Many cutting the cord on cable/satellite

Clem72

Well-Known Member
On another note: I had success with DirecTV getting them to lower my monthly rate considerably.

Just an FYI if/when you do cancel your DirecTV. Keep the receipts/shipping documentation if you are returning receivers to them or turn them over to a local installer, etc. (I.E. if you don't own them outright, which you probably don't if you got them in the last decade or so).

I know several people that have cancelled and then received a bill a few months later for $300 per receiver, saying they were never turned in.
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
For those of you who have cut the cord - what DO you actually MISS about having access to live TV? Anything?

CBS and will miss MASN/MASN2 when college football starts back up, otherwise that is it. Maybe the occasional testing of the emergency broadcasting system that would otherwise be followed by news, information, or important instructions....
 
For those of you who have cut the cord - what DO you actually MISS about having access to live TV? Anything?

Antenna here, so still get the major networks and PBS. I do miss SciFi, HGTV, etc... but not so much since they diverged from their original programming to the crap fill.

And NASCAR. Only on broadcast tv for a few races.
 

Clem72

Well-Known Member
CBS and will miss MASN/MASN2 when college football starts back up, otherwise that is it. Maybe the occasional testing of the emergency broadcasting system that would otherwise be followed by news, information, or important instructions....

You know those alerts hit your phone now too....
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Antenna here, so still get the major networks and PBS. I do miss SciFi, HGTV, etc... but not so much since they diverged from their original programming to the crap fill.

And NASCAR. Only on broadcast tv for a few races.

Do you live in St Mary's? I barely know a soul who can get ANY channel via antenna unless their antenna is on a tower or something.
 
Do you live in St Mary's? I barely know a soul who can get ANY channel via antenna unless their antenna is on a tower or something.

Town Creek area. There are one or two threads on Over-the-Air antenna reception in this area. I'm only using a small UHF antenna/rotor now on the chimney, but going to upgrade to a long range antenna soon.

Best reception is from stations on the Eastern Shore near Salisbury.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Town Creek area. There are one or two threads on Over-the-Air antenna reception in this area. I'm only using a small UHF antenna/rotor now on the chimney, but going to upgrade to a long range antenna soon.

Best reception is from stations on the Eastern Shore near Salisbury.

Do you think there's any chance of getting one of those station with an indoor antenna? I don't think I'm going to be able to sell the idea of a rooftop antenna.

But that still doesn't address our big concern with network TV - we DVR everything. We watch *almost* nothing live, except maybe sports. Having an antenna to get the networks doesn't make getting network shows any easier.
 
Do you think there's any chance of getting one of those station with an indoor antenna? I don't think I'm going to be able to sell the idea of a rooftop antenna.

But that still doesn't address our big concern with network TV - we DVR everything. We watch *almost* nothing live, except maybe sports. Having an antenna to get the networks doesn't make getting network shows any easier.

Slim with an indoor or attic antenna, although some here are doing it with some success.

You can get a DVD recorder to record OTA shows, just like VHS recorders but updated to DVD. I don't need to do that, so not an issue for me.
 

Dakota

~~~~~~~
GW,

Are you upgrading your antenna yourself or hiring somebody to do it?

I'd love to find some monkey to climb my house and put in a better antenna but they are hard to find. :ohwell:

My husband and I really enjoy our OTA broadcasting. On some stations it is like a time warp back in time with all the old classics airing and we find that to be relaxing. Often my husband will pass the DTV remote back and forth annoyed because we are tired of channel surfing.

I'm not a big TV watcher by all mean but I do feel like whenever I do sit down to watch it is the same crap over and over again.
 

Dakota

~~~~~~~
Oh and another thing, I notice channels like 4, 5, 7 and 9 showing fricken infomercials all day on Saturday and Sunday. Are they really that hard up for money?

What makes little sense is how much we pay a cable company when most material is out in the world and ready to stream.
 
GW,

Are you upgrading your antenna yourself or hiring somebody to do it?
I'll be doing my own. Fairly flat roof. Mounts, wiring, etc already exist, so really all I need to do is swap the antenna itself. At some point tho, I will want to increase the height, and that will require support wires. A bit more work.

Seems most of the stations do a lot of infomercials on weekends. 16, 21, 47, 50...

I used to get channels 5, 7 and 9, but lost them after I put up the new antenna. Just found out why. I put up a UHF antenna, because everyone said HDTV was UHF. Turns out that's only partly true. Channels 2-12 are in the VHF range, 13-66 are UHF. If you want the lower channels, you need a VHF/UHF hybrid antenna.
 

