Cutting the cord on Cable

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stemikger
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by stemikger »

check out this site.

cancelcable.com

For 3 years I have an antenna on my roof and get all my local channels, crystal clear. For all my shows that I used to love on cable, I get through Netflix and Amazon Instant streaming through ROKU boxes. I have 3 Roku boxes, one for each TV.

I actually get more TV for $7.99 per month than I did with DirectTV at $75 per month.

Of course there was the intial cost of paying a tech to put an antenna on my roof and the purchase of the roku boxes. However, that is a one time fee and then you get free TV for life.
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gofigure
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by gofigure »

I've been using OTA digital for many years. I currently have a Yagi UHF antenna on the roof with a cable that runs to the attic to an amplifier which runs into an HD receiver/tuner. The receiver captures the RF signal and streams it over my home IP network. I have a home networked PC running Windows Media Center w/video and audio output directed to a TV in the family room. WMC provides a TV guide, channel manager, stop and resume, DVR....I can receive the streamed HD signal from any PC/IPAD on the home IP network.
Mudpuppy
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Mudpuppy »

ilmartello wrote:
Mudpuppy wrote:
ilmartello wrote:amazon prime and netflix don't carry current tv shows.
They do if you're willing to wait for the box set to come out. I'm beginning to feel like you are intentionally overlooking my "delayed gratification never hurt anyone" point about TV shows.
if the object is to save money, buying a box set later is much more expensive
You don't buy the boxed set. You stream it on your monthly Netflix, Hulu Plus or Amazon account when the boxed set comes out and the season is put in the streaming library. The only thing you're paying for is the access to Netflix, Hulu Plus or Amazon, which annually adds up to less than the cost of 2-3 boxed sets (not to mention all the movies you can also watch from that monthly fee).

I don't know, maybe they don't carry the TV shows you watch, but they certainly carry enough TV shows that are popular and only cost the monthly service charge to stream. I don't see why there's this insistence to say they don't have current TV shows or that to get them is going to be expensive.
Tom_T wrote:No, they don't. They carry a very small percentage of what you can watch on cable on any given night.
Who says that people need to watch that much TV on any given night or that the variety on cable is any good? I can recall many a night with cable channel surfing and finding absolutely nothing worthwhile to watch, what with SciFi going to SyFy and putting on wrestling and TLC going to "let's have edgy reality shows" instead of being The Learning Channel and so on... Quantity does not always mean quality.
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ejvyas
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by ejvyas »

aja8888 wrote:
topper1296 wrote:
topper1296 wrote:I called Comcast to drop my service. I was on hold for about 5 minutes when a woman answered the phone and asked for my number and the reason I was calling. I gave my number and told her I wanted to drop my service. She said I would receive a phone call before the end of the day. Well, 4 hours later I didn't receive the call. Comcast cable. . . . it [removed --admin LadyGeek].
I called [Comcast --admin LadyGeek] again and downgraded my service for now. Once college basketball season is over, I will drop down to the bare bones package that still has ESPN, ESPN2, and CNBC. I will even drop the HD service at that time and use rabbit ears to watch some stations in HD and stream over the internet for more HD. I figure this is a decent intermediary step to cutting the cable completely. On a side note, [Comcast --admin LadyGeek] cut me a 6 month deal on my downgraded package.
What happens after 6 months?
Call them again and extend promotion
67vwbug
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by 67vwbug »

I haven't seen PlayOn mentioned (http://www.playon.tv/). A couple of people have cut the cord at work and are using PlayOn for some channels in addition to local antennae.
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magellan
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by magellan »

67vwbug wrote:I haven't seen PlayOn mentioned (http://www.playon.tv/). A couple of people have cut the cord at work and are using PlayOn for some channels in addition to local antennae.
I tried to use PlayOn for a while with my Roku, but in the end I dumped it. I found the setup a little clumsy and it consumed a LOT of resources on my laptop.

Instead, I spent around $150 on ebay for a solid performing laptop with a damaged LCD. I added an external keyboard/touchpad and now the laptop is permanently connected to my HD TV and acts as my home's 'file, print, and media server'.

