days later I got my first bill for $120.86 -- which is due on July 21st (after only 3 weeks of service!)

The widely advertised price for this Cox Bronze bundle was $89.99 a month (and in VERY FINE PRINT mentions + tax, etc. *) --- which came out to be an additional $30.87 a month (which is 25% more than the widely advertised price!) Where is the limit on false advertising? Could the additional hidden fees have been 50% more or 75% more or DOUBLE than the widely advertised price?

$120 a month to watch TV and send email seems obscenely high. It is equal to about 10% of the income of an average person receiving Social Security retirement or disability. In this day and age, an internet connection is a necessity, not a luxury. And 20 to 40 of the most popular channels are all that we need for basic cable, not 250+ -- so why are we forced to pay for more? (And many stations are just for music, as though FM radio or our CD players weren't enough.)

There is no other cable competitor other than Cox in Las Vegas, so they have a monopoly on the cable TV business. Otherwise, we can go with a satellite dish from DISH or DirectTV (whose internet speeds are very modest compared to Cox).

Every time Cox wants to expand it's cable infrastructure to include more customers, they raise their rates on existing customers rather than use their constantly growing profits. And it's a privately held company, and not publicly traded on the stock exchange, so you can't participate in the profits from their greed.

I just want basic cable and basic internet for $50 a month. And I don't want my rates going up every year when the cost of expansion cost the company ZERO dollars. I don't want all the fancy bells and whistles . . . I just want basic cable TV (with 20 of my favorite channels) and a basic internet connection. Why is that impossible?

The best two options in Las Vegas (to date) are . . .

RC Communications (DIRECTV) --- $50 activate and $50/mo for the DIRECTV "Select" package (with DVR and 150 channels, and includes all tax and other charges) and CenturyLink for internet (with a dedicated phone line) --- $35 to activate and $40/mo (but for only 8 mgs of download speed) --- both for a total of $90/mo.

OR . . .

COX (Bronze Bundle) for $120/mo with the same channels as DIRECTV but much faster internet (60 mgs of download speed), but doesn't include DVR (but comes with a landline phone).

* When first getting service, why is a zip code within the same city required to determine your monthly billing rate? Do their satellite signals cost more on the East side of town than on the West side of town?

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