About 200,000 people completely cancelled their cable last quarter, choosing Netflix, Hulu and other Internet alternatives over the more expensive and less flexible alternative.
This is a clear example of competition in action: the Internet services are cheaper and better than the lame and expensive OnDemand offerings of the cable companies. My concern is that the cable companies that are losing TV subscribers are also the main Internet providers. Comcast already caps their subscribers at 250GB/month, which isn’t really enough if you’re a serious HD streamer. In my area, Time/Warner has introduced higher speed offerings at a higher price. They’re not competitive with the rest of the world, but at least they’re not resorting to outright caps, yet.
I’ll probably be a cord cutter in a month or so. Right now, I’m looking for the right hardware/software combo that will let me DVR shows in high def from an antenna, as well as show Netflix, Hulu and the rest of them.
Just Some Fuckhead
I was one of ’em. Switched to DIRECTV for about half of what I was paying for cable.
Of course, this won’t end well. The cable company is a major employer and they’ll be forced to cut their workforce at some point, more deflationary spiral.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Just Some Fuckhead: Are you happy with Direct? I’m going nuts about Charter not having the Big Ten network here and keep thinking about Direct or Dish.
debit
I canceled mine a year or so ago and don’t miss it one bit. I have a Roku box and Netflix streaming, but don’t really watch much of anything these days, maybe a couple hours of programming a month. I’m a happier, calmer person for it.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
I like everything about DirecTV except the remote. That damned thing is borderline useless sometimes. The lag in response after you push buttons can make inputting a new channel number a major pain. I keep ending up on channel 2 when I’m trying to get to channel 206.
Other than that, it’s fine.
MattF
I think there’s not only cable-cutting but cable service downgrades too. I’m down to basic-basic service from Comcast– and haven’t turned on the cable-attached teevee for months.
John X.
The cable companies have been fighting back in the legislature. In North Carolina, they’ve banned municipal and public/private partnerships from developing broadband in areas without broadband access. They’re instituting caps everywhere.
The article also mentions that the CEOs want to keep pricing cable as a “luxury good”. That’s the plan – keep prices high and manipulate the markets through their control of the pipelines and legislatures to try to kill the competition.
They’re also the ones behind lobbying the Post Office to increase rates for Netflix. This has led Netflix to dramatically raise rates in order to push people into their streaming service, which the cable companies are also trying to kill by adding broadband caps, fees and terminating the service of chronic “over users”.
They’ve also been purposefully keeping the rules fuzzy on what constitutes over use, most likely in an event in keeping customers confused and unwilling to risk streaming and lose their internet access. There’s a guy who works for Wire who had his access cut for a year, without warning or ability to get a hearing.
This is crony capitalism at work.
BB
A mac mini with an eyetv hybrid is perfect for your application. Just use the video and audio outputs (or hdmi) to your tv. You can find used mac minis at a pretty reasonable price.
The EyeTV is a USB device that accepts a coax HDTV signal from your rabbit ears antenna. It downloads a guide from the web and you can record over-the-air signals just like you were using a TIVO. Then use the browser based versions of Netflix and Hulu when required. Also, you can go to the dark side of the web to download shows that aren’t for sale (my policy is only to do this if the content provider -eg HBO – refuses to provide it for sale.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
I would definitely cancel if I weren’t a sports fan. That’s really all that I watch on TV anymore, and the online options aren’t nearly as good as they are for movie and series TV watchers.
RosiesDad
We just got back from a vacation in the UK. While one of the apartments we leased had basic cable, the number of rooftop antennas was amazing, compared with the utter lack of them here in the Philly suburbs. I don’t know that I would want to give up all of my cable but the availability of streaming options and cheap DVD rentals at the local library could certainly make premium cable subscriptions expendable.
