Deciding to cut the Comcast cord

[OneOfTheseDays]

Moving into a new apartment that has access to high speed gigabit ethernet through a local startup company. Won't need Comcast anymore for my Internet needs. Started looking at their TV only plans, sure they are anywhere from $29.99-49.99 for the first 6 months, but then the price sky rockets into the $60-70 range. Simply unacceptable for a basic cable package in this day and age IMHO.

I've made the decision, not paying that much for a garbage antiquated cable TV service with horrific set top boxes and interfaces. I'll have to survive with Netflix, HULU, etc. I will miss the sports the most, but there is a way to get even that over the Internet (not entirely sure as to the legality).

Feels good to be honest to not be beholden to the cable company.

 

[xanis]

There aren't any choices around here besides Comcast for HSI (unless you want 3mbps DSL), so as much as I hate Comcast, I give them my money because I want fast internet. I also don't have cable, and don't miss it at all; I've found that there's plenty of content on Hulu, and if I can't find anything to watch, I tend to do other stuff like read or go for runs. Ditching cable turned out to be a great choice.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

There aren't any choices around here besides Comcast for HSI (unless you want 3mbps DSL), so as much as I hate Comcast, I give them my money because I want fast internet. I also don't have cable, and don't miss it at all; I've found that there's plenty of content on Hulu, and if I can't find anything to watch, I tend to do other stuff like read or go for runs. Ditching cable turned out to be a great choice.

So glad the way entertainment is progressing in this country. Netflix is skyrocketing in popularity because they are giving the people exactly what they want.

Cable companies will have to adapt or die a slow and painful death.

 

[Bacstar]

I cut my Cable TV a couple months, but for sports, hockey being the sport I watch the most, I subscribe to NHL Gamecenter Live so I can watch most of the LA Kings games online. I imagine all the other major sports offer a similar service.

Just to add though, playoffs become a major issue since the service stops during that time, so I have to find other ways to watch the games.

 

[KLin]

What's the name of the company?

 

[Kadarin]

I cut the cable cord 3 or 4 years ago, and haven't looked back.

 

[lxskllr]

I haven't had TV of any kind in 15 years. Even if I wanted TV, I couldn't see paying more than $1 per day, and that's if I loved it. 25¢ per day is much more reasonable.

 

[cubby1223]

Comcast just began turning their on demand tv programming into an added fee subscription thingy. At least the good shows on on demand, the ones no one wants to watch you don't have to pay extra for. This probably is the time to ditch it altogether. I just need to subscribe to some vpn service in order to get mlb.tv.

It's the sports where they get you. There's a reason why they pay so much for exclusive broadcast rights.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I dropped my cable in mid-2011 and haven't regretted it.

I have Netflix, Amazon Prime, and can buy episodes of a show if I'm too impatient to wait for the disc release or Netflix streaming. Amazon charges $2/episode for shows, but doing that for 1 or 2 is still much cheaper than paying Comcast $40+/month.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

In this day and age paying $60-70 for a basic TV package is insane. I outright refuse to pay that much and never will.

 

[jagec]

I will miss the sports the most, but there is a way to get even that over the Internet (not entirely sure as to the legality).

Have you looked into an antenna? Over-the-air TV now provides a sharp HD picture for free. Certainly not the selection of ESPN et al, but for the local "big game" it works great and is a lot cheaper than cable.

 

[Pardus]

Been paying $29.95/mo for 9-mos of Comcast internet only. Roku+Netflix+Hulu gives me all i need. If i want to watch the news, many are broadcasting live feeds online. When my 9-mos are up, i'll threaten to cancel and they will give me the same package again.

It's a shame Comcast doesn't just charge $29.95/mo for each item, there packages and prices are insanely overpriced.

Comcast charges $7/mo for modem rental fee and $10/mo for an HD box and all there packages/promotions are for 6 mos-1 year, then it skyrockets.

 

[Rinaun]

There aren't any choices around here besides Comcast for HSI (unless you want 3mbps DSL), so as much as I hate Comcast, I give them my money because I want fast internet.

