I was just curious, for those I was just curious, for those folks that have cell phone and/or cable and/or internet access.
Do you folks regularly price shop your plans against competitors and either call your provider to ask them either price match or switch your service to someone else?
I use to do this more frequently, but in more recent times, I haven’t had time to deal with this since I had bigger issues to deal with..
Well, recently, I was looking at my cell and cable and internet bill…. And was surprised that the price went up a bit…It appears my promotional credits for my cell phone and cable/internet expired, and my cable/internet bill jumped to $120/month and my cell phone bill jumped to $75/month.
I called back my cell phone provider and after talking to them, they gave permanent $15 credit for being a loyal customer for the next year another $10 for the next 6 months…So it ends up being $50/month for two lines, unlimited calling and up to 25GB data on one line (none on the other). I asked them if they could just make the price cut permanent so I wouldn’t have to go through the hoops of asking for a credit. They rep basically said, unfortunately no, but told me to call back in 6 months to ask for another credit…
I think when I call back my cable/internet, I can probably knock that down to $90-100/month too the same way…
So I think I can manage to knock off about $400-500/year in expenses just back haggling with the providers.. But as time passes, it gets kinda old… Then again $200-500, is 1 set of tires for a miata :)..It’s like clipping coupons, which I hate to do, but I know if I do it, I can save money…
You think it’s worth it or not? (yes, the other option is to cut the cable tv cord… considering it…)….
spdrun
May 3, 2014 @
7:06 PM
Sure it’s worth it, but it Sure it’s worth it, but it has to be considered against time spent… I’ve never negotiated a discount on a cell bill, but I recently switched from ATT to T-mo because they had unlimited phone and 1GB of data (don’t need more since I can jump on WiFi pretty regularly) for about half the price of an equivalent plan from ATT if I bought my own handset. Used Android GSM phones be cheap on EBay.
Never had cable service, but I have to keep re’uping my landline phone and Internet service annually to keep the “new customer discount.” Otherwise it goes up to something stupid like $90/mo.
CA renter
May 4, 2014 @
1:11 AM
Worth it, but I don’t do it Worth it, but I don’t do it much, either. The CS rep told me the same thing — to keep calling back to renegotiate the price, but I just don’t have the time to spend hours on the phone trying to get $10-$15 (maybe more!) knocked off our bill. They count on most of us not wanting to go through the hassle, of course, which is probably why CS tends to get worse and worse over time. Just my 2 cents.
UCGal
May 5, 2014 @
10:18 AM
I switched cell to a I switched cell to a discounted carrier (Ting – uses Sprint network)… that dropped my bill in half.
I have had ZERO luck with cable and am getting ready to cut the cord. I bought a cable modem when they raised the price of rental. While I was returning their modem I tried to negotiate a deal – they said I had the cheapest. I called BS.
I’m paying an outrageous amount for cable/internet. I don’t rent their settop box – but do rent a cable card to use with my tivo. I have standard internet. The bill is sucktastically high.
Unfortunately I like the tivo interface – so I don’t want to switch to dish or uverse (which don’t have cablecards.) But might just switch to OTA and then I’ll only be ripped off for internet prices.
an
May 5, 2014 @
10:27 AM
I don’t negotiate cell phone I don’t negotiate cell phone bill, since I can’t stand any other carrier other than Verizon due to coverage. As for cable, I currently have DirecTV. I tend to switch around, between DirecTV, Uverse, and Time Warner and stay only long enough to have their promotional price. No need to negotiate. As for internet, Time Warner is my only choice, since I have their 30Mbps/5Mbps package. Uverse upload is too slow and down was maxed out @ 24Mbps.
Coronita
May 5, 2014 @
11:13 AM
UCGal wrote:I switched cell [quote=UCGal]I switched cell to a discounted carrier (Ting – uses Sprint network)… that dropped my bill in half.
I have had ZERO luck with cable and am getting ready to cut the cord. I bought a cable modem when they raised the price of rental. While I was returning their modem I tried to negotiate a deal – they said I had the cheapest. I called BS.
I’m paying an outrageous amount for cable/internet. I don’t rent their settop box – but do rent a cable card to use with my tivo. I have standard internet. The bill is sucktastically high.
Unfortunately I like the tivo interface – so I don’t want to switch to dish or uverse (which don’t have cablecards.) But might just switch to OTA and then I’ll only be ripped off for internet prices.[/quote]
The funny part of ATT uverse is that recently they started charging me for both the receiver for the TV and the gateway hub that both the receiver depends on and for which the internet goes through, citing “internet equipment charge”…
I’m like, seriously?
fun4vnay2
March 21, 2015 @
3:22 PM
I don’t switch but I call my I don’t switch but I call my service providers once every year to negotiate a deal
they usually give me a better deal as I tell them I may switch
FlyerInHi
May 7, 2014 @
5:11 PM
I just called and got att I just called and got att uverse reduced from $56 per month to $28 per month for max service up to 12mbps. 1 year contract.
kinda slow, but that’s the fastest att provides in the area and that’s good enough.
kev374
May 9, 2014 @
9:39 AM
I’m with Time Warner cable I’m with Time Warner cable and they suck… worst company to do business with. Their reps do not even have common sense to understand logic related to billing errors etc. I recently moved and was double billed for a period (billed at the old address and the new one simultaneously) and it took them an HOUR just to understand that simple issue and credit me.
spdrun
May 9, 2014 @
9:45 AM
^^^
No it isn’t. Comcrap is. ^^^
No it isn’t. Comcrap is. Sadly, they may be buying TWC.
CA renter
May 9, 2014 @
3:42 PM
Funny. After reading this Funny. After reading this thread, TWC sent us a notice that they were increasing our (already overpriced) rate by over $20/month, and that’s just with standard internet and NO extra movie channels, and NO phone! They wanted to charge almost $150/month!!! Thanks to this thread getting me riled up again, I called them and demanded they lower our price to an even lower amount than what they were billing us. The first department literally said that they were not allowed to make any service changes that would result in a lower bill!
Finally made it to the right department and got it lowered, but only by $2 less than our original rate, before the increase. If TWC doesn’t wise up, they are going to go out of business. It’s only because of dinosaurs who are resistant to change (like me) and sports freaks that they are still in business.
It took me almost an hour on the phone with TWC customer service to get this resolved.
We’re seriously thinking about going to Dish TV/internet.
Way to treat your loyal, long-time customers, TWC! 🙁
an
May 9, 2014 @
8:07 PM
TWC for TV is quite TWC for TV is quite expensive. I have TWC for internet 30Mbps down and 5Mbps up for $55/month and I have DirecTV with everything except movie channels for $45/month (including 2 receivers and whole home DVR service). So, combined, I’m paying $110/month for both service. If I had comparable service all w/ TWC, it would be ~$150/month.
CA renter
May 11, 2014 @
1:26 AM
AN wrote:TWC for TV is quite [quote=AN]TWC for TV is quite expensive. I have TWC for internet 30Mbps down and 5Mbps up for $55/month and I have DirecTV with everything except movie channels for $45/month (including 2 receivers and whole home DVR service). So, combined, I’m paying $110/month for both service. If I had comparable service all w/ TWC, it would be ~$150/month.[/quote]
We had satellite TV years ago, but had to go back to cable because we kept losing the signal. Do you have problems with this?
I would love to get away from TWC.
an
May 11, 2014 @
1:46 PM
CA renter wrote:AN wrote:TWC [quote=CA renter][quote=AN]TWC for TV is quite expensive. I have TWC for internet 30Mbps down and 5Mbps up for $55/month and I have DirecTV with everything except movie channels for $45/month (including 2 receivers and whole home DVR service). So, combined, I’m paying $110/month for both service. If I had comparable service all w/ TWC, it would be ~$150/month.[/quote]
We had satellite TV years ago, but had to go back to cable because we kept losing the signal. Do you have problems with this?
I would love to get away from TWC.[/quote]Nope. Had DirecTV on and off for 5+ years and never had any problem.
CA renter
May 11, 2014 @
5:15 PM
Thanks, AN. Thanks, AN.
CA renter
May 18, 2014 @
5:09 PM
AN wrote:TWC for TV is quite [quote=AN]TWC for TV is quite expensive. I have TWC for internet 30Mbps down and 5Mbps up for $55/month and I have DirecTV with everything except movie channels for $45/month (including 2 receivers and whole home DVR service). So, combined, I’m paying $110/month for both service. If I had comparable service all w/ TWC, it would be ~$150/month.[/quote]
Hold onto your wallet, AN. AT&T is now trying to buy DirecTV.
I think the Comcast-TWC deal is why TWC tried to increase my bill. These mergers are almost always bad for consumers and employees.
bearishgurl
May 9, 2014 @
4:13 PM
Cox offers 24-mo price locks Cox offers 24-mo price locks and charges only $2 for every month early that you terminate your price-lock guarantee.
I pay $140 for all three services with one box but my bill will go down to $128 after my last kid leaves for college (will swap out DVR & DVR svc for regular box).
I can’t complain. We have four families in my immediate vicinity who have u-verse but that is only because they are either a current AT&T employee (1) or are retired from AT&T (3). These families get very steep discounts from AT&T due to their “special status.” U-verse only offers us DSL and a sub-contract with DirecTV who mounts a small dish on your fascia board. We don’t have fiber optic or buried cable around here …. yet.
Piggs should be aware that once u-verse comes in to install on a home which was previously served by cable, they spend hours gutting your entire cable setup, including telephone. You can keep your same landline telephone number but may no longer be able to send or receive faxes from it. If you later decide you want to return to cable service, your cable provider will likely charge you $300-$400 to replace and rebuild all of its hardware outside and inside your house before you can get cable service again.
U-verse makes it look enticing with their constant mailers of $300 – $400 (debit-card) rebates to sign an installment contract with them but there is an eventual price to pay for everything.
I realize that TWC has a monopoly on certain parts of SD County, as does Cox, but it seems that they should be offering price-lock guarantees as well.
an
May 9, 2014 @
8:09 PM
bearishgurl wrote:Piggs [quote=bearishgurl]Piggs should be aware that once u-verse comes in to install on a home which was previously served by cable, they spend hours gutting your entire cable setup, including telephone. You can keep your same landline telephone number but may no longer be able to send or receive faxes from it. If you later decide you want to return to cable service, your cable provider will likely charge you $300-$400 to replace and rebuild all of its hardware outside and inside your house before you can get cable service again. [/quote]Not always true and not true for everyone. I switched between TWC, Uverse, DirecTV many times. Never once did any of them charge extra for installation.
spdrun
May 11, 2014 @
3:41 AM
A combination of Netflix, A combination of Netflix, terrestrial HDTV, and BitTorrent basically makes cable or satellite TV obsolete these days. Just get good Internet access and forget the TeeVee part.
barnaby33
May 11, 2014 @
7:16 AM
You could all give up your You could all give up your TV, it’s just making you dumber anyway.
Josh
Coronita
May 11, 2014 @
9:40 AM
So exactly what is everyone’s So exactly what is everyone’s cable+internet tv bill these days?
Mine’s about $125/month for both, most of which is cable…
But I’m seeing people say that it’s $110/month or so for both..So maybe that’s the prevailing prices…
It’s just to me seem excessive. $100/month is about how much I use to drip into a passive index fund after taxes when I first started working and was dirt poor…And I thought that was a no brainer….