PeakVT
People have been grumbling about à-la-carte pricing for years (decades) now, and they’re finally getting it via these new services.
fanshawe
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Moving to a new city where I didn’t care about local teams made cutting cable much easier, though I’m still stuck with comcast for internet. Still get all the national games through broadcast and a lot of extra games through espn’s internet service (espn3).
arguingwithsignposts
@Just Some Fuckhead: No offense, JSF. But you don’t count here:
RossInDetroit
Note for those with outdated hardware: we just got a Kworld Pc to TV box that allows us to connect our old CRT TV with S-Video input to a laptop’s monitor output. Setup is easy and the pic quality is pretty good. It’s not high def but it beats watching streamed movies on a small computer monitor.
PeakVT
OT: Riots in Chile last night.
RossInDetroit
We use ATT DSL for our internet. The house isn’t even wired for cable. My wife watches one TV show a week on broadcast while I hide upstairs with a book. I’m in the 1% minority that can’t stand commercial TV.
El Cid
With 250GB, I download enough SD (but very good looking) and HD (mkv at 720p) content that I run out of time to watch that much TV and movies. I think the most I ever used was 180GB. For most TV shows, 680 x 352 is more than good enough, even on a 50+” big screen. Just sayin’. I’m not trying to download Blu-Ray content or full HD. If I need that much resolution, it makes more sense to actually buy a Blu-Ray disc, otherwise my PC will be the only place I can play it. (Though networking with a set-top box in other rooms is close.)
Legalize
I’m stuck with Time Warner too, and yeah I pay about 5 bucks more per month for the highest speed possible. I’m pretty happy with it. Mrs. Legalize and I love our DirectTV, but really, we can stream Family Guy on Netflix, watch baseball on MLB.com all season, for less than the cost of one month of satellite, and we can get the HBO shows, Walking Dead, etc. on Netflix a few months later. If HBO ever adds a streaming option through Apple TV, I’d pay for that, and cancel satellite. I have to believe this will happen some time.
andybud
It’s going on 2 years since we cut the cable completely.
We now get all of our video through either Netflix (DVDs and streaming) or PlayOn (www.playon.tv), which we use for Hulu and other web media, all of which we send to either our Xbox or a Roku box.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Not particularly. The first letdown was the new boxes don’t have the time displayed on them so we never know what time it is anymore. The second letdown was having to order a special A/V Out cable for HD in the family room. The box only has HDMI output by default and our receiver – that everything goes through – doesn’t have HDMI capabilities. The third letdown was finding out I had to run a phone line to every box in order to have the caller ID capabilities I took for granted with the cable company.
The fourth letdown was finding out I don’t actually have OnDemand capabilities unless I had the DVR option for more $/month, and even then, from what I read, it’s extremely limited versus cable. DIRECTV doesn’t carry HBO in their OnDemand package, for instance.
The fifth letdown was the number of “shopping/gimmick” channels you have to scroll through in the guide. There are prolly as many of these channels as there are of all the other ones combined and you can’t hide them or otherwise make them disappear.
The final letdown is the ongoing loss of service due to rain. Any time it rains, ya lose service. We’ve even lost service twice now when it wasn’t raining, which required resetting all the boxes.
I’m sucking it up because I got the NFL Sunday Ticket for free with my initial sign-up.
MarkJ
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): I keep hoping (in vain so far) that the Big Ten Network will go the way of MLB and offer a Roku/streaming channel to those of us whose cable companies don’t offer the newtwork but who would pay a reasonable amount (say $40 per year) to watch our favorite teams play.
Just Some Fuckhead
Yeah, and what JMN said about the remote. It sorta sucks in every way imaginable.
Anon
The thing I keep tripping on is that legal options have finally caught up with the way some of us have been using the internet for years now. It’s actually kind of amazing, listening to all of you going on about streaming and watching everything on the internet.
arguingwithsignposts
@Just Some Fuckhead: I used to have DirecTV when I lived in an area where there was no cable. We only lost service when there was a really bad storm. But it’s not the optimum, for sure. That was over five years ago, so maybe the satellite signal sucks even more now.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): It seems to have a big issue with not being almost directly line of sight with the receiver.
