Cable or Satellite? To switch or not to switch?

Noah, if I knew anything, I'd let you know.

I clearly don't know if this would work in your location, but maybe it's worth looking at? 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/07/12/tech-now-cutting-cable-cord-series-video/2512035/

I have directv, no phone or internet through them.  Great HD channels and 3D.  Would use Charter cable for TV and internet if they were smart enough to have laid the cable when this housing area was built, but they didn't.  Directv is better than dish.  Used both before.

Forgot, time warner dropped CBS and a couple other networks over money in my area(DFW).

One other thing, I don't get increases.  When they start to increase my fee, I threaten to go with another company and they don't change it.  Pay the same as always.

Wish I could help. I have Comcast for TV , internet, and phone. I have never had satellite service.

The thing about Dish or DirectTV is that when bad weather comes along (and it can be 50 miles to the southwest ) your service will go out. 

We have Dish (TV Only) and are pretty satisfied with it. Internet is with Mediacom and I've done battle many times with them over speed issues caused by too many people in my area on the circuit. After enough bitching by enough people they usually take care of it.

All of them are going to gradually up their prices. ( I'm not in contract with anything though. )

Phones - Do you have Cell Phones? If so, why do you need a phone package? If Time Warner has a package without phone that could save you some $.

Overall I would recommend you go with the Time Warner option, especially if you've been satisfied with the service you've had with them. 

I have friends that have satellite TV service, and they hate it. Goes down or becomes fuzzy during a heavy rain, and internet speed sucks, almost like having dialup.  Stay with Time Warner, you'll be a lot happier.

When my cable company (Comcast) raises my rates after a promo period, I just call them and tell them because of my disability income I will have to either cut services with them or else its bye-bye because I simply cannot afford it (which I can't). They usually find another reasonably priced promo package to put me into.  I have what RND has, the Comcast Triple Play and pay less than $140.00 a month, and my Internet speed is 57Mbps. Talk with them and see what they might be able to do for you first.  If they tell you tough luck, tell them to shove it where the sun don't shine I guess, and you'd have to switch to the inconvenience of a satellite provider I guess.

Would try it here Doc, only problem would be I would need a 150+ foot tower for the antenna, and even then the closest TV station would be over 70 miles away. Oh well!

We could pull that off and save over 1000.00 a year, but Leigh-Ann won't go for it. She's not willing to give up being able to watch her shows as they air instead having to wait up to a week for hulu or other services to air new episodes. I'm cool with that. She has to put up with me, she should be able to watch what she wants when she wants.

WOM - Thanks. That was some helpful info.

We've considered the weather issue and realize we may have to make that sacrifice. We have cell phones. We disconnected our land-line years ago, before you could get the deals you get now, like 9.99 a month with magicjack, etc. We want the landline back because of my now being disabled and for my daughter, should there ever be a reason she needs to call 911 or something. I don't want her to have to hunt for my cell phone. Thanks for the advice, Phoon. I really appreciate it and the time you took to give it.

LS- I was hoping that having the 'dedicated line' for the 6 mbps would make up for the the fact that I never get the max 15 mbps (it's usually around 11) on a timewarner 'network'. If the use is high in our network, as it is now, we have even had our internet throttled or connection lost until we reboot the router or call and bitch. Thanks for offering your experience with all of this. I appreciate it.

I guess the big decider will be whether or not saving 400.00 or more a year will be worth the sacrifices we would make by switching. 

double post

The problem there is, if you have a bundle, like Comcast's Triple Play, dropping phone service make everything else go up in price. (No longer being a "bundle deal")

I have a cell phone, as does my wife. We looked into dropping the home phone. Our package would actually cost more without the phone.

I just did this, got me 2 years of a package at 136.00 a month. I gained a couple premium channels.  I pay for 50 Mbps internet, but I get 85 to 100Mbps.

I also have the Triple Play, and an added fax line.

We currently DON'T have the phone. If we added it, it would be a 7 to 11 difference in our total monthly bill with any of them, so it's minor.

I'm considering sattelite tv with one, internet with time warner, and phone through MagicJack. I'd still save $30 a month. But...the wife isn't wild about having to deal with three different billers, etc.

