Tigers X - Number one Source to Talk Auburn Tigers Sports
The Library => Broun Hall => Topic started by: Snaggletiger on January 30, 2018, 03:22:15 PM
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Cable/Dish/Direct/Hulu/ScrewYou.... I need recommendations on switching providers. Something that makes more sense and doesn't cost so damn much. Yep, we're still attached to teh cables. We have our TV, Interwebz and phone bundled through WOW. It's suited our needs up until now, but they've changed and so have we. Slowly but Shirley, we've weeded out the land line, so we don't need that expense. Our interwebbings are fine. Fast enough. No complaints. But here's where WOW lost me. Started noticing last month that there were several channels we weren't getting. We have 4 total TV's in the house and 3 were not getting signals for about 8-10 channels. I figured the problem had to be the one TV we were getting all the channels was the one with the digital box, which is on our main TV and gets 8,000,000 channels, which we watch about .0056% or 125/296,511ths of the time. :thumsup:
So, when I call WOW, I hear exactly what I thought I would. Gotta' have a box for each TV. That's completely unnecessary and that also ain't happenin'. Plus, my wonderful bundle is now popping me for just north of $240.00/month. Okay, so what to do?
Two things. We are pretty basic in our TV watching. What comes with basic cable just about covers my needs. I want the local TV station for news etc. I need my sports channels, some Discovery, Travel, HGTV for Chip and Joanna Gaines and so on. 40 selections or less satisfies the Snags. Snagette needs about 1/3 of that. The other thing is, and this is where I need some real input (After the old man/how do you download videos to facebook jokes) Just about all the TV's in the house are 8-10 years old. I keep hearing that everything now is a "Smart TV". I'm going to assume that plays into my options some how on what I can switch to? Am I going to have to cuss Alexa every time I want to change the channel?
Alexa, find me some Fixer Upper. And make me a sandwich and bring me a beer.
I knew eventually I was going to have to drag my sorry ass into the 20th Century. And yes, I'm kicking and screaming. So, laugh away and tell me what I need. Go!
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My bundled cable bill just topped out at $202/month and I can't even watch teh ESPNU's unless I hit the WatchESPN app on my AppleTV. You reminded me with this thread that it is past due time for me to call and threaten to drop Charter so I can get the asshole discount.
I have seriously thought about just keeping their phone and wifis, and getting an HDTV antenna for the attic for local channels and trying to find a streaming device that would give me all the sports programming and TruTV for me and Hallmark/HGTV for the skirt. I just figured in the long run I would pay about the same anyway.
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We have DISH. Got the Hopper and get HD in all the rooms (4). One room is a Super Joey(their box name) so I can still record a show if all TVs are in use. We rarely lose signal. With DISH I can watch things on my TV or DVR from anywhere. I watched to abomination of an uga game in 16 form Doha, Qatar on my tablet.
I now have Comcast internet. They have been fine. Only time I see difference is when somebody is watching Netflix while another is playing Xbox online.
Still have the land line. Can't talk the wife out of it! We get poor reception down in the valley we are in.
HD with a DVR is a must.
Ask for great deals. Jew them down. You are a lawyer, right!
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We have DISH. Got the Hopper and get HD in all the rooms (4). One room is a Super Joey(their box name) so I can still record a show if all TVs are in use. We rarely lose signal. With DISH I can watch things on my TV or DVR from anywhere. I watched to abomination of an uga game in 16 form Doha, Qatar on my tablet.
I now have Comcast internet. They have been fine. Only time I see difference is when somebody is watching Netflix while another is playing Xbox online.
Still have the land line. Can't talk the wife out of it! We get poor reception down in the valley we are in.
HD with a DVR is a must.
Ask for great deals. Jew them down. You are a lawyer, right!
You can't say Jew them down. He can't say that, can he? Can he say that?
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A box for each TV is just not feasible. I have one mounted on a brick wall on my back porch. Nowhere to put a box anyway. The one in the bedroom is very small, like my willie....wait, what? And there's literally no place for a digital box to go there either. I definitely don't want to lose the two local channels, no matter what I switch to.
