Cord Cutting or not?

aualum06 wrote:Called to ditch dish network and they cut my bill from 129 to 78 per month for the next year

I did that several times with DirecTV over the years, but they became more annoying to negotiate with after AT&T took over - going to the final day of my billing cycle to offer a decent discount. The last time it happened, I let their final offer go to voicemail and switched to YouTube TV. It was a surprisingly easy adjustment.

aualum06 wrote:Called to ditch dish network and they cut my bill from 129 to 78 per month for the next year

Do they still just have four or five good channels and 300 terrible channels?

aualum06 wrote:

Jake from State Farm wrote:

Do they still just have four or five good channels and 300 terrible channels?

Isn't that pretty much every tv provider?

OTA lets you skip the 300 terrible channels.

aualum06 wrote:

Trapper Gus wrote:

OTA lets you skip the 300 terrible channels.

And still pay to steam sports somewhere?

There was a time when you could get internet but no TV.  My kids do that in Seattle & West Virgina.

I'm old school, have never had cable TV or internet, satellite internet & OTA TV.

Of course, if I want streaming I use my phone

Just paid the cable bill so getting back to considering streaming.  Am I over thinking which device to get, or are they all pretty much the same?  A 2022 list claims this is the best.  Seems pricey compared to others.  Anyone have one?  Is it worth the extra cost?

The Pantry wrote:Just paid the cable bill so getting back to considering streaming.  Am I over thinking which device to get, or are they all pretty much the same?  A 2022 list claims this is the best.  Seems pricey compared to others.  Anyone have one?  Is it worth the extra cost?

Do you have a Smart TV?  If so, you don't need an extra device.  

I have one Smart TV and one intellectually challenged TV.  The latter I have a simple Roku stick and it is more than fine.  I guess if you want Alexa built in that might be a benefit to the fire cube.

If you have Comcast internet, they offer Xfinity Flex, a free streaming device like a roku or firestick.  If you have a different internet provider, maybe they have something.  If it's free or cheap, it might at least be worth trying, especially if you're testing the waters of streaming instead of linear cable.

MiamiSpartan wrote:

The Pantry wrote:Just paid the cable bill so getting back to considering streaming.  Am I over thinking which device to get, or are they all pretty much the same?  A 2022 list claims this is the best.  Seems pricey compared to others.  Anyone have one?  Is it worth the extra cost?

Do you have a Smart TV?  If so, you don't need an extra device.  

I have one Smart TV and one intellectually challenged TV.  The latter I have a simple Roku stick and it is more than fine.  I guess if you want Alexa built in that might be a benefit to the fire cube.  

If you have Comcast internet, they offer Xfinity Flex, a free streaming device like a roku or firestick.  If you have a different internet provider, maybe they have something.  If it's free or cheap, it might at least be worth trying, especially if you're testing the waters of streaming instead of linear cable.

One smart TV.  Three dumb, one of which I rarely use.  For right now just need two devices.  Have WOW.  They want $110 to buy each of their gadgets or $10 a month...not doing either of those.  

A voice remote would be nice.  Saw a fire stick that also has Alexa for a third the price of the cube.  Kinda leaning that way.

Have a question about streaming services.  If you switch from one to a different one middle of the billing cycle, do you get charged for the entire month or is it prorated depending on number of days used?  Found this comparison list and might like to switch a couple times a month.

A question about voice remote.  The stick ends up on the back of the TV.  How well does it hear your voice?  Seems like the cube might be better because you can put it in front of the TV...?

edit to add: Wait. The voice receiver is in the remote...not the stick, correct?

The Pantry wrote:A question about voice remote.  The stick ends up on the back of the TV.  How well does it hear your voice?  Seems like the cube might be better because you can put it in front of the TV...?

edit to add: Wait. The voice receiver is in the remote...not the stick, correct?

My Smart TV and my Roku both have voice remotes, but I've honestly never really used either.

MiamiSpartan wrote:

The Pantry wrote:A question about voice remote.  The stick ends up on the back of the TV.  How well does it hear your voice?  Seems like the cube might be better because you can put it in front of the TV...?

edit to add: Wait. The voice receiver is in the remote...not the stick, correct?

My Smart TV and my Roku both have voice remotes, but I've honestly never really used either.

100% this. But I do like my smart lights in the bedroom. Hey google, put the lights on 20%… lol

The Pantry wrote:

MiamiSpartan wrote:

Do you have a Smart TV?  If so, you don't need an extra device.  

