Cancelling cable t.v.

[wicked_lord]

Solecord - thanks man. we've been doing exactly what you're saying for 4 years. finally got what we thought was a great deal and did a price lock (never again). considering where i live (outskirts of major city, border of small town) i don't have hardly any options. it's basically going to be timewarner or att. centurylink, windstream, clearwire, verizon, none of them are available on my street. so i might just be talking timewarner down. though i'm interested in U-verse, and frankly i'm sick of cable t.v., i want to try satellite.

King - If it were just me i could do the no t.v. service and do netflix/hulu. but i have two small kids and trust me, they need their t.v. Better yet, their mother needs a simplified form of television for them. They already run her to death, i can just imagine her having to work a bunch of computers and xbox's just so they can change their minds every 15 minutes. lol.

Great feedback folks. I really do appreciate it.

Satelite TV is great, i have DIRECT-TV, but dooooooo NOT get Satelite internet, I had hughes.net satelite which is supposed to be the best satelite for internet, and on a cloudy day, you couldn't even connect. So basically stay with DSL or Cable in that matter. also you cannot get the speeds with satelite they provide. On a CLEAR day, you might be lucky to get the top end speeds they offer, but other then that, stay away unless thats your only option. Also not good for gaming.

[wicked_lord]

Some rural people have to use satellite, like Hughes Net, because they don't have DSL as an option.

Satellite internet is far better than nothing, but 1200 ping --- has to travel 22,000 miles up and then back down plus all the usual latency --- is unworkable for multiplayer.

What is ping through 3G or 4G network? Hmmm. Those are through cell phone towers as far as I know and Verizon has very good coverage in the USA.

[I'm sure my guess about it being through cell phone towers is correct, yet I don't make any assumptions without doing the homework first. Or at least I usually try to not make those kind of mistakes ...]

Missed right over this comment somehow. But my comment above speaks for satelite, been there done that never again!

[Baker]

hughes.net satelite which is supposed to be the best satelite for internet, and on a cloudy day, you couldn't even connect

Not only that. (Yeah, cloudy day = no internet, but that is satellite for you and that is just a limitation they have no control over.)

They ration the bandwidth with Hughes Net with a fair usage policy. Use over X bandwidth during "popular times" and they'll throttle you. But in the middle of the night like 2 AM to 4 AM they don't care and its unlimited, but still that isn't really ideal Netflix time.

I'm not saying this is unfair. I'm describing the limitations for those unfamiliar with the service.

To balance this out with something nice to say about it, you'd be shocked how quickly satellite internet can download a 500 MB file once it gets going. Sateliite internet has high latency and is a bit slow to initiate transactions like loading a web page, but this has nothing to do with the bandwidth capacity.

Kind of the opposite of a 512kb DSL connection which has low latency (like 25 ping) but takes forever to download a large file.

[rev]

alright. so based on my options, i have a single question, is fiber optics flat-out better than cable?

because if i have to stick with timewarner, i've read that they don't cut you a deal until you literally cancel and turn in your equipment. by deal i don't mean their standard promos, i mean the leet shit they only offer once you've left and they want to win you back. the retention department, come to find out, is actually all smoke and mirrors. sales department is who holds all the power and can do all the true finagling.

my other option is U-verse through at&t, which is fiber optics. which i'd rather go with and at&t's introductory bundles put timewarner to shame.

so fiber optics > or = cable?

[wicked_lord]

my other option is U-verse through at&t, which is fiber optics. which i'd rather go with and at&t's introductory bundles put timewarner to shame.

so fiber optics > or = cable?

Bro i think you answered your own question....

[Mindf!3ldzX]

fiber optics will make coaxial connection its BITCH any time of the day,any day of the week,any week of the year.

[ninjamonkeyz]

well if ur going off the tv grid ... this is the site i use for my shows... Watch all tv series online for FREE

[Mindf!3ldzX]

fios is the end of the line, you'll wet yourself once you have it. I wish they fn offered it here broseph.

[Phenom]

Get AT&T DSL for a horrible experience.

Nothing like everything not working 70% of the time and when you call in to tech support they outright deny the problem may be on there side and tell you to buy a new $70 modem or new wires or to just power cycle since POWER CYCLING is supposed to be the end all game changer of problems.

Don't get AT DSL if you can avoid it. I am switching to the very first ISP that shows up in my area that isn't satellite or DSL.

[Baker]

Nothing like everything not working 70% of the time and when you call in to tech support they outright deny the problem may be on there side and tell you to buy a new $70 modem or new wires or to just power cycle since POWER CYCLING is supposed to be the end all game changer of problems.

Hehe. I had AT&T DSL until recently and anytime I called them I took control of the phone call every time.

Examples:

AT&T Tech Support Person: Hello, my name is so and so.

Baker: I had to reset my router and I don't remember my DSL password so I need to reset it.
AT&T Tech Support Person: What brand of modem do you have and do have the cord connected?

Baker: Sure, but let's keep in my mind why I called. I need my password reset. My modem doesn't know the password, I don't know the password and neither do you and AT&T DSL needs a password and we certainly are not going to get very far without that.

AT&T Tech Support Person: I have your password reset and it is <insert>. Can you go to the login screen?

Baker: Thank you for help, I'm pretty sure I've got it from here. But if not, I can always call back.

Yes, call center technical support can be a frustrating experience.

However, most of the time if you politely guide them with focus and courtesy you can usually handle it efficiently.

The irony: Do be polite to people working in call centers. They are forced to use scripts, they often do not know much about their own products. They took the job because they needed it. And they are people too.

Being polite and courteous (and focused and brief) does allow someone to navigate these otherwise frustrating minefields.

[One time dealing with AT&T DSL, they wanted me to insert the unnecessary CD that came with it. I knew that was unnecessary, so I told them I was on a Mac knowing that CD was Windows only. I could have used either Windows or my Mac, but felt for efficiency evading the "install the CD" wild goose chase was the better option.]

[rev]

haha. i tried a preliminary sign-up with AT&T DSL, DirecTV and so on, and once i entered my street address, the online application automatically switched me from that to U-verse. Same price and all.

So I guess if AT&T would rather I have fiber optics, i won't fight them. i knew fiber optic internet puts coaxial to shame. i do read guys. i was more concerned with fiber optic television. i would imagine it's better also, but wanted to make sure.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

U lucky brah ! Uverse'd, im so jealous !!

[rev]

yeah, well i double checked everything again, and apparently, only U-verse internet is available in my neighborhood. And only the 6mbps down is available. Soo, i got a lot of things to figure out now. i COULD get TV else where, but the bundle from at&t makes 6mbps 25 dollars a month. i basically can't pass that up.

the TV in at&t bundle is DirecTV. So if there are any DirecTV comments that need to be said, please do so soon!

[wicked_lord]

yeah, well i double checked everything again, and apparently, only U-verse internet is available in my neighborhood. And only the 6mbps down is available. Soo, i got a lot of things to figure out now. i COULD get TV else where, but the bundle from at&t makes 6mbps 25 dollars a month. i basically can't pass that up.

the TV in at&t bundle is DirecTV. So if there are any DirecTV comments that need to be said, please do so soon!

Im in such a rural area that my only option for tv is dish and direct. So i have direct and all the channels they provide that i like.. Its great and my dsl was also bundled for 2 years contract for total of 129.99 for internet,tv,phone

[Solecord]

I have DirecTV and love it. It is so much better than Time Warner Cable in every way. If you sign up for DirecTV and you say you were referred by me (you must give them my account number of 083722685) you'll save $10 off your bill for 12 months and I will save the same.