J.W. Hamner
I’ve been using my computer as my home entertainment center for 10 years… though it was pretty crap rocking a giant CRT monitor until 720p LCDs came down in price (2004 ish?). I build mine for gaming too, but I bet you could put one together for not too much and have it store your entire multimedia library.
For years I’d buy the ATI All-In-Wonder cards so I could connect cable TV/VRC but eventually realized I never used them. All I need is a combo Blu-Ray/DVD writer drive and a nice internet connection.
Sports are definitely the downside, as mentioned above, but both the NHL and MLB offer decently priced season passes. Hopefully DirecTV will eventually break down and offer the Sunday Ticket to people (outside of NYC) without a dish.
Josh James
The hardest thing is high speed internet … they have smaller packages via Time Warner, but they lower the speed of your internet service for that … we use internet more than anything else, really …
We tried switching to Verizon Fios back a few years ago, and that was a disaster …
Really, it’s less the cable than it is the internet, we want to find a reasonable high speed internet service … someone mentioned they use AT&T, how is that?
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Just Some Fuckhead: Thanks, that helps.
MarkJ
I have a friend who called me all excited because the BTN is showing up on her Tivo. She called Charter and was told it is coming in Sept. I called and the person I got said they could find no such information.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Josh James: I had AT&T for years and it was fine.
MarkJ
@John X.: Free Markets at work! You have the freedom not to have your municipality or anyone other than the cable monopoly provide broadband access! And they won’t, so you’re free from worrying about them jacking up broadband fees!
Seriously, I don’t see how it could be legal for them to prevent someone else from providing broadband in a location they won’t service – or even in a location they will service. Suppose Netflix or Google wanted to provide broadband to a town to compete directly with the cable monopoly? Why should that be illegal?
States and municipalities could just threaten to take away their public utility easements, or threaten to charge them full rent for every inch of land they have an easement on. Those are granted by the public, and can be taken away.
Daddy Warbucks
Direct all the way. Also, I think we can safely say that FIFA refs are exclusively America hating leftists.
Ed Marshall
I’ve got a Roku in the mail and I’ve taken to stealing the neighbor’s wireless. Really helps out the budget.
Legalize
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Yep. I find it to be really bad when I’m watching a show that I’ve paused numerous times, or have KEPT paused for a while. When I try to change the channel, all hell breaks lose. Sometime I have to reset the whole box.
Zifnab
I’ve just got my computer plugged into my TV via HDMI. Anything I want to watch is normally available on the web. I do have a Netflix subscription on my XBox, but it’s purely for streaming – I’ve never used their mail rental service before.
If they keep lowering the boom on data rates, it could get tight. But that’s my biggest complaint outside the whole “Using BitTorrent jacks with my bandwidth” issue.
Adam C
From a big system standpoint, is it actually cheaper to stream movies to customers over the Internet or directly through a cable network? The cable companies may actually have a point: Netflix can only undercut their prices because they piggyback on the cable infrastructure and take advantage of the ‘free commons’ nature of the Internet.
Please understand that I’m not suggesting giving the piggish cable monopolies control over Internet content too. I’m just wondering whether clogging up the ‘Net with HD streams is really the most efficient way to go.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): I should point out it looks like they’re installing SWiM receivers by default now so you only need one line coming from the DISH. This is a huge improvement over the old way of requiring multiple feeds from multiple dish LNBs (or multiple dishes like you see piled on top of each other in rural areas.)
They’ll do up to a four room install for free and each receiver is the same per month as cable.
Theoretically with SWiM, I’d be able to stack four receivers in my game room and watch four football games at once without having to spend two days rerouting all the cables.
Ron
@Josh James: We don’t have FiOS here yet, but we were thinking about switching to it if it comes here. What was wrong with it?
