Tv & Internet providers

[Mike8560]

Just kinda feeling like I'm getting raked on
m y comcast is there a cheaper way to get tv and the net on direct tv fios? I have no idea  

[Peppy]

I don't know about that, but there is free tv on the intertubes:

documentaryheaven.com -if you want to get depressed

fastpasstv.com -if you can stand pop-up ads and spyware

nfb.ca -has some interesting stuff, yours to enjoy courtesy of the Canadian taxpayer. Your welcome.

netflix.com -if you have the bandwith, but not free.

I've mostly given up on free streaming tv. I let my brother bittorrent it and burn it for me. An entirely different beast. Mostly we just:

stumbleupon.com -time kill supreme.

[Mike8560]

I just never knew what is out there dsl  satalite

[mike802]

I haven't had cable tv for years.  I do have my internet through comcast, but I like the speed of broadband and most of my "tv" time is spent online anyway.  I just got so sick of network tv that I had it disconnected, once I started going to some real news sources I couldn't stomach the 5 o'clock propaganda anymore.  Net Flicks works good when we want to watch a movie.

[SHHR]

We dropped Dish a few years ago When they started charging me for Pay Per Views that no one ordered and most of them were porn. As for internet I'm limited here to dial-up :(  Our phone lines won't support high speed through the phone company, we don't have cable in our area (even though I'm only 5 miles from town and on a major county road). We live in a bit of low lying area and cell service isn't that great plus I have AT&T which isn't great anyway, so I cant get it through them.

I have been considering Hughes Net, but they seem to have a limit on the amount of MB you can use per day for downloads. Anyone have any luck with them?
Kyle

[JuneC]

Funny you bring this up now.  I ditched DirectTV just 2 days ago.  It was expensive, plus nothing was ever on that we wanted to see.  We are totally fed up with "staged" reality tv.  So, we've dropped our $89/month satellite in favor of $7.99 NetFlix.  We watch tv shows via hulu.com.  I did have to upgrade our internet service to a higher speed, but AT&T is providing fiber optic (U-Verse) at a cheaper rate than DSL so my cost for higher bandwidth actually dropped.

Here's how our setup works (all wireless, btw).  

 1) Installed on my laptop a product called PlayOn (from www.PlayOn.tv)  That turns my laptop into a media server.  PlayOn is running a special for $20 a year.  They have a two week free trial. NOTE:  PlayOn is only required if you're using a gaming system like the PlayStation to connect you TV to the internet.

 2) Our TV is connected to a PlayStation III which feeds Hi-Def to the TV.  The PS3 is also a blu-ray player.  If you don't have a PS3 or WII or X-Box gaming system, you can buy a set-top box that connects your TV to the Internet.  Logitech makes one for about $125 (check BestBuy).

 3) With the PS3, the game controller is used for browsing/selecting shows from Hulu or Netflix (PlayOn also has several other selections, including CBS) and I don't like the game controller, so we bought a REALLY great remote called Blu-Link that has bluetooth (used by the PS3) and RF (used by the TV/receiver/DVD).  Great universal remote for the money ($45 at CompUSA).  It replaced our 3 remotes required for the DirecTV setup.  Note:  Hulu is free.  If you want HiDef from HuluPlus, it's $10 a month.  Frankly, the standard Free Hulu has a great picture.

 4) For local networks, I can get 28 stations over the air for FREE with a cheap rabbit-ear antenna I placed on top of a bookshelf.  Note - this is HiDef 1080p in my area - GREAT picture.  So for local real-time news on ABC/CBS/NBC I'm good.  The antenna was like $30.  Note: a "hi def" antenna is not required - probably tin-foil on a coat hanger would work  8)  If someone tries to sell you something special, know that it's just a marketing ploy unless you're way out in the boonies and your local transmitters are many miles away.  Don't know where they are/how far??  Use this website for guidance:  http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

So, I just cut our internet/sat-tv from $140 a month to $55 a month and EVERYTHING except for over-the-air locals is on demand (no DVR required).  We've been catching up on a bunch of old stuff we really miss (A-Team, KnightRider, Magnum PI, etc.) and Hulu has a lot of new content as well (like the last season of American Idol or whatever floats your boat).  NetFlix, of course, has probably 5000 movies or more, all on demand for the same $7.99 a month.  If you do a Google search for "internet TV" you can find just about any show you're interested in.

June

[bobbin]

We are in the relative "boonies", mid way between 3 cities with local network affiliates.  Cell phones can be dicey here, working but signal strength is mezza-mezza.  We have internet cable through Time Warner Cable and their most basic TV connection because the converter box didn't work with our TV and we would need an expensive rooftop antennae.  I am so thoroughly irritated that I have to pony up over $20/mo. to get TV channels that used to be FREE I can barely even express my contempt in a civil manner.  If I'm going to be charged $20/mo. I should at least be able to select the channels I "get".  (like BET or the "the Catholic channel", or the shopping channels interest me? NOT). 

Can't use Hughes.net because we have cable internet service in my area (Time Warner) but since they have no competition we are effectively at their mercy.  They will increase the monthly charge for our internet connection by $5/mo. if we drop the TV... personally, I think the basic network TV stations should be included in the internet connection for free (since they control so much content already).  I am shocked by the piss poor quality of "news coverage" networks provide (who owns NBC now??) and it really makes me wonder about just how much information is selectively "sanitized" and censored by cable providers/ISPs. 

I want to see the FCC start cracking down on these clowns and protecting the people paying for their "service".  I'm sorry, $70/mo. for those with limited incomes/means is a lot of money ($840/yr.) and when the gov't. begins cutting back on Postal Service and begins requiring people to use the internet to access gov't. agencies it hardly seems fair to me.  No surprise to me that it's major, global corporations that run this country. 

[sofadoc]

Remember when WE were kids? There were only 3 or 4 channels, and we ALWAYS found something to watch.
Now, there's over 100 channels, and we usually end up on TV Land watching something that we watched when we only had 3 or 4 channels!
No doubt, the 'puter has taken over a big chunk of the time we USED to spend in front of the "Boob tube". Like the postings on this thread, many people can no longer justify the cost of a big cable package.

[Gregg @ Keystone Sewing]

If available, Verizon Fios is awsome.  My family and I had Comcast for over eight years, and switched as soon as as we were able to.  Better quality service, better picture quality IMO, and cheaper. 

[JuneC]

That really stinks, Bobbin.  I'm in total agreement with you.  I looked into getting the Verizon Fios like Greg because I'd read good things about their service - and it's available in Florida - but not in the territory served by AT&T.  No competition.  I'm stuck as far as Internet goes.  Luckily I live close enough to major cities that over the air provides good content. 

June