Help with getting rid of cable

[2bearsmom]

We currently have Comcast and are having major issues with the screen freezing, being extremely pixelated and DVR not working correctly. Many calls to Comcast, many times of unplugging and plugging back in, doing a reset from them and nothing is helping. So we really want to get rid of it, don't want to go back to Directv. However we are a hockey household and have to have a way to watch games. We have been trying to look into it but it seems the only way to get our local games is with cable/dish service. Sling looked promising with the other channels I watch but I couldn't find out about our local sports station. Everything seems to be all the ESPN channels which we don't care about. It's all so confusing and frustrating as we watch hockey and not much else. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I just don't think we can do what my husband wants to do!

 

[Nayan]

This is the reason why I keep DirecTV, because of sports and mainly the local teams. I would call Comcast and have them send a tech out to check the lines and replace your box. Be adamant and don't take no for an answer!

 

[kateandy08096]

Honestly, I just QUIT working at Comcast. They are a bunch of idiots! I didn't work in the residential side. I worked in the accounting department for business accounts. They don't know their left hand from their right hand, anyways their solution is always saying unplug etc. More likely something is wrong with your box. If you need to exchange it do it at a local store if not and you have a tech come out they will charge you. Now that I quit ai am no longer eligible for their free cable,phone and internet package (had to pay tax) so I'm looking to see how to get rid of cable too. If it wasn't for Mickey and Peppa Pig my household could care less about TV

 

[snoodledoo]

We currently have Comcast and are having major issues with the screen freezing, being extremely pixelated and DVR not working correctly. Many calls to Comcast, many times of unplugging and plugging back in, doing a reset from them and nothing is helping. So we really want to get rid of it, don't want to go back to Directv. However we are a hockey household and have to have a way to watch games. We have been trying to look into it but it seems the only way to get our local games is with cable/dish service. Sling looked promising with the other channels I watch but I couldn't find out about our local sports station. Everything seems to be all the ESPN channels which we don't care about. It's all so confusing and frustrating as we watch hockey and not much else. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I just don't think we can do what my husband wants to do!

I'm not sure which channels you need, but we have PS Vue and an antenna. Vue does carry all of our local channels, (which may not be the case in every market) but we have the antenna from when they didn't have all the locals. DH doesn't really watch hockey, he's more into football, so that was his concern as well. He's able to watch all the games he's interested in.

 

[cglaura]

Has Comcast looked at the wiring? I had the same issue and it turned out the cable junction(?) on the outside of my home had rusted/corroded. They installed a new one and that fixed the issues. Something about the fact that it wasn't getting a 100% connection was slowing it all down which let to low quality/pixelation and freezing.

Sorry this didn't really answer your question... just fyi!

 

[2bearsmom]

Thank you! Comcast is due to come out next week. I just had my husband check the outside box and it looks fine. It seem to be a cable going to the box in one of the rooms, although I thought we had checked those. Hopefully that's the problem. We still want to get rid of cable. It looks like until ATT Sports Net gets to Directv Now, we have to stick with what we have. We have to watch Penguin games and we usually watch other teams on NHL network, NBCSN and my DH and DS will watch football games as well. I guess we need local channels and then FX, AMC, and A&E. We don't need that many stations as we don't watch too much tv and my DH really wants to be able to pick what we need and that's it! We did sign up for a trial offer with Sling on the tv with roku to see what that was all about, it would really work for us, except that darn ATT Sports net! We also just need HBO for 7wks next year for GOT. He also thinks that our Comcast internet bill will go way up when we get rid of the cable service.

 

[DisFan22]

When we canceled our bundled service, I was able to resign up in my husband's name and get the "new customer" offers from Comcast. As long as you don't have a joint account... it could allow you to cancel your cable service, and get a much better internet plan. Worth a try

 

[EscalatorKid]

In Buffalo, the games are broadcast on radio, and I like listening to that quite a bit. I occasionally catch a broadcast on CBC when the signal comes in strong (Yes, I live near enough to the Canadian border to get a few Canadian stations OTA.)

We cut cable at least 5 or 6 years ago when it was still Time Warner and not Spectrum. We have high-speed internet, Hulu, Netflix, and an OTA TV Antenna, all for significantly less than the cable and internet cost. I haven't missed a thing. Having the hockey coverage wasn't worth the price, the lack of content (i.e. constant reruns), and the ridiculous amount of commercials played constantly.

