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  • Seanpcola

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    Doing it officially tomorrow at noon when the Brighthouse guy shows up. All four cable boxes gone. My bill will now be $60 a month versus a little over $160.:party: That's for Internet only.

    I put Chromecast on three of the TVs and the other one is a Smart TV so good there. I subscribed to Netflix a couple of months ago to make sure I liked it. I also bought high quality digital antennas for the bedroom and sunroom so momma can watch ABC. I can't believe some of the channels you can get free!

    So, everyone tell me what other services I need. Since I'm saving a C note every month I don't mind paying for various services.
     

    Clay

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    Cutting the chord

    We did the same last month, it cut our Cox bill by close to $200 and my wife works from home and is provided $85 a month for Internet, so we are paying nothing now, actually making a few bucks. I bought Amazon Fire TV ($85) and have access to hundreds of channels for free. I have had Amazon Prime for years ($80 a year) and it provides as many options as Netflix in addition to the benefits when buying anything on Amazon. Good luck and congrats on putting more coin in your pocket. I'll have to check out digital antennas for local TV.
     

    joraca

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    I use Cox and my bill has been $220 a month for the 3-way bundle. I connected up Ooma (almost free internet phone) today successfully. I'll cut off the Cox phone service as soon as I get my number rolled over. I have spent the last two hours trying to get Roku3 up and running for TV, so far unsuccessful. But I call Cox tomorrow and have them pull the cable TV, because I am resolved to discontinue that. Should save well over $100/mo. I am redoing my cell-phone plan also, getting my grown daughter off of my plan (currently running $200/mo). Should save another $100/mo there. Getting close to retirement, need munny for gasoline, minnows, beer and 22 bullets!

    Joraca
     

    gendoc

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    sean, I have the "clear tv" antenna and I get about 30+ local channels
    and most of them are local 3, 5, 10 &15 pardner channels.
    i'm not at home to watch much tv .....my schedule is kinda hectic
    great that your tell'n them to "shove it"............:party:
     

    Seanpcola

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    Cell phone service is the next rework. I'm waiting till June when my contract is up. I'm just getting tired of paying through the nose for crap I don't use. All of these services are set up to make you do their bidding. I had 300 cable channels, watched maybe 5 and even then half the time I didn't find anything interesting.

    On cell phones: I'm paying way too damned much for what I use. $140 a month for two lines, unlimited talk, text and 250 MB (yes, MB) of data. I don't really need the data anyway, seldom not in range of wifi. I like my smart phone but don't hardly use any of the features as I have a 8" tablet with me at all times anyway. It appears that I can get what I have including unlimited data for $40 a month less if I go prepaid, which I don't understand why I didn't do that in the first place, I don't care if I'm paying a month early versus a month behind.

    Another thing, as gendoc stated, I really don't watch it that often and when I do its weird hours so I want to get away from a set schedule. Netflix let's me watch what I want, pause it, go back a week later and watch some more, on and on. At this point I don't care if I can watch the latest episode of anything. Only series I'll get behind the curve on is the Walking Dead and I'm not that dedicated to any show so, I'll just wait till this season pops up in a few months.

    I am having a little difficulty figuring out services. I don't mind buying a few but don't want to duplicate much. It appears to me that the main difference between Netflix and HULU Plus is with Hulu you can watch series like TWD a couple of days behind the network premiers.

    I would like to find a service with more movie choices than Netflix. I thought about Amazon but I don't think it offers anything additional over NF J since I don't do much on line product ordering.

    I'm wide open on suggestions though. Am I missing something? Would like to maybe sign up for a music service. I already have Sirius XM on the internet and in my truck and plan on keeping that but found something weird I haven't figured out yet. The music seems a little muffled and volume is limited when going through m surround sound system. If I'm listening through TV all over audio, even over the internet, is awesome. It's like Sirius is throttled down. If anyone has a in idea there please chime in.

    Digital antennas: First experience was yesterday when I bought the one for the sunroom as an experiment. Clay, get it. I bought the Mohu Leaf Ultimate at Walmart, $59.99. It was about the most expensive one they had with advertised 60 mile range. It's working pretty good but I need to play with placement downstairs. Today I bought a cheap one ($20) to go with the bedroom TV and it appears to work even better but, again, it's upstairs and the bedroom has big windows so I think it's got a better shot at the broadcast towers.

    There's more channels for free than I realized. Picture quality is every bit as good as cable. I especially like WKRGs all weather digital channel. It's better than The Weather Channel since it's continuous loop local weather. Just awesome.

    Kind of pisses me off I didn't do this earlier. I've had more viewing enjoyment in the last month than I have in 20 years or more. Discovered a lot of little known movies that beat the pants off of Hollywood's bullshit offerings. TV shows that I can finally watch and from the beginning.

    Another point: Folks, you need to buy a Chromecast device for at least one TV. It does a lot of stuff. Turns a regular TV into a "smart" model. Lots of services like Netflix and even YouTube is already setup to broadcast from your phone, tablet or whatever directly to your television. With their free app you can mirror anything from any device (phone, tablet or whatever) directly to the TV. You can also load a movie onto it, pull it out, take it somewhere and plug into another TV to watch. It turns your phone/other device into a remote for the TV. You can even load files directly from your device into it, like photos, files and such, then look at them on the big screen. Wife has the 48" in the living room set up to slide show the family photos. It can also show all kinds of neat screen savers or even do the aquarium or fireplace mimic thing. I just love this damned thing. Gotta buy one more for the bar TV and there just isn't anything I can think of it won't do with the old dumb idiot box.
     

    FrankT

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    We went from Cox to Direct TV and 192 for cox to 100 for direct and internet, I am happy! Verizon is 55 a month for all unlimited and 2G data, got the prepaid V.
     

