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Considering Cutting Cable

Towen7 said:
...my scrawny 6Mbit/sec connection.
Click to expand...

:text-threadjacked:

:eek: My...my...my how quickly we get spoiled. Just think, 5-10 years ago you would have been bragging about 6Mbit/s.

Back to the topic:

I'm with ya. I can't tell you how much I enjoy being able to watch Netflix stuff w/ either a player or a TV. I could install a bedroom TV w/ just an outlet and a piece of CAT5 to my router and be perfectly happy.

John
 
I realized how silly it sounded to complain about 6Mbps as I typed it. I was a field technician for the telephone company when a 1.5 Mbps DSL was crazy fast. FF to today and I'm looking to get a 20Mbps line installed ASAP.
 
Towen7 said:
...I'm looking to get a 20Mbps line installed ASAP.
Click to expand...

That's a major disadvantage of where I live. The cable company :angry-cussingblack: offers 10Mbs but you have to at least get their "basic" cable package (because they can't filter it out) and that totals ~$77/mo. AT&T offers 6Mbs for $19.95/mo but that's the peak.

John
 
A good thing about DSL is that peak speeds are usaully what you get because you're not sharing bandwidth with others. You have a dedicated line between your modem and the Central Office. If you're provisioned for 6Mbps that is what you'll get. The only thing that would limit speed is faults on the physical copper lines and those will be repaired at no cost.
 
Hulu+ ont the Samsung 6900 is happy with 6Mbps as well.... unless anyone in the house is on-line.

A couple of weeks ago the local cable company was offering 20Mbps for $30/month. I decided to wait until I got all the equipment set-up to determine if I would need a faster connection than my 6Mbps DSL. That's done now and I do so I called the cable comapny today.

Guess what? They are no longer offering that price. The best they offered me today was $70/mo.


---- EDIT ----

It took 45 minutes on the phone with ComCast but they finally gave me the $30/month price for 12 months. The crazy thing is that if I have to get basic cable for free. If I order Internet service ONLY than the price doubles and the rate garuntee period gets cut in half.
 
That sounds like the Comcastic way of doing things...oops Xfinity. I guess when you drag your name through the shit for years it helps to change the name and fool customers.

Rope
 
Towen7 said:
It took 45 minutes on the phone with ComCast but they finally gave me the $30/month price for 12 months. The crazy thing is that if I have to get basic cable for free. If I order Internet service ONLY than the price doubles and the rate garuntee period gets cut in half.
Click to expand...
Sounds like buying plane tickets... :x
 
Just my $0.02. We had NO cable/sat/ota for 2.5 months this summer. No netflix or hulu (I live in Canada). We had DVD/Blu-ray. Except for NFL and Hockey, I'd cut my sat off today. We didn't miss having TV at all. My three kids (5,3,1.5) all played more and would simply watch a DVD when it was time for some down time.

I wait all week for Sunday football, so I dont think that I could go without sat at all right now, though.
 
I get pretty good OTA reception so I'm okay on Football Sunday. I do miss the RedZone channel and Monday Night Football though. Just not enough to justify $75/mo for it.
 
Well, now you're missing Thursday football too, but I'm not trying to rub it in.

You're not missing much for Monday Night. That team has gotten better at commentating but they are still not quite there, in my oppinion. The games have been hit and miss. At least with Sunday, if you're watching a stinker, you can find a game that's worth watching.
 
Tom, what you are describing is how I have lived my life for the last 7 years. Except instead of roku boxes I use HTPC and extender boxes. First year costs suck but wait until the following years. I love tv but have very little time for it, so I pressed to watch the shows I love.

That being said, my kids are young and cartoons are plentiful on netflix so we may be in different boats.
 
I signed up for Hulu +. Aside from Family guy which I get on Netflix there is not one thing I watch. The movie selection looks horrible. Glad it's a free week.
 
I don't watch much TV so I had no problem with missing any shows. I decided that since I can't get Uverse, don't want to sign a 2 year contract for satellite, and and refuse to pay Comcast one penny more than I have to...
 
After getting the new Roku XDS, between Netflix and checking what is on Hulu+ I may be closer to losing DTV. Unfortunately it doesn't look like CBS shows are available and there are several I really like (BB Theory, Mentalist, Criminal Minds) But there is always just waiting for those to come out on disk.

Cable and satellite companies must be a bit concerned.
 
You can get at least some of the CBS shows on cbs.com, we've occasionally watched NCIS episodes on there - between that and the Simpsons, those are the only TV shows I tend to watch in the current season.
 
Thats the problem with cutting cable. What is available is not all in one place; websites, Amazon on Demand, Apple TV, Hulu, Hulu+, Roku,, Netflix, iTunes, yada-yada-yada

Google TV and Boxee Box are poor but important attempts to collate and curate all of the content that is spread over the interwebs. One box to rule them all is what we need.
 
Me and the GF watch on average about 5 hours of TV a day so Directv is very much needed. Luckily I have a bundle package with Qwest so with the extended plan, HD channels, Three boxes - two are HD, DVR service, and insurance package, my bill comes to about 90.00/month and I figure life is too short to worry about 90.00 with all the TV I watch. Growing up daily I would listen to my dad bitch about the electric bill so he would keep the house 10 degrees colder than normal during the winter and 10 degrees hotter in summer. This from a man who has more money than God, but daily he would bitch that somebody touched the thermastat (sorry dad, it was either too hot or cold and you could afford it) Anyway decades later I have my own place and I keep the temp at a comfortable level, because spending the extra money is worth my comfort and if 50.00/month is all it costs me than it's worth it and I still let my dad know this.......and I don't even have the money the old man has. I figure you can't take it with you so might as well be comfortable.
 
That article is pretty close to my experience and the dozens of others I have read just like it. Since the thread was bumped I'll share my thoughts after cutting cable for several months now.

I don't regret it at all. Not even a little bit. It's not just the monthly money savings that I'm enjoying;

I drop in on friends for must see sporting events that are only on cable and in return they come by for movies in the HT.

I read more, listen to more music, and interact with the family more too.

Overall the house just seems more pleasant now thats it's quiet or a little music in the background instead of Dirty Jobs or Man vs. Food on the TV 24/7.

I don't miss the bias of 24 hour news. I used to think that I and my friends all thought for ourselves when we watched political talk shows. Now that I'm less exposed to the same commentary that they consume, I find myself disagreeing with my friends and engaging in more stimulating debate. Instead hearing a bunch of "hell yeah" when we discuss current event or politics there are a lot more "wait, what the hell did you just say?".
 
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