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Cutting the Cable

Kevin Bresnahan
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Kevin Bresnahan Mentor

Kevin Bresnahan

Posted
Posted

I recently moved to Maine and the cable monopoly here is Spectrum. I got the "New customer deal" to sign up... I think it was $149/month for a "Triple play" (cable/internet/phone). After a year, it went up $20 so I called to switch over to the next "deal", a game I played with Comcast for decades. Their answer - "No deals. Only new customers get deals". So I stuck it out another year. And another year. This year, my bill was going to be $202/month. No way.

I tried You Tube TV for a month and it worked fine. Cloud DVR works great. All the local channels. $50/month. Switched to Spectrum internet for $70/month, dropped my landline and now I'm down to $120/month total.

Bye bye cable TV. Bye bye landline.

porcy62 Contributor

porcy62

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Captain Howdy said:

There is no competition and no government regulation, so the cable companies charge pretty much whatever they want.

Talking about cities, the richest market with more profits and less investments, more isolated locations are different animals, I have at least one call everyday, that is an hassle, from companies with combined offers cellphone/internet. Gas and electricity companies too are very aggressive in their search of new customers.

ghost of miles Experienced

ghost of miles

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, Captain Howdy said:

There is no competition and no government regulation, so the cable companies charge pretty much whatever they want.

Ain't it great?  And to our EU friends, enjoy the sanity of your health-care system:

 

Edited by ghost of miles
Justin V Community Regular

Justin V

Posted
Posted

Time Warner had an 'everyday low price' internet option for $14.99. Since becoming Spectrum, that has jumped to $27.99 after several increases, ehich is still cheap. 

For TV, we pay for ad-free Hulu Plus for $11.99 per month, which gives us access to the major networks except CBS.  During football season, we pay $5.99 per month to watch the Browns (*sigh*) live with CBS All Access.  However, I believe free Hulu and CBS would provide the same access, albeit with ads and perhaps shows expiring behind a paywall 4 or 5 weeks after airing.

Justin V Community Regular

Justin V

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, porcy62 said:

Gas and electricity companies too are very aggressive in their search of new customers.

We get people going door-to-door.  One rep visited while we were not home and managed to switch our service by faking my verbal consent.  It was pretty outrageous that he was able to pull it off.

It took hours on the phone to get it straightened out and required jumping through hoops to get out of early-termination fees despite the outright fraud.  On the very rare occasions I answer the door, I don't give any rep the time of day.

catesta Newbie

catesta

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, bresna said:

I recently moved to Maine and the cable monopoly here is Spectrum. I got the "New customer deal" to sign up... I think it was $149/month for a "Triple play" (cable/internet/phone). After a year, it went up $20 so I called to switch over to the next "deal", a game I played with Comcast for decades. Their answer - "No deals. Only new customers get deals". So I stuck it out another year. And another year. This year, my bill was going to be $202/month. No way.

I tried You Tube TV for a month and it worked fine. Cloud DVR works great. All the local channels. $50/month. Switched to Spectrum internet for $70/month, dropped my landline and now I'm down to $120/month total.

Bye bye cable TV. Bye bye landline.

I haven't had a land line for years and like you I'm about to dump cable. We are paying in excess of $220 for cable and internet. I'm looking for the right combination and hope to drop the cable at start of new year. We will continue to pay for the higher speed internet and do everything else through Roku or similar.

Kevin Bresnahan Mentor

Kevin Bresnahan

Posted
  • Author
Posted
2 hours ago, catesta said:

I haven't had a land line for years and like you I'm about to dump cable. We are paying in excess of $220 for cable and internet. I'm looking for the right combination and hope to drop the cable at start of new year. We will continue to pay for the higher speed internet and do everything else through Roku or similar.

I use a Roku for YouTube TV. I also have access to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu & Disney + through the Roku if I want to use those apps.

