Say it loud...Say it proud

General Discussion
21

I was about to say 2 years then I realized the 5th season of The Walking Dead comming up soon.  We cut a few months after season 1 ended.  So it would have to be 4 1/2 years.  It does not seem that long.  We went into it with $40 for a small (3ft) outdoor antenna and $80 for new video card to better handle video decoding plus the digital converts we already had.  At one point we had three VCRs, now only one can record anymore.  The first couple of years we were streaming with 1.4 GHz AMD Athlon, our one and only computer at the time which also ran our phone.  Murphy’s law called in frequently.  Luckly a friend let me have a couple of hand me downs from his business so the TV and phone were now on different computers and my daughter finally had her own to stream her shows on.

It was not perfect but at least it was workable.  Then one year all three computers died leaving us with OTA and DVDs.  Luckily within 2 weeks of my Iast system going out I found a small form factor PC for $30.  It was the right age, new enough to be faster but old enough to still take most of my parts.  A few months later we were able to not only replace my daughter’s system we were also able to get an Android dongle to handle our streaming needs in the living room.

If all goes well next year we will finally be able to get Rokus and and a quad tuner Tablo.

22

I cut the cord over 2 1/2 years ago.  I replaced it with Tivo (which i am trying to dump, see “So far, not so good”), netflix and amazon prime.  I do miss a few cable cable shows, but missed all the money I was spending every month a lot more! :slight_smile:


Good job@napercort!
23

I cancelled my Uverse last Monday. Whoopee! It went up to over $160.00 per month in May (before that it was just over $120.00). This was for U-200 with no HD and no premium channels. For one person to watch TV? Absurd! Sent my DVR back the next day.

I am going to be a happy camper this month when the bill comes and it’s only for internet. Thanks Tablo! (now…if you just get that “resume recording where last stopped” feature that’s about all I’m still looking for.)

I guess I will miss some of the cable channel programming, especially on channels like Discovery, Nat Geo, etc., but hopefully at some point I’ll be able to buy the ones I want.

24

@MsMetaP  I certainly hear ya… U-verse I think is the “best” and definitely the most expensive of the bunch.  Kudos to them for making something good and shame on them for not treating their customers right.

Just look at the pricing difference between you and me.  Wow.   What’s up with that?  Why should I have to constantly threaten to leave AT&T before they give me the discount I already deserve… and why does everyone have a different “deal”.  It’s a mess.

25

@cjcox is Uverse the best compared to Comcast? Another post has a question from me about switching to Comcast or ATT Uverse. I am confused on the upload/download speeds and reliability.


Last night was the straw that broke the camels back. Wife and I watched a show on Amazon (wired ethernet) while she worked on her laptop (wireless) and my son was upstairs playing a game online (wireless). The home phone rang (VOIP) so we paused the show and answered the phone. The system bogged down to the point where wireless became extremely slow and the phone started cutting out.

So, I now have to chooose between Comcast (I once had and besides price wasn’t to bad) or ATT Uverse which appears to be the cheaper of the two. Comcast locks ya in for two years with a great deal for months 1-12…then who knows. ATT doesn’t and I like that, but is it reliable and fast enough?

Others are open to comment as well, not just limited to cjcox.
26

I have had both Comcast and Uverse, and Uverse has been the more reliable of the two.  I used to get a decent amount of Comcast outages, but I have never had a Uverse outage.  


Uverse is the more expensive of the two, but I have been successful the last two years in getting Uverse to match Comcast’s promotional prices (basically a 50% discount).  Uverse potential speed is also dependent on how far you are away from the VRAD (the big AT&T box located somewhere in the neighborhood).  I am pretty close, and I can get the 45 Mbps Power tier.  

I don’t know if I really had to do it, but I also have a Nighthawk AC router.  My family has a lot of devices on the network, and this does seem to help.  My downstairs PC has the only the AC network connection, and it does make about a 10-15 Mbps difference in speed tests compared to Wireless-N.
27

@snowcat I was looking at the Nighthawk AC router myself since the router I have is a bit old. Works but I am sure newer will assist in the wireless speeds. Has Tablo worked ok with the Nighthawk AC router?


Interesting that you say ATT is more expensive. I ran a quick look this morning and found ATT to be less than Comcast and less than WOW for thier MAX. Of course I have to also pay installation at 199.00 but that is a one time thing. Perhaps I can negotiate with them on that.

I am not sure where the VRAD is in my neighborhood. I will attempt to locate before I switch.

Thanks
28

Back when I was with Comcast (and again, it varies by location), I never had a big problem on the data side.  Just saying the technology behind U-verse is going to be safer and more consistent.  And as other pointed out, possibly more expensive, but I’m actually not totally sure if it’s a huge difference anymore.

29

I’ve had  my u-verse loaded up with three TV streams via the NCAA webpage during march madness and never had an issue.

30

In the other thread about “data costs”, people are now saying U-verse is cheaper… if so, then definitely recommended…

31

@tacopeland  thanks for the info. what speed?

32

U-verse Max turbo 24 down on att for $39 which is a 12 mo promotion.  I have it set on the calendar to renew it every year and talk them down every time.  I told them comcast was offering me a similar deal.

33

I am now an “official” Tablo user as I have disconnected Tivo and listed my TiVo Premiere box on eBay.  It doesn’t get more official than that!

34

Good for you, OP.  I cut the cord about 3 years ago (from DirectTV) and really haven’t missed it.  Well, sports suffers a bit TBH.  I can only stand so much golf, lol!  Glad the NFL is starting back up.

35

Cut the cord about 3+ yeas ago. Transition was easier then first though.

I always wanted to have an antenna and Tablo gave me the perfect excuse to install one. Paid the lifetime Tablo subscription after just 1 week. I wanted to encourage a local company.

So far I love it. Especially for all the kids shows sat-sun morning.

36

Yeah, bad news about Bironas.  In Madden 15 the announcers sing his name to the My Sharona song…  


On the happy for me side, Bengals are looking pretty darn sharp this year.
37

I am going ahead and changing my avatar.  This is already a really sad day in Titans land with the death of our former kicker Rob Bironas.  

38

We cut cable +3 years ago: $120 X 12 = $1,440/year saving


We switched to an IP phone system (Ooma) at the same time: $50 X 12 = $600/year saving


39