TV and Movies

[qvcaddition]

@lenapecci 

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@lenapecci wrote:

@kaydee50  Thank you, I am going to give them a call again today as I have the day off from work. It is worth it to at least try one more time.  

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I would go to the office in town if you can.  It's hard for me to understand when I speak to someone over the phone from there.  Sometime you are lucky to get someone you can understand.

When my son was 50, he was laid off from our cable co. after working for them since the age of 18.  He got a position with another cable co.  At age 62 he was laid off from that company. All the outsourcing to overseas.

The original cable co. he worked for that laid him off at age 50 rehired him at age 62, because they knew what a good worker he is and hired him at a high salary.  He works from home in management. He was very lucky.  He will retire in a couple years. 

[lenapecci]

@qvcaddition  Thank you, I am going to take a drive over to the store. I did try calling again with no results. It can't hurt to go in person.  I was glad to read your son got rehired at 62. I was laid off in my early 50's and it was not easy getting a job. I pretty much had to start all over. 3 more years of working and I am going to retire!  

Thank you veryone for all of your feed back. It is really apprecatiated.   

[ciao_bella]

Call your cable company and ask to speak with the Retention Department.  Do not try and speak with customer service reps who will first answer your call.  Ask for the Retention Department and negotiate with them.  Tell them you can't afford the prices quoted but you'd like to stay with the service.  Ask them how your bill can be reduced and let them find a way to come up with an amount you'd be satisfied with. 

[RooRoo]

@lenapecci  something to consider if you do decide to cut the cord, we did & went with YouTubeTV.  It's $75ish range & you still get all the channels on multiple tvs & or  computers.  Of course you would have to check w your internet provider to make sure you have the bandwidth, but we don't have anything special in that regard, & it works just fine.  Hope you have success with your cable company but just in case, look into this.  

[Kachina624]

@lenapecci    I know there have been several extensive threads in the Electronics Forum on the subject of "cutting the cord".  You might do a search and review some of those posts. 

I'll add that I use an interior antenna for each of my TVs for which I paid $12.  I get a clear HD picture for all the local channels, about 50 of them.  I do, however, have ideal conditions.

[FatCatinCT]

Do you have anyone else in your household?  This is what husband and I do...

We have a two year contract with our cable provider which is up in February 2022.  As of now, we have all the channels, fastest internet and phone for $237 and change a month.  Being retired we watch a lot of TV and are on our computers a lot.  That being said, my son who lives very close by also uses my password to get into the channels to stream so the $237 is not a bad deal for what we have and provides for two families.  The son only carries internet with said company.

In February if the company does not give us a good rate, what we will do is cancel the cable in the persons name it is currently in and set up a new account on the other spouses name as a new customer as they have great introductory plans.  Totally legal and saves a LOT of money.  We have done this for at least 15 years or more, the customer service people are aware and don't care.

[Cumbercookie13]

I got rid of cable last year. My bill was over $200 a month. Where I live, my only option is Comcast, as Verizon Fios won't provide service there, and my landlord won't allow satellite service. I did have to keep Comcast internet for wi-fi, which is still expensive, but it shaved off over $100 in charges. I'm streaming only. I pay for Amazon Prime which includes video, and a couple of the channels have a $5/month subscription, which isn't bad. I'm not one to watch new network shows, so streaming only works for me. There are tons of free streaming apps out there so you don't have to pay for a subscription unless you want to.

[Meowingkitty]

I ditched DirectTV 3 years ago when they wanted to raise my rates $65 a month and no negotiation. Stream on Hulu Live, Amazon Prime and Roku. No regrets. In fact much more stuff to watch and no religion, music, kiddie shows, or endless channels of informercials. Oh and I forgot Spanish channels.

[chiclet]

Right after I signed a new two year contract with Dish they lost two of the channels I watch most.  I get Netflix and stream Hulu and discovery plus.  Now TV watching is so complicated.  I bought a streaming roku device and it was so easy to hook up.  However, now when I watch a show it is not pre recorded and I have to remember where to watch which show.  I also get free HBO max with my At & T internet.  So I can watch some stuff on Dish, go to my roku device and watch the rest of it.  I go to my Hulu to watch my regular shows but now I have to remember which ones I watch since they are not recorded.  Watching TV now almost seems like work.  My husband watches very little.  He gets on his computer and spends money ordering stuff.  When my contract is over with dish I will never go with them again.  I thought they would get my channels back and I could stop the hulu streaming but it has been almost 3 months.  I feel like I send them money for nothing each month.

[gardenman]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

I live in an area where there are mountains, hills and valleys. Because of those geological features an aerial antenna is out of the question. No one around here uses them. 

Streaming services require a fast internet speed which has gotten outrageously expensive. Plus the quality of picture you get with streaming services is not that great. There are problems which come when internet speeds go up and down. Many streaming subscriptions have also gotten expensive, too.

I've decided to just stay with DirecTV satellite. I've been their customer for over 20 years. Their service is outstanding, the picture quality is exceptional and it rarely goes down. I'm willing to pay for that even if it costs a bit more than going with some other kind of TV service provider.

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Just to clear up the highlighted part of the post above. If you've got adequate Internet service, the quality of the picture is typically as good if not better with a streaming service than cable in most cases. You can get true 4K video through most streaming services without compression whereas cable companies, when they offer 4K at all, often compress it. You can even find streams in full 8K if you're one of those with an 8K HDTV.