Jim
bungalow10
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by bungalow10 »

We ditched DirecTV about a week ago.

We have Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon Prime. I bought a good powered HD antenna at Costco for $48 and we get way more channels than we anticipated.

So far so good!
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jimhend1
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by jimhend1 »

If you kept high speed internet from the cable company, you might try hooking the leftover cable back to the tv an doing a channel search using cable tuner setting. The same cable carries HSI and tv programming. They trap out the costly midrange channels and sports. We find that the local network channels come in perfectly in HD. We dropped all but HSI, use vonage VOIP for phone, and the local channels (crap content that it is) are received perfectly. ROKU for netflix, fox news, and a couple of streaming movie channels round it out.
Monkeyarms
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Monkeyarms »

ejvyas wrote:
aja8888 wrote:
topper1296 wrote:
topper1296 wrote:I called Comcast to drop my service. I was on hold for about 5 minutes when a woman answered the phone and asked for my number and the reason I was calling. I gave my number and told her I wanted to drop my service. She said I would receive a phone call before the end of the day. Well, 4 hours later I didn't receive the call. Comcast cable. . . . it [removed --admin LadyGeek].
I called [Comcast --admin LadyGeek] again and downgraded my service for now. Once college basketball season is over, I will drop down to the bare bones package that still has ESPN, ESPN2, and CNBC. I will even drop the HD service at that time and use rabbit ears to watch some stations in HD and stream over the internet for more HD. I figure this is a decent intermediary step to cutting the cable completely. On a side note, [Comcast --admin LadyGeek] cut me a 6 month deal on my downgraded package.
What happens after 6 months?
Call them again and extend promotion
I just called and talked to them and they gave me the preferred internet for $40/month for the next 12 months. All you have to do is say you are an existing customer and you would like a cheaper, flat rate.
My opinion is offered from a place of altruism, please do not take my words as law or my intentions as malicious.
fatima526
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by fatima526 »

About 10 years ago I asked my provider to reduce me from "Family Cable" (80+ channels, $150/mo) to "Basic Cable" (just the major networks and a few PBS stations, $12/mo).

Never a big TV watcher, I don't miss "Family Cable". Netflix and local library system make up for it.

2 anecdotes:

- for some reason, even though they started billing me for "Basic", I still had access to "Family" for about 3 years! Then it mysteriously went away. Even then, I almost never watched it.

- June 2012 they enforced use of a cable box in the house (used to just plug the cable directly into the TV). Cable boxes are free for two years, then they will start $2/month per box charge. When they made this change, somehow they enabled "Family" again (at the "Basic" rate), until the day after Thanksgiving 2012, when "Family" access mysteriously went away. By this time I was a college football fan so it was great for the Fall 2012 season.

I was going to let them know I was getting "Family" at "Basic" rates, but the Terms Of Service state they have the right to change programming, so I just assumed they were exercising those rights.
jlawrence01
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by jlawrence01 »

I had cable 2009- May 2013 after a six year hiatus. Cutting the cable was a compromise with my DW to help her support my decision to retire. She was afraid - with some justification - that I would watch TV all day.

I was tired of the content, honestly. Much of the well done content were shows that I saw 1998-2002 when we had cable. I found that a lot of the TV I was watching were reruns on historical television on ME-TV or reality shows like Deadliest Catch or Alaska State Trooper or teh Police Women of Naperville.

Also, I found that I was never really "watching" TV as I am always on the internet.

In the past three months, I have done the following to replace the TV.

1) I listen to the I-Tunes radio for sports, Old time Radio (my true passion), and international radio.
2) I bought a ROKU. I am still have mixed emotions about that as so much of its content is not free.
3) I read a heck of a lot more. In three months, I have read about 20 books. That is not great but that is more than I have done in the last three years.
jlawrence01
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by jlawrence01 »

fatima526 wrote:2 anecdotes:

- for some reason, even though they started billing me for "Basic", I still had access to "Family" for about 3 years! Then it mysteriously went away. Even then, I almost never watched it.

