"The phone number appears on your phone as if they are the cable company, so everything seemed legitimate up until the questions."īut cable providers never call you to chat about lowering your bill or offering a discount. "If you see your cable company calling, you think its important," Wilkinson said. Then call your company (at their customer service number on your bill) and ask if there is any such person working there. Spectrum representatives will always have an account number." It recently sent out a warning to customers saying: "If an offer doesn't sound right, customers may ask the representative on the phone to validate they are an employee by looking up their account number. We contacted Spectrum, and the company said it has other complaints about these calls. It was only natural they'd start pretending to be your cable company. Scammers have been spoofing the numbers of the FBI and IRS for several years now and getting people to answer the phone that way. ![]() Instead, it was a case of "spoofing," where a fake number shows on your caller ID. When the caller then told her she could save money by signing up for a satellite TV service instead, Wilkinson realized it wasn't really Spectrum Cable on the line. "They can see your billing price right there!" "These are questions I would think Spectrum would already know," she said. "Naturally, in this day and age, who doesn't want to save money? So I said yes, and he said, 'Great, now tell me how much you are paying.'"īut that last comment from the phone rep raised a red flag. "He asked, 'Do you want to save money?" Wilkinson said. The caller immediately offered to help lower her bill, so Wilkinson perked up. Other customers report receiving similar calls that show up as Cox, Comcast, Xfinity, Charter, Optimum, and others. "It appeared that Spectrum was calling, our provider for internet, phone and cable services, so I answered, " Wilkinson said. Her cable company was showing on her caller ID, so Wilkinson did what she normally doesn't do with unexpected calls: she answered. If you want all the local news in your new neighborhood, a digital antenna is the best way to go.Jackie Wilkinson recently picked up an unknown call at her home. That’s a one-time cost, as opposed to basic cable’s monthly fees. The right TV antenna for you depends on how close you are to broadcasting towers, but it will cost you only between $15.99 and $68.95. Our buddies over at wrote a comparison article of the best antennas. You used to be able to pick them up with simple bunny-ear antennas (or even a craftily repurposed wire hanger), but that changed in 2009 1, when broadcast TV switched to a digital format.īut just because an old wire antenna won’t get you local channels doesn’t mean you need to pay a cable company to help you get them. ![]() The problem with that is your local channels already broadcast for free to your area. We’ve tried to differentiate in this article between “starter” cable packages and “basic” cable packages because cable companies apply the term “basic”-or sometimes “economy”-to packages that have only local channels and few, if any, true cable TV channels. But no matter what your basic cable costs, you’re paying way too much. In the end, the cost of your cable TV plan could fall between $50 and $150 per month, depending in part on your tastes and interests.īasic cable usually costs between $20 and $25 per month-although we’ve seen prices as high as $40 per month. Keep in mind that TV plans vary from cable provider to provider-you’ll run into different price points, channel lineups, add-ons, and equipment.įor example, some TV packages include premium channels like HBO®, but many cable TV providers will charge you between $10 and $20 per month to add premium channels to your plan. You can pick up local channels with a digital TV antenna, which is a more affordable alternative. They offer only local channels, which already freely broadcast in your area. We recommend you give these basic plans a wide berth. You may run into “basic” channel packages that cost only $20 to $25 per month. Mid-level plans are closer to $75 per month, and if you go all out for a premium plan, it will cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 per month. Many cable companies offer a starter plan for about $60 per month if you want the most well-known cable channels. The major cable TV providers have plans with monthly payments between $44.99 (Spectrum TV Select) and $134.99 (DIRECTV’s PREMIER™ All-Included).* There’s no place like home-especially when it has all your favorite cable channels at your fingertips.
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