Wanting to dump Comcast

[pryncess527]

I do this from time to time to reduce my bill that slowly creeps up and up. They always have something to knock a few bills off.
Thanks for the reminder. I'm calling too.

Ditto -- I'm with Time Warner for internet and AT&T for cable. With both companies, the bill creeps up after 3-6 months, I call and politely ask if there are any discounts I'm eligible for, they lower my bill and we repeat the process when those discounts expire.

Just called AT&T yesterday in fact. Was able to keep my HD DVR, Sports Package for another month, and HBO/Cinemax for another 3 months for only $54. It was supposed to go up to $116.

We did go about 2 years with no cable. We relied on internet TV, digital antenna, and a DVR I made from our desktop computer. It worked well, but sports finally drove us back to cable. And I do enjoy the ease of using it

 

[MillauFr]

Ok, sorry if I'm driving anyone crazy with all these questions, but I'm getting a little confused with all the new devices I'm buying! For the Ooma telephone system, do we need a certain type of modem for our internet? We are keeping internet through Comcast but want to buy a modem so we don't have to rent one. I looked on comcasts website for modems that are compatible with their service, but I can't find any info on what modems are compatible with the Ooma. I found a Motorola modem at Best Buy that is only $69.00 and is compatible with Comcast, but don't want to buy it if it won't work with the Ooma. Anyone have any info that will help? Thanks again!

Maria

Ooma will work with any cable modem you get.

 

[DawnM]

Tivo subscriptions run about $15/mo for the first Tivo and there is a discount for additional Tivos.

People sell their old Tivos WITH lifetime (NO monthly fees)and I bought two of those.

Our Tivo works with an antenna. No cable subscription at all. I have them connected directly to the antenna.

When we had satellite TV I realized that most of what I watched was on network TV anyway, but what I really loved was the ability to record shows and pause live TV while watching.

Our upfront costs (although we did not buy this all at once)

$500 for two Tivos (used on ebay and CL)
$60 for a good quality rooftop antenna (used on CL)
$200 Roku boxes

Total: $760 initial cost

Four years of Directv would have been $4,800. So I have saved over $4,000 so far and will continue to save $100/mo.

Thanks but can you give me more details about Tivo's lifetime subscription? What does that mean? Also do you have to subscribe to basic cable in order to get the channels? I don't know a thing about Tivo......

 

[karenbaco]

Which Tivo is good for recording? I know nothing about tivo and there seem to be so many to choose from. Also which HD antennae is good?

 

[karenbaco]

Ok more questions......

I would need

Tivo for recording shows
HD antennae to pick up local channels free
Ooma for free home phone service
Modem for internet and Ooma so I dont have to rent
internet service through comcast

Which Tivo?
Which HD antennae?
Which modem would I need?
Which speed of internet is best for streaming netflix, amazon prime, etc as well as wifi and computer use?

Thanks everyone!

 

[riatees]

I just bought a TiVo OTA at Best Buy for $49.00. It works with over the air antennae and will need to subscribe for $15.00 a month because it was not available with a lifetime subscription. I bought a Mohu antennae, also from Best Buy for $29.00, and a modem for $69.00. I ordered my Ooma from Amazon for $118.00. As far as internet speed , I'm not sure about that either. Right now we have the Blast speed but hoping we will be able to down grade to a slower speed. Will be spending this weekend trying to hook all this stuff up and see how it works!

 

[ericstac]

I loved my DVR but I couldn't justify $15 a month for OTA recording. Especially when I can stream nearly everything online when I feel like watching and be able to pause rewind start over etc.

 

[riatees]

Having a very hard time getting my husband to "cut the cord"! I've told him that anything we can't get on Hulu plus he can watch on his computer. He is not real thrilled about it. I don't think it's a big deal myself. I know someone mentioned that you could watch stuff from the internet on your tv, but I'm not sure how you would do it. Do you need any special equipment? We have 2 lap tops and a desk top. Also, do you need a super fast internet speed to do it? Thanks again, this thread has been so helpful to me already!!

Maria

 

[mrodgers]

Having a very hard time getting my husband to "cut the cord"! I've told him that anything we can't get on Hulu plus he can watch on his computer. He is not real thrilled about it. I don't think it's a big deal myself. I know someone mentioned that you could watch stuff from the internet on your tv, but I'm not sure how you would do it. Do you need any special equipment? We have 2 lap tops and a desk top. Also, do you need a super fast internet speed to do it? Thanks again, this thread has been so helpful to me already!!

Maria

You need to connect your output from the computer/laptop to the TV same as you connect to a monitor. What output/input you have on your equipment determines what you need in cables. I have all old computer stuff so I don't have HDMI, but I think most new stuff has HDMI output so that is how you would connect to any newish TV.

As for the internet speed, I have 10mb connection. I thought I'd have trouble because I have trouble just on the internet when the kids are back in their rooms on their ipods/phones/computer. I tried out streaming on a borrowed Roku and on my cheap tablet and it worked fairly well. I do have a very very old DSL modem which limits how many things I can have using bandwidth and that's why I have trouble with everyone on the net at once. I thought I'd need to up my internet speed, but I think I just need an inexpensive new DSL modem and be fine.

 

[riatees]

Well, we are one week with out Comcast! You'll never know just how much joy i got out of calling to cancel. Right now we have the OOma phone and it works great. We are using Hulu+, Netflix and streaming from our computer. We returned the antennae and the Tivo because the antennae just wasn't reliable. We got about 8 channels and they were in and out all the time. Without getting channels on the tv, there really was no need for the Tivo. Having Hulu+ is like having a dvr anyway, we can watch when we want. So far, don't feel like we are missing out on anything, but I'll let you know in a few weeks!!

Maria