Cutting the cable cord

[dan_pdx]

I've been reading the last few posts, and holy shit, cable providers and streaming services are a bunch of fuckups. When you make it this hard for people to consume your product, is it any surprise they start pirating things? Is there any other widely-used consumer product that gets away with being this opaque and hard to use?

[concretejungle]

I've been reading the last few posts, and holy shit, cable providers and streaming services are a bunch of fuckups. When you make it this hard for people to consume your product, is it any surprise they start pirating things? Is there any other widely-used consumer product that gets away with being this opaque and hard to use?

It is the reason I may watch sports without paying and just rent movies from a local rental place. Figure it the fuck out already.

[nickwm21]

Apparently this system makes the NHL more money than just charging us for streaming…



I bet these leagues could price a digital season pass at $800 and it would sell…

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[HellgateBasement]

I've been reading the last few posts, and holy shit, cable providers and streaming services are a bunch of fuckups. When you make it this hard for people to consume your product, is it any surprise they start pirating things? Is there any other widely-used consumer product that gets away with being this opaque and hard to use?

As one of those fuckups, I mostly agree with you. I also think consumers' expectations are all out of whack, but that's in large part based on how we've marketed these services as a miracle solution before the tech or content rights were ready.

[riser4]

As one of those fuckups, I mostly agree with you. I also think consumers' expectations are all out of whack, but that's in large part based on how we've marketed these services as a miracle solution before the tech or content rights were ready.

You're a cable provider or streaming service? Cool.

[Supermoon]

You get everything on the app that's on the box?

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All of the same content, yeah. You don’t get all the features on the remote.

[Supermoon]

Apparently this system makes the NHL more money than just charging us for streaming…



I bet these leagues could price a digital season pass at $800 and it would sell…

Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

NHL TV was like $100 last year and it was simple.

[Danno]

I set it up either on my phone app or on the Roku tv (can’t recall), but definitely not on the flex box since I never hooked it up and later returned it.

Update: yep, worked for me. I was trying to set it up through the flex box, but Xfinity had screwed stuff up with my acct (shocking, I know) and had no record of me having a flex box even though they gave me one, so it wouldn't work. After calling them, they finally figured this out (first guy didn't) and sent me a replacement box (so I now have 2, lol). But before the second one arrived, I went online to Peacock to see if I could just sign up for an account through Xfinity, and it worked. Went back to my Roku TV, fired up Peacock, signed in, and have Peacock Premium without ever using the Flex box.

Now I have 2 useless flex boxes, but don't want to turn them in because last time, turning in an old modem is what screwed up my account in the first place.

[liv2ski]

Time for a change? I have been held captive by Spectrum (previously TWC) forever as the only internet provider in my area. Basic Cable is $70 a month with them. I also have bundled local stations, HBO, Cinemax and Showtime with them. Includes ESPN and NFL channels for the rare football game I watch. Bill is up to $170 a month and we pay Netflix around $13, so the bill is getting stoopid.
Has anyone here signed up for T Mobiles 5G streaming Home Service yet? At $50 a month that saves a bit and I could switch to Sling's Orange plan for $35 and get most of the NFL games I do now and add HBO for another $10, so all in less than $100 and I think we would be happy with that if the T Mobile 5G doesn't create buffering issues for us.
What do you think?

[skaredshtles]

Time for a change? I have been held captive by Spectrum (previously TWC) forever as the only internet provider in my area. Basic Cable is $70 a month with them. I also have bundled local stations, HBO, Cinemax and Showtime with them. Includes ESPN and NFL channels for the rare football game I watch. Bill is up to $170 a month and we pay Netflix around $13, so the bill is getting stoopid.
Has anyone here signed up for T Mobiles 5G streaming Home Service yet? At $50 a month that saves a bit and I could switch to Sling's Orange plan for $35 and get most of the NFL games I do now and add HBO for another $10, so all in less than $100 and I think we would be happy with that if the T Mobile 5G doesn't create buffering issues for us.
What do you think?

[Ski to Be]

Time for a change? I have been held captive by Spectrum (previously TWC) forever as the only internet provider in my area. Basic Cable is $70 a month with them. I also have bundled local stations, HBO, Cinemax and Showtime with them. Includes ESPN and NFL channels for the rare football game I watch. Bill is up to $170 a month and we pay Netflix around $13, so the bill is getting stoopid.
Has anyone here signed up for T Mobiles 5G streaming Home Service yet? At $50 a month that saves a bit and I could switch to Sling's Orange plan for $35 and get most of the NFL games I do now and add HBO for another $10, so all in less than $100 and I think we would be happy with that if the T Mobile 5G doesn't create buffering issues for us.
What do you think?

I switched to Tmobile home internet when it first came out as my house sits by itself and we had horrendous internet before. Like 5mb per second and now it varies between 75 & 220 mbps though it is not quite as stable as when we had Comcast at our other house. I signed a 2 year deal with Directv to get free 4k but I am going to cut the cord. Tmobile was so much cheaper than Verizon that my phone and internet is less than before ( multiple lines) and we now have high speed internet at home for what we were paying Comcast for internet at our old home. There can be some fluctuations but it is only going to get better and more reliable from here. I would just make sure that your signal is strong. At my dads house I literally get no signal from Tmobile. Not even 4g so make sure that you check and don't trust the maps they have online

[Name Redacted]

Anyone doing LTE home internet through Verizon (5g isn't available here yet)? Says 25-50 mbps download speeds for only $40 a month instead of $165. I'm currently sitting at 35mbps today with cable internet from Xfinity.
Thinking of ditching the cable internet and cable TV after football season. I can get local channels through an antenna, and stream just about everything else I need. I basically only watch Shark Tank and Football on the cables... Not worth the $$$ at all.

