I ditched cable TV and internet...

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FullRangeMan

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Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #20 on: 1 Jul 2018, 03:14 am »
This is a lot of money to watching TV.

Mike B.

Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #21 on: 1 Jul 2018, 04:23 pm »
How do you get here? Coffee shop free internet?

Doublej

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Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #22 on: 1 Jul 2018, 11:16 pm »
With T-Mobile unlimited monthly plan I think you get 50GB of hotspot at 3G speeds. I think Verizon's unlimited plan gives you 10GB of hotspot per month per line at 4G speeds.

For non-streamers, I am not sure if 10GB a month would suffice but 50GB should be plenty.

Starbucks, McDonalds and lots of other businesses offer free internet. There is also free 'grey internet access' using an app where individuals publish passwords for free internet access at locations that require a password for use.

Typically public libraries and Universities have free internet access as well.

SET Man

Re: I diched calbe TV and internet...
« Reply #23 on: 6 Jul 2018, 09:36 pm »
There is no TV in my home already some years, I rec it every one.
I dont need pay to brainwash my mind and endure all that s* every day for hours on end, not to mention TV series and silly action films on flatulent subwoofer.

In a moment of my life I realized I was addicted to TV, and those depressing images occupied a large part of my sleep time to being processed and removed from the conscious mind.

After a few months without seeing the Big Brother trash I clearly noticed that my reasoning, concentration and awareness increased, and I do not even know what those sub-celebrities are doing, drinking or druging.

Google for: stopping watching tv

Hey!

   Well, to me TV is not evil. Yes, there are lots of mindlessness shows out there these days to the point that I kindna feel bad for the younger generation that they growing up with these, but of course there are internet also... that's also full of mindlessness. I like to see what's going on in the world, so I still like to watch news on TV, from different outlet so I what's going on both side. You have be smart about it and not get brainwashed like some people.

   Anyway, there are still some GREAT shows on TV. I do like to watch PBS shows locally here in NYC on Thirteen and of course news. By the way, talk about great show... I've been watching "Civilization" A great show if you like art and history. You can watch the latest episode online...

https://www.thirteen.org/programs/civilizations/what-is-art-good-for-ahpkad/

I’ve been without cable/satellite tv for about 4 yrs now and don’t miss it. Been using an antenna for local channels and an Apple TV for Netflix/Amazon and every now and then hbo now. I just recently subscribed to sling tv and got the orange package for $20 a month. I like it so far as it has most if not all the channels I regularly watched when I was paying $125 a month for cable. I got ESPN,History,AMC,BBC America and others that come in 1080 on my Apple TV as well as my iPad and can cancel at any time, no contract which is nice.

    I bought a new TV so I can hook it up to my iPhone 5s via and adapter. Best Buy included a month free of Sling TV, so I will try it. I will register soon and see how well it work on my iPhone 5s. Otherwise I think my new LG TV have built in Sling TV app and also for other services too, but I will have to get hone internet for that.  I checked the Sling TV and funny thing is that Orange and Blue are both $25?

Hi Buddy:

Man, I have been an RCN customer for about 6 years, the second time around, the first time was with them back to 2006-7.  Their triple bundle prices kept increasing to upwards of 200 back then, so I cut them off and dealt with Timewarner but I could not tolerate their lack of transparency when signals dropped for two weeks at the time and they never acknowledged that their network was at fault.  I dropped them and switched back to RCN, which had gotten that much better since the last time I had them.  Now the deal is that they do have a tendency of bumping their rates up after the promo offer but I did the audacity of calling them and telling them a sob story.  I told them that people from FIOS and also from Spectrum (AKA:Time Warner) were sending me offer and also knocking my door continuously....so they have not failed to keep the internet rates steady.  I am paying around $56 a month of 300 mbps and that is all I need.  So, do call them again and see what they can give you. When the deal expires tell them the sob story.  I have repeated my act 3-4 times and either they increase it by 1-2 dollars and they bump the speed.  The competition is insane in NYC and I do see that you have had RCN previously....certain places and buildings are only wired for one cable company.  So.... that is my story.  Man, if you lived in my hood, you could have my signal repeated to you.   :thumb:

   Guess what happened with me. This past Tuesday I came home and got a bill from Spectrum aka Time Warner for $240!!! WTF! I called them and told them that I returned my equipment last month on the 15th and paid the different. The rep told me that she got the record of me returning the equipment and account closing process was filed. But! Seems like nobody got to it!!! She told me she will take care of it when she back on the 5th. Anyway, what pissed me off the most is that because of their stupidity and carelessness the bill was an overdue bill, and of course I always pay my bills on time. Anyway, I will never go back to Time Warner again no matter what name they are changing to.

