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Cut the cord and save money (if you do it right)

clifffaith

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BTW- remember my hubby put the broken tv outside in the rain and someone took it? Guess what showed up yesterday? lol!

When we get back from vacation- off to dispose of it at Best Buy.

Seriously?! Someone brought the TV back? LOL! Time for a trip to HazMat, assuming you have those in your area. Anytime Cliff has enough batteries and light bulbs to warrant the ten minute drive, and another 10 minutes sitting in line in the car, I sneak in yet another old can of paint from our previous home. Yes, he moved old paint cans!
 

dioxide45

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Seriously?! Someone brought the TV back? LOL! Time for a trip to HazMat, assuming you have those in your area. Anytime Cliff has enough batteries and light bulbs to warrant the ten minute drive, and another 10 minutes sitting in line in the car, I sneak in yet another old can of paint from our previous home. Yes, he moved old paint cans!
We set an old, I mean OLD radio (I mean OLD, vintage 1970s) out by the road when cleaning out my wife's grandmother's house after her passing. Someone took it and then it showed up again not much later. I didn't realize there was a return policy.
 

clifffaith

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We are changing the cord, not cutting it. My cable bill went up to $220 (from $205) last month so rather than just call to do my normal grumbling which always gets me a courtesy $20 off or so, I told them to drop me down to basic local TV which came in at $146. Cliff stuck his head in at ATT and got a quote which sounded good so we went back together, I got my questions answered, and for $147 we get internet, all the regular cable channels we'd given up, Showtime and two other movie channels, and two $100 Visa cards. The manager told us to come back to him next year when the rate goes up (we don't really want Showtime so that will be the first thing we cut). They come on Wednesday to do whatever they do to connect us, that is assuming they have stopped feuding with CBS. Told them I can't be without my Big Brother! I won't turn Cox cable off for a couple days until I'm sure we are good to go. The main issue above all is to not have internet, and therefore printer, interruption because I have one day shipping on my eBay sales.
 
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WinniWoman

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Seriously?! Someone brought the TV back? LOL! Time for a trip to HazMat, assuming you have those in your area. Anytime Cliff has enough batteries and light bulbs to warrant the ten minute drive, and another 10 minutes sitting in line in the car, I sneak in yet another old can of paint from our previous home. Yes, he moved old paint cans!

What is HazMat? Never heard of it so assuming none around.
 

clifffaith

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What is HazMat? Never heard of it so assuming none around.

The hazardous material "dump". Old paint, batteries, light bulbs, computers, TVs etc. Drive up, the guys unload the car and sort it into the proper piles. It isn't dumped there, but I don't know where it goes. They are open every Sat & Sun.
 

WinniWoman

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The hazardous material "dump". Old paint, batteries, light bulbs, computers, TVs etc. Drive up, the guys unload the car and sort it into the proper piles. It isn't dumped there, but I don't know where it goes. They are open every Sat & Sun.

Another thing I should look into as we have a ton of paint cans to get rid of. I have kept them so as to touch up the walls as we get rid of paintings and furniture that might have just put a small mark on the wall.

Best Buy charges $25 to take the TV. At this point, my husband is just going to bring it there when we get back from vacation unless I can find out beforehand if we have that at our dump. I have a feeling they might charge also.
Thanks.
 

dioxide45

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Another thing I should look into as we have a ton of paint cans to get rid of. I have kept them so as to touch up the walls as we get rid of paintings and furniture that might have just put a small mark on the wall.

Best Buy charges $25 to take the TV. At this point, my husband is just going to bring it there when we get back from vacation unless I can find out beforehand if we have that at our dump. I have a feeling they might charge also.
Thanks.
Check out your county engineer's office, they may have a HazMat collection day one day a month or even every day. We used to take old stuff to one when we were in Ohio. Then they said they were going to stop taking paint. To open the can and let it dry and then it isn't hazmat anymore. What if I have a half full can? They also stopped taking old PCs. I found out there is one we can take stuff to here in Jacksonville, there were a couple old cans of paint in a closet I plan to take there. I ended up buying new paint to repaint the place. Those old cans did come in handy since they were able to match the paint using the barcode from the cans.
 

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We have not cut the cord and still have a landline.......I called once to see how much I would save if I removed the landline and it was about $18. Not worth not having it for now. Once or twice we had no cell service but could use our land line. I might take it away someday though. I actually still use my fax machine here and there :D since I am computer illiterate. When my daughter is not home to scan a document and I can't send a picture with my cell phone, I will use the fax as a last resort.

