Cutting the Cord

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Gonna necro this thread instead of starting a new one.

Is there a workaround to watch new AMC episodes if all I have is Hulu plus Live and Prime? It looks like you need a cable provider (or a few different streaming services but not Hulu) to get AMC Premiere. You can't pay for AMC Premiere a la carte for some reason.
Think your hosed here. AMCs requirement of having a provider is ridiculous if your oaying for the app. It appears the app has serious issues anyway.
 
We're trying to cut the cord so I signed us up with xfinity internet only service. We have Uverse now and the monthly bill has gone up to $180/month for U200 which is absurd.

Thinking back to when we moved in, the installer couldn't run coax from the back of the house to the living room at the front of the house, so he used the phone wiring and installed the gateway in our bedroom at the back of the house. He installed an AT&T bramded wall plate, looks like cat5 to me, and ran it along the baseboard with staples to reach the gateway next to our TV. The new modem however, a Netgear CM500, only has a coax input. Can I still use this modem? Do I need an adapter too? I recall he did something at the box on the outside wall at the back of the house to set it up. Do I need to mess with that?
 
We're pretty happy with Netflix, the $12 Hulu package and free content from YouTube. We have a Tivo DVR too but since getting Hulu we almost never watch the content we have going there. Most of it is duplicated on Hulu. With a teen streaming to her iPad constantly and the wife and I having the t

We're trying to cut the cord so I signed us up with xfinity internet only service.

You might want to check that this is the best deal. I have the cheapest TV package they offer added to mine. We don't have it connected to any TVs and for a few years it was a Spanish-language package. But it dropped the net price $20-30 a month. That's a nice little savings over a year. The bundle pricing is a promo that expires after 1-2 years. You need to watch and call to get a new promo the month before it expires. Contrary to everything I've read over the years they are always friendly and its a pretty quick and painless process.

As for your wiring, you have to have coax to the cable modem. I would think the installer is going to run new coax from the street to a Comcast box on the outside of the house and there to wherever your modem is going.
 
As for your wiring, you have to have coax to the cable modem. I would think the installer is going to run new coax from the street to a Comcast box on the outside of the house and there to wherever your modem is going.

I'd like to try installing this myself before I pay for a visit from a technician. When we moved in, the AT&T tech pretty quickly determined that he couldn't get coax installed so he used the existing phone wiring, adapting to ethernet somehow. Am I just screwed here?
 
and people give me poopy for brewing a $8 10 gallon batch....i thought all of you homebrewers were made of money! :D

I'm actually saving my employer the money, as a perk since I work at home they pay for my Internet.

I'd like to try installing this myself before I pay for a visit from a technician. When we moved in, the AT&T tech pretty quickly determined that he couldn't get coax installed so he used the existing phone wiring, adapting to ethernet somehow. Am I just screwed here?

Probably unfortunately. Definitely aren't going to be able to connect a cable modem to the CAT5 on the input side.
 
I did a bit more reading, it looks like AT&T only uses phone wiring+ethernet cabling to install their service, so no coax on their equipment.
That would explain why the coax that we already have installed wasn't suitable and that's why the installer used the phone wiring to set up our gateway. I'm hoping that if I connect the new modem to the coax in the frunchroom it will just work?
 
I did a bit more reading, it looks like AT&T only uses phone wiring+ethernet cabling to install their service, so no coax on their equipment.
That would explain why the coax that we already have installed wasn't suitable and that's why the installer used the phone wiring to set up our gateway. I'm hoping that if I connect the new modem to the coax in the frunchroom it will just work?

Possibly. Depends on how old it is and how it was installed. It’s worth a shot anyway.
 
And for the first time in several decades, I think we're about to pay for TV service. We've always borrowed Comcast log-ins from friends to access the channels we watch on our Roku TV, but they have all left Comcast after many years (bastardos). Sling TV here we come : )
 
lol, i loved getting steak house commercials on my vegan videos! but ended up with youtube(red) anyway....now premium....

i might not eat meat every day, but when i do, i like it to be fancy! ;)


although, i had to turn off the ads here....i was tired of them trying to sell me womens clothing.......lol
 
I find it a bit ironic (not calling anyone out), when I read "cut the cord" and then people not only still have the cord but pay more than ever when they combine internet + all the subscription services. The next trend might be dropping all of those and saving money by getting basic cable instead.
 
