Dish or DirecTV

[CaptainHenreh]

I've got a cable box I haven't hooked up simply because my internet + tv is cheaper than internet alone go fuckin' figure.

I don't really miss it.

[HAULN-SS]

I ended up going with DirecTV for a while. Shit was out of control for 3 TV's hooked up. I got pissed one day when I called and was asking about updating the shitty boxes I had with something that had DVR - which they were giving away for free to new subscribers. I had been with them for like 5 years at that point and they wouldn't do it so I told them to stop service immediately. Been using netflix mostly ever since. Hulu plus is kinda shitty - the shows and stuff would all come in and be laggy as hell with my internet. Then one of the MANY commercials (yeah, even on plus), would buffer for 5 minutes and play the 2 minute commercial in glorious 1080. Pulled the plug on them after I caught onto that.

Ended up buying an over the air antenna. That gets you all the networks, 5 PBS channels, and probably 4 QVC type channels. Between that, prime, and netflix, I get about all I ever want. Prime gets movies about the same speed as redbox, and when you're not paying over 100 per month for TV, it doesn't really bother you to spend $5 on a movie.

[Evan]

dropping TV from my fios plan only saves me $35 a month, so not really worth the effort since I like to watch the news channels and live hockey.

I went the other way, I dropped netflix because I almost never watched it.

what really kills your bill is the 18 networked HD DVR BBQ boxes that you rent for the tv in every room of your house, along with the crazy channel packages.

cut down to one non-dvr box on your main tv, with the regular channel package, you will watch less tv just because you are bored, and have 99% of your viewing covered when you want to watch something. Will also save a ton of money, and not have to mess with pointing a yagi antenna on your roof or juggling a bunch of video service subscriptions with their laggy apps

[Jewels]

dropping TV from my fios plan only saves me $35 a month, so not really worth the effort since I like to watch the news channels and live hockey.

I went the other way, I dropped netflix because I almost never watched it.

what really kills your bill is the 18 networked HD DVR BBQ boxes that you rent for the tv in every room of your house, along with the crazy channel packages.

cut down to one non-dvr box on your main tv, with the regular channel package, you will watch less tv just because you are bored, and have 99% of your viewing covered when you want to watch something. Will also save a ton of money, and not have to mess with pointing a yagi antenna on your roof or juggling a bunch of video service subscriptions with their laggy apps

That's basically what we've done. We cut our TV back to just basic and upped our internet speed. We dropped Netflix because we never used it, and we already had Amazon Prime. We haven't even plugged in our cable box but will probably do that soon since Football is back soon. We only watch what we want to watch via a usb drive most the time, and have been getting caught up on a couple of things via Amazon Prime on Rex's smart TV. With all that we've probably saved 60 bucks total. Which not seem like a lot, but when you are buying food for a Toddler that eats like a ravenous wolf you appreciate that. Also, we don't have a ton of time to watch tv anyway. Hannah doesn't watch tv, and so we only watch after she goes to bed most nights.

[Apoc]

We're still on DirecTV (god bless Genie wireless!) and only have Amazon On Demand because it's free with Prime. I find we watch recorded shows (we have about a dozen) and then flip to AOD, Netflix DVD, or something downloaded because we don't want to watch commercials. We could probably do without DTV, if it weren't for football, hockey, and F1 but IMO that's non-negotiable.

[.RJ]

OMG YOU PAID FOR AMAZON PRIME WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE

[Apoc]

Nope. I added it to my Amazon Wish List and my mom bought it for me as a gift.

LIFE HACKING LIKE A BAWSS

[WRXtranceformed]

Thanks guys that is helpful. I also looked at dropping packages / receivers but if I have satellite TV I am going to want it in the three rooms I have it right now. And the packages below the one we have right now unfortunately get rid of some of the only channels I really watch (Golf channel, etc.). It also doesn't help that DTV gives stupid low monthly rates and free Sunday Ticket to new subscribers, but nothing to loyal customers unless you call and yell at them every 6 months (ask me how i know)

There is a chance I may end up with Time Warner security which would let me bundle their 3 services (tv / internet / security). I really didn't like their TV service in the past but maybe it's gotten better. I am leaning toward cutting the TV cord altogether though honestly, especially with Destiny coming out soon which will take up most of my "sit on my butt" free time.