- June 2012 they enforced use of a cable box in the house (used to just plug the cable directly into the TV). Cable boxes are free for two years, then they will start $2/month per box charge. When they made this change, somehow they enabled "Family" again (at the "Basic" rate), until the day after Thanksgiving 2012, when "Family" access mysteriously went away. By this time I was a college football fan so it was great for the Fall 2012 season.

I was going to let them know I was getting "Family" at "Basic" rates, but the Terms Of Service state they have the right to change programming, so I just assumed they were exercising those rights.
One of the secrets of cable companies don't tell you is that when you downgrade your services, often, they forget to put in a work order.

I had one friend who received a promotion - free HBO and Showtime for six months. At the end of the promotional period, he called to have those services discontinued. He had access to them - for TWELVE years.

We canceled cable one time. The billing stopped immediately. The service did not for about a year.
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Boglenaut
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Boglenaut »

jlawrence01 wrote: I found that a lot of the TV I was watching were reruns on historical television on ME-TV ].
I get ME-TV over the air. I watch it less now though because some of the shows are on Netflix.

For some reason, I get TV-Land downstairs OTA but not upstairs.
mbenz1997
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by mbenz1997 »

I haven't had cable in 11 years...when I compare the costs, I've probably saved about 7-8k, which has been put to work in investments.

I think most TV is pretty stupid, and with the advent of so many reality tv shows, I have no desire to pay for that garbage.

I use netflix, hulu, crackle, amazon prime, and youTube for any entertainment needs. News from CNN, bloomberg, local online newspaper, etc. There are a handful of shows I watch online as well - daily show and south park. Total cost for it all is about 15 bucks per month.
oxothuk
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by oxothuk »

stan1 wrote:What do news junkies do when you cancel cable?
[OT comment removed by admin LadyGeek]
Quickfoot
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Quickfoot »

We got rid of Dish Network about 6 months ago and now just use Netflix and ESPN's app on Apple TV for College Football. We have a Roku, Apple TV and Xbox to stream with and haven't had a problem. We tried Hulu but after 6 months of not having any commercials the commercials drove us insane. We are saving $60 a month and save 15 minutes per hour of TV we do watch by not having commercials.
What do news junkies do when you cancel cable?
If you get your news from TV you are about a day behind and have way less information than you should. Try news.google.com and news.yahoo.com, you get multiple sources for each story and get it way faster than TV can bring it to you. Plus you don't have to wait for the TV to get around to the stories you actually care about.
Valdeselad
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Valdeselad »

Quickfoot wrote:We got rid of Dish Network about 6 months ago and now just use Netflix and ESPN's app on Apple TV for College Football. We have a Roku, Apple TV and Xbox to stream with and haven't had a problem. We tried Hulu but after 6 months of not having any commercials the commercials drove us insane. We are saving $60 a month and save 15 minutes per hour of TV we do watch by not having commercials.
Don't you need to have an ESPN subscription via a cable provider for the app to work on AppleTV?
ataloss
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by ataloss »

Using a Magnavox DVR with over the air TV has worked great for me. We record things to watch later so there is always something to watch when the mood strikes. This and the outside antenna (installed) amount to about 6 months of cable bills. Over the last 3 years we have watched better quality programming and saved a lot.
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Ged
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Ged »

Live sports is the reason I'm unlikely to drop cable any time soon.

The shows I like are so loaded with commercials I generally consider them unwatchable. I often wait until I can get them on DVD compilations on Netflix or streamed. If I have to occasionally PPV them, it's worth it. TV news is so dumbed down and loaded with politics that I don't watch it - I go to better sources on the internet.

Live sports though? Local teams in my area are mostly shown on cable.

My hope is that there will come a day when I can get a couple of sports channels ala carte. The other 69105 or so channels will not be missed.
Frank2012
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Frank2012 »

For those who have cut the cable cord....what Internet provider are you using and what is the cost? I'm just wondering if you are really saving so much money when you still have to pay a subscription for Hulu, Apple, etc on top of the cost of Internet?
thewizzer
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by thewizzer »