   So, I've been without cable and internet at home for 3 weeks now. I'm going away for 2 weeks next month. I will see if I can go without internet until I get back and than I think I will call RCN again... you know they kept mailing me letter for me to switch back. Honestly they were fine but they kept raising the price to the point that it was way too much. I'll keep your method in mind when I call them.  :wink:

How do you get here? Coffee shop free internet?

  Yup, at Starbucks sipping an iced cappuccino right now while typing this.  :lol:

Take care,
Buddy

Tomy2Tone

Re: I diched calbe TV and internet...
« Reply #24 on: 6 Jul 2018, 10:01 pm »

    I bought a new TV so I can hook it up to my iPhone 5s via and adapter. Best Buy included a month free of Sling TV, so I will try it. I will register soon and see how well it work on my iPhone 5s. Otherwise I think my new LG TV have built in Sling TV app and also for other services too, but I will have to get hone internet for that.  I checked the Sling TV and funny thing is that Orange and Blue are both $25?


They must have just changed the pricing as it does say both are now $25 even though Blue has more channels. I ended up getting both Orange and Blue for the time being for $39 to watch the World Cup from FS1. Blue only has Fox sports channels and Orange only has ESPN. I’ll cancel one or the other here soon.

Rx8man

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Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #25 on: 6 Jul 2018, 11:47 pm »
I remember when cable first came into existence, guaranteed no commercials, yeah right, what a crock a crap that ever was, how long were we supposed to believe that for?

Then hiking prices for b.s. programs, Kartrashian Family, Fat-A** Dancing Moms "special equipment" for this and that so on and so on, finally got sick of it all.

Now, a new 50" 4K Sony TV sits front and center, with nothing worth watching on the beautiful screen, oh wait, maybe 1 outta 10 viewable?

The wife and I settled for internet only, so when TWC (now Rectum) disabled the cable, guess what? 

The bill stayed the same, way to go!    I hope NetFlix doesn't get too greedy, so far, so good.

 


youravhandyman

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Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #26 on: 7 Jul 2018, 02:39 pm »
So we got here from free coffee shop wifi as mentioned above.  But those drinks at Starbucks are at least $5 a pop.  If you have to stop in each day to check your email and the sports scores you are up to $150 a month.  But you would likely be hungry at some point with all of those tasty pastries around.  Could it be priorities?  That is some good coffee though.

Why does everyone sound so angry and snarky or smug when discussing this topic?  If you choose to ditch cable/satellite to save some cash that is awesome.  Have suggestions for others on how they can save too, even better.  But to respond with anger or disdain I just don't get. 

Phil A

Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #27 on: 7 Jul 2018, 03:35 pm »
I've never had cable over the past 30 years, except for internet, which I currently have.  I have Spectrum which bought out BrightHouse.  No real complaints - got the introductory year at a good deal and now it is $64.99/month.  I get good speeds (see pic below).  Have Amazon Prime and Netflix.  I own about 800 movies (used to buy more but not much now).  Have tons of music files and lots of high rez.  Get my phone (Ooma) from the high speed internet too and it is not expensive (and it lets me do things like have my voice mails sent to me attached via an email so I can listen from my smart phone no matter where I am).  I have an antenna system and I get all the local TV stations and I don't watch much TV. Most people I know sooner or later bitch about the cost of service




Rx8man

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Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #28 on: 7 Jul 2018, 07:04 pm »
When it's my cash going out to a large corporation every month for less than quality programming, surplus charges, taxes, shifty billing and service, people have a right to be ticked off, everyone I know in different financial levels agree, so we compromise.

Paying monthly charges that nearly equal a small house mortgage or rent, have at it.

So don't take this reply as a personal offense, take it as individuals prioritizing life's important matters or educational needs and wants.

bacobits1

Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #29 on: 7 Jul 2018, 07:14 pm »
"Why does everyone sound so angry and snarky or smug when discussing this topic?"
Because it's BS programing that's why.

"When it's my cash going out to a large corporation every month for less than quality programming, surplus charges, taxes, shifty billing and service, people have a right to be ticked off, everyone I know in different financial levels agree, so we compromise."

Absolutely correct!

skunark

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Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #30 on: 7 Jul 2018, 07:48 pm »
The biggest problem I have with cable tv and the streaming bundles like sling and direct tv now are the bulk of the channels are worthless.   Each time i flip through a channel it's playing an entire season back-to-back 24/7.   I don't need or want a cable channel to do this, nor do i want to pay for those channels.  I would rather pay for Netflix and binge the tv series on my own schedule.   