Maybe I’ll cut the cord and just do OTA for the local channels.
spdrun
May 11, 2014 @
10:14 AM
Keep in mind that landline Keep in mind that landline service was pretty expensive 20 years ago. I recall something like a $30/mo base charge on my family’s bill, then 20 or 25 cents per minute for calls outside of our immediate calling area. The local calling area wasn’t a whole area code, just a few towns in a 5 mile or so radius; you had to look up the 3-digit prefix in the phone book to make sure you wouldn’t be charged.
With work calls and the like, $80-$100/mo was pretty normal. And a cable bill would have been extra.
$55/mo cheapie cell phone plan + $110/mo cable with internet and unlimited landline calling is $165/mo. Not so different from $90/mo for phone + $40/mo for cable = $130/mo. Adjust for inflation and add Internet, cell phone, and calling features(*), and the deal starts to look good.
(*)- some areas were still on electromechanical phone switching in the 90s, meaning no caller ID, no call waiting, no forwarding, etc.
svelte
July 27, 2014 @
11:04 AM
We installed Roku 3 We installed Roku 3 yesterday.
What an amazing little box. We have decided to subscribe to Amazon TV and HuluPlus, run it through our Roku and drop cable.
By my calculation that’ll save us $70+ a month (our cable TV bill is about $130/mo, buying the shows my wife likes on Amazon + HuluPlus is $38/mo, plus I’m sure we’ll buy more shows here and there to bring us to $50-60 per month)
I’m so frustrated with the Cox site and the way they try to obfuscate everything, I can’t wait to give them the boot. It will be a very fun phone call to make Monday morning.
joec
July 27, 2014 @
12:29 PM
I always thought it was I always thought it was cheaper to just not subscribe to anything and just BUY any Blu-ray / DVD shows you really like on sale. This depends on how much time you have to watch actually.
Also good to just use the library for movie rentals and purchase seasons of shows you like a lot since the library doesn’t tend to carry tv shows as much. Most tv shows can be had for $10 a season or so on sale?
I think my wife got Weeds on blu-ray complete for $35 bucks.
Downsides of course is you need to wait for the season or show to be over, but I’m ok with that since I like to binge watch and don’t like waiting each week at a cliff hanger. Of course, you won’t be invited to the water cooler to talk about what happened last night on GoT or OitNB.
svelte
July 27, 2014 @
1:08 PM
I actually don’t watch much I actually don’t watch much TV and could do with just random watching of whatever’s free.
But she has a set of shows that she wants to see ASAP…we negotiated that set this weekend and it’s pretty reasonable, 12 shows some of which we can get by default from HuluPlus. Nine of them we’ll have to pay for individually, but going Roku/Amazon/Hulu to do that is still saving us north of $700 per year compared to cable.
And I just discovered and watched the “Drunk History” episode on San Francisco this afternoon. If you haven’t seen it, you gotta watch that! (free on Amazon if you’re a prime member) Hilarious!
FlyerInHi
July 27, 2014 @
3:35 PM
You could just pirate bay, if You could just pirate bay, if you so choose. I’ve been told that, oftentimes, in California you can watch the shows ahead of them showing on network tv because of time zones.
I put an hd UHF VHF antenna in my attic in Vegas for all the local channels. HD is actually sharper than on cable because the broadcast is not compressed like it is on cable.
Problem with condos is that you can’t mount an antenna outside. Builders should just put an antenna on the roof to share with all residents. That’s why it was sad to see Aero lose the Supreme Court case.
Also, if you’re friends with your neighbors, you can share wifi. Good way to cut costs.
CA renter
July 28, 2014 @
1:43 AM
FlyerInHi wrote:You could [quote=FlyerInHi]You could just pirate bay, if you so choose. I’ve been told that, oftentimes, in California you can watch the shows ahead of them showing on network tv because of time zones.
I put an hd UHF VHF antenna in my attic in Vegas for all the local channels. HD is actually sharper than on cable because the broadcast is not compressed like it is on cable.
Problem with condos is that you can’t mount an antenna outside. Builders should just put an antenna on the roof to share with all residents. That’s why it was sad to see Aero lose the Supreme Court case.
Also, if you’re friends with your neighbors, you can share wifi. Good way to cut costs.[/quote]
We have neighbors who share wifi and use Pirate Bay. Sometimes, we feel like the last idiots because we insist on paying for everything. Wish we could just pay those who create and produce it, and not have to pay so much to the middlemen.
svelte
July 28, 2014 @
7:45 AM
I’m not going to pirate I’m not going to pirate anything. I don’t mind paying a fair price for what I actually want to buy.
The problem I have with cable is that I have to buy packages with content that is mostly stations we don’t watch. I am forced to buy 280 stations to get the 30 we want. Way, way, way out of whack.
That bites deep into my pocket which is going to stop now.
And I’m too private a person to share a wifi connection with a neighbor, even though that is not cheating any supplier out of anything.
My wife is pushing to get rid of cable internet too, so if I can find another way to get internet into the house with reasonable speed, it may get axed too.
PCinSD
July 28, 2014 @
5:03 PM
I watch a lot of tv. My I watch a lot of tv. My Directv bill (cancelled it today) was $153/month.
I purchased the Roku 3 a few days ago and like it. I use a friends Netflix account and HBOGo account. That alone is enough to keep me busy. I will miss a couple of Showtime shows: Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex. I’m sure those will be available online soon enough.
What I’m missing is local live tv and the news/sports that come with it. I’m going to pick up a Mohu HD antenna to get those, and a SimpleTV dual tuner DVR to go with it.
So, from $153/month to zero. Shoulda done it sooner.
svelte
July 28, 2014 @
7:15 PM
pabloesqobar wrote:
I [quote=pabloesqobar]
I purchased the Roku 3 a few days ago and like it. I use a friends Netflix account and HBOGo account. That alone is enough to keep me busy. I will miss a couple of Showtime shows: Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex. I’m sure those will be available online soon enough.
What I’m missing is local live tv and the news/sports that come with it. I’m going to pick up a Mohu HD antenna to get those, and a SimpleTV dual tuner DVR to go with it.
[/quote]
Let me know how that antenna and tuner work out…I may copy that.
There aren’t many local stations on Roku, that’s for sure. I did find you can get San Diego Fox 5 through LiveStream (a channel choice that comes default from Roku) and about 100 other local news channels around the country. (try watching local news from Newark from your cable account – ha ha!)
But as of yet, KUSI, ABC San Diego, NBC San Diego, and CBS San Diego are not there. I bet within a year or two, they will be.
Doesn’t bother me that much as we never watch local TV news except during an emergency and I can always watch them on my computer during those times….but I might but an antenna and tuner as backup should the internet go down during an emergency.
Besides, I found Fox 5 had the best fire coverage during the May fires.
FlyerInHi
July 28, 2014 @
9:54 PM
I use the Clearstream 2V I use the Clearstream 2V antenna. It’s in my attic. works well for local broadcast.
If live in a house, even with HOA, you can attach it on the outside of your house. The HOA cannot prevent you because of Federal law.
But if you live in a condo, then the HOA will prevent you from attaching to the physical structure. All you can do is attach it to a mast.
One of my condos in Vegas is on the top floor and I have access to the attic. Works from in there. it’s nice to give the tenant the option of free local TV.
And I’m too private a person to share a wifi connection with a neighbor, even though that is not cheating any supplier out of anything.
If the modem is in your house and the neighbor pays YOU for 50% of the Internet bill, then you can get a router that allows them to use a “guest” network, which is 99% firewalled from your home network.
UCGal
July 28, 2014 @
7:28 PM
Since this thread I tried Since this thread I tried cancelling video cable altogether… It was a painful process with time warner – over 40 minutes on the phone followed by over an hour at the retail store to return my cable card.
I thought I cancelled video altogether and just kept internet… but it looks like they have me coded for basic (standard def) cable. I’d mentally prepared for no more AMC, CNN, HGTV, Bravo. (I like junk tv.)
I also bitched enough that my bill is now less than the “standard” internet rate. Not sure how long that will last – but my bill with all the fees and stuff is now about $35/month. That’s a huge drop.
I wish there were an alternative for internet. ATT DSL is kind of crappy according to neighbors.
spdrun
July 28, 2014 @
7:33 PM
I think that blocking the I think that blocking the basic cable channels (which come unencrypted) might actually take more effort on their part than leaving them unblocked.
Can you get Fiber to the Premises anywhere in the SD area?
no_such_reality
July 28, 2014 @
9:28 PM
UCGal wrote:
I wish there [quote=UCGal]
I wish there were an alternative for internet. ATT DSL is kind of crappy according to neighbors.[/quote]
Your neighbors are being polite
svelte
July 29, 2014 @
6:51 AM
UCGal wrote:Since this thread [quote=UCGal]Since this thread I tried cancelling video cable altogether… It was a painful process with time warner – over 40 minutes on the phone followed by over an hour at the retail store to return my cable card.
[/quote]
heh. Yeah, I called Cox to cancel, their automated menu said “Press x if you are buying service or upgrading”, “Press y if you are downgrading service or canceling”. Hmmm. I wonder why they separate those out? 🙂 Think both get the same wait times?
It took 18 minutes to reach a rep. When she came on and I told her I was dropping TV, she asked if I had already installed another service. When I said “yes”, she put me on hold again and didn’t come back for another 12 minutes.
All the time, I’m thinking…this is just another reason I’m glad I’m leaving.
spdrun
July 29, 2014 @
8:00 AM
When the droid asks you When the droid asks you reason for cancellation: “I’m moving out of the country and selling the property.”
Absolutely nothing they can say or do to keep you, so that’s probably the quickest way. No reason to be honest to a bunch of corporate pigs.
Doofrat
July 29, 2014 @
1:21 PM
We were having issues with We were having issues with the cable TV with TW. The cable box kept resetting or would need to be reset, the voices didn’t line up with the video, and sometimes they’d have disputes with the networks and the channel would be blocked.
Decided in January to switch to just using an Apple TV and a subscription to Hulu.
I took the cable box down to the TW station to return and expected a bunch of rigmarole, but the lady just said why are you cancelling and I said I don’t watch it anymore. End of story. I was actually kind of shocked. They even gave me the $10 off the Internet you get when you bundle cable with Internet. I was in and out of the place in under 5 mins.
Also, don’t miss cable at all, not even a little bit. In the last 6 mos, Hulu has cost what two weeks of cable cost.
CA renter
July 29, 2014 @
4:20 PM
I love these stories! 🙂 I love these stories! 🙂
spdrun
July 29, 2014 @
4:43 PM
It’s a lot harder to play It’s a lot harder to play dirty ball with someone in person (especially if there are other customers waiting in line and listening) than over the phone.
FlyerInHi
August 12, 2014 @
10:03 PM
so much content online these so much content online these days…
I used to record the PBS Newshour on my Media Center PC. But now, I just watch it on youtube and just “send” it to the TV.
Has anyone used Wireless Display (WiDi)? I’m thinking about getting a WiDi laptop to use in conjunction with the TV. Would be nice to easily move Internet content onto the TV.
an
August 12, 2014 @
10:11 PM
FlyerInHi wrote:so much [quote=FlyerInHi]so much content online these days…
I used to record the PBS Newshour on my Media Center PC. But now, I just watch it on youtube and just “send” it to the TV.
Has anyone used Wireless Display (WiDi)? I’m thinking about getting a WiDi laptop to use in conjunction with the TV. Would be nice to easily move Internet content onto the TV.[/quote]WiDi suck. At least the version I’ve seen. Refresh rate is not good. It’s more for presentation than video. I would look into Miracast if you want wireless display.
UCGal
August 13, 2014 @
7:41 AM
Are widi and miracast Are widi and miracast supposed to be like chromecast – casting a tab?
