Strong 8K USA
The number on the advert is never the number on the bill. What with the base package, the tier that actually carries the games you watch, the box rental and a column of fees nobody ever agreed to, a cable bill swells in ways that are difficult to trace and simple to overlook. This guide breaks a typical bill into its parts, shows where the increases hide, and sets out what a Strong8K IPTV subscription replaces.
Why Your Cable Bill Never Matches the Advertised Price
Cable pricing rests on a headline number that hardly any customer actually pays. That advertised rate buys a base package, and only for the length of a promotion. The rest, and there is a great deal of rest, turns up as separate lines further down the page.
The upshot is a statement most households never read beyond the total. Which is the whole trouble: the total is the single figure that says nothing about what you could drop.
Fetch your latest bill before you go any further. The sections that follow run in the order these charges normally appear, and the whole exercise pays off far better with your own numbers to hand.
The Five Charges That Make Up a Cable Bill
Nearly every bill divides into the same five groups. Providers name them differently; what they do never varies.
The base package
This is the part that gets advertised, and typically the smallest slice of what leaves your account. It brings local stations and a scattering of general entertainment channels. What it seldom brings is the particular thing that made you sign up.
The tier you actually wanted
Live sports, movie channels and regional coverage live above the base package, in tiers priced separately and sold as extras. A household that signed up for one specific kind of programming frequently ends up paying for two or three tiers.
Equipment rental
One set-top box for the main television, a second for the bedroom, possibly a DVR as well. Each one draws a monthly charge for as long as the hardware stays in your house, well beyond the point where it has repaid its own cost several times.
Regional and broadcast fees
These arrive as line items of their own instead of being absorbed into the package price. Taxes they are not, however much their position on the bill encourages you to think so. They climb on a schedule of their own, with no regard for whatever price you were quoted.
Streaming services on top
Most cable households carry two or three streaming subscriptions besides, because the cable package does not offer what those services do. They fall entirely outside the cable bill, which is precisely why they slip the mind when you total up the cost of watching television.
The Promotional Rate Problem
The biggest single jump in most cable bills is not a fee at all. It is the end of the introductory period.
Promotional pricing normally lasts twelve or twenty-four months. Once it lapses the account shifts to the standard rate, and that rise arrives with little warning beyond one line on a statement. A household that signed up two years back and has not examined the bill since is often paying a rate it never meaningfully agreed to.
Yearly increases then stack on top of that standard rate. Two or three years in, the distance between the quoted price and the charged price can be considerable, while the service itself has not changed in any respect.
What a Strong8K IPTV Subscription Replaces
A Strong8K subscription is a single payment for a fixed period, covering live channels and an on demand library, on the devices you already own.
Set against the five-part bill above, the differences are structural rather than cosmetic:
| On a cable bill | With Strong8K |
|---|---|
| Base package | Included |
| Sports tier | Included |
| Movie channels | Included |
| Set-top box rental | None: you use your own devices |
| Install and activation fees | None |
| Promotional rate that expires | None: the price is the price |
The last line matters more than it looks. An IPTV subscription runs for the period you paid for and then simply stops. Nothing renews on its own, no card gets charged a second time, and no standard rate waits at the far end of an introductory window.
What You Still Pay For
An honest comparison has to account for what stays the same, and two things do.
Your internet connection. Streaming takes the place of the cable television service, not the broadband carrying it. Where internet and television come bundled, pulling them apart may alter what the connection costs by itself. Establish that figure before you cancel a thing.
Any streaming service you genuinely watch. An IPTV subscription brings live channels and a sizeable on demand library, but where one particular service gets constant use in your house, hold on to it. The saving lies in shedding what you pay for and never watch, not in cutting everything loose.
How to Work Out Your Own Number
Three steps, and roughly ten minutes with your most recent bill.
First: total every television line on the statement. The base package, each tier, each box rental, each fee. Leave the internet charge out for now.
Second: add in the streaming services you pay for on the side. Read the card statement rather than trusting memory, since most households turn up at least one they had lost track of.
Three: multiply by twelve. That is what watching television costs you in a year, and the figure generally runs higher than people anticipate.
Set that figure against the Strong8K plans, which are priced for the full period rather than per month with extras on top. Once both figures cover the same ground, the comparison makes itself.
Cable and Strong8K IPTV: Common Questions
Do I keep my local channels?
Local coverage turns on where you live and on what the service carries. Send our support team your location before you order and we will tell you what is there, rather than leaving you to discover it afterwards.
Does my internet service have to stay?
Yes. An IPTV subscription streams across the broadband you already have, so the internet side remains. Only the television service gets replaced. Where the two arrive bundled, find out what the connection costs alone before you cancel.
What internet speed do I need?
Reckon on 10 Mbps at minimum for HD, and 25 Mbps before you rely on 4K UHD. Most American home connections clear both without difficulty. Where running a cable to the main television is possible, it holds steadier than Wi-Fi.
Is there a contract?
No. You purchase a set period, whether one, three, six or twelve months, and there it ends. Nothing renews of its own accord and no card is charged twice.
Will my current television work?
If it runs apps, yes. Failing that, an inexpensive streaming stick in the HDMI port makes any television with such a port into a compatible screen. Our setup guide walks through each route.
What happens when my subscription ends?
Access ends and no further charge follows. To continue, place a fresh order or drop us a message a few days ahead of your expiry date. The login details stay put, so nothing wants reinstalling.
Streaming is not automatically cheaper once several subscriptions pile up: what streaming really costs does that arithmetic.
See What You Would Pay
Plans span one month to a full year, across one, two or three screens. A single payment, no contract, nothing to rent.