For anyone who hates their cable provider as much as I hate mine

[rick_reno]

We cut the cable and satellite feeds for TV about 4 years ago. It's amazing how much good content there is out there, more than either Mari or I have time to watch. We see TV when we go out for a beer and a burger, and are constantly amazed how anyone can watch that crap, the ads are often more entertaining than the TV shows. I think it was DirectTV - could have been Dish, we had them both at different times (these two are the worst companies I have had the pleasure of dealing with) who wanted the dish they put on my roof to be returned. I told them "You put it up there, if you want it you come and get it" It's still there. I read an article not too long ago that these TV providers are losing customers at a rate that is not sustainable. Next day I saw an article that AT&T wanted to sell off Direct TV. It's over for them, they just don't know it yet.

 

[Pa]

I have Comcast business for both phone and internet and it's fast, but I've averaged outages several times a year. I can sometimes get a trivial credit, but for business service it's not really adequate. As a retiree it's merely irritating.

I haven't had an outage in years.

 

[480sparky]

I cut the cable over 25 years ago. Haven't missed it one bit.

And no, I don't have satellite either. I use a new-fangled invention called 'rabbit ears'.

 

[JLH]

I only keep cable because my wife insists on it. She has this DVR thing and constantly records programs which she can then play back on four different TV's. Me, give me high speed internet and I am fine, live TV is just not my thing. I have PBS streaming and with NOVA and such I get all I want.

 

[Clix Pix]

I have Cox for TV (basic, lowest tier) and Internet (next-to-the-highest-tier) and I really should dump the TV component and just get one of those "leaf" things you stick on a window for the few times I actually watch TV. The internet service is speedy and I haven't had any outages (except when we've had a major area-wide power failure, of course). Last spring when I had to replace my modem (I own my modem rather than "rent" one from them), I called to give them the new MAC number and other info. During the conversation I was offered a deal where I could move to the next level in the internet service for "only x" dollars more a month for a year, and then at the end of the year could, as was mentioned earlier in this thread, call them and get another deal. I figure that it is more than likely I'll forget to call and my Cox bill will increase again, but in the meantime I do appreciate the speediness of my internet uploads and downloads.

FIOS is available in my building but when they first began promoting it I was already just fine and satisfied with Cox and decided to leave well enough alone. I got rid of the landline phone setup when AT&T notified me that they would need to come in to replace the copper wiring and install digital. I figured, why not just convert the phone number to my AT&T cellular / wireless service and be done with it, so that is what I did instead. Haven't missed the landline phone at all.....

 

[Randy]

spectrum rents you the DVR, remote and another box for non DVR TV-s
with internet = $200 a month (no premiums)
but it works wirelessly everywhere around the house
the worst part for me is commercials
somebody I'll move on

 

[JeeperDon]

Internet speed is another way the cable companies get you, selling you what you don't need. In past years I've been on Xfinity's 100MB, 150MB, and 250MB services, all just as upgrades to get a promo year on renewal price. I was hitting Xfinity's 1TB data limit (another story), so I switched to 75MB Comcast Business (no data limit). With 'just' 75MB speed, I stream high end 4K video without issues, even to two TVs at once.

 

[Randy]

I only keep cable because my wife insists on it. She has this DVR thing and constantly records programs which she can then play back on four different TV's. Me, give me high speed internet and I am fine, live TV is just not my thing. I have PBS streaming and with NOVA and such I get all I want.

after I posted I read your post....DITTO here....i'm past ready to dump it

 

[MikEm13]

Dish offered to install an over the air antenna for the local channels, connect it to our DVR and cut our bill by $12.00 a month. This was at no cost to us and we could go back to the old way at any time at no cost to us. Going back would increase our bill back to the previously paid $12.00 a month. We went for it and the picture is really good. The DVR works as before.