I don't like to play the game going back and forth between Verizon FIOS and Spectrum (used to be Time Warner) to see who offers the better deal. Eventually the prices all go up again.

So many streaming services now. I am literally clueless about them. One day I need a lesson from one of my kids. They have seem to have/use everything (Netflix, Verizon, etc. etc.).
 

Grammarhero

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Looking forward to Disney Plus, Disney’s new streaming service. DVC should get free subscriptions.
 

CPNY

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Looking forward to Disney Plus, Disney’s new streaming service. DVC should get free subscriptions.
Everyone will pay lol. But maybe a discount.
 

CPNY

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We have not cut the cord and still have a landline.......I called once to see how much I would save if I removed the landline and it was about $18. Not worth not having it for now. Once or twice we had no cell service but could use our land line. I might take it away someday though. I actually still use my fax machine here and there :D since I am computer illiterate. When my daughter is not home to scan a document and I can't send a picture with my cell phone, I will use the fax as a last resort.

I don't like to play the game going back and forth between Verizon FIOS and Spectrum (used to be Time Warner) to see who offers the better deal. Eventually the prices all go up again.

So many streaming services now. I am literally clueless about them. One day I need a lesson from one of my kids. They have seem to have/use everything (Netflix, Verizon, etc. etc.).
I got rid of cable and just have the internet. I talked them down to 50 per month for internet (spectrum) and then picked up YoutubeTV for 50. Plus the watch AttV app that comes free with att wireless. Now I have plenty of channels and am saving 75 bucks a month. That adds up to a yearly maint fee for one of my timeshares lol
 

klpca

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I got rid of cable and just have the internet. I talked them down to 50 per month for internet (spectrum) and then picked up YoutubeTV for 50. Plus the watch AttV app that comes free with att wireless. Now I have plenty of channels and am saving 75 bucks a month. That adds up to a yearly maint fee for one of my timeshares lol
We just cut it again, for the second time in 4 years. Our savings was $105 per month - I can't believe that we were paying so much for so little! It's probably permanent at this point, and streaming options seem to be much better than the last time that we cut the cable. All of our local news stations have apps, so we can see local news. The only thing that we will probably need to pay for will be some kind of subscription(s) during football and basketball seasons. I think that we are going to look at either CBS All Access or Sling. My husband will figure it out since he is more concerned than I am.
 

CPNY

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We just cut it again, for the second time in 4 years. Our savings was $105 per month - I can't believe that we were paying so much for so little! It's probably permanent at this point, and streaming options seem to be much better than the last time that we cut the cable. All of our local news stations have apps, so we can see local news. The only thing that we will probably need to pay for will be some kind of subscription(s) during football and basketball seasons. I think that we are going to look at either CBS All Access or Sling. My husband will figure it out since he is more concerned than I am.
Tell him to look into youtubeTV. I liked the options better than sling especially for sports! Some of the sports packages when you add them up, even 2 could be pricier than a whole subscription.
 

klpca

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Tell him to look into youtubeTV. I liked the options better than sling especially for sports! Some of the sports packages when you add them up, even 2 could be pricier than a whole subscription.
Thanks, I will pass that along.
 

clifffaith

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We are changing the cord, not cutting it. My cable bill went up to $220 (from $205) last month so rather than just call to do my normal grumbling which always gets me a courtesy $20 off or so, I told them to drop me down to basic local TV which came in at $146. Cliff stuck his head in at ATT and got a quote which sounded good so we went back together, I got my questions answered, and for $147 we get internet, all the regular cable channels we'd given up, Showtime and two other movie channels, and two $100 Visa cards. The manager told us to come back to him next year when the rate goes up (we don't really want Showtime so that will be the first thing we cut). They come on Wednesday to do whatever they do to connect us, that is assuming they have stopped feuding with CBS. Told them I can't be without my Big Brother! I won't turn Cox cable off for a couple days until I'm sure we are good to go. The main issue above all is to not have internet, and therefore printer, interruption because I have one day shipping on my eBay sales.

I had to call to put off our appt to switch to AT&T since they were still fighting with CBS. OMG, it was like, duh, calling the freaking phone company! A constant stream of menus, then in the end changing the appt with a computer voice. With Cox you get a human being as soon as the account number and pin are entered. Posted this on Nextdoor and the comment was to also be aware that AT&T works 8-5 M-F, so good luck when you have issues outside those hours. That did it for me, called Cox up and said put me back to all the cable channels I had before, and I got my standard $20 discount for calling and grumbling about the price increase. I will pay my $200 per month just to be able to talk to a human being at 2pm Sunday afternoon if I need to.
 