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You can't say Jew them down. He can't say that, can he? Can he say that?
Just don't tell 'em you're Jewish, okay Wang?
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A box for each TV is just not feasible. I have one mounted on a brick wall on my back porch. Nowhere to put a box anyway. The one in the bedroom is very small, like my willie....wait, what? And there's literally no place for a digital box to go there either. I definitely don't want to lose the two local channels, no matter what I switch to.
Hmm. The old DISH system just used the existing cable wires to the rooms, but no HD. And DISH has all local channels. At least mine does.
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I have DirecTV.
Would probably get rid of it and try to go all streaming, but I don't understand all that hootenannny stuff. There's a main box in the house somewhere. The rest of the boxes are these little tiny things that are about the size of a pack of cards.
This is what my bill looks like and I'm about to take a sword to it.
DIRECTV Channels
1. PREMIER 158.99
2. DIRECTV HD EXTRA PACK 4.99
3. RSN$6.64 6.64
SUBTOTAL 170.62
DIRECTV Equipment Services
4. Watch DIRECTV on Multiple TVs 21.00
4 TVs at $7 each; Save $7 off 1st TV
5. Advanced Receiver Service - HD 10.00
6. DIRECTV Protection Plan 7.99
7. Advanced Receiver Service - DVR 10.00
8. DIRECTV Whole-Home DVR Service 3.00
SUBTOTAL 51.99
Other Charges, Adjustments & Taxes
9. Late Fee on 01/14 4.25
Taxes
10. Sales Tax 3.41
SUBTOTAL 7.66
Total New Charges 230.27
The late fee? Ummm, eat my dick. I paid the bill on the 10th. They take it out of my account directly. They shorted the payment thirty one cents and jacked me with a late fee. So thanks for getting me to look at this.
I really think I could do better. I have all the movie channels, but I don't watch them very often. I really only watch about five or six channels. The rest is just garbage to me. I don't want to lose HBO because of Game of Thrones, but damn. It won't be on for another year, so that's hundreds of bucks chasing after that. I could just take it off and add it back, I guess.
I'd probably be better off with some internet thing. I dunno. Again, don't know how it works. Plus if I drop DirecTV altogether, I lose unlimited data on my phone plans -- so....
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I have the same setup as CCTAU just 3 hours behind and ditched the landline...though bought Ooma and ported our existing handline which is all handled VOIP.
I pay 60 for Dish. America's Top 120 with the friends package. I pay 50 for Comcast 250mps service and Ooma is costing about 10.
We have only 1 TV connected to the Dish though.
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I'm glad to hear I'm not the only schmo getting bilked for over 2 bills. I was almost embarrassed to post that. Yes, it comes out of my account and honestly, I've never really paid that much attention to it until recently. I know there's got to be a better package, but I'm functionally illiterate when it comes to a lot of technology. I'm hesitant to change because your world frightens and amazes me.
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I have the Comcast with 1 Xfinity1 HD "mother" box with recording and 1 "sister" box that you can do all the same things as the "mother" box except record. Now you can watch anything you have recorded, just can't do the recording. The main box is in the family room with the other in the man cave/theater. Now, since Comcast decided to screw everyone, I had to get 4 digital converter boxes for bedrooms. 1 of those is free, the others, $20.00 total charge. Internet is good but $11.00 for the modem. House phone was good use because my kids didn't have cell phones, they do now. I dropped the digital converters and am paying for Netflix in the bedrooms. I also have the firestick and jailbroke it. In all, my Comcast bill was about $220.00 a month. Got the number from the local office to call the jerk line to get a better rate.
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Go here (https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps) and see what is coming in OTA in your neck of the woods and get a good antenna positioned to maximize your local coverage. You will be surprised at the quality of the HD signal that costs you nothing on a monthly basis. This will take care of your need for local channels/news.
Max out your internet plan (pro tip: to avoid throttling/data caps, get the "business" package) and get yourself schooled up on Kodi and its various add-ons. There's your free shows and movies.