 

[rpracing]

Spectrum here. Silver pkg (dad wanted to watch the sports). Mom tried to go back to basic pkg we had before when he died but they told her they cant unless she gets it switched into her name and must put a deposit down. Getting sick of them removing channels and increasing prices. Same stupid excuses. They removed Cinemax channels (all 23 of them) and made them ala carte. We lost 6 other channels last year or so due to the company that owned then went under. We got 3 new "home shopping" channels though (which those shoud be banned altogether). Spectrum finally got Bein and FXSP but tossed them into the gold package. So cant watch most Motorcycle road racing now since Bein has MotoGP, WSBK and BSB.

Parents have had cable since 1976. Been through every company acquisition in town.

Made a couple suggestions to them but get stupid replies. Asked why cant they put spanish channels in their own tier? Why dont they ala carte every channel? Why do we have to pay for channels we wont even watch? They always say they dont have the capability to do that (but can do this with Premium channels). Bring up they do that with HBO/Show/Max/TMC and they start stammering.

 

[gwh1bass]

Current Comcast subscriber as its the only dependable service for me. I would like to drop the TV service part but like Mike B. says, I want to be able to view my pro and college sports broadcasts.

I just don't know if Firestick, Roko, Hulu, etc. can provide this content and if it would even provide a savings if it could.

I would gladly go with an OTA antenna but with sporting events on so many specialized channels, ESPN, FoxSports and league specific channels, I would miss to many games I would like to view.

 

[Terri French]

We all have such different options available. My options increased greatly when our town brought fiber optic cable to our neighborhood.

 

[Mike Buckley]

We all have such different options available.

My problem is that if I want to watch daily broadcasts of the Washington Nationals baseball games, I have no options; I have only Cox Communications.

 

[Minuteman3]

We had Comcast for several years, and a few months ago they jacked our cost to close to $200 a month for 250MB internet, a pretty basic TV lineup (no HBO, etc.), and home phone. After a lot of searching, based mostly on some key TV "needs", we chose a plan through CenturyLink - 80MB DSL2 internet, bundled with Direct TV for $85 a month. We switched our home phone to a line on our T-Mo cell plan for an additional $10 a month!! Saving a cool $100 a month!!

Since DSL is dependent on distance, I'm actually getting about 66MB, but the signal has been very solid. We watch 4k Netflix, etc., with no problems at all. On my daily internet usage, I cannot tell the difference between 66 and 250, except when downloading large files such as last week's Catalina's 6GB. So I waited 5 minutes instead of 3 minutes. At age 69, I have time!!

Here's the funny thing ... I actually wanted to keep Comcast, internet only, and cut the cord. Nope. No go - $200 or nothing. I gave their "retention department" three tries to keep me on, citing the new customer's $45 plan for 75MB. Nope, not eligible!! Ok ... bye!!

Now they are sending me emails offering that exact option to get me back!!

Not understanding that kind of "customer service" is probably why I wasn't hired for a 6-figure job with them!!

Ken

 

[JeeperDon]

My problem is that if I want to watch daily broadcasts of the Washington Nationals baseball games, I have no options; I have only Cox Communications.

Since you are outside DC, won't an antenna work for that?

 

[Mike Buckley]

Since you are outside DC, won't an antenna work for that?

How does an antenna work for a broadcast that is sent only through cable?

 

[Walter Rowe]

How does an antenna work for a broadcast that is sent only through cable?

FOX5 WTTG DC is broadcasting the World Series. That should be available OTA in HD.

 

[Mike Buckley]

FOX5 WTTG DC is broadcasting the World Series.

Yes, but I'm referring to the daily regular season games that only Cox broadcasts and only on cable in my area.

 

[tony-b]

If you go Internet only, MLB.tv has season plans for 1 or all teams that start around $80 for the entire season. You can stream the games on most devices and not be bound to being at home or to a TV with a cable receiver.

 

[asaya]

Today is D Day we are cutting the CORD going with internet only from SPECTRUM and picking up You Tube TV. We have been clients of what use to be Time Warner here in upstate NY since 1971.