TH, JohnBlake, et al, thanks for the discussion about cable vs DSL. Verizon is promising to send the DSL hardware next week. First month free, $29.95/mo after that, and probably no discernable speed change from cable. Although there's a rate hike to $34.95, I've been promised the lower rate indefinitely. I've been paying nearly $45/mo for cable's RoadRunner.
So now it's on to the next cheapskate challenge. I figure the bane of ER is monthly fees. I don't mind an initial upfront expense if it avoids an eternal higher monthly cost within a reasonable payback. Our cable costs are about to double and now that I'm no longer tied to RoadRunner I'm ready to move to a better TV provider. Lemme explain our problem and our viewing habits and maybe someone can recommend a satellite TV provider.
Our cable company contacted us several months ago to let us know that they didn't configure our street correctly back in 198? and that they were going to fix the problem. We bought the cheapest "Basic" service in 2000 for $11.50/mo and when we turned on the TV we discovered that it included more channels than promised. After an attempt to explain the situation to their customer service and being given the impression that I was an idiot, I gave up-- caveat vendor. Unfortunately spouse & kid proceeded to addict themselves to HGTV & Nickleodeon from the "extra" channel.
Now it turns out that "fixing the problem" involves installing all those filters that they'd neglected the first time. We were offered the choice of continuing our "Basic" service (now minus its extra channels) or "upgrading" to "Standard" at $32/mo. Facing mutiny at home, I counterattacked the cable company and managed to negotiate six months at $23/mo. Now the clock is ticking...
It's not unusual for us to have two TVs running live while I'm recording an additional 3-4 channels on pawnshop VHS VCRs. As I understand Dish (the most widely advertised choice on Oahu), the dish has one receiver. Simultaneously recording/viewing additional channels requires additional receivers, which costs more monthly fees. I realized that broadcast channels are most of our recording, so our first purchase will be a Radio Shack TV antenna (remember those?). It'll mount on the back roof, pointed at Honolulu, with a coax feeder to a three-VCR bank that'll handle most of the recording load.
We have plenty of roof for as many dishes as necessary. Spouse, of course, will have the primary satellite feed which may or may not include a DVR. She'll also have a playback VCR. The kid can use a second satellite receiver's feed to a TV/VCR combo (enabling bitter complaints about being the only kid in the world without a personal TiVo). God only knows how many new remote controls we'll be able to use. If a company wants to charge extra for local broadcast channels, we'll say "No thanks" and use our old-fashioned antenna. We don't care about movies on demand like HBO or Showtime, but we "have" to have the kid cartoon package plus spouse's HGTV, TLC, and other honey-do-generating acronyms. If that involved more than one receiver then it could be ordered separately, but right now it's all included in our cable package.
I'm not sure whether our satellite TV actually comes directly from a satellite. Most of the neighborhood dishes appear to point to the western Waianae hills, which would imply a ground station link with a directional broadcast antenna.
Having explained my ideal system configuration & viewing, who's cheaper & more reliable? Are there high setup charges or lower long-term subscription deals? I don't need much customer service, but I'd be concerned if a company is unusually bad. Our choices appear to be limited to Dish & DirecTV, but I need to do some more research. I've seen the usual dishes around the neighborhood, but I've also seen a pointy helical-coil antenna and a flat plate about a foot square. I don't know if those are different flavors of Dish & DirecTV or a new choice.
So now it's on to the next cheapskate challenge. I figure the bane of ER is monthly fees. I don't mind an initial upfront expense if it avoids an eternal higher monthly cost within a reasonable payback. Our cable costs are about to double and now that I'm no longer tied to RoadRunner I'm ready to move to a better TV provider. Lemme explain our problem and our viewing habits and maybe someone can recommend a satellite TV provider.
Our cable company contacted us several months ago to let us know that they didn't configure our street correctly back in 198? and that they were going to fix the problem. We bought the cheapest "Basic" service in 2000 for $11.50/mo and when we turned on the TV we discovered that it included more channels than promised. After an attempt to explain the situation to their customer service and being given the impression that I was an idiot, I gave up-- caveat vendor. Unfortunately spouse & kid proceeded to addict themselves to HGTV & Nickleodeon from the "extra" channel.
Now it turns out that "fixing the problem" involves installing all those filters that they'd neglected the first time. We were offered the choice of continuing our "Basic" service (now minus its extra channels) or "upgrading" to "Standard" at $32/mo. Facing mutiny at home, I counterattacked the cable company and managed to negotiate six months at $23/mo. Now the clock is ticking...
It's not unusual for us to have two TVs running live while I'm recording an additional 3-4 channels on pawnshop VHS VCRs. As I understand Dish (the most widely advertised choice on Oahu), the dish has one receiver. Simultaneously recording/viewing additional channels requires additional receivers, which costs more monthly fees. I realized that broadcast channels are most of our recording, so our first purchase will be a Radio Shack TV antenna (remember those?). It'll mount on the back roof, pointed at Honolulu, with a coax feeder to a three-VCR bank that'll handle most of the recording load.
We have plenty of roof for as many dishes as necessary. Spouse, of course, will have the primary satellite feed which may or may not include a DVR. She'll also have a playback VCR. The kid can use a second satellite receiver's feed to a TV/VCR combo (enabling bitter complaints about being the only kid in the world without a personal TiVo). God only knows how many new remote controls we'll be able to use. If a company wants to charge extra for local broadcast channels, we'll say "No thanks" and use our old-fashioned antenna. We don't care about movies on demand like HBO or Showtime, but we "have" to have the kid cartoon package plus spouse's HGTV, TLC, and other honey-do-generating acronyms. If that involved more than one receiver then it could be ordered separately, but right now it's all included in our cable package.
I'm not sure whether our satellite TV actually comes directly from a satellite. Most of the neighborhood dishes appear to point to the western Waianae hills, which would imply a ground station link with a directional broadcast antenna.
Having explained my ideal system configuration & viewing, who's cheaper & more reliable? Are there high setup charges or lower long-term subscription deals? I don't need much customer service, but I'd be concerned if a company is unusually bad. Our choices appear to be limited to Dish & DirecTV, but I need to do some more research. I've seen the usual dishes around the neighborhood, but I've also seen a pointy helical-coil antenna and a flat plate about a foot square. I don't know if those are different flavors of Dish & DirecTV or a new choice.