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Get internet service from cable provider with basic cable plus HBO for less than the advertised price of the internet service alone. Have to call back every yea

Get internet service from cable provider with basic cable plus HBO for less than the advertised price of the internet service alone. Have to call back every year to get the promotional price back, which sucks. But we almost never watch the cable channels. Local channels in HD with a couple low-end antennas in the attic. And tend to watch HBO GO on a Roku, where we also have Netflix, Prime, etc. Doing Sling during football season for ESPN. As others have said, would like to have a better antenna setup with DVR that does not require subscription. Need a community-driven site where people can put in the type of antenna they have and what channels they get for more precise location-specific antenna recommendations.

PaulHoule 11y ago
With my OTA system I get a pretty good package of sports on the weekend and really enjoy the beautiful high definition imagery of golf, NFL and College Football, as well as the other sort of Futbol. You definitely get more with ESPN but you do not get better.
- shanecleveland 11y ago
  Agreed. I will always use our OTA signal rather than the cable package for overlapping channels. A handful of college games I want to be able to watch are on ESPN and Monday Night Football, as well. Plus nice to be able to turn on SportsCenter every now and then. A good lineup of other channels on Sling, too, which I just wanted to try out. Will likely quit Sling at the end of the year.
kxr 11y ago
Interesting. What's your cable provider?
- shanecleveland 11y ago
  Comcast. No complaints about internet service. I get 50mbps, which I believe is advertised at $80/mo. With the basic cable plus HBO promotional rate, our bill is about $72/mo.
  - canow 11y ago
    That sure ain't less the Internet service alone, I pay $25/month for 25mbit/s download
    - shanecleveland 11y ago
      It is for me in my location through Comcast at double the speed you are getting, which I want. I went and took a look. Comcast charges $60 for 25mbps and $75 for 50Mbps. Typically no promotions on just internet. Have to get phone or TV included for promotions. So I am paying less for more. Just have to be on top of it every year.
  - soylentcola 11y ago
    I'll also chime in to say that we have a similar deal. Not as cheap but still less than a lot of people pay. I usually get 100-120mbps down and 10-ish mbps up, cable with a bunch of channels that I never watch (but my gf seems to want), some of the channels are in HD, many are just stretched SD, again, I don't really care since I don't watch much. The "main" channels are in HD at least. Also HBO (main channel in HD, others in scaled SD) but I only really use it for access to HBO Go. As far as hardware, I only get the tuner/DVR from Comcast. Own my own modem and router. No phone service because it would be redundant. Total cost is around $99/mo. I'd just as soon knock it down to internet only but that's around $70/mo and I'd spend the extra $30/mo subscribing to the various services that carry programming I currently access with our cable account login. Not saying it's all sunshine and lollipops. We've had the usual billing and service tech issues that come with these sorts of companies that cut every corner imaginable. But when it works for most of the year, it does the job I guess. On the subject of OTA antennas, I do have one hooked up to my PC's tuner card (since they did away with any unencrypted QAM over the cable lines....bastards) and when I watch one of the 5-10 channels I can pick up, the local HD broadcasts look so much nicer than the compressed stuff on cable. I actually prefer to throw a football game on my secondary monitor while I'm messing around on the computer rather than watch it over cable upstairs.
    - equalarrow 11y ago
narrowrail 11y ago
>would like to have a better antenna setup with DVR that does not require subscription I have been looking at a Channel Master[0] for this exact purpose; the cost is $250+HDD. It has an ethernet port which allows one to get an EPG [1] from Rovi, but it isn't required. If I pull the trigger maybe I'll do a write up and submit it. [0]http://www.channelmaster.com/Antenna_DVR_s/336.htm http://www.channelmaster.com/Antenna_DVR_s/336.htm [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_program_guide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_program_guide
- shanecleveland 11y ago
  Thanks. A good option. Definitely would pay for itself over time if switch from a cable provider alternative. We've never had a DVR before, so hard to justify the jumping in cost. It would be cool to see Roku or Apple TV combine this functionality.
- Symbiote 11y ago
  Isn't an EPG part of the US-American standard? It has been part of the DVB (rest of the world…) standard since the beginning, so there's generally a button on a TV remote to display it. (The DVB MPEG transport stream contains mostly video packets, but is interspersed with the EPG — in bits — and other media. Almost all TVs will cache the EPG, though earlier systems required the user to wait until the requested information was rebroadcast.)
  - JonathonW 11y ago
    EPGs are part of the standard and broadcasters are required to transmit them, but there's no quality control on them beyond what the broadcaster does themselves; some broadcasters do a great job and some... don't. That's where paid services like SchedulesDirect [1] come in; they pull data from the same source that Tivo and the cable/satellite companies are using, which (usually) gives you accurate scheduling. [1] http://www.schedulesdirect.org/ http://www.schedulesdirect.org/
dexterdog 11y ago
http://antennaweb.org/ http://antennaweb.org/
- shanecleveland 11y ago
  Thanks. Seems to be pretty general, though. I just think it would be cool to combine this with anecdotal info from antenna users.
  - aparks517 11y ago
    I've found http://tvfool.com http://tvfool.com to be very useful and precise. It appears to rely on physics rather than anecdotes, but you might find it worth a try.
    - PretzelFisch 11y ago
      tvfool.com has been the go to resource not only will it help you determin what type of antenna you will need but also what stations you can expect to recive as well as what direction the broadcasts come from so you can better am your antenna.
noelsusman 11y ago
I heard Sling is laggy and unreliable. Have you had good experiences with it?
- shanecleveland 11y ago
  I'd say a good experience, but not great. The picture is good. I view primarily through a Roku connected to TV, but also nice to have access on a phone or tablet. There can be a little lag time loading programing or jumping between shows. It has occasional reliability issues, cut-out midstream, didn't come back up from commercial break, but not the norm and may be device related.