Frank2012 wrote:For those who have cut the cable cord....what Internet provider are you using and what is the cost? I'm just wondering if you are really saving so much money when you still have to pay a subscription for Hulu, Apple, etc on top of the cost of Internet?
I'm with Mediacom and it costs me $50 a month for about 12 mbps service. However, this was the same rate I was paying before cutting cable (over 2 years ago), so there's no extra added cost. I don't feel like I'm missing anything at all. Actually, there's still too much content out there to actually watch it all.
oxothuk
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by oxothuk »

Frank2012 wrote:For those who have cut the cable cord....what Internet provider are you using and what is the cost? I'm just wondering if you are really saving so much money when you still have to pay a subscription for Hulu, Apple, etc on top of the cost of Internet?
Not sure if I qualify as a cable-cutter, since I've been without subscription TV for 23 years. I pay $65 per month for a DSL+POTS bundle.

But for me the price of Internet connectivity is irrelevant to this discussion. I had Internet connectivity long before Netflix streaming came along, and I would still have it if Netflix streaming went away.
Mudpuppy
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Mudpuppy »

Frank2012 wrote:For those who have cut the cable cord....what Internet provider are you using and what is the cost? I'm just wondering if you are really saving so much money when you still have to pay a subscription for Hulu, Apple, etc on top of the cost of Internet?
No Hulu Plus (just the free Hulu), no iTunes (except for the free stuff), no Netflix. I do have Amazon Prime, but that was mostly for the shipping. The video streams are a bonus. Same Internet plan I had before I cancelled cable TV: standard cable (no perks). I pay an additional $5 a month to be "Internet only". I got the digital to analog converter for my old TV for free with the government coupon, and I used an antenna I already had in storage from my college days.

Total outlay cost: $0
Monthly additional fees: $12
Monthly savings: $53 (cable TV service + taxes)

Total savings per month: $41
ieee488
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by ieee488 »

Frank2012 wrote:For those who have cut the cable cord....what Internet provider are you using and what is the cost? I'm just wondering if you are really saving so much money when you still have to pay a subscription for Hulu, Apple, etc on top of the cost of Internet?
Another question to be asked is whether you might as well pay for basic cable + internet.
With Comcast, it is very difficult to find out the internet only price.
I think the last time I received a price list, internet only was about the same as internet with basic cable.
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Paul78
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Paul78 »

only reason I have cable is live sports.

streaming it on some illegal site on the internet is just not good enough for me.

Sure this "live sports" habit cost me more then 1k a year BUT I can not give it up at this point.

Literally EVERYTHING other then live sports can easily be replace with a cheap Netflix sub and legal/illegal internet streaming.

Internet on the other hand is something I doubt I will ever be able to do without.
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Don_Qua
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Don_Qua »

ieee488 wrote:
Frank2012 wrote:For those who have cut the cable cord....what Internet provider are you using and what is the cost? I'm just wondering if you are really saving so much money when you still have to pay a subscription for Hulu, Apple, etc on top of the cost of Internet?
Another question to be asked is whether you might as well pay for basic cable + internet.
With Comcast, it is very difficult to find out the internet only price.
I think the last time I received a price list, internet only was about the same as internet with basic cable.
Comcast and I are on the verge of getting a partial divorce. I need them for Internet access because the only alternative is slower and more expensive DSL. I've had it with Comcast's greedy ways when it comes to cable TV and their poor and often clueless customer service in general. Between Netflix, downloads from YouTube and an antenna I thought I could cut some fingers off of that hand of theirs that's in my pocket every month but I was wrong. I called them last week to find out what it would cost for us to have Internet from them and nothing else. To do that would bump up the cost for the Internet by $15 or $17 a month (I forget which) but that's what Comcast charges for not having TV. Monopolies have been dissolved in land line phones and some can even pick their power company so why is cable TV the last wired monopoly standing almost everywhere in the US?
ataloss
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by ataloss »

comcast- $39.95/mo for internet no cable for me
ieee488
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by ieee488 »

ataloss wrote:comcast- $39.95/mo for internet no cable for me
$29.95 internet - Economy Plus
$16.95 cable - Limited Basic
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JoMoney
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by JoMoney »

