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Tag: comcast

Bye Bye Comcast, f-you very much

February 8, 2012 / / 4 Comments

Feb 8th, 2012

Remember this day. It is the day that the Dobson’s quit cable. We cut the cord! We broke the shackles! We tasted freedom from ‘THE CABLE COMPANY’ for the first time since before I got my first apartment in college.

We’ll probably be signing back up in a few months or when the girls and Julie get tired of not having it, but it’s fun and exciting for the moment and I loved being able to tell the Comcast lady (who was pretty rude) that I didn’t want or need her service and was cancelling. Felt SOOOOO good.

So here is the breakdown of where we started and what we ended up with.

Start:

  • (Comcast/Xfinity) Preferred digital cable package + DVR + HD channels + 12 Mb/s internet + Unlimited local phone = $180 / month
  • (AT&T) 2 cell phones with family call plan + data plans + unlimited text = $150 / month
  • Total: $330 / month

Where we will be by the end of the week:

  • (AT&T) 3 cell phones with family call plan + 2 data plans + unlimited text + 12 Mb/s = $178 / month
  • Total: $178 / month + $400 initial investment (3 month payback, $1824 savings per year)

Cable

We ditched this totally. For content, we are going with a combination of HD OTA using the antenna I posted about last year, Amazon prime streaming, the library, and some other content that I am not at liberty to state how I get… We may have to sign up for Netflix or Hulu Plus if content becomes an issue.

For distribution to the end devices (TVs, PCs, iPad, iPhones), I made a few purchases today to make this transition easier.

  • A NAS with a 2 GB HD for now so I don’t have to worry about the computer being on to stream all the video (Synology DS212j).
  • An HD Homerun dual tuner streaming TV box made by SiliconDust. I connect the OTA antenna to this baby and it will stream the HD video to any device on my network, including my desktop PC which I will configure as a DVR and have it record shows to the NAS above which is then accessible from XBMC running on my Apple TV. Got it???? I know, it sounds complicated… but this will give us a very similar experience when watching TV to what we had when we had cable. At least for the major networks.

Phone

I setup a third cell line on our family plan with AT&T for $9.99/month and got a non-smartphone for free with the new line of service. This new phone will have our existing home number transferred to it. I picked up the phone today and it should be switched over in a couple of days.

The one complaint Julie had with this plan was that she would miss the ‘feeling’ of having a home phone and have to run about the house looking for the cell phone when someone called. To eliminate this, I found a set of cordless home phones that have a feature called link-to-cell. You sync your cell via bluetooth with the base unit and then any calls you receive or make are through your cell phone. VERY COOL. Panasonic KX-TG7645M

Internet

The one service that is essential to us now… over the cable or home phone. So here, getting the fastest connection for the cheapest cost is what I was after. Comcast wouldn’t make me any deals and wanted $45/month for 12Mp/s. AT&T offered me a new customer deal of $24/month at the same speed for a year. Done. I figure this is probably the one service I will be switching back and forth between Comcast and AT&T if I need to in order to get the best rate. It’s pretty painless to switch and I don’t use my ISP for anything other than a pipe (no email or any other service).

Wow, big changes for the family…. I’ll keep you posted. Maybe this will force us to spend more time playing games as a family or watching only the things we really really want to see. Either way, it can’t be that bad and it’s a fun experiment. I can’t believe we don’t have cable. So pumped!! (the only major issue is what happens when football starts up again… hmmmm)

And no… there is no basement update. Still working on moulding. Grrr.

My quest to ditch Comcast

February 13, 2011 / / 5 Comments

My quest to ditch Comcast

Like many people, I have a deep hatred of Comcast and their unbelievably high prices for services. For the past several years I have picked up various tricks/hacks to get my bill lowered. This usually involved calling and looking for package deals or 6 month promotional sign ups. Usually the Comcast rep would tell me no or turn me away, but if you keep calling back and are persistent about trying to lower your bill, you can get someone who will work something out. This resulted in me saving 40-50% off the full price of my cable. Last year, I worked out the most amazing deal I ever had and got Digital Preferred, DVR, home phone and internet (upgraded) for $89/month.

So you’d think I would be happy…. working out deals, getting my services for a reasonable price. I was, until the end of Dec. 2010. My unbelievably good deals ran out and my bill went from $89 to $160 in the blink of an eye. And the crazy part… this was for the same services and included a downgrade of my internet speed!!! I truly hate you Comcast. $160/month is so painful…. too painful. After 6-7 separate calls into Comcast to try and look for a deal, I am finally disheartened and it seems that Comcast has either changed some policies or just doesn’t care about their existing customers.

Alternatives

I have a friend that recently setup an HTPC (home theater pc) which is basically a computer that sits in your living room and is dedicated to watching media on your TV. I have long wanted to go this route but couldn’t really justify the cost of a PC just for watching television and not having access to all the shows available on cable.

The cost issue is pretty simple now, you can build a very nice HTPC for under $500 that can hookup to Netflix, the web and play any media you can throw at it. After 4 months, we would be in the green for saving money over having cable (this would include ditching our land line and just keeping the internet service). Now, the big question…. where do you get your media/shows to watch??

Step 1. HD OTA

Getting the major networks in HD is going to be key. Sports, major events, etc. are usually not easily available elsewhere on the web in HD so this is a must. I did some googling and found various sites (http://www.antennaweb.org/) that will help you determine what type of antenna you need to pickup the various HD channels that are being broadcast over the air. My issue is that I am cheap and wanted to be able to test out how well we would get the signals without putting in a lot of money.

Another consideration is how well I would get the signals inside the house. Having the antenna in the attic, and not outside, is going to be a big requirement. There is no way Julie would let me get away with a big antenna outside.

I found this site: http://www.tvantennaplans.com/ about building your own antenna and figured that since I had all the material in my garage, I’d spend the 1/2 hour and build it. It turns out that I needed to get the 300-75 ohm balun from Radio Shack, but it was only $5. So for just the $5, I was going to be able to do some simple tests to see if there was any hope in being able to move away from Comcast.

Results…. it worked! And the test I started with was just setting it up in my living room and seeing what I can get so the reception can only be better once I get it up in the attic and attach the proper reflectors on it. The drying racks I used to hack this thing together seemed to help, but they are not ideal and Julie would not be happy if I used them in my little project long term.

I ended up getting some channels really, really well in 1080i (like WGN) and some that flaked in and out like NBC, but on the whole, it proved to me it was possible. The next step, if we went this route would be to install the antenna in the attic, run some coax to the area near the TV and build an HTPC. You need the HTPC in this setup to perform the DVR functionality. Several applications exist that will allow you to bring up a channel guide and setup a season recording or record individual shows.

For now, this is all still a pipe dream in my head because Julie is not game. I’m hoping that as the monthly bill keeps rolling in, she will start asking more questions. I’m on the verge of a major change in our TV/entertainment options… just waiting for what the last straw will be…

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