Death of cable TV - Update

[harringtondav]

One year ago we cut the cable and went to HD antenna. I called Mediacom to cancel the TV. They said, OK, but your internet is at a grandfathered rate, and will increase. I said "OK, cancel that too, we have a municipal fiber optic provider." Back stepping. They gave me a 1 yr intro rate on the internet, but said it will increase yearly until it's up to the std. rate.

Well, after a year the rate increased and I called them again reminding them of my option. Nope, no deals. So I cancelled a week out, and had our utility hook me up with fiber. I decided to try their base 3 X 3 (3 meg down and up) for $30/mo. The utility cautioned me that 3X3 wouldn't support streaming TV, and I really should get their $55/mo 250X250 plan.

The 3X3 streams fine on Netflix, Hulu and HBO Now with no buffering. Load times are a little longer, but worth $25 mo.
I'm thinking Mediacom is in a death spiral. More communities in Iowa are going to their on F/O internet. Surprised Mediacom isn't more aggressive about customer retention. In one year we went from $120/mo to $30/mo, and are quite happy with the results.

 

[dingbat]

Interesting. I take it you don’t use much bandwidth on top of your streaming?

I started streaming with 50/50 and the had glitching now and then. Switched to 100/100 to get rid of the issues.

Then again, we have two streaming TVs with another 8 -10 nodes online at any given time. Upgraded the router which helped a lot

Netflix is typically streaming in the 5-7 mbps range on a wireless connection

 

[harringtondav]

Interesting. I take it you don’t use much bandwidth on top of your streaming?

I started streaming with 50/50 and the had glitching now and then. Switched to 100/100 to get rid of the issues.

Then again, we have two streaming TVs with another 8 -10 nodes online at any given time. Upgraded the router which helped a lot

Netflix is typically streaming in the 5-7 mbps range on a wireless connection

Yes. It's just wife and me now, so only one streaming device running. Although she does FB during commercials (Hulu defect). I know we are on the edge, but it works. It may take 10-15 sec for the vid quality to catch up to HD, but when it takes, it holds. We have a good router close to the TV, but I'm thinking our Insignia Roku's buffer is robust.

 

[StingrayMike]

I want to get away from cable SOOO Bad! We only watch 8 channels, but have to pay so much to watch them. There are many different streaming services out there,but it seems that not one offers all the channels we watch and it still seems that we have to have a cable service to watch. To me, its very hard and confusing to figure it out. I think I need a spreadsheet that lists all the pros/cons and what does what. Makes me think of a mad scientist formula.

 

[alldodge]

I can stream on 5 DSL (can get 8 for another $30) and should probably dump satellite but just not yet

 

[dingbat]

I want to get away from cable SOOO Bad! We only watch 8 channels, but have to pay so much to watch them. There are many different streaming services out there,but it seems that not one offers all the channels we watch and it still seems that we have to have a cable service to watch. To me, its very hard and confusing to figure it out. I think I need a spreadsheet that lists all the pros/cons and what does what. Makes me think of a mad scientist formula.

We cut the cord 3 years ago. Over $200 a month in cable prior to cutting the cord.

I too was somewhat leery initially. Not big tv people to begin with but just couldn’t give up x, y and z channels or so we thought.

Cut the cable and bought a couple of Roku sticks. Didn’t take long to figure out we watch x, y and z channels because there was nothing better to watch.

We have a Netflix account to satisfy my wife’s movie habit. We also had a Sling subscription which we dumped when they the upped the subscription from $9.95 to $21.95 per month.

Lots a free movie channels if you don’t mind commercial breaks. Lots of alternative content channels which can be interesting to say the least.

The downside is the lack of sports. Your pretty much limited to broadcast tv unless you subscribe to a sports network. It doesn’t bother me since I can count the number of sporting events I’ve watched in the past year on one hand.

 

[harringtondav]

I want to get away from cable SOOO Bad! We only watch 8 channels, but have to pay so much to watch them. There are many different streaming services out there,but it seems that not one offers all the channels we watch and it still seems that we have to have a cable service to watch. To me, its very hard and confusing to figure it out. I think I need a spreadsheet that lists all the pros/cons and what does what. Makes me think of a mad scientist formula.