I tried playing hardball with Timewarner.

I put it to them this way. I said 'You just got close to 20k out of me for the past thirteen years of service. I have two other companies that can give me more boxes/converters AND phone for over $30 less than you are and throw in a free ipad. Tell me why I shouldn't drop you and save $360 in 12 months, go to them and get my $399 ipad, then come back to you in a year and take your $99 a month deal with the $300 Visa card and make $1000 in 12 months?'  They had no response accept to say that $150 was the best they could do (without the phone). I said that I guessed they were willing to lose another 20K from me or at least $500 over the next two year committed contract and they still had no answer. Apparently I am not as intimidating as you guys are.

I thought it was usually roughly 24 hrs...for that savings...oh well.

Now that's weird Jim! I also have Triple Play with an extra fax line (which is very convenient sometimes) at about the same price as you are paying. I pay for the Blast speeds at 50Mbps, so don't know how you get that 85-100Mbps (shhhhhhhhhhh).

It depends on the network, but yeah, some are only 24 hours. As hard or difficult as the adjustment might be, I really want to try it but it's something the wife is pretty steadfast against. I think all of these companies are full of it and the idea of saving 1000 a year works for me, you know? I dangled that idea and what we could do with a 1000 bucks, but it fell on deaf ears.

Jim and LS, I remember Comcast being better to deal with when I lived in Pennsylvania. I wish TimeWarner didn't have the monopoly on cable down here.

The wife just had someone mention 'ROKU' . Does anyone know about that?

I thought was in the link, Noah (there were 3 parts to the article)...it's a streaming player that'll give you many channels including netflix, Hulu..etc. 

"When you have time for TV, Roku delivers with the best selection of streaming entertainment anywhere – from popular premium
services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO GO, Spotify and MLB.TV to many free entertainment options like Crackle, Pandora, Disney and
VEVO. Every Roku brings you access to over 750 channels featuring the best in movies, TV shows, live sports, music, photo and
video sharing, games, international programming, radio, tech news, non-tech news, podcasts, cartoons, clips, cat tricks, and… well,
you get the idea." - roku.com

Worth it for the cat tricks alone.

Right. Missed the name. Got it. Now we're arguing over how she wouldn't be able to watch the freaking Gamecocks. Football is going to decide everything. I knew there was more than one reason I hated football.  

I'm with you on the cutting the cord, Seth. It just ain't gonna float with the wife.

No, Comcast is just easy. Really.

AOL used to be the same way, back when I paid them.

I also pay for Blast at 50 Mbps.. 

...

Sorry, Po, not meant to be a hijack.  

No prob. The MBp is an issue for me. Timewarner, down here, goes through xfinity as well. I am supposed to have as high as 15 mbp but tests almost never go over 12. How you are getting MORE than subscribed for is amazing.

I think he puts his sheep on the roof..

Yup. His dedicated 'antenna'.

And to beat it all, it's wireless. Real good speeds. Docsis3 box is what they say does it. But I think Tom also has a Docsis3 box.

LOL @ Doc and Phoon.   

Yep, sure do. Wish I got your speeds though. Things got messes up when they did the switchover and at one time I was getting 127Mbps, things were flying! Then they backed it down to what it should be for Blast.

I got a promotion from Comcast for a year. $58 bucks a month for internet and basic cable. It's basic. Not too much more than the broadcast channels. We do get TWC, CNN, History though. Need this because where I live you would need a real powerful antenna to pull in broadcast channels. I also got a ROKU which is fantastic! I pay 8 bucks a month for Netflix. The total is 64 bucks a month. There's a lot to watch!

You have to keep calling and badgering Comcast though for promotions. Sometimes you have to tell them you are cancelling and exploring other options. Earlier I cancelled TV altogether and that's how I got the basic cable back. Let me explain. When I brought back the cable box they asked me what I was doing for TV viewing. I had kept the internet. At any rate I told them about the ROKU and Netflix. That's when they offered the basic.

With a little work this can be done. I don't get AMC. That used to be included with basic but not anymore. I guess they got too big.