Cord Cutters

[GemParty]

I’m thinking of a combination of high speed internet, a Roku, YouTube Tv, Philos, & Netflix to kill the cable bill. Viewing their channels they’re missing SNY, YES, & NESN. How do I get those?

 

[Husky25]

I am not as technical as I should be regarding smart TVs. I have a Sharp Roku TV. I was able to sign-on to Amazon Prime easily but having troubles with HBO. I already have HBO Now and I am trying to connect to this. When I try, it seems to require Roku which I do not have and rather not purchase. Can I connect to HBO Now without Roku? HBO Go seems to be an easy option from my TV but I am not sure about differences between HBO Now and Go other than the fact that I can watch HBO Go on my phone which I no longer need.

It is my understanding that HBO Now is stand alone on-demand app, whereas HBO Go piggybacks off your cable subscription, provided you are already a subscriber. Whether you can connect to HBO Now without Roku depends if the HBO NOW app is supported by your smart-TV.

If you have a Roku TV, you should not need a separate plug-in stick. You will probably need a Roku account, which are free, to use the TV to it's full capabilities. Rokus are awesome, BTW. I have two...and a Chromecast.

 

[HCCForever]

It is my understanding that HBO Now is stand alone on-demand app, whereas HBO Go piggybacks off your cable subscription, provided you are already a subscriber. Whether you can connect to HBO Now without Roku depends if the HBO NOW app is supported by your smart-TV.

If you have a Roku TV, you should not need a separate plug-in stick. You will probably need a Roku account, which are free, to use the TV to it's full capabilities. Rokus are awesome, BTW. I have two...and a Chromecast.

Thank you Husky25. I did not realize Roku was free. I will check that out. I recently bought a Sharp Roku TV not knowing much about it.

 

[Huskyhoops25]

I’m thinking of a combination of high speed internet, a Roku, YouTube Tv, Philos, & Netflix to kill the cable bill. Viewing their channels they’re missing SNY, YES, & NESN. How do I get those?

I have YouTube tv and we have SNY. NESN. CBSSN. YES. And all the ESPN channels

 

[AreBee1969]

I have YouTube tv and we have SNY. NESN. CBSSN. YES. And all the ESPN channels

Yep. Red Sox and Huskies. Made YouTube TV the no brainer choice of streaming services for me.

 

[Waquoit]

One annoyance is all the local ad time on cable is filled on YouTube.tv with Frank Thomas and Nugenix commercials. No matter the channel. How does Frank know it works? Because "it's been clinically researched to totally work."

 

[jibsey]

One annoyance is all the local ad time on cable is filled on YouTube.tv with Frank Thomas and Nugenix commercials. No matter the channel. How does Frank know it works? Because "it's been clinically researched to totally work."

That's in the same category as the reverse mortgage scam. The public is a little guilible in case you haven't noticed but as long as the checks clear these guys don't care.

 

[Rico444]

Switched to YouTube TV about a month ago and wasn't too happy with the quality. Then I switched to Comcast 250 MBPS internet from Frontier 90 MBPS, and holy crap did that make a huge difference. Haven't had one issue with picture quality or lagging/buffering in the 5 days I've had the new internet.

 

[AreBee1969]

Well, I dropped off all of my DirecTV equipment at the UPS store on Monday. AT&T has a deal with them to ship it away for no charge to the (former) customer. Girl behind the counter said they were getting a lot of DirecTV returns lately. Easy as pie.
I have had no issues over the last month with YouTubeTV, and it opened my eyes to how awfully compressed the DirecTV signal was. No issues with lag/buffering even with the crap Frontier internet. Waiting for the ground to thaw so Comcast can bore a line under my driveway for broadband.

 

[Fore!]

