DirecTV and Dish 2014 price increase

harley said:
What do y'all cord cutters do about internet? Keep it with your cable company and just dump the TV part? I could (maybe) live without cable TV, although we seldom watch OTA TV. We're mostly on Sci-Fi, Discover, History, The Loser Channel (dw's ghost shows), and HGTV and Food. But still, TV is a life-force suck. But there's no way I could live without high speed internet. Even if the business didn't require it, it's my life-force suck of choice. I probably watch an hour or two of TV/day. But I'm on the computer probably 5-6 hours/day. Hmmm...maybe cutting the cable would actually add to my quality of life.
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I think most cord-cutters are relying on reliable high-speed internet in order to deliver other sources of video, the the point where not having it would be a deal breaker in terms of cable-cutting.
 
ziggy29 said:
I think most cord-cutters are relying on reliable high-speed internet in order to deliver other sources of video, the the point where not having it would be a deal breaker in terms of cable-cutting.
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+1

My internet provider and my cable (satellite actually) provider are entirely different entities. Cutting the cord will only work for us if I spend the extra $30/mo to upgrade my broadband connection speed from the current 1.5Mbps to the next available step-up speed, 6.0Mbps. Having the higher speed will be a welcomed byproduct of dumping DirecTV.
 
harley said:
What do y'all cord cutters do about internet?...
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I probably fall in the [-]cheap[/-] frugal category in only having next to basic internet (slow DSL) and rely on plain OTA (no streaming through broadband).

For me, as long there's decent picture quality and programs like the morning and nightly world news and The Superbowl stay on free TV, then I'm game.

With an OTA DVR where I can pause live TV and such, I feel like a big shot :)

When I cut cable (a few years back) there are some shows I missed (Ghosthunters on Sci-fy, Bizarre Foods as examples), but I prefer saving the $ by cutting the cord.
 
I already ordered the Roku 2. If I don't like it, I'll ship it to Rewahoo for a full refund. As far as youtube is concerned, I watch a few music videos but can continue doing that on my laptop. Not a big deal. I'll watch Netflix mainly so the Roku I bought should be fine.
 
I'm stuck... I'm all about sports and even if I bought internet sports package, it only covers out of market teams, plus NFL package is still exclusive through Direct. Though I get steamed about the price, it would actually be very reasonable without the add ons of 2 extra receivers ( 1 person can't watch 3 Tvs at the same time), HD, and DVR fee.
 
calmloki said:
Guys Guys guys - Roku 3 is where it's at: has a youtube channel available and is faster - worth the extra $30-40. Roku 2 doesn't have that channel available and you are gonna save so much $$ you can splurge a bit at the outset. We don't have decent OTA either up north or down here, but am not a sports nut, so when we dropped Dish it was no big loss. Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime subscriptions (about $24/mo.) give us way too much tv - add in the free stuff on Youtube and we barely see the sun.

Imoldernu: "OTA only 5 religious channels from Iowa, even with a good antenna. Stuck! "

Geez - I get that you are older, but isn't 5 enough to guarantee your future? Guess I need to start playing catch up...
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Thanks for making me feel good about my purchase of the Roku 3! I really just made a wild guess...opting for the newest model. I read the part about how it was "5 times faster" and that was pretty much all I remember from the ad on Amazon this morning.

Also ordered a good quality HDMI cable to go along with the Roku. Price for the Roku was $89.99 & the cable was, I believe around $6, so a total of $96 for both, with free shipping & $0 tax. Supposed to be here in 2 days, so I'm looking forward to some "free" movies. And...I do use YouTube enough that it will have been a good decision to get the Roku model that supports it.

I really appreciate the link to the site with all those free YouTube movies, too. :dance:
 
martyb said:
Thanks for making me feel good about my purchase of the Roku 3! I really just made a wild guess...opting for the newest model. I read the part about how it was "5 times faster" and that was pretty much all I remember from the ad on Amazon this morning.
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Marty, you done good! :)

I agree the Roku 3 offers several advantages over the less expensive Roku 2, but for clarification the "5 times faster" apparently refers not to how quickly the Roku 3 streams video, but how quickly the machine responds to menu inputs. From a comparison site:

...the Roku 3 also features a faster processor than the older Roku models, which is going to make interaction with the various menus and features that much smoother. That is not to say that the Roku 2 XD system is sluggish; simply that the Roku 3 system is noticeably faster.
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Roku 2 XD vs. Roku 3 - Solve Your Tech
 
I switched from Direct TV after over 10 years in September for a double play bundle from Comcast.

Get more channels, much faster Internet and save $60 a month the first year and $40 a month the second year. The catch is that I spent about $1200 on a Tivo setup so that I didn't have to deal with Comcast's poor DVR offerings.

Only way to play this game is to go back and forth and get the promotional deals. Before I quit Direct TV, I tried to get newer DVRs from them and they stonewalled me. Of course when I called to close the account, they made offers. They now send me mailings to come back, including offers to pay for the termination fees.

The pay TV business may have peaked, with the industry losing subscribers last year. I don't think it's cutting the cord phenomena as much as tepid economy forcing many households to cut back.

