Cutting the cord

[young guns]

Google and roku did finally come to a multi year agreement. Both sides praising how this deal is wonderful for the customer. No details disclosed.

[CheezWizHed]

lol

 

That past couple of pages have not convinced me in the slightest that people who go through all the streaming, equipment, different services, etc,etc, etc have it any better than those of us who are over paying for cable.

 

I will be checking into TDS as soon as it becomes available in my area, which will be pretty darn soon since they have been digging up the neighborhood the past week.

 

Before making the switch, I of course will be giving Spectrum one last chance to come down in price, which will then have them politely telling me to go pound sand.

 

If this is the case, I'm a bit confused as to why you keep coming back here. If you prefer to pay more to have the simple solution and don't have any issues with Cable/Sat hardware and/or service, then do so. This thread is for those that would prefer not to do that and share ideas with others.

 

Personally, I love being able to turn services ON/OFF for a month.

- Brewers make the playoffs? Fire up Sling to watch.

- Christmas holiday movies? Add a service to get that movie you want.

- Summer rolls around? Shut down stuff, save money and go outside.

 

I have a Roku TV, Samsung TV, and a Tivo. I've invested a few hundred dollars in my setup and saved thousands.

[MrTPlush]

Google and roku did finally come to a multi year agreement. Both sides praising how this deal is wonderful for the customer. No details disclosed.

 

Yah...unlikely. When does the consumer ever really benefit.

[stoutdude04]

I pay more - it sucks. However, I just cannot quit cable because I love watching the Brewers.

[patrickgpe]

I pay more - it sucks. However, I just cannot quit cable because I love watching the Brewers.

to each his own, but the nice thing about streaming services is you can come and go as you please. I cancelled Direct TV Stream once baseball season ended and changed to sling and will go back in the spring if there is baseball to be watched. no contract.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

Turbo...You like your cable, and I get it. In your situation I would go into the Spectrum office which I would think they would have near Appleton, and tell them you would like a better deal or your going to go home and bring your boxes/modem in later that same day to cancel service. See what they do.

[FVBrewerFan]

Turbo...You like your cable, and I get it. In your situation I would go into the Spectrum office which I would think they would have near Appleton, and tell them you would like a better deal or your going to go home and bring your boxes/modem in later that same day to cancel service. See what they do.

 

Hahaha. I've been to the "office" in Appleton. First, you wait 30-45 minutes. Finally get to talk to someone who gives you a blank stare, regardless of how simple your need may be. They go talk to someone, who then talks to someone else, and an hour later 50% chance you get a clear answer. Not necessarily resolved, but an answer. Here's how that conversation would go. I'm here to cancel. Cool, where's your box?

[DuWayne Steurer]

I went to the charter office in Janesville 4 or 5 years ago to change out a box and I was the only person in the office. they made me take a number from the kiosk, and 5 minutes later the dude at the counter looked around and called my name hesitantly. dude. I am. the only. person. here.

 

I think it was about 2 or 3 months later I went through the painstaking hassle of cancelling with them. it's a neck and neck race between charter, tds, and DirecTV to see who can have the most abysmally bad customer service.

[MrTPlush]

When I moved I decided to pick up the modem thing in the store the day before because they wouldn't ship it to a different address before hand. I stood there for over an hour and there were only like five people in front of me...literally all I was doing was picking the stupid thing up. Most of the time 2/3 employees were sitting on the computer helping no one.

 

Some lady wanted to pay her bill and the only way to do it in person was some kiosk thing that wouldn't work. She said she was in there for over two hours and they basically shrugged and said, "idk, try again tomorrow, hopefully it is working then."

 

Though one time I had to call them when setting up cell phone service and they were actually pretty nice/helpful...took like 10 minutes. I must have got the one decent employee they have.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

The last time I visited one of those hellscapes I had to drive half an hour to Spectrum to return a modem that was Charter's which they made a big deal of as though I had any control over that whatsoever. Haven't been a customer since.

[nodakfan17]

You know what’s sad? Consumers have cut the cord and the cable companies have still found ways to extract their pound of flesh. 10 years ago, my monthly internet bill was $37. Now it’s $80. Those fat cats are laughing harder than Ray Liotta after he cashes a check for appearing in another Chantix commercial.

[MrTPlush]

The last time I visited one of those hellscapes I had to drive half an hour to Spectrum to return a modem that was Charter's which they made a big deal of as though I had any control over that whatsoever. Haven't been a customer since.

 

Unfortunately for quite a bit of Wisconsin Charter is your only real option...heck some probably wish they had Charter...but even that isn't an option.

 

TDS is moving into more and more areas, but their customer service has got to be 10x worse, especially if the service isn't already hooked up to your house (or even worse the community is in process of getting it) and you are the one dealing with that.

[TURBO]

 

If this is the case, I'm a bit confused as to why you keep coming back here. If you prefer to pay more to have the simple solution and don't have any issues with Cable/Sat hardware and/or service, then do so. This thread is for those that would prefer not to do that and share ideas with others.

 

 

So do I need approval to post and view certain threads now?

 

[TURBO]

 

TDS is moving into more and more areas, but their customer service has got to be 10x worse, especially if the service isn't already hooked up to your house (or even worse the community is in process of getting it) and you are the one dealing with that.

 

Seems to be the general feeling.

 

Hard to believe a company that big can have such poor customer service and survive. I haven't seen or heard anyone say differently though, so obviously it's a problem.

[DuWayne Steurer]

 

TDS is moving into more and more areas, but their customer service has got to be 10x worse, especially if the service isn't already hooked up to your house (or even worse the community is in process of getting it) and you are the one dealing with that.

