I’ve been a Cablevision customer since moving to Brooklyn last May. Not only is Cablevision the only cable television service in my neighborhood, but it’s the only high speed internet provider. So we signed up for Cablevision’s Optimum Online cable modem and we’ve been quite happy with it.
But we don’t get our television service from Cablevision. We hooked up an indoor digital antenna to our TV set and pull in free, over the air HDTV signals. We can pick up pretty much all the networks except for CBS, and for the rare CBS show we want to watch, we’ve learned to live with an analog OTA signal and snow on the TV screen.
When we signed up, we got our cable modem service for $30/month for six months as a special promotion. When the promotion ended, the rate went up to $50/month, but considering how much we use the internet for work and leisure, it’s completely worth the price. Now, Cablevision offers a deal where you can get cable TV and a cable modem for just $60/month. Or you can get both of those services plus a digital phone line for $99/month. And yes, that would save us money if we were already paying for a land line or cable/satellite service. But we’re not. We don’t have a land line, and we don’t pay anyone for TV service. So $50/month is as good as it gets.
And I tell this to every Cablevision/Optimum Online sales rep who calls my cellphone. Yet they still continue to call me at least once a month, which I suppose is an improvement, because they used to call once a week. I also keep asking to be taken off of whatever list they have me on, to no avail. Today I spoke to someone who even repeated my phone number back to me when I asked him to be taken off the list, as if he were entering my information on some special form. But I’m fairly certain I can expect another call trying to get me to “save money” in another 30 days or so.
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