I find it a bit ironic (not calling anyone out), when I read "cut the cord" and then people not only still have the cord but pay more than ever when they combine internet + all the subscription services. The next trend might be dropping all of those and saving money by getting basic cable instead.


but without the internet how would i get HBT?

and youtube is my only subscription, i don't even have amazon prime.....i don't shop there....$100 a year for shipping included seems absurd, and when they implmented $25 minimum orders, i was off...
 
I find it a bit ironic (not calling anyone out), when I read "cut the cord" and then people not only still have the cord but pay more than ever when they combine internet + all the subscription services. The next trend might be dropping all of those and saving money by getting basic cable instead.

Who is it that was paying more?

Having internet is a given, it's going to be there no matter what you do for tv so it's not counted in the cost. $50 a month for sling with all the extras I want isn't bad, especially with the on demand programming and free recording.

Youtube is free, roku channel is free when you have a roku, pluto tv is free, crackle is free, etc, etc.

Pluto tv runs all the stuff you would see on pay tv. The programming is just a few years old but it's hundreds of channels for free.
 
I'm not looking at anyone in particular, just see it a lot. Coworker for example. "We cut the cord". OK tell me about it. "We dropped cable TV, and have this and this and this for service". OK - well, did it get cheaper? "No". Do you still pay the cable company that you said in the past you hated? "Yes".

Cut cord = go OTA for TV. Dropping "Cable TV" for various other services at the same cost is... fine, but I wouldn't call it cord cutting.
 
In my house we are at $37/mo now. Netflix + Hulu + YouTube premium. My daughter is temporarily paying for another Hulu account while at school since they enforce a single location and she's been quarantined twice in 3 weeks. Apple Music and a year of Disney+ are "free" from Verizon. We were paying DirecTV something like $125 at the end.

It helps no one here cares about sports.
 
@BruceH We count costs differently then. I re-evaluate our media needs and internet tier a few times a year. If I didnt have a need for internet at the house I would cancel it much like most of us have done with land lines.
I still have a homebuilt OTA setup with 4 channel DVR thats been running since 2016 when we stopped paying an extra $60/mo for cable on top of internet. I’ve saved ≈ $2880 minus the cost of the TV tuners and antenna. All told those cost me roughly $270 including the coax.

Like Matt_m said, it helps noone in the house really watches sports.
 
I'm not looking at anyone in particular, just see it a lot. Coworker for example. "We cut the cord". OK tell me about it. "We dropped cable TV, and have this and this and this for service". OK - well, did it get cheaper? "No". Do you still pay the cable company that you said in the past you hated? "Yes".

Cut cord = go OTA for TV. Dropping "Cable TV" for various other services at the same cost is... fine, but I wouldn't call it cord cutting.

The definitions have changed. Most "cord-cutters" are actually "cord-shavers" these days.

At the beginning it was different. There was NO real live TV available streaming until Sling did it, and then more services popped up later.

Even then "cutting the cord" didn't mean that you didn't have something like Netflix. It basically meant you didn't have any live TV service.

Now, it's more accurate to call it cord-shaving. Because with Hulu Live TV, I'm basically still getting "TV" but just not from the cable company.

And yes, I do save money. It all still adds up, but it's less for internet+streaming than internet+basic cable.
 
I do the streaming thing, but also have a depository of downloaded movies and tv shows on a network drive. With Universal Media Server I can watch this content on all my TVs, though mainly via the Fire TV using VLC. I just like that interface best. But you don't even need a streaming device, a "smart" TV is good enough.
 
We were paying about $210 a month for TV, Internet, Phone through Comcast until about four years ago. Now we pay about $70/month for Internet along, plus Netflix and Prime. We don't care about sports either, and get Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Dateline NBC, etc, OTA. We have an Ooma line for the phone ($4.00/month) with a $100 upfront investment (we put that # on all forms, medical appts, etc.). We have three teens that stream whatever they need on Youtube, and fill the rest of our limited TV time on Netflix or Prime.

We both work so much and have so many extracurricular activities, that we don't sit around enough watching TV to justify any other subscriptions or cable. We are not true 'cord cutters' I suppose, but dropping over $100 a month to me was a no-brainer.

I call Comcast once a year, threaten to leave, escalate it to a 'special department' (I think it's called something like their 'retention group'), demand they keep your service/cost the same, and sometimes they even go lower. In my case, I have zero other options for Internet...and I'm sure they know that...so they've got me by the ballz.
 
