Many cutting the cord on cable/satellite

PeoplesElbow

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
For those interested Sling TV has added more channels and more options in the last couple days. I have some good channels that I did not have a week ago, mainly FS2 and FXX.
 
Clem72

Clem72

Well-Known Member
Radiant1 said:
I use Pluto on rare occasions, no BBC2. I'm going to have to find a way to bypass their geo-blocking or just be patient and wait until the show I want to watch is on Netflix. :ohwell:
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Depending on the device and how complicated you want to get, you could subscribe to a VPN. Some of them are as cheap as $2/mo if you buy a year or two at a time.
 
SamSpade

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
You know, I keep looking for solutions that fit what my family wants. So many packages offer an "almost" solution, and I'm not crazy about that - I'd rather not patch together some Frankenstein's monster of stuff just to get what I have now - an over-priced glop of channels - 90% of which I've never watched even once.

But what I'd like doesn't seem to either exist - or appear on the horizon.

Yet.

What we would LIKE - is a package that offers the Big Four (yes, Fox belongs there too) - the CW - and the dozen or so networks we regularly watch: TNT, TBS, USA, SyFy, AMC, A&E, Food, ID, Science, History and Disney. And the news networks. Beyond those - well I could adjust to never seeing them. Even among my favorites among the rest, like BBC America - I could live without Doctor Who, even though he isn't on any streaming (anymore - used to be on Netflix).

But dammit - nobody carries the Big Four. Mostly because CBS won't participate at all, but because even ABC isn't on board with some of them. You're lucky if you find the CW on any. So I'm not seeing a solution that cuts my cable in half. (Half is the aim - I'm not making a big change just to save 20-30 bucks).

Also - the best features of current cable is - the offerings I get are fully accessible by every TV in the house without additional cost, and I can access recorded programming on at least three of them. And I can watch ANYTHING I record. Like, forever. Not just shows for the last few weeks. And all of them.

Does ANY service completely offer that? Hulu comes close, but my experience with Hulu is, it's always spotty. They MIGHT have your show - or not. They MIGHT have the episode you want - but you might have to wade through their stupid search mechanism, because they won't offer something clearly straightforward and sensible (such as, this is the show I want, and I want the episodes labelled in order - and nothing else).
 
PeoplesElbow

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
I think the CW doesn't bother because you can get everything they have free straight from their website or their android app for tablet.
 
somdfunguy

somdfunguy

not impressed
SamSpade said:
You know, I keep looking for solutions that fit what my family wants. So many packages offer an "almost" solution, and I'm not crazy about that - I'd rather not patch together some Frankenstein's monster of stuff just to get what I have now - an over-priced glop of channels - 90% of which I've never watched even once.

But what I'd like doesn't seem to either exist - or appear on the horizon.

Yet.

What we would LIKE - is a package that offers the Big Four (yes, Fox belongs there too) - the CW - and the dozen or so networks we regularly watch: TNT, TBS, USA, SyFy, AMC, A&E, Food, ID, Science, History and Disney. And the news networks. Beyond those - well I could adjust to never seeing them. Even among my favorites among the rest, like BBC America - I could live without Doctor Who, even though he isn't on any streaming (anymore - used to be on Netflix).

But dammit - nobody carries the Big Four. Mostly because CBS won't participate at all, but because even ABC isn't on board with some of them. You're lucky if you find the CW on any. So I'm not seeing a solution that cuts my cable in half. (Half is the aim - I'm not making a big change just to save 20-30 bucks).
Click to expand...

This is called cable

Also - the best features of current cable is - the offerings I get are fully accessible by every TV in the house without additional cost, and I can access recorded programming on at least three of them. And I can watch ANYTHING I record. Like, forever. Not just shows for the last few weeks. And all of them.
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You do pay an added cost for this
 
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NIU_Huskies

New Member
Cable TV is just too expensive...you have to pay a monthly fee for each cable box, you have to pay broadcast fees, HD fees, state/local taxes, etc.

With Netflix, Sling, and Amazon Prime you pay a set fee, no taxes, and can watch on any device. Netflix you can share your login with others and Prime you can share your benefits with up to 4 friends and family.
 
PeoplesElbow

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
FYI Sling has just added more channels, again. www.sling.com now it includes a local fox and nbc affiliate. What I found that was sort of cool was when I was in North Carolina I got the local North Carolina stations on my tablet.
 
Tilted

Tilted

..
Dish now has 2 base packages for its Sling service - they're called Orange and Blue. Orange is the original one with just one stream allowed at a time and is still $20/month. Blue is different (and more) channels with 3 streams allowed at a time and is $25/month. It's similar to what Dish had been offering as a beta package. There are quite a few good channels in the Blue package. There's also some overlap between the packages.

https://www.sling.com
 
Tilted

Tilted

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

I'm out of contract so I called them and was frank with them, basically: I think I'm paying too much for my TV service. I don't really want to change to a different provider but I'm going to explore other options if you can't make this considerably cheaper. I'm not quite ready to cut the cord completely, but with so many other options now you guys must be under considerable pricing pressure?

The conversation went well. It wasn't at all combative. The lady first went through a few options where I could cut back my service and save some money, and I told her I didn't want to lose certain channels for now - that I needed the service to be cheaper even with my current package, that I might later change my package to bring the cost down more. She asked me how much I needed to save in order stay with them. I told her $40 a month. She offered me two options - I think it was $40 off per month if I agreed to a year's contract or $20 off per month with no contract extension. I hesitated for a moment, said I didn't think I wanted to have a contract - that if I did, I could go elsewhere and get it cheaper still. She offered me $30 off per month for a year without any contract plus a free premium channel for 3 months and I took it. That way I can still explore other options or further reduce my cost by turning a box off or reducing my package. But my bill is now less than $70. I think I could get it to less than $50 with those changes.

This is something they're having to deal with a lot now I would assume. So they're likely willing to work with people if you're just straight up with them about your situation (and if you're out of contract). Keeping you at a reduced rate is better than losing you, and they don't have to spend money to send someone out to get you set up - keeping you, even it a lower rate, is easy money. I find that frankness combined with a friendly tone genuinely gets good results.


EDIT: To be clear, I'm sure they won't offer whatever discount you ask for. I think I just asked for about the right number. And the discount is just a generic monthly bill credit. So whatever other changes I make, that discount will apply.
 
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NIU_Huskies

New Member
Good price-haggling. A lot of consumers just stick with what they have rather than calling them and telling them you will bring your business elsewhere and getting a better deal. I told T-mobile I was going to switch to their cheaper Metro PCS provider because I don't use much data or minutes and I use WiFi when at home. They offered to bring my $55 plan down to $40 a month so I stuck with them after I found out Metro only let's you get their cheap $30 plan if you buy one of their phones. I wasn't willing to pay for a new phone. When my $13.99 discounted SlingTV service is up in 7 months or so I'll tell Sling I will stay with them if they keep offering me the same price but I don't watch enough TV to pay $20.
 
SamSpade

SamSpade

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