Frank2012 wrote:...Monopolies have been dissolved in land line phones and some can even pick their power company so why is cable TV the last wired monopoly standing almost everywhere in the US?
This is so frustrating! I know you're upset about getting good Internet. Hopefully, things like improved wireless connections and "Google Fiber" will bring more competition for broadband carriers.
For me, I've been most frustrated with media only being made available on the Internet if you first prove you subscribe to a cable or dish plan. It's ridiculous. I love the Netflix model, it makes me so angry that I have to keep a DVD plan because there is no telling if or when the same shows that have been released will be made available for streaming on the Internet. I would be more than willing to pay the same price I'm paying for the DVD & Instant/Streaming plan if they would just make everything available to stream. Why do I have to wait around for them to mail me a disc when the technology to do it cheaper/better/faster is here today??? Some big companies trying to hold on to a dated business model that can't last.
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Kalo
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Kalo »

I don't know what the quality is like because I haven't tried it yet, but you can check out Clear 4G high speed mobile internet service for home & on-the-go at www.clear.com. It's $35 for limited or $40 for unlimited.

I don't think cable is really a monopoly any more. I think they're coasting on the momentum of people not forcing the issue with them. Best way to negotiate with cable is to take back all your hardware that you're leasing from them, drop all service, wait a couple of months (or a week probably), call them up (or just go to their web site), and find out what you can get and what it would cost. My neighbor got her internet service from Comcast for $40 per month (she just had to buy her own modem to avoid the $7 lease fee). We just went to the web site and found the deal and ordered it for her online. Self installed it.

I'm planning to drop my TV service from Comcast soon. Will keep the internet. As for paying extra for not buying TV from them? Forget that. I can choose Clear for the same price. I don't need Comcast. I'm not a heavy internet user (don't game, just surf the web) so I don't even care how many mega whatevers I get. I don't think I even want Roku or Netflix or any of that. TV sux. The best TV show in the world is just a waste of your precious time.

I could even just use my 3G cell phone for my internet needs and save the $40 too. But my current phone is not that great.

Kalo
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Frank2012
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Frank2012 »

JoMoney wrote:
Frank2012 wrote:...Monopolies have been dissolved in land line phones and some can even pick their power company so why is cable TV the last wired monopoly standing almost everywhere in the US?
This is so frustrating! I know you're upset about getting good Internet. Hopefully, things like improved wireless connections and "Google Fiber" will bring more competition for broadband carriers.
For me, I've been most frustrated with media only being made available on the Internet if you first prove you subscribe to a cable or dish plan. It's ridiculous. I love the Netflix model, it makes me so angry that I have to keep a DVD plan because there is no telling if or when the same shows that have been released will be made available for streaming on the Internet. I would be more than willing to pay the same price I'm paying for the DVD & Instant/Streaming plan if they would just make everything available to stream. Why do I have to wait around for them to mail me a disc when the technology to do it cheaper/better/faster is here today??? Some big companies trying to hold on to a dated business model that can't last.

Just to set the record straight....I did not say anything about monopolies...that's not my quote. I'm just questioning whether there are really any savings by cutting cable when you still have to pay for Internet. By the looks of the posts, it seems to me to be at least in some cases to be a wash. But I must admit to a certain feeling of satisfaction if I could dump cable!
ieee488
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by ieee488 »

Kalo wrote:I don't know what the quality is like because I haven't tried it yet, but you can check out Clear 4G high speed mobile internet service for home & on-the-go at http://www.clear.com. It's $35 for limited or $40 for unlimited.

I don't think cable is really a monopoly any more. I think they're coasting on the momentum of people not forcing the issue with them. Best way to negotiate with cable is to take back all your hardware that you're leasing from them, drop all service, wait a couple of months (or a week probably), call them up (or just go to their web site), and find out what you can get and what it would cost. My neighbor got her internet service from Comcast for $40 per month (she just had to buy her own modem to avoid the $7 lease fee). We just went to the web site and found the deal and ordered it for her online. Self installed it.

I'm planning to drop my TV service from Comcast soon. Will keep the internet. As for paying extra for not buying TV from them? Forget that. I can choose Clear for the same price. I don't need Comcast. I'm not a heavy internet user (don't game, just surf the web) so I don't even care how many mega whatevers I get. I don't think I even want Roku or Netflix or any of that. TV sux. The best TV show in the world is just a waste of your precious time.