Live sports (those not available on your local OTA signal...ESPN, mostly) is still the kicker. You'll need a valid cable/sat account (or someone's credentials) to get that.
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I'm glad to hear I'm not the only schmo getting bilked for over 2 bills. I was almost embarrassed to post that. Yes, it comes out of my account and honestly, I've never really paid that much attention to it until recently. I know there's got to be a better package, but I'm functionally illiterate when it comes to a lot of technology. I'm hesitant to change because your world frightens and amazes me.
Oh, it's humiliating. I'm ashamed of it. But it's what I do.
I'd love to ditch the whole thing and just do ala carte. But the Roku confuses me. Every time I try to watch something at my daughters on it, the thing wants money or a password.
I could honestly get by with
Locals
USA
TNT
AMC
A&E
FOX-News
HGTV
Food
GSN (Match Game)
HBO when GOT or Veep is on
ION
SyFy
Hallmark (Christmas)
Whatever channel shows Hoarding and Intervention
TVLand
and
Some history channel, don't care which, that shows WW2 stuff occasionally
What DirecTV doesn't have are things like MeTV and those networks that show shit like Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Six Million Dollar Man, Big Valley, Bionic Woman, Hogan's Heroes, Gilligan, Hawaii Five-0, Mannix, Ironsides, Jake and the Fatman, Batman, Mission Impossible, Mr. Ed... I'd watch that. Just as filler.
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I have all of the premium channels in my package and the fastest internet I can get.
We have unlimited data/usage on our cell phone plan too.
I have no idea what all of this costs but I can tell from the comments here that it is really apples and oranges here for me.
There sure are a lot of down right indigent people here.
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I had Directv for years.
Finally got tired of paying over 200 a month for not that great of a package.
Cut the cord back in November. I get a high speed internet connection that I need anyway for work then use Netflix ($8), Sling ($20), and Amazon Prime streaming (90 for the year) on my roku and Apple TV. Also have a powered antenna that picks up about 18 channels including the big 3, fox and the channels and shows K mentioned from yesteryear.
Sling is what is gonna mimic your cable or dish as far as channels and the familiar looking channel guide. They have two packages - orange and blue, 20 and 25 respectively. Or 40 for both. Or you can get one of them and add channels you want ala carte like sec network, etc.
Works for me.
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Sling is what is gonna mimic your cable or dish as far as channels and the familiar looking channel guide. They have two packages - orange and blue, 20 and 25 respectively. Or 40 for both. Or you can get one of them and add channels you want ala carte like sec network, etc.
Do Sling cover the entire house for that price, or is it per TV?
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How disconcerting is it to not watch something when it’s on?
I work from home. I like the background noise so I find a channel — USA and L&O SVU is a staple so are the murder shows on ID — and just have it going. Don’t even really WATCH per se. it’s just on. If I had to go into like Netflix and pick shows I think it would be overload. Already now when we go to watch a movie we have to sort through amazon, netflix, vudu and then all the movies. By the time we pick it’s taken as long as the movie and I don’t care any more.
Can I get used to the other?
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Do Sling cover the entire house for that price, or is it per TV?
Never really thought about it but I've used it in multiple rooms on multiple devices. Not at the same time though. All you do is fire up the app from whatever streaming device you use (Apple TV, roku, firestick, smart tv) and just log in one time. I will say you don't need to go that route with a slow internet connection. It won't work well. So wiregrass is out of luck on his prodigy dial up acct.
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How disconcerting is it to not watch something when it’s on?
I work from home. I like the background noise so I find a channel — USA and L&O SVU is a staple so are the murder shows on ID — and just have it going. Don’t even really WATCH per se. it’s just on. If I had to go into like Netflix and pick shows I think it would be overload. Already now when we go to watch a movie we have to sort through amazon, netflix, vudu and then all the movies. By the time we pick it’s taken as long as the movie and I don’t care any more.
Can I get used to the other?
I haven't gotten used to it. Frankly, the net result is that I'm watching far less tv.