Ron
@Ed Marshall: If you’re stealing your neighbor’s wireless, that makes you just a pure dick. HTH
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Just Some Fuckhead: Yea, I have many TV’s but I only need the whole HD shooting match on one. I also really like PIP since I watch sports and have msnbc on the small screen.
Gravenstone
@Just Some Fuckhead: You can configure Favorite channels, which let you ignore all the other dross you don’t want. And I only lose signal when the rainfall is particularly heavy, and then only for the immediate duration of the rain, and the system automatically resumes reception. I have rarely had to physically reset the receiver (although I did have one crap out after about 4 years). I will agree about the slow remote response, though.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Adam C:
Unless you’re using a dish, it’s coming over the cable either way.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
if it weren’t for sports, i would be able to cut the cable. i am looking into a panny gt30 for my next tv.it has internet and streaming for dummies, built in, which is nice, and might get me a step closer to going sans cable.
our version of comcast isn’t as comcastically fucked as others, and i would keep the internet access.
elisabeth
I cut the cord in April and haven’t looked back. I found lots of movies on Netflix.
BruceJ
Uhhh, you might want to actually R TFA:
Studies have found those going without cable aren’t doing so because of over-the-top streaming offerings. Instead, those who are choosing to go without cable are doing so because they either don’t see much value in pay TV packages, can’t afford to keep paying for TV, or some combination of the two.
That is the exact opposite of your conclusion that they’re all choosing Netflix, Hulu and other Internet alternatives over the more expensive and less flexible alternative.
jheartney
Dropped cable some years back, even before the rise of Netflix streaming. I don’t care about sports, so that part was no hardship.
We eventually added digital OTA, which is generally fantastic looking, although we sometimes get reception problems. I have a DVD recorder which can record SD off OTA if I want to, but I seldom use it anymore.
We have three Netflix-enabled TV’s, with Roku boxes and a Wii. I got the Roku’s a while back while they still had a YouTube channel (which still works for now, although you can’t get it if you are a new Roku subscriber), There are also media server channels, so you can send video or sound to a Roku from a computer. Roku’s are amazing little boxes for not much money.
From time to time I’m someplace where they have cable, and I’m often astonished at how crappy it looks compared to the alternatives. 4×3 analog stretched onto a widescreen HD TV is just unwatchable, so far as I’m concerned.
Josh James
@Ron: Verizon, as a rule, doesn’t give a sh*t about you once you sign on the dotted line … got a problem with service? F**k you, pay me. It’s not working? F**k you, pay me …
This was years ago, so maybe it’s better now, but even the Verizon guy who came to install it told us that they were a nightmare … they didn’t care about individual customers, nothing … the cable guy dumped on them, their own cable guy. He said they were shit and didn’t get stuff done.
We literally had it two weeks, and it didn’t work and we got rid of it. But again, this was awhile ago … maybe it’s better now, however …
We are now in the process of leaving Verizon Wireless, too, as that the only time they really care about a person as a customer is when the two year agreement is up and they want you to sign a new one … you have a problem? Oh, I’m so sorry, but if you’ll just sign this new two year agreement … we’ve had them for years and we’re completely frustrated with how they treat you and their phones …
Add to that, the news of how they’re treating their striking workers … well, that nails it. Buy-bye!
By the way, besides ATT (for HS home internet) what does anyone else here use that they like, and what’s the costs to expect? We’d really like to leave TW, too, if possible.
John X.
BruceJ,
I don’t doubt that at all. Cable TV, beyond the $20 basic that gives you less choice than an antenna these days, is crazy expensive. I make a good living and love TV and movies, but even I decided that it wasn’t worth $100-$200 a month for what they offer.
Cable TV is expensive as fuck these days. The service has improved since the 90s, but they’ve more than tripled the price to make up for it.