I could even just use my 3G cell phone for my internet needs and save the $40 too. But my current phone is not that great.

Kalo
A lot of bold words but not much action.

You should actually switch to Clear and tell us about it.

As for using your 3G cell phone for internet. Please do that. And let us know how that goes too.
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Don_Qua
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Don_Qua »

ieee488 wrote:
ataloss wrote:comcast- $39.95/mo for internet no cable for me
$29.95 internet - Economy Plus
$16.95 cable - Limited Basic
I must live in a more expensive market. Comcast has been charging me $23.95 for Limited Basic. It's supposedly their lowest tier of TV service which has local stations, CSPAN, Weather, Discovery, an over abundance of shopping and religion channels and no sports. I'll have to ask them about Economy Plus, I'm presently giving them $51.95 for their standard Internet through a modem that I own.
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Don_Qua
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Don_Qua »

Kalo wrote:I don't know what the quality is like because I haven't tried it yet, but you can check out Clear 4G high speed mobile internet service for home & on-the-go at http://www.clear.com. It's $35 for limited or $40 for unlimited.
I considered Clear and checked them out. They have a tower for their WIMAX service less than a block from our house and I guess I've been using them without knowing it for 4G on my Sprint phone. My brother and a co-worker both tried Clear as the ISP and were very unhappy, both said that the service was slow, often down and advised me to stay away. Until being purchased by Sprint a few weeks ago Clear was bankrupt. Reviews from users in the local media have been equally sour and the speeds are much slower than Comcast. When I checked Clear also required a 2 year contract so I decided to stay with the devil I know in Comcast for Internet service.
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Kalo
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Kalo »

Don_Qua wrote:
Kalo wrote:I don't know what the quality is like because I haven't tried it yet, but you can check out Clear 4G high speed mobile internet service for home & on-the-go at http://www.clear.com. It's $35 for limited or $40 for unlimited.
I considered Clear and checked them out. They have a tower for their WIMAX service less than a block from our house and I guess I've been using them without knowing it for 4G on my Sprint phone. My brother and a co-worker both tried Clear as the ISP and were very unhappy, both said that the service was slow, often down and advised me to stay away. Until being purchased by Sprint a few weeks ago Clear was bankrupt. Reviews from users in the local media have been equally sour and the speeds are much slower than Comcast. When I checked Clear also required a 2 year contract so I decided to stay with the devil I know in Comcast for Internet service.
Like I said, I don't know what the quality is like, but their website says No Annual Contracts on the front page. I can't find anything on Clear ever going through bankruptcy proceedings. Do you have a source for that? Regardless, Sprint now owns them outright. I'm not vouching for Clear at all, have not tried it.

Kalo
"When people say they have a high risk tolerance, what they really mean is that they are willing to make a lot of money." -- Ben Stein/Phil DeMuth - The Little Book of Bullet Proof Investing.
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Don_Qua
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Don_Qua »

Kalo wrote:Like I said, I don't know what the quality is like, but their website says No Annual Contracts on the front page. I can't find anything on Clear ever going through bankruptcy proceedings. Do you have a source for that? Regardless, Spring now owns them outright. Kalo
I checked and Clear (the brand is Clear but the company behind it was Clearwire) did not formally declare bankruptcy. But they did flirt with it http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 58808.html They're based near me and stories about their troubles both financial and in delivering service have often appeared in the local media. When I was shopping for an alternative to Comcast a year or 2 back my coworker complained about her inability to get out of her contract, my brother got out during the grace period before his contract would've kicked in because he said the service was so bad. If they don't require contracts now, well good for them. That's a point in their favor.
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Kalo
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Kalo »

ieee488 wrote:
Kalo wrote:...

I could even just use my 3G cell phone for my internet needs and save the $40 too. But my current phone is not that great.

Kalo
A lot of bold words but not much action.

You should actually switch to Clear and tell us about it.

As for using your 3G cell phone for internet. Please do that. And let us know how that goes too.
Well I'm posting this from my 3G phone, not terribly difficult.

