Cancelled my cable TV service/Cutting the cord

tnthomas said:
My two goals are to dump the landline and discontinue using satellite service(DISH or DirecTV).

However, the only internet available is bottom-of-the-line DSL, no cable here(rural area).

Also, we're on the wrong side of the mountain, from the television station transmitters, so antennas won't work either.

IF I could get rid of the landline and still keep the DSL, I'd personally be happy with Netflix, Youtube and a few other sites that offer streaming video(NatGeo, PBS...).

The major networks are too commercial, and 95% of their offering is just too "garbagy". :shrug:
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I used to live up in No.Calif near Susanville...lots of mountains and trees, so I know what you're talking about. I tried Direct TV. The only place it worked was on the roof, and they didn't warn me that it doesn't work when it has snow on it. I was working a lot then, so didn't have TV and didn't have time to miss it. "Lodge fires" was entertainment there...one of us would start a cozy fire in our backyard and neighbors just showed up with beer and stuff. Good memories there.
 

hearlady said:
We are getting ready to cut that cord at the end of the month. They'll be some withdrawal but it has gotten so ridiculous and I watch the same 2-3 channels anyway.
There seems to be a big trend.
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Honestly, the withdrawals are not at all painful and don't last long...about an hour for me. TV programs are indeed mostly ridiculous. Many nights I spent more time looking at the guide half a dozen times than watching something, and many nights I'd just give up.
 
I won't even go into my problems with AT&T Uverse and how they lie and manipulate and use trickery to keep you as a customer. It just upsets me to even think about them...Ive had them for about 10 years now and I'm not falling for anymore of their great deals.

Once my contract is up with the Direct TV portion of my bundle...I'm done. I never even watch TV, just turn it on at night to fall asleep.

i was paying almost $200 and then they gave me a deal that if I switched to Direct TV for two years my bill would only be $129 for 2 years.

well after a year the bill kept going up with all kinds of lame excuses and reasons...even after I made them tell me and assure me that it wouldn't.

My last bill was $50 more than usual and when I asked why, they said because my NFL pkg had expired. I never asked for that and never watched it.

I refused to pay for it, when I paid the bill online I deducted that amount from the total...so far so good.

I think I talk to them once a month and every time I do I tell them to make a note on my acct that I don't want any free programs because once they expire your billed for them.


Grrrrrrrr
 

CeeCee said:
I won't even go into my problems with AT&T Uverse and how they lie and manipulate and use trickery to keep you as a customer. It just upsets me to even think about them...Ive had them for about 10 years now and I'm not falling for anymore of their great deals.

Once my contract is up with the Direct TV portion of my bundle...I'm done. I never even watch TV, just turn it on at night to fall asleep.

i was paying almost $200 and then they gave me a deal that if I switched to Direct TV for two years my bill would only be $129 for 2 years.

well after a year the bill kept going up with all kinds of lame excuses and reasons...even after I made them tell me and assure me that it wouldn't.

My last bill was $50 more than usual and when I asked why, they said because my NFL pkg had expired. I never asked for that and never watched it.

I refused to pay for it, when I paid the bill online I deducted that amount from the total...so far so good.

I think I talk to them once a month and every time I do I tell them to make a note on my acct that I don't want any free programs because once they expire your billed for them.


Grrrrrrrr
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Pretty sure you'll get the last laugh, CeeCee. Looks like people are dropping cable and satellite services in droves. Sucks to be the folks who are getting laid off from the cable and satellite companies, but if the companies had just not been so arrogant, deceptive, and greedy they might be thriving instead of dying right now. I'll be trying out my new Mofu Leaf indoor antenna this evening....just waiting til my son and his wife get home from work. It's recommended I hang this thing (it's paper thin) on a south wall near a window. Got that. Hope it works. I'll report back on that.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I'm content with my signal converter box and rabbit ears, I have approx. thirty channels to choose from and still find myself watching the same two or three channels most of the time.

I pay the cable company $25.79/month for internet service and have a pay as you go flip phone from the folks at Virgin Mobile.
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The converter box and rabbit ears are also mentioned on that website I posted ...disablemycable.com. The website says the box and ears work better than an indoor antenna in certain areas. I was reminded of the time when it was announced that analog TV would be "turned off". That was a lie. It's still available, just streaming through the air like it always did.
 