Barbara
I have only ever had the cheapest cable package. Naturally, I am bombarded constantly to change, but I just can’t stomach the price associated with getting even minimally interesting programming beyond basic broadcast and the cheapy rerun channels. My father in law had the super double bonus package so I know what I am missing, and honestly, so much of it is of such “specialized interest” that I still end up watching pretty much the same thing. I figure I have saved thousands of dollars by being a cable curmudgeon. I have considered DirecTV for one of their cheaper “customized” option, but they still aren’t customized enough.
Cain
I am in no danger of that. My internet provider is Frontier and not only do I have 25/25 + phone for 80 bucks a month (well it is 90 now) thanks to FIOS, they dropped TV as well. I’m in no danger of anything while those morons in Comcast are going to get their ass handed to them.
Frontier I think can do a clean sweep if they started investing like mad in rolling out FIOS.
jheartney
@Barbara:
A nice antenna costs less than a month’s cable, and once you’ve bought it and installed it, you don’t have to pay again.
Did I mention that over-the-air HD looks fantastic? And that if you want reruns, lots of stations have subchannels (THIS, MeTV, Antenna) with more reruns than you can shake a stick at. Several PBS subchannels too. It’s almost like having cable without the bill.
Ginger Yellow
We just got back from a vacation in the UK. While one of the apartments we leased had basic cable, the number of rooftop antennas was amazing, compared with the utter lack of them here in the Philly suburbs. I don’t know that I would want to give up all of my cable but the availability of streaming options and cheap DVD rentals at the local library could certainly make premium cable subscriptions expendable.
Until about 20 years ago, free to air was all the TV the vast majority of Britain had. Cable was very marginal until maybe 2000 when they started doing bundled phone and internet packages, and by then satellite (Sky) had a dominant position in pay TV. Sky is very popular, but free to air is dominant in the ratings and is very competitive on content, especially with Freeview (OTA digital). There’s something like 80 free channels, including 4 HD channels now, and maybe a dozen of those are really good channels. Unless you really want live sport, or to watch the latest US TV earlier (and don’t want/know how to torrent it) there’s very little reason to pay for Sky.
Martin
The economics of cutting the cord will eventually catch up with people. Production costs for the studios works out to be about $40 per household per month, so at the end of the day, that’s what they’re going to get out of us. For a while, Hulu, etc. will be a cheap option, but if enough people cut the cord, then their content will be pulled or their rates will go up. The recent Netflix price increase is just the beginning.
Nothing currently on the market is going to survive this transition, at least not in their current form. The clear end-game here is going to be fully on-demand programming, paid for either by subscription or targeted non-skippable advertising (targeted to you personally, like Google does, not to a certain demographic that watch a give channel) or some combination of the two (most likely). But come hell or high water, they need their $40, or you have no programming.
Teak111
Dumped cable completely last month. The customer service person at TW was indignant when I said the business model did work for me anymore. Now we NF and I am building a budget HTPC which allow couch surfing. Anyone got a good budget build list?
Ronnie Pudding
I’m another guy who needs his sports. Also, I have an old CRT TV and no TiVo or anything else, so I wonder if that would cost me a fortune.
As far as Netflix goes, my account is just one DVD out per time, and even then I’m finding it hard to fill my queue with movies that aren’t on cable TV frequently. It seems like nearly every day there’s at least one movie on I get pulled into (last night it was Double Indemnity).
Cain
@Josh James:
Could be a regional thing. At the same time, I was talking to a Frontier guy (the people who took over Verizon FiOS) and he was dumping on their mgmt for not being able to handle the growth. (It’s actually pretty challenging since they were a pretty small firm and suddenly had to grow to a large one)
That said, FiOS customer support was the best I ever had. The people there were awesome.. I have not had a downtime in years, and when I had bandwidth issues, I was able to talk to an expert. When I mean expert, someone who actually knows networking and didn’t follow some script. It was awesome.
For another bit, I called Frontier steamed because I felt that our phone bill was just way too high. Phone shouldn’t cost more than 25 bucks a month for basic stuff, but we end up paying like 39.99 and it’s ridiculous. They gave me 20 bucks off for a year. Awesome.
