Number of Netflix Users That Also Have Pay TV Declining → Count me in.

Apple TV: $99 dollars.
Netflix: $9.
Huluplus: $8.
Amazon: $7.50 ($90 a year).
SmartDNS: $5.
Total: $30.

Last DirecTV bill before I cancelled: $112.

Laughing all the way to the bank with almost a THOUSAND dollars in yearly savings: PRICELESS.

$112 isn't that bad, how much is your internet connection?

I recently re-subbed to fios after realizing my pipe alone was costing me $75 month. For +$20 I got a faster pipe and TV.

Still considering trying the comcast $50 internet+hbo thing if it's still available.

$85 for 100 Mbit/s internet + nationwide telephone, all taxes, fees, modem rental, ceo bonus fund fees, etc included.

Once TWC upgrades us to 300/20, I may drop down to what is going to be 200/20 (currently 30/5 plan), and save some more money.

BTW the $112 was before the almost $5 increase I got hit with by DirecTV in February. The $4 a subscriber they paid for the Lakers channel (which I never watch) found its way to out bills. So it would have been $116-117-ish. And if they DO sign with the Dodgers and shell out another $4, I would be paying about $9 a month for 2 teams I am not even a fan of, because I like the OTHER teams in this market. (Angels, Ducks.).

Come Feb 2015, if they do sign with the Dodgers channel, will most likely see another $5.

Inflation is about 1.5 to 2.5%, depending on the year, averaging out around 2%. DirecTV's yearly price increase is between 4 and 5%, so roughly DOUBLE the inflation.

And it won't stop, thats the problem. How many carrier disputes have we had in the last 5 years? An unbelievable amount, compared to the 20 years of cable TV before that. In 2004 it was RARE to see a big conflict being stretched out for months. Now it seems to be the norm because rediculous numbers are being demanded. Numbers that WILL eventually come out of your wallet.

So no thanks..... Internet only for me please. Oh, and voice.

...$112/month just for TV is a rip off. I'm paying my local cable provider $115 a month for 55Mbps internet, phone, and basic TV with HD included.Comcast hasn't ever offered HBO without a TV subscription.

Yep, me too, my DirecTV bill was exactly the same as yours.

The only difference is I bought a refurbished Roku box.

Isn't that bad? For all the TV I watch, I considered that throwing money out the window.

Someone suggested that I should subtract the money I'm paying for my internet connection out of the money I'm saving by canceling DirecTV, however, I didn't have DirecTV and internet access as a package, so the price for my internet didn't go up.

So, I am no longer paying DirecTV, so I count all of the $112/mo I was sending them as savings.

ONLY HBO can offer HBO as a standalone
but pretty close was when they said they were going to have a 10+ tier, basically limited basic +10 "cable" channels +HBO.
it was briefly advertized here one the web site, new users only. don't know anyone who got it before it disappeared.
So they TRIED to do it but had to pull back due to HBO maybe? or the other 10+ channels?
or all the channels not included?
I don't know. Too bad Cause I would buy the at the cheap price they offered.

Why smartdns?

why even pay for voice? I cut the cord with ATT. Screw them and their $45 dollars a month +taxes/fees

Switched to ooma (so around 3-4 dollars a month in fees, negligible) and laughing at ATT.

Some don't need a homeline, but I still just in case anything happens if I have family over or little kids and whatnot.

More than likely to reroute around ISP/Netflix choke points to minimize buffering issues. The cdn you are connected to relies heavily on the dns.

said by bmccoy:

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said by Flycat:

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$112 isn't that bad

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...$112/month just for TV is a rip off. I'm paying my local cable provider $115 a month for 55Mbps internet, phone, and basic TV with HD included.

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I'm paying $110.49 per month for a triple Play plan with Comcast. It has their Premier tier for tv including HBO and Starz and Streampix. I also get 105/20 internet and phone. I'm using 2 cable cards and Comcast is giving me a straight out $5 credit for them!

Cable bundles with, first WOW, and now Comcast, is the reason why I dropped Dish for tv service. There is no way satellite can compete with them. Now in area where there isn't any competing tv services, then you have to deal with Dish or DirecTV.

quote:

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said by Flycat:

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Still considering trying the comcast $50 internet+hbo thing if it's still available.

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Comcast hasn't ever offered HBO without a TV subscription.

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They've been offering their "plus" plans. For $5 more per month you get internet plus 40 - 50 cable channels, HBO and Streampix. A pretty good deal IMO.

They are advertizing it here.

No TV service. The big question is what is the real rate after the promo period.

Because I call overseas. UK, Netherlands mostly.... sometimes I am on the phone for 2 hours or more. With TWC's voice plan I pay 1 cent a minute to the Netherlands, no mobile phone plan is coming close to that. Yeah I could load up a google voice or skype plan to make calls, but the convenience of just picking up the phone and sitting out in the lawn chair in the back is just.... too convenient.

SmartDNS allows you to access content from a large number of foreign countries, among others BBC iPlayer, and (important for me) the Dutch channels. With both of those, I can already watch the entire World Cup in HD, no need for ESPN.

It also has some Netflix features. I can change the locale and get e.g. the Canadian, UK, or Dutch Netflix library, which has a lot of different content. Obviously, the UK and Dutch ones are going to have a lot more local content, but surprisingly, the Canadian Netflix does sometimes get stuff sooner (and sometimes not).

How would a DNS server do that? Unless it's not a DNS service but a VPN one.

What about Vonage?

I had Vonage; just too expensive. With all the taxes and fees their $14.95/mo service is near $24.

I have Callcentric for VOIP phone. Cost me $3.95/mo + 0.015/minute. Usually runs me about $5.50/mo. The call features will ring the app on my smart phone AND my phones on my ATA device. I can answer any one. If my ATA loses connection, it will ring my cell phone. The ATA works better than the Vonage one, less echo when talking.

I went from:
DSL 3.5/.384- $40
ATT Phone - $33 (no phone, just there for DSL)
Vonage - $23.89
So about $97 total

Comcast 50/5 internet - $50
Callcentric - $5.50
So just over $55/mo

Save $40/mo.

And much faster speed. I also like the idea of a phone that is not physically tied to a location.

As far as TV, Netflix, Acorn.tv, OTA and my Roku is all I will ever want.

Inconsistent.

Cutting the cord is inconvenient yet saves a lot of money if you're willing to take the steps you took. +1 internet points.

Using Skype would save you even more yet you're unwilling. -1 internet points.

Vonage is $25.
TWC Voice is $10 for 2 years, then $40 per month. I will make my decision then.

It's not a VPN. I use Overplay SmartDNS, you can google it and find out the technology behind it, but they do offer VPN service to many countries as well, so I suspect the backend technology will utilize those local locations.

I can, for instance, stream Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and the Dutch NPO on the same machine. Even with a VPN, you can only stream ONE of those because a VPN still restricts you to a single country, being the one you dialed in to.

I have simply configured their DNS servers into my router, and all devices can now access all supported content.

That's a good deal. Vonage also has reduced rates for the first six months ($9.99) on a 1yr contract. That includes unlimited calling to 60 countries (includes UK and Netherlands). Of course you'd have to talk a helluva a lot before the penny a minute TWC Voice charges gets significant.