I use chromecast sometimes to watch amazon prime – by casting the tab to the tv. But it tends to hang a LOT.
an
August 13, 2014 @
10:49 AM
UCGal wrote:Are widi and [quote=UCGal]Are widi and miracast supposed to be like chromecast – casting a tab?
I use chromecast sometimes to watch amazon prime – by casting the tab to the tv. But it tends to hang a LOT.[/quote]WiDi and Miracast are protocol for wireless display while Chromecast is an actual product. I’m not sure which technology Google use for Chromecast. Miracast is a standard while WiDi is pushed by Intel.
UCGal
August 13, 2014 @
11:22 AM
AN wrote:UCGal wrote:Are widi [quote=AN][quote=UCGal]Are widi and miracast supposed to be like chromecast – casting a tab?
I use chromecast sometimes to watch amazon prime – by casting the tab to the tv. But it tends to hang a LOT.[/quote]WiDi and Miracast are protocol for wireless display while Chromecast is an actual product. I’m not sure which technology Google use for Chromecast. Miracast is a standard while WiDi is pushed by Intel.[/quote]
Thanks, AN.
ltsddd
August 13, 2014 @
8:41 PM
UCGal wrote:Are widi and [quote=UCGal]Are widi and miracast supposed to be like chromecast – casting a tab?
I use chromecast sometimes to watch amazon prime – by casting the tab to the tv. But it tends to hang a LOT.[/quote]
The bottleneck could be your wireless router. You might want to upgrade if you have an older/slower wireless router. Check out these latest wireless 802.11ac routers
Whatever happened to wireless Whatever happened to wireless HD? That has very little latency and I’ve seen videos of people gaming on it with their laptops/large screen TVs…
Saw a few products, but really nothing in a long while…
joec
August 14, 2014 @
8:36 AM
Whatever happened to wireless Whatever happened to wireless HD? That has very little latency and I’ve seen videos of people gaming on it with their laptops/large screen TVs…
Saw a few products, but really nothing in a long while…
svelte
August 15, 2014 @
10:27 AM
joec wrote:Whatever happened [quote=joec]Whatever happened to wireless HD? That has very little latency and I’ve seen videos of people gaming on it with their laptops/large screen TVs…
Saw a few products, but really nothing in a long while…[/quote]
We have our Roku 3 connected wirelessly to our wireless router to stream HDTV to our flat screen. In essence, we have wireless HD. No hiccups, no problems at all.
Or are you talking about something else?
PCinSD
August 15, 2014 @
12:42 PM
I’m still working on getting I’m still working on getting just the local channels via an antenna.
I first tried a cheap $15 RCA (i think) that worked ok for kpbs and 2 of the local channels. But I didn’t get CBS with it. So I returned it and got the $60 MOHU antenna with an amplifier. Same thing, but with a lot more Mexican channels. So I missed most of the PGA championship on Sunday. The local CBS antenna is on top of Mt. Soledad, and I’m kinda downtown so that could be the problem.
KUSI comes in fine, as does the local FOX5 channel. I guess I’ll return the MOHU and go back to the cheaper antenna.
Really enjoy the Roku.
FlyerInHi
August 15, 2014 @
1:20 PM
pabloesqobar wrote:I’m still [quote=pabloesqobar]I’m still working on getting just the local channels via an antenna.
I first tried a cheap $15 RCA (i think) that worked ok for kpbs and 2 of the local channels. But I didn’t get CBS with it. So I returned it and got the $60 MOHU antenna with an amplifier. Same thing, but with a lot more Mexican channels. So I missed most of the PGA championship on Sunday. The local CBS antenna is on top of Mt. Soledad, and I’m kinda downtown so that could be the problem.[/quote]
That’s not entirely true. If you happen to be LOS to the TX site then chances are you will pick up VHF station with a UHF antenna just fine. Im in PQ, I am not quite LOS of Mt. Soledad but pick it up just fine with my UHF antenna. Actually I get all the locals and several LA stations.
Picked up an ATSC DVR (Channel master DVR+), so far it’s working pretty good!
OUT.
UCGal
August 15, 2014 @
4:07 PM
FlyerInHi wrote:pabloesqobar [quote=FlyerInHi][quote=pabloesqobar]I’m still working on getting just the local channels via an antenna.
I first tried a cheap $15 RCA (i think) that worked ok for kpbs and 2 of the local channels. But I didn’t get CBS with it. So I returned it and got the $60 MOHU antenna with an amplifier. Same thing, but with a lot more Mexican channels. So I missed most of the PGA championship on Sunday. The local CBS antenna is on top of Mt. Soledad, and I’m kinda downtown so that could be the problem.[/quote]
KUSI and FOX are both transmitted from south of the border – so that’s part of the reason you get those along with the mexican/spanish language channels. The other channels are x-mitted from Mt. Soledad. Some antennas are directional – so if they’re optimized for one set of channels, they’ll have less success with the other channels.
We’re line of sight to Soledad – so we’re so low tech we use old school rabbit ears and get most OTA digital channels.
moneymaker
August 15, 2014 @
1:03 PM
Getting the Nighthawk today Getting the Nighthawk today from Amazon, should be fun to setup!
The thing about negotiating with companies is that they are all pushing for contracts now and I don’t really like having my options locked up. So when my cellular contract is up in October I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do. Probably get the newer Samsung S5 and recommit to another 2 years. Anybody know when or if phone unlocking will be legal again?
CA renter
August 15, 2014 @
3:42 PM
moneymaker wrote:Getting the [quote=moneymaker]Getting the Nighthawk today from Amazon, should be fun to setup!
The thing about negotiating with companies is that they are all pushing for contracts now and I don’t really like having my options locked up. So when my cellular contract is up in October I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do. Probably get the newer Samsung S5 and recommit to another 2 years. Anybody know when or if phone unlocking will be legal again?[/quote]
Why not get a “no contract” phone from a company like Net 10 or Tracfone? Even if you want to avoid the hassle of having to reload minutes, you can just go with a monthly, no-contract plan.
moneymaker
August 17, 2014 @
8:53 PM
I believe the phone I have I believe the phone I have Samsung S3 is somehow locked into Verizon’s network. In other words I can’t just take it to another provider, I would have to buy another phone. I don’t see why I should have to do that when I paid for the phone (almost) with my higher monthly rates. If I were to switch I would have to start buying a phone all over again. Which I may do, I was just wondering if Obama had expanded my options yet. P.S. -The night hawk was not as good as I had hoped but it does give me the ability to reserve IP’s.
FlyerInHi
August 13, 2014 @
8:49 AM
Thanks, I went to Best Buy Thanks, I went to Best Buy for a demo of WiDI. But they didn’t have anything to show.
My TV doesn’t support miracast so that means buying another box and having to switch inputs.
YouTube casting to the smart TV works well (from a paired windows laptop or iPad). It used to hang but for some reason it works well now. As a result, I’ve been watching more YouTube. As background, I usually watch one national news broadcast and PBS newshour everyday. Glad to have one less thing to record.
I guess for now, I’ll stick to the media center PC with wireless keyboard. I don’t like the background noise of the fan or the looks of it even though all the cables are inside the cabinet or inside the wall. But so far, the greatest content (like foreign news programs) is only accessible via PC.
Hobie
August 13, 2014 @
10:15 AM
So you ditched Boxee over the So you ditched Boxee over the media PC?
spdrun
August 13, 2014 @
10:39 AM
Media center PCs are also Media center PCs are also nice because you can store programs and download Torrents, vs a dedicated TV box which only pulls them down from the cloud. The latter has no guarantee of future availability.
WiDi is cool, but I’d rather just watch stuff without being dependent on streaming from a laptop and have it just play.
FlyerInHi
August 13, 2014 @
1:34 PM
spdrun wrote:Media center PCs [quote=spdrun]Media center PCs are also nice because you can store programs and download Torrents, vs a dedicated TV box which only pulls them down from the cloud. The latter has no guarantee of future availability.
WiDi is cool, but I’d rather just watch stuff without being dependent on streaming from a laptop and have it just play.[/quote]
Yes, Media Center PC is most powerful since it will do everything a computer can, including download, store and play.
A streaming device is just that and not very versatile.
I like YouTube’s implementation on Smart TVs or streaming devices, such as Roku and Boxee. You can browse on any device then click play to TV.
If the industry wants better convergence, there should be an easy solution to play all videos to TV.
This is all very interesting stuff. The old TV/Cable model is in danger.
I think that a whole lot more people would drop cable altogether if they already had an HDTV antenna installed on their roofs to try out. I have plans to do it for my dad… but haven’t gotten around to it.
Coronita
October 12, 2014 @
7:47 PM
Bump… So I finally got off Bump… So I finally got off my lazy butt and did a price comparison… I was going to switch from ATT Uverse to Time Warner because of the promotion TW was running.
Turns out I called ATT Uverse to cancel my service, and they upgraded my TV service to U200 (I was grandfathered into a lower U100 plan) and also gave me a DVR and 3 rooms with no receiver charges) plus upgraded my personal internet to the next level of service…..all for $30/month LESS than I was paying.. Good for 1 year.. Plus they gave me a $150 gift card for renewing service….
Man, I should have done this a year ago. Would have saved $360 a year ago, for just spend a couple of minutes of free time here and there to price shop a bit…
I have to also save, uVerse customer service has gotten much better..And the uverse tech folks did the upgrade pretty painlessly…Also, returning an old receiver is easy. Drop it off at a UPS store and they take care of the rest. Better than going to Time Warner’s office and having to wait in line to drop off a receiver…..
So for the next year at least, I’m staying with uVerse…So I guess when your terms are up, you really do need to shop around and at least go through the motions of switching to someone else…
Being loyal and faithful in this case doesn’t benefit you…(Repeat crazy price shopping next year in Sept again..)
CA renter
October 12, 2014 @
7:47 PM
Nice! 🙂 Nice! 🙂
spdrun
October 12, 2014 @
8:02 PM
Does SD have an local-ish ISP Does SD have an local-ish ISP similar to Ace Innovative in NYC or MonkeyBrains in SF?
Coronita
October 12, 2014 @
9:43 PM
spdrun wrote:Does SD have an [quote=spdrun]Does SD have an local-ish ISP similar to Ace Innovative in NYC or MonkeyBrains in SF?[/quote]
Not to my knowledge.
Coronita
October 12, 2014 @
9:50 PM
…oh yeah, and I went for a …oh yeah, and I went for a trifecta and called up my t-mobile to “update” my personal phone over the weekend.
That $75/month bill was reduced to $45/month for two lines up to 1000 minutes peak shared (unlimited night/weekend/mobile2mobile) and 2GB data/month (unlimited but throttled after 2GB) price good for two years (including business relationship discount)…Perfect for my personal really limited use… Best part was it was also prorated back a few months….I don’t think people can get that, but it was partly me having been with them for awhile, and me having a grandfathered plan….It’s no verizon, but it’s ok where I am…
OwnerOfCalifornia
October 13, 2014 @
9:52 AM
For internet-only For internet-only users…
Does anyone just jump back and forth every year, assuming you’re in a market with both TWC and U-verse? So you’re always on the ‘introductory promotional’ rate or whatever? Or alternatively, use the above strategy (let them call your bluff)?
I own a cable modem and may buy a DSL modem so I can support both data streams and not have to pay their lease extortion.
jeff303
October 13, 2014 @
11:32 AM
Is the U-verse product naked Is the U-verse product naked DSL? In other words, to switch back to DSL, do you have to reestablish a land line at the same time, and cancel it when you switch to cable internet again? Seems like that would be a big pain, for myself anyway (past experience dealing with Verizon as a land line company).
