Cable/Internet

[shaffe]

My wife and I are pretty fed up with Time Warner after they extended our contract 3 years without notifying us (after initially telling us the wrong date the contract was up in the first place). Thankfully we're still in the window where we can tell them to piss off without owing them money for the pleasure.

What cable/internet combo would you recommend for us? We're probably going to pick up a month to month plan from SureWest until we move out of JoCo in October, when we'll sign a new deal with somebody(s). DirectTV's offer right now is pretty damn sweet but the problem becomes finding internet that's "affordable". All we're looking for in internet options is something that is faster than 5Mbps and less than $40 a month if it's possible. Cable wise we're looking at something that has approximately 200 digital channels. Not that we watch them all, but that level of package seems to encompass everything we need (a few extra sports channels for me).

[splash]

The website is doing maintenance at this time of night, so I can't be completely sure of prices, but we have Uverse and have been very happy with them over the past year.  We pay about $130 a month for (I think) 200 channels and 12 mbps internet.

[brewcrew1000]

My wife and I are pretty fed up with Time Warner after they extended our contract 3 years without notifying us (after initially telling us the wrong date the contract was up in the first place). Thankfully we're still in the window where we can tell them to piss off without owing them money for the pleasure.

What cable/internet combo would you recommend for us? We're probably going to pick up a month to month plan from SureWest until we move out of JoCo in October, when we'll sign a new deal with somebody(s). DirectTV's offer right now is pretty damn sweet but the problem becomes finding internet that's "affordable". All we're looking for in internet options is something that is faster than 5Mbps and less than $40 a month if it's possible. Cable wise we're looking at something that has approximately 200 digital channels. Not that we watch them all, but that level of package seems to encompass everything we need (a few extra sports channels for me).

Dump cable all together and just get internet, you can watch every show online now for free. I haven't have Cable TV for over a year now and I'm really liking it, the only downfall is not being able to watch some sporting events.

[shaffe]

Dump cable all together and just get internet, you can watch every show online now for free. I haven't have Cable TV for over a year now and I'm really liking it, the only downfall is not being able to watch some sporting events.

Sports is a pretty big downfall for me. If the Big 12 was on espn networks only I might be able to swing it with ESPN3, but until Fox Sports comes out with something just as good I can't cut the cord.

[KC0KEK]

you can watch every show online now for free.

Not in my experience.

[mean]

Where can I watch Mad Men online?

[brewcrew1000]

Not in my experience.

I should say the shows I watch, like:

South Park
Louie
It's always Sunny
Weeds
The Daily Show
The Inbetweeners

[brewcrew1000]

Where can I watch Mad Men online?

Go to AMC's website, they might have full episodes, you can watch full epsidoes of Breaking Bad right now, another good option is the KC PUblic Library, they have tons of tv shows you can checkout for free, i have watched full seasons this way.

[mean]

You can't stream Mad Men from AMC's web site (at least not full episodes, just clips that all seem to be from season 4, and I'm still on season 3). Netflix is easiest.

[TheBigChuckbowski]

I should say the shows I watch, like:

South Park
Louie
It's always Sunny
Weeds
The Daily Show
The Inbetweeners

Where do you watch Weeds legally?

[brewcrew1000]

Where do you watch Weeds legally?

I watched all of last season on You Tube, showtime has a channel, here is episode one of the new showtime show called The Franchise, it's like the hard knocks for baseball, i might watch that tonight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoFOJJPli-c

[mean]

Was it on YouTube legally? Also, the idea of watching multiple seasons of shows in 10-minute increments makes me gag.

[brewcrew1000]

Was it on YouTube legally? Also, the idea of watching multiple seasons of shows in 10-minute increments makes me gag.

Yes, it was put on You Tube by showtime.

I would rather watch 10 minute increments of a show then coughing over 60 bucks a month for cable tv i would barley watch

[bobbyhawks]

The problem with YouTube or streaming from the network site is that the quality is not really up to the standard of HD TV in my opinion.  There are occasional artifacts to deal with on most, and even the HD quality on Netflix is still a notch below the quality of HD offered almost without fail through cable and satellite.  There are download options, though, that can be more consistent like iTunes and Amazon.  If you download the shows and then stream them locally to a Roku/Boxee/Apple TV, the quality can actually be better than the 1080i Time Warner gives you, though you sometimes have to wait for things to download.  The price can add up if you scream through a show with many seasons.  The quality of Netflix, VUDU, and other streaming services is improving all the time, but they are still dependent on an ISP that does not throttle or have bad drops in speed during peak hours.

Internet, sports, and first run HBO shows are the dealbreakers for me.  I'd love to be independent of TWC, but I can't get quality Internet at my house without them, and the current satellite packages I'd want would actually increase my monthly bill if I continue to use TWC as an ISP.  I will never sign a contract for TV, especially with Google fiber on the horizon, as I am anticipating some price wars for both cable and Internet in KC.  Ideally, ESPN and others like HBO will test drive online-only HD subscriptions.  That has to be way more attractive than giving a chunk of the cash to someone like TWC or Comcast.

[Pendergast]

About fed up with TWC too, I called to cancel Showtime and they gave me at least 3 sales pitches about other products. When I finally stopped them from talking and complained, they said they just wanted to make sure I had everything I needed! My only hesitation to cancelling is Fox Sports Net for Royals games. I emailed them to ask what were the other ways to watch their channel and never heard back.

I have heard good and bad about Uverse and Dish. I'm thinking about going without cable and just getting a high speed internet line.

[DiggityDawg]

[quote="Pendergast"]My only hesitation to cancelling is Fox Sports Net for Royals games./quote]

This is about the only thing left keeping me with DirecTV. If there was another way of watching the games online I'd probably dump 'em.

[pstokely]

My only hesitation to cancelling is Fox Sports Net for Royals games./quote]

This is about the only thing left keeping me with DirecTV. If there was another way of watching the games online I'd probably dump 'em.

MLB.TV through a proxy server outside your area

[Pendergast]

Shouldn't we be able to watch MLB and all sports on our mobile or tablets? Why is it that they are so far behind on this stuff? I would pay $20 a month to watch any sports I want.

I'm thinking of going to Uverse, but its not much cheaper than TWC.

[shinatoo]

You can watch MLB and most anything on your tablet or cell phone. Have been able to for some time.

[Pendergast]

Really? I thought they blacked out your local team on all of that.