Sanity check from you cord cutters

[goeduck]

Well I cancelled the Xfinity (Comcast) channel lineup today and they dropped from a 150 MB to 60 MB connection plus phone which took me from $231.55 a month to $100.21. So I have $131 to work with. They would not give me the $49/month new customer rate and stuck me with the $79/screw-your-customer-rate. Then of course they charge $11/month for the cable modem. And phone plus taxes takes me to $100.21. I went by Best Buy and they have cable modems with the phone connection, WiFi and 4 port Ethernet router all built in for $200 to $300 but I am not sure I want to go there and not be able to tell Comcast they are not giving me an internet connection if I have any problem whatsoever (hardware or service). Plus that is a lot of money to recover.

I got a call back from Xfinity customer service as a response to my rating them low on the customer survey that I did. Very nice lady this time. She offered me a better package and I am down to $89.66 a month with Xfinity from the $100.21. Same 60 MB service plus phone. I usually do not like customer surveys but I always do them if money is involved and they usually know at least something off the bill. Every dollar counts.

 

[thekkfan]

I have my phone with Callcentric now. $12.90/mo including taxes for unlimited incoming, 500min outgoing (.02/min after that). Haven't went over 500 yet in 16 months. Just need a cheap ATA hooked to your Internet. And yes, they ported my home #.

 

[IXLR8]

I had Xfinity when I lived in MA, I had my own cable modem. As long as you pick from the list of compatible modems on their web page, you should be good to go.

 

[IXLR8]

Fubo just raised their rate from $45/month to $55/month, they added a bunch of channels I had no interest in. I went looking for another provider that gave me few the channels I wanted, the few channels SWMBO wanted and the channels we both enjoyed. It is like 10 total channels we watch. I ended up back at Fubo as basically my only option unless I wanted to go multiple sources and then I wasn't really saving any money.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Fubo just raised their rate from $45/month to $55/month, they added a bunch of channels I had no interest in. I went looking for another provider that gave me few the channels I wanted, the few channels SWMBO wanted and the channels we both enjoyed. It is like 10 total channels we watch. I ended up back at Fubo as basically my only option unless I wanted to go multiple sources and then I wasn't really saving any money.

What content do they provide to warrant even $45 a month?

 

[CMV]

What content do they provide to warrant even $45 a month?

Probably a much larger group of sports channels than anyone else - even more than most cable packages without paying some extra. Around 90 channels in their lowest cost option, roughly 1/3 of those are sports. So I'd guess the people who were attracted to cable packages boasting "9 bazillion channels lineup" would be interested in that too. Also seems to have all the popular cable networks like TBS, TNT, USA, SyFy, HGTV, Food, AMC, FX, etc. A lot (like mine) are lacking some or need some type of upgrade to get some of those.

But if you were a huge sports fan - esp regional college stuff or soccer - it looks like it would be a better service than most standard cable packages.

Am seeing a similar gripe with different services though...."when I signed up it was $X, but then they added some channels and now it costs $10 more". So the "cable replacement" type streaming services are going down the same path that made folks leave cable for them in the first place....

And joy....just got an email from netflix this morning that they're raising rates yet again to $13. I like NF, but not $13 worth of like.....so I think that's getting cut. There are probably 7 or 8 of their series that I like, a handful of their original movies were good. But (my opinion) 90%+ of their "original content" is pure crap and no better than 2nd rate cable shows.... And the movie library just gets worse & worse which is why I originally had NF years ago. For someone like me, feels like I'm paying more to subsidize unfunny comedy specials and horrible shows like Grace & Frankie or BoJack and getting far fewer good movies for it. Lost in Space, The Ranch, House of Cards (before Spacey drama), & Stranger Things I really do like, but it's a very tiny % of all the crap they keep churning out. Anytime I go to the "recently added" section on NF I just say "WHY?????"

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Thanks, i think streaming will end up costing more, because you will need 3 or 4 streaming services.
I stream netfli using my son's student account, but not many shows i like. Watched 1 season of The Ranch, but too much language for me.
My dish package is $65 for the programming, then another $25 for the fees.......

I want to can it all, but wife wants it for 1channel....

 

[goeduck]

I have the ROKU Ultra in our TV room, a Premier+ in the kitchen which is nearest the WiFi source and then two Stick+ farther away. In hindsight I would have bought 3 of the Stick+ since they have better range and speed. I was thinking 802.11 was like oil and 802.11b/g/n on the Premier+ was better than 802.11ac in the Stick+ in that higher letters meant better. :duh:

So I moved the Premier+ to closer to the WiFi source and it works better there. The Stick+ will connect to either the 2.4 or 5 GHz WiFi*

*I only just learned this :duh:

 

[thekkfan]

5Ghz will move more data and less susceptible to interference like 2.4 band, but 2.4 will give you greater distance and penetration through walls.

 

[goeduck]

5Ghz will move more data and less susceptible to interference like 2.4 band, but 2.4 will give you greater distance and penetration through walls.