When my contract runs out in Sept of 2015, I'll shop deals again. Otherwise, that might be the time to look into cutting the cord, though I have no plans to give up watching sports then.
 
calmloki said:
it is more that the content (may be) different. and FREE is always nice. Finding content is difficult, but there are ways... here is a crowd-sourced group of some of the titles available on Youtube.
Full Movies On YouTube

Red Dog is on you tube - prefer cats, but that movie snuck up on me and poked me in the eyebulbs.
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There a lot more movies than this on YouTube. Problem is you have to blindly look. I noticed from the above list a movie I wouldn't mind watching so my wife and I sat down to one last night. I then typed in a couple of odd movies like Eddie and the Cruisers 2 and (because I read them all when I was young) Doc Savage....which I might have to watch for the first time in a gazillion years....if I remember correctly, it was pretty bad (my kind of movie). Both movies are there.....guess I should make a list of them and keep track.
 
imoldernu said:
OTA only 5 religious channels from Iowa, even with a good antenna.

Stuck!
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F4mandolin said:
There a lot more movies than this on YouTube. Problem is you have to blindly look. I noticed from the above list a movie I wouldn't mind watching so my wife and I sat down to one last night. I then typed in a couple of odd movies like Eddie and the Cruisers 2 and (because I read them all when I was young) Doc Savage....which I might have to watch for the first time in a gazillion years....if I remember correctly, it was pretty bad (my kind of movie). Both movies are there.....guess I should make a list of them and keep track.
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The site I listed doesn't make pretense of being exhaustive. It is a list of individual movies that people post because they found/enjoyed/were amused by them. Great for lazy people like me looking for suggestions of something that is likely to be available.
 
REWahoo said:
I'm only at 1.5Mb currently but my internet supplier offers a 6Mb service. I'm going to sign up for a month of that to see how it works before I cancel the satellite...
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Are you on satellite internet service? We are currently cellular at the house and it's starting to be a drag.
 
Gazingus said:
Are you on satellite internet service? We are currently cellular at the house and it's starting to be a drag.
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No, we have OTA broadband service via two-way line of sight radio. From when we moved out here in 98 until 05 we were on dial-up :facepalm:, then on cellular for the next few years. We tried two other OTA providers but they were unreliable, then found the current provider a couple of years ago and have been happy with the service.

DD#1 lives a few miles away and is in a [-]dead zone[/-] valley where they not only cannot get the OTA service, they have no cell service either. She went with a satellite provider (Exede) and has been happy with it - although my teen grandson is always grousing about the monthly download limit (our OTA provider has no limit).
 
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REWahoo said:
No, we have OTA broadband service via two-way line of sight radio. From when we moved out here in 98 until 05 we were on dial-up :facepalm:, then on cellular for the next few years. We tried two other OTA providers but they were unreliable, then found the current provider a couple of years ago and have been happy with the service.

DD#1 lives a few miles away and is in a [-]dead zone[/-] valley where they not only cannot get the OTA service, they have no cell service either. She went with a satellite provider (Exede) and has been happy with it - although my teen grandson is always grousing about the monthly download limit (our OTA provider has no limit).
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Thanks for that reply. We are in Bosque County and not enough population to attract the OTA companies. I may be getting Exede soon.
 
Gazingus said:
Thanks for that reply. We are in Bosque County and not enough population to attract the OTA companies. I may be getting Exede soon.
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People I know with Exede are mostly happy with it though it has the usual satellite internet issues (latency times, weather dropouts, low bandwidth allotments). I looked into it when I was trying to explore our Internet options here when we were getting ready to move here nearly a year ago.

The latency time isn't a big deal for most things, but for stuff like online gaming where fast reflexes and responses from the server are critical for not getting eaten by the dragon, it won't work well. And as for the bandwidth, if someone is occasionally a night owl or can schedule large downloads overnight, Exede has a window where there is unmetered, full-speed and essentially unlimited usage between midnight and 5 AM.

That said, it's also not for power users who need more bandwidth at high speeds. Even their top plan gives 25 GB a month, which isn't that much if you do a lot of downloads and video, but after that you will still get (slow) service for the rest of the month -- about 128Kbps, roughly 2-3x faster than dial-up -- until the next month starts and the meter resets.
 
rbmrtn said:
Never mind, I thought the shipping was included ( I didn't order one ).

Newegg has a deal on a refurb roku 3, it was 69.99 over the weekend.
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I was tempted by the newer model, but I figure if the $35 refurb Roku 2 passes the "proof of concept" phase and earns a high wife acceptance factor, I may buy a better one for the living room and put the Roku 2 in the bedroom (which is an older analog set anyway, doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles).
 
ziggy29 said:
I was tempted by the newer model, but I figure if the $35 refurb Roku 2 passes the "proof of concept" phase and earns a high wife acceptance factor, I may buy a better one for the living room and put the Roku 2 in the bedroom (which is an older analog set anyway, doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles).
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Regarding your Roku move plan you may wish to double check the ROKU2 output - I seem to recall that our Roku3 wouldn't work with the analog tv set - it only had a HDMI output
 
calmloki said:
Regarding your Roku move plan you may wish to double check the ROKU2 output - I seem to recall that our Roku3 wouldn't work with the analog tv set - it only had a HDMI output
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I checked the specs. The Roku 2 XD has composite video out for older analog sets, at least from what I've read. I think Roku 3 removed support for older video outputs. If not, if I replace it I put it on eBay for half of what I bought it for, and I'm "out" maybe 20 bucks -- less than 1/4 of a monthly satellite bill.
 
REWahoo said:
I took advantage of a deal on a refurbished Roku XD for $40. No time like the present to move forward on my 'cut the satellite' resolution.
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FYI:

Note that this model does not have an Ethernet (Cat 5) connection and only works via wireless. The refurb Roku 2 XS has the Ethernet conection and 1080p resolution.

On another note: When you get your refub unit, the remote *usually* is not paired to the unit. You will have to go through the pairing set up which is pretty simple.
 
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