Cutting the cable cord

[riser4]

Comcast sucks, but until we get municipal broadband, the choice is a Sophie's one, Comcast or CenturyLink. And fuck CL.

Ya know, that brightened my day. It helps knowing that while I may have no provider choice, someone who does has such awful choices that Comcast is the better one. Ouch.

[Danno]

Ya know, that brightened my day. It helps knowing that while I may have no provider choice, someone who does has such awful choices that Comcast is the better one. Ouch.

ouch indeed. and comcast isn't just the better one, it is the MUCH better one.

fwiw, the service you get if you can go into a comcast retail location is light years better than phone service.

[riser4]

ouch indeed. and comcast isn't just the better one, it is the MUCH better one.

fwiw, the service you get if you can go into a comcast retail location is light years better than phone service.

Yes, always go to the store. Dorset St. in So. Burlington for me. I need to get down there soon.

[skaredshtles]

Comcast sucks, but until we get municipal broadband, the choice is a Sophie's one, Comcast or CenturyLink. And fuck CL.

...

[oldnew_guy]

Does anyone have an opinion on Centurylink fiber? They are offering me 940 mb/s symmetrical, free install, free modem/wifi router, $200 Visa card for $20/mtu more than I am paying now for 90 mbs from Xfinity. They just ran fiber on my street so apparently this is all introductory pricing to get people to sign up.

Price per month supposedly doesn’t go up either although I haven’t read the fine print yet.

I never seem to run into issues streaming or downloading so I’m wondering the value of that much speed.

[Danno]

Does anyone have an opinion on Centurylink fiber? They are offering me 940 mb/s symmetrical, free install, free modem/wifi router, $200 Visa card for $20/mtu more than I am paying now for 90 mbs from Xfinity. They just ran fiber on my street so apparently this is all introductory pricing to get people to sign up.

Price per month supposedly doesn’t go up either although I haven’t read the fine print yet.

I never seem to run into issues streaming or downloading so I’m wondering the value of that much speed.

People on NextDoor here say that the CL fiber is good. The only downside, and it's a HUDGE one IMO, is that you are then a CL customer. Fuck CenturyLink, I just couldn't do it.

[RShea]

No Centurylink around here- except for business installs (where they use a local telco or Cable company for the local loops to the locations). But in general fiber is more reliable over Cable Modem and Coax. It is also typically as stated symmetrical with download and upload being the same, vs Cable that gives higher download. Great for business needs with servers or offering content of some sort. Also if in fact there is not an introductory rate and does not play the typical Cable Internet and TV games of first year at a discount then a 30 to 40 percent increase on year 2 or 3- that is worth something also. Not sure anyone in a typical residence needs even more than 300 Mbps or so for streaming, gaming, and all the other typical needs, but some justify 1 Gigabit requirements and all that Fiber to the home can offer...

And as pointed out CL is not known for great customer service, but then many think the same of AT&T or any of the major Cable Companies either. CL purchased a few other good companies and as I speak to help desk contacts at companies they just know that the response and experience is going to take a hit after that happens.

[oldnew_guy]

People on NextDoor here say that the CL fiber is good. The only downside, and it's a HUDGE one IMO, is that you are then a CL customer. Fuck CenturyLink, I just couldn't do it.

care to elaborate?

rshea- I can’t even use that much capacity. One TV streaming, some cellphone/laptop use, WFH but limited by VPN way below even 100 mbps. Xfinity will probably raise my rate to something similar for a tenth of the capacity…

[Danno]

care to elaborate?

rshea- I can’t even use that much capacity. One TV streaming, some cellphone/laptop use, WFH but limited buy VPN way below even 100 mbps. Xfinity will probably raise my rate to something similar for a tenth of the capacity…

Back in the 90s, CL's precursor (USWest) was hands down the most evil and useless company I ever dealt with (evil AND useless, a bad combo). Lying to me, cutting off service even though they had been paid, etc. It gives me PTSD just thinking about.

Many years later, I was forced to sign up for CL because it was the only internet game in town, and was again shown how utterly incompetent they were (less evil that time, more gross incompetence). Xfinity is far from a good company, but I have never -- never -- had experiences with them that were anything close to as bad as CL/Qwest/USWest. I will not ever give them my money if I can possibly avoid it.

[concretejungle]

I’d find my post but that would give CL more of my time. Fuck that company to the end of the universe and back.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[oldnew_guy]

Funny, I feel the same about Xfinity.

[concretejungle]

Funny, I feel the same about Xfinity.

I, too, feel the same way about all of these companies but when CL fucks you over there's a whole lot of us who said "don't do it."

[Danno]

Funny, I feel the same about Xfinity.

Don't get me wrong, Xfinity sucks (though if you have an actual store nearby, usually the service there is good).

But Xfinity just sucks, CL is on a whole different level. For me. Ymmv.

[riser4]

I know about some commercial stuff of theirs and it sucked green donkey dick. Unreliable as fuck.

[skaredshtles]

People on NextDoor here say that the CL fiber is good. The only downside, and it's a HUDGE one IMO, is that you are then a CL customer. Fuck CenturyLink, I just couldn't do it.

I'm afraid if CL fiber *was* available at my location, I'd have to do it.

I just wish that Comcast would get their shit together and get full duplex DOCSIS generally available. If they would do this, I'd be... somewhat satisfied.