Our first step last year was installing an inexpensive RCA Yagi antenna. https://www.amazon.com/Antenna-Satellite-Broadcast-Epicenter-Reception/dp/B0024R4B5C This only works if you have a broadcast antenna w/in 70 miles of you home. We got 22 channels, including the big three networks and PBS, plus others that we rarely watch. Go to TV Fool and use their signal analysis tool to find your station's towers. You'll see viable towers, and the compass heading to aim your antenna. http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

Then we cancelled cable TV with our provider and kept the cable internet, until now. I'd guess this would reduce most bills by 50%. If you still have a land line, DSL will support HD streaming per AllDodge below. Even if you don't have a wired phone, Quest and others are hungry, and may sell you DSL stand alone for less than cable internet.

We have Roku streaming TVs. Lots of free stuff including "News On" which streams participating news stations. One of our local station participates. ...we only use this at our river house. Streaming services like Hulu, HBO Now, and Netflix go for around $15/month. I paid for the HBO and share it with my two kids. They reciprocate by sharing their Hulu and Netflix. If you are into PBS, their PassPort is $5/mo., and allows you to stream entire series before episodes are broadcast.

 

[ezbtr]

Got rid of ours 6 ish (?) months ago, saved $110 a MONTH, cheap USB local TV antennas get 26 ish local channels (plenty) stream all else w/ two ROKU's - they paid for themselves the first month, more channels than I thought possible, 200 mb down here.

 

[MTboatguy]

I just signed up for Youtube TV today and have been playing with it all day long and I will again, call Dish and cancel by the end of the free trial, right now Youtube has a 14 day free trial. I have a 1.5 mbps download speed and as long as we don't check our email to often, the system is not buffering and causing any problems.

The options are getting better and after waiting for quite a while, I am glad they are.

 

[dingbat]

Wanted to share an interesting development.

We’ve had FIOS fiber going on 10 years now. Running 100/100 since we cut the cord 2-4 years ago. Had to upgrade the router to deal with everything (12 devices) but no complaints about speed or bandwidth until 3 to 4 weeks ago.

Called Verizon to check for problems on their side. Rebooted both sides to no avail. Called them back the following day to trouble shot further.

First comment....”you have too many devices”. Try again...”same number I’ve always had”, although I recently added 2 more for a total of 14.

Long story short... I’m now listed as a “power user”. The traffic monitoring feature of the router confirmed the stated usage. Suggested I upgrade to the gigabit speed plan.

Didn’t take long to figure out where this is going.....everything worked great until they repackaged their internet plans and added “cut the cord” service plans of their own.

 

[harringtondav]

Wanted to share an interesting development.

We’ve had FIOS fiber going on 10 years now. Running 100/100 since we cut the cord 2-4 years ago. Had to upgrade the router to deal with everything (12 devices) but no complaints about speed or bandwidth until 3 to 4 weeks ago.

Called Verizon to check for problems on their side. Rebooted both sides to no avail. Called them back the following day to trouble shot further.

First comment....”you have too many devices”. Try again...”same number I’ve always had”, although I recently added 2 more for a total of 14.

Long story short... I’m now listed as a “power user”. The traffic monitoring feature of the router confirmed the stated usage. Suggested I upgrade to the gigabit speed plan.

Didn’t take long to figure out where this is going.....everything worked great until they repackaged their internet plans and added “cut the cord” service plans of their own.

Wow! 14 devices. All running enough to choke 100x100. I think I remember you being involved with a marina business on Lake Superior or Michigan (?). Is this the load, or do you have a lot of users in your home? If business, there may be a less painful price plan for a business line.

 

[alldodge]

I just signed up for Youtube TV today and have been playing with it all day long and I will again, call Dish and cancel by the end of the free trial, right now Youtube has a 14 day free trial. I have a 1.5 mbps download speed and as long as we don't check our email to often, the system is not buffering and causing any problems.

The options are getting better and after waiting for quite a while, I am glad they are.

Able to do that with only 1.5mb, assuming that's using speedtest and not what they say you have. That's great

I just got latest bill and Dish flex pack went up another 5 so its now 66 mth

Thinking of youtube my self, and I have 4mb but speedtest shows 3.2mb. Can increase to 8mb for another 20 mth. Don't you hate rural speed One issue with going to youtube would be we would loose Louisville local, and get Nashville local. This is what happened when I added dish to the vacation rental

Seems like its youtube or hulu for locals.

