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Category Archives: Apartment

Experience Cancelling Cable/Tivo

I went ahead and purchased the Roku Netflix box and started my Netflix subscription so there would be no turning back.

So then I called Comcast, only to find out they don’t work past 9pm. They advertise 24 hours, but that’s only for their automated billing inquiries. So I called again the next day. I got the nicest, most personable guy on the phone, who actually seemed to care that I was leaving Comcast. He offered me a great deal: switch my Internet back to Comcast, and he’ll give me cable and Internet for $25 less than what I was paying originally. But, on principle (and because I’d just spent $99 on the Roku box) I went ahead and canceled. I still don’t agree with them raising the price of cable when I canceled the Internet. The poor customer service rep seemed heartbroken, and for a moment, I felt guilty, but whatever, it’s my money.

So that was done. I called Tivo, and talked to them about it. They offer a little bit more than just cable TV lineup (they have internet downloads from Amazon.com’s Unbox, and various podcasts). But I didn’t think that was worth paying $13 a month for. Then they mentioned that I could use my Tivo with an antenna, just like I’m doing with my cable, which was great. So I decided to stick with Tivo.

However, the next day I learned that my particular Tivo is only compatible with Satellite and Cable, not antennas. It’s a Dual Tuner Series 2 Tivo. It basically gives you the ability to pause one channel (live) and change to another tuner, on a different channel, and watch two shows at once, cycling back and forth. It’s too bad I can’t buy two antennas and have the same functionality. And there’s no way to get it to work on only one tuner. So it seems I was screwed. I call them back and cancel. They did with no problem.

My antennas and roku box should arrive later this week. I’ll be posting about my experiences setting everything up. One of my TVs has a digital tuner, so I won’t need a converter box to get digital tv. But my bedroom TV will need a converter box. I’m going to apply for the free government $40 coupon for one of those right now.

TV Experiment

I have been wondering recently, about why cable TV costs so much.  And why, specifically, my cable TV provider recently jacked up the price of my cable TV, simply because I stopped buying Internet access from them.  The two are not related.  Nor should their prices be.  I understand the concept of a grocery store offering a lower price if you buy larger quantities (food will sell faster, less likely to spoil, less inventory sitting on the shelf, more money for all, win-win situation).  But if Sam’s club decides to offer a discount on a washing machine if you buy a set of new tires, people are going to go, “wtf?”.  The two products aren’t related at all.  In fact the only relationship they have is that they’re sold at the same store.

One could argue that Television and Internet are related, but one does not affect the other.  The infrastructures needed to put TV and Internet down the same tube are completely independent.  The frequencies of the data running down the wire are different.  One does not affect the other.  It’s just masquerading as the “buy more, pay less” deal, which has no bearing here.

I recently switched Internet providers from Comcast Cable to AT&T DSL.  DSL offered slightly slower download speed, and better upload speed, for less than what I was paying.  But Comcast raised the price of the Cable TV I have had.  They raised it by substantially more than what I was saving by switching to AT&T.

I’ve been contemplating what to do about this.  I do not want to spend more than I what I was originally.  And I do not want to switch back to Comcast, as badly as they have been behaving.  They don’t deserve my business.

I considered Satellite TV, but found out my apartment complex charges a hefty installation deposit, on top of whatever setup fees are necessary from the provider itself, like DirecTV or Dish.  And it wouldn’t really save me that much money.  I would end up paying two different companies about the same as I was giving Comcast before I switched to DSL.

Another option was to ditch TV entirely.  I could have an antenna for the local news, and major network programming.  I could have sites like hulu.com for shows like The Daily Show, and other cable network television I would want to keep up with. This option seemed extreme.  But it would save a substantial amount of money.

Tempting, but, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go quite that extreme.

Recently, I’ve been reading about the Roku Netflix box.  It seems to sweeten the deal.  In my mind, combining this instant download service with my XBox 360, and broadcast TV just about makes up for the loss.

These instant movies and TV shows through Netflix are unlimited, even with the least plan, a measly $9/month.  So I’ll be saving over $45 per month, over $500 a year, and if I get bored surfing the web or with broadcast TV, I can always watch a random movie off of Netflix instantly.

The device from Roku is actually $99, and I would need to purchase two antennas for my televisions, both $15.  So in order for the savings to actually pay off, I need to switch for at least 3 months.

I’ve made my decision: for the next three months, I’m going to try the Roku box/antenna combo.  If I don’t like it, I can cancel Netflix, sign up for cable again, and sell the roku box on ebay.  Although something tells me I’m going to like it.  There are rumors flying about Roku introducing new content providers with a firmware upgrade.  I hope they’re true, and I hope the content is as good as Netflix’s 10000 on-demand movies.

More!?

I keep telling myself to stop, and usually I’m pretty good about curbing addictions when I want to, but this shopping one has got me scratching my head lately. Yes, I’m a guy, and I’m addicted to buying stuff. Not clothes mind you… though I did buy two shirts and a pair of jeans the other day, but try to forget about that.

Last week, I bought a Series 2 Dual Tuner Tivo, which is great. I love it. My parents have several, and I miss it when I’m at my place.

I bought a new entertainment center last weekend because my old one’s wheel came off. My friend was nice enough to help me set it up. Thanks dude! The new one looks much better, and is more to my taste anyway. I’ll see if I can post a picture at some point.

I bought a new mp3 player, the SanDisk Sansa, this weekend also. It kicks ass. It plays videos, displays pictures, plays my music, tunes fm radio, and is tiny. Everything I’d ever want. It’s only 2 gig now, but once I buy a mini-SD card, that will increase significantly.

My cat has also benefited from my recent shopping spree. She got two new pieces of furniture to cozy up to or play with as she sees fit.

But you guys have to help me out… please smack me upside the head if I spend much more money. Luckily all my most recent purchases came out of my bank account (no more credit card debt, I hope), because I got my $600 tax refund Friday! Hooah! As you can tell, I’ve already spent most of it. Oh well…

New life

I’ll be writing here more often now. I spend a lot of time alone at my apartment I rented when I moved here. And I’ve acquired some new toys, which take up a lot of my time. It’s these new toys that will be the focus of my blog for a while.

I have a new laser pointer. I’ve discovered many different ways of amusing myself with it. I’ve had a red laser pointer for years. I bought one when they first came out, in the early 90′s. But this one is green, and appears much brighter, as the human eye is much more sensitive to green light than red. I got it from China, for half the normal domestic price.

In early December, I bought an XBox 360. Actually, I bought two of them, but the first one turned out to be a fraud. The online seller was offering a too-good-to-be-true price, and I went for it. I ended up getting my money back, but ended up waiting much longer to get the game system than I had intended.

I also bought an extremely nerdy toy, a 500 GB external hard drive. I think I get a few bonus points, though, because it was designed by F.A. Porsche. :D I have put every song, book and movie I have ever downloaded on it, and it only a quarter of the way full, if that.

I have a subscription to blockbuster online. I recently switched from Netflix. I get way more movies per month with blockbuster for the same price. I can have six movies at a time with the three movie plan. Awesome… I’ll explain how that works later.

Soon enough I’ll finally be getting a DVD writer. I’ve waited long enough to join that revolution.

I don’t see myself writing too much about the hard drive or DVD writer. Not all that much new you can do with that stuff. I’ll be writing some reviews for games that I enjoy, my thoughts on the various movies I’ve watched with blockbuster online, and new ways of enjoying my green laser pointer.

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