Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

[Swansong]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

I'm due for a major shakeup as well. $40 per month for YouTube TV was borderline worth it, and moving to $55 makes the decision to cancel easy. As soon as the Bruins season ends, I'm cutting it. Spotify Premium comes with the basic version of Hulu, so my "turn on Family Guy and let it run for an hour or two" needs are met there.

Netflix is next. I hardly ever watch it lately, though with my mom's deteriorating health the last few months (and eventual passing) I've hardly watched anything. This will require a little thought, but likely cut as well. So there's $13 more saved per month.

HBO Now was purchased solely for Game of Thrones, but I will likely give it a couple extra months because I've enjoyed the new Chernobyl series so far and I'll see what else it has to offer.

We do Amazon Prime as well and there's value in that beyond just streaming, so I'll keep it for now.

So that's likely $68 chopped off my bill per month once the hockey season ends. Not too bad. I will add the Disney service when it launches, so that will claw some of that back.

[Transplanted Tiger Fan]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

The time finally came. We made the trip to our local Spectrum office to turn-in our (their) equipment and cancel service, and holy hell... Spectrum seems to be just “mailing it in” these days. No indication or effort what-so-ever to keep us as Customers. Took the kit, provided a receipt, and that was it... Buh-Bye.

Of course, this display of absolute apathy made me suspicious, so on our way to the car I was compelled to turn-around and go back in. I had a receipt for the kit that was turned-in, but no statement or proof that our service was cancelled and our account was no longer active. I asked for some proof of this in the event that we receive a bill in the mail... which we would ultimately have to challenge. Napoleon Dynamite sitting behind the counter had nothing to offer, so we called Customer Service during the ride home to confirm.

After the typical fifteen minutes on-hold, we explained our situation and requested confirmation that our account is ‘done’. Transferred to another rep, as rep #1 couldn’t help. Explained our situation (again) and requested confirmation that our account is ‘done’ (again). Rep #2 said nope, our account is still active.

Sparing all the details, a bill would be generated at the start of the next billing cycle (today), and once it was realized that our equipment had been turned-in, the billing “issue” would need to be addressed. The problem is, I have my own cable modem (no equipment to be turned-in there!), so we would likely be billed for internet service up to the point of the epiphany that we turned-in our kit (cable box and phone modem), and we would be stuck with this bill.

Rep #2 proceeded to cancel our service and ‘close’ our account effective yesterday, but she required verbal confirmation over the phone. Of course, prior to providing this verbal confirmation, I had to take the opportunity to bring-up the recent anti-trust settlement for Spectrum’s NY customers, and tell them just how unethical this practice we were discussing/experiencing is. We personally visited the local office, turned-in our kit, requested service to be cancelled, and then had to call Customer Service to make sure we do not get a bill... which we would have gotten had we not called after “cancelling” at the office!

While “firing” Spectrum yesterday was so liberating, we will likely (unfortunately) have to go-back to Spectrum after a month “off the grid”, at which point we will then get their new customer pricing discounts. We desperately need a quality alternative but this area is so backwoods, I do not see it coming anytime soon. Hopefully a competitive product arrives before our “new customer” pricing expires.

Cheers,
~TTF

[ticapnews]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

The time finally came. We made the trip to our local Spectrum office to turn-in our (their) equipment and cancel service, and holy hell... Spectrum seems to be just “mailing it in” these days. No indication or effort what-so-ever to keep us as Customers. Took the kit, provided a receipt, and that was it... Buh-Bye.

Of course, this display of absolute apathy made me suspicious, so on our way to the car I was compelled to turn-around and go back in. I had a receipt for the kit that was turned-in, but no statement or proof that our service was cancelled and our account was no longer active. I asked for some proof of this in the event that we receive a bill in the mail... which we would ultimately have to challenge. Napoleon Dynamite sitting behind the counter had nothing to offer, so we called Customer Service during the ride home to confirm.

After the typical fifteen minutes on-hold, we explained our situation and requested confirmation that our account is ‘done’. Transferred to another rep, as rep #1 couldn’t help. Explained our situation (again) and requested confirmation that our account is ‘done’ (again). Rep #2 said nope, our account is still active.

Sparing all the details, a bill would be generated at the start of the next billing cycle (today), and once it was realized that our equipment had been turned-in, the billing “issue” would need to be addressed. The problem is, I have my own cable modem (no equipment to be turned-in there!), so we would likely be billed for internet service up to the point of the epiphany that we turned-in our kit (cable box and phone modem), and we would be stuck with this bill.

Rep #2 proceeded to cancel our service and ‘close’ our account effective yesterday, but she required verbal confirmation over the phone. Of course, prior to providing this verbal confirmation, I had to take the opportunity to bring-up the recent anti-trust settlement for Spectrum’s NY customers, and tell them just how unethical this practice we were discussing/experiencing is. We personally visited the local office, turned-in our kit, requested service to be cancelled, and then had to call Customer Service to make sure we do not get a bill... which we would have gotten had we not called after “cancelling” at the office!

While “firing” Spectrum yesterday was so liberating, we will likely (unfortunately) have to go-back to Spectrum after a month “off the grid”, at which point we will then get their new customer pricing discounts. We desperately need a quality alternative but this area is so backwoods, I do not see it coming anytime soon. Hopefully a competitive product arrives before our “new customer” pricing expires.