Shrdlu Newbie

Shrdlu

Posted
Posted

I never watch live TV. It is mainly rubbish anymore. I watch videos stored on an external hard drive. No ads, no annoying logos, and if I need to leave the room, a program can be paused. I also never answer my landline: spam calls have completely ruined it. I have an answering machine, for the rare genuine call. My cellphone has unlimited calls.

For me, landlines and cable/satellite TV are very 90s.

GregK Apprentice

GregK

Posted
Posted

I dropped cable in 2009, and with an antenna I didn't miss it at all. The antenna gave us higher quality broadcasts, and also access to channels we wouldn't get otherwise, like out of market stations. I hate to admit it but we signed up for cable again after a decade of not having it (because it was one of the new customer deals that gave us gigabit internet for less than we would pay for internet alone), and it just seems to have gotten worse. I thought some of these movie channels might be interesting, but they seem to just play the same movies endlessly. The news channels have been interesting to have during the impeachment hearings but I don't see much more that is worth paying for. Once our promo period is up, we will be dropping it again. I'm willing to pay for gigabit internet without the cable TV.

Soulstation1 Newbie

Soulstation1

Posted
Posted (edited)

Had Roku for a year now 

I only pay for MLB package / amazon prime and just signed up for Disney + / Espn + / Hulu for $14 a month 

I bought 2 rokus for Christmas gifts during Black Friday 

Edited by Soulstation1
sgcim Proficient

sgcim

Posted
Posted

I just got Roku express Plus. I was on the Roku forums complaining that my old Roku couldn't get You Tube anymore. They emailed me after that, saying that they would sell me Roku Express Plus for only $15 plus shipping. It turned out You Tube changed their settings so the first generation Roku box I had couldn't pick it up anymore. They were the only ones you could hook up to a VCR and tape things off of Roku. I hooked up the new Roku Express Plus to my VCR, and I'm back in business.

  • 3 months later...
Tom in RI Contributor

Tom in RI

Posted
Posted (edited)

I’m using YouTube TV and have Roku’s on three tv’s around the house. No land line and I am self employed with a home office so the cost of internet is tax deductible for me. Changing channels is something that quite bothers my wife but I’ve made the adjustment and I can’t see ever going back to cable.

Edited by Tom in RI
felser Veteran

felser

Posted
Posted

Anything free and rebroadcasting "State of Grace" episodes?  I don't keep up, watch no TV except sports and cable news (and I ration both of those).

JSngry Grand Master

JSngry

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, GA Russell said:

Care to recommend any, Jim?

Right now, I'm burrowing into this one for their 8 seasons of Ozzie & Harriet https://www.rokuguide.com/channels/50s-television

Don't expect any type of quality curation, it's just whatever shows have survived in whatever form they exist, but good lord, the Aunt Jemima commericals, where they exist, are worth it by themselves.

And if you like the radio version of The Whistler (and I very much do), here's a TV version: https://www.rokuguide.com/channels/the-whistler

And oh by the way - Martin Kane! https://www.rokuguide.com/channels/martin-kane-private-eye

There's buttloads of these type stations, TV shows AND moviesnone at all "curated", but all free, so...you can get as lost as you want to for as long as you want to.

 

  • 2 weeks later...
GA Russell Veteran

GA Russell

Posted
Posted
On 4/1/2020 at 7:52 AM, JSngry said:

Right now, I'm burrowing into this one for their 8 seasons of Ozzie & Harriet https://www.rokuguide.com/channels/50s-television

Don't expect any type of quality curation, it's just whatever shows have survived in whatever form they exist, but good lord, the Aunt Jemima commericals, where they exist, are worth it by themselves.

And if you like the radio version of The Whistler (and I very much do), here's a TV version: https://www.rokuguide.com/channels/the-whistler

And oh by the way - Martin Kane! https://www.rokuguide.com/channels/martin-kane-private-eye

There's buttloads of these type stations, TV shows AND moviesnone at all "curated", but all free, so...you can get as lost as you want to for as long as you want to.

 

Sounds good.  Any of the Boston Blackie TV shows?

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