I finally cut the cord a few weeks ago, going with GoNetSpeed (a high speed internet service available in West Hartford) for $50/month guaranteed for life, 150 Mbps upload and download speeds, free install to the house. You'll need your own router, streaming device and content provider (e.g., YouTubeTV); hardware prices vary depending on your needs and desires (I paid $220 for my router, $79 for Ooma box, $150 for NVIDIA Shield and $50 for Amazon Fire Stick). Also added Ooma VoIP to replace my landline phone (was able to keep the phone number). My monthly cost dropped from $212 to about $110.

 

[jibsey]

Comcast at their lower speed level 100 is $79 a month. But they are not state wife. How's the streaming?

 

[Minicoop69]

Comcast at their lower speed level 100 is $79 a month. But they are not state wife. How's the streaming?

I have Comcast. $50 a month gets me 250mbps.

 

[jibsey]

I have Comcast. $50 a month gets me 250mbps.

In Hartford county?

 

[Minicoop69]

In Hartford county?

Nope, sorry. Didn't know you were talking about CT. I'm in North Central Indiana about 30 minutes from Notre Dame.

 

[Caronimo]

In Hartford county?

Pretty sure mine is 250 for 50ish. It’ll go up after a year tho

 

[jibsey]

Nope, sorry. Didn't know you were talking about CT. I'm in North Central Indiana about 30 minutes from Notre Dame.

Florida has Frontier internet for $49 for 2 years. Comcast charges $30 more for same service.

 

[Minicoop69]

Florida has Frontier internet for $49 for 2 years. Comcast charges $30 more for same service.

Down there Frontier has fast internet? Where I'm at it is basically DSL speeds capping out at like 9mbps.

 

[ZenConn]

One annoyance is all the local ad time on cable is filled on YouTube.tv with Frank Thomas and Nugenix commercials. No matter the channel. How does Frank know it works? Because "it's been clinically researched to totally work."

Nothing wrong in telling your significant other about mimicking the "Big Hurt".

 

[tentoes4rings]

Florida has Frontier internet for $49 for 2 years. Comcast charges $30 more for same service.

I highly doubt it’s the “same service”. Frontier tops out at 45 MB in most markets with maybe 1 MB uploads. People think cable companies are a ripoff because they actually try to turn a profit. Frontier meanwhile gives things away, hence the 58 cent stock price and inevitable bankruptcy filing soon.

 

[Waquoit]

We cut the cord two months ago and Cox just started charging us a modem rental fee. We've owned our own for 10 years.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Tonight's game on YouTube TV threw me for a loop.
The video of the game was almost 10 seconds behind the audio of the game and announcers.
I'd be watching a player dribble on top of the key and hear a whistle and announcers start talking about a player foul. Couldn't get it to synch so I watched rest of game on YouTube TV on computer and it was fine.

 

[uconnfan68]

We cut the cord two months ago and Cox just started charging us a modem rental fee. We've owned our own for 10 years.

Send them a bill.

 

[AreBee1969]

I got the Comcast line run under my driveway yesterday. Last night I spent 50 minutes with customer service scheduling an appointment to complete the install inside the house.

One hang-up, five transfers and six iterations of my story. Three different reps tried to up-sell me to the triple play. One rep was nearly impossible to understand, one rep was impossible to understand.

I must have hit a new crop of reps as no one on the other end of the phone could provide an immediate answer to any question or react to anything I said. After every exchange I was put on hold while the rep asked some one else, who in turn, told them what to say. They would come back on the line, reiterate what they wore told and then put me back on hold.

Near the end of the last call, I wasn't put on hold and I could hear the more experienced (supervisor?) dictating in the background.

To add insult to injury I was watching the second half of the game at the same time so my blood was boiling.

 

[Husky25]

I got the Comcast line run under my driveway yesterday. Last night I spent 50 minutes with customer service scheduling an appointment to complete the install inside the house.

One hang-up, five transfers and six iterations of my story. Three different reps tried to up-sell me to the triple play. One rep was nearly impossible to understand, one rep was impossible to understand.

I must have hit a new crop of reps as no one on the other end of the phone could provide an immediate answer to any question or react to anything I said. After every exchange I was put on hold while the rep asked some one else, who in turn, told them what to say. They would come back on the line, reiterate what they wore told and then put me back on hold.

