Mulling the New Cable Alternatives
Decatur Metro | May 11, 2010This question on the Oakhurst Message Board reminded me to bring this up.
Many of us poor saps pay over $100 a month for cable & internet. And if I’m not mistaken, over a 12-month period that will add up to over a thousand dollars of my hardish-earned money!
I’ve been pretty bothered by this fact lately, and recently I have had a few techno-fantasies of switching from cable to the “HD-antenna/HULU option” (Especially since you can now get Netflix video through a Nintendo Wii).
And about a month ago, another option showed up in my mailbox. At long last, AT&T U-Verse is available in my neighborhood. And while the rates don’t seem all that much cheaper than Comcast, I’m at least hopeful that the hardware is a bit better. However, I am a bit worried that my internet will suffer if I move off Comcast cable internet.
Has anyone out there taken the leap and either cut the cable cord entirely or switched to U-Verse? How is your new entertainment life stacking up against the previous one fueled by a crappy Comcast DVR and a $100+ a month cable bill?
Well, we haven’t had cable in some time. We just use the good ole hulu, netflix and the channels we get with the antenna. I miss hgtv and cartoon network, but other than that- mostly everything is available either by the internet or netflix. Its actually nice because you get more done- rather than the alternative of sitting and flipping through a 1,000 channels to come to the conclusion that “nothing is on”. I would assume if we had children it would be a different story. But that’s how we roll…cable-less.
Can’t comment on U-Verse, but my AT&T DSL has been flawless in the 4 years I’ve had it. I fired Comcast last year to get better service and more channels for less money.
We made the switch approximately 3 months ago and love it. We are saving about $30 per month for similar services that we had with Comcast. The picture quality is superior, and you can record up to 4 shows with their DVR service; not all in HD however. You can also view shows recorded on the main DVR on other TV’s in your house without having to subscribe to an additionally DVR service. The basic internet download speed is slower than Comcast’s, but can be increased for a minimal charge. Furthermore, U-Verse customer service is much better, but that’s not saying much when considering Comcast. I guess you could say I’m a fan.
the ‘other Steve’ here…have had AT&T U-Verse for several months, and it seems to be fine — both TV and internet. Bought a new, faster laptop a few months ago, so it’s hard to judge overall web access speed improvement, but their ‘fast’ access (not the super-superfast or whatever) is great for surfing — and reliable.
TV remote and DVR are ok; take a little getting used to and have had to reprogram remote once or twice (over the phone; pretty good customer service.) Very rarely is there a loss of TV service; if so, it’s for a very short period. I wish they had a few more HD non-movie channels on the mid-range package I use (for TV), but they’re adequate. Have taken advantage of a couple of free weekend movie chnannel offers, too.
I made the switch over a month ago and couldn’t be happier. It’s about time we have another option beside the worst customer service company I have ever dealt with, aka Comcast. The customer service is great with AT & T and I even received two debit cards worth $200 each during one of their promotions! I have the top package with all the movie channels which runs $112 and the mid tier internet access, which I believe is $43. There are many more HD channels than Comcast as well. I hope now that Comcast has real competition, they realize that hey have a big customer service problem and it is going to end up costing them lots of money!
This may have been true a few weeks ago, but Comcast has been gradually phasing out analog service in Georgia (and nationwide) and Decatur underwent the digital conversion two weeks ago, adding on the order of 40 HD channels and who knows how many SD. So the available channels are close to identical across Comcast, U-Verse, Dish, and DirecTV at this point. Comcast still gets the edge in my book because of the availability of a formidable amount of OnDemand content.
We’ve had Comcast and U-verse – now we have an antenna. After the initial honeymoon period with U-verse – our bill increases over $50 with no premium channels. With our Apple TV, Tivo Netflix and antenna for local channels – life is good and we pay alot less than with cable. We do miss the sports but have enough friends that will take us in with a few good dishes of food!
Why did your bill increase $50?
Same here. Made the switch to U-Verse, which was fine, but prone to software hiccups. Lots of resets and unplug/replugs. Even at its best, it’s still just TV — 200-some channels of mostly junk. So I just last week I ditched it and switched to this alternative:
Small roof antenna going into Mac Mini with Eye TV (uses computer as tivo) Mac Mini itself for Hulu, iTunes, etc. — DVD and internet … using it now. Roku for netflix (I like this one). Only monthly bills are Netflix and broadband, both of which we had already.
