[WireNut]

I've got the Ooma phone hooked up, but it takes a month to "port" my existing phone number. Once that's done, that $70 will drop further.

Bob,
Let us know how you like the Ooma phone and if it sounds good and if it drops connections. I'm interested in one.
My land line is $40 a month and all I use it for is an answering machine. Seems like a waste.
Also, what is porting and why does it take a month to port your existing phone. Is It hard to setup.

Thanks

[Phil A]

One thing about Ooma, which I have and like is that I helped someone Thursday afternoon.  He got it a few weeks back and I helped him set it up temporarily (he moved from an apartment to a townhouse last week).  He called to tell me that he had a problem (and he is completely computer illiterate so I went over to help).  When he was picking up calls to him it would give him a dial tone sometimes instead of the caller.  He had a new internet provider (Hotwire, included with his HOA).  I went on an Ooma chat from his laptop and did speed tests for them.  I have a 10Mbps/1Mbps purchased speed.  I usually get a hair more (just tested at 17.25/1.17) when testing both download and upload.  His was a little over 3Mbps/1.46Mbps (and they had me test jitter too).  They told me they were adjusting the voice quality and had me re-set the modem, router and Ooma box.  They gave me a customer service number (which I gave to my friend) with instructions to call if it did not fix the issue within 24-48 hours.  I have not seen or heard from him since Thursday so I'm hopeful the problem is resolved.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Absolutely I'll let you know! 
"Porting" the number is the act of them getting my existing phone number from my carrier so I can keep it. I can elect to get a new phone number for free, but I've had this one too long to change it. The cost seems a bit steep, but it's worth it in the long run. They say it can take 3-4 to "port", but the day after I activated it, they sent me an email saying they were almost finished. 

When all is said and done, it will cost less than $4 a month for phone service.   
Thanks to this thread for the continued good ideas and the Ooma idea.

Matt, when I have the first party, you'll be the first invited. If all goes well, the inside of my fridge will look as good as yours. 

[ctviggen]

I've had Ooma, Comcast's voice service, and Vonage.  I went back to Vonage even though it's relatively expensive. The reason is for the voice-to-text translations it does.  Vonage does a great job at that.  If you don't need that, or other services Ooma charges for, then Ooma is a better deal.

[Bob in St. Louis]

The umbilical has been cut.  Boxed up and going back.

$2664 a year versus $840 (and we're not finished "cutting").
Feels good.

[macrojack]

Cutting the cable cord is like dropping any other addiction --- It looks daunting, you feel concern about how you will suffer without it, you wonder about your resolve, you postpone for flimsy reasons --- but eventually, when you finally get up the nerve, you find out it really wasn't a big deal at all. You have a sense of accomplishment, a sense of strength and independence. You realize that you are not only saving money and time but you are helping your health by eliminating something unhealthy. And you are contributing your small piece toward crushing a vile corporate monopoly by no longer giving them a monthly piece of yourself.
It's all upside really --- cut the cable today. You will never miss it.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Indeed. We (my family) have our TV addictions that's for sure. But once we figured out how to get  "just enough" to keep us happy, then figured out how to get rid o the rest, that was the beginning of the end for Charter/AT&T/Dish/DirecTv (the available services here).
Once I got everybody on board with the thought of a change, it didn't take long before I was able to present them with the new shiny things they can now have while I secretly trim away the 'fat' in the background. If this is what being a Luddite is like, then count me in. All in.

[Phil A]

Indeed. We (my family) have our TV addictions that's for sure. But once we figured out how to get  "just enough" to keep us happy, then figured out how to get rid o the rest, that was the beginning of the end for Charter/AT&T/Dish/DirecTv (the available services here).
Once I got everybody on board with the thought of a change, it didn't take long before I was able to present them with the new shiny things they can now have while I secretly trim away the 'fat' in the background. If this is what being a Luddite is like, then count me in. All in.

Congrats Bob.  Lots of people will just moan and groan but not do a thing about it.  I know two people who moaned and groaned.  One was paying about $3,350/year and the other about $2,750/year and still are (if they have not gotten an increase an pay more).  I offered to help.  One even complained about wanting now and probably needing a new car in a few years and I can't have too much sympathy when they are giving away $5k+ over that time frame.

[Bob in St. Louis]

That's just nuts. 

[macrojack]

Some years ago I had the sudden thought that the only way Billy Mays was able to enter my life was through the TV. I found that thought quite sobering because I hated his schtick so much. Before I got around to cutting out TV, ole Billy snuffed himself, thereby weakening my resolve to extricate. Earlier this year, in memory of Billy and everything else vile in this world, I finally snipped Charter off my big screens. Feels plenty good, by golly.

Try it ----- you'll like it! It's a cleansing beyond even the nonsense promised by OxyClean.

[Bob in St. Louis]

One of the great things in life is learning from your mistakes. One of the few things better, is when you can learn from somebody elses.

Soo.... Here's my teachable moment, along with with my humility. 

I got the outdoor antenna installed on the roof. It comes with a small amp that gets installed in the coax, just in front of the TiVo DVR box. The amp can be powered by a USB cable, or can be plugged into a 120 volt outlet. In my ultimate wisdom, I thought it would be a good idea to use the USB from the television to power the amp. My line of thinking here is that there's no reason to have the amp powered up when it's not being used. I figured it would have a longer life if it's not "hot" at all times.

Sounds like a good idea, right?
I'm sure a few of you are smiling right now.   

My wife has complained the past couple days about some of her programs not being recorded on the TiVo DVR. Some are, some aren't. Neither of us could figure out why this was happening. Most didn't record due to an error message about, "Lack of signal".

