For the last 9 years I've been using the slowest Internet speed that Comcast / Xfinity has. My speed test clocks in at a blazing 3 Mbps. With basic cable TV, it is costing me $73.86 per month. I own my own cable modem/router, so I don't have to pay the $11 per month rental fee. But, I do pay a $10 monthly broadcast TV fee. This is on top of the $19.50 basic TV service, which I don't use. Why don't I use their basic TV? It comes in over a TV adapter box that only displays in standard definition. I can get the same channels with a rabbit ear antenna in HD. So why don't I drop the basic cable? They told me that if I make any changes to my current plan I will be forced into one of their new plans. The new basic plan is the X1 Starter Pro Double Play for $120 per month plus fees. The speed would increase to 175 Mbps and I would get 140+ channels instead of 30+ channels. Basically, for twice the price I get 98% faster speed and 4x more channels. Sounds like a good deal, unless your budget only allows for $74 per month for Internet service.
Hunting around for another option has not been easy. Centrylink offers a 60 Mbps DSL connection for $45 per month with a required $99 installation fee. The only problem is that Centrylink's customer satisfaction ratings are even lower than Comcast. Some of the cellular providers have unlimited data plans, but the speed is usually throttled to below 1 Mbps after 20 GB per month or during network congestion. I need at least 350 GB of data per month. I can still manage with 3 Mbps for now, but more video streaming channels are using HD, which causes data buffering to the point of being unwatchable.
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