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Cutting The Cord or how to free yourself from the cable TV providers

We did have a YouTube subscription until recently. Their recent decision to censor Channels they disagree with caused us to drop their service and switch to Hulu. We also have Netflix, Amazon, Apple+ and, I’m sure at least a dozen other subscriptions I’m not aware of.
 
Even changing telephone service providers at work a few years ago was a very unpleasant experience.

I'm pretty sure that the aggravation is purposely designed in...... which helps to reinforce my lack of feeling great about any of the providers. Elon Musk is trying to circle the globe with satellites that will provide an interesting twist to the content provider(s) game.
OM
 
My wife and I cut the cord 11/5/2019 when we sold everything and went to full-time RV. The first 8 months or so we had no TV or antenna for TV, we only had our cellphones and their data plans. We used the cell hotspot for our internet connection. During this time we only had one cell phone provider so sometimes we were at the mercy of coverage for that plan. Five months ago we bought a different rig and it had a TV with a antenna for broadcast TV. Now we use that and rescan when we change areas. Our cell phones are still our primary source for data and streaming. Although to help with coverage I just changed over to ATT and the wife has Verizon. I gives us a little better coverage. She also bought an iPad with cell capabilities.

So with this we have the TV for local and national news and the cell packages for streaming. We also can connect the iPad and iPhone to the TV through HDMI for a larger viewing form factor. It works. Is it great? Well it depends if you want to sit around all day looking at screens or go ride, hike, or see things we have not seen before. It is a choice.

We are retired so we don't need internet to support ourselves.
 
My wife and I cut the cord 11/5/2019 when we sold everything and went to full-time RV. The first 8 months or so we had no TV or antenna for TV, we only had our cellphones and their data plans. We used the cell hotspot for our internet connection. During this time we only had one cell phone provider so sometimes we were at the mercy of coverage for that plan. Five months ago we bought a different rig and it had a TV with a antenna for broadcast TV. Now we use that and rescan when we change areas. Our cell phones are still our primary source for data and streaming. Although to help with coverage I just changed over to ATT and the wife has Verizon. I gives us a little better coverage. She also bought an iPad with cell capabilities.

So with this we have the TV for local and national news and the cell packages for streaming. We also can connect the iPad and iPhone to the TV through HDMI for a larger viewing form factor. It works. Is it great? Well it depends if you want to sit around all day looking at screens or go ride, hike, or see things we have not seen before. It is a choice.

We are retired so we don't need internet to support ourselves.
Very cool :thumb
I wonder if you have seen this thread. https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?69427-Official-MOA-RV-thread
It would be interesting to see a picture of your rig.
OM
 
I have a feeling any big jump into this arena will leave some bruising. ;)
OM

I am once again compelled to tell a story. Back in '99 when Voni was riding her 73,660 miles in 6 months in the MOA mileage contest she was on a two week ride about. One night I got home from work after an evening meeting and when I turned on the TV all I saw was a bright white dot in the middle of the screen. When I talked to her on the phone I told her I thought we would need a new TV and told her about the little bright white dot. She laughed at me. Yes, she actually laughed when she told me it had been like that for six weeks.

So when we moved to Texas a few years later giving up satellite TV was actually not that hard at all.
 
I am once again compelled to tell a story. Back in '99 when Voni was riding her 73,660 miles in 6 months in the MOA mileage contest she was on a two week ride about. One night I got home from work after an evening meeting and when I turned on the TV all I saw was a bright white dot in the middle of the screen. When I talked to her on the phone I told her I thought we would need a new TV and told her about the little bright white dot. She laughed at me. Yes, she actually laughed when she told me it had been like that for six weeks.

So when we moved to Texas a few years later giving up satellite TV was actually not that hard at all.

CRT's were easier to diagnose :rofl :rofl
om
 
Trying to sort through this now as well.

We have a bundled service Cable TV with every package known to woman, Landline and 100 MBPS Internet access.

Three TV with Tivo boxes, Three computers, Three Kindles, Three Smartphones, One Thermostat and one Google thing that listens to what I say all the time.

Internet speed on my Laptop about 10 feet from the router typically runs about

screencapture-vastbroadband-speedtestcustom-result-9fbc9cd0-422a-11eb-ba21-a36382f0b141-2020-12-.png

But sitting in the same place accessing the same router on my phone I get

Phone Speedtest Screenshot_20201219-115417_Chrome.jpg

So something is wrong.

Tech supposed to come Monday to run some tests.

I'd love to disconnect the Landline, eliminate Cable and go to Net based service for TV/Video etc, trying to convince SWMBO and Adult Daughter that it is a good idea. They TIVO a lot of stuff, the simplicity of that may overule my preferences, and the Adult Daughter is paying the bill!
 
... which helps to reinforce my lack of feeling great about any of the providers...

I've had good luck with my two major providers. I just had two major issues with my telco, and they resolved them to my complete satisfaction. You can even talk to them; nice guys.
 
So something is wrong.

Tech supposed to come Monday to run some tests!

Could just be a difference in the hardware capabilities of the two devices. Have you compared the specs of the wireless adapters in each to see what their ratings are?
 
Just last week I downgraded my trio services from my cable supplier.

1: Eliminated landline

2: Downgraded internet speed from 200Mbps to 100Mbps

3: Downgraded preferred cable to basic cable (still get everything I watch and need, and then some)

All told my bill goes from $197 to $141. Still plenty as far as I'm concerned. But overall I'm happy for now.

I'm too far from anything to use an outdoor antenna, or I would go that route in a heartbeat.

Now if I could just get our cell phone bill adjusted down.....
 
On cell phones, a little trick i picked up. When you get a new phone pay it off except 24 cents. Then for 24 months pay 1 cent per month and they still have to honor your full warrant.
It worked for the last four phones purchases I did.
 
On cell phones, a little trick i picked up. When you get a new phone pay it off except 24 cents. Then for 24 months pay 1 cent per month and they still have to honor your full warrant.
It worked for the last four phones purchases I did.

OK, I am confused! What is the advantage to doing this??
 
It lowers your monthly cell phone bill.

With Verizon, you don't gain anything by paying it off. The payoff is equal to the same amount as the 24 (or remaining) payments, so you might as well keep your cash flow and make the monthly payment. What am I missing here?
 
Trying to sort through this now as well.

We have a bundled service Cable TV with every package known to woman, Landline and 100 MBPS Internet access.

Three TV with Tivo boxes, Three computers, Three Kindles, Three Smartphones, One Thermostat and one Google thing that listens to what I say all the time.

Internet speed on my Laptop about 10 feet from the router typically runs about

View attachment 81505

But sitting in the same place accessing the same router on my phone I get

View attachment 81502

So something is wrong.

Tech supposed to come Monday to run some tests.

I'd love to disconnect the Landline, eliminate Cable and go to Net-based service for TV/Video, etc, trying to convince SWMBO and Adult Daughter that it is a good idea. They TIVO a lot of stuff, the simplicity of that may overrule my preferences, and the Adult Daughter is paying the bill!

A nice young man, Trevor, from VAST showed up early, listened carefully to my complaint, verified that the speed at 2.4 was slow.
Verified that we had good signal from the system into the router, noticed that the router was not consistent. Replaced router with "Latest & Greatest" model.

Laptop performance at 2.4 improved by 25% and is much more consistent.

Trevor suggests upgrading the card in the laptop to make it capable of receiving the 5.0 signal.
 
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