 

Seems to be the general feeling.

 

Hard to believe a company that big can have such poor customer service and survive. I haven't seen or heard anyone say differently though, so obviously it's a problem.

 

about 10 years ago tds outsourced all of their tier 1 support and sales to an offshore company. not only that, they shipped a bunch of people there for several weeks to train their replacements. half my "I want to speak to a supervisor"; escalations were from people who couldn't understand the person they were talking to. tds doesn't care. cheap labor.

[nate82]

 

Seems to be the general feeling.

 

Hard to believe a company that big can have such poor customer service and survive. I haven't seen or heard anyone say differently though, so obviously it's a problem.

 

You don't need to care when your company is a legal monopoly. You either pay and deal with them or you don't there is no incentive for them to change when they don't have to.

 

It is also why cable companies can change their prices to whatever they wish even if it doesn't make sense at all.

[nate82]

Comcast now allowing YouTube TV as an option for their Xfinity broadband customers.

 

https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/comcast-youtube-tv-xfinity-flex-1235129412/

 

Probably going to see more of this as the cable companies turn from cable and internet to just broadband only.

[nodakfan17]

You don't need to care when your company is a legal monopoly. You either pay and deal with them or you don't there is no incentive for them to change when they don't have to.

 

It is also why cable companies can change their prices to whatever they wish even if it doesn't make sense at all.

Everyone can do without cable, but the internet is practically essential. I’m a big free market guy, but I almost want to see it regulated like a utility. If the cable company wants to raise internet prices, they should have to prove to a state board that their costs have increased.

 

If We Energies also sold VCRs on top of providing power to half of Wisconsin, we shouldn’t have to pay more for electricity because their VCR business failed. That’s pretty much what happened to the cable companies. They sold bloated TV packages at inflated rates until Netflix distributed their business, but they’ve still got a hook in us because we all need the internet for school and work. I can’t wait until Elon Musk figures out how to deliver satellite internet for half the price of what the cable companies charges.

[nate82]

Everyone can do without cable, but the internet is practically essential. I’m a big free market guy, but I almost want to see it regulated like a utility. If the cable company wants to raise internet prices, they should have to prove to a state board that their costs have increased.

 

If We Energies also sold VCRs on top of providing power to half of Wisconsin, we shouldn’t have to pay more for electricity because their VCR business failed. That’s pretty much what happened to the cable companies. They sold bloated TV packages at inflated rates until Netflix distributed their business, but they’ve still got a hook in us because we all need the internet for school and work. I can’t wait until Elon Musk figures out how to deliver satellite internet for half the price of what the cable companies charges.

 

The biggest issue and it varies from county to county and state to state is the exclusivity rights that have been granted to cable companies. For example only company A can lay down new or maintain existing fiber lines in region A while company B can lay down new or maintain existing fiber lines in region B. This is the dumbest thing that has happened and is hindering consumers. A board to rule over price increases will not help all that much as the state or county already know the costs and would just approve the increase anyways.

 

The government also needs to stop giving exclusivity rights away to companies that maintain and create the new fiber lines. One thing that would help in price would be to remove these exclusive rights from the companies and allow more companies to use the fiber lines and to sell that access. It would allow for more competition and when there is more competition the consumer wins normally. There are times when there is too much competition and the product degrades or becomes lesser and the consumer starts to lose as the product becomes less and less valuable.

 

Even Google wasn't able to break the exclusivity rights away from the cable companies so I have very little faith in this happening and I think Amazon was looking to do the same and they also gave up on the idea of doing this. Though I think Elon is far more stubborn and won't quit on something like this.

[CheezWizHed]

 

If this is the case, I'm a bit confused as to why you keep coming back here. If you prefer to pay more to have the simple solution and don't have any issues with Cable/Sat hardware and/or service, then do so. This thread is for those that would prefer not to do that and share ideas with others.

 

 

So do I need approval to post and view certain threads now?

 

 

Where did I say that? I said I was confused as to why you come here and keep telling us how you don't want to cut the cord. It doesn't really contribute to the point of the thread.

[FVBrewerFan]

YTTV likely losing Disney 12/17. That's right, that includes ESPN. NatGeo, possibly local ABC, and others. Got me thinking though, when do I ever watch ESPN? Used to be a must-have, but these days not so sure.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I saw that but they are dropping the price to $50. So basically the same as having YTTV and the Disney Plus ESPN whatever bundle for $13.99. So it shouldn't affect too much from a customer's perspective.

[FVBrewerFan]

No, other than having to bounce in between apps rather than scroll through channels. First world problems.

[rondoman]

If YTTV gets rid of ESPN and Disney owned channels that would be a huge hit to YTTV.

 

ABC News Live

Disney Channel

Disney Junior

Disney XD

Freeform

FX

FXX

FXM

National Geographic

National Geographic Wild

ESPN

ESPN2

ESPN3 (by authentication to the ESPN app)

ESPNU

ESPNEWS

ACC Network

SEC Network

 

Highly doubt this happens.

[SeaBass]

I don't think YouTube TV is looking to get "rid" of those channels. These are normal negotiation tactics that pop up from time to time and I'm sure will be resolved by the deadline or shortly after. Great thing about streaming is the ability to jump from YouTube TV to Hulu or something else. Folks will stick with YouTube TV for a short time but if it gets to be longer they'll just move to a service that has what they want. YouTube TV has to know that a certain percentage of customers, once they move, will never bother to move back once their programming issue is resolved.