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Thread: I'm done with paid tv, and I'm so happy

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Louisville, KY
    Posts
    512
    Robert
    I totally understand waiting on the grandson, I use my 25 year old for the tasks that are harder for me. Here is what I did to combine the two antennas. As a reminder, and I can't remember where I read it, but keep both lines from each antenna the same distance going into this box.
    wineguard.jpg
    The second picture below, is the booster I used after the two antennas were combined


    Quote Originally Posted by Robert Delhommer Sr View Post
    Scott, curious about your 2 antenna setup. Are you using a switch to switch from one antenna to the other, or did you use a combiner to combine the 2 and use one feed line? Also if a combiner which one and where did you get it? I am about to do the same as soon as I can get my grandson over to help me, I can't get around in the attic anymore lioke I used to.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    El Dorado Hills, CA
    Posts
    1,311
    I would certainly like to cancel our $120 per month satellite bill, but two young kids and a wife won't let me. I have heard that ESPN contracts contribute to around half of the cost and there is no way to get a service without it. There are not many sports fans in my house.

    The kids probably watch more Netflix than TV, but my wife seems stuck on channel surfing and watching live TV with commercials. If we had better internet, I would try harder to convert her. We are in a semi-dead zone for internet options. 6mb DSL is the best we can get even though we are close to several large cities. We can only get around 2 Netflix streams before it starts lagging.

    Steve

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Enchanted land of beer, cheese & brats
    Posts
    1,314
    some of you might be experiencing this.

    http://a.msn.com/r/2/BBoOGVC?ocid=News

    id be very bummed if my local provider started throttling or hiking rates on high users, but on the other hand understand.

    Ive never had cable (expect for the internet) and have been enjoying Netflix for like 2 years now. also have a antenna on the roof.
    I got cash in my pocket. I got desire in my heart....

  4. #19
    I cut the cord over a year ago when my wife and I realized that the only time we ever had the TV on was for background noise. We don't miss it a bit.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    SF Bay Area, CA
    Posts
    15,332
    My 'cable' (AT&T U-Verse, Internet, Landline) bill is just north of $200/month despite the fact that I had it adjusted to $180ish a year or so ago. Somehow it just keeps creeping up or special deals expire or what-have-you. It is getting annoying. We mostly stream Netflix these days and I do like my sports but I really should do something about this stupid bill. Great thread...gonna investigate.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

    Did you know SMC is user supported? Please help.

  6. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Padilla View Post
    My 'cable' (AT&T U-Verse, Internet, Landline) bill is just north of $200/month despite the fact that I had it adjusted to $180ish a year or so ago. Somehow it just keeps creeping up or special deals expire or what-have-you. It is getting annoying. We mostly stream Netflix these days and I do like my sports but I really should do something about this stupid bill. Great thread...gonna investigate.
    We cut our cable and landline at the same time, we didn't need either and with all the money we saved, we increased our Internet to the maximum speed we could get at the time and still saved a ton of money.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
    Posts
    3,655
    I'd be happy to get rid of the TV part of our service, but it would only save about $10 a month because of the way the services are bundled (internet, TV, and phone together). All I really want is the internet, but the upcharge for the others doesn't seem like enough to worry about too much. DW isn't willing to go without a landline for the phone just yet, though she is switching over to her cell phone pretty rapidly now. Unfortunately I still am willing to pay a fair amount for a very fast, rock solid internet connection.

    The bill I really need to work on is the cell phone plan. It seems that no ones children ever drop off the family plan, the price to do so being absurd.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
    Posts
    8,973
    I wish we could still use an antenna. When all the stations finally went digital, no one anywhere around us can get anything with an antenna. I even put one on a 50' pole and only got static. We're probably 75 miles in a straight line to the main channels. The only thing we can get is one PBS station that doesn't carry the programs we would watch. We finally got rid of a landline a year or so ago when a cell antenna was put up not too far from us, but DirecTV and fast DSl still cost us about 90 bucks a month, which doesn't include Netflix, or, of course, cell phones.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Earth somewhere
    Posts
    1,061
    There's not many things i find australia does well, but one if yhem is free to air tv. Everyone has an antenna on their house. The only problem is you have to endure 40-50% of the show is commercials
    Sent from the bathtub on my Samsung Galaxy(C)S5 with waterproof Lifeproof Case(C), and spell check turned off!