Cheers,
~TTF

Aren't monopolies grand?

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

Aren't monopolies grand?

[Kepler]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

While “firing” Spectrum yesterday was so liberating, we will likely (unfortunately) have to go-back to Spectrum after a month “off the grid”, at which point we will then get their new customer pricing discounts. We desperately need a quality alternative but this area is so backwoods, I do not see it coming anytime soon. Hopefully a competitive product arrives before our “new customer” pricing expires.

I'm sure Spectrum has lobbied for rules that make the barrier of entry for competing against them so high in your area you will never have another option. A "free market" economy means the largest company is free to buy up or drive out of the business all competitors and the customer is "free" to use their products or not.

Ideally this will extend to breathable air, eventually. For the kingdom, and the power, and the glory of Murray Rothbard, PBUH.

[JF_Gophers]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

Cord cutting has always been a false term. Most of us still rely on cable for internet. Just not the TV portion.

Hard to get totally away without internet competition where you live.

[St. Clown]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

While “firing” Spectrum yesterday was so liberating, we will likely (unfortunately) have to go-back to Spectrum after a month “off the grid”, at which point we will then get their new customer pricing discounts. We desperately need a quality alternative but this area is so backwoods, I do not see it coming anytime soon. Hopefully a competitive product arrives before our “new customer” pricing expires.

Cheers,
~TTF

Spectrum is the only internet provider with the speeds necessary for me to stream my TV content, so, like you, I'm stuck with them. That said, you've had a far worse experience than I ever have.

[joecct]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

When Elon Musk gets his broadband satellite constellation going, will this become a viable option for cable cutters??

[St. Clown]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

When Elon Musk gets his broadband satellite constellation going, will this become a viable option for cable cutters??

That depends upon the price he charges and the speed it can reliably maintain.

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

It’s musk. It’ll probably promise gigabit and deliver 56k. Poorly.

[ticapnews]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

AT&T will offer HBO, Cinemax and the Time Warner movie and TV library for between $16-17/month. It will debut in Beta mode later this year and go live sometime next year.

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

Vue is increasing by $5...

but I just got BeIn Sports, and will be getting NHL and ACC Networks. That means I would now get USMNT road games and WJC and IIHF Worlds.

*Larry David choosing gif*

[ticapnews]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

Try keeping these names straight.

AT&T kills DirecTV Now brand name as TV subscribers leave in droves
DirecTV Now becomes "AT&T TV Now" as AT&T plans confusing array of TV services.


AT&T is eliminating the DirecTV Now brand name it uses for its struggling Internet-based TV service. DirecTV Now will become "AT&T TV Now" later this summer, AT&T announced today. DirecTV Now (the future "AT&T TV Now") offers a bundle of linear TV channels, similar to traditional cable or satellite services, and AT&T said its core offering won't be changed.

AT&T's 2015 purchase of DirecTV, the nation's largest satellite TV network, doesn't seem to be paying off as AT&T hoped. AT&T launched DirecTV Now—a stripped-down, online-only version of DirecTV—in 2016, and it was immediately plagued by multiple outages, unexpected blackouts of live local sports games, and missing channels.

Also...

Yesterday we learned a lot about the new AT&T live TV streaming service AT&T TV. Part of the news that came out was that if you want to use AT&T TV on your home TV you will need an AT&T branded Android TV streaming player. This likely means you will need an AT&T TV streaming player for each TV in your house. Also during the AT&T earning call last week AT&T’s executives repeatedly talked about AT&T TV using a cheap set-top box.

This also lines up with what Variety reported saying “AT&T TV service, which will use a “thin client” internet set-top box. On the company’s Q2 earnings call on July 24, CEO Randall Stephenson said AT&T TV will slash customer-acquisition costs by 50% compared with the legacy DirecTV satellite service.”

Cnet also supports this recently saying in their story “the new offering will allow users to stream content to the AT&T TV app on mobile devices and through a box on TVs.”

Update: AT&T did respond to our emails only to say that they will be able to share more about AT&T TV customer experience closer to launch.

It appears that if you go with AT&T TV you will need an AT&T branded streaming device for each TV, with a maximum of three streams (sorry families). I can't wait to see how much they charge to rent these devices. And they seem mystified that almost a million people canceled last quarter...

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

Essentially what they’re doing is swapping a billion-dollar satellite and 50 million set top boxes with fifty million set top boxes. Satellite as a medium dies, moves to streaming, and passes savings on to consumers passes savings off to shareholders and charges consumers more for a “modern” medium.

[aparch]

Re: Cord cutting - what service to buy after the cable co goes away

LOL, No. Satellite remains untouched.

Their new "thin client" is an AppleTV/RoKu/FireStick device that only gets their future "AT&T TV" channel programming.

They still will offer a non-box streaming only option named AT&T TV Now.

And they will still (currently) provide their own stream of AT&T Watch TV.

(Yes, they're going to have three completely separate yet practically identical named streaming services.)

Your DirecTV satellite dish remains DirecTV and is unaffected by this fiasco.

And the suits who drempt up and created this convoluted sh*tshow should be hogtied with HDMI cables and left out in an unmarked Texas desert.