 

[disneylove69]

Honestly, I just QUIT working at Comcast. They are a bunch of idiots! I didn't work in the residential side. I worked in the accounting department for business accounts. They don't know their left hand from their right hand, anyways their solution is always saying unplug etc. More likely something is wrong with your box. If you need to exchange it do it at a local store if not and you have a tech come out they will charge you. Now that I quit ai am no longer eligible for their free cable,phone and internet package (had to pay tax) so I'm looking to see how to get rid of cable too. If it wasn't for Mickey and Peppa Pig my household could care less about TV

You can get Disney channel for free on the internet.

 

[disneylove69]

Thank you! Comcast is due to come out next week. I just had my husband check the outside box and it looks fine. It seem to be a cable going to the box in one of the rooms, although I thought we had checked those. Hopefully that's the problem. We still want to get rid of cable. It looks like until ATT Sports Net gets to Directv Now, we have to stick with what we have. We have to watch Penguin games and we usually watch other teams on NHL network, NBCSN and my DH and DS will watch football games as well. I guess we need local channels and then FX, AMC, and A&E. We don't need that many stations as we don't watch too much tv and my DH really wants to be able to pick what we need and that's it! We did sign up for a trial offer with Sling on the tv with roku to see what that was all about, it would really work for us, except that darn ATT Sports net! We also just need HBO for 7wks next year for GOT. He also thinks that our Comcast internet bill will go way up when we get rid of the cable service.

When I dropped Comcast cable and kept internet it went way up. TV basically tv was $10 more than internet.

 

[princessesintraining]

WE recently cut the cord from directtv. CHECK OUT directtv now. iT has the nhl channel in one of their packages. We have Comcast for Internet and phone. i just called To increase our speed and will now be paying less for faster service.

It took some convincing, but my husband finally agreed after seeing the savings.we tried directv now for $11/1st month.

 

[Dancind]

I think Direct TV Now also has a DVR feature now, recording in the "cloud".

 

[tvguy]

Everyone I know who has dropped cable or satellite is saving money.
Everyone I know who has dropped cable or satellite has discovered that some of the programming they liked is only available on cable or satellite.

A friend who is an Oakland A's fan bought the MLB online package only to discover all home games and all games in Seattle are blacked out. He lives in Eugene Oregon, 500 miles from Oakland, and 300 miles from Seattle. It the old days, a sports blackout only hit those living within 100 miles of the stadium.

 

[old feller]

When I dropped Comcast cable and kept internet it went way up. TV basically tv was $10 more than internet.

same with me...as soon as someone offers good internet i will drop .comcast totally

 

[disneylove69]

I think Direct TV Now also has a DVR feature now, recording in the "cloud".

I have Directtv and regret it. I travel a lot and with comcast I could upload shows, watch and then upload new ones for the trip home. DTV you have to be home near the DVR to upload programming. Lots of time it wont upload or the app crashes.

 

[Zim]

My brother's wife loves to watch football, so they erected an antennae that does an amazing job at picking up local channels. I think the sports teams are trying to figure out how to run their games through slingbox style channels, so if it's not available yet I bet it's right around the corner. Just like Disney is getting ready to roll out it's own channel to compete with Netflix and Hulu.

 

[SharonZ]

We have to watch Penguin games and we usually watch other teams on NHL network, NBCSN and my DH and DS will watch football games as well.

Having the ability to view the Pens is the number one priority in our house.

 

[_19disnA]

Has Comcast looked at the wiring? I had the same issue and it turned out the cable junction(?) on the outside of my home had rusted/corroded. They installed a new one and that fixed the issues.

Same thing happened to us. The phone support people cannot solve this type of issue, they seem to tell everyone to reboot the modem/reset this or that regardless of what you tell them the issue is. I believe it was someone called '2nd level support' or something like that came out and eventually found some cracked/corroded/defective part in that outside junction box at the front of our lawn. Try calling and requesting a supervisor/manager since basic phone support hasn't been able to resolve your issue.

As I recall, you couldn't see anything wrong by just looking at the cabling, but the technician used certain electronic instruments to trace back where/why the signal was losing strength.

 

[HeatherC]

We cut cable tv last month and now have YOUTUBETV for $40 a month. So far it has been great. We are saving about $50 a month. We figure we will try it for a few months and if we don’t like it we can always go back to cable.

The reason we chose YoutubeTV is because of the sports. That is pretty much all that gets watched on the tv. So far it has been great. We were worried about blackouts of local games, etc, but that is not the case, at least in the Boston area. We have been able to watch the Red Sox games and it appears that the Celtics and Patriots will be able to viewed on it as well.

We also have Netflix which we have had for years. So between the two we could never watch everything offered anyway. So far so good.

It did feel good calling Spectrum to cancel after being held hostage for so many years.

 

[a1tinkfans]

That C company... can I just say Awful experiences. Billing errors , service issues, differing responses/answers from every person you speak with. Just plain Awful!