I have one Smart TV and one intellectually challenged TV.  The latter I have a simple Roku stick and it is more than fine.  I guess if you want Alexa built in that might be a benefit to the fire cube.  

If you have Comcast internet, they offer Xfinity Flex, a free streaming device like a roku or firestick.  If you have a different internet provider, maybe they have something.  If it's free or cheap, it might at least be worth trying, especially if you're testing the waters of streaming instead of linear cable.

One smart TV.  Three dumb, one of which I rarely use.  For right now just need two devices.  Have WOW.  They want $110 to buy each of their gadgets or $10 a month...not doing either of those.  

A voice remote would be nice.  Saw a fire stick that also has Alexa for a third the price of the cube.  Kinda leaning that way.

Have a question about streaming services.  If you switch from one to a different one middle of the billing cycle, do you get charged for the entire month or is it prorated depending on number of days used?  Found this comparison list and might like to switch a couple times a month.

Yes. They don't pro-rate. As you're looking for services, some have free trials, some don't. YouTubeTV has a free trial of at least a week. FuboTV does, as well. Hulu Live doesn't usually have a free trial, but I think I occasionally have seen them offering that. Not sure about the others.

Most people seem to really like YouTubeTV. I just signed up for that about a month ago. It's fine. I'm not crazy about their DVR system though. It is unlimited space, but it records everything of a program, including repeats, etc., so if you DVR a lot, there are a ton of things in your library to sift through. But that's really my only complain, and isn't a deal breaker for me.

Streaming TV Comparison Chart: Which Service Has the Best Channel Lineup?

Looks like Youtube TV has all the channels I want plus a lot more (especially sports channels) than DirecTV...for $5 less a month. YT doesn't offer the History channel but that's sucked for years. Direct doesn't offer BTN.

Streaming service, decided on. Just have to pick the gadgets now.

It is probably just me and going streaming makes sense, so don't take this in a negative sense, but the internet still comes via a cord unless someone is using a phone hot spot.

Trapper Gus wrote:It is probably just me and going streaming makes sense, so don't take this in a negative sense, but the internet still comes via a cord unless someone is using a phone hot spot.

True, but TV's no longer have to be wired to the wall.

When I built my house in the early 90's did what I could to save build cost.  Personally ran many hundreds of feet of phone line and TV coax so both were available in every room.  Great room had three coax locations on different walls.  Even put a phone jack in the master bathroom next to the commode.

Today's technology would have saved me all that time and material.

The Pantry wrote:

Trapper Gus wrote:It is probably just me and going streaming makes sense, so don't take this in a negative sense, but the internet still comes via a cord unless someone is using a phone hot spot.

True, but TV's no longer have to be wired to the wall.

When I built my house in the early 90's did what I could to save build cost.  Personally ran many hundreds of feet of phone line and TV coax so both were available in every room.  Great room had three coax locations on different walls.  Even put a phone jack in the master bathroom next to the commode.

Today's technology would have saved me all that time and material.

True - cable TeeVee still needs a wire right to the set I guess (I don't have and never have).

Much easier to use WiFi or Bluetooth or some other wireless option.

The Pantry wrote:Streaming TV Comparison Chart: Which Service Has the Best Channel Lineup?

Looks like Youtube TV has all the channels I want plus a lot more (especially sports channels) than DirecTV...for $5 less a month. YT doesn't offer the History channel but that's sucked for years. Direct doesn't offer BTN.

Streaming service, decided on. Just have to pick the gadgets now.

That was my exact thought when I looked into it. I was bummed for about 2 seconds and then realized that I couldn't remember the last time I watched something on the History Channel. And there is tons of good history stuff on Netflix, Prime, and other paid and free services.

The Pantry wrote:A question about voice remote.  The stick ends up on the back of the TV.  How well does it hear your voice?  Seems like the cube might be better because you can put it in front of the TV...?

edit to add: Wait. The voice receiver is in the remote...not the stick, correct?

Correct, and like everything else now it's listening 24/7

MiamiSpartan wrote:

The Pantry wrote:Streaming TV Comparison Chart: Which Service Has the Best Channel Lineup?

Looks like Youtube TV has all the channels I want plus a lot more (especially sports channels) than DirecTV...for $5 less a month. YT doesn't offer the History channel but that's sucked for years. Direct doesn't offer BTN.

Streaming service, decided on. Just have to pick the gadgets now.