OwnerOfCalifornia
October 13, 2014 @
12:15 PM
jeff303 wrote:Is the U-verse [quote=jeff303]Is the U-verse product naked DSL? In other words, to switch back to DSL, do you have to reestablish a land line at the same time, and cancel it when you switch to cable internet again? Seems like that would be a big pain, for myself anyway (past experience dealing with Verizon as a land line company).[/quote]
Dunno. I’ve always had TWC, and mixed results with the call-and-threaten-to-cancel technique. I know my house is wired for a land-line (I’m sure most residences still are), and having to establish and pay for land-line service is a deal-breaker.
I’m ignorant of the technology, and perhaps my strategy of having two modems on-hand is a non-starter.
spdrun
October 13, 2014 @
1:30 PM
Landlines are often Landlines are often dirt-cheap and thrown in as essentially a freebie. If you want to keep the same LL number, you can keep porting it between carriers. Or just get a different # every time and never use it.
For DSL, the service will come in through the land line wiring. For cable, you’ll have a land line port on the modem, which you don’t actually need to connect to your house’s wiring if you don’t want to.
spdrun
October 13, 2014 @
1:30 PM
Landlines are often Landlines are often dirt-cheap and thrown in as essentially a freebie. If you want to keep the same LL number, you can keep porting it between carriers. Or just get a different # every time and never use it.
For DSL, the service will come in through the land line wiring. For cable, you’ll have a land line port on the modem, which you don’t actually need to connect to your house’s wiring if you don’t want to.
FlyerInHi
October 13, 2014 @
1:46 PM
The Telcos now offer internet The Telcos now offer internet service without a land line requirement.
Home security is now how the companies plan to keep customers locked into their services.
spdrun
October 13, 2014 @
1:55 PM
Varies by company. For Varies by company. For example, Verizon used to permit “naked DSL” but no longer does for home service as of last year.
As far as lock-in via their security systems, way to solve the problem is to buy a 3rd party system. Or just don’t use any security system. It’s false security, since the burglars will be on their way out the door by the time the cops get called. And automated alarm calls are last-priority for police departments due to the ratio of false alarms to real.
(Really, all that’s needed for deterrence is an audible alarm to make the burglar THINK something will happen, not something that calls the authorities automatically.)
FlyerInHi
October 13, 2014 @
2:15 PM
spd, I agree with you.
But spd, I agree with you.
But most people are not tech oriented and they are creatures of habits.
Telcos still get billions from customers who don’t want to give up their home phone numbers. My sister-in-law wants her home phone although she never uses it. She says it’s too much trouble to change the number on all the bills. I’m like… so what? if they can’t reach you they’ll send you a letter. My brother lets her be because he doesn’t want to deal with it. We share the same cell phone plan.
Once the companies get you to use their security services, there will be no changing for decades.
spdrun
October 13, 2014 @
2:23 PM
*I* actually want a home *I* actually want a home phone since I use it for work. It doesn’t sound like arse, unlike a cell connection. And you can have my (212) number when you pry it ….
Can your sister-in-law migrate the number to Google Voice and forward it to her mobile?
My point was that I wasn’t convinced that security systems would be a good way to lock customers in. Penetration of security systems in the US is very low, something like 15% of homes. With good reason, since they’re nigh on useless is preventing burglaries.
CA renter
October 13, 2014 @
4:59 PM
For those who use cell For those who use cell service instead of a land line, know that when you call 911, they usually won’t know your exact location. It’s always a good idea to have a land line, even if you don’t use it very often. A lot of people we know weren’t aware of this before we told them about it.
Also good to have one of the old-school corded phones that don’t need to be plugged into an outlet, as they will often work even when the power is out.
I remember reading in that in I remember reading in that in Connecticut or some state over there, they’re getting rid of copper and forcing everyone to fiber. Goodbye POTS.
spdrun
October 13, 2014 @
6:12 PM
Incorrect–
FiOS provides Incorrect–
FiOS provides POTS over fiber. It’s not VoIP in the sense that it doesn’t use Internet Protocol, it uses an out-of-band signalling protocol to replicate a POTS line after the optical terminal. You can literally plug a 60-year old rotary phone into it, and it will work. In fact, I have 🙂
Verizon is doing a DIFFERENT thing in NJ — they’re trying to force people whose lines were damaged by Hurricane Sandy to their garbage Voicewing service. aka POTS over wireless. They tried that in NY state, and the telecom regulator told them “hell the fuck no,” so they upgraded everyone in the affected towns to fiber.
FlyerInHi
October 13, 2014 @
7:25 PM
Do you need a device in your Do you need a device in your home with power in order to have POTS over fiber?
spdrun
October 13, 2014 @
7:37 PM
The POTS part is The POTS part is battery-backed. If you think about it, POTS with local battery wasn’t all that uncommon until the 1960s or so in the US. (Battery in the phone itself, hand crank to signal the operator…)
No reason why you couldn’t install a larger SLA battery to power the thing for days to weeks without power.
FlyerInHi
October 13, 2014 @
7:51 PM
It sounds like the consumer It sounds like the consumer must have a battery backed device. The experience is not the same as POTS.
I’m OK with getting rid of old technology. I don’t feel attached to doing things the old way.
Adapt, learn and move on.
spdrun
October 13, 2014 @
8:05 PM
They install a box with They install a box with battery backup when they install FiOS. Operation is entirely transparent to the user. The only difference in functionally is that it’s slightly slower to generate a dialtone when picking up than a POTS line. (More the speed of a POTS line on an analogue system.)
Unlike most VoIP systems, reliability tends to approach 100%.
CDMA ENG
October 13, 2014 @
9:14 PM
Really cant call it POTs… Really cant call it POTs… If it is not twisted pair coming into the home its simply not POTs. It may get converted back on to the circuit switched and that is where they are calling it a pseudo POTs but once its on Fiber I would have a hard time calling it that… and POTs is dead… Or rather its dying…
AT&T has made a commitment of a all IP based system by 2020.
Verizon is envisioning something similar.
Hardline circuit switched systems are incredible good and reliable but expensive and most major carriers world wide are looking to sunset them.
I have a VOIP system and they are no longer installing large BUPs systems with them… In fact the house I bought had one and when they transfer my service they took it out… I wasn’t really happy with that becuase it is a larger batter than the ones in the phone… But then again I have cells phones that should keep me in service for at least 6 hours as well.
CE
spdrun
October 13, 2014 @
9:33 PM
Disagree — in that case, Disagree — in that case, POTS hasn’t been POTS for a long time. You had things like Litespan (POTS over fiber, converted back to analog at a street box) in the 90s. Is there really any difference, other than semantic, between the transition being on-premises or 100 feet off-premises?
2020 — good fucking luck. Verizon was supposed to go to all fiber in NYC by the beginning of 2014. Here it’s almost 2015, and … right. I could see 2025 or 2030.
As far as battery backups, there should be a Federal requirement that any “phone” (VoIP or no) service coming onto a premises and installed by a common carrier should have at least 24 hours battery backup. All of the new FiOS installs I’ve seen have had one.
CDMA ENG
October 13, 2014 @
10:16 PM
Yeah but your saying Fiber = Yeah but your saying Fiber = IP with the Verizon arguement… They can still do IP over twisted pair but ya… Copper will be around for a long time.
CE
spdrun
October 13, 2014 @
10:33 PM
I never said fiber = IP — I never said fiber = IP — medium doesn’t determine protocol.
By the way, I’ve seen VoIP run over a DSL link — you can cram quite a few voice lines on a single copper pair that way 🙂
joec
October 15, 2014 @
5:56 PM
My problem with AT&T is I My problem with AT&T is I think they penalize you and charge you more if you download too much and go over your allocated usage for internet. I don’t think Cox or Time Warner has that limit.
It’s hard to get multiple options for Internet service in general. You’re usually in only 1 market.
I threatened to leave Cox and got transferred to the retention group and the guy said there was no other company offering it so he didn’t care. Told me pretty much to f*ck off so I left.
After I setup new service with Time Warner and called to cancel, another rep was able to offer a better deal than my old service for lower. But already setup new service so cancelled anyways.
so it may have to do with the rep you reach to see what they can do.
or…the first guy I spoke to wasn’t really in the retention department.
I do try to get new subsidized phones all the time so switch that out every 2 years. There are a lot of trade in promotions now for the new iPhone 6 and Samsung Note 4.
spdrun
October 15, 2014 @
6:01 PM
You should have at least You should have at least three choices:
(1) wireless, probably from more than one firm
(2) coaxial/”cable”
(3) internet over twisted-pair/”DSL”
I’m with T-mobile for wireless, and have the bare-bones $50/mo plan. No phone subsidies, but I can usually pick up something cheap and Android on EBay for under $100.
I have little use for the latest and greatest, since I have an actual laptop for work and I’m not glued to the phone 24/7.
FlyerInHi
October 16, 2014 @
12:11 AM
I have AT&T wireless.
They no I have AT&T wireless.
They no longer offer subsidized phones. Now, they essentially allow you to spread out the cost of the new phone over 2 years. So you now have an incentive not to upgrade. That might depress phone sales a little.
Does anyone just jump back and forth every year, assuming you’re in a market with both TWC and U-verse? So you’re always on the ‘introductory promotional’ rate or whatever? Or alternatively, use the above strategy (let them call your bluff)?
I own a cable modem and may buy a DSL modem so I can support both data streams and not have to pay their lease extortion.[/quote]
The goal is pretty much to always be in an “introductory rate plan” for 1-2 years. Upon which, they either give you another introductory plan or you switch to another company with one…
When I called, it wasn’t that much to ask for an introductory plan. It’s as if they were expecting that sooner or later I would call and/or surprised I had not called sooner…Because for what I was getting and how much I was paying, they agent said something to the effect “we can do much better than that”… I guess it’s kinda like clipping coupons. They are hoping enough people don’t call versus the ones that do…
My mistake was I should have done this about a year ago…
I hate this.. But i guess it’s the cat and mouse game they like to play. Customer loyalty? Pfft…. Only if you ask…
Does anyone just jump back and forth every year, assuming you’re in a market with both TWC and U-verse? So you’re always on the ‘introductory promotional’ rate or whatever? Or alternatively, use the above strategy (let them call your bluff)?
I own a cable modem and may buy a DSL modem so I can support both data streams and not have to pay their lease extortion.[/quote]Yes, but I do the same thing to more than just internet. I do the same for my cable TV as well. For TV, I switch between UVerse and DirecTV and internet, I switch between TWC and UVerse. Sometimes, retention will give you the same deal as new customer, sometimes they don’t. Another way to do it, if you like one service, is to signed up for a new account with another person’s name and cancel yours. Like your spouse (if you have one).
May 3, 2014 @ 6:12 PM
I was just curious, for those
I was just curious, for those folks that have cell phone and/or cable and/or internet access.
Do you folks regularly price shop your plans against competitors and either call your provider to ask them either price match or switch your service to someone else?
I use to do this more frequently, but in more recent times, I haven’t had time to deal with this since I had bigger issues to deal with..
Well, recently, I was looking at my cell and cable and internet bill…. And was surprised that the price went up a bit…It appears my promotional credits for my cell phone and cable/internet expired, and my cable/internet bill jumped to $120/month and my cell phone bill jumped to $75/month.