Kalo
"When people say they have a high risk tolerance, what they really mean is that they are willing to make a lot of money." -- Ben Stein/Phil DeMuth - The Little Book of Bullet Proof Investing.
chaz
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by chaz »

I like my cable service for TV, computer & iPad.
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Mudpuppy
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Mudpuppy »

ieee488 wrote:
ataloss wrote:comcast- $39.95/mo for internet no cable for me
$29.95 internet - Economy Plus
$16.95 cable - Limited Basic
Isn't the Economy Plus plan rate limited to only a couple hundred kbps? It might work for someone who just reads email and surfs the web, but it could be a bit too puny for someone who wants to replace cable with streaming video providers like Hulu, Netflix, etc.
RobInCT
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by RobInCT »

I haven't had cable in years. I agree with the poster upthread who said that sports are pretty much the only thing there's no (legal) workaround for. I'm a year behind on a lot of the more popular TV shows that don't stream online (a surprising number do stream on the network websites contemporaneous with the showing on TV or, at worst, with a several week lag) because I have to wait for them to make it to Netflix, but I feel like that's relatively common in my demographic peer group (30ish year olds) as more and more of us bail on cable. Among my friends I'd say less than 50% have cable. That's an extra $100/month that can go towards our student loans...
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Don_Qua
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by Don_Qua »

Mudpuppy wrote:
ieee488 wrote:
ataloss wrote:comcast- $39.95/mo for internet no cable for me
$29.95 internet - Economy Plus
$16.95 cable - Limited Basic
Isn't the Economy Plus plan rate limited to only a couple hundred kbps? It might work for someone who just reads email and surfs the web, but it could be a bit too puny for someone who wants to replace cable with streaming video providers like Hulu, Netflix, etc.
Comcast says this about the speed of Economy Plus, "Download speeds up to 3 Mbps", according to this expired promotion: http://www.comcast.com/cen_internet That tier of service is probably how they compete with DSL and Clear on price. I don't know about Hulu but Netflix can automatically adapt to a slower connection by degrading quality which you may or may not notice as pixelation.

According to Comcast's rate sheet for my area dated 1/2013 Economy Plus Internet would cost me $39.95 per month as a stand alone option or $29.95 bundled with some kind of TV. "Performance Internet" costs $48.95 with any bundle, $64.95 as a stand alone. The same sheet says that Limited basic cable TV can cost between $13.70 and $24.41 per month depending on where one lives. My city is at the high end of that range. The sheet is least one rate increase out of date, it's here: http://www.seattle.gov/cable/documents/ ... 13_000.pdf
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

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mojave
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by mojave »

Just shut off cable and home phone with at&t. The guy even went so far as to help me shave $20 off our cell phone bill.

Starting out with Hulu Plus and maybe getting Netflix down the road.

Really happy to have gotten rid of this expense!
tweeter
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by tweeter »

For those finding it hard to cut the cord with cable you can at least negotiate a lower rate. When you call you have to make sure that you choose the option to "Cancel service" not "downgrade service". Then you tell them you are cancelling and give them the reasons why. You will more than likely be offered a deal to stay. I have found that if you decline the first deal, they may offer a better one. If someone doesn't offer you an acceptable deal, hang up and call back later to try again with another rep. This has worked for me with Comcast. At least if you find yourself unable to let go of cable, you are not getting as ripped off as your neighbors.
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by bungalow10 »

We cut cable on 7/3 and just got a pleasant surprise on our last electric bill. For a little background, we got rid of an old CRT TV, DVR (DirecTV), receiver and Roku. In exchange, we got a 50" LED smart TV with sound bar and an HD antenna.

Today I received our electric bill and it dropped significantly. I don't think all of it is the switch, but I think some of it must be because it is about half what it normally is. I did some googling and found out that those cable/satellite DVR boxes are energy hogs, and the receiver, old TV, and Roku may have been as well.
An elephant for a dime is only a good deal if you need an elephant and have a dime.
DTSC
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Re: Cutting the cord on Cable

Post by DTSC »

I haven't read the book, (The Frugal Guide to Cutting the Cable Cord (And Saving $$$)) but it might be interesting. The price is right anyhow - free Kindle book from Amazon today

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