This. My other option from my 50mbps/10ish upload line is ATTT at a staggering speed of 6/1. No thanks, as much as comcast is I need to be able to download things without it taking hours.

Ditching cable turned out to be a great choice.

I wish I could at my house. My family whines so much about the bills, but they hardly use the TV/ phoneline and have adamantly said they want to keep the cable/phone

 

[Doppel]

I wish I could at my house. My family whines so much about the bills, but they hardly use the TV/ phoneline and have adamantly said they want to keep the cable/phone

It's like trench warfare. You just have to keep at it until the other side dies from disease. It may not seem like you're making progress, but their resolve is rotting from the core. I finally won the war in my house and I also hold the position that cable/sat will have to adapt quicker or they can gtfo and die. Instead we get denial that cord-cutting is any concern at all (numbers in the last year say unequivocally it is real and it's accelerating), or fighting tooth and nail from the providers to ensure that cutting the cord is as big a hassle as possible, with limited content, huge delays, etc.

I am a great bitcher and I bitch to my internet company and satellite, but even still today I was paying $70/month for Directv and at the end of the day was basically only watching my locals (free with antenna anyway), HGTV, discover. And a DVR. I can live without hgtv and discover, and will just force myself to live without dvr until simpletv gets worth owning or tivo drops its monthly price, but really most of my viewing is binge watching series anyway (e.g. netflix).

 

[Rinaun]

It's like trench warfare. You just have to keep at it until the other side dies from disease. It may not seem like you're making progress, but their resolve is rotting from the core. I finally won the war in my house and I also hold the position that cable/sat will have to adapt quicker or they can gtfo and die. Instead we get denial that cord-cutting is any concern at all (numbers in the last year say unequivocally it is real and it's accelerating), or fighting tooth and nail from the providers to ensure that cutting the cord is as big a hassle as possible, with limited content, huge delays, etc.

I am a great bitcher and I bitch to my internet company and satellite, but even still today I was paying $70/month for Directv and at the end of the day was basically only watching my locals (free with antenna anyway), HGTV, discover. And a DVR. I can live without hgtv and discover, and will just force myself to live without dvr until simpletv gets worth owning or tivo drops its monthly price, but really most of my viewing is binge watching series anyway (e.g. netflix).

Pretty much, except my dad is a car freak and we (stupidly) bought him the sports package. They watch NOTHING else on TV that I couldn't get on Hulu/online, but that car channel.........fuuuuuuuuuu

 

[thescreensavers]

I got 25.99 for 6 months with Comcast 25/3 service

I have a roku which I watch revision 3 and Netflix.

Also I bought a Mohu leaf TV antenna from amazon they had it for 20$ so I bought two of them and during prime time there is some good shows in HD.

Its also great having the antenna for when you want to just watch some BS to pass out.

I have this link bookmarked so I can look it up on my phone
http://www.titantv.com/Default.aspx?lineupid=593b34ee-d8b5-4448-a883-0a6adc532503

 

[sixone]

In this day and age paying $60-70 for a basic TV package is insane. I outright refuse to pay that much and never will.

Seconded. I cancelled my Dish subscription almost four years ago, and don't miss it a bit.

I pick up 36 channels with just an antenna, and I'm not even in a major city.

 

[IGemini]

I pay ~$70/mo but I get 50/10 for internet which is comparable to FiOS in the important sense. Cancelled my cable though I apparently still have it...just not in the organized set-top format. There's not really any market choice around here, Verizon has DSL but it's 3/1 and not much cheaper. My internet gets a lot of use anyway.

 

[AustinInDallas]

I just gave my Internet install guy a 20 and I get almost 100 analog Chanel's with twc

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

I'm one of the lucky ones to be in an area that actually has high speed options outside of the traditional cable companies. I can't tell you how good it feels to be supporting the little guy and finally giving Comcast the FU after all of these years of overpaying for their craptastic service.