I called back my cell phone provider and after talking to them, they gave permanent $15 credit for being a loyal customer for the next year another $10 for the next 6 months…So it ends up being $50/month for two lines, unlimited calling and up to 25GB data on one line (none on the other). I asked them if they could just make the price cut permanent so I wouldn’t have to go through the hoops of asking for a credit. They rep basically said, unfortunately no, but told me to call back in 6 months to ask for another credit…
I think when I call back my cable/internet, I can probably knock that down to $90-100/month too the same way…
So I think I can manage to knock off about $400-500/year in expenses just back haggling with the providers.. But as time passes, it gets kinda old… Then again $200-500, is 1 set of tires for a miata :)..It’s like clipping coupons, which I hate to do, but I know if I do it, I can save money…
You think it’s worth it or not? (yes, the other option is to cut the cable tv cord… considering it…)….
May 3, 2014 @ 7:06 PM
Sure it’s worth it, but it
Sure it’s worth it, but it has to be considered against time spent… I’ve never negotiated a discount on a cell bill, but I recently switched from ATT to T-mo because they had unlimited phone and 1GB of data (don’t need more since I can jump on WiFi pretty regularly) for about half the price of an equivalent plan from ATT if I bought my own handset. Used Android GSM phones be cheap on EBay.
Never had cable service, but I have to keep re’uping my landline phone and Internet service annually to keep the “new customer discount.” Otherwise it goes up to something stupid like $90/mo.
May 4, 2014 @ 1:11 AM
Worth it, but I don’t do it
Worth it, but I don’t do it much, either. The CS rep told me the same thing — to keep calling back to renegotiate the price, but I just don’t have the time to spend hours on the phone trying to get $10-$15 (maybe more!) knocked off our bill. They count on most of us not wanting to go through the hassle, of course, which is probably why CS tends to get worse and worse over time. Just my 2 cents.
May 5, 2014 @ 10:18 AM
I switched cell to a
I switched cell to a discounted carrier (Ting – uses Sprint network)… that dropped my bill in half.
I have had ZERO luck with cable and am getting ready to cut the cord. I bought a cable modem when they raised the price of rental. While I was returning their modem I tried to negotiate a deal – they said I had the cheapest. I called BS.
I’m paying an outrageous amount for cable/internet. I don’t rent their settop box – but do rent a cable card to use with my tivo. I have standard internet. The bill is sucktastically high.
Unfortunately I like the tivo interface – so I don’t want to switch to dish or uverse (which don’t have cablecards.) But might just switch to OTA and then I’ll only be ripped off for internet prices.
May 5, 2014 @ 10:27 AM
I don’t negotiate cell phone
I don’t negotiate cell phone bill, since I can’t stand any other carrier other than Verizon due to coverage. As for cable, I currently have DirecTV. I tend to switch around, between DirecTV, Uverse, and Time Warner and stay only long enough to have their promotional price. No need to negotiate. As for internet, Time Warner is my only choice, since I have their 30Mbps/5Mbps package. Uverse upload is too slow and down was maxed out @ 24Mbps.
May 5, 2014 @ 11:13 AM
UCGal wrote:I switched cell
[quote=UCGal]I switched cell to a discounted carrier (Ting – uses Sprint network)… that dropped my bill in half.
I have had ZERO luck with cable and am getting ready to cut the cord. I bought a cable modem when they raised the price of rental. While I was returning their modem I tried to negotiate a deal – they said I had the cheapest. I called BS.
I’m paying an outrageous amount for cable/internet. I don’t rent their settop box – but do rent a cable card to use with my tivo. I have standard internet. The bill is sucktastically high.
Unfortunately I like the tivo interface – so I don’t want to switch to dish or uverse (which don’t have cablecards.) But might just switch to OTA and then I’ll only be ripped off for internet prices.[/quote]
The funny part of ATT uverse is that recently they started charging me for both the receiver for the TV and the gateway hub that both the receiver depends on and for which the internet goes through, citing “internet equipment charge”…
I’m like, seriously?
March 21, 2015 @ 3:22 PM
I don’t switch but I call my
I don’t switch but I call my service providers once every year to negotiate a deal
they usually give me a better deal as I tell them I may switch
May 7, 2014 @ 5:11 PM
I just called and got att
I just called and got att uverse reduced from $56 per month to $28 per month for max service up to 12mbps. 1 year contract.
kinda slow, but that’s the fastest att provides in the area and that’s good enough.
May 9, 2014 @ 9:39 AM
I’m with Time Warner cable
I’m with Time Warner cable and they suck… worst company to do business with. Their reps do not even have common sense to understand logic related to billing errors etc. I recently moved and was double billed for a period (billed at the old address and the new one simultaneously) and it took them an HOUR just to understand that simple issue and credit me.
May 9, 2014 @ 9:45 AM
^^^
No it isn’t. Comcrap is.
^^^
No it isn’t. Comcrap is. Sadly, they may be buying TWC.
May 9, 2014 @ 3:42 PM
Funny. After reading this
Funny. After reading this thread, TWC sent us a notice that they were increasing our (already overpriced) rate by over $20/month, and that’s just with standard internet and NO extra movie channels, and NO phone! They wanted to charge almost $150/month!!! Thanks to this thread getting me riled up again, I called them and demanded they lower our price to an even lower amount than what they were billing us. The first department literally said that they were not allowed to make any service changes that would result in a lower bill!
Finally made it to the right department and got it lowered, but only by $2 less than our original rate, before the increase. If TWC doesn’t wise up, they are going to go out of business. It’s only because of dinosaurs who are resistant to change (like me) and sports freaks that they are still in business.
It took me almost an hour on the phone with TWC customer service to get this resolved.
We’re seriously thinking about going to Dish TV/internet.
Way to treat your loyal, long-time customers, TWC! 🙁
May 9, 2014 @ 8:07 PM
TWC for TV is quite
TWC for TV is quite expensive. I have TWC for internet 30Mbps down and 5Mbps up for $55/month and I have DirecTV with everything except movie channels for $45/month (including 2 receivers and whole home DVR service). So, combined, I’m paying $110/month for both service. If I had comparable service all w/ TWC, it would be ~$150/month.
May 11, 2014 @ 1:26 AM
AN wrote:TWC for TV is quite
[quote=AN]TWC for TV is quite expensive. I have TWC for internet 30Mbps down and 5Mbps up for $55/month and I have DirecTV with everything except movie channels for $45/month (including 2 receivers and whole home DVR service). So, combined, I’m paying $110/month for both service. If I had comparable service all w/ TWC, it would be ~$150/month.[/quote]
We had satellite TV years ago, but had to go back to cable because we kept losing the signal. Do you have problems with this?
I would love to get away from TWC.
May 11, 2014 @ 1:46 PM
CA renter wrote:AN wrote:TWC
[quote=CA renter][quote=AN]TWC for TV is quite expensive. I have TWC for internet 30Mbps down and 5Mbps up for $55/month and I have DirecTV with everything except movie channels for $45/month (including 2 receivers and whole home DVR service). So, combined, I’m paying $110/month for both service. If I had comparable service all w/ TWC, it would be ~$150/month.[/quote]
We had satellite TV years ago, but had to go back to cable because we kept losing the signal. Do you have problems with this?
I would love to get away from TWC.[/quote]Nope. Had DirecTV on and off for 5+ years and never had any problem.
May 11, 2014 @ 5:15 PM
Thanks, AN.
Thanks, AN.
May 18, 2014 @ 5:09 PM
AN wrote:TWC for TV is quite
[quote=AN]TWC for TV is quite expensive. I have TWC for internet 30Mbps down and 5Mbps up for $55/month and I have DirecTV with everything except movie channels for $45/month (including 2 receivers and whole home DVR service). So, combined, I’m paying $110/month for both service. If I had comparable service all w/ TWC, it would be ~$150/month.[/quote]
Hold onto your wallet, AN. AT&T is now trying to buy DirecTV.
I think the Comcast-TWC deal is why TWC tried to increase my bill. These mergers are almost always bad for consumers and employees.
May 9, 2014 @ 4:13 PM
Cox offers 24-mo price locks
Cox offers 24-mo price locks and charges only $2 for every month early that you terminate your price-lock guarantee.
I pay $140 for all three services with one box but my bill will go down to $128 after my last kid leaves for college (will swap out DVR & DVR svc for regular box).
I can’t complain. We have four families in my immediate vicinity who have u-verse but that is only because they are either a current AT&T employee (1) or are retired from AT&T (3). These families get very steep discounts from AT&T due to their “special status.” U-verse only offers us DSL and a sub-contract with DirecTV who mounts a small dish on your fascia board. We don’t have fiber optic or buried cable around here …. yet.
Piggs should be aware that once u-verse comes in to install on a home which was previously served by cable, they spend hours gutting your entire cable setup, including telephone. You can keep your same landline telephone number but may no longer be able to send or receive faxes from it. If you later decide you want to return to cable service, your cable provider will likely charge you $300-$400 to replace and rebuild all of its hardware outside and inside your house before you can get cable service again.
U-verse makes it look enticing with their constant mailers of $300 – $400 (debit-card) rebates to sign an installment contract with them but there is an eventual price to pay for everything.
I realize that TWC has a monopoly on certain parts of SD County, as does Cox, but it seems that they should be offering price-lock guarantees as well.
May 9, 2014 @ 8:09 PM
bearishgurl wrote:Piggs
[quote=bearishgurl]Piggs should be aware that once u-verse comes in to install on a home which was previously served by cable, they spend hours gutting your entire cable setup, including telephone. You can keep your same landline telephone number but may no longer be able to send or receive faxes from it. If you later decide you want to return to cable service, your cable provider will likely charge you $300-$400 to replace and rebuild all of its hardware outside and inside your house before you can get cable service again. [/quote]Not always true and not true for everyone. I switched between TWC, Uverse, DirecTV many times. Never once did any of them charge extra for installation.
May 11, 2014 @ 3:41 AM
A combination of Netflix,
A combination of Netflix, terrestrial HDTV, and BitTorrent basically makes cable or satellite TV obsolete these days. Just get good Internet access and forget the TeeVee part.
May 11, 2014 @ 7:16 AM
You could all give up your
You could all give up your TV, it’s just making you dumber anyway.
Josh
May 11, 2014 @ 9:40 AM
So exactly what is everyone’s
So exactly what is everyone’s cable+internet tv bill these days?
Mine’s about $125/month for both, most of which is cable…
But I’m seeing people say that it’s $110/month or so for both..So maybe that’s the prevailing prices…
It’s just to me seem excessive. $100/month is about how much I use to drip into a passive index fund after taxes when I first started working and was dirt poor…And I thought that was a no brainer….
Maybe I’ll cut the cord and just do OTA for the local channels.
May 11, 2014 @ 10:14 AM
Keep in mind that landline
Keep in mind that landline service was pretty expensive 20 years ago. I recall something like a $30/mo base charge on my family’s bill, then 20 or 25 cents per minute for calls outside of our immediate calling area. The local calling area wasn’t a whole area code, just a few towns in a 5 mile or so radius; you had to look up the 3-digit prefix in the phone book to make sure you wouldn’t be charged.
With work calls and the like, $80-$100/mo was pretty normal. And a cable bill would have been extra.
$55/mo cheapie cell phone plan + $110/mo cable with internet and unlimited landline calling is $165/mo. Not so different from $90/mo for phone + $40/mo for cable = $130/mo. Adjust for inflation and add Internet, cell phone, and calling features(*), and the deal starts to look good.
(*)- some areas were still on electromechanical phone switching in the 90s, meaning no caller ID, no call waiting, no forwarding, etc.
July 27, 2014 @ 11:04 AM
We installed Roku 3
We installed Roku 3 yesterday.
What an amazing little box. We have decided to subscribe to Amazon TV and HuluPlus, run it through our Roku and drop cable.