Near the end of the last call, I wasn't put on hold and I could hear the more experienced (supervisor?) dictating in the background.

To add insult to injury I was watching the second half of the game at the same time so my blood was boiling.

I have come to the conclusion that elevating your "concerns" to a supervisor at these larger service providers is the way to go, nine times out of ten. Give the person who answers the phone a shot, but they only get one.

There was one instance last summer where I even went one further. I asked to speak with the supervisor's supervisor. She told me she was a supervisor. Somewhat surprised that I wasn't cursing, but I know that is grounds for an instant and rightful hang up. I was so boiled over, that I said something to the effect of, "Supervisor is probably in your title, but unless your name is Jeff Bezos, there is someone above you. Please put that person on the line." Eventually I got satisfaction.

 

[Watchdog]

Please see question on internet speed at the end.

First, thanks to all who have offered their advice and experiences with the various streaming services as well as what equipment and internet download speeds make streaming work best. We're going in that direction because of our experience with DirecTV and the fact our local cable provider dropped SNY four years ago and replaced it with the Horse Race Channel............of course, some might say that might have been more fun to watch the last four years than our football and mens basketball.

Twice in the past three years I've found DirecTV charging us for HBO and Cinemax when we didn't order it. Called them and the first rep told me we must have signed up for it, so I told him to send me a copy of the order I reputedly signed, and he then said it was done by phone so I asked him to play the audio recording that would prove I signed up. He told me they'll have to request it and it might take ten days or so. I told him "no problem" I'll call back in two weeks.

Called back and different rep told me I must have signed up for it and I repeated my experience two weeks earlier and asked when I can hear the recording. He then told me it wasn't available so I told him I wanted to speak with a supervisor. He told me I didn't need to because he can do everything a supervisor can do and I challenged him on that and he hung up on me.

Called right back and got another rep and repeated what transpired in the first two calls and that I wanted a refund for the charges and asked how I go about cancelling service (not likely to because it's the only way I can get SNY where we live in South Carolina but the rep didn't need to know that). This rep too said I must have signed up for them but did so half heartedly and when I pressed her about hearing the recording and wanting to speak with a supervisor she put me on hold and came back and advised they would refund the charges and then offered me $40 off the monthly charges for the level service we have for the next two years and discounts off the Sports Pack for one year and some other regional sports package for 6 months.

I accepted and then two years later my wife again told me we'd been charged for HBO and Cinemax for the past couple months. She didn't read the detail and initially thought the monthly charge went up because we had lost the discounts. Called DirecTV and went through much the same routine with multiple calls to several reps before they probably saw on their screens that I wasn't giving up so again after the third or fourth try we got a big discount off the entire package for two years and the smaller discounts off the other two sports packages.

We will go with a streaming service after this basketball season provided we can find one with:
All the ESPN networks;
All the FOX networks;
CBSSN;
NBCSN;
SNY;
and hopefully NESN and YES, but that's hard to do in this area.

BIG QUESTION: Youtube TV says all we need is a 7 MPS download speed and that doesn't match with the experiences others have mentioned. Any thoughts on what speed is required for great video quality?

 

[ClifSpliffy]

I have come to the conclusion that elevating your "concerns" to a supervisor at these larger service providers is the way to go, nine times out of ten. Give the person who answers the phone a shot, but they only get one.

There was one instance last summer where I even went one further. I asked to speak with the supervisor's supervisor. She told me she was a supervisor. Somewhat surprised that I wasn't cursing, but I know that is grounds for an instant and rightful hang up. I was so boiled over, that I said something to the effect of, "Supervisor is probably in your title, but unless your name is Jeff Bezos, there is someone above you. Please put that person on the line." Eventually I got satisfaction.

I once chased my frontier problem all the way to the presidents office, somewhere in west florida. 'how'd you get this number?' I get that, a lot. problem solved. squeeky wheel and all that.