PaulHoule 11y ago

With my OTA system I get a pretty good package of sports on the weekend and really enjoy the beautiful high definition imagery of golf, NFL and College Football, as well as the other sort of Futbol. You definitely get more with ESPN but you do not get better.

shanecleveland 11y ago
Agreed. I will always use our OTA signal rather than the cable package for overlapping channels. A handful of college games I want to be able to watch are on ESPN and Monday Night Football, as well. Plus nice to be able to turn on SportsCenter every now and then. A good lineup of other channels on Sling, too, which I just wanted to try out. Will likely quit Sling at the end of the year.

kxr 11y ago

Interesting. What's your cable provider?

shanecleveland 11y ago
Comcast. No complaints about internet service. I get 50mbps, which I believe is advertised at $80/mo. With the basic cable plus HBO promotional rate, our bill is about $72/mo.
- canow 11y ago
  That sure ain't less the Internet service alone, I pay $25/month for 25mbit/s download
  - shanecleveland 11y ago
    It is for me in my location through Comcast at double the speed you are getting, which I want. I went and took a look. Comcast charges $60 for 25mbps and $75 for 50Mbps. Typically no promotions on just internet. Have to get phone or TV included for promotions. So I am paying less for more. Just have to be on top of it every year.
- soylentcola 11y ago
  I'll also chime in to say that we have a similar deal. Not as cheap but still less than a lot of people pay. I usually get 100-120mbps down and 10-ish mbps up, cable with a bunch of channels that I never watch (but my gf seems to want), some of the channels are in HD, many are just stretched SD, again, I don't really care since I don't watch much. The "main" channels are in HD at least. Also HBO (main channel in HD, others in scaled SD) but I only really use it for access to HBO Go. As far as hardware, I only get the tuner/DVR from Comcast. Own my own modem and router. No phone service because it would be redundant. Total cost is around $99/mo. I'd just as soon knock it down to internet only but that's around $70/mo and I'd spend the extra $30/mo subscribing to the various services that carry programming I currently access with our cable account login. Not saying it's all sunshine and lollipops. We've had the usual billing and service tech issues that come with these sorts of companies that cut every corner imaginable. But when it works for most of the year, it does the job I guess. On the subject of OTA antennas, I do have one hooked up to my PC's tuner card (since they did away with any unencrypted QAM over the cable lines....bastards) and when I watch one of the 5-10 channels I can pick up, the local HD broadcasts look so much nicer than the compressed stuff on cable. I actually prefer to throw a football game on my secondary monitor while I'm messing around on the computer rather than watch it over cable upstairs.
  - equalarrow 11y ago

narrowrail 11y ago

>would like to have a better antenna setup with DVR that does not require subscription I have been looking at a Channel Master[0] for this exact purpose; the cost is $250+HDD. It has an ethernet port which allows one to get an EPG [1] from Rovi, but it isn't required. If I pull the trigger maybe I'll do a write up and submit it. [0]http://www.channelmaster.com/Antenna_DVR_s/336.htm http://www.channelmaster.com/Antenna_DVR_s/336.htm [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_program_guide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_program_guide

shanecleveland 11y ago
Thanks. A good option. Definitely would pay for itself over time if switch from a cable provider alternative. We've never had a DVR before, so hard to justify the jumping in cost. It would be cool to see Roku or Apple TV combine this functionality.
Symbiote 11y ago
Isn't an EPG part of the US-American standard? It has been part of the DVB (rest of the world…) standard since the beginning, so there's generally a button on a TV remote to display it. (The DVB MPEG transport stream contains mostly video packets, but is interspersed with the EPG — in bits — and other media. Almost all TVs will cache the EPG, though earlier systems required the user to wait until the requested information was rebroadcast.)
- JonathonW 11y ago
  EPGs are part of the standard and broadcasters are required to transmit them, but there's no quality control on them beyond what the broadcaster does themselves; some broadcasters do a great job and some... don't. That's where paid services like SchedulesDirect [1] come in; they pull data from the same source that Tivo and the cable/satellite companies are using, which (usually) gives you accurate scheduling. [1] http://www.schedulesdirect.org/ http://www.schedulesdirect.org/

dexterdog 11y ago

http://antennaweb.org/ http://antennaweb.org/

shanecleveland 11y ago
Thanks. Seems to be pretty general, though. I just think it would be cool to combine this with anecdotal info from antenna users.
- aparks517 11y ago
  I've found http://tvfool.com http://tvfool.com to be very useful and precise. It appears to rely on physics rather than anecdotes, but you might find it worth a try.
  - PretzelFisch 11y ago
    tvfool.com has been the go to resource not only will it help you determin what type of antenna you will need but also what stations you can expect to recive as well as what direction the broadcasts come from so you can better am your antenna.

noelsusman 11y ago

I heard Sling is laggy and unreliable. Have you had good experiences with it?

shanecleveland 11y ago
I'd say a good experience, but not great. The picture is good. I view primarily through a Roku connected to TV, but also nice to have access on a phone or tablet. There can be a little lag time loading programing or jumping between shows. It has occasional reliability issues, cut-out midstream, didn't come back up from commercial break, but not the norm and may be device related.