On my cable TV provider (Verizon), I have about 300 channel options. And, with 300 choices there really is…very little to watch. I watch about three of those 300 channels. Which, I’m sure, is why I’ve seen every Law and Order 200 times. Oh, and of course I enjoy Castle, Bones and NCIS, too. Ubiquitous Thank goodness because when all other channels fail, they are the go-to. And other channels fail so often.
So, I called Verizon to ask about lessening my channel options in the new, more affordable bundles they are advertising, responding to consumers complaints that they have a gazillion channels and most they do not watch. Turns out, there really is no savings (for me anyway). If I want access to ESPN, and I do, that adds $20 to the monthly fee and if I want access to USA (which I do, because that’s where Law and Order usually is) that’s another $10, which would bring my more affordable bundle to …. $5 a month less than I pay now! So, I’ve opted to pay those $5 and will still have access to those other 297 channels I never watch. More options to ignore.
I did learn something that surprised but didn’t’ shock me. As I was talking to the nice customer service fellow on the phone going through my options (which took about 30 minutes to save those $5) he said, let me check your watching habits. So, yes, Big Brother (who is so 1984) is watching what we watch. And, he confirmed I watch a lot of the channels that show Law and Order and my other favorite reruns. I also spend a lot of time on those 30 basic channels that are the cheapest bundle. But, if I want ESPN and USA, then the cheaper bundles does me no good.
Regular readers may recall that I recently was able to get Verizon to fix my On Demand service so I now have access to other shows that have aired but I may have missed. We do watch Madam Secretary (which doesn’t come close to replicating reality – I mean the chief of staff wanders over to the State Department to talk to the Secretary on the spur of the moment? Uh, doubtful. Not to mention the CIA husband who has saved the world at least twice that I can recall. Still, I watch.). And we like The Good Wife so sometimes we need the services of On Demand if an episode is missed.
Now that my On Demand works, I thought I could cancel the DVR service I rent from Verizon, which is $16.99 a month…I didn’t realize how expensive it was!(Pause) But wait, I just called Verizon and the DVR service turns out is $5 a month but it shows on the bill as $16.99 because that is the DVR ($5) plus the setup box ($11.99), which you have to have to have cable at all. And, if I want to save the $5, then I need to send back the box I have to get the non-DVR box. After the On Demand repair guy spend a bulk of two weeks here, replacing every piece of equipment they supply to try to find the problem, and everything seems to be working fine now, I’m not about to trade in equipment to save $5 a month and muck up the decent service I now am receiving.
And so ends my cable provider escapades, for now. Gonna go look up what Amazon Prime provides.
So, I called Verizon to ask about lessening my channel options in the new, more affordable bundles they are advertising, responding to consumers complaints that they have a gazillion channels and most they do not watch. Turns out, there really is no savings (for me anyway). If I want access to ESPN, and I do, that adds $20 to the monthly fee and if I want access to USA (which I do, because that’s where Law and Order usually is) that’s another $10, which would bring my more affordable bundle to …. $5 a month less than I pay now! So, I’ve opted to pay those $5 and will still have access to those other 297 channels I never watch. More options to ignore.
I did learn something that surprised but didn’t’ shock me. As I was talking to the nice customer service fellow on the phone going through my options (which took about 30 minutes to save those $5) he said, let me check your watching habits. So, yes, Big Brother (who is so 1984) is watching what we watch. And, he confirmed I watch a lot of the channels that show Law and Order and my other favorite reruns. I also spend a lot of time on those 30 basic channels that are the cheapest bundle. But, if I want ESPN and USA, then the cheaper bundles does me no good.
Regular readers may recall that I recently was able to get Verizon to fix my On Demand service so I now have access to other shows that have aired but I may have missed. We do watch Madam Secretary (which doesn’t come close to replicating reality – I mean the chief of staff wanders over to the State Department to talk to the Secretary on the spur of the moment? Uh, doubtful. Not to mention the CIA husband who has saved the world at least twice that I can recall. Still, I watch.). And we like The Good Wife so sometimes we need the services of On Demand if an episode is missed.
Now that my On Demand works, I thought I could cancel the DVR service I rent from Verizon, which is $16.99 a month…I didn’t realize how expensive it was!(Pause) But wait, I just called Verizon and the DVR service turns out is $5 a month but it shows on the bill as $16.99 because that is the DVR ($5) plus the setup box ($11.99), which you have to have to have cable at all. And, if I want to save the $5, then I need to send back the box I have to get the non-DVR box. After the On Demand repair guy spend a bulk of two weeks here, replacing every piece of equipment they supply to try to find the problem, and everything seems to be working fine now, I’m not about to trade in equipment to save $5 a month and muck up the decent service I now am receiving.
And so ends my cable provider escapades, for now. Gonna go look up what Amazon Prime provides.
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