Have you cancelled your cable yet?

[bookie71]

question from a ludite:

How do you get internet, if you cut the cable?

We don't have Version.  We have GCI (cable)or ACS (the telephone line thingy)

[Packer16]

bookie,

 

It sounds like you are from Alaska.  What are your impressions of GCI versus ACS in terms of service and offerings?  TIA.

 

Packer

[bookie71]

It has totally flip flopped.  In the past GCI was fantastic, but now that GCI is bigger, they are terrible.  ACS is fighting hard, but because they pis*ed so many folks off in the past (when they were #1) most are leery.

[Yours Truly]

I cut Rogers cable two months ago. My solution was netflix and a raspberry pi running raspmbc. For netflix, our Sony TV has it integrated and it works great. There is even a red netflix button on the remote control that my 3 year old has figured out.

 

The raspberry pi works well to access a network drive and stream videos. It also can access the TV's remote control thru the HDMI passthru CEC controls, making it really easy to control. But the real big win for my wife was the Canada On Demand add-in -- http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?pid=1303314  which gives FoodTV, HGTV (the big two) and most Canadian broadcaster's web streams direct access through the TV and TV's remote control.

 

Kids happy = Netflix. Wife happy = Canada on Demand. So far I haven't heard any talk of bringing back the Cable bill = Me happy.

 

I have a similar setup using appletv2 and a NAS... But I still have cable because I need my sports! Canada on demand add on is pretty meh

[Aberhound]

For years now every time we thought the kids became rude etc. we cancelled the cable TV. We notice a huge difference for the better in the behaviour of our kids. Don't fool yourself and think that TV is good for the family. The reverse is true. You really see the difference in dinner table converstation.

 

My wife is usually the one to relent then reconnect months later so she can watch tennis. Usually this occurs because she gets a call with some amazing cable deal. Interestingly our average cost of TV dropped to $10 to $20 per month or so. Even though we usually cancel at the end of the 6 month $10 period they keep offering the same deal. Internet and phone cost $70/month or so which we always keep. The pattern of signing up and cancelling also breaks the habit so that when the cable is on no one watches much. The kids mostly seem to watch the cooking shows, perhaps because they have realized that when they watch what we think is crap the cable is cancelled soon afterwards.

 

I don't think the Asian families watch much TV either as I overheard one parent telling her kid: "What's this a B (looking at the kids report card)... Do we look like a "Besian" or "Cesian"? No! We are "Asian". (goes on to tell kid to work harder etc.)

[fenris]

Got rid of cable this January. We have Netflix and stream some shows through Amazon. We probably watch a total of 2-3 hours of tv a week (a few select shows) so it wasn't too big a change. Hard to believe how much money we were wasting.