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Astyanax
Premium Member
join:2002-11-14
Melbourne, FL

Astyanax to gigahurtz

Premium Member

to gigahurtz

Re: BHN Customers: Would you leave if you could?

We need to be able to DE-select channels we don't want and have it reduce our monthly bill accordingly.

gigahurtz
Premium Member
join:2001-10-20
USA

gigahurtz

Premium Member

I would love for this to happen, but I've come to the conclusion we will never see an al a carte model in TV. The cable company and broadcasters make far too much money to allow that too happen.
gigahurtz

gigahurtz to regularjoe

Premium Member

to regularjoe
said by regularjoe:

I would leave if I could. But, for what? To get services from another provider who's prices are just as high. I've had many providers over the years in different geographical areas and to be honest, you can't beat BHN's customer service and the reliability of their network. I do not even remember when was the last time I had to call BHN because of any issues.

Now on the flip side, I was recently looking at an email from about 8 years ago. I had the same bundle back then but of course bandwidth was lower, but I was paying +/- $80. Now I pay +/- $180 for the same services. So sadly I will be soon cutting the cord on the TV and Phone service most likely.

It just don't watch TV enough to justify the price and listening to Telemarketer Voice-mails is getting dated. It would be nice if the future would bring an option to bundle some kind of streaming TV service only without the high cost of STB's and DVR's.

This is the recurring theme here. If it were a level playing field and we had worthy competitors to switch too, I think many of us would at least give it more thought. Unfortunately, with less competition comes higher prices. If I could, I would drop TV service in a heart beat. My wife, on the other hand, loves her shows and her on demand so I don't know if I can ever pull that off.

Pixiloxx
join:2013-08-15
Melbourne, FL

Pixiloxx to gigahurtz

Member

to gigahurtz
Here in CFL we have over 200 HD channels. Out of all of those, I really only watch 20 of them. I would love to drop cable, but I am a huge sports fan and watching those without cable is almost impossible, especially if it's niche sports like surfing, cricket, etc. Plus there's a few programs I watch that aren't available anywhere else, so it's either go without totally or pony up the cash.

paradigmfl
join:2005-07-16

1 edit

paradigmfl to gigahurtz

Member

to gigahurtz
Yes. ~$60 for a 10/1 internet connection is outrageous in 2014 and there is an employee high up in the organization who has been extremely rude to me. I would gladly leave. The trend seems to be rising fees and nickel-and-diming customers too. The ISP customers are being used to offset losses on the TV side as people cut out traditional cable. That isn't right. My internet bill should not be increasing just because they are losing cable TV customers and revenue. I don't owe Brighthouse a certain level of overall profit.
Ian N
join:2013-05-10
Tampa, FL

Ian N to gigahurtz

Member

to gigahurtz
When I moved to S Tampa in 2010, we originally started with Verizon. They had the battery box in the house for "FiOS". We ordered and had their 15/10, Cable and Phone. It was aDSL on copper and choking hard just on Pandora. Verizon didnt even bury fiber in the neighborhood until 8/2011 when the city put in sidewalks.

After about 6 months, we cancelled and Switched to BH. I'm sold. Yes we pay, but reliability is there, and the CS is excellent. I've had to change my package a bit, and has never been a question asked. The CS has always tried to find best deal for me. I'll be staying for a long while.
regularjoe
join:2012-11-11

regularjoe to gigahurtz

Member

to gigahurtz
À la carte would be great. But, like you say not happening. I would be great though to have a streaming service only eg. BHNTV app on enabled devices without the cost of the stb's and everything else that comes with it.

neonhomer
Dearborn 5-2750
Premium Member
join:2004-01-27
Edgewater, FL

neonhomer to Astyanax

Premium Member

to Astyanax
I too would love this... There is a metric butt-load of channels I don't watch that I would to drop to cut my bill, or substitute for channels I would watch...
CatHerder
join:2014-02-17
United State

2 recommendations

CatHerder to gigahurtz

Member

to gigahurtz
I'm sorry to say, but I definitely would. I understand my requirements may not be "mainstream", but BH definitely is much worse than Comcast was when I lived in the San Francisco Peninsula. These are my specific issues:

- BH TV forces me to use a tuning adapter with my Tivo. This is yet another box to power, find space for, and yes, have fail. I've lost at least a few recordings because the Cisco (nee Scientific Atlanta) TA has hung up on me. I know of no one that thinks that SDV is actually anything but a hack.

- No native IPv6. I got rock solid native IPv6 from Comcast. Not only that, but they gave me my own /48 via prefix delegation. Sure, I can tunnel back to Hurricane Electric, but it's suboptimal routing, and I lose bits off my MTU.

- The ^%#$ CCI flags. Ok, I know BH inherited a lot of stuff from TWC, and TWC has this INSANE "Flag everything the FCC doesn't FORCE me to keep open" policy, but to keep claiming that they're setting things to disallow streaming or copying for offline viewing because they're "forced to by the content providers" is clearly a lie. I don't use that word lightly. If they simply came out and said "We do it because we feel it's in our best financial interest to block it", I'd still be annoyed, but to blame it on on others when the choice is theirs is just reprehensible. I travel a ton, and not being able to stream a bike race, or download Jon Stewart to watch on the plane, not because of a technical issue but because someone has limited me out of spite just makes my blood boil.

- No SSL, and until Very Soon Now! (tm), no IMAP. While I don't use the BH provided email, my in-laws all do, and telling them "Oh, it's fine to send your password in the clear" and "oh, yes, POP means you'll have unsynchronized inboxes between your phone, tablet and laptop" would have been entirely appropriate for 1995. Yes, I've nmaped the servers and see there's IMAP on 143, but still nothing on 993. I'm just flabbergasted.