We were paying about $210 a month for TV, Internet, Phone through Comcast until about four years ago. Now we pay about $70/month for Internet along, plus Netflix and Prime. We don't care about sports either, and get Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Dateline NBC, etc, OTA. We have an Ooma line for the phone ($4.00/month) with a $100 upfront investment (we put that # on all forms, medical appts, etc.). We have three teens that stream whatever they need on Youtube, and fill the rest of our limited TV time on Netflix or Prime.

We both work so much and have so many extracurricular activities, that we don't sit around enough watching TV to justify any other subscriptions or cable. We are not true 'cord cutters' I suppose, but dropping over $100 a month to me was a no-brainer.

Because you don't have live TV, I consider you cord-cutters. To me that's the difference. If you're getting live TV through your internet, you're a cord-shaver. If you're not getting live TV at all, you're a cord-cutter.

I call Comcast once a year, threaten to leave, escalate it to a 'special department' (I think it's called something like their 'retention group'), demand they keep your service/cost the same, and sometimes they even go lower. In my case, I have zero other options for Internet...and I'm sure they know that...so they've got me by the ballz.

That's my issue. My internet is $102.60/mo. My only alternative to Cox is AT&T DSL at literally 3 Mbps download. That's not a typo. It's *3* Mbps. So I'm screwed because there's no competition whatsoever.
 
That's my issue. My internet is $102.60/mo. My only alternative to Cox is AT&T DSL at literally 3 Mbps download. That's not a typo. It's *3* Mbps. So I'm screwed because there's no competition whatsoever.


i can get cox, DSL, or aparently the power company has something over the power lines....and yeah $100 a month for what is in this day an age like still being on 56k.....
 
I get live TV...but it's OTA with a coax running from an antenna in my attic direct to the living room TV...haha. Not live via Internet however. It still amazes me that Comcast can strong-arm markets like that...no options, no alternatives...I mean, I'm truly stuck like Chuck if I ever even wanted to try anything different. My in-laws live about 10 houses down the street (same subdivision...I know I know) and they have UVerse. Cheaper and higher speeds.

I'm stuck with Comcast. It's crazy.
 
I haven’t had cable in years I have a few streaming platforms, Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube Red and Disney plus. Now before you start adding up what That costs my kids pay some of that, my daughter pays for Hulu and my son pays for YouTube, T-Mobile pays for Netflix and I pay for Amazon and Disney plus. and it’s all streamed through a Roku.

@bwarbiany can you get Spectrum where your at? When I was in Ca It took several months but I was able to get it and just the internet was about $60 a month and you can just get the app on your streaming device so you don’t even need a box to watch anything they offer.
 
@bwarbiany for that price I hope your getting good speeds. If you havent checked At&T for awhile, check again. They’ve made a decent push for the last few years to upgrade their infrastructure in Ca. They’ve been upgrading around my area lately but still sucks comparatively. We went from 16 to 30mbps down...so it get gets interesting when 4 people have vid conference calls at the same time.

@AJinJacksonville hit up At&t again if its been a bit. Hard to believe they didnt run fiber in your neighborhood. If your handy with computers, its not hard to to add a Silicondust Connect Duo to an old PC to record 2 channels at a time.
 
Gettin' pissed off with "cloud" DVR.

Most of us learned early on with DVR is that it's great for time-shifting certain things, especially sports. Let's say you have a game you want to watch that starts at 1 PM, but you can't get to it until 2 PM. So... You get to the TV at 2 PM, hit start on your recorded content, and it starts from the beginning. If you have a DVR in your own house, you can sometimes even fast forward through commercials to get closer and closer to live.

Well, with cloud DVR many of these recordings have restrictions put on them by the content owner that you can't fast-forward through commercials. Which, alright, I get it. Sports is the last bastion of "appointment television" that needs to be consumed live or close to it, so they want to protect their ad revenue. It's annoying, but I can deal.

Now, however, they're starting to add restrictions where you can't start content that you've recorded on a cloud DVR from the beginning, unless the broadcast has completely ended. So if you want to start watching your 1 PM football game at 2 PM, you have to pick it up LIVE at 2 PM. You can't go back and see the previous hour... UNLESS you wait until after 4:30 when the entire broadcast has ended. At that point you can start watching from 1 PM.

What the hell is the point of this? Isn't the goal to make me watch commercials? What interest do you further by making me wait another couple of hours to start the game at the beginning if you're still going to make me watch commercials?

It's going to make me stop caring about sports. I'm a Purdue fan. That's soul-crushing on the best of days... Why would I continue watching if it just gets harder and harder to do it at all?

Guess what, content owners... How much ad revenue are you going to be getting from me if I'm walking the dog or out playing golf instead?
 
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