# Cable Rip-off



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Cable alone for me is over $100/month. HS Internet runs an additional $70.

I think I will drop cable and go with Sling TV....can basically get all the channels that I want to watch plus more for $25/month.....this includes extra sports programming such as the SEC network. And if I use/buy the ChannelMaster equipment, I can then receive most of the local programming.

Anyone use Sling?

Regards, Mike


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

My wife saw an ad for Sling last week some time. I was kinda curious about it as well. Can't justify $100 month for tv, especially since a lot of the channels would never get viewed.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Vol said:


> Cable alone for me is over $100/month. HS Internet runs an additional $70.
> 
> I think I will drop cable and go with Sling TV....can basically get all the channels that I want to watch plus more for $25/month.....this includes extra sports programming such as the SEC network. And if I use/buy the ChannelMaster equipment, I can then receive most of the local programming.
> 
> ...


We are going to do something . I do not watch tv . But my wife watches a little and she works just as hard as I do so she will have to bless the Exodus


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Sounds interesting...

Sick and tired of $100 a month DirecTV bills... for mostly garbage that we don't watch anyway. We use the Amazon FireStick to watch old TV shows most of the time.

My brother FINALLY got DirecTV so he could watch monster trucks and the Speed channel... then they changed the lineup and screwed up the programming so he couldn't see the shows he wanted to see anyway, and he got sick of it when they jacked the price up to about $100 a month. He called them and complained and they knocked his bill down to about $70 a month for a few months, then started jacking it right back up again. He finally called them and canceled altogether.

I'm just about ready to do the same. The only thing I really watch is "Vikings" and "Turn: Washington's Spies" and the occasional movie or show that I DVR from time to time. Most of the time we're watching Amazon Fire Stick.

It is RIDICULOUS the amount of commercials they bombard you with on there-- it's impossible for me to watch anything in "real time" as it's broadcast due to all the commercial CRAP. As much advertising as they have on there, there's NO reason that the bill should be over $20 bucks a month, at MOST... having a $100 a month bill and getting commercials out the wazoo is just them DOUBLE DIPPING and taking the money from BOTH sides, and I'm sick of it...

I can watch crappy new shows and be bombarded with endless commercials on broadcast TV for FREE...

Later! OL J R


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## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

I'm in a fight with ATT & Directv now, as you know they own each other now, or however they put it..

I've been with ATT for 20+ years, we have the basic plan, the lady said my 95$ monthly bill was as low as it can be, that's with no frills also. she did tell me about a plan they have, "gophone", it's 25$ each phone, unlimited talk & text, 250mb data, keep our number & phones. It's pay a month ahead type of thing if I understood right.

Now directv was a different story, been with them for 10yrs, bill is 105$ for the basic on 2 tv's... they won't change anything, so I gave dish a call, I forgot I have a credit freeze on the 3 credit places, have had that for years also, needless to say they can't look at my report so they won't even talk, said I would need to pay up front several hundred bucks and they wouldn't give me any type of deals... I lost the info to unfreeze so they could have a look, and not really interested because I think they all are ripping folks off..

It's funny that we have been debt free for several years now and no cards at all, cash only or we don't get it, lets us sleep better but it's a pain in the rear sometimes..

My internet is Hughes net and the speed isn't fast enough to watch tv with, I need to check into this "fire stick" Y'all talked about & sling maybe, but anything that comes from the sat may just make that go up also...

In our area a antenna only gets pbs and 2 other channels that are for kids...

We do watch tv but only a hand full of channels..


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## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

Well, I sat here a while and the more I thought about ti the more I got pissed off, so I went to Directv's FB page and spoke my mind, in a gentle way I think, boy the page is full of dissatisfied people, seems there prices are going up soon then they will offer you a discount to put ya back where you are now or slightly more.. for the record this is a copy & paste of my comment...

Well after being on the phone several times in a attempt to find out why my bill is 105$ for the basic package, and see if we could lower out bill, I got the worst customer service, the person could barely speak English, was rude, and refused to transfer me to someone else. I have been with directv for 7yrs and ATT for a much longer time, ATT did work with me and were able to keep a long time customer, however Directv isn't interested enough to even talk. Dish network, on the other hand is chomping at the bit to give me better pricing & service. I attempted to talk with directv again and was told to call back in March, AFTER they change their pricing.... so you are going to raise the price so you can give me a "rebate" back down to where I'm at now... sounds like DISH will be a better company, at least the lady spook very good English...And DISH has HD at no extra charge for life... I think we will just leave both ATT & Directv and move on to a company that appreciates a LONG time customer over fooling a new customer with gimmicks that go away then ya get stiffed... I think I will cross post this so loads of others can see how this company really treats the people that have been a long time customer.. Yes, I'm pissed off, you think you are the only company out their but your not... BUYER BEWARE.....................


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

As soon as you inform them you are quoting you will get a much better offer with a two year offer. I think a mistake we make is being a loyal customer.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Picture is much better in broadcast TV......minimal compression, cheaper too  can't get the military channel, ID discovery, etc....the good stuff


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

I was a long time customer of AT&T. Had my phone service with them forever and also had a DSL line for the internet. After a long series of calls with the idiots in India......

Is---the----modem----plugged----in?

Yes, you f***ing idiot, the modem is plugged in. So is my computer and every damn thing else on the desk.

Is---the---computer---plugged---in?

Oh Jesus, just forget about it. Cancel my account.