Thad
We picked up a Hauuppauge WinTV-HVR 950Q for picking up over the air HD television broadcasts. Its a USB dongle with a coax antenna input. Worked flawlessly out of the box on our Ubuntu Linux system (it also comes with Windows drivers and should work with Mac). Free PVR software abounds; I’m a fan of MythTV myself. I would just recommend getting a decent exterior antenna unless you live right near the stations you want to pick up.
With hulu and the occasional rental from Amazon (no Netflix for us until they finish their Linux/Chrome plug-in) we have no need for cable or even a real TV. We stream everything on our computer now.
The Other Chuck
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I’ve always been able to hide any channel in the guide except for those PPV ones that are full-color banners, and those only appear next to the block of PPV channels anyway. You just use a custom list, and yes the interface for it is slow and cumbersome as shit, but it’s something you just do once.
I only get occasional glitchy artifacts when it rains, not total interruption, but maybe the dishes they use for multi-unit buildings are more sensitive. Could be your signal’s weak to begin with, so I’d check that out.
Joel
You could always switch to Clearwire (like me), if you want to remember what DSL speeds are like.
Cain
@Martin:
Hey austerity is the new thing now. All these crony capitalism guys are going to realize that consumers will probably stop consuming too. YOu can do all the bills you want against competitors but in the end, nobody can afford 200 dollars a month fo rhte premium package with teh sports package. Likely people will just hit a bar instead.
Frankly, I don’t understand why people pay that right now? It seems really dumb to pay more than 100 dollars a month for entertainment. Plus, they really get you for HD Tv. A setup box for each tv you have to watch the cable you bought? You gotta be kidding me. 10 bucks a tv for hd, and 6 bucks a tv for normal. WTF.
I went over the air, and I get 30 channels. (I live on a hill, so your mileage may vary) but I got everything I want.. I don’t miss cable one bit.
karen marie
I got rid of cable in 2004 and my TV altogether in 2009 (? — whenever HDTV switch occurred). It wasn’t that hard because I had no TV at all for multiple-year periods throughout my life.
I was watching shows on Hulu but started Netflix last October. I went and poked around in Hulu a short while ago and discovered that a lot of their stuff is now only available to subscribers, so I won’t be back.
When the Netflix subscription changes happen in September, I’m going to stop getting DVDs in the mail. I don’t watch many programs and often a DVD will sit here for weeks until I decide that that’s what I want to watch right now. I love the streaming, because when I watch a series I can run the episodes back to back. I had to watch the last season of Dexter on DVD and hated it because there were only 3 episodes per DVD and I had to wait three or four days till the next one arrived.
I have DSL through an independent ISP that buys the DSL in bulk from Verizon. It’s great because I pay the same price that I would getting it direct from Verizon but for customer service I call the ISP. It’s easy to get hold of a live person and they are always able to solve my problem quickly and easily. I haven’t had any issues with outages in the six years I’ve had DSL. Previously I had dialup with the same ISP.
Thad
This brings up the reason we cut the cord… we view so little television that we were getting nowhere near $40 worth of entertainment for our $50 cable bill. Cable is a great bargain if you watch a lot of television, but for people who watch only the occasional show (and most of those on advertising supported channels), you are paying for a lot of crap you will never watch even on the most basic cable tier. We could pay a dollar an episode for the shows we really like and still pay less than half what we paid for cable.
We now get everything we want over the air or via hulu, and we don’t miss cable at all.
jheartney
@Martin:
Does that $40 include theatrical movies? How about revenue from packaged media? And without advertising?
Frankly, if for $40/month I could access all new production plus most archival stuff (video, theatrical movies, and music), without ads, I’d call that a great deal.