By my calculation that’ll save us $70+ a month (our cable TV bill is about $130/mo, buying the shows my wife likes on Amazon + HuluPlus is $38/mo, plus I’m sure we’ll buy more shows here and there to bring us to $50-60 per month)
I’m so frustrated with the Cox site and the way they try to obfuscate everything, I can’t wait to give them the boot. It will be a very fun phone call to make Monday morning.
July 27, 2014 @ 12:29 PM
I always thought it was
I always thought it was cheaper to just not subscribe to anything and just BUY any Blu-ray / DVD shows you really like on sale. This depends on how much time you have to watch actually.
Also good to just use the library for movie rentals and purchase seasons of shows you like a lot since the library doesn’t tend to carry tv shows as much. Most tv shows can be had for $10 a season or so on sale?
I think my wife got Weeds on blu-ray complete for $35 bucks.
Downsides of course is you need to wait for the season or show to be over, but I’m ok with that since I like to binge watch and don’t like waiting each week at a cliff hanger. Of course, you won’t be invited to the water cooler to talk about what happened last night on GoT or OitNB.
July 27, 2014 @ 1:08 PM
I actually don’t watch much
I actually don’t watch much TV and could do with just random watching of whatever’s free.
But she has a set of shows that she wants to see ASAP…we negotiated that set this weekend and it’s pretty reasonable, 12 shows some of which we can get by default from HuluPlus. Nine of them we’ll have to pay for individually, but going Roku/Amazon/Hulu to do that is still saving us north of $700 per year compared to cable.
And I just discovered and watched the “Drunk History” episode on San Francisco this afternoon. If you haven’t seen it, you gotta watch that! (free on Amazon if you’re a prime member) Hilarious!
July 27, 2014 @ 3:35 PM
You could just pirate bay, if
You could just pirate bay, if you so choose. I’ve been told that, oftentimes, in California you can watch the shows ahead of them showing on network tv because of time zones.
I put an hd UHF VHF antenna in my attic in Vegas for all the local channels. HD is actually sharper than on cable because the broadcast is not compressed like it is on cable.
Problem with condos is that you can’t mount an antenna outside. Builders should just put an antenna on the roof to share with all residents. That’s why it was sad to see Aero lose the Supreme Court case.
Also, if you’re friends with your neighbors, you can share wifi. Good way to cut costs.
July 28, 2014 @ 1:43 AM
FlyerInHi wrote:You could
[quote=FlyerInHi]You could just pirate bay, if you so choose. I’ve been told that, oftentimes, in California you can watch the shows ahead of them showing on network tv because of time zones.
I put an hd UHF VHF antenna in my attic in Vegas for all the local channels. HD is actually sharper than on cable because the broadcast is not compressed like it is on cable.
Problem with condos is that you can’t mount an antenna outside. Builders should just put an antenna on the roof to share with all residents. That’s why it was sad to see Aero lose the Supreme Court case.
Also, if you’re friends with your neighbors, you can share wifi. Good way to cut costs.[/quote]
We have neighbors who share wifi and use Pirate Bay. Sometimes, we feel like the last idiots because we insist on paying for everything. Wish we could just pay those who create and produce it, and not have to pay so much to the middlemen.
July 28, 2014 @ 7:45 AM
I’m not going to pirate
I’m not going to pirate anything. I don’t mind paying a fair price for what I actually want to buy.
The problem I have with cable is that I have to buy packages with content that is mostly stations we don’t watch. I am forced to buy 280 stations to get the 30 we want. Way, way, way out of whack.
That bites deep into my pocket which is going to stop now.
And I’m too private a person to share a wifi connection with a neighbor, even though that is not cheating any supplier out of anything.
My wife is pushing to get rid of cable internet too, so if I can find another way to get internet into the house with reasonable speed, it may get axed too.
July 28, 2014 @ 5:03 PM
I watch a lot of tv. My
I watch a lot of tv. My Directv bill (cancelled it today) was $153/month.
I purchased the Roku 3 a few days ago and like it. I use a friends Netflix account and HBOGo account. That alone is enough to keep me busy. I will miss a couple of Showtime shows: Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex. I’m sure those will be available online soon enough.
What I’m missing is local live tv and the news/sports that come with it. I’m going to pick up a Mohu HD antenna to get those, and a SimpleTV dual tuner DVR to go with it.
So, from $153/month to zero. Shoulda done it sooner.
July 28, 2014 @ 7:15 PM
pabloesqobar wrote:
I
[quote=pabloesqobar]
I purchased the Roku 3 a few days ago and like it. I use a friends Netflix account and HBOGo account. That alone is enough to keep me busy. I will miss a couple of Showtime shows: Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex. I’m sure those will be available online soon enough.
What I’m missing is local live tv and the news/sports that come with it. I’m going to pick up a Mohu HD antenna to get those, and a SimpleTV dual tuner DVR to go with it.
[/quote]
Let me know how that antenna and tuner work out…I may copy that.
There aren’t many local stations on Roku, that’s for sure. I did find you can get San Diego Fox 5 through LiveStream (a channel choice that comes default from Roku) and about 100 other local news channels around the country. (try watching local news from Newark from your cable account – ha ha!)
But as of yet, KUSI, ABC San Diego, NBC San Diego, and CBS San Diego are not there. I bet within a year or two, they will be.
Doesn’t bother me that much as we never watch local TV news except during an emergency and I can always watch them on my computer during those times….but I might but an antenna and tuner as backup should the internet go down during an emergency.
Besides, I found Fox 5 had the best fire coverage during the May fires.
July 28, 2014 @ 9:54 PM
I use the Clearstream 2V
I use the Clearstream 2V antenna. It’s in my attic. works well for local broadcast.
If live in a house, even with HOA, you can attach it on the outside of your house. The HOA cannot prevent you because of Federal law.
But if you live in a condo, then the HOA will prevent you from attaching to the physical structure. All you can do is attach it to a mast.
One of my condos in Vegas is on the top floor and I have access to the attic. Works from in there. it’s nice to give the tenant the option of free local TV.
http://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Direct-C2-V-CJM-ClearStream-Outdoor/dp/B007RH5GZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406608867&sr=8-1&keywords=clearstream+2v
July 28, 2014 @ 5:20 PM
And I’m too private a person
If the modem is in your house and the neighbor pays YOU for 50% of the Internet bill, then you can get a router that allows them to use a “guest” network, which is 99% firewalled from your home network.
July 28, 2014 @ 7:28 PM
Since this thread I tried
Since this thread I tried cancelling video cable altogether… It was a painful process with time warner – over 40 minutes on the phone followed by over an hour at the retail store to return my cable card.
I thought I cancelled video altogether and just kept internet… but it looks like they have me coded for basic (standard def) cable. I’d mentally prepared for no more AMC, CNN, HGTV, Bravo. (I like junk tv.)
I also bitched enough that my bill is now less than the “standard” internet rate. Not sure how long that will last – but my bill with all the fees and stuff is now about $35/month. That’s a huge drop.
I wish there were an alternative for internet. ATT DSL is kind of crappy according to neighbors.
July 28, 2014 @ 7:33 PM
I think that blocking the
I think that blocking the basic cable channels (which come unencrypted) might actually take more effort on their part than leaving them unblocked.
Can you get Fiber to the Premises anywhere in the SD area?
July 28, 2014 @ 9:28 PM
UCGal wrote:
I wish there
[quote=UCGal]
I wish there were an alternative for internet. ATT DSL is kind of crappy according to neighbors.[/quote]
Your neighbors are being polite
July 29, 2014 @ 6:51 AM
UCGal wrote:Since this thread
[quote=UCGal]Since this thread I tried cancelling video cable altogether… It was a painful process with time warner – over 40 minutes on the phone followed by over an hour at the retail store to return my cable card.
[/quote]
heh. Yeah, I called Cox to cancel, their automated menu said “Press x if you are buying service or upgrading”, “Press y if you are downgrading service or canceling”. Hmmm. I wonder why they separate those out? 🙂 Think both get the same wait times?
It took 18 minutes to reach a rep. When she came on and I told her I was dropping TV, she asked if I had already installed another service. When I said “yes”, she put me on hold again and didn’t come back for another 12 minutes.
All the time, I’m thinking…this is just another reason I’m glad I’m leaving.
July 29, 2014 @ 8:00 AM
When the droid asks you
When the droid asks you reason for cancellation: “I’m moving out of the country and selling the property.”
Absolutely nothing they can say or do to keep you, so that’s probably the quickest way. No reason to be honest to a bunch of corporate pigs.
July 29, 2014 @ 1:21 PM
We were having issues with
We were having issues with the cable TV with TW. The cable box kept resetting or would need to be reset, the voices didn’t line up with the video, and sometimes they’d have disputes with the networks and the channel would be blocked.
Decided in January to switch to just using an Apple TV and a subscription to Hulu.
I took the cable box down to the TW station to return and expected a bunch of rigmarole, but the lady just said why are you cancelling and I said I don’t watch it anymore. End of story. I was actually kind of shocked. They even gave me the $10 off the Internet you get when you bundle cable with Internet. I was in and out of the place in under 5 mins.
Also, don’t miss cable at all, not even a little bit. In the last 6 mos, Hulu has cost what two weeks of cable cost.
July 29, 2014 @ 4:20 PM
I love these stories! 🙂
I love these stories! 🙂
July 29, 2014 @ 4:43 PM
It’s a lot harder to play
It’s a lot harder to play dirty ball with someone in person (especially if there are other customers waiting in line and listening) than over the phone.
August 12, 2014 @ 10:03 PM
so much content online these
so much content online these days…
I used to record the PBS Newshour on my Media Center PC. But now, I just watch it on youtube and just “send” it to the TV.
Has anyone used Wireless Display (WiDi)? I’m thinking about getting a WiDi laptop to use in conjunction with the TV. Would be nice to easily move Internet content onto the TV.
August 12, 2014 @ 10:11 PM
FlyerInHi wrote:so much
[quote=FlyerInHi]so much content online these days…
I used to record the PBS Newshour on my Media Center PC. But now, I just watch it on youtube and just “send” it to the TV.
Has anyone used Wireless Display (WiDi)? I’m thinking about getting a WiDi laptop to use in conjunction with the TV. Would be nice to easily move Internet content onto the TV.[/quote]WiDi suck. At least the version I’ve seen. Refresh rate is not good. It’s more for presentation than video. I would look into Miracast if you want wireless display.
August 13, 2014 @ 7:41 AM
Are widi and miracast
Are widi and miracast supposed to be like chromecast – casting a tab?
I use chromecast sometimes to watch amazon prime – by casting the tab to the tv. But it tends to hang a LOT.
August 13, 2014 @ 10:49 AM
UCGal wrote:Are widi and
[quote=UCGal]Are widi and miracast supposed to be like chromecast – casting a tab?
I use chromecast sometimes to watch amazon prime – by casting the tab to the tv. But it tends to hang a LOT.[/quote]WiDi and Miracast are protocol for wireless display while Chromecast is an actual product. I’m not sure which technology Google use for Chromecast. Miracast is a standard while WiDi is pushed by Intel.
August 13, 2014 @ 11:22 AM
AN wrote:UCGal wrote:Are widi
[quote=AN][quote=UCGal]Are widi and miracast supposed to be like chromecast – casting a tab?
I use chromecast sometimes to watch amazon prime – by casting the tab to the tv. But it tends to hang a LOT.[/quote]WiDi and Miracast are protocol for wireless display while Chromecast is an actual product. I’m not sure which technology Google use for Chromecast. Miracast is a standard while WiDi is pushed by Intel.[/quote]
Thanks, AN.