Figure it out yet? 

The antenna amp isn't getting power if the television is turned off. So....when the TiVo DVR powered up to record a channel, the antenna signal wasn't being amped since the TV was turned off, therefor there WAS no signal.

Yip. I'm a dumbass. It took about ten minutes of serious troubleshooting to figure this one out.
I typed this in the hopes that some of you might learn from my case of dumbassity.
I've since plugged the USB amp into the TiVo DVR, so it stays powered down until the TiVo powers up.

Bob - "genius" 

[jarcher]

So I ended up getting a Mediasonic HomeWorx tuner - and shelled out the a few extra pennies for the the version w/ USB which allows PVR functions (I have not tried out the PVR functionality yet).  A whopping $37 on Amazon - apparently its the #1 selling tuner at their store. 

So far all works well & it's more responsive than the old Samsung that died. I'm not sure the picture and sound quality is better - sometimes I thought it was a bit softer with less color depth, but it could just be that the particular broadcasts I was watching were not that sharp.  Just remember to change the digital out to bitstream in the menu setting to get OTA dolby digital to your receiver (the default is PCM).  Anyway - for that silly low $ it's hard to go wrong.  The windshield wipers for my car I ordered at the same time cost more.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I2ZBD1U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

PS Oddly enough the remote is almost a clone of the one that came with my $3500 Auralic Vega DAC I have........guess Auralic puts the $ more into what's in the box than out of it........

[Phil A]

Jon - out of curiosity on a 4:3 broadcast does the box let you view the program in 4:3 or does it stretch it?  That is the only thing that drives me crazy about the Samsungs (I have two of them - one in the bedroom and one in the main system).  I know the picture quality is better on the Samsung 260 vs. the old Samsung SIR-T150 (I still have one in the garage) but I it has been so long since I've used it (over 10 years) I don't remember if that box did it too.

[youravhandyman]

So Bob,

Since you are clearly going for ultimate savings and cord cutting,  judging by your concern of vampire devices stealing your nickels, why not go solar?  Just think of all the money you would eventually save once the system is paid off in 20 years.  And all of the heating costs you would save burning all of the trees that you cut down so that you could actually get sunlight down there.  Looks like a win-win.

This moment of money saving genius brought to you by flexeril and Vicodin.  Couches are heavy...

[Bob in St. Louis]

   It's not the electricity and money savings I was worried about, just that fact that it on all the time and potentially shortening it's life span. I like your story though. 

[jarcher]

Jon - out of curiosity on a 4:3 broadcast does the box let you view the program in 4:3 or does it stretch it?  That is the only thing that drives me crazy about the Samsungs (I have two of them - one in the bedroom and one in the main system).  I know the picture quality is better on the Samsung 260 vs. the old Samsung SIR-T150 (I still have one in the garage) but I it has been so long since I've used it (over 10 years) I don't remember if that box did it too.

Sorry for the late response - just got to try this out today after tuning to 4:3 channels. It does automatically scale (if you set it up that way in the menu settings) and 4:3 is displayed with gray side bars with no stretching.

Only performance issue today was sound was off - sounded as if extreme "hall" effect was on - but a restart cleared it and sound returned to normal.

[Phil A]

Sorry for the late response - just got to try this out today after tuning to 4:3 channels. It does automatically scale (if you set it up that way in the menu settings) and 4:3 is displayed with gray side bars with no stretching.

Only performance issue today was sound was off - sounded as if extreme "hall" effect was on - but a restart cleared it and sound returned to normal.

Jon, thanks.  I don't watch tons of TV, besides the Samsung 260 boxes on the two systems, I do have the old Samsung SIR-T150s in the garage.  I do remember the reception being better with the 260 but not much else (I got the second 260 really cheap, at least back then, as an open box at Best Buy and got the second 150 cheap for back then used with no remote).  It does annoy me when I do watch 4:3 that the stuff is stretched (I guess I might check out the projectors to see if I could set them at 4:3).  Of course I have multiple TVs so if I watch 4:3 I have the old 55 inch set I had in my old master bedroom is a small spare bedroom and only sit 8 feet away and keep the room dark so it is like a smaller version of my old basement system.  I do check tuners now and then and have been tempted to pull the trigger a couple of times but since the 260s have not died I leave it alone.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Here's my final update, as I've finished "cutting that cord".

$60 - Internet. We get 100Meg from Charter.
$4 - Phone. Unlimited free calls with internet based service from Ooma (The $4 is taxes)
$15 - Tivo. Monthly DVR service. 75 hours HD, 500 hours SD. Can record four channels at one time

Our monthly bill went from $222 to $79.
Here's a couple random 'extras':

$14 - Netflix. We had this anyway, and have had for many years, didn't feel right to include it in the monthly numbers, since it wasn't figured in with things that changed.
$8 - Amazon Prime ($100 a year). We've had this for many years for the perks of buying online. We've only watched one movie, as we don't really "need" it for the movie aspect (but it's nice to have).
$00 - 24 channels of OTA from the MOHO 60 "sky" antenna

[WireNut]

That's awesome Bob, I bet it feels good. $4.00 for a phone service is unbelievable. Ooma will be my next phone service.

 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Indeed!
You know, I kinda messed that one up. I've spent so much time dealing with this, I got sloppy and rushed the phone aspect. As it turns out, having phone dropped from my Charter account lowered the bill a whopping $10. With Ooma being $4, I'm only saving $6 a month for dropping the phone. That'll take a long time to recoup.