Angela L. Waderker

How To Tell Your Cable Company To Kiss Off UPDATE

It’s been a little over a month since I told you how to tell your cable company to kiss off, so I thought I’d give an update.

Internet Access:  So I paired down my cable company services to just internet access.  Since my bill was so high, I have quite a bit of credit left.  However, when it runs out, if I stick with the internet package I have right now (105 Mbps and 600GB of data), my monthly bill will be around $100.  I’m still trying to decide if I want to step down a package to 75 Mbps at $78.95 per month (and probably 300GB of data) and see if that will suffice.  With the three of us in the house the entire month of December with multiple devices connected (all streaming from somewhere in the house), we haven’t even come close to the data cap (and I didn’t think we would).

Home phone service:  I was unable to port my phone number to Broadvoice.  I received an error message using the website, chat support was unable to help, and when I finally tried to call them they were closed for the holiday.  Just wanting to be done with it, I did some additional research and decided on Ooma.  I used their online tool and it told me I could port my number so I was happy.  I found a Black Friday deal for an Ooma Telo for $79.99, so I set it up and initiated the port process.  I also paid for a year of Premier service up front so I wouldn’t have to pay the port fee.  A few days later, I received an email which, in part, reads as follows:

After further research with our carrier surrounding the portability of your phone number, it does appear that your number remains not portable at this time due to lack of coverage. By lack of coverage we mean that our carriers do not have any Inter Connect Agreements with the rate centers/carriers in your area. In the vast majority of cases, porting a phone number is not a problem. However, there are circumstances (like yours) where we don’t have a connection to the rate center. In those rare instances we cannot port a number to us. These agreements are typically harder to obtain in smaller, more rural areas.

I replied back, because I don’t live in a small or rural area (by most people’s definition), and my sister, who lives 10 minutes down the street, was able to port her number just fine.  Long story short, they explained the carrier sometimes has limited slots for portability, etc, etc.  I blame Comcast, just because it’s easy to, but I digress.  Anyway, I was very impressed with Ooma’s call quality, and I didn’t want to run into yet another port problem with another carrier, so I decided to stay with them.  Yes I lost my number (of 13 years) and I’m sad about that, and it took me forever to update everything with my new number, but I was able to negotiate a partial refund on my Premier service because of their inability to port my number .  Even the customer rep was confused when I called about a refund because his system showed the number should be portable as well.  So on that note, I tip my hat to Ooma for their awesome customer service.

Free Trials, Free Trials, and more Free Trials:  My Roku came with many free trials (through the Roku website or via emails) including:

• Hulu (3 months free limited commercial plan)
• Showtime (30 days)
• HBO Now (30 days) – ** You can set up payment for channel subscriptions through the Roku website using PayPal, however, you cannot enjoy the free trial of HBO with PayPal as a payment service.  They want a debit or credit card, which I found interesting.
• Netflix (30 days)
• Amazon (30 days)
• Daily Burn (exercise videos, 30 days)
• SlingTV (14 days, but I’d already paid for 3 months of service to get the deal on my second Roku device)
• Qello (30 days, full length recorded live concerts)
• CinemaNow (3 free HD movie rentals, but I only got this offer with one Roku, not on the one I got from the SlingTV deal)
• I also received quite a few freebies directly from some of the channels I subscribed to, so pay close attention to your emails.

SlingTV:  It’s a little weird having mostly on demand services so I am enjoying this live tv service, if only to see some actual commercials (I never thought I’d type a sentence like that).  However, I did not go with HBO or the Epix movie package add ons.  There were so many other (free) channels available for movies that I don’t know that I will.  There are HBO series and specials that I enjoy, but I will probably only subscribe when those shows are in season.

Local channels:  I do not use the antenna, but I kept it.  I guess I’m a just in case kinda girl.  I’m loving my CBS subscription.  I have to watch the news live before and after work, in the morning for traffic and weather, and in the evening because, hell I don’t know, getting old I guess.  I did find a possible, future free alternative for local news.  It’s a relatively new Roku channel called NewsON that has a nationwide line up of local news stations.  Unfortunately, the only local station available for me right now (as of 12/20/15) is WKRN (News 2, which I don’t care for).  If the local news is not on live when you tune in, you have the option to view previously recorded news casts (without commercials!).  You can’t even do that with cable, unless you have a DVR and record the newscast, or you happened to be tuned in to the channel and are able to rewind back to it.  And you’d still have to watch (or fast forward through) the commercials though.  😉

For breaking news I added CBS News 24/7 (it’s live and FREE), and to stay on top of severe weather conditions (like tornado season) I added Weather Nation (also FREE).  Worse comes to worse, I also have a weather radio.

