the Price of Basic Cable

My basic cable includes one receiver and provides the local network channels along with the non-premium channels that are part of the basic package. I do not subscribe to any of the basic "plus" packages for sports or high definition service.

The cable service is mostly pretty good, although I lose the signal when there is bad weather like a duststorm or rainstorm. The outage is usually only for a few minutes but there have been times when service has been out for several hours. The quality of the picture is good, but some channels occasionally have ghost images or snow that is distracting when you watching straight on. I have had to call for repairs twice over a two-year period, once for the problem of one side of the picture being cut off and once for an outage that scrambled my cable box and it needed to be replaced. The company did not give me any problems in either instance. The price has risen slightly over the last few years, but it is still reasonable in my opinion, and they are continuing to add new channels in place of less popular options.

Only buy the basic package when you first sign up unless there is a great deal. You can always add additional channels and packages later, and sometimes you can get a deal on the addition that you couldn't get when you first ordered service.