Jennifer
I dumped Comcast 2 days ago thanks to their shit service. For the past 2 summers, my internet has been non-working about 50% of the time, whenever it got really hot outside (read: daytime hours, when I need it for work), and Comcast has purposely set up their “customer service” in such a way so as to ensure that you won’t get it when you need it. After a month in which I spent 20 minutes or more on hold each day calling to report the same issue I finally had enough and signed up for AT&T Uverse, at a savings of some $55 per month for internet & phone (I dropped Comcast’s crap TV service in favor of DirecTV way back in 2001).
Comcast did finally fix the issue, AFTER I diagnosed it for them and one of their online trollers saw a post on my blog complaining about how bad they suck (yes, they pay people to troll online looking for complaints about their crap service, rather than just FIXING their crap service)…as I pointed out to them, internet trolling for complaints isn’t service, it’s PR damage control. I told them at that point that I had signed up for AT&T and the service was going to be activated in a couple of weeks and the only way I would stay with Comcast would be if they matched the AT&T price. No response.
So, what do they do when I call to cancel? Well, first, of course, they keep me on hold, during which time they haved a recording telling me how bad satellite TV sucks (btw, for DirecTV I have expanded service, including HBO, for about $70 per month), then finally when I get a rep on the phone, there’s about 5 minutes of wheedling to try to keep me as a customer – I tell him that ship already sailed, then they break out the “valued customer” BS and how they’ll give me a better rate. My reply, of course, is that if they had really “valued” me as a customer, they would have been giving me the better price all along and the service I paid for to boot. Not able to talk me out of cancelling, then he starts in about how I need to “return equipment”. I don’t have any of your equipment, I say. He says, well, it says on the account you do. Really, I say, what “equipment” does it say I have of yours? He says it doesn’t specify. I say, well, if Comcast can’t tell me what “equipment” of theirs I allegedly have, you can’t really expect it to be returned, can you? Then he says to clear up the equipment issue I’ll have to talk to someone in “service” at this other number; I call, go through the wait again, tell the woman the issue, and she notes that the first guy 1) didn’t cancel the service and 2) there’s no indication of Comcast “equipment” on the account. In other words, the guy lied, as he’s trained to do by Comcast, in order to try to dissuade a customer from cancelling service.
I can’t vouch for all the different TV/internet providers our there, but I can tell you that if you’re with Comcast, you’re with the worst of them. I’ve been extremely satisfied with my DirecTV service for over 10 years now; don’t know how the AT&T internet service will stack up, but so far, so good.
But Comcast? Comcast SUCKS.
CalD
Keep basic cable and/or put up an antenna.
TooManyJens
@The Other Chuck:
Except I always found that whenever they would add a channel — and they added PPV channels ALL THE TIME — it would show up in my custom list until I specifically excluded it.
@Jennifer:
The sad thing is, we’re with Comcast because AT&T is MUCH worse in our area. Those are our only HSI options.
dcdl
It looks like there really isn’t anything, but cable for the sports channels and local sports. That is the only reason we still have cable.
I’ve been looking at Boxee and Roku. Anybody have any opinions on either? Or anything else. I have to find something that is easy for my husband to use to get him to let go of cable.
Please, keep Balloon Juicer’s up when there is something for sports that doesn’t cost as much as cable. I’m a lurker so should hopefully spot something if someone mentions it.
Thanks.
JenJen
I love TV, and especially sports, way too much to ever just go to over-the-air service, so quitting altogether isn’t an option for me. But, I switched from Time Warner Cable (ISP too) to DirecTV last December, and I can’t believe I waited so long to do it. Satellite is superior in every possible way. Cheaper, better picture, more channels, excellent customer service, free sports extras during big events, and their DVR makes Time Warner’s look practically Soviet. Honestly, if you’re a sports junkie you’re nuts to stay with cable. DirecTV kicks ass for sports.