That was my exact thought when I looked into it. I was bummed for about 2 seconds and then realized that I couldn't remember the last time I watched something on the History Channel. And there is tons of good history stuff on Netflix, Prime, and other paid and free services.

Saw YT offers the Smithsonian channel. That's gotta beat the hell out of everything on HC now.

Jake from State Farm wrote:

The Pantry wrote:A question about voice remote.  The stick ends up on the back of the TV.  How well does it hear your voice?  Seems like the cube might be better because you can put it in front of the TV...?

edit to add: Wait. The voice receiver is in the remote...not the stick, correct?

Correct, and like everything else now it's listening 24/7

Jake from State Farm wrote:

The Pantry wrote:A question about voice remote.  The stick ends up on the back of the TV.  How well does it hear your voice?  Seems like the cube might be better because you can put it in front of the TV...?

edit to add: Wait. The voice receiver is in the remote...not the stick, correct?

Correct, and like everything else now it's listening 24/7

Good point - has everyone noticed that the ads you see relate to what you say near your phone, even if you don't do searches. Expect the voice remotes do the same thing.

Ended up ordering two of these. Shipped overnight. Already have one hooked up and it's updating software. Overkill cause I don't have any 4K TVs but like that it's ready for WiFi 6. Routers only last me 4-5 years so can upgrade to a WiFi 6 router when the current one takes a dump.

Fire TV Stick 4K Max streaming device, Wi-Fi 6, Alexa Voice Remote (includes TV controls)

Not sure why the link to product details is goofed up. $55

Michigan viewers cancel cable TV in record numbers in 2022, report shows

The number of households breaking away from cable television in Michigan accelerated in 2022, with over 151,000 households dropping the service, a 9 percent drop, the biggest one-year decline.

According to an annual report issued last week by the Michigan Public Service Commission, there are now roughly 1.5 million cable subscribers statewide, down nearly 900,000 since 2009, or 37.5 percent of all households.

The problem now is that alternate provider like Hulu have caught on, and have basically doubled live TV access prices in the past three years.

Hooked up the devices but haven't signed on to a streaming provider yet and still using WOW cable.  Not crazy about the remote with the smart TV.  Very slow changing cable channels and kind of a PITA.  Not looking forward to that with all my TVs.  I like old TV remotes with all the buttons so you can immediately punch in where you want to go.

Said before, WOW told me they want out of the cable business.  Will eventually have to switch.  Would save me $30-35 a month signing on with youtubeTV.  When I do switch to streaming will probably keep cable a month or 2 to help ease the transition.

AvgMSUJoe wrote:Feels like Spectrum should get their shit together and start competing with lower prices.

Spectrum's response...

The Pantry wrote:Hooked up the devices but haven't signed on to a streaming provider yet and still using WOW cable.  Not crazy about the remote with the smart TV.  Very slow changing cable channels and kind of a PITA.  Not looking forward to that with all my TVs.  I like old TV remotes with all the buttons so you can immediately punch in where you want to go.

Said before, WOW told me they want out of the cable business.  Will eventually have to switch.  Would save me $30-35 a month signing on with youtubeTV.  When I do switch to streaming will probably keep cable a month or 2 to help ease the transition.

FYI, Hulu has Last Man Standing, Mom, Married... With Children, Home Improvement, and a bunch of others you probably like.

Been a YouTube TV subscriber for a while now. Gave Hulu live a try this month. Holy shit it's hot garbage. Non stop looping and buffering. Interface was built by a third grader. About every third day it will go into a loop that repeats the last 30 seconds of the channel I was watching. Fucking garbage. Have to do a reset and clear cache.

kingstonlake wrote:Been a YouTube TV subscriber for a while now. Gave Hulu live a try this month. Holy shit it's hot garbage. Non stop looping and buffering. Interface was built by a third grader. About every third day it will go into a loop that repeats the last 30 seconds of the channel I was watching. Fucking garbage. Have to do a reset and clear cache.

Hulu seems to have an issue with commercials for me. They repeat a few seconds four or five times and then continue on. I don't have any issues with the actual programs.

With YTTV increasing their rates, my wife wanted me to look at other options, so this is helpful.

Am looking at dropping YouTube.

A neighbor s a big NHL fan, likes watching soccer and college football. He has the Disney+/ESPN+/Hulu ($20 per month/no commercials) Peacock (got a $1.99 per month deal for a year) and Paramount+ $99/ yr/no commercials) and a digital antenna. That works out to less than $40 per month and a Roku.

He gets local feed for CBS on Paramount and a lot of NCAA feeds. This year he a got a month of YouTube for college bowl games.