Cap'nSacto said:
Pretty sure you'll get the last laugh, CeeCee. Looks like people are dropping cable and satellite services in droves. Sucks to be the folks who are getting laid off from the cable and satellite companies, but if the companies had just not been so arrogant, deceptive, and greedy they might be thriving instead of dying right now. I'll be trying out my new Mofu Leaf indoor antenna this evening....just waiting til my son and his wife get home from work. It's recommended I hang this thing (it's paper thin) on a south wall near a window. Got that. Hope it works. I'll report back on that.
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Yep, I'm thinking it's the end of the line for cable and satellite. They had a good run though. :)

Yes, let us know how your indoor antenna works out.
 
I intended on cancelling my TV package a year ago. I had had enough of the way that the companies split their programming to maximise their charges. At the time I was paying around £90+ for TV and broadband. I phoned to cancel the lot and intended on moving the broadband to another provider who was doing a £5/mth deal. The TV company - Sky - did a deal with me which reduced the cost of the TV package to £30 for a year. Unfortunately, I am at the end of that deal and the cost will rise again.

And last week, the cheap broadband deal expired, however, the company offered me another deal to switch to a faster fibre service at virtually the same cost. So, I agreed that deal only now to find that the speed I am getting is not what was promised. At this very moment, I am in the throws of testing all the sockets, cables, devices, lines, socks, shirts and anything else that flaps in the breeze!!!!!

I wish it was pre internet and satellite days again!
 
ossian said:
I intended on cancelling my TV package a year ago. I had had enough of the way that the companies split their programming to maximise their charges. At the time I was paying around £90+ for TV and broadband. I phoned to cancel the lot and intended on moving the broadband to another provider who was doing a £5/mth deal. The TV company - Sky - did a deal with me which reduced the cost of the TV package to £30 for a year. Unfortunately, I am at the end of that deal and the cost will rise again.

And last week, the cheap broadband deal expired, however, the company offered me another deal to switch to a faster fibre service at virtually the same cost. So, I agreed that deal only now to find that the speed I am getting is not what was promised. At this very moment, I am in the throws of testing all the sockets, cables, devices, lines, socks, shirts and anything else that flaps in the breeze!!!!!

I wish it was pre internet and satellite days again!
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I hate that game they play; deal-hopping. I just don't have the energy for it. And here, the cable company will just say "poof" and suddenly a few of your channels are seemingly arbitrarily turned into "premium channels"; no longer available unless you pay extra for them.
 
Cap'nSacto said:
I used to live up in No.Calif near Susanville...lots of mountains and trees, so I know what you're talking about. I tried Direct TV. The only place it worked was on the roof, and they didn't warn me that it doesn't work when it has snow on it. I was working a lot then, so didn't have TV and didn't have time to miss it. "Lodge fires" was entertainment there...one of us would start a cozy fire in our backyard and neighbors just showed up with beer and stuff. Good memories there.
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Susanville, if leaving the area were an option I'd take a position at the Dept of Corrections there. Eagle Lake is (at least-was) the best trout fishing!

I know what you mean about the dish antenna not working when it's full of snow. ;)
 
Cap'nSacto said:
I hate that game they play; deal-hopping. I just don't have the energy for it. And here, the cable company will just say "poof" and suddenly a few of your channels are seemingly arbitrarily turned into "premium channels"; no longer available unless you pay extra for them.
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Totally agree. I have to do this with everything now because the savings are so great. But it is a real pain to have to remember to check the end dates for the contracts and look for new ones. However, if you dont, then the costs are huge. When I first did this a couple of years back, I saved hundreds of pounds per month on my insurances, fuel and internet costs. They really treat their loyal customers like fools for sticking with them.
 
tnthomas said:
Susanville, if leaving the area were an option I'd take a position at the Dept of Corrections there. Eagle Lake is (at least-was) the best trout fishing!

I know what you mean about the dish antenna not working when it's full of snow. ;)
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I still have a "cabin" near the lake...a modular home...and still go up to fish, but for the past few summers the lake shrunk so bad due to drought it was a looong hike through a lot of muck to find a decent fishing spot. I have a mobile home in Chester as well; good fishing there, usually. When the lakes are low I've still had good luck at the river though.
 
I cut the cord more than a year ago and got SlingTV. I don't want or need all the channels they offer, but even if I had them all it would only be $39.99. I pay $29.99. Except for the "frozen screen" from time to time, it suits.
 
ossian said:
Totally agree. I have to do this with everything now because the savings are so great. But it is a real pain to have to remember to check the end dates for the contracts and look for new ones. However, if you dont, then the costs are huge. When I first did this a couple of years back, I saved hundreds of pounds per month on my insurances, fuel and internet costs. They really treat their loyal customers like fools for sticking with them.
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That's me, too. I just can't keep up with it...or maybe I just don't want to anymore. Played the same game with switching landline phone service providers too, when small private utility companies sprang up after changes in utility "ownership" laws, but those small companies died quick. I imagine there will be a similar curve with TV providers. Meantime I'm taking the best deals I can find, but no more "switching" games for me.
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
I cut the cord more than a year ago and got SlingTV. I don't want or need all the channels they offer, but even if I had them all it would only be $39.99. I pay $29.99. Except for the "frozen screen" from time to time, it suits.
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My Netflix used to hiccup a LOT when I also had cable TV. No problem since paring it down to only internet. I might need to update the cable wiring in the house/the walls...gonna check that out. My computer speed improved 100% too after the cable company shut off TV. No exaggeration.
 
