Cable and Internet Providers

[Disgusted]

OK so I don't watch TV or use my home phone and I am getting tired of paying for these "bundles" just to have an internet connection.  BTW, bodybuilding related because I watch men in thongs pose on my PC.

[Coffeed]

They're mostly scammers with dirty tactics.

I'd just recommend getting the internet at their slow speed, which is still extremely fast. Unless you live in a remote area, then I probably would use a big company that way you know service will be good.

I read up on that excede (sp?) internet from space and it had absolutely shit reviews with the typical scam corporate bs. You really can't get away from the slime element if you're looking to get internet or cable service, so you might as well ensure reliability.

[_aj_]

Generally, the best deals are with this retarded "bundles" that the cable providers have. Unless you happen to live in one of the very rare localities that have fiber-to-the-house gigabit.

I wanted 4 DVRs, all the premium channels and the fastest internet. A la carte, that was almost $300/month from Comcast. If I took a "bundle" with a phone service, it was $150/month. I did that and when the guy came to install I told him to keep the phone and he happily complied.

BTW, Comcast is 105 mbit/sec for me. My friend in the affluent a NJ "metro NYC" town paid beacoup bux for FIOS and he's only getting 35 mbit/sec.

My friend one town over (damn it) got gigabit installed (10x mine) for $100/month from TDS (http://www.tdstelecom.com/MediaRoom/Article.aspx?id=49789de0-cda7-4001-a0be-9febbf747a3b)

[robcguns]

Generally, the best deals are with this retarded "bundles" that the cable providers have. Unless you happen to live in one of the very rare localities that have fiber-to-the-house gigabit.

I wanted 4 DVRs, all the premium channels and the fastest internet. A la carte, that was almost $300/month from Comcast. If I took a "bundle" with a phone service, it was $150/month. I did that and when the guy came to install I told him to keep the phone and he happily complied.

BTW, Comcast is 105 mbit/sec for me. My friend in the affluent a NJ "metro NYC" town paid beacoup bux for FIOS and he's only getting 35 mbit/sec.

My friend one town over (damn it) got gigabit installed (10x mine) for $100/month from TDS (http://www.tdstelecom.com/MediaRoom/Article.aspx?id=49789de0-cda7-4001-a0be-9febbf747a3b)

I got 2 dvrs,all premium channels and two regular boxes and internet and pay 190,gues i should add a phone and drop it.

[Emmortal]

I got 2 dvrs,all premium channels and two regular boxes and internet and pay 190,gues i should add a phone and drop it.

You could build a media server PC for about $800, install Plex, run Sonar and Couchpotato (for tv and movies) and run the Plex app on your smart tv, if you don't have one, then any modern media box, apple tv, fire tv, roku etc has it.  Ditch paying for anything but your internet and have any tv show and any movie at your fingertips.  With Plex you can also watch from your phone, pc or any other device that has the internet.

It boggles my mind why people pay for dvr's and cable tv these days. 

[_aj_]

You could build a media server PC for about $800, install Plex, run Sonar and Couchpotato (for tv and movies) and run the Plex app on your smart tv, if you don't have one, then any modern media box, apple tv, fire tv, roku etc has it.  Ditch paying for anything but your internet and have any tv show and any movie at your fingertips.  With Plex you can also watch from your phone, pc or any other device that has the internet.

It boggles my mind why people pay for dvr's and cable tv these days. 

Because it's simple and my wife and child can use it. Your "solution" is overly complex and relies on a bunch of cobbled together parts.

Also, the cable providers economically incent you NOT to do that. If I went a la carte for just the bandwidth, it would probably be $100+. The upcharge for the DVRs and the premium channels is trivial.

[Emmortal]

Because it's simple and my wife and child can use it. Your "solution" is overly complex and relies on a bunch of cobbled together parts.

Also, the cable providers economically incent you NOT to do that. If I went a la carte for just the bandwidth, it would probably be $100+. The upcharge for the DVRs and the premium channels is trivial.

My 4 year old uses it just fine as does my wife.  The only interface they are dealing with is Plex, go look at the UI, it's clean, simple, easy to use with nice big posters for what you want to view.  The other stuff you would have to deal with, which would take a whopping 2 hours of your life to set up.  Once it's done, it's done, you only have to add new TV shows or new movies to the watch list and everything gets downloaded and added to Plex automatically.

The upcharge is only trivial for the first year while the incentives are in place, then after 12 months the price goes up.  On top of that you are paying monthly rental fees for each device, again, which will go up after the first 12 months and most providers make you sign a 2 year contract tying you in to at minimum 12 months of higher rates.

Fiscally it makes no sense to buy into cable subscriptions when you can watch anything you want for free with a few hours of effort.

[_aj_]

My 4 year old uses it just fine as does my wife.  The only interface they are dealing with is Plex, go look at the UI, it's clean, simple, easy to use with nice big posters for what you want to view.  The other stuff you would have to deal with, which would take a whopping 2 hours of your life to set up.  Once it's done, it's done, you only have to add new TV shows or new movies to the watch list and everything gets downloaded and added to Plex automatically.

The upcharge is only trivial for the first year while the incentives are in place, then after 12 months the price goes up.  On top of that you are paying monthly rental fees for each device, again, which will go up after the first 12 months and most providers make you sign a 2 year contract tying you in to at minimum 12 months of higher rates.

Fiscally it makes no sense to buy into cable subscriptions when you can watch anything you want for free with a few hours of effort.

The incentive period is 18 months.

[Croatch]

It's hard to believe people still get traditional cable these days.  Internet seems necessity and great value...getbig, porn, gambling...you know, the essentials.
People continue to pay more for cable to be advertised to more.  I'm sure companies laugh at the consumer paying for horrid reality tv, increase in advertising, higher bills.  Makes sense from their end.

[Fuzzy Nuts]

I just picked up a boost mobile hotspot today for $50 and $55 a month for 15 gigs, no contract. I am out in the sticks with limited options.

[Powerlift66]

We only have one choice here, Scamcast... Digital basic, no phone, and slowest internet is 150.00 a month.
Slow 3Mb connection where I live (wooded area near a lake).

Place sucks, wish I had FIOS (fiber to the premise).
I'll probably shit-can them when the kids move out, they use it big-time...

[Croatch]

We only have one choice here, Scamcast... Digital basic, no phone, and slowest internet is 150.00 a month.
Slow 3Mb connection where I live (wooded area near a lake).

Place sucks, wish I had FIOS (fiber to the premise).
I'll probably shit-can them when the kids move out, they use it big-time...

What was Ted Kazinski like anyway?  Did you guys bbq on Sunday's?

[Emmortal]

It's hard to believe people still get traditional cable these days.  Internet seems necessity and great value...getbig, porn, gambling...you know, the essentials.
People continue to pay more for cable to be advertised to more.  I'm sure companies laugh at the consumer paying for horrid reality tv, increase in advertising, higher bills.  Makes sense from their end.

Yea it boggles my mind especially when you have things like this which all you need is an internet connection and something like an amazon fire tv or fire stick:

[The Abdominal Snoman]

Feds should have come in and broke up these monopolies years ago. Infrastructure is so expensive that new companies could never get in on it because if they ever tried, the big companies would just give free cable for a year or charge 10 bucks for a year or two until the little guy dies off. Feds need to come in and break these fuckers up...