The pain of TV's and Cable

[silverfox103]

Thank you Chazmo for bringing up a sore subject. It's always festering and doesn't take much to bring to the top.

I remember somewhere around 1973 or 74, I bought my first TV a 19' Zenith, color of course, for @ $650. Zenith's were the Cadillac of it's day, or so I remember. Are they even around? It had rotary dial, UHF and VHF. Probably got about 12 stations total. No cable in those days and this was in Boston.

Fast forward 9 or 10 years, we moved to NH. We lived between two towns, both of which had cable, we did not. We got 2 stations (and they were fuzzy) 3 when the leaves fell.

Then one day I saw several cable trucks running cable between poles. I had to stop and ask the guys what they were doing. They had to connect the two towns as one was getting a weak signal. I said drop a line to my house, they did. Wasn't too too long we had it all. My kids now had cartoons and I had 24 hour sports, can't get any better than that. Couldn't complain about $8 per month.

A Sunday in Jan 2002, the Patriots made there first Superbowl in the Brady era. My young teenage son hounded me to get another TV "we can't watch the game on a 19 in. TV, that is an embarrassment". I folded like a cheap suit. We headed down to Sam's club and bought the biggest they had, a 32" boxy thing. Boy, was he happy. We got to watch the Superbowl in style. Thank you Jason!

Now 2023, I hate cable. About 5 years ago, I cut it. It probably took me 5 years to work the courage up to do the deed. But not so fast, I have YouTube TV. A lot better than cable, but the price pretty much caught up with cable.

I'm ready to get out the scizzors again. We never watch YouTube TV, why pay for it. We watch YouTube (not to be confused with YouTube TV), Prime, Apple TV, PBS, Hulu, Netflix, NewsON (watch local news anywhere in the US) and Pluto. We pay for some, kids pay for others, or so my wife tells me. We sponge off each other.

Anyone else tormented by cable and TV's?

Tom

 

[schoolie]

I was a prisoner of our cable company (Comcast). I was paying $160/month for Internet and TV. FInally got fiber to the curb here and pay only $60/month for T1 bandwidth. It felt so good to call Comcast and cancel. They have no competition here, and are dirtbags.

 

[davismanLV]

We used to have cable TV and also paid for internet. It was just so much money going out and our viewing is super limited. We were paying for a ton of stuff that is of no interest. So when we moved here 6 years ago, we started off with the same setup, then I said, "This is ridiculous!" So we got rid of cable completely. We now have internet with a senior discount for $66 per month. We also have Netflix and Amazon Prime. That's it. It keeps me busy enough and there's plenty to watch. So only Cox internet, the end.

 

[silverfox103]

I'm getting the feeling this topic is going to have some activity.

Tom

 

[chazmo]

As you know, I totally hear you, @silverfox103 . And, now with TV prices plummeting, it's probably to try to draw audiences back in. But cable TV is kind of passé to me. I only watch internet streaming shows. You basically pay á la carte for various "channels" (or watch the free ones), and as long as you have good internet you can stream hi-resolution (UHD) to your TV...

But, in case you didn't see it, you may have another option to get internet at your house, if you want to actually cut the cable for good (not use it for internet either, that is), see the following thread. My whole house is not being provided internet by the T-Mobile cellular service...

Anyone using cellular for home/office internet?

Hi gang, Ever since I've thrown away my land-line and stopped using cable-provided TV (I'm 100% streaming), my cable service provides only internet to my house. I.e., the only connection to the miles of cable running through my house is my one cable-modem. Everything else is my home wi-fi...

letstalkguild.com

 

[silverfox103]

I saw your post for your home / office internet. I read it but not thoroughly, as it kind of went over my head pretty quick. We also have Spectrum internet which we have had forever and very satisfied, but no cable. Shamed to admit it, but I have a lan line (bundle and save--ha ha) phone.

We also have a network in the house, but don't have a business anymore, so we really don't use it. Three kids are long gone, no one prints stuff anymore and everything is wireless. I also cut cable like you, but I signed up right away for YouTube TV; no savings there. I will read your posting again.

Tom

 

[chazmo]

I saw your post for your home / office internet. I read it but not thoroughly, as it kind of went over my head pretty quick. We also have Spectrum internet which we have had forever and very satisfied, but no cable. Shamed to admit it, but I have a lan line (bundle and save--ha ha) phone.

We also have a network in the house, but don't have a business anymore, so we really don't use it. Three kids are long gone, no one prints stuff anymore and everything is wireless. I also cut cable like you, but I signed up right away for YouTube TV; no savings there. I will read your posting again.