It occurs to me that at one time I took the cable bill for granted and had to justify paying for broadband. Then at some point it flipped, and finally cable has lost.
We made the switch to ATT Uverse a couple of months ago as well. We were particularly attracted to the idea of not having to sign a contract (we can cancel any time with no penalty) and the fact that for the first six months we pay less than a hundred dollars for a land line, cable and internet. So far we haven’t had any problems with Uverse although we might ditch cable altogether once the promotional period is up.
we like uverse….a bit of a pain at the beginning since it’s relatively new, but enjoying it thus far much better than comcast.
I use Clear for wireless and DirecTV. Both are tolerable. Had trouble both with AT&T and Comcast. May drop direcTV as the only thing we really watch is The Daily Show… And we can get that online!!
I have gone low tech with rabbit ears and netflix, love it. Using rabbit ears I receive about 20 digital channels all for free, including Universal Sports, the nerd sports channel with table tennis, volly ball, and biking. I get my internet 1.5dsl from Earthlink for $40.00, Net Flix is $18.00 for a total $58/mo. Yes someimes I have to deal with reception issues, but then I go old school and play cards with my family. It was comcast that sent me over the edge a couple of years ago, that and countless wasted hours watching the braves, I am happier than ever with the “downgrade” optoin.
Do you get the Comedy Channel with rabbit ears? I can’t do without Daily Show & Colbert!
You can watch them both a day later on Hulu.
JT,
I think Jon Stewart is no longer available on Hulu. When selected it takes you to
http://www.thedailyshow.com site. I watch the show there.
I haven’t had a TV for over 5 years and do not miss it at all.
I love Hulu and Crackle online and Red Box for the occasional movie fix. I am considering NetFlix with a Roku box.
Don’t forget the DVDs you can get at the library for a week FREE !! Fairly good selection of new movies.
Good post. Thanks to all for their opinions.
That is correct. Comedy Central pulled its content (chiefly, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report) from Hulu. The only way to watch them online at this point is on Comedy Central’s site.
U-verse is ok, but I hate the delay in starting up (you have to wait for the blue screen to come up then push the ok button before it goes to TV) I actually think our wireless internet is slower than what we had with Comcast. I had an Earthlink DSL on my computer alone (I can’t afford to have internet downtime with my work) and it was way faster than the U-verse wireless.
Boy, you know you are way behind the times when you only understand about 30% of the thread. I’m going to have to wait for the Consumer Reports or Reader’s Digest or Cable/Internet for Dummies version. None of my children seem to be developing into techno geeks, sigh.
Hi karass, you may want to check out the forum discussion over at cnet concerning AT&T u verse here.
It’s a lot to scroll through, so if you ever need to kill about 15 minutes…..
We moved to Uverse almost 2 years ago. Overall, I love it. The channel selection is awesome, especially sports. At the time, Uverse had a lot more HD channels. I haven’t compared so I don’t know if that still holds true. You can record up to 4 channels at one time– 2 if you record in HD. You can watch from any room. Moving to Uverse upgraded us to wireless internet. The speed is great for us, and we have the second to fastest speed. Apart from iTunes, we don’t download large files. So our internet needs are lower than a lot of folks. I haven’t checked into how it compares to Hulu, etc.
As with all technology, it will break down. When we first got it, we had some hiccups with the hardware, wiring, etc. But we were the second family in the neighborhood to get it (the first is and AT&T employee). Since then we have still had minor issues. I don’t think they are anymore frequent than when we had Comcast. But here is where Uverse shines. Their customer service is awesome. The phone tree to get to a representative is frustrating, but once you get to a rep the hold time is never more than a couple of minutes and they have always solved the problem. And on the occasions a tech had to come I’ve never had to wait more than 24 hours. If I call in the morning (even on a weekend) they have almost always come out same day.
