F...My Cable Company!

[joecrisp]

Originally Posted by saden1

All I have to say is $1800 a year for TV and Internet service is preposterous. Besides, cable companies (Comcast at least) are now using contractors to do their work which saves them money but they sure as hell aren't passing those savings to me. I will not be content with them jacking my rates 6% annually.

Actually, the use of contract labor for service installation has almost always been a part of the cable business. Some markets just lean on contractors more than others. And, to be quite honest, it's very debatable whether relying on contractors actually saves cable companies any money in the long run. Contractors have no incentive to do a good job on their installations. For them, it's mostly a matter of getting in and out of each job as quickly as possible so they can make more money-- regardless of the impact that has on the quality of service. While cable companies have to pay benefits to in-house technicians, they can also hold in-house techs much more accountable for the quality of their work, and therefore reduce the volume of trouble calls, which are a major driver of operating costs-- and therefore the size of your cable bill.