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Lafayette, IN
    Posts
    4,563
    We just went through a bit of a cable upgrade yesterday. I have a friend who is a tech supervisor with a major cable company (the one everyone loves to hate), so he hooked me up with a salesman he trusts. We ended up adding their security system, which is something I had been considering anyway due to the declining conditions in my area as a whole, including a couple incidents in my neighborhood the last couple years. For whatever reason, the only way we could get a lower bill was to add a service to the overall package. And we have been doing the bill dance with this company every 6 months or so for a number of years. My wife would call them up and see what they would do for us--it never hurts to ask.

    At any rate, we consider this our entertainment. We don't go to movies but once in a blue moon (the latest Star Wars still allowed me to count on one hand the number of movie theater trips in the last decade), and with some recent dietary changes in our family, eating out doesn't happen as much, either.
    Jason

    "Don't get stuck on stupid." --Lt. Gen. Russel Honore


  11. #26
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Don't Mess With My Texas!
    Posts
    128
    Tom, I had the same problem until I got the correct antenna. The old antenna I had was not "cut" for the new HD broadcast frequencies. I also added a small booster on the pole. Works better in winter now than in summer when all the trees are leafed out. I placed it only at about 15 feet high, as I'm planning on a higher tower soon.

    I got this antenna rated for over 75 miles, and this booster.
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o06_s01
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o04_s00

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom M King View Post
    I wish we could still use an antenna. When all the stations finally went digital, no one anywhere around us can get anything with an antenna. I even put one on a 50' pole and only got static. We're probably 75 miles in a straight line to the main channels.
    Paul
    These words are my opinion, WYLION. Any resemblance to truth or fiction is accidental at best.
    "Truth lies dormant in our future history." ― Paul Lawrence LXXI


  12. #27
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Bedford, NH
    Posts
    1,286
    Good topic!

    In August of 2014 I made the mistake of signing up for a two year contract for the Comcast bundle package of Phone, TV & Internet. There are supposedly hundreds of TV channels available, yet my wife & I watch only about a dozen. Our main TV interests are the News channels, plus a very few others such as the Alaska reality shows for me & the crazy housewives programs my wife watches. This costs about $185/mo. and will be increasing another $25-$30/mo. when the contract expires, and then another monthly increas the following year - crazy for what we use it for.

    I was recently planning on changing to Dish or Direct TV, yet I was informed by a Direct TV installer that is not feasible as the sattelite in synchronous orbit is too low for good reception as it requires the receiver be positioned at
    Elevation: 32.3° & Azimuth: 235.533° above the horizon (http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/custom...uestid=1615630). This is too low for my home as the trees would block reception.

    So now my only remaining option is Dish.

    I hate it when one is at the mercy of others for services.
    Thoughts entering one's mind need not exit one's mouth!
    As I age my memory fades .... and that's a load off my mind!

    "We Live In The Land Of The Free, Only Because Of The Brave"
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    Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill

  13. #28
    This costs about $185/mo. and will be increasing another $25-$30/mo. when the contract expires,
    I have the same thing for $145/month. I had to downgrade mt channel lineup by one level, but I only lost a handful of channels I don't watch. The last two times my contract expired, my bill went up to $185. Both times I was able to negotiate it back down to the previous price point.
    In two years, when they again want to raise it $30/mo, I'll likely go with internet only from comcast, HD antenna, and Hulu and I'll still be under $100/mo.
    We watch about a dozen channels, and we're getting tired of paying for the other 200 that we don't watch.
    Gerry

    JointCAM

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