There are two frustrating things. First, from time to time the sound will be out of synch with the picture. I haven’t experienced this enough to see if it’s just on certain channels. But when it happens it is very irritating. Second, their on demand movie selection is not quite as extensive or timely as Comcast. If you want to buy a movie that just came out on DVD, then you may have to wait a few extra weeks for it to hit Uverse.
Weigh it all and make your decision. For me, there are no more technical issues than with Comcast (we had phantom outtages all the time with Comcast) and possibly less. But the superb customer and technical service is far, far, far, far superior to Comcast and that is what makes me not even consider switching back. I can’t tell you how many times Comcast set up a visit for 3 weeks out and then didn’t show up. Not with Uverse.
Our family has never had cable, and with the new digital service enjoy many more channels (including a cool retro channel that plays 70’s shows) without the $70 plus cable bill!
I also like having the weather channel-like service on Channel 11.2!
I moved from Kennesaw to Kirkwood in January 2009. I had tried to cut the cable cord up there with regular over-the-air antenna television but the reception there was impossible except if you wanted to get Ion television and maybe a whisper every now and again of Channel 5. Now that I’m in the city, we’ve used over the air television exclusively and TV websites, including Hulu and the network sites, for streaming TV, with a special hookup from our computer to the TV (an old CRT TV at that, too). My only complaint is that I’m stuck with PBA 30 for my PBS service as Channel 8, GPB, doesn’t come in at all with the digital signal (I think GPB is far superior). That and Channel 2 pixelates in and out when the police helicopter hovers over my house for whatever reason.
hmm, i like the idea of a computer to CRT TV hook up. I will have to for that, maybe at radio shack? Channel 8 also comes in only at night for me. Channel 30 is my favorite, I sound so much smarter after watching that Channel, especailly Charlie Rose and Tavis Smiley.
treesrock:
Last time I checked, Radio Shack did not carry these. They told me to purchase one on-line. I purchased one from Amazon for $8.
What kind of connection are you trying to make (i.e., what kind of cable is leaving your computer and what are you plugging it into on your TV)? Certain connections are going to yield a better picture than others.
In most cases, Monoprice.com is going to be your best bet for any sort of cabling or connectors. Lowest prices out there, very high quality, and fast shipping.
I just received the cable and haven’t had time to connect it yet. It is a 7 Pin
S-video cable that will connect from my computer’s video card to the TV video input.
I’d love to hear some opinions on the best high-speed internet only option. For those of us without cable, and with wives who will never agree to purchase cable, having good high-speed internet is essential. Right now we have earthlink DSL, but am wondering if Comcast or AT&T are faster and/or better?
Cable internet, by its very nature, is always going to be faster (and in my experience, more reliable) than DSL. But you pay more for it.
That’s true as long as there aren’t too many users doing high-bandwidth things. All cable internet users along a circuit are using the same, albeit high speed, pipe, while each DSL user has their own. If many users sharing a pipe get active at the same time, everybody gets slowed down.
I’ve been using Clear for about 6 months, and am very happy. I have their fastest speed (called unlimited), and generally get about 6MB/s. Although not as fast as Comcast, I don’t experience the same speed peaks and troughs I got when I had Comcast in the past. Because the Clear signal is over the airwaves, I have no active phone or cable lines (no home phone/DIRECTV).
The day I gave my COMCAST receiver back to the company was one of the happier days I have had. We used HD rabbit ears/ Netflix for 2 years and were quite happy. We mostly rented tv shows so this let us watch entire series beginning to end (like 6 feet under- brilliant!)
We recently got U-verse, with 12MB/sec internet. Overall we are quite happy with it. Still, I am not sure it is worth the money so we are planning on ditching it (as well as our home phone line- why do we need that when we all have cell phones??!).
In Decatur with some powered rabbit ears (available at Best Buy) we were getting about 10 channels including both PBS stations and all networks. And, with our Samsung blu-ray we can stream Netflix.
Oh I forgot to add that the picture quality of over-the-air HDTV is vastly superior to Uverse AND comcast.
This is correct, since over-the-air (OTA) signals are usually far less compressed than other sources (but not always, since many channels divvy up their bandwidth into subchannels, negatively impacting the video quality of the primary channel). That said, it’s hard for me to watch OTA because I miss the ability to pause, record, skip commercials, etc. (which is achievable if you run your antenna through a DVR….Since I have Comcast, I don’t bother).