    WILWORK4GUNS

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    Directv kicks cox's ass. We just switched....should have done it years ago.
    I kept cox Internet because they gave me a lower rate on my 50mbps service.
    I think they are finally starting to realize that they have pushed people too far.... And they have competition now- choices.
    It shouldn't be long before they either stop gouging or go out of business.
    FYI ... On the 21'st -cox is supposed to increase their base Internet speed from 5mbps to 15. Don't know if another rate increase will follow.....but 15 is perfectly usable for most homes.
     

    Droshki

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    1) I have DirectV because they have the exclusive rights to NFL Sunday ticket. You simply cant get it through anyone else. I pay $70 a month (W/HD DVR) , and have gotten Sunday ticket free 2 out of my 3 years with them.

    2) I have Cox for internet. Second tier is $40/mo. I dont think I have any alternatives to this company in this area; if somebody knows better, please let me know. I have about 4 smart boxes in my living room on an ethernet switch. I can Netflix, DLNA, Hulu, whatever.

    3) I use Verizon regular service. Thier "Loyalty program" (which is that in name only, its open to everyone) is unlimited/unlimited/2G for $60 a month (w/subsidized smartphone).

    I'm pretty satisfied with the situation.



    If anyone is considering DirectV, lets talk- We can both get $100 off, with a referral.
     
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    Seanpcola

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    Good info Droshski. What is DLNA? I decided I don't need a dish either as I just don't watch sports. I can't get any of those package deals either as I can only get internet through Brighthouse. I can't even get AT&T DSL. I'm stuck with them till a new Internet provider comes around. Even Cox is out of the question.

    As for Verizon, I'm just going to have to research more. When I stop by one of their stores I get all kinds of mumbo jumbo. I did allow myself to get locked into a contract without pushing back the day I signed up. I was so mightily pissed off at Sprint that I jumped when I walked into Verizon. I have beat them back occasionally and they've let me slide on data overages but when my contract is up they are really going to have to make me happy. I am pleased with coverage which was a big complaint with Sprint but I'm about to the opinion that pretty much anyone has decent coverage at this point in the game. I don't travel much anymore like I used to.

    Just don't know, have to wait till June then I'm going to really dig in and figure that out.
     

    Droshki

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    DLNA allows you to stream from any computer to any DLNA capable device (over Wi-Fi or Cat-5/6) . Im betting you have this capability and aren't even aware of it? I dont know. I download a lot of stuff from the internet and just stream it out to my TV. My TV, BlueRay (and also all the gaming boxes, etc) are DLNA capable. Worst case is you buy a HD Live box. Generally people use Windows media player as the server, but theres also dedicated servers like Plex. Actually, Plex has a channel on Roku you can push to if you have a Roku box. There's lots of ways to do it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance
     
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    Droshki

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    I think the Verizon plan I have now is pretty standard. If you don't have this, and you're paying more, I recommend calling them up and asking. They don't seem to advertise it. My G/F got it, and I called up and asked about it, and they said "Sure, no problem." No contract extension or anything. I understand it costs a little more than the prepaid plans, but again, the subsidized phone (Galaxy S4). Plus, I think the prepaid plans disallow smartphones? I was one of the last holdouts, but good Lord, I couldn't live without one now. I know there is a couple reasons I didn't go the prepaid route. The other one is a bit technical, so Im trying to see if I can find the reference for it.

    Its got to do with roaming, I think at one point there was no roaming with prepaid, but what I find now is this:

    Verizon prepaid has domestic roaming (voice and messaging) in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

    There is no data roaming.

    I donno. Varying opinions about it here:

    http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1827171-Does-Verizon-Prepaid-roam
     
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    Fletch

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    Way to go man! I've been wanting to do this for a while but can't get the misses to sign off on it. I did recently switch to AT&T Uverse and save 100 bucks a month compared to Cox/Direct TV. When you think of it what it cost yearly it really hits home how much you are paying doesn't it?
     

    FelixH

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    I did the same thing a while back. Brighthouse, at that time, wanted about $70 for Internet only, so I ditched them completely and switched to AT&T DSL.
    The DSL service at my place was horrendous, so after about 6 months I called Brighthouse to see what they would offer for Internet only.
    My bill with Brighthouse now is about $40 or $45 per month for their 10Mbps service.
     

    shootnstarz

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    Sean, you need to stop by someday and help me get a grasp on what you're doing. I need to unass cox as well !!!!

    Rick
     

    Seanpcola

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    Droshski: OK, I forgot what it was called but yes, I do have DLNA capability in the living room and bedroom. The living room has a new Sony wireless surround sound setup and it pretty much turned my dumb 48" into a smart TV. I'm going to replace that unit soon so the new one will have the features built in too.

    On the cell service: I just need to do the research. In fact I may be able to do something before the contract is up. When I signed up for Verizon I paid for my phone separately because I didn't like what they offered for "free". I can't decide if I want to keep it or get something new. It's an awesome phone, clearest, best one I've ever had. I just want to get away from the big screen and move back to a flip phone if I can. I can't believe I haven't shattered that screen yet. Life expectancy for phones around me is about a year, I'm rough on them. I've had this one 21 whole months. I figure it's time for it to have an accident.

    Fletch: I have had so many complains with Brighthouse but they finally got my internet fast, strong and reliable. I'm just finally tired of the money going out the door for something I don't use anyway. I feel like I'm being held hostage and forced to do something.

    Felix: I can't get any internet service except for Brighthouse so I'm stuck there. However, when I asked the price for HS internet stand alone they told me $85 a month. I told them to shut everything off. Suddenly they got negotiable and dropped it to $60. We'll see. I told them that if I get a bill for one penny over $60 then I'm ripping the modem out and leaving it at the curb for them to pick up.
     
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