 

[dingbat]

Wow! 14 devices. All running enough to choke 100x100. I think I remember you being involved with a marina business on Lake Superior or Michigan (?). Is this the load, or do you have a lot of users in your home? If business, there may be a less painful price plan for a business line.

No business... private home. Just my wife and myself along with our youngest daughter for now. Had over 20 devices online when both girls and boyfriends where here for Thanksgiving

Like I said. Demand has not changed much on my side in the past two years. Traffic monitoring confirms this.

We’ll see if my problems dissipates a bit now that I complained about them throttling of my account.

2- Roku sticks
3- cell phone
2- Sonos systems
2- laptops
1- desktop
1- wireless printer
3- Alexa
2- Apple watches

 

[MTboatguy]

Able to do that with only 1.5mb, assuming that's using speedtest and not what they say you have. That's great

I just got latest bill and Dish flex pack went up another 5 so its now 66 mth

Thinking of youtube my self, and I have 4mb but speedtest shows 3.2mb. Can increase to 8mb for another 20 mth. Don't you hate rural speed One issue with going to youtube would be we would loose Louisville local, and get Nashville local. This is what happened when I added dish to the vacation rental

Seems like its youtube or hulu for locals.

Yes, I hate rural speeds totally. But it is all we can get, they put fiber in last year for part of the way, but ended it at my buddies house which is over 2 miles away. I have been surprised, I consistently get 1.52 on the speed tests and I check it a lot. Youtube will work out, because they have the same locals as Dish does in this area and for the price, I can actually watch the races, I had to downgrade my Dish account cause they raised the price on me and I ain't paying $100 a month to watch TV commercials and 1/2 you need to buy this product shows.

Anyone wanting to try Youtube, should sign up before the 13th and you will get a 2 week free trial to which actually give you time to evaluate the service without being in a rush.

 

[alldodge]

OK I'm going to give it a try tomorrow or Monday.

Another question for group:
Seeing that all it takes to record a show/movie is attach a HD to the USB port for the most part. Anyone try this and if so how does it work?

 

[MTboatguy]

When I want to record a show, I use my media center computer server, it has the space and the video card I have in it has a HDMI input and output, so I can record and play back with it. I never did hook up a hard drive to my Dish receiver because I refused to pay their $40 fee to do so and my receiver is a single tuner model. So I have no ability to record one channel while watching another. I can also watch and record DVD and Blu Rays on my media center computer. I would recommend anyone wanting to change things around, look at getting a media center computer system, you can also save your movies and shows to a NAS system, which stands for Network Attached Storage device and then configure it so any computer, phone or tablet that can connect to the network can watch what is stored on it.

When you make the break, there are all kinds of options on how you can configure things for viewing shows, When my father was alive in WA and we used to visit him for a vacation, I could actually log into my home network and watch what I had stored on the NAS using the DSL and his cable service.

I also have a usb TV tuner that I can plug into a laptop with a small HD antenna and if I am in a city, I can watch the locally broadcast digital channels and still send them to my NAS over the lines and store the show I am watching.

If you get into like I have the options are pretty endless.

 

[alldodge]

My dish has a HD attached and understand that everything on it is encrypted for dis only. Most are old movies and not going to be a big deal to loose them. Guess its continuing more research. Would like to just take shows I want to watch and record for later viewing so I can speed thru commercials

 

[MTboatguy]

My dish has a HD attached and understand that everything on it is encrypted for dis only. Most are old movies and not going to be a big deal to loose them. Guess its continuing more research. Would like to just take shows I want to watch and record for later viewing so I can speed thru commercials

I actually had a program for decoding, their encryption a few years ago, then they changed it again and I have never found a new program to decoding, not a lot of developers doing this anymore because they change it all of the time because of the copyright laws.

That is what I like about the media center, set up correctly, it does not use encryption at all and if you happen to record a movie to the hard drive, that you decide you want to keep you can put it on a DVD, I did that with the first season of Outlander for my wife.

 

[alldodge]

I signed up and going ok. Wish we could have gotten Louisville instead of Bowling green, but might wind up adding cbs all access ($6)

 

[alldodge]

Just thought of something else which could be a legal tax deduction. You can have 6 different streaming devices, which means I can setup the vacation rental with same. So could do away with 2 satellite receivers (save $60 or so per month). Should be able to deduct 1/2 the cost, no mention of standard deduct right now