Thanks for all the feedback thus far! The fact that so many of you are happy with having ditched cable makes me think that should be the route we take. Now it’s just a matter of executing.
I also am interested to answers to JC’s question above about “high-speed internet only”. I wish I could pay $25 a month for Decatur Wifi and just be done with it, but from the frequent reports of outages I keep hearing it doesn’t sound like a viable, reliable option.
DM – you might want to do a poll and figure out how many of those that have ditched the cable have little kids. Not that TV is an acceptable babysitter, but let me tell you….Curious George cures everything – although that might be on PBS. You just might want to keep some of those cable channels for things like Yo Gabba Gabba and other weird programs for little ones.
Nubbs – Surprisingly, I have actually considered this and have come to the determination that between broadcast TV and Netflix, there are enough kids show options between the two if and when we would “need” them. (Netflix seems to be adding kids tv shows to the Instant Queue all the time.)
P.S. Curious George is on GPB if I am not mistaken.
I only let Baby Nellie watch PBS Kids cause he is a material girl in a material world and does not need consumerism fed by commercials. Unfortunately, Nubs, what cures our tantrums is Caillou. M*&^%#$F*^%$#@* little bald French Canadian dork. I hate him. Caillou. Not Baby Nelliebelle.
Inevitably, when someone asks about alternatives to Comcast (or DirecTV or U-Verse or whatever), the conversation inevitably becomes a roundtable on how people limited or eliminated subscription television from their lives and have never been happier! This is especially true in Decatur, which is quite possibly the “Oh, our family doesn’t own a television” capital of the world.
I understand that there are many people who are perfectly happy without television in their lives, or with very little of it, and I respect that. Good for you for assessing what’s valuable to you and acting on it. But that’s not really relevant to an apples to apples discussion of “Which subscription TV provider offers the best product at the best price?”
The urban myth is that you can blissfully cancel your cable or satellite subscription and substitute an antenna and some sort of alternate Internet source and achieve the same sort of product you enjoyed before. That is false. You will be sacrificing many things, including most basic cable channels, all pay cable channels, the vast majority of live sports, and 90% of the HD programming out there. You will be able to jury rig a DVR and get streaming content on your TV, but be prepared to jump through a lot of hoops to watch content that used to simply involve turning on the TV and the cable box.
Comcast, Dish, DirectTV, and U-Verse all come with their own strengths and drawbacks. If your demands are low (particularly if you don’t have an HDTV), you’re not going to be as subject to some of them. As frustrated as I get with Comcast sometimes, I still feel like they provide the best product in terms of available content, speed, and reliability (both for cable and internet). And I realize I pay a premium for that. I mitigate their customer service issues by relying on sites like AVS Forum to help me figure out things on my own (or, more often, to clue me in on how to talk to Comcast to get what I want/need).
The sad reality is, the best of all possible worlds is Verizon FIOS. It offers the best picture, the most channels, the best customer service, and the least hassle. But it will never come here because AT&T has a stranglehold on the Atlanta market (which is why it makes me chuckle when people hold up AT&T U-Verse as some kind of savior when I’m fairly certain people will soon hate them more than Comcast).
A couple of additional points:
– Hulu.com — an online source for low-quality streaming of shows from NBC, Fox, and a few other sources — is free at the moment, but will not remain so. It has already been announced that you will soon have to pay a fee ($10 a month is what I’ve heard) to access it. Moreover, many content providers (see Comedy Central above) are already jumping ship.
– Netflix streaming is available on devices other than your computer and the Wii (in fact, the Wii is probably the worst way to stream it, since it only passes an SD signal to your TV and has a slower internet connection than most devices). The Xbox 360 has had Netflix streaming for almost two years now, and the PS3 can do it as well. There is a standalone box called the Roku that can do it. Most Blu-ray players and HDTVs manufactured in the last year or so offer Netflix streaming as well.
Food for thought Lump. Thanks! I’m aware that it’s impossible to get rid of cable and recreate the same thing for free. It just might work for me since I don’t honestly watch all that much on cable. And your point about a Hulu pay model is probably true for most other free online content providers in the near future.