So, went with the cable company. All in one phone service, cable tv, and internet. A pretty good price for the first two years. But now, they are jacking prices up, and up, and up. {{{sigh}}}

I've been thinking seriously about cancelling my home phone. Anyone who wants me usually calls my cell phone and it seems as though the only people who call the house phone are telemarketers. I'm also going to look into an antenna for the tv. I don't think they are too expensive and besides, we only watch a couple of channels on a routine basis.

We've also been watching Netflix. It's actually my daughter's account. Don't know enough about these internet based services like Netflix, Google TV and some of the others, but I think it may be the way to go.

But, I'm with you guys. Over $100 per month for cable, internet and phone. Don't really use any of it except for internet. Most of the time, the tv is on just for noise as no one is paying attention to it.

Life was much simpler when we only had three tv stations.......


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## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

ATT did offer to bundle everything, trouble is I'm 3/4 mile off the road, they won't run a line that far for free... catch 22 .... a sat is my only option for now...


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

RockmartGA said:


> I was a long time customer of AT&T. Had my phone service with them forever and also had a DSL line for the internet. After a long series of calls with the idiots in India......
> 
> Is---the----modem----plugged----in?
> 
> ...


Before you get to hard on them, let me tell you about the good ol' USA.

In my business as a independent systems engineer, I used to take supports calls 24/7. I thought I needed to provide good customer support. I averaged 2-3 calls per night, which meant I was woken up 2-3 times.

One night, I got a call "The system won't print!" from the mid-night operator. I went through the usual litany of problems to no avail. Finally, I said: "Is the printer turned on?"

I heard back: "Ohhh!".

Next day, I had my home phone number changed and went to each of my customer's managers. I said I would only take calls from the manager. My calls went down to 2-3 night time calls per MONTH!.

It was easy for the operators to call me than to check the obvious. Once they had to call their bosses, they started thinking a whole lot more!

I wouldn't want their jobs over there for nothing. They probably get 1000's of calls from people who haven't checked the obvious, they probably get paid $1/day, they struggle with multiple languages, and they have to figure out how to fix what some crappy engineer dumped on them.

And I would like 3 channels as well, but with 1 minutes of commercials--like they used to do.

Ralph


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

A guy looking for a unemployed and looking for a job, stopped at an employment agency. The lady behind the counter gave him two forms to fill out, one was simple name, address, phone, previous work experience, etc. the second form had the words: green, pink and yellow, with the instructions to use all three words while writing a sentence or two.

He took the forms sat over to the side of the room and completed the forms. Took them back up to the lady, where she asked "what sentences did you come up while using the words given you on form number two?" The guys response went something like this, "telephone goes green, green, I pink it up and say yellow", he is now employed, maybe at ATT!!!    And at least I didn't give him a name, that you couldn't understand as well. 

Larry


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Vol said:


> Cable alone for me is over $100/month. HS Internet runs an additional $70.
> 
> I think I will drop cable and go with Sling TV....can basically get all the channels that I want to watch plus more for $25/month.....this includes extra sports programming such as the SEC network. And if I use/buy the ChannelMaster equipment, I can then receive most of the local programming.
> 
> ...


I wish I could try being taken advantage of by Comcast cable and internet. It would be nice to have faster internet. But I don't think I will have that chance anytime soon if ever.


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## bluefarmer (Oct 10, 2010)

Dish network 19.95 a month


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

We have a hi end package locked in with Direct Tv thats about to end, had 55 movie channels the other night and nothing worth watching.

I can make anything work, the wife not so much&#8230;

Awhile back thru some clever trickery I even had BBC online fooled so I could watch Mrs Brown's Boys streamed from the internet thru the Apple TV, the BBC we get here is nothing like the actual BBC in England. Mr. Brown's Boys is one of those they won't allowed to be broadcast outside of the UK.

My DSL connection is crap, can barely stream SD, forget about HD.

Thinking of going wireless with a local company that said they can get me line of sight off the silo, guaranteed at least a 10MB connection, I'm lucky to see 3MB with the DSL.

AT&T is jacking with me again as well, phone bill is creeping slowly up again for some reason, my contracts were over last year. Gonna dump them and have Sprint/Centurylink/Embarq/whateverthehelltheyarecallingthemselvesthismonth recapture my business number and get a land line back in. Using a basestation thru AT&T as then had a major issue somewhere and our connection on a landline was horrible.

Most likely go with Straight Talk as Dad has it and has the same bars everywhere I do with AT&T.

Get a good internet connection and the wife will have to learn to use Netflix and then I'll see about setting up another proxy so she can stream the BBC straight from across the pond on the Apple TV.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

It seems Verizon just offered unlumited internet. I was just notified by a colleague a few days ago. Looked into it and saved money to get it vs plan I had. After i got a new phone a few months ago, i ran out of my 12 gig plan. Guessing at least in part to new phone. So i kept forgetting to put plan back down to 12. When I went to unlimited this week, it saves $5 or so a month vs what I had.

I still pay through the nose. But now if I open youtube I do not need to track my use.


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## Waldo (Apr 29, 2016)

You know it,s amazing where I live 25 years ago we had 3 free to air channels and we're happy. Now 40 or fifty on pay for view and 20 on free to air,and c,nt find this to watch so what does that say


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Waldo said:


> You know it,s amazing where I live 25 years ago we had 3 free to air channels and we're happy. Now 40 or fifty on pay for view and 20 on free to air,and c,nt find this to watch so what does that say


That modern TV is a wasteland... LOL

Later! OL J R 

PS-- currently enjoying "Adam-12" and "Dragnet" on Amazon Firestick...


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## Waldo (Apr 29, 2016)

You know we have all the same problems you guys have slow Internet cable keeps going up in price more adds on it then you can poke a stick at.and to top it off the idiots we have stuffing the country have let us run out of power here


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