CPNY

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I had to call to put off our appt to switch to AT&T since they were still fighting with CBS. OMG, it was like, duh, calling the freaking phone company! A constant stream of menus, then in the end changing the appt with a computer voice. With Cox you get a human being as soon as the account number and pin are entered. Posted this on Nextdoor and the comment was to also be aware that AT&T works 8-5 M-F, so good luck when you have issues outside those hours. That did it for me, called Cox up and said put me back to all the cable channels I had before, and I got my standard $20 discount for calling and grumbling about the price increase. I will pay my $200 per month just to be able to talk to a human being at 2pm Sunday afternoon if I need to.

You can just get internet and then pay for a streaming service like YouTube tv, sling, direct tv now, Hulu with live tv etc. you’ll get your channels for half the price.
 

pedro47

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I would love to cut the cord. But in our area for the past three (3) years or more Direct & Dish have been holding of our local NBC, ABC, FOX and CBS channel hostage by pulling them off the air before major sporting events liked NFL & NBA seasons and the start of the new television season . Right now we do not have NBC & FOX channels on Direct & Dish. They want another fee increase.
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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Cut the cord and save money (if you do it right )
Richard

Don't forget OTA (Over the Air) - TV - IT IS FREE

We use an antenna (and also have Netflix .)

here is an interesting website that can be used to find all your FREE TV options .
Including all the subchannels that are not on cable .

Rabbitears.info. / www.rabbitears.info

1)if you click on - network grid - you get a list of TV markets & channel availability .
2) If you click on - search map- and move the icon to your location - you can see what You can get using an antenna (the higher the better).

You can also find updates on the RF repack . We just started getting ION -TV and all their sub-channels . The "local" ION affiliate was broadcasting from a tower between Buffalo & Rochester . They moved closer to Buffalo / now it comes in 24/7 .

Channel Master 8 bay would be the "gold standard " for a quality antenna .
if mounted rooftop and adding a preamp you should get channels up to 80+ miles away ;depending on the terrain . ( across flat water like Lake Ontario is perfect).

FYI- make sure your installation is grounded for lightning .
I have a grounding block on my G-6 cable once it enters the house .
 
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bogey21

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. Receivers are all disconnected and sitting in a box waiting for their recovery kit to arrive.

FWIW when I left DirectTV all I had to do was take the receivers to my local UPS Store. They scanned the IDs on them; gave me a receipt; put them in a big box with others which they send to DirectTV. Heck of a lot simpler than waiting for a recovery kit. You might check and see if they still have the relationship with UPS Stores...

George
 

Makai Guy

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I would love to cut the cord. But in our area for the past three (3) years or more Direct & Dish have been holding of our local NBC, ABC, FOX and CBS channel hostage by pulling them off the air...
I'm afraid you got this backwards. The stations have greatly increased the carrying fees they want the cable and satellite companies to pay for the "privilege" of retransmitting the local stations' signals. When each contract expires a new one must be negotiated, and the station owners sometimes withdraw the retransmission rights as a negotiation ploy to try to bring the carriers to their knees. At the current time, Nexstar's contract with Directv is in negotiation and they've withdrawn all of their nearly 200 stations around the country from Directv.
 

mjm1

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We just decided to cut the cord from DirectTV because we are tired of their rate hikes and issue currently going on with Nexstar. We watch a lot of shows on CBS.

We decided to go with Hulu + LiveTV. We have a smart TV in our living room and bought a Firestick for our second TV. We also had to buy a better router and get a larger internet package, which resulted in better WiFi throughout our house. The only channel we don’t get that I have watched is NFL Network, but I can do without that, or at least I will try.

I had been thinking about doing this for a while and my DW finally had enough. So far so good.

Best regards.

Mike
 

easyrider

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We have been rid of Dish for a long time now. There is no cable in our area. We decided to try Tivo ota ( over the air). We bought a Tivo Roamio with a paid subscription maybe 5 years ago. It still works. The Tivo records about 120 hours of ota tv programs with a skip feature. It also streams Netflix, Amazon , You Tube and many other apps.

We are also rid of our land lines. Ported all of our landline numbers to our cell phones.

I haven't figured out how to get rid of our internet. I tried using our phones but I think they call it a hot spot probably because the phone gets so hot.

Recently , my niece added an app called Cyberflixs to our Firestick. I was able to view new movies. I clicked on an upgrade install and accidentally wiped out Cyberflix, lol.

My grand daughter installed an app on the Firestick that allows viewing live sporting events. I really haven't had time to watch anything on it yet.

I have a feeling that all of our devices will be replaced by streaming devices with access to every thing.

Bill
 
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