Oh, and if any of the Decatur TV-haters need it, I’m pretty sure I’ve come up with (or stolen) a theory that TV actually propagated sprawl, allowing us to finally replace real life with more interesting stories on TV. AKA: you don’t need neighbors when you have desperate housewives!
We pay $65/y for VOIP phone service from Skype. It is “good enough”.
And we pay $58.50/m for business class internet only cable service from Comcast. I’ve used AT&T DSL and Comcast Residential in the past. Both had quality issues. I haven’t had any issues or problems with Business class. I also take issue with AT&T’s special offers which make standalone DSL more expensive than DSL with local phone service.
I recently bought a DB8 high gain antenna which is installed in the attic. We get, let me count… 34 channels of video and 7 radio stations. All coming in strong and clear. -Didn’t do anything fancy when installing the antenna, just pointed it north north west where the majority of stations are.
We use Hulu. And are satisfied with the quality. People have been saying hulu will start charging for almost a year now. I’ll believe it when it happens.
With the money we aren’t spending on home phone service and pay tv channels… I allow myself to purchase the occasional DVD TV series, documentary, movie, etc. -We still come out ahead. And per the other comments, the broadcast HDTV quality is really quite nice.
Lumps, I have lived in Decatur since TV came only in black and white on 14 inch screens (okay, i am lying, but still), I have never met a single person without a TV. In fact, I have been in Decatur households with TVs bigger than my car and multiple ones at that.
I have had Uverse for a year; I have home phone with unlimited long distance, 2 cell phones including an iPhone, internet access and 7 or 8 thousand cable channels for about $300 a month.
Bless you. For some reason, this made me feel better.
We have ATT DSL only, it’s absolutely atrocious and their “customer service” is non-existent.
We always have super slow speed issues (even with 2 Brand New laptops), and sometimes DSL cuts off for no reason at all like when it’s sunny!
I have spent 3 hours of my life on the phone with them over the last 2 weeks and every rep. says it’s something different.
Would not recommend ATT even to an enemy.
I too have had countless infuriating experiences with AT&T, but U-Verse seems to be its own beast and I’ve found customer service to be good. I dropped U-Verse TV but kept the broadband, which has been rock solid. I called for support because I had an issue with Roku playing nice with the UVerse router and quickly got to a tech-guy who actually knew what he was doing (no need to get bumped up). The problem was with the UV router, not Roku, and he fixed it himself remotely. Not bad.
I get all my news and information from Decatur Metro so the TV in the livingroom has been replaced by an aquarium.
The aquarium has been much more entertaining, educational and enjoyable. (than TV)
I was taking in ATSC signals over the air but we are too close to most transmission antennas to get good reception. I finally got Comcast and was pretty happy with it until very recently when they started encrypting almost all their QAM256 channels. Cablecard tuners are not out for several more months and Comcast is forcing us to rent their crappy DVR. Now the only cable card tuner available will only work with Microsoft’s Media Center which won’t handle more than two tuners. Paying for the combined suck of both Comcast and Microsoft is too much to bear. I have their crappy analog DTAs in the bedroom TVs but end up renting and buying shows online more and more.
Disclaimer: Decatur Metro does not recommend or endorse using it as the sole source of your news. Doing so may result in liberal tendencies, a lack of knowledge about anything not concerning Atlanta or Decatur (oil spill?), and/or rampant grammatical errors.
If you experience any of these symptoms, stop using of Decatur Metro immediately and sit down and read something long and well-written. If symptoms persist for more than 48 hours, you are screwed. Resume reading Decatur Metro.
Did I mention the aquarium is already 3D capable?
Okay, that got a chuckle out of me. *low five*
About 3 years ago i cut cable.
From that point on I’ve been using broadcast tv / netflix on the wii or ps3 or xbox 360, I have my laptop connected to my tv via hdmi as well, so with a cordless keyboard/mouse i use the tv for hulu/other streaming sites as well. haven’t looked back yet.
i do have comcast for internet, but only because uverse won’t be on my street for another 3 months or so.
You’ll be amazed at how much better life is without cable!
For those considering it & needing a converter box, the Insignia brand one is worth the higher price. And I’m using the old cable connector (that leads outside) as my antenna. Planes cause the only interference.