[.RJ]

I havent had cable for 3 years now and I dont miss it... but I'm also the anomaly in that I just have 1 TV and dont watch football/hockey/etc. I've got a Roku for Netflix, Hulu and a borrowed HBO streaming login - covers the 2-3 hours of TV we watch a week. All of the cycling & motorsport stuff I download via torrent anyways, wouldnt be available on cable if I were paying for it.

[JustinG]

The wife and I have thought about cutting the cord, but just cannot bring ourselves to doing so yet. We watch a pretty good amount of TV and we are in a lot of shows. We never watch anything live, F commercials, and Averie is either dragging us around the house to play or watching Disney Jr. so without the DVR we would watch no TV.

We have Netflix and Prime (Prime for shipping, 75% of our shopping occurs on Amazon, 25% on Target with redcard debit card free shipping ), Netflix doesn't get used very often, I may kill it until the next season of House of Cards.

[Apoc]

Thanks guys that is helpful. I also looked at dropping packages / receivers but if I have satellite TV I am going to want it in the three rooms I have it right now.

If you're talking about cutting altogether, you might as well cut out two rooms as a test. Maybe you can live without it in those rooms and you're saving money. You could also realize you don't need it at all and turn it off completely.

[WRXtranceformed]

Cutting down receivers would make sense but looking at my last bill here is the breakout:

Whole home DVR service: $3.00
Watch DirecTV on Multiple TVs: $12.00 (3 TVs at $6.00 each, save $6.00 off first TV)

So at best I would cut $15.00 per month for the other two receivers, and my bill would still be over $100.00

Leaning toward cutting the cord and catching the shows I like online on the free sites

[Jewels]

Cutting down receivers would make sense but looking at my last bill here is the breakout:

Whole home DVR service: $3.00
Watch DirecTV on Multiple TVs: $12.00 (3 TVs at $6.00 each, save $6.00 off first TV)

So at best I would cut $15.00 per month for the other two receivers, and my bill would still be over $100.00

Leaning toward cutting the cord and catching the shows I like online on the free sites

TV Torrents. I know your TVs have USB ports. Easy Peasy.

[davej]

we watch next to nothing anymore (except when football is on) so i was fine with doing broadcast stuff. I got in crapcast for internet only when they were running a $30/month deal for a year. after getting it hooked up i scanned with the tv and it picked up about 40 channels, now most are home shopping or cspan, but there's like 2 or 3 of every major network, and an espn news. (might have even seen the golf channel) from the sounds of it those channels come in with the internet and aren't encrypted so you don't need a box, yet.

not looking forward to the price doubling at the end of the promotion, so it'll be brow-beat them over the phone to keep the rate or i'll dump it for something else.

[rherold9]

Switched Dish to DirecTV when I was living with the parents. DirecTV in my opinion was better. Stronger satellite signal. Dish would go out on cloudy days. DirecTV had to be a very heavy storm to go out. Dish liked to try to consistently change the price on my Dad. He was constantly on the phone with them annoyed. Etc, etc...

[.RJ]

Cutting down receivers would make sense but looking at my last bill here is the breakout:

Whole home DVR service: $3.00
Watch DirecTV on Multiple TVs: $12.00 (3 TVs at $6.00 each, save $6.00 off first TV)

So at best I would cut $15.00 per month for the other two receivers, and my bill would still be over $100.00

Leaning toward cutting the cord and catching the shows I like online on the free sites

TV Torrents. I know your TVs have USB ports. Easy Peasy.

Usenet > Torrents

[CaptainHenreh]

Usenet > Torrents

If you want gay porno instead of commercials, yeah, usenet's cool.

[.RJ]

Never happened to me once

[WRXtranceformed]

My wife was selling me on the idea of Roku tonight, because it looks like we can get a lot of the channels we want through that a la carte for pretty cheap. I am also kicking around the idea of sitting on DTV until after football season. Although we would be paying for service for the next 6-7 months, I could catch the end of the golf and football seasons and my buyout at that point would only be roughly the cost of 1 month of service (vs $300+). Sleeping on it a few days and then probably going to make the call next week.

Interestingly, I can upgrade TW to the highest speed, bundle a healthy security monitoring and TV service in for $144 / month total. That's less than the cost of my DTV and internet service alone right now.

[.RJ]

You wont need a higher speed for streaming video, if that's a concern. Its usually throttled/choked long before it gets to your house.