10 things cable companies won't tell you

1. “Customers are fed up with us.”

Cable giants Comcast and Time Warner Cable ranked among the top-ten most hated companies in America in 2012 (coming in fourth and seventh), according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which rates companies based on surveys. Read more...

2. “Good service exists...just not in your area.”

Not all telecom providers get the thumbs down from customers. It’s just that those companies that do manage to get high ratings are only available in limited areas, according to a Consumer Reports study from June. Read more...

3. “We don’t have a monopoly, but we may be your only option.”

After the enactment of Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was intended to increase competition among telephone and cable companies, some experts expected relief for customers seeking better service and lower prices. But 15 years later, a 2011 survey by the Federal Communications Commission showed that 61.5% of customers still only had one main choice of cable provider. Mergers between cable companies and partnerships between providers have hampered competition over the years, experts say. Read more...

4. “Raising prices is part of our heritage.”

Consumers who stick with cable frequently face ballooning bills. The lack of competition means that cable companies have the upper hand when it comes to setting prices, says Michael Hodel, an analyst for Morningstar. Indeed, price hikes are getting steeper: The average cost for expanded basic cable service, the most popular level of cable service, grew by 5.4% in 2011 from the year before, according to the FCC. Read more...

5. “Even the phone companies are on our side.”

Instead of competing head-on for customers, as many customers hoped they would (because after all, they’re both selling Internet, cable and phone services), phone companies and cable companies are starting to partner up to sell each others’ services. Read more...

6. “We’re at the mercy of the networks.”

In addition to giving consumers a few more options for cable and Internet service, competition from satellite and phone companies has also given the television networks more leverage in negotiations with cable providers. Of the 100-plus channels cable companies offer in their most common plans, subscribers have to fork over the most cash for the sports networks. Read more...

7. “Buying services piecemeal hurts you, not us.”

While bundled packages will often offer cable, phone and Internet together for $100 bucks or less, some customers aiming to trim their monthly bills will find that it costs more buy services individually from separate providers than it does to pay for them all together from one. Read more...

8. “Use the word ‘cancel,’ and you’ve got our attention.”

Cable customers can often avoid price hikes if they threaten to cut back on services, says Dampier, who cut his own monthly Time Warner Cable bill in half to $100 last February after sending the company a message on Twitter saying he was considering a plan from the phone company in his neighborhood. Read more...

9. “We will squeeze your Internet.”

Some cable providers are quietly introducing limits on how much Internet data customers can use to upload and download content each month. People who surpass those limits are charged extra. Cox, which has one of the lowest caps, according to Consumer Reports, limits Internet data usage to 30 gigabytes a month on some plans. Read more...

10. “We’re cracking down on piracy.”

Time Warner Cable, Verizon, Comcast and Cablevision are among the Internet service providers introducing an antipiracy program commonly called the “six-strike policy” at the end of November. Read more...