@Just Some Fuckhead:
It’s not really OnDemand; you have to download the programming to your DVR so you can’t watch instantly like you could with cable OnDemand. It can take awhile to get an HD movie from CinemaPlus (DirecTV’s “on demand” service) so you have to plan a bit ahead. But, there are so many more programs available to download from DirecTV than I ever had with cable. And, DirecTV does carry HBO On Demand, I use it often (but HBOGO online is superior anyway, offering every series they’ve ever shown, instantly). They carry every on demand channel I used to get with cable, plus many more.
If there’s one annoying thing about DirecTV, it’s that you do lose service during a heavy rain. In my case, I tend to lose the HD channels, so I go to the main menu, un-hide SD duplicates, and then I can almost always watch the same program in SD even though the rain is killing my HD channels.
@Jennifer: Wow. I had the same experience when I canceled Time Warner. Got a ridiculous amount of run-around, and they actually scolded me for switching to satellite. They even told me I’d lose Fox Sports Ohio if I went with DirecTV, which was a complete lie. A few weeks after I schlepped all their equipment back to their storefront, they sent me an $800 bill for “unreturned equipment.” Heh. The whole experience was kind of hilarious in its ineptness, until the retention lady offered me an unbelievable monthly price if I re-upped for two years. That only pissed me off, as a loyal customer for over a decade, to realize I’d been paying far more than I had to. Just call up and threaten to move to DirecTV, and you’ll get way cheaper cable! Wish I’d thought of that sooner.
trollhattan
@Jennifer:
Comcast is the leading provider heah, and I’m still waiting to meet a satisfied customer. Just one. Not holding my breath.
Ronbo
Here is my dilemma: I’m hooked on the DVR. I can’t watch commercials except at extreme high speeds anymore.
I tried Tivo but couldn’t make it work with broadcast TV – without paying their monthly fees.
We could make millions of dollars on the people who would go back to braodcast – if only there was a DVR w/ HD tuner. As it is, I’m actually fairly happy with a 12 year old VCR. But it won’t let me pause live TV!
Help!
Brachiator
I think it is a clear example of a drop of household income in action.
JenJen
@Ronbo: There’s an over-the-air HD DVR out there called ChannelMaster which has no subscription fee. As long as you live in an area where CBS broadcasts the digital TV Guide On-Screen System (you can check here), you’ll get a lot of the Tivo-like functions without a monthly fee.
I’m a happy DirecTV customer but I’ll bet that DVR and similar ones would be a great solution for a lot of people. I actually heard about it from the guy that installed my DirecTV.
ThresherK
@Jennifer:
@TooManyJens: Which is your area?
I have Comcast, and AT&T’s U-verse is newly available (for about a year) and only want to switch once for HSI.
MikeJake
I’m still not convinced of the wisdom of offering TV over the internet. We already have a perfectly workable infrastructure for delivering television, and bandwidth is not unlimited.
Sasha
Don’t worry. Actual capitalism based on true competition isn’t allowed to exist very long. I’m sure that you’ll soon be stuck with an overpriced cable/data plan very soon.
Steeplejack
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN), @Just Some Fuckhead:
Possible solution here: Six months ago I took a chance and bought this to be the one remote to rule them all, and it has worked out awesomely. Extremely easy to program, and you have a lot of leeway to customize things to your liking. It works very well and is very responsive.
I currently have it controlling my Cox cable box, the big-ass TV (Samsung), a Sherwood receiver and a Philips DVD player, and the only thing I have to pick up another remote for is to go into picture-in-picture mode (which I could program it to do, but I got lazy, and I only use that about two times an NFL season when things get really hairy of a Sunday afternoon).
One caveat: sometimes the problem is not with the remote but with the unit it is talking to. I did some embedded-programming work for a cable TV company, and the lethargy was all on the main unit’s side, not the remote. Just sayin’.
But for under $20 this is worth looking at.
Steeplejack
@Teak111:
Check one of the recent issues (last three-four months) of Maximum PC. They had a whole issue on building great machines, and one of them was a home multimedia box.
Can’t find that article now (of course), but here’s a start from their Web site.