Con, con, con:

• FX:  I have shows I watch on FX (Fargo and American Horror Story to name a few).  Unfortunately there isn’t a way to watch FX through Roku or even on the internet unless you already subscribe to cable. Um, if I were paying for cable service, I wouldn’t have a need to stream your services, duh.  And FX isn’t the only channel like this (keep reading).  As stupid as it sounds, I can see where this kind of access would work for some.  Allow me to explain.  If you have children, or maybe a guest bedroom, where you don’t want to pay the additional fee for a cable box, but want to be able to receive television services to that tv, then having a Roku and adding a channel that requires existing cable service makes sense.  But back to my issue, I had to find an “alternative” way to watch these shows.  Which I will not share here because I don’t want to be accused of being a bad influence.  Any more than I already am, most days.  🙂  Don’t worry, I haven’t illegally downloaded anything.  But I refuse to pay for a season or individual episodes of any show, and I don’t want to wait forever for them to show up on Hulu or Netflix (because my friends will ruin it for me by then!!).  So until they give me a pay or free option, I guess I’ll just have to continue to go rogue.

• BET:  The only thing I watch on BET is Being Mary Jane.  Although they have a BET NOW mobile app, this is another one of those channels where you must have an existing cable subscription.  AND, it’s only available through about six cable providers.  AND, amazingly enough, I found it funny that Comcast/Xfinity wasn’t one of them.  WTH?  Doesn’t matter, I already found an “alternative” means to catch up.  🙂  I guess I’ll have to use those same means for TV One as well, as they have NO other option to watch, other than having a cable subscription and a few episodes on their website (I watch the Unsung biography shows).  As a side note regarding “Black” entertainment, I stumbled across a really good (relatively new?) channel called Black on Purpose television network, which promises to bring 16 channels of quality entertainment that showcases “African-Americans in a positive light.”  I’ve been in there and I can vouch for them, there’s a ton of good, quality, non-traditional entertainment available.

Having said that, hats off to providers like ABC for their Watch ABC channel, where you can watch your favorite ABC shows for free.  The only catch is you have to wait 7 days after the episode has aired, and it will only be available for 30 days.  The downside to this channel, however, is all the other content (like live tv and full episodes from past seasons) is only available if you have a cable subscription.  At least they’re trying to meet people in the middle by having a cord cutter option.

Good to know:  When you add channels to your Roku using the website, they won’t show up immediately on your Roku home screen.  You can force the update by going to Settings > System > System Update.  Go back to your Home page and the added channels are visible.

Very Important TIP:  I haven’t run into this problem but I know others will.  It’s important not to leave your service streaming all night or you’ll blow right through your monthly allocated data (I’m looking at you, Night Owls, who sleep with the tv on).  Here’s a helpful suggestion I came across.  Use the sleep timer on your tv with this Smart Strip, and these instructions, and the service will automatically shut down when the sleep timer goes off on your tv.

For you sports fanatics, if SlingTV’s two ESPN channels aren’t enough, you can add the Sports Illustrated channel.  It’s FREE.  Unfortunately that’s all I got on sports.  I’d rather watch paint dry honestly.  You’ll have to do your own research on this one.  🙂

Old school cartoon lovers: I found a channel called Cartoon Circus that has ’em, FOR FREE.  Shows like The Flintstones (LOVE THIS SHOW), Tom and Jerry, He-Man, Thundercats, and even Betty Boop (before my time but may interest some!).  There’s also a Looney Toon Network that plays old school Warner Brothers toons like Bugs Bunny, among others.  This channel is free as well, because all the cartoons are in the public domain.  The downside about this particular channel?  There’s no menu or controls, so no forward or rewind, or skipping ahead or repeating.  When you tune in, it starts at the beginning of a cartoon and just keeps playing different, random toons until you exit the channel.

The Verdict:  So how did things eventually shake out?  I’m glad I made the change.  I feel like I have a lot more quality entertainment available to me, and I like watching television deliberately and with purpose.  What I mean by that is I no longer have the television on as background noise.  If it’s on, I’m watching, and I have to purposefully look for what I want to watch.  And, if I’m not enjoying what I’m watching, I go find something else.  Whereas with cable, I would just get on my laptop and leave whatever was boring me to tears on in the background.  I can’t afford to do that anymore because it’ll use up precious data.  Here’s how everything has shaken out so far, numbers wise (see the table below).  I’d like to save a little more, so I’ll probably check into dropping my internet package down a level, and I’m sure the ongoing costs will fluctuate month to month as I rent movies or change my mind about some pay channels.  The bottom line is I am cord free, saving some money, and loving it.  And, I’m actually using everything I’m paying for now.  No more paying for and scrolling through tons of channels I could care less about (I’m looking at you all non-HD channels, sports, children’s programming, and music stations I didn’t listen to but was forced to pay for anyway).  I love the idea of entertainment a la cart.  Consider me converted.

Living my life like it’s cordless,

or,

Hello, my name is Angela and I’m a cord cutter.  🙂