August 13, 2014 @ 8:41 PM
UCGal wrote:Are widi and
[quote=UCGal]Are widi and miracast supposed to be like chromecast – casting a tab?
I use chromecast sometimes to watch amazon prime – by casting the tab to the tv. But it tends to hang a LOT.[/quote]
The bottleneck could be your wireless router. You might want to upgrade if you have an older/slower wireless router. Check out these latest wireless 802.11ac routers
http://www.cnet.com/topics/networking/best-networking-devices/802-11ac/
August 14, 2014 @ 8:36 AM
Whatever happened to wireless
Whatever happened to wireless HD? That has very little latency and I’ve seen videos of people gaming on it with their laptops/large screen TVs…
Saw a few products, but really nothing in a long while…
August 14, 2014 @ 8:36 AM
Whatever happened to wireless
Whatever happened to wireless HD? That has very little latency and I’ve seen videos of people gaming on it with their laptops/large screen TVs…
Saw a few products, but really nothing in a long while…
August 15, 2014 @ 10:27 AM
joec wrote:Whatever happened
[quote=joec]Whatever happened to wireless HD? That has very little latency and I’ve seen videos of people gaming on it with their laptops/large screen TVs…
Saw a few products, but really nothing in a long while…[/quote]
We have our Roku 3 connected wirelessly to our wireless router to stream HDTV to our flat screen. In essence, we have wireless HD. No hiccups, no problems at all.
Or are you talking about something else?
August 15, 2014 @ 12:42 PM
I’m still working on getting
I’m still working on getting just the local channels via an antenna.
I first tried a cheap $15 RCA (i think) that worked ok for kpbs and 2 of the local channels. But I didn’t get CBS with it. So I returned it and got the $60 MOHU antenna with an amplifier. Same thing, but with a lot more Mexican channels. So I missed most of the PGA championship on Sunday. The local CBS antenna is on top of Mt. Soledad, and I’m kinda downtown so that could be the problem.
KUSI comes in fine, as does the local FOX5 channel. I guess I’ll return the MOHU and go back to the cheaper antenna.
Really enjoy the Roku.
August 15, 2014 @ 1:20 PM
pabloesqobar wrote:I’m still
[quote=pabloesqobar]I’m still working on getting just the local channels via an antenna.
I first tried a cheap $15 RCA (i think) that worked ok for kpbs and 2 of the local channels. But I didn’t get CBS with it. So I returned it and got the $60 MOHU antenna with an amplifier. Same thing, but with a lot more Mexican channels. So I missed most of the PGA championship on Sunday. The local CBS antenna is on top of Mt. Soledad, and I’m kinda downtown so that could be the problem.[/quote]
in case you disn’t already know, in san diego you need both uhf/vhf. a lot of TV antennas are only uhf. I learned the hard way.
http://www.cbs8.com/story/16380765/how-to-watch-cbs-8-over-the-air
this antenna is uhf only.
http://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Direct-C2-ClearStream-Television/dp/B0017O3UHI/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1408133853&sr=8-12&keywords=uhf+hdtv+clearstream
this one is both uhf/vhf
http://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Direct-C2-V-CJM-ClearStream-Outdoor/dp/B007RH5GZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408134011&sr=8-1&keywords=clearstream
August 15, 2014 @ 1:58 PM
FlyerInHi wrote:
in case you
[quote=FlyerInHi]
in case you disn’t already know, in san diego you need both uhf/vhf. a lot of TV antennas are only uhf. I learned the hard way.
http://www.cbs8.com/story/16380765/how-to-watch-cbs-8-over-the-air
[/quote]
That’s not entirely true. If you happen to be LOS to the TX site then chances are you will pick up VHF station with a UHF antenna just fine. Im in PQ, I am not quite LOS of Mt. Soledad but pick it up just fine with my UHF antenna. Actually I get all the locals and several LA stations.
Picked up an ATSC DVR (Channel master DVR+), so far it’s working pretty good!
OUT.
August 15, 2014 @ 4:07 PM
FlyerInHi wrote:pabloesqobar
[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=pabloesqobar]I’m still working on getting just the local channels via an antenna.
I first tried a cheap $15 RCA (i think) that worked ok for kpbs and 2 of the local channels. But I didn’t get CBS with it. So I returned it and got the $60 MOHU antenna with an amplifier. Same thing, but with a lot more Mexican channels. So I missed most of the PGA championship on Sunday. The local CBS antenna is on top of Mt. Soledad, and I’m kinda downtown so that could be the problem.[/quote]
in case you disn’t already know, in san diego you need both uhf/vhf. a lot of TV antennas are only uhf. I learned the hard way.
http://www.cbs8.com/story/16380765/how-to-watch-cbs-8-over-the-air
this antenna is uhf only.
http://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Direct-C2-ClearStream-Television/dp/B0017O3UHI/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1408133853&sr=8-12&keywords=uhf+hdtv+clearstream
this one is both uhf/vhf
http://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Direct-C2-V-CJM-ClearStream-Outdoor/dp/B007RH5GZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408134011&sr=8-1&keywords=clearstream%5B/quote%5D
KUSI and FOX are both transmitted from south of the border – so that’s part of the reason you get those along with the mexican/spanish language channels. The other channels are x-mitted from Mt. Soledad. Some antennas are directional – so if they’re optimized for one set of channels, they’ll have less success with the other channels.
We’re line of sight to Soledad – so we’re so low tech we use old school rabbit ears and get most OTA digital channels.
August 15, 2014 @ 1:03 PM
Getting the Nighthawk today
Getting the Nighthawk today from Amazon, should be fun to setup!
The thing about negotiating with companies is that they are all pushing for contracts now and I don’t really like having my options locked up. So when my cellular contract is up in October I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do. Probably get the newer Samsung S5 and recommit to another 2 years. Anybody know when or if phone unlocking will be legal again?
August 15, 2014 @ 3:42 PM
moneymaker wrote:Getting the
[quote=moneymaker]Getting the Nighthawk today from Amazon, should be fun to setup!
The thing about negotiating with companies is that they are all pushing for contracts now and I don’t really like having my options locked up. So when my cellular contract is up in October I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do. Probably get the newer Samsung S5 and recommit to another 2 years. Anybody know when or if phone unlocking will be legal again?[/quote]
Why not get a “no contract” phone from a company like Net 10 or Tracfone? Even if you want to avoid the hassle of having to reload minutes, you can just go with a monthly, no-contract plan.
August 17, 2014 @ 8:53 PM
I believe the phone I have
I believe the phone I have Samsung S3 is somehow locked into Verizon’s network. In other words I can’t just take it to another provider, I would have to buy another phone. I don’t see why I should have to do that when I paid for the phone (almost) with my higher monthly rates. If I were to switch I would have to start buying a phone all over again. Which I may do, I was just wondering if Obama had expanded my options yet. P.S. -The night hawk was not as good as I had hoped but it does give me the ability to reserve IP’s.
August 13, 2014 @ 8:49 AM
Thanks, I went to Best Buy
Thanks, I went to Best Buy for a demo of WiDI. But they didn’t have anything to show.
My TV doesn’t support miracast so that means buying another box and having to switch inputs.
YouTube casting to the smart TV works well (from a paired windows laptop or iPad). It used to hang but for some reason it works well now. As a result, I’ve been watching more YouTube. As background, I usually watch one national news broadcast and PBS newshour everyday. Glad to have one less thing to record.
I guess for now, I’ll stick to the media center PC with wireless keyboard. I don’t like the background noise of the fan or the looks of it even though all the cables are inside the cabinet or inside the wall. But so far, the greatest content (like foreign news programs) is only accessible via PC.
August 13, 2014 @ 10:15 AM
So you ditched Boxee over the
So you ditched Boxee over the media PC?
August 13, 2014 @ 10:39 AM
Media center PCs are also
Media center PCs are also nice because you can store programs and download Torrents, vs a dedicated TV box which only pulls them down from the cloud. The latter has no guarantee of future availability.
WiDi is cool, but I’d rather just watch stuff without being dependent on streaming from a laptop and have it just play.
August 13, 2014 @ 1:34 PM
spdrun wrote:Media center PCs
[quote=spdrun]Media center PCs are also nice because you can store programs and download Torrents, vs a dedicated TV box which only pulls them down from the cloud. The latter has no guarantee of future availability.
WiDi is cool, but I’d rather just watch stuff without being dependent on streaming from a laptop and have it just play.[/quote]
Yes, Media Center PC is most powerful since it will do everything a computer can, including download, store and play.
A streaming device is just that and not very versatile.
I like YouTube’s implementation on Smart TVs or streaming devices, such as Roku and Boxee. You can browse on any device then click play to TV.
If the industry wants better convergence, there should be an easy solution to play all videos to TV.
This is all very interesting stuff. The old TV/Cable model is in danger.
I think that a whole lot more people would drop cable altogether if they already had an HDTV antenna installed on their roofs to try out. I have plans to do it for my dad… but haven’t gotten around to it.
October 12, 2014 @ 7:47 PM
Bump… So I finally got off
Bump… So I finally got off my lazy butt and did a price comparison… I was going to switch from ATT Uverse to Time Warner because of the promotion TW was running.
Turns out I called ATT Uverse to cancel my service, and they upgraded my TV service to U200 (I was grandfathered into a lower U100 plan) and also gave me a DVR and 3 rooms with no receiver charges) plus upgraded my personal internet to the next level of service…..all for $30/month LESS than I was paying.. Good for 1 year.. Plus they gave me a $150 gift card for renewing service….
Man, I should have done this a year ago. Would have saved $360 a year ago, for just spend a couple of minutes of free time here and there to price shop a bit…
I have to also save, uVerse customer service has gotten much better..And the uverse tech folks did the upgrade pretty painlessly…Also, returning an old receiver is easy. Drop it off at a UPS store and they take care of the rest. Better than going to Time Warner’s office and having to wait in line to drop off a receiver…..
So for the next year at least, I’m staying with uVerse…So I guess when your terms are up, you really do need to shop around and at least go through the motions of switching to someone else…
Being loyal and faithful in this case doesn’t benefit you…(Repeat crazy price shopping next year in Sept again..)
October 12, 2014 @ 7:47 PM
Nice! 🙂
Nice! 🙂
October 12, 2014 @ 8:02 PM
Does SD have an local-ish ISP
Does SD have an local-ish ISP similar to Ace Innovative in NYC or MonkeyBrains in SF?
October 12, 2014 @ 9:43 PM
spdrun wrote:Does SD have an
[quote=spdrun]Does SD have an local-ish ISP similar to Ace Innovative in NYC or MonkeyBrains in SF?[/quote]
Not to my knowledge.
October 12, 2014 @ 9:50 PM
…oh yeah, and I went for a
…oh yeah, and I went for a trifecta and called up my t-mobile to “update” my personal phone over the weekend.
That $75/month bill was reduced to $45/month for two lines up to 1000 minutes peak shared (unlimited night/weekend/mobile2mobile) and 2GB data/month (unlimited but throttled after 2GB) price good for two years (including business relationship discount)…Perfect for my personal really limited use… Best part was it was also prorated back a few months….I don’t think people can get that, but it was partly me having been with them for awhile, and me having a grandfathered plan….It’s no verizon, but it’s ok where I am…
October 13, 2014 @ 9:52 AM
For internet-only
For internet-only users…
Does anyone just jump back and forth every year, assuming you’re in a market with both TWC and U-verse? So you’re always on the ‘introductory promotional’ rate or whatever? Or alternatively, use the above strategy (let them call your bluff)?
I own a cable modem and may buy a DSL modem so I can support both data streams and not have to pay their lease extortion.