All I want from a cable service would be channels for sports, news, new shows, series or seasons, a curated set of movie channels by genre and maybe even decade; and finally a curated set of music and music video channels also by genre and decade.   I would gladly pay $35/month for this compressed and $50/month for best bit-rate available (so 4k today).    Of course all shows should be available to stream as well.      Pairing this with Amazon prime or Netflix to provide older shows seems like a great match.   But with Amazon and Netflix producing so many subpar shows, it's started to get hard to use those services too.     

With OTA and Amazon Prime and also rotating through Hulu, Netflix, Showtime and HBO per month with an occasional rental does seem to keep the TV on most of the time.

With physical media on their way out, it will soon be a streaming only world...

NIGHTFALL1970

Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #31 on: 7 Jul 2018, 07:49 pm »
I haven’t had cable tv since I moved into my own house over nine years ago. Haven’t missed it. I only have cable for my internet. That and my phone with unlimited long distance is about $140/month. Not cheap.
The only time I turn on my tv is to put in a dvd or blu-ray.

Rx8man

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Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #32 on: 7 Jul 2018, 08:05 pm »
I checked Google Fiber and they already changed pricing from a "one-time fee" to monthly and annual fees, I knew it wouldn't last.


Folsom

Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #33 on: 8 Jul 2018, 12:35 am »
I just got a HDTV antenna. I can get the local news in picture quality DISH could only dream of... last month with cable/sat. But I am going to get a streamer for movies and some stuff. I'm not done with commercials, well, I will be.

youravhandyman

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Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #34 on: 8 Jul 2018, 04:42 pm »
Rx8man no offense taken.
So billing crap, unmotivated customer service reps and shifty package deals aside, how would you fix pay TV?

People ask for alacart channel programming but to me that would cost most people more.  At best savings would be minimal because the channels most would want go for like sports will get $5 a month each and even lesser channels are $2 a pop. 

OTA service is awesome but lacks replay/time slip and other DVR or streaming like functions.  Most DVR devices that you can use with OTA have fees too for channel guides and such.

So what I would like to see us do here is a community based approach to finding better options and products to support and try not to take a steaming crap all over suggested options.  Discuss.

 :popcorn:

Folsom

Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #35 on: 8 Jul 2018, 04:56 pm »
Does it matter if ala-cart isn't cheaper? People might be very satisfied. You have to wonder... 

Phil A

Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #36 on: 8 Jul 2018, 07:24 pm »
For OTA, for those interested (don't own it as I don't watch much TV) - there's this - https://www.channelmaster.com/Antenna_DVR_s/336.htm

Rx8man

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Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #37 on: 8 Jul 2018, 11:10 pm »
What originally started with Google Fiber was a decent idea, a one-time pay (with their box) but it sounded too good to be true.

So a new competitor arrives with great prices, everyone jumps aboard, then the price hiking starts rearing its ugly head again, we dump, disconnect and move to another!

This works for me: Channel Master roof antenna, rent DVDs from the library or basic internet (20mbps) for Netflix and general PC usage.






ctviggen

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Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #38 on: 8 Jul 2018, 11:25 pm »
Rx8man no offense taken.
So billing crap, unmotivated customer service reps and shifty package deals aside, how would you fix pay TV?

People ask for alacart channel programming but to me that would cost most people more.  At best savings would be minimal because the channels most would want go for like sports will get $5 a month each and even lesser channels are $2 a pop. 

OTA service is awesome but lacks replay/time slip and other DVR or streaming like functions.  Most DVR devices that you can use with OTA have fees too for channel guides and such.

So what I would like to see us do here is a community based approach to finding better options and products to support and try not to take a steaming crap all over suggested options.  Discuss.

 :popcorn:

I'd love to get rid of all my sports channels, ESPN, Yankee, MLB, etc.  Many of these I pay for and never watch.  Disney bundled ESPN and children's channels, to the the children's channels, the provider also had to get ESPN.  I see no reason to pay for these.  If sports fans want to pay, let them pay.

I think the biggest rip off is boxes.  I have two boxes, and am paying some insane amount per month to rent them.  I should be able to buy them for about $60 and never have to rent them, if there was competition.

I use an HD Homerun Prime as my main channel selector (boxes are for my mom, who lives with us in an in-law apartment).

Folsom

Re: I ditched cable TV and internet...
« Reply #39 on: 8 Jul 2018, 11:30 pm »
For OTA, for those interested (don't own it as I don't watch much TV) - there's this - https://www.channelmaster.com/Antenna_DVR_s/336.htm

I don't think you can buy it anymore. It appears like they were so beta the market rejected them and they stopped selling them for now.