I will say that we have a shitty internet service. We're remote and traditional spectrum/Xfinity isn't available. But it ran YTTV just fine. I was bitching up a storm yesterday. My wife is like "you're really angry". Goddamn woman. It's the NCAA basketball tournament and MSU is playing today!

kingstonlake wrote:I will say that we have a shitty internet service. We're remote and traditional spectrum/Xfinity isn't available. But it ran YTTV just fine. I was bitching up a storm yesterday. My wife is like "you're really angry". Goddamn woman. It's the NCAA basketball tournament and MSU is playing today!

You don't have an antenna for OTA?

So this fits in here as an FYI.

Living out in the country there is no option for cable internet, so have had satellite internet for 15 years, Hughes.

With 5G phones the phone companies are offering internet for homes on the 5G network, Hughes has responded via offering a combined Satellite & 5G service, which I just signed up for, and which is much faster than satellite along, at the same cost.

If cable internet is an option, this service would be "long gone" as in investigating transmission speeds cable is 50 times faster than satellite.

So, no real streaming, but better than before.

Trapper Gus wrote:So this fits in here as an FYI.

Living out in the country there is no option for cable internet, so have had satellite internet for 15 years, Hughes.

With 5G phones the phone companies are offering internet for homes on the 5G network, Hughes has responded via offering a combined Satellite & 5G service, which I just signed up for, and which is much faster than satellite along, at the same cost.

If cable internet is an option, this service would be "long gone" as in investigating transmission speeds cable is 50 times faster than satellite.

So, no real streaming, but better than before.

I've got Tmobile 5g internet. Speeds recently have been around 135mbps which is plenty fast for what I use. Upload speeds are around 15 mbps. $30/month if you have phone service through them. Otherwise it's $50 or so. They're working on aligning with Dish for wifi anywhere. It works through a router that receives and sends the 5g signal, no charge for the router, no cables other than a plug into an electrical outlet.

Jake from State Farm wrote:

Trapper Gus wrote:So this fits in here as an FYI.

Living out in the country there is no option for cable internet, so have had satellite internet for 15 years, Hughes.

With 5G phones the phone companies are offering internet for homes on the 5G network, Hughes has responded via offering a combined Satellite & 5G service, which I just signed up for, and which is much faster than satellite along, at the same cost.

If cable internet is an option, this service would be "long gone" as in investigating transmission speeds cable is 50 times faster than satellite.

So, no real streaming, but better than before.

I've got Tmobile 5g internet. Speeds recently have been around 135mbps which is plenty fast for what I use. Upload speeds are around 15 mbps. $30/month if you have phone service through them. Otherwise it's $50 or so. They're working on aligning with Dish for wifi anywhere. It works through a router that receives and sends the 5g signal, no charge for the router, no cables other than a plug into an electrical outlet.

tks ....

We considered it, however cell service where we are is spotty at best & not sure when 5G will really be here.  With the dual system of cell & satellite, and Hughes managing the cell contracts with multiple cell companies we are paying for redundancy & for Hughes knowing the best cell service to use at any given time.  Hughes advertised speeds are "up to" 25 Mbps download speeds, 3 Mbps upload speeds.  (We also have T-Mobile, but with a grandfathered unlimited plan which is no longer offered)

The real improvement, according the Hughes, is that the "time of flight" (latency) to the satellite and back is eliminated in many cases.

There is an enterprising idealist who is running fiber optic internet and has plans to have it "only" about a mile away soon, I am hoping he will come down our road in a few years.

I'm going to turn into grumpy old man over this bullshit.

Buried at the bottom of of my WOW internet billing statement this morning:

As Internet usage and operations costs have significantly increased in recent years, we must periodically review and adjust our prices. Effective with your July billing statement, the monthly rate for your Internet service will increase by $6.

This is on top of a separate $1 a month line item recently added which reads, and I shit you not, "Network Enhancement Fee".

I've already downgraded my service to 100 mbps rather and pay ISPs a dime more lol.

I'm about to say fuck it and just tether everything to my phone.

The best thing you can do is go to your city, county, state and Federal legislators telling them you want the utilities like Consumers Power to provide Internet.

In Holland MI the voters approved a local Board of Light&Power in 2022. Installation has begun on a 100 mbs for $45 per month including installation. Spectrum is not happy and is inundating their current customers with BL&P can’t provide you a cellular plan.
So what? T Mobile and Verizon are now real close to Consumer Cellular prices.