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I'm glad to hear I'm not the only schmo getting bilked for over 2 bills. I was almost embarrassed to post that. Yes, it comes out of my account and honestly, I've never really paid that much attention to it until recently. I know there's got to be a better package, but I'm functionally illiterate when it comes to a lot of technology. I'm hesitant to change because your world frightens and amazes me.
Everything's all ball bearings these days anyway.
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Everything's all ball bearings these days anyway.
Now you prepare that Fetzer valve with some 3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads. And I'm gonna need 'bout ten quarts of anti-freeze, preferably Prestone. No, no make that Quaker State.
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When I lived in the Circle City we had DirecTV for our tv service and WOW for internet. Paid comparable to what you're paying now, but that included their top-tier package. WOW tried to sell me on their cable packages but there were so few HD channels I couldn't justify it. DirecTV is superior to WOW on that front.
Now I have Comcast Xfinity 1 and it's by far the best cable platform I've ever used. Still pay around $230/month for internet and cable, but again, we have every channel known to man (except the pern). It's worth it just for their on demand offerings.
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When I lived in the Circle City we had DirecTV for our tv service and WOW for internet. Paid comparable to what you're paying now, but that included their top-tier package. WOW tried to sell me on their cable packages but there were so few HD channels I couldn't justify it. DirecTV is superior to WOW on that front.
Now I have Comcast Xfinity 1 and it's by far the best cable platform I've ever used. Still pay around $230/month for internet and cable, but again, we have every channel known to man (except the pern). It's worth it just for their on demand offerings.
You should call and ask about the bundle. I called last night and tried to find a lower price by dropping my landline, no dice. Turns out, it's cheaper to have the bundle three than two. Anyway, I'm not done yet, still checking to find a cheaper way and keep the tv and interweb options I have.
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When I lived in the Circle City we had DirecTV for our tv service and WOW for internet. Paid comparable to what you're paying now, but that included their top-tier package. WOW tried to sell me on their cable packages but there were so few HD channels I couldn't justify it. DirecTV is superior to WOW on that front.
Now I have Comcast Xfinity 1 and it's by far the best cable platform I've ever used. Still pay around $230/month for internet and cable, but again, we have every channel known to man (except the pern). It's worth it just for their on demand offerings.
You can download that pern on yer puter' from the googled chromes. (Still a top three K offering)
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You can download that pern on yer puter' from the googled chromes. (Still a top three K offering)
You can watch it for free on Pornhub, hell you can even google it and check the images. At least that's what I hear...
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You can watch it for free on Pornhub, hell you can even google it and check the images. At least that's what I hear...
Yes you porn for free. But we know your card credit and where live. Have reason to free porn.
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Bump. Spectrum TV just left about 2 hours ago. Made the switch. Yeah, had to have a box for each TV but that's cool. You get 4 without an extra charge. So, we now have 8,000,000 channels on all the tubes, supposedly a much faster interwebz and my bill dropped from about $250/month to $173/month. We've got all the movie/premium channels in the package. NFL Network, HBO, Showtime, Skinemax, etc.
So far, I haven't been enamored with the service since they totally blew us off on two appointments to install it in a row. After I unloaded on two people on the phone last night, they were more than willing to get somebody out here asap today. We shall see.
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Apparently your sleepless nights were not their sleepless nights.
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Maybe you should stop using gas stations as a means of watching tv.
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Tell you what, with so many options, I was worn out getting up so many times to change channels and adjust the antenna.
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Bump. Spectrum TV just left about 2 hours ago. Made the switch. Yeah, had to have a box for each TV but that's cool. You get 4 without an extra charge. So, we now have 8,000,000 channels on all the tubes, supposedly a much faster interwebz and my bill dropped from about $250/month to $173/month. We've got all the movie/premium channels in the package. NFL Network, HBO, Showtime, Skinemax, etc.
So far, I haven't been enamored with the service since they totally blew us off on two appointments to install it in a row. After I unloaded on two people on the phone last night, they were more than willing to get somebody out here asap today. We shall see.
Enjoy that price for a year. By year 3, you will probably be at $275/mo.