[Decatur Heights gets CH8 & CH30. CH14 also offers kid shows (qubo.)]
I’m wondering how much of a pain it is to cut your comcast service. are there any fees associated with it? any hassles about returning DVR boxes/remotes, etc.?
Not too much of a pain. You can usually drop off your boxes/remotes, cable modems, etc. at your local Comcast office. And I don’t think there’s any fee involved (people move all the time, after all, so they can’t really lock you in). It’s not like the phone company, where they hit you with $300 penalties for exiting your contract early.
One thing I would advise for anyone considering cutting bait with Comcast (or any similar service): Call customer service and tell them you have looked at so-and-so competing service and you’re going to be canceling with them and making the switch. Be convincing. Use this as an opportunity to air any grievances you may have. They will put you on with someone in customer retention who is authorized to placate you with various deals, from knocking $15 – $20 off your monthly bill for 6 months to offering you some of the primo deals usually only offered to new subscribers (free pay channels, bigger discounts).
Worth a shot if you’re thinking about canceling anyway. I make a habit of playing the squeaky wheel every 6 mos. or so just to trawl for deals like this, even though I have no actual intention of canceling.
Incidentally, to those of you who DO end up going cable-less, please don’t become that sanctimonious douchebag that constantly attempts to derail office watercooler discussions of Lost, Mad Men, and Treme with diatribes about how we are “wasting our lives on mindless pablum” and would be better served by taking a walk in the great outdoors. Because you’re embarrassing yourself.
Several douchebag possibilities in the water cooler scenario…
For you, it’s the non cable folks who pop off about other options. For some, it’s folks who talk about tv shows they think are lame. For others, it’s everyone who is forcing them to listen to ANY of it!
(Re one of your other comments: DM also asked to hear from folks who’ve cut the cable cord entirely. Not to embarrass you.)
True enough. But if we are discussing a TV show in my office away from everyone else (no one was being “forced” to listen to anything) and said person makes a point of stepping in to espouse her personal philosophy on the evils of television, I’m sorry, but I find that a little hostile. I’m not saying anyone here would do that, but it has happened to me, and I frankly could not believe the chutzpah of the individual in question.
Sounds like you pegged her right in that situation!
Just don’t dread all us non cable folks. Many -like me- junked cable to cut expenses & discovered by happy accident the benefits of limited channel access. (I sure don’t miss folks screaming at me! And the occasional cable binge is now more of an event!)
It is VERY interesting learning about all the ways to meet tv & computer needs!
I frequently say I “don’t watch TV” (matter-of-factly, not as a judgment) which is not entirely correct. I do watch some things via HD antenna (i.e. Betty White on SNL) but generally find there’s not enough time (or need) to turn it on in the first place. All of the time I used to spend watching TV has been more than replaced by time at this keyboard (or more frequently, on a mobile). Is this a better life? Hmmm. That’s beyond the scope of the discussion here. I’m grateful I don’t have to deal with the watercooler (though having a nice job to go along with it would be cool), as I’ve never watched an episode of most of what’s considered popular today. I’ve learned that I’m definitely not alone in this category, finding that more and more folks have gotten rid of the TV or just keep it turned off, and I’d have trouble justifying paying a cent for content. (I do occasionally use coupon codes to get free Redbox rentals, but I wouldn’t use Netflix enough to justify the $4.99 minimum fee). Thinking further, a few sentences later, actually I think I would say quality of life without TV is much better. Living downtown, I have noise around the clock; I don’t need any extra from a TV. Just my < 2¢.
Hmmmm. We have Comcast, don’t love it or hate it– but it’s pretty much met our needs for TV. What I do love is our 58″ HDTV (and our accompanying surround-sound system), which is only 2 inches thick, but still large & unwieldy enough to keep it from being an attractive target for flatscreen thieves (who mostly want the 42″ or smaller– portability is evidently an issue when one is trying to make one’s hasty escape). To each his own, and vive la difference!
true…it probably is more difficult to get a larger screen out – however, i had friends who had their >50″ flat screen stolen…they live one street over from Decatur city limits. fortunately, the police found their tv in a parked van & they were able to get it back.