While there are many other smaller (or more technical issues), those are the ones that would have me move in a minute if I had a good alternate option.

On the flip side, Brighthouse's participation here, and their direct forum, not to mention Gary, are awesome. But it's hard to ignore the major issues just because there's a really good guy trying to help.

By the way, if I got any of this wrong PLEASE correct me. I'm more than happy to apologize and do a mea culpa, but I really believe all of this, and more is out of whack at BH.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

- Jim
Aprel
join:2013-09-14

Aprel to regularjoe

Member

to regularjoe
said by regularjoe:

I would be great though to have a streaming service only eg. BHNTV app on enabled devices without the cost of the stb's and everything else that comes with it.

It's the FCC's intention for exactly this, i.e., for cable companies to sell you a service (i.e., cable) and not require you to pay for their equipment. This was the whole idea behind the cableCARD. However, cableCARDs are anything but trouble-free, and cable companies have gotten away with making them second-class citizens (e.g., BHN's requirement for TAs for access to all channels).
royfussell
join:2014-03-29
Daytona Beach, FL

royfussell

Member

said by regularjoe:

I would be great though to have a streaming service only eg. BHNTV app on enabled devices without the cost of the stb's and everything else that comes with it.

said by Aprel:

It's the FCC's intention for exactly this, i.e., for cable companies to sell you a service (i.e., cable) and not require you to pay for their equipment. This was the whole idea behind the cableCARD. However, cableCARDs are anything but trouble-free, and cable companies have gotten away with making them second-class citizens (e.g., BHN's requirement for TAs for access to all channels).

Would be very nice, but don't see that happening at all.
FYI, the web stream and app that they do have - you can't even access the guide without having a STB as equipment.
Gator5000e
join:2013-09-02
Altamonte Springs, FL

Gator5000e to Aprel

Member

to Aprel
I would probably leave but mainly for the more up to date tech offered by DirecTV and other providers. Having only 2 tuners is a pain when you have 3 shows you want to record on a night. The 6 tuner Genie was heaven with D*. No hunting around for an alternate showing.

Also little things like the last 4 channels watched, a grid that shows your 9 favorite channels for quick tuning. The sports scoreboard widget. the 1080p PPV movies.

The customizable guide to show as much or as little of available channels as you wish.

The sports mix channels for major sporting events like the major championships in golf and tennis. D* also had a contract with nbc sports live app although it doesn't with Watch ESPN.

A button on the box and a series of button pushes on the remote to reboot the box without having to dig around the back to get the plug out. D* mail was a decent feature as well.

The thirty second skip feature. Bigger hard drives to hold more data. Those are a few I can think of now.

Bhn has some advantages. Little raid fade and fairly solid On Demand but not all of is in hd. The bhn tablet/phone app is pretty rudimentary. The way the channels are listed is bizzare. Pain to find one you want to watch.

BHN, I don't think they are too far away. Upgrade the stb equipment with more tuners and complete the guide update that seems to have stalled. Than allow complete customization of guide. And it has Sunday ticket and will likely land the sec network before long. But bottom line is that a more up to date stb user interface with more than 2 recording lines would bring a lot to the table I don't knowdon't know that I can wait that long.
regularjoe
join:2012-11-11

regularjoe to royfussell

Member

to royfussell
said by royfussell:

FYI, the web stream and app that they do have - you can't even access the guide without having a STB as equipment.

Yes, aware of it. That is why i said...
said by regularjoe:

eg. BHNTV app on enabled devices without the cost of the stb's and everything else that comes with it.


drthomasho
join:2005-02-16
Whitestown, IN

drthomasho to gigahurtz

Member

to gigahurtz
Especially for TV, most folks have virtually ONLY one other alternative so the question should be: would you "cut the cord"?

gigahurtz
Premium Member
join:2001-10-20
USA

gigahurtz to Pixiloxx

Premium Member

to Pixiloxx
said by Pixiloxx:

Here in CFL we have over 200 HD channels. Out of all of those, I really only watch 20 of them. I would love to drop cable, but I am a huge sports fan and watching those without cable is almost impossible, especially if it's niche sports like surfing, cricket, etc. Plus there's a few programs I watch that aren't available anywhere else, so it's either go without totally or pony up the cash.

This seems to be the trend with a lot of people. It's difficult to cut the cord because there are certain things, primarily sports, that are hard to find. I'm included in this although I could manage I'm sure. My wife on the other hand...
gigahurtz

gigahurtz to paradigmfl

Premium Member

to paradigmfl
said by paradigmfl:

Yes. ~$60 for a 10/1 internet connection is outrageous in 2014 and there is an employee high up in the organization who has been extremely rude to me. I would gladly leave. The trend seems to be rising fees and nickel-and-diming customers too. The ISP customers are being used to offset losses on the TV side as people cut out traditional cable. That isn't right. My internet bill should not be increasing just because they are losing cable TV customers and revenue. I don't owe Brighthouse a certain level of overall profit.

I still find it interesting that Brighthouse had a marketing campaign several years ago where they talked about how they're the 'no asterisk' company yet they have no turned into that. When you look at your bill now, there is a fee for quite a few things that aren't included in the monthly fee. This is a shady business practice and shameful. The cost of doing business should be included in your monthly fee. I understand a fee for additional boxes, but to charge a fee for the 'digital guide', a fee for the modem that you need to connect to the internet and a regional sports network fee is absurd.