I'm not unhappy. They are the ones that want to play games and I am
obliging them. It's rather amusing because the satellite TV installers
are well aware that a large percentage of subscribers change providers
every two years in order to obtain a much lower cost. We're not talking
about $5/month savings, it works out to about $25/month. It makes the
installer's job much easier because there's usually no need to run any
cables, they just move the existing cables from the old LNB to the new LNB.
The other advantage of switching providers is that the equipment
improves over time and if you stay with your current provider you have
to pay for upgrades but if you switch providers then you get the better
equipment at no additional cost.
The DirecTV equipment installed yesterday is vastly improved over the
Dish equipment it replaced. Pandora is built in. 5 tuners are built in.
1TB hard drive. The remote receiver client is very small. The only bad
thing is that they've dropped the optical audio connector.
I am thrilled that Sonic doesn't play these pricing games, their service
is a good value and there's no need or incentive to play games.
It's amazing to me how much some people spend on monthly fees for
Internet, landline, long distance calling, cable/satellite TV, satellite
radio, and cellular service. If you don't know some of the workarounds
you could easily spend 3-4x as much for essentially the same level of
services. For example:
1. We presently have four Android smart phones on Verizon's network and
our total wireless bill is about $60/month.
2. Our monthly average cost for satellite TV is around $45 for two HD
TVs with a DVR.
3. The need for satellite radio is largely eliminated by streaming
stored content from smart phones or iPods and using HD Radio.
4. Long distance is now included on Sonic Fusion, but prior to that we
used OneSuite.
5. FAX service is now included on Sonic Fusion, but prior to that we
were using Faxaway which is a very good deal.
6. VPN service is now included on Sonic Fusion, eliminating the need for
a separate VPN service at $60 a year or so.
Now how to convince Dane that Cupertino should be the next city for
Sonic fiber?