Tales of Change

Turn off your (cable) television!

This afternoon, I dropped my cable boxes and the annoying digital converters off at my local Comcast. This is the first night in the longest time I have had no cable television in the house.

Note: Only one person at the counter was threatening to sue Comcast if they didn't credit his account (the guy had like 6-7 cable boxes stacked at the counter) that he seemed to be returning. 

I'm not entirely sure why I did it. Partly, I felt I was spending too much time watching TV in the evenings instead of being more social. Partly, I can get some of the shows I want to watch on the Internet. Partly, I got tired of having to call Comcast every six months to get them to reinstate the promotional price on my bill. Partly, I wanted to experiment without it - not just how differently I spend my time but the geek in me wants to see how much entertainment can I get digitally. My primary television has been a Mac for a long time. 

I'll let you know how life is without traditional TV. 

Last week, I wrote a blog post about how Internet data fees are piling up. The New York Times today wrote about a similar topic, As Data Flows In, the Dollars Flow Out:

It used to be that a basic $25-a-month phone bill was your main telecommunications expense. But by 2004, the average American spent $770.95 annually on services like cable television, Internet connectivity and video games, according to data from the Census Bureau. By 2008, that number rose to $903, outstripping inflation. By the end of this year, it is expected to have grown to $997.07. Add another $1,000 or more for cellphone service and the average family is spending as much on entertainment over devices as they are on dining out or buying gasoline.

It's interesting to experiment with buying bandwidth (internet and video) in different forms. It was after all Comcast that forced me to get annoying digiboxes that messed with my Mac set up so they could deliver video in digital form.

I am also aware that Comcast, which I use for broadband Internet, recently capped bandwidth at 250 GB/mo. Partly, I believe they are doing that to prevent people from turning off cable and downloading video from iTunes, streaming from NetFlix, etc. I'm experimenting right now with a WiMax 4G Overdrive (for other reasons) which has no limit on bandwidth. I'll review this device over at Idealog soon.

Until Reformed, Minimize Payments to Your Monopolistic Cable Provider

While this is a less serious issue than healthcare, most of us face unfairly high monthly service fees and poor customer service from our monopolistic local cable companies. In Seattle, we struggle with Comcast, which is poorly regulated by the City of Seattle. 

Until local governments require cable companies to provide high quality service at competitive rates and end common bundling practices, I suggest trying to minimize the money you're spending with them.

1) Call every six months to demand the lowest rate. It's ridiculous that a company providing a service regulated by the city is not required to provide a competitive rate, but that's the way it is in Seattle currently. In 2009, I managed to have my rate cut from $109 to $63 per month with the same service level. That's $552 annually for making one phone call. It helps to keep competitive junk mail offers in hand when you do this.

2) Comcast recently quietly increased its monthly cable modem rental to $60 annually. You can buy a used or refurbished modem at Amazon for about $35. Make sure you pick a cable modem compatible with your provider.

3) Consider transitioning more of your television viewing via online options. Cable Freedom Is a Click Away (New York Times) is an excellent primer on using the Internet to watch television using various services e.g. iTunes, Boxee, Hulu, Joost, Hulu, Netflix streaming et al. I currently use a MacMini, Apple LCD display and El Gato EyeTV 200 as my DVR and media center.

4) Contact your Mayor and City or County Council prior to the re-negotiation of their next contract with your cable provider. 

Read Glenn Fleishman's post The Killer App of 1900: Electricity about the need for broadband Internet reform in Seattle.  

Electric lights are different. Electricity is not in any sense a necessity, and under no conditions is it universally used by the people of a community. It is but a luxury enjoyed by a small proportion of the members of any municipality, and yet if the plant be owned and operated by the city, the burden of such ownership and operation must be borne by all the people through taxation. Now, electric light is not a necessity for every member of the community. It Is not the business of any one to see that I use electricity, or gas, or oil in my house, or even that I use any form of artificial light at all.

Also, check out this 2003 editorial by Jonathan Lawson: Comcast can do better by subscribers or visit his Reclaim the Media's organization website for information about their access campaigns: 

The $1.2 million payoff Comcast has offered may sound like a lot of money. It's not, considering the technology resources it would get in return. According to documents filed by Comcast in its recent unsuccessful lawsuit against the city of San Jose, the company estimated that a single cable channel had a value of $2.6 million per year (figure $1.3 million in King County's smaller market). The $1.2 million Comcast is offering King County for five channels works out to about $48,000 per channel per year. In short, King County is being offered a sucker deal, less than 4 cents on the dollar. Chump change, on top of a trail of broken promises and short-changing local non-commercial programming.

Don't let your city undersell its infrastructure! Get involved! Fleishman recommends a visit to Broadband.gov.