anyone have experience with a FTA (free to air) receiver?? in my area comcast has the fastest internet speed,but they will not let you buy it without a basic ,and horrible, cable tv subscription
I want to dump comcast
- Thread starter malocchio
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We use (IIRC) Roadrunner down in Arizona. It works reasonably well as long as you have decent line-of-sight communications with their antenna. It's not the fastest connection I've used, but like I said, it's reasonably good. I would pick it as an alternative to an evil cable company any day.
One other option might become available to you soon, too. It looks like Apple's OS 4 might let you tether an iPhone or iPad to a 3G network soon. Some developers have found a tethering option in the OS 4.0 beta. I don't know if that would interest you, but the unlimited 3G iPad plan is $30 a month. I've been using that and it's just fine for what I do. Even good enough to stream Netflix movies.
One other option might become available to you soon, too. It looks like Apple's OS 4 might let you tether an iPhone or iPad to a 3G network soon. Some developers have found a tethering option in the OS 4.0 beta. I don't know if that would interest you, but the unlimited 3G iPad plan is $30 a month. I've been using that and it's just fine for what I do. Even good enough to stream Netflix movies.
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- #3
thanks for this info eric..these cable companies are ruthless
I was actually just on the phone with comcast trying to lower my outragous monthly bill. It was a no go so I think im going with verizon fios because I will be saving almost 70 dollars a month pluss adding 2 more hd boxes to the house. Check if fios is available in your area I have heard nothing but good things.
Where I live very fast internet from Comcast is about 60/month and no requirement to buy anything else. It's fast and reliable and I have VOIP for my oversea calling for another 10/month. I am considering a wireless 4G for my office from Clear - that's about 50/month and seems decently fast but has somewhat limited national coverage. There don't seem to be any hidden extras and they give you a router.
I know nothing about FTA. We had Comcast and switched to FIOS. Comcast gave horrible service and we had to struggle to get credits for lenghty times that service was out. We became well acquinted with the county's consumer affairs folks, which seemed to be the onloy thing that got things moving at all.
FIOS was amazing at first and now maybe not so great at service--I have heard of lots and experienced some minor issues with FIOS service--but it rarely have any trouble and TV, phone, and internet are all on it. I suspect that Comcast's service has gotten better, too. I do not see how they could stay in business otherwise. Far as I am concerned Comcast maximized its monopoly when it had one in the area and I did not appreciate them doing that.
I would go along way not to have to deal with them.
FIOS was amazing at first and now maybe not so great at service--I have heard of lots and experienced some minor issues with FIOS service--but it rarely have any trouble and TV, phone, and internet are all on it. I suspect that Comcast's service has gotten better, too. I do not see how they could stay in business otherwise. Far as I am concerned Comcast maximized its monopoly when it had one in the area and I did not appreciate them doing that.
I would go along way not to have to deal with them.
Biggest rip-off in America are the cable companies. Big money for mediocre content. I've really thought of doing without TV altogether, but I like college football.
I'm going to seriously spend some time researching alternatives to comcast in my area. Unfortunately, FIOS is not an option. Booo Comcast!
I hope to, at least, knock my monthly bill down a bit.
I hope to, at least, knock my monthly bill down a bit.
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- #10
How is that legal?
google free to air rceivers and you will get an in depth description..a friend of mine purchased a fta receiver and dish,about $300...now he gets 150 channels from all over the world and pays only for the electricity the units use...there are thousands of "in air" broadcasts,all free.you just need a device to capture them...all legal
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- #11
I will check out fios..haven't heard of them....I don't use cell phones,so that's another strike against me..there are little or no "bundles" for guys who still have land line only
Do you have Qwest DSL near you? I'm not saying their customer service is any better than comcast's (we don't have comcast where I live) but I have fast internet service for a locked in, lifetime price of $31 month. We do pay for a landline on top of that for our home phone. I think that's about $17/month.
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- #13
thanks for the tip,but they do not service calif....comcast is also the only one in my area with 6 mbs download speed...the few other ip's can't match this,unless you can get a t-line
I've had DSL service from several different providers. I found it to be difficult to set up the first time (even for the company's own technicians,) and reliability was spotty.
Why pay $17 for a landline, when you can get a VoIP service like MagicJack for just $20 a year?
I have no experience with Verizon's FIOS, but it looks like a good deal. I just wish it were available where I live now.
Luckily, my current housing arrangement includes Comcast basic TV and Broadband internet included in the rent. The internet is fairly fast and reliable when it works. I lose service intermittently for a few minutes, a couple of times a month. Then, there are times when my landlord doesn't pay the bill, and we have to wait a few hours for him to run over to the Comcast store and fork over several hundred dollars.
Even though Comcast offers an internet only package in my area it always has the TV signal embedded and it is accessible by any modern TV tuner. Since I never watch TV I don't take advantage of this "free" feature. Out of interest I did scan though and found that in addition to basic cable I get most of the "premium" content like CNN and ESPN as well.
The name of the game with the television companies is come-and-go. I had the optimum triple play for 2 years, when the bill jumped from 100 bucks to 170 bucks, I switched to verizon fios. When fios jumped the bill on me, I went back to optimum, for the same 100 bucks I started with. I'm just gonna bounce back and forth forever.
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- #17
How is the magic jack ? voice quality? 911 availability? clarity?
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- #18
mikey...when the first 12 months are over ,aren't you contracted to another 12 months even though the price almost doubles ? you sign a 24 month contract,you just can't quit after 12 months because the price goes up...is this correct ? I do not like the 24 month contracts myself
I recently switched to U-Verse, its been running great for us.
VOIP and Internet at 12mbps. We would get their TV as well but they lack a few international south asian channels. Comcast had decent customer service (uverse is better), but was overpriced like no other. See if uverse is available in your area as well.
VOIP and Internet at 12mbps. We would get their TV as well but they lack a few international south asian channels. Comcast had decent customer service (uverse is better), but was overpriced like no other. See if uverse is available in your area as well.
I dumped Comcast and went with Netflix and Hulu streaming only. I find I watch less TV and get more done around the house. Not having sports is a bummer though.
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