I cancelled cable and my landline this week

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:43 pm

Stacy King wrote:

LOL ... $120 is about where I started when I combined phone/DSL/Satellite

Ditto. I ain't giving up my DVR though...no way. I watch A TON of cable and regular TV, but none of it live. I hate me some commercials and that little 30 sec FF button takes care of those quite easily.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 2:50 pm

clinehall wrote:

If you call my office and there is no answer

Expect a pocket dial from me at any moment.

Thanks for the 6:30am wake up call Sunday but the kids had already woke me up at about 6am :stick:

clinehall · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 3:12 pm

Ryan Holton wrote:

clinehall wrote:

If you call my office and there is no answer

Expect a pocket dial from me at any moment.

Thanks for the 6:30am wake up call Sunday but the kids had already woke me up at about 6am :stick:

I just wanted to let you know I was in a room at VIR with your Ex. :evil:

I have now changed your name to Rain Holton in my phone, maybe that will keep the pocket dials to a minimum.

Michael Czeiszperger · **Joined:** Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:35 am **Posts:** 861

Karl Shultz wrote:

I did the same thing recently, Mike, and I like it. I still have TWC for internet, and I pay for "Turbo" (which is appreciably faster). For TV, I have the current generation Apple TV, which I really like a lot. Lets me listen to my iTunes library in the living room, and watch stuff on Netflix, all with a little $99 box. It's not as flexible as a Roku, but for me, it's just about perfect. I plugged it in, turned it on, and that was pretty much it.

If you update Apple TV it does have a sports channel. I never watch sports and so can't tell you what it does :-)

Besides the above, I really like being able to have a big video movie collection on the computer, and just direct the video (or audio) to the TV w/stereo. This also works from the iPhone or iPad, and can be directed to the speakers in the bedroom or office. So basically you can play any audio from any device to any device.

My daughter really likes the YouTube interface as well, and her friends have a good time watching the videos on the big TV rather than the much smaller computer monitor.

The screen saver is cool too: I have it set to my favorites on Flickr, so there's an always changing slideshow of new images from my friends.

Scott Lusted · **Joined:** Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:52 am **Posts:** 215

We did exactly the same thing last Christmas and LOVE IT!!

We use the Wii and Xbox360 as netflix players. I wired the house with ethernet and added a good antenna in the attic for OTA HD TV in every room. There is also a computer on the downstairs TV the kids can use for playing on Disney's website and Skype calls to friends and family.

We don't watch much TV so it works well. Netflix has more content than anyone could really want to watch and the best part is it doesn't have commercials!!! Ton's of kids stuff too and very easy to operate.

Looking to make the phone switch next. Right now we are using the cable company's system and it works great. A few people I work with are using Ooma but I'd like to find out more about what Mike is using.

-Scott

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 8:16 am

Scott Lusted wrote:

Looking to make the phone switch next. Right now we are using the cable company's system and it works great. A few people I work with are using Ooma

I just switch to Ooma after being stuck in a seemingly never-ending 2 year contract with Vonage. Ooma's been great so far, albeit only 3 weeks into it - call/voice quality is excellent so far, and a couple calls to customer service resulted in actually speaking to a knowledgable human within under a minute. Very nice change after dealing with consistently terrible service from Vonage.

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 8:28 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

)
OTA TV Free. Tweaking the signals with an attic mount antenna, but having some issues. Get about 25 channels.

Mike – If you haven’t discovered Antennaweb.org, check it out. You input your address and it gives you distance and bearing to the OTA transmitters in your area. Then head up to the attic with your compass. It takes the guess work out of aiming.

I started this process a year ago. Beginning with OTA, I installed 3 antennas in the attic pointed to different transmitters. They feed into a signal combiner and pre-amp. From there the signal goes to the 4 TVs throughout the house.

I wanted a Mac based home theater system, but didn’t want to dedicate a Mac to the TV, so Netflix is streamed via the Wii which is connected to my LAN via Bluetooth. The TV is connected as a second monitor via HDMI to the Mac in the den (about 30’ away). We mostly use Plex (apple only app) to stream internet content because it includes plug-ins for Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, YouTube and dozens of other channels (and its free). We have found that surfing the web and browsing our photo library is more of a family activity now. We control the Mac using Apple’s Magic Pad – very cool Bluetooth touch pad that you can create your own gestures and assign to keystrokes, macro, whatever.

I like the clean look in the living room – only the TV, Game console, Magic Pad and one remote - no cable/Sat box, no DVD player, no computer, etc. The system is a bit complex and although the teenagers have figured it out, it really hasn’t passed the wife-test. She still needs help from time to time. Overall, we love it!

Stacy King · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 8:53 am

Cash Davidson wrote:

MikeWhitney wrote:

)
OTA TV Free. Tweaking the signals with an attic mount antenna, but having some issues. Get about 25 channels.

Mike – If you haven’t discovered Antennaweb.org, check it out. You input your address and it gives you distance and bearing to the OTA transmitters in your area. Then head up to the attic with your compass. It takes the guess work out of aiming.

