I picked up a ROKU, I am wanting to cut the Cable TV cord.

schubert3,910 posts02-08-2018 3:47pmI get Wi-Fi through phone line with Century Link . Works fine .

@schubert

Century Link in my area sucks. Nothing but customer complaints!

swampwalker
5,096 posts                                                               02-08-2018 2:49pm

Hey Jim- Wish I could get your deal ;-) Comcast bills me about $250/month AND the phone service has multiple drop-outs after about 5 minutes. Eventually, you can’t even have a conversation! Dealing with them is like dealing with a used car shyster for whom English is a second language! I was able to save $10 month by buying my own modem/router but it is an 18 month payback.

@swampwalker

I had phone problems for about a year after first getting the phone over Cable. Sounds like same problems you are having. To make a long story short the problem was the incoming digital signal was too strong and would lock up the modem sometimes. The only way I could get the thing unlocked was to unplug it from the power outlet, wait about 3 to 5 minutes, and plug it back in and let it reboot. To make a long story short I was told to call Mediacom and tell them their digital signal was too strong and was over driving the modem, causing it to lock up. Yeah Mediacom wanted to argue the point. Who was I tell them anything! I can’t count all the times they had come out before, only to tell me everything looked ok. I said send someone out and make sure they bring a bigger DB drop splitter, than was being used at the time.

Now the only time I lose the phone is when there is an outage in the area. 7 years and counting.

Dealing with them is like dealing with a used car shyster for whom English is a second language!

Yeah we found out don’t call the Mediacom help desk after about 11:00AM. If you do you are speaking to someone in the Philippines.

For what it’s worth I was telling my nephew I wanted to find an alternative to Mediacom cable TV. He is the one I got the ROKU box and remote from to try out.

For phone he uses Vonage. $25 a month + tax. It works over the internet. He has been using Vontage for about 10 without any problems. I checked into it. Right now they have a special offer for $9.99 + tax for one year and you get about $119 worth of equipment free. A one year contract is required for the special offer.

Jim

Not so easy to cut the cable cord is it?

Well I reduced my bill by using Infinity (secret identity is Comcast) for just the internet ($79/mo) and Dish TV (for $70/mo but includes HBO). 
BYW, Picture quality with Dish is superior to Comcast.

I would really like to get away from Comcast completely but there is no good alternate for internet service. I have thought about Hughs net satellite service but I am not too sure about the internet speed.

ozzy

We no longer have satellite service and use Roku. One note of caution is warranted. We had buffering issues with Roku and Directv Now during the Super Bowl. We were not alone. Others in the Dallas area were losing the feed, or waiting for buffering during the game. I suspect that the abnormally high use of wireless users all streaming the same feed overwhelmed the system. For us we missed portions of the halftime show (about 40 seconds or so) and about 90 seconds of the second half (more important). Overall, Roku rocks and I recommend it. I suspect because Directv Now just got its act together recently, the issue will resolve itself in the major metropolitan areas before the next Super Bowl. But the Olympics may see the problem return shortly.  

Few things different subjects within the thread:
There are plenty boxes available that are like a Roku or Firestick.  
The best that I have seen is called a Yundoo Y8... There are 2 versions of this,  1 is a 2gb ram, 16gb drive,  the other is a 4gb ram, 32gb drive.... Don't mess with the lower unit..... With this and a free service,  I believe someone mentioned Plex earlier, this works well as well as Kodi or Emby.  With this combination, you can watch hundreds of sites with all kinds of shows, movies etc.  
Price of internet.  I have found that unless you are truly willing to drop a service and leave it off for 30 days,  you won't get a better price.  Some of these great deals that you see quoted are for the 1st year only or include slow internet.  I currently have 200mb service and it cost me $74.  If I dropped it, waited 30 days and re subscribed, it would cost me $50.  Or I can get a much different DSL type variation up to about 25mb for only $30.... that sucks.  Basically, a new customer gets a deal,  they are buying your business.  If you are in, you lose.  You must be willing to walk away to get back in at that (normally 1 year) deal.