Getting a good package from the cable company isn’t difficult, that is as long as your not already a customer of the cable company.
The reason for this is due to the fact the cable television company wants to increase their subscriber base, thus they are ready to give you a great deal, generally for the first six months of your cable service. The cable company figures if you get service from them, you probably will set up a so-called triple play bundle that puts all of your services together like voice, video and hi speed internet.
You can usually get a triple play bundle for just per month for the first six months or so. Lets say normal pricing with a cable company is as follows: Basic TV costs a month, high speed internet is per month, and phone service is a month. With prices like this, your overall bill would be 0 per month before all of the taxes that find their way onto your cable bill.
But it is good to consider how this might turn out down the road Well think about where you will be once the promo is over. You will have all of your television sets hooked up to the cable company, your internet connection with your e-mail account through the cable company, and of course your home line with the cable company as well. But suddenly the price goes up almost 50%, from around $100 every month to $145+ every month. Now is it easy to switch?
Maybe, maybe not. The best thing to do ahead of time is compare providers before making your final decision.One would be wise to compare Dish Network Bronze vs cable before making a hasty decision.
While you might say to yourself it is easy to switch to some kind of DirecTV deal or something else from your local phone company like FiOS by Verizon. But that is easier said than done. Usually the time and inconvenience of switching from cable to a different provider makes the customer stay with whatever service they have. Even though the monthly bill is high, the subscriber stays with the cable company because they have all the services in a package, making it harder to switch. That is what the cable company counts on when offering short term deals to acquire the subscriber.
Verizon is making a concerted effort to make TV more “social”—as long as your definition of “social” means looking at Facebook, Twitter, and DailyMotion on your TV, that is. The company has announced two new initiatives this week to bring Internet-based content to its FiOS TV service: Widget Bazaar and Internet Video on TV.
While there have been efforts to bring TV online, including Hulu, Netflix Watch Instantly, and Amazon Video on Demand, Verizon’s IP-based FiOS TV is coming at the problem from the other direction by bringing popular social networking services and online videos to “the biggest screens in [the] home.” The company has already partnered with Twitter, Facebook, and ESPN to create “Widgets,” a sort of plug-in for FiOS set-top boxes can pull data from websites and display it on a FiOS-connected TV. The company plans to provide an open platform for anyone to develop widgets—written in Lua, no less—which can then be distributed via a Widget Bazaar application store.
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Go to Verizon brings an app store to FiOS TV
We’d ventured a guess that the Pre would run close to $500 off-contract, and it looks like we were in the ballpark — Sprint customer service is apparently telling people that Palm’s first WebOS device will run $549 without a two-year commitment. That’s just off-contract, not unlocked, mind you, so don’t get any ideas about throwing this thing on Verizon. We’re guessing most people will sign the papers on June 6th and pay $199 after rebate, so don’t get too worked up — just know that living a life free of attachment and responsibility will cost you $549 upfront.
[Thanks, Dustin]
Filed under: Cellphones
Palm Pre to run $549 off-contract originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 May 2009 16:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Street is reporting on a rumor today that AT&T is planning to drop the cost of the entry-level iPhone plan in the US from $69US per month to $59 per month. The suspected drop will take place when new iPhone models are released, as early as “…next month.”
What’s AT&T’s motivation here? To attract price-conscious customers, woo Apple away from a rumored Verizon deal or simply clear inventory for the next-generation iPhone? As a person who’s on this plan, I honestly don’t care why — I just hope it happens.
The change would trim $120/year off of the current plan, reducing the overall cost of the 2-year plan to $1,760. [The original $240/year mention was due to an editing error. -Ed.]
[Via The Apple Blog]
TUAWRumor: AT&T to reduce cost of entry iPhone plan originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 07 May 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It was hardly a secret ’round these parts, but Verizon Wireless is finally ready to confess to that MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot we’ve heard so much about. Like the Novatel unit it’s based on, the device harbors 802.11b/g and EV-DO Rev. A radios, and can share a 3G Verizon connection with up to five different WiFi devices simultaneously. Battery life is pegged at four hours of active use, and 40 hours of standby on a single charge. Data plans include a $40 monthly subscription for 250MB and 10 cents per MB overages, or $60 for 5GB and half the overages price. If you want to forgo the subscription and pay full-price for the MiFi, you can pick up a 24 hour “DayPass” for $15 — any way you slice it, you’ll be paying good money for the privilege of using the thing. The MiFi 2200 itself hits stores May 17th, and will run you $100 after a $50 rebate.
Filed under: Wireless, Networking
Verizon debuts MiFi 2200 portable EV-DO router originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 May 2009 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In addition to the earlier reports regarding a potential alliance between Apple and Verizon, BusinessWeek has released a story where Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam reveals that he has been in discussion with Steve Jobs in the past six months.
The result, the magazine claims, could be two iPhone-like devices using Verizon’s CDMA network. One would be a lite version of the iPhone, the other a 7″ screen “media pad” — which would let users listen to music, view photos and high-def videos and place calls over WiFi. The media pad, according to BusinessWeek, is supposed to be smaller than Amazon’s Kindle, but with a bigger touchscreen. The so-called iPhone lite would be smaller and thinner than the existing handset. One of these devices could be introduced as early as this summer.
It’s not clear if either or both of these hypothetical devices would get around the AT&T exclusivity for the iPhone by being ‘different enough’ from the existing model. Still, the media pad concept aligns nicely with reports from manufacturers that a new portable product is in the works.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
TUAWMore rumors: Verizon + Apple frenzy grows with BW story originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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