Tom

IF you're using spectrum internet at your house, I presume you are getting it through a cable modem that actually uses coax cable and connects to Spectrum, where you're paying them to provide internet... The crux of my thread is simply that you can stop using Spectrum (possibly) and use a cellular provide (like T-Mobile) which is entirely wireless to your house.

 

[silverfox103]

Got you Chaz, but that brings up another issue. My wife has the smart phone, I have the flip phone, as that's all I want. So if she goes out with her phone, I loose all internet connection?

Tom

 

[chazmo]

Absolutely not, Tom. The "home internet" is essentially another "line" on your cellphone service (T-Mobile, in my case). You use a box called a "gateway" similar to your cable modem to get that extra "line" to become the internet in your house. Having this extra line has no effect on your existing cellphones.

Anyway, good luck on your choices, Tom. I've been very pleased getting off of Spectrum entirely and no longer relying on physical cable (and ridiculous prices) anymore.

 

[davismanLV]

A flip phone.... seriously?? LMAO!!

 

[davismanLV]

Not sure if a flip phone can connect if your wife creates a "hot spot" so.... not sure about connecting.

 

[GGJaguar]

A flip phone

What's old is new again.

 

[sailingshoes72]

I have Comcast cable TV and internet. The service is OK. Not great, but not terrible either. I watch a lot of sports, especially college football on Saturdays. And, I like having access to the local and national news. The response time for service calls has improved a lot. I guess they got tired of being the butt of so many memes and jokes. However, I could do without the $270 a month bill. I like to daydream about cutting the cable!

 

[Minnesota Flats]

I've just about had a belly full of the "heroin dealer" cable TV business model: get me to sign up for "X" number of channelsand then slowly, one-by-one, take them away and make them "must have subscription" channels. NetFlix does the same thing. I'm convinced that they wait til your viewing habits are made clear and then target the channels/content you watch the most.

And, yes: the overwhelming majority of the content is pure garbage/of no interest.

Will probably cancel if/when they take away the next channel or bump up the basic rate.

 

[silverfox103]

A flip phone.... seriously?? LMAO!!

Stop piling (sp?) on!

I don't want the smart phone, as I spend enough time on the computer as is. Doing so would make me the same as the people I complain about.

My wife knows the smart phone like the back of her hand. Diane is 5 years younger than me, but if she goes before me, I'm screwed big time.

Tom

 

[silverfox103]

Absolutely not, Tom. The "home internet" is essentially another "line" on your cellphone service (T-Mobile, in my case). You use a box called a "gateway" similar to your cable modem to get that extra "line" to become the internet in your house. Having this extra line has no effect on your existing cellphones.

The lightbulb went on Chazmo. Actually that is not complicated at all (I think). I worked as an electrician for 37 years, but have a degree in computer technology, which I have never used. Well I take that back, it did come in handy when we had our small business and home office.

Tom

 

[Opsimath]

Not sure if a flip phone can connect if your wife creates a "hot spot" so.... not sure about connecting.

My friend about a mile down the road had a flip phone until it flat out died and a smartphone, internet connection, etc., would have hiked his bill. He decided to boot cellular entirely and only has his landline now.

 

[Opsimath]

I haven't had cable since I lived in an apartment in town. When I moved out here to the farm it wasn't offered, and maybe still isn't - I don't know. Back then I went to Radio Shack and got the best antenna they had in the store which I think cost $60?, $80?, I really don't remember. It works just fine, but when we got a larger TV about six or seven years ago it would have required running an antenna cable to the other side of the house so I got some kind of flat plastic black box antenna, again for around $60 I think and it works well enough for us. So I have spent around $120+/- for TV reception over the last 39 years. I'm good with that.

 

[davismanLV]

My friend about a mile down the road had a flip phone until it flat out died and a smartphone, internet connection, etc., would have hiked his bill. He decided to boot cellular entirely and only has his landline now.

Hoooo boy!! I haven't had a landline in 18+ years!! And if I did, it wouldn't connect me to anything, just phone calls, right? No... I'll keep my smart phone and internet. I don't need phone calls. Even if you call me, I just wait until it stops ringing so I can text you and ask you what you want!!! No lie.

 

[Cougar]

We watch YouTube (not to be confused with YouTube TV)....

Yeah, there is quite a bit just on youtube. We dumped hulu live -- 80 bucks and there are still commercials! Forget that! Youtube TV costs almost that much, too. Such a rip!