I started this process a year ago. Beginning with OTA, I installed 3 antennas in the attic pointed to different transmitters. They feed into a signal combiner and pre-amp. From there the signal goes to the 4 TVs throughout the house.

I wanted a Mac based home theater system, but didn’t want to dedicate a Mac to the TV, so Netflix is streamed via the Wii which is connected to my LAN via Bluetooth. The TV is connected as a second monitor via HDMI to the Mac in the den (about 30’ away). We mostly use Plex (apple only app) to stream internet content because it includes plug-ins for Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, YouTube and dozens of other channels (and its free). We have found that surfing the web and browsing our photo library is more of a family activity now. We control the Mac using Apple’s Magic Pad – very cool Bluetooth touch pad that you can create your own gestures and assign to keystrokes, macro, whatever.

I like the clean look in the living room – only the TV, Game console, Magic Pad and one remote - no cable/Sat box, no DVD player, no computer, etc. The system is a bit complex and although the teenagers have figured it out, it really hasn’t passed the wife-test. She still needs help from time to time. Overall, we love it!

As an Apple fanboy... I'm liking this!!

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Scott Lusted wrote:

Looking to make the phone switch next. Right now we are using the cable company's system and it works great. A few people I work with are using Ooma but I'd like to find out more about what Mike is using.

-Scott

This is a good intro: http://voxilla.com/2011/01/18/cisco-kil ... phone-2497

Or read up on Amazon (currently OOS, have to wait for Obi to restock at $50)
http://www.amazon.com/Obihai-OBi110-Ser ... B0045RMEPI

Fatwallet thread is good too: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/expired-deals/1072941/

The Obi100 is the same but lacks the ability to merge a PSTN line, would be good enough for a straight replacement though. It's in stock for $43. http://www.amazon.com/OBi100-VoIP-Voice ... 732&sr=8-2

This blog is really lengthy and mostly not needed, but good for more tech:
https://michigantelephone.wordpress.com ... ing-calls/

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:02 am

very interesting discussion. We pay $170/month for TV/net/phone via AT&T UVerse, and feel we get good value from it, but are now looking to minimize monthly costs. So, I figure the Roku/Netflix options eliminate the need for a DVR and *most* of cable stuff--still haven't figured out the ESPN/FSC sports stuff yet. OTA HDTV sounds great--Cash, what kind of initial expenses did you encounter with antennas, amps etc (if you don't mind me asking)?

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:19 am

My only issue I see with Cash's setup is that the Wii can't stream in HD. Is the bluetooth faster than traditional WiFi connectivity? - AB

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:26 am

Aaron, good point. Plus, there's the potential issue of "datahogs" paying a premium for Internet useage. If someone streams 6-8 hours of programming a day (plus music, gaming, and basic net use) that will potentially mitigate cost savings of ditching cable TV...

(didn't know Wii doesn't play well with Apple wifi products...interesting. I bet it's hard to play online Mariokart via Bluetooth....)

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:32 am

Steve,
Antennas are cheap. My largest (under $60) has a 6' boom to pickup a transmitter 43mi away. My smallest (under $30) is about 2' square to pick up a signal 20mi away. Combiners, splitters and pre-amps might be around $20ea. I'm sure I don't have $300 in the system including all the coax I've run around the house and the recepticle I added in the attic for the pre-amp.

http://www.solidsignal.com/ has everything you need.

I get CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, PBS (17 channels total) all in HD. I also get CW & ION although they don't broadcast in HD.

As stated earlier, live sports is the hardest to replace, but with OTA networks in HD and my EPSN3 plug-in for Plex, I can still get my sports fix. Then again there is always the sports bar.

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:38 am

Aaron Buckley wrote:

My only issue I see with Cash's setup is that the Wii can't stream in HD. Is the bluetooth faster than traditional WiFi connectivity? - AB

With an optional cable from Nintento, we get enhanced def (480) which we find acceptable. The main reason we stream netflix thru the Wii is that the Mac is not dedicated to the TV. Since we mostly watch OTA and Netflix, it leaves the Mac available for me to use while my wife is watch something on Netflix.

If we streamed Netflix from the Mac we could have HD. Its a change I may make in the future - if I get a new Mac.

Also, I mis-spoke. The Wii streams over wifi from the Mac. Sorry for the confusion.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:55 am

Cash Davidson wrote:

With an optional cable from Nintento, we get enhanced def (480) which we find acceptable. The main reason we stream netflix thru the Wii is that the Mac is not dedicated to the TV. Since we mostly watch OTA and Netflix, it leaves the Mac available for me to use while my wife is watch something on Netflix.

If we streamed Netflix from the Mac we could have HD. Its a change I may make in the future - if I get a new Mac.

Also, I mis-spoke. The Wii streams over wifi from the Mac. Sorry for the confusion.

Make sense. I bought a Roku HDS a while back but wasn't impressed with the HD streaming on it, so I returned it to Amazon. I'll probably move to Blueray player with integrated Apps and WiFi. - AB

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I cancelled cable and my landline this week

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