I was all excited when Charter finally showed up in our neck of the woods. I was able to drop Joe's Cable and Windstream interwebs with their .03 MBPS blazing speeds. First year was great! Service was good and it was just over $100 a month for cable, phone and innerwebz. Year 2 it went up $20/mo and another $20/mo in year 3. It was supposed to level out after that, but year 4 was yet another $10/mo increase. Not to mention the fact that we have like 25 channels worth watching...no ESPNU, ESPNews or Ocho in the basic plan either.
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However.....I have to call them this morning to let them know the interwebz aren't working and there's a big, orange cable stretched across our yard.
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However.....I have to call them this morning to let them know the interwebz aren't working and there's a big, orange cable stretched across our yard.
Snake a tube down her throat. I'll be there in 4 or 5 hours.
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Enjoy that price for a year. By year 3, you will probably be at $275/mo.
I was all excited when Charter finally showed up in our neck of the woods. I was able to drop Joe's Cable and Windstream interwebs with their .03 MBPS blazing speeds. First year was great! Service was good and it was just over $100 a month for cable, phone and innerwebz. Year 2 it went up $20/mo and another $20/mo in year 3. It was supposed to level out after that, but year 4 was yet another $10/mo increase. Not to mention the fact that we have like 25 channels worth watching...no ESPNU, ESPNews or Ocho in the basic plan either.
Had the following conversation with Cox cable about a year and a half ago:
W: My bill seems to have jumped by about $20 for some reason. Can you explain?
C: We applied to the FCC for a rate increase and it was recently granted.
W: I see. Do I get more channels?
C: No.
W: Hmmm...Will my reception/signal improve?
C: No.
W: What, exactly, am I getting for my extra $20?
C: Nothing.
W: You can go ahead and disconnect my service. I'll bring your equipment in tomorrow.
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However.....I have to call them this morning to let them know the interwebz aren't working and there's a big, orange cable stretched across our yard.
The burying team is different from the install team my friend. You think the installers are going to use shovels? bahahahahaha haha hahahhaha ha
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Had the following conversation with Cox cable about a year and a half ago:
W: My bill seems to have jumped by about $20 for some reason. Can you explain?
C: We applied to the FCC for a rate increase and it was recently granted.
W: I see. Do I get more channels?
C: No.
W: Hmmm...Will my reception/signal improve?
C: No.
W: What, exactly, am I getting for my extra $20?
C: Nothing.
W: You can go ahead and disconnect my service. I'll bring your equipment in tomorrow.
This ^^ is is why we still have man love for you weskie
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I went to the dark side. i switched form Dish to Direct. I was walking through Sam's and got accosted by one of the sales peoples.
I didn't like Comcast and was looking to switch to ATT anyway. SO they throw $300 at me for Direct. And $50 for ATT. I am out of contract time so I say WTH.
Used the money to buy a 55 in smart TV. (upgraded from 32". LOL)
Now I am counting the days until I can go back to Dish. Direct has the shittiest system ever. About as user friendly as sanded toilet paper! ATT is good though.
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This ^^ is is why we still have man love for you weskie
I mean, if they're not gonna use my $20 and degrade my service a bit to give welfare recipients the difference, then why do I even bother attending my local Communo-Socialist chapter meetings?
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I mean, if they're not gonna use my $20 and degrade my service a bit to give welfare recipients the difference, then why do I even bother attending my local Communo-Socialist chapter meetings?
It's the principalities!
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They like to got dealt with
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Puff puff, give. Puff puff, give. You fuckin' up the rotation.
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I mean, if they're not gonna use my $20 and degrade my service a bit to give welfare recipients the difference, then why do I even bother attending my local Communo-Socialist chapter meetings?
I did the same so I get it. Now on a combo of sling + Netflix + powered antenna. More than I need. And cheap.
And yeah I got the joke.
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I did the same so I get it. Now on a combo of sling + Netflix + powered antenna. More than I need. And cheap.
And yeah I got the joke.
do you have a TiVo to accompany the rabbit ears?
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do you have a TiVo to accompany the rabbit ears?
nada..
just like to watch the local news and occasional "antenna tv" show (andy, wkrp, etc).