This sounds tempting. I get "basic cable" free as part of my condo package, but have to pay extra for the better cable channels, and of course for HBO.

Outside of HBO, I mostly watch the streaming channels via Roku. Probably if I could get all the HBO programming via "HBO Now," I could cancel my cable service and never miss it. But I'd want to make sure I can get Bill Maher every week on HBO Now. Does anybody know?
 
We had Comcast, and it seemed like every few months they were raising the price for it, and I had to call and threaten to cancel, and then they would find some new deal for me. Finally, they just kept sneaking the price up until the only answer seemed to be to cancel the whole thing.
About that time, Sam’s Club had a special on DirecTV and it was a lot cheaper than we were paying for the cable, so I cancelled Comcast, and we switched.
Now, we are going through the same thing with DTV and still have over 6 months left on the contract. I am really thinking about just cancelling and paying the cancellation fee because we seldom even turn the TV on anyway. When the weather is bad and we want to watch the weather news, the satellite goes kaput, so it is no good to us when we actually need it.
Has anyone ever cancelled their satellite DTV and paid the cancellation fine ?
 
Camper6 said:
What I am afraid of is getting the Roku thing or whatever and having the cable companies fight it and win and have the court ruling they are illegal and then you are stuck with it.

I had that happen to me with a satellite dish program.
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The Roku is just a device that you buy, like if you bought a radio. They are quite inexpensive, so even if you were "stuck with it" it probably costs less than a month of the cable thing (in my case it was way less than that). I don't think the cable companies could do anything about the Roku device. If they were going to take on anybody, it would be the streaming providers, like Netflix, etc., and we haven't seen anything like that.

The Roku isn't a "program" or a service. It is a thing. There's no monthly charge for having it. I think I paid $69 for mine. You just plug it in to your TV and then route streaming through it. If you have a smart TV, you don't need one, in my understanding, but my TV is stupid.

Of course, this is all US and I haven't a clue how things work in Canada.
 
We cancelled last year. Now we are just off antenna. We have a smart TV, so we can stream Netflix, Hulu, Amazon videos, You Tube and several other apps through it. I like that on Hulu, I can watch many of my favorite network shows the following day. Plus, off antenna, we get several more digital channels. MeTV, Ion, and some extra PBS channels.
 
Butterfly said:
The Roku is just a device that you buy, like if you bought a radio. They are quite inexpensive, so even if you were "stuck with it" it probably costs less than a month of the cable thing (in my case it was way less than that). I don't think the cable companies could do anything about the Roku device. If they were going to take on anybody, it would be the streaming providers, like Netflix, etc., and we haven't seen anything like that.

The Roku isn't a "program" or a service. It is a thing. There's no monthly charge for having it. I think I paid $69 for mine. You just plug it in to your TV and then route streaming through it. If you have a smart TV, you don't need one, in my understanding, but my TV is stupid.

Of course, this is all US and I haven't a clue how things work in Canada.
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This is what is happening. The cable companies are challenging the streaming boxes. It is not just a device. It enables people to basically get T.V. they wouldn't otherwise get.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/free-tv-android-box-cable-companies-challenge-1.3660656
 
Camper6 said:
This is what is happening. The cable companies are challenging the streaming boxes. It is not just a device. It enables people to basically get T.V. they wouldn't otherwise get.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/free-tv-android-box-cable-companies-challenge-1.3660656
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You are confusing these so-called "android boxes" with Roku boxes. They are nowhere near the same. Roku does not "enable people to get TV they would not otherwise get." You get specific streaming services, legal ones, like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc., that you sign up for. Nothing else. And you pay the service, not Roku.

The like above is talking about a whole different thing. Your article says:

"With added special software, the boxes allow customers to stream a huge selection of pirated content, including live sports, on their TVs — for free."

This NOT what Roku does. It allows you to have a vehicle to stream legal streaming channels to your TV. That's all. No pirated stuff or other cable channels -- just streaming channels like Netflix. There have been some of those Android boxes down here, too, but Roku is not one of them.
 
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