[pepperdawg]

Time for a change? I have been held captive by Spectrum (previously TWC) forever as the only internet provider in my area. Basic Cable is $70 a month with them. I also have bundled local stations, HBO, Cinemax and Showtime with them. Includes ESPN and NFL channels for the rare football game I watch. Bill is up to $170 a month and we pay Netflix around $13, so the bill is getting stoopid.
Has anyone here signed up for T Mobiles 5G streaming Home Service yet? At $50 a month that saves a bit and I could switch to Sling's Orange plan for $35 and get most of the NFL games
What do you think?

^^We did exactly this in September w/2 Roku sticks - No issues - although for local channels need to use an amplified HD Antenna. Local NBC/FOX can be gotten thu the Roku/Sling, but only when the local news is on. So for NFL need to use antenna. But the 5G Gateway is good - Wife and I both WFH and have a PS4 fanatic 13 y/so and a 14 y/o daughter - it supports all the above no issues/buffering - and we only get 2-3 bars out of 5.

Edit - oops We did this but the Blue package - so no ESPN - but I can live without. I think one can do the blue and orange combo for 15 more? But lots over overlap so may not worth it

Hope this helps.

[liv2ski]

Thanks PD. Guess I need to go by T Mobile today and look into some changes.

[plugboots]

Dooooo iiiiiiit.


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[pepperdawg]

Thanks PD. Guess I need to go by T Mobile today and look into some changes.

Check the website - they have a tool - plug in your Address to see if it is available. Save a potential trip.

Supposedly T-mobile only will offer it IF the tower(s) closest to your place can support/have needed capacity.

One more thing the gateway is pretty easy to set up, throw the SIM card in and from that point on its no different then setting up any other wireless - give it a PW/SIDName etc - but the 1st one they sent me couldn't connect (defective) - the replacement one was fine. I read this is not uncommon

Felt so good to tell Cox to fuck off once and for all.

[liv2ski]

Uuuugh! Like Ski2Be said, I presently get 0 reception on my T mobile phone, so it is likely the home 5G wifi from them will be shite too. FML...

[riser4]

I have Xfinity 200 Mbps service. Usually see 170-230 down. 5-6 up. Nothing around here comes close to delivering that download, especially given our usage pattern with two people WFH, kids streaming when they are around. My 94 yo FIL has the TV on [MSNBC] all day. So adding the TV bandwidth [from a switch to Sling] into our internet bandwidth would kill us. No way can I see a cell connection handling that. The DSL up at his farmhouse can't even handle anything on top of Sling. And our monthly usage was ~350 GB last I knew.

[liv2ski]

Riser, our Spectrum cable speed is about 100 down and 8 up and we have no issues using 2 tv's streaming from a wifi router, computer usage and wifi phones, so something sounds odd about your comment. The 5G could be faster than what I have now, BUT it depends on signal strength.

[pepperdawg]

Uuuugh! Like Ski2Be said, I presently get 0 reception on my T mobile phone, so it is likely the home 5G wifi from them will be shite too. FML...

If you have phones that dont support 5g - might still be worth checking out - maybe the 4g sucks, but the 5G tower is obviously different. We have(had) super strong Verizon at our place, but their gateway/homeinternet offering was not available to us (yet - we had option to be put on a list).

One other thing to know - the Gateway is tied to the tower - so you CAN'T pack it up and take anywhere and use as a hotspot. (unless its to the neighbors I guess).

[liv2ski]

Well darn, my address is not yet available with T Mobile's 5G for home wireless.

[skaredshtles]

Uuuugh! Like Ski2Be said, I presently get 0 reception on my T mobile phone, so it is likely the home 5G wifi from them will be shite too. FML...

What sort of backwoods location you livin' in? You can't get Gb service to your house??

[liv2ski]

I live a few blocks from Naval Station North Island. I think the bases presence jams my signal.

[skaredshtles]

I live a few blocks from Naval Station North Island. I think the bases presence jams my signal.

Gb is wired. No signal to "jam"...

[HellgateBasement]

Time for a change? I have been held captive by Spectrum (previously TWC) forever as the only internet provider in my area. Basic Cable is $70 a month with them. I also have bundled local stations, HBO, Cinemax and Showtime with them. Includes ESPN and NFL channels for the rare football game I watch. Bill is up to $170 a month and we pay Netflix around $13, so the bill is getting stoopid.
Has anyone here signed up for T Mobiles 5G streaming Home Service yet? At $50 a month that saves a bit and I could switch to Sling's Orange plan for $35 and get most of the NFL games I do now and add HBO for another $10, so all in less than $100 and I think we would be happy with that if the T Mobile 5G doesn't create buffering issues for us.
What do you think?

What other internet providers are in your area? Or what would it cost to keep only the broadband service from spectrum and drop the other shit? I'd price out Spectrum broadband + YouTube TV (or Sling if one of their packages works for you). If you go the Sling route, also be aware that as a T-Mobile customer you can currently get Paramount+ (FKA CBS All Access) for free. That will add the CBS local feed (football, March Madness, Masters) and a ton of Viacom content, as well as Paramount+ Originals (Picard, Mayor of Kingstown - new series with Jeremy Renner). CBS has been a big hole in the Sling lineup so it's nice to have a free solve.