ROKU says the Stick+ has 4x the wireless range. However they do it, it does seem better range wise and speed wise than the Premier +.
:confused3:

 

[CMV]

So Sling finally sent the free stuff from when I signed up. Apparently I didn't fill out address fields when I signed up (which I think is odd, most stuff like that doesn't let you complete without filling out all required fields and surely I must have entered a billing address along with my debit card info.....). But anyway, it's on the way. This is from email I go from UPS saying a package is coming:



Apparently Sling is part of DISH Network. Didn't know that.....

 

[thekkfan]

Maybe its the dish receiver and satellite kit you'll need for the new package you unknowingly signed up for. :confused3:

 

[CMV]

That would not surprise me one bit.....$25/mo for Sling + $99/mo for Dish with a 5 yr unbreakable contract buried way in the fine print....... I'd fall for that.....

It's the AirTV player + the RCA indoor antenna. The air player will be in place of a 3rd ROKU stick for guest bedroom and hopefully the RCA brand indoor antenna will perform a little better than the similar type I got from Amazon. If not, a better antenna is next on list so I can get roughly same as you do - although I haven't really felt like anything was "missing" with the 14 OTA stations I get today....

I need to replace our upstairs TV soon too. ugh....it's really old (50" Dell Plasma) so that gives an idea to age since Dell got out of TVs as quickly as they got into them in early - mid-2000's. Up to a 55" will fit. At least they're much, much cheaper now!!! I think even with a smart tv it might make sense to stick with the Roku stick just since that little remote is so simple - I really like it!

What I'm afraid of is how it will look. Most TVs I've seen at people's houses that are about 2yrs old or newer, the picture looks really "off" to me. Hard to describe & people say I'm an idiot for the gripe, but only way I can describe it is "it looks too real". Or movement like someone walking across a room doesn't look natural/smooth or like what it would look like on a somewhat older TV (say from 5-10 yrs ago). Everything looks glossy. I sure don't want to "upgrade" to that!

But the plasma is on it's last legs. Sides are burned in which isn't noticeable unless a pretty bright scene, but it's there & has been for years. Now solid blacks, like the sling menu, there are all kinds of purple flecks showing up. Again, not normally noticeable, but in an overall dark scene it is since it's almost like little purple snowflakes all over the blacks. Guess I'll hav eto go to Best Buy or something & just compare what different ones look like so I don't end up with that "too real" picture I dislike.....

 

[thekkfan]

I know I may take a beating for saying it, but TCL with integrated Roku is pretty nice. I have two of them. Check out their 55.

Regular smart tvs suck. Cant upgrade the apps, you're stuck. My last TV was this past Father's day/BDay combo was Vizio 70" without a tuner. Really like the picture. It's smart, but dumb- I use the Roku Ultra on it--wired.

I kept the old Panny Plasma it replaced and wall mounted in the bdrm. That's a really good TV w/ super blacks and actually sounds good.

 

[CMV]

That's what's in the guest bedroom - Panasonic plasma. I forget size...42" maybe? It was the boy's TV for video games & stuff, but still has great picture & sound.

Funny you mention the TCL - I had never heard about that brand until last night. Was looking around on newegg just to see what TVs cost & saw TCL at crazy low prices for the size. Reviews were all over the map, but very budget-friendly!

 

[thekkfan]

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tcl-55-class-led-4-series-2160p-smart-4k-uhd-tv-with-hdr-roku-tv/5878703.p?skuId=5878703

They have others in the 55 range also. The two I own have more sensitive tuners than the Panny or my Tablo. But, you will need a soundbar, speakers are a bit tinny for my taste.

 

[CMV]

Inconsistent backlight and banding issues seem to be the most frequent negatives in online reviews. The backlight for 4 & 5, banding for 5 & 6 series. You have any of those complaints?

I might swing by BB & check one out. Not terribly inconvenient to return there if issues.

How about the ads? Many reviews don't even mention them so guessing they aren't very intrusive?

 

[goeduck]

My Tablo Dual Lite gets fairly warm to the touch. Not hot, but warmer than most electronics get. Is this what others are seeing?

 

[thekkfan]

My Tablo Dual Lite gets fairly warm to the touch. Not hot, but warmer than most electronics get. Is this what others are seeing?

Yes, I actually have mine sitting on a small aluminum riser so it can breath underneath. The cabinet it sits on doesn't dissipate heat very well.

 

[thekkfan]

Inconsistent backlight and banding issues seem to be the most frequent negatives in online reviews. The backlight for 4 & 5, banding for 5 & 6 series. You have any of those complaints?

I might swing by BB & check one out. Not terribly inconvenient to return there if issues.

How about the ads? Many reviews don't even mention them so guessing they aren't very intrusive?

The two I have are 32's so don't notice the issues you speak of. One in bath gets watched every morning and night and the other is in guest room, hardly ever watched.