October 13, 2014 @ 11:32 AM
Is the U-verse product naked
Is the U-verse product naked DSL? In other words, to switch back to DSL, do you have to reestablish a land line at the same time, and cancel it when you switch to cable internet again? Seems like that would be a big pain, for myself anyway (past experience dealing with Verizon as a land line company).
October 13, 2014 @ 12:15 PM
jeff303 wrote:Is the U-verse
[quote=jeff303]Is the U-verse product naked DSL? In other words, to switch back to DSL, do you have to reestablish a land line at the same time, and cancel it when you switch to cable internet again? Seems like that would be a big pain, for myself anyway (past experience dealing with Verizon as a land line company).[/quote]
Dunno. I’ve always had TWC, and mixed results with the call-and-threaten-to-cancel technique. I know my house is wired for a land-line (I’m sure most residences still are), and having to establish and pay for land-line service is a deal-breaker.
I’m ignorant of the technology, and perhaps my strategy of having two modems on-hand is a non-starter.
October 13, 2014 @ 1:30 PM
Landlines are often
Landlines are often dirt-cheap and thrown in as essentially a freebie. If you want to keep the same LL number, you can keep porting it between carriers. Or just get a different # every time and never use it.
For DSL, the service will come in through the land line wiring. For cable, you’ll have a land line port on the modem, which you don’t actually need to connect to your house’s wiring if you don’t want to.
October 13, 2014 @ 1:30 PM
Landlines are often
Landlines are often dirt-cheap and thrown in as essentially a freebie. If you want to keep the same LL number, you can keep porting it between carriers. Or just get a different # every time and never use it.
For DSL, the service will come in through the land line wiring. For cable, you’ll have a land line port on the modem, which you don’t actually need to connect to your house’s wiring if you don’t want to.
October 13, 2014 @ 1:46 PM
The Telcos now offer internet
The Telcos now offer internet service without a land line requirement.
Home security is now how the companies plan to keep customers locked into their services.
October 13, 2014 @ 1:55 PM
Varies by company. For
Varies by company. For example, Verizon used to permit “naked DSL” but no longer does for home service as of last year.
As far as lock-in via their security systems, way to solve the problem is to buy a 3rd party system. Or just don’t use any security system. It’s false security, since the burglars will be on their way out the door by the time the cops get called. And automated alarm calls are last-priority for police departments due to the ratio of false alarms to real.
(Really, all that’s needed for deterrence is an audible alarm to make the burglar THINK something will happen, not something that calls the authorities automatically.)
October 13, 2014 @ 2:15 PM
spd, I agree with you.
But
spd, I agree with you.
But most people are not tech oriented and they are creatures of habits.
Telcos still get billions from customers who don’t want to give up their home phone numbers. My sister-in-law wants her home phone although she never uses it. She says it’s too much trouble to change the number on all the bills. I’m like… so what? if they can’t reach you they’ll send you a letter. My brother lets her be because he doesn’t want to deal with it. We share the same cell phone plan.
Once the companies get you to use their security services, there will be no changing for decades.
October 13, 2014 @ 2:23 PM
*I* actually want a home
*I* actually want a home phone since I use it for work. It doesn’t sound like arse, unlike a cell connection. And you can have my (212) number when you pry it ….
Can your sister-in-law migrate the number to Google Voice and forward it to her mobile?
My point was that I wasn’t convinced that security systems would be a good way to lock customers in. Penetration of security systems in the US is very low, something like 15% of homes. With good reason, since they’re nigh on useless is preventing burglaries.
October 13, 2014 @ 4:59 PM
For those who use cell
For those who use cell service instead of a land line, know that when you call 911, they usually won’t know your exact location. It’s always a good idea to have a land line, even if you don’t use it very often. A lot of people we know weren’t aware of this before we told them about it.
Also good to have one of the old-school corded phones that don’t need to be plugged into an outlet, as they will often work even when the power is out.
One like this:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/AT-T-Trimline-Telephone-with-Caller-ID-and-Call-Waiting/10992507?action=product_interest&action_type=title&placement_id=irs_middle&strategy=PWVAV&visitor_id=84181018067&category=0%3A3944%3A546952%3A1070964%3A3977%3A77478&client_guid=dddb8239-a948-40fe-a0b3-74b03edabf74&config_id=2&parent_item_id=16923599&guid=2b80687d-9ef0-4869-999c-b94075e32b53&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&findingMethod=p13n#Product+Reviews
October 13, 2014 @ 5:44 PM
I remember reading in that in
I remember reading in that in Connecticut or some state over there, they’re getting rid of copper and forcing everyone to fiber. Goodbye POTS.
October 13, 2014 @ 6:12 PM
Incorrect–
FiOS provides
Incorrect–
FiOS provides POTS over fiber. It’s not VoIP in the sense that it doesn’t use Internet Protocol, it uses an out-of-band signalling protocol to replicate a POTS line after the optical terminal. You can literally plug a 60-year old rotary phone into it, and it will work. In fact, I have 🙂
Verizon is doing a DIFFERENT thing in NJ — they’re trying to force people whose lines were damaged by Hurricane Sandy to their garbage Voicewing service. aka POTS over wireless. They tried that in NY state, and the telecom regulator told them “hell the fuck no,” so they upgraded everyone in the affected towns to fiber.
October 13, 2014 @ 7:25 PM
Do you need a device in your
Do you need a device in your home with power in order to have POTS over fiber?
October 13, 2014 @ 7:37 PM
The POTS part is
The POTS part is battery-backed. If you think about it, POTS with local battery wasn’t all that uncommon until the 1960s or so in the US. (Battery in the phone itself, hand crank to signal the operator…)
No reason why you couldn’t install a larger SLA battery to power the thing for days to weeks without power.
October 13, 2014 @ 7:51 PM
It sounds like the consumer
It sounds like the consumer must have a battery backed device. The experience is not the same as POTS.
I’m OK with getting rid of old technology. I don’t feel attached to doing things the old way.
Adapt, learn and move on.
October 13, 2014 @ 8:05 PM
They install a box with
They install a box with battery backup when they install FiOS. Operation is entirely transparent to the user. The only difference in functionally is that it’s slightly slower to generate a dialtone when picking up than a POTS line. (More the speed of a POTS line on an analogue system.)
Unlike most VoIP systems, reliability tends to approach 100%.
October 13, 2014 @ 9:14 PM
Really cant call it POTs…
Really cant call it POTs… If it is not twisted pair coming into the home its simply not POTs. It may get converted back on to the circuit switched and that is where they are calling it a pseudo POTs but once its on Fiber I would have a hard time calling it that… and POTs is dead… Or rather its dying…
AT&T has made a commitment of a all IP based system by 2020.
Verizon is envisioning something similar.
Hardline circuit switched systems are incredible good and reliable but expensive and most major carriers world wide are looking to sunset them.
I have a VOIP system and they are no longer installing large BUPs systems with them… In fact the house I bought had one and when they transfer my service they took it out… I wasn’t really happy with that becuase it is a larger batter than the ones in the phone… But then again I have cells phones that should keep me in service for at least 6 hours as well.
CE
October 13, 2014 @ 9:33 PM
Disagree — in that case,
Disagree — in that case, POTS hasn’t been POTS for a long time. You had things like Litespan (POTS over fiber, converted back to analog at a street box) in the 90s. Is there really any difference, other than semantic, between the transition being on-premises or 100 feet off-premises?
2020 — good fucking luck. Verizon was supposed to go to all fiber in NYC by the beginning of 2014. Here it’s almost 2015, and … right. I could see 2025 or 2030.
As far as battery backups, there should be a Federal requirement that any “phone” (VoIP or no) service coming onto a premises and installed by a common carrier should have at least 24 hours battery backup. All of the new FiOS installs I’ve seen have had one.
October 13, 2014 @ 10:16 PM
Yeah but your saying Fiber =
Yeah but your saying Fiber = IP with the Verizon arguement… They can still do IP over twisted pair but ya… Copper will be around for a long time.
CE
October 13, 2014 @ 10:33 PM
I never said fiber = IP —
I never said fiber = IP — medium doesn’t determine protocol.
By the way, I’ve seen VoIP run over a DSL link — you can cram quite a few voice lines on a single copper pair that way 🙂
October 15, 2014 @ 5:56 PM
My problem with AT&T is I
My problem with AT&T is I think they penalize you and charge you more if you download too much and go over your allocated usage for internet. I don’t think Cox or Time Warner has that limit.
It’s hard to get multiple options for Internet service in general. You’re usually in only 1 market.
I threatened to leave Cox and got transferred to the retention group and the guy said there was no other company offering it so he didn’t care. Told me pretty much to f*ck off so I left.
After I setup new service with Time Warner and called to cancel, another rep was able to offer a better deal than my old service for lower. But already setup new service so cancelled anyways.
so it may have to do with the rep you reach to see what they can do.
or…the first guy I spoke to wasn’t really in the retention department.
I do try to get new subsidized phones all the time so switch that out every 2 years. There are a lot of trade in promotions now for the new iPhone 6 and Samsung Note 4.
October 15, 2014 @ 6:01 PM
You should have at least
You should have at least three choices:
(1) wireless, probably from more than one firm
(2) coaxial/”cable”
(3) internet over twisted-pair/”DSL”
I’m with T-mobile for wireless, and have the bare-bones $50/mo plan. No phone subsidies, but I can usually pick up something cheap and Android on EBay for under $100.
I have little use for the latest and greatest, since I have an actual laptop for work and I’m not glued to the phone 24/7.
October 16, 2014 @ 12:11 AM
I have AT&T wireless.
They no
I have AT&T wireless.
They no longer offer subsidized phones. Now, they essentially allow you to spread out the cost of the new phone over 2 years. So you now have an incentive not to upgrade. That might depress phone sales a little.
October 13, 2014 @ 1:06 PM
flinger wrote:For
[quote=flinger]For internet-only users…
Does anyone just jump back and forth every year, assuming you’re in a market with both TWC and U-verse? So you’re always on the ‘introductory promotional’ rate or whatever? Or alternatively, use the above strategy (let them call your bluff)?
I own a cable modem and may buy a DSL modem so I can support both data streams and not have to pay their lease extortion.[/quote]
The goal is pretty much to always be in an “introductory rate plan” for 1-2 years. Upon which, they either give you another introductory plan or you switch to another company with one…
When I called, it wasn’t that much to ask for an introductory plan. It’s as if they were expecting that sooner or later I would call and/or surprised I had not called sooner…Because for what I was getting and how much I was paying, they agent said something to the effect “we can do much better than that”… I guess it’s kinda like clipping coupons. They are hoping enough people don’t call versus the ones that do…
My mistake was I should have done this about a year ago…
I hate this.. But i guess it’s the cat and mouse game they like to play. Customer loyalty? Pfft…. Only if you ask…
October 13, 2014 @ 1:47 PM
flinger wrote:For
[quote=flinger]For internet-only users…
Does anyone just jump back and forth every year, assuming you’re in a market with both TWC and U-verse? So you’re always on the ‘introductory promotional’ rate or whatever? Or alternatively, use the above strategy (let them call your bluff)?
I own a cable modem and may buy a DSL modem so I can support both data streams and not have to pay their lease extortion.[/quote]Yes, but I do the same thing to more than just internet. I do the same for my cable TV as well. For TV, I switch between UVerse and DirecTV and internet, I switch between TWC and UVerse. Sometimes, retention will give you the same deal as new customer, sometimes they don’t. Another way to do it, if you like one service, is to signed up for a new account with another person’s name and cancel yours. Like your spouse (if you have one).