[riser4]

I've been looking into streaming options for live tv.and holy fuck, everything is expensive. I prefer at least three simultaneous screens. I want my locsl network affiliates. I need CNN and MSNBC. I need the NBC Sports Boston channel to watch the Celtics. And TNT, ESPN, TBS so I can watch the playoffs. Affter that, I think I'm good. Seems like around $70 to $80 and up is the going price. What am I missing? Is there a way to stitch this together for a lot less? I think the Boston sports channel and of course the locsl stations are what is making what I want too expensive. And no, over the air won't work. Digital TV fucked me where I live. I've tried a bunch of nifty indoor antennas. I'm not willing to gamble on an expensive rooftop antenna while the neighbors trees are probably cock blocking me.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Celtics suck.

We bailed from Directv to Youtube and are pretty happy, we cut our monthly bill by half and the interface is pretty decent.

So far so good but when my internet goes down during a football game...

[riser4]

Celtics suck.

We bailed from Directv to Youtube and are pretty happy, we cut our monthly bill by half and the interface is pretty decent.

So far so good but when my internet goes down during a football game...

Celtics fuckin rock. No other reason to watch basketball.

I'm trying to cut my bill in half. That's why I need what I'm looking for to be around $20-40, because I'm including internet in my calculations as I'm currently bundled at Comcast. Waiting for Fidium fiber to roll up my part of the street.

[Danno]

You are not going to get what you want for $20-40.

[RShea]

Celtics fuckin rock. No other reason to watch basketball.

I'm trying to cut my bill in half. That's why I need what I'm looking for to be around $20-40, because I'm including internet in my calculations as I'm currently bundled at Comcast. Waiting for Fidium fiber to roll up my part of the street.

If you need to have local channels and the sports line up, sorry there is no way you are going to be getting that for $40 a month. You Tube TV, Hulu Live, and maybe one or 2 others are the leading streaming services that also include local channels. They are close to being double that per month and may still not offer a few of the others you mention.

Sling is in your budget but no local channels, so you would have to do the antenna for free over the air that you say you do not want to attempt.

Go to Suppose.tv web site and select the channels and list you provided as must have and see what it reports. I bet it will be either one of the higher end streaming options, or even more than 1 to get all on your listing even.

Your idea that you are including the internet bill as part of your budget for streaming also is pretty dumb in my opinion. While you may not need as fast or high end of internet package if you do not stream regularly, you would still have internet even if you did not need it for the streaming, so it is saying you are including your full electric bill in your home heating costs because it needs an electrical connection for the thermostat or to start the blower motor or something to heat the home.

[riser4]

I've already done the homework regarding TV reception. It's grim. Antenna is a crap shoot at best. Digital TV screwed us I'm close enough to the ridge between Saint Albans and Fairfield that it obstructs reception of everything on Mount Mansfield, which is the majority of our channels. I would think that I'd be able to get the ones broadcasting from Upstate off Lyon Mountain, however, the neighbor's huge ass trees block that pretty damn well and I'd need a tall tower to get over them. My house is too short by at least 20 feet. I tried some pretty expensive indoor antennas and amplifiers with no luck. RadioShack took them back.

My TV + internet bundle from Comcast currently costs me ~$226 with taxes and fees. I haven't begged for a new bundle deal because the Fiber is supposed to be here any day now. Fidium 1 and 2 gig both climb to $95 after a year. If we say $80 for a streaming package with taxes and fees, I'm still nowhere near the half that ISBM stated.

Do I really need a 2Gbps asynchronous internet? With Fidium's price points it makes the most sense. They offer 50, 250, 1 Gig, and 2 Gig. What I really need is the increased upload speed of the synchronous connection. Between a mandated remote backup solution and or use of OneDrive, regular large file support uploads, and simultaneous video calls for both my wife and I, we're struggling with asynch cable internet I would probably be good with a dedicated 500 Meg synchronous connection. The 250 Mbps offering hits $85 after 1 year and might be hard pressed once you throw in any additional TV streaming on top. Another $10 and we can go to 2Gbps. There's some monthly savings for the first year which opens the door for slower service for the first year and then bump up the service once the price difference isn't as huge.

That's why I'm wondering if there are creative ways to stitch it all together. Including using a computer as a TV input. Simultaneous screen number can be reduced if it's different services as it is rare that we all need TV channels at the same time. Unfortunately the Sports Boston channel seems to be the only way to avoid blackouts for Celtics home games, at least on Comcast.

[smmokan]

There are free apps for some local channels- for instance, we have the 9news app for local Denver morning news and it’s pretty good. The $10/mo tier of Paramount+ gives you live local NBC stations, so that could be a decent add. Otherwise, you just need to realize your TV viewing habits need to change if you’re ditching cable in order to save money.

We recently ditched YouTubeTV (fuck all those price increases) and now have Paramount, Max and Netflix and it’s more than enough.

[Supermoon]

Yeah, all of that is definitely enough until you want to watch sports then it gets tough.

A few teams are ditching their network deals to stream for free. I hope that becomes the norm.

[Bunion 2020]

^^^ Phillies Braves last night was an ESPN2 game so my MLB package was blacked out, again.

[AdironRider]

Check out FUBO if sports are your thing. Pricing isn’t going to be 20 per month but for 75-95 per month you’ll have all the sports you can handle, plus a regular cable package on top of that.