Dakota

~~~~~~~
I'll be doing my own. Fairly flat roof. Mounts, wiring, etc already exist, so really all I need to do is swap the antenna itself. At some point tho, I will want to increase the height, and that will require support wires. A bit more work.

Seems most of the stations do a lot of infomercials on weekends. 16, 21, 47, 50...

I used to get channels 5, 7 and 9, but lost them after I put up the new antenna. Just found out why. I put up a UHF antenna, because everyone said HDTV was UHF. Turns out that's only partly true. Channels 2-12 are in the VHF range, 13-66 are UHF. If you want the lower channels, you need a VHF/UHF hybrid antenna.

I have a hybrid antenna up but have often thought about putting up a bigger antenna... I still get 4, 5, 7, 9, 20 and 50 pretty routinely plus PBS and ION TV.... the signal can be spotty at time but for the most part, good.

I have some bow tie channel master antenna up. I spent, I dunno, $100 because I didn't know if this would catch on in this house... now that it has, maybe someday I'll go bigger/better.
 
I have a hybrid antenna up but have often thought about putting up a bigger antenna... I still get 4, 5, 7, 9, 20 and 50 pretty routinely plus PBS and ION TV.... the signal can be spotty at time but for the most part, good.

I have some bow tie channel master antenna up. I spent, I dunno, $100 because I didn't know if this would catch on in this house... now that it has, maybe someday I'll go bigger/better.
I rarely get 20 and 50, but I do get 16, 21 and 47 very well. Those plus PBS on 22 , 28 and 32 give me most of the major networks, ABC, CBS, FOX, CW, ION, MeTV, AntennaTV, ... Being able to swing the antenna on the rotor makes all the difference.

For a bowtie, you are getting pretty good reception.
 

Hank

my war
Called Comcast yesterday to downgrade my services. Wanted to get rid of the television and keep high speed internet & landline phone. I am in a $130 package at the moment. They tell me that just the internet & phone would cost me $124.....WTF? She said I used up my promo specials or some crap like that. What a friggin' monopoly. I would just cancel it all but I have Comcast e-mails that would be a pain to change, all because if you cancel Comcast your e-mail is toast...Another monopoly!
 

somdfunguy

not impressed
For those of you who have cut the cord - what DO you actually MISS about having access to live TV? Anything?

Channel surfing and finding an old movie that you like but haven't seen in years. About it. Honestly I don't even notice, and haven't noticed in a long time. Sports I miss in theory but then I do something with my time that is more worth while.
 

NIU_Huskies

New Member
Called Comcast yesterday to downgrade my services. Wanted to get rid of the television and keep high speed internet & landline phone. I am in a $130 package at the moment. They tell me that just the internet & phone would cost me $124.....WTF? She said I used up my promo specials or some crap like that. What a friggin' monopoly. I would just cancel it all but I have Comcast e-mails that would be a pain to change, all because if you cancel Comcast your e-mail is toast...Another monopoly!

Verizon FIOS has a triple-play package for $69.99 right now. If you no longer have a contract with Comcast tell them Verizon is offering you a better deal and see if they will work with you at all.

http://www.techbargains.com/verizon-fios-bundle-deals
 

awpitt

Main Streeter
Called Comcast yesterday to downgrade my services. Wanted to get rid of the television and keep high speed internet & landline phone. I am in a $130 package at the moment. They tell me that just the internet & phone would cost me $124.....WTF? She said I used up my promo specials or some crap like that. What a friggin' monopoly. I would just cancel it all but I have Comcast e-mails that would be a pain to change, all because if you cancel Comcast your e-mail is toast...Another monopoly!

Get your own domain and use Google Apps. That way if you need to change ISPs, in the future, your email is not impacted. I registered my domain back in 98 and can set up and delete accounts for pretty anyone.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Ok, I now have two Amazon devices - a Fire TV and a Fire Stick - and I just got a TV with Roku built into it. So far, I kind of like it - it's not as cumbersome as the crappy streaming device on my son's TV - but I don't really know where to start.
I'm finding myself drifting back to the old tried and true - Netflix, Hulu, Amazon - and my cable selections.

Because while Roku and Fire TV have LOTS of channels, I'm still unclear as to why I would navigate all over the menu if I am looking for News or Weather. Or Sports.
Is there a way to make it better? It may be a lack of familiarity but I am finding it hard to find anything as easy as just going to the weather channel or news channels on cable.

And I hate scrolling endlessly for something to watch, based on a title and a hard to read picture.

What channels do you have?
 

somdfunguy

not impressed
Pluto can be cool if you like the turn the TV on and veg out kinda thing.

Crackle is ok, I like the coffee and cars show with Seinfeld.
 
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