Zone1 Finally got my mother off of cable... it was a trip.

[iamwhatiseem]

Moms cable bill was just too ridiculous. Like other cable companies, they do not reward your loyalty, they punish it.
Her cable bill was $310/mo. For 2 TVs, no premium channels, internet and a stupid VoIP phone she insist on having.
So, I did a little dastardly deed. She has been unwilling to change her cable because of her avoidance to any change whatsoever.
I logged into her account and took her package down to the worst package they had. And sure enough the next morning she was telling me something is wrong with her cable. I told her I would look into it, and then came back down and told her AT&T got rid of her package and moved her to a different one. And the only way to get it back was to pay $70 more a month.
Her bedroom TV happens to be a Roku TV. I installed YouTubeTV, hid all of the dozens and dozens of channels she never watches, so she only sees the 12 or so channels she watches, in order of how much she watches them.
Convinced her to try it. She loves it. I knew she would, but also knew without the white lie she would never agree to try it.
So I bought here a 2nd Roku for her living room and got rid of cable.

Now to work on that "land line" phone she doesn't need that cost $50/ month.

 

[sealybobo]

Moms cable bill was just too ridiculous. Like other cable companies, they do not reward your loyalty, they punish it.
Her cable bill was $310/mo. For 2 TVs, no premium channels, internet and a stupid VoIP phone she insist on having.
So, I did a little dastardly deed. She has been unwilling to change her cable because of her avoidance to any change whatsoever.
I logged into her account and took her package down to the worst package they had. And sure enough the next morning she was telling me something is wrong with her cable. I told her I would look into it, and then came back down and told her AT&T got rid of her package and moved her to a different one. And the only way to get it back was to pay $70 more a month.
Her bedroom TV happens to be a Roku TV. I installed YouTubeTV, hid all of the dozens and dozens of channels she never watches, so she only sees the 12 or so channels she watches, in order of how much she watches them.
Convinced her to try it. She loves it. I knew she would, but also knew without the white lie she would never agree to try it.
So I bought here a 2nd Roku for her living room and got rid of cable.

Now to work on that "land line" phone she doesn't need that cost $50/ month.

Just went through this with dad yesterday. His dish is broken. Went a week without tv. Yesterday I called they said they had to send someone out. $100. We said no way. They said he has to upgrade equipment $15 more a month but they’ll send someone out for free. I said Do It! Before he could complain about $15 more a month.

Hes going to LOVE DVR. I told him it will change his life. Then he doesn’t have to sit through commercials and he can tape all three late shows. Or record the football game on 62 while watching the game on fox.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Just went through this with dad yesterday. His dish is broken. Went a week without tv. Yesterday I called they said they had to send someone out. $100. We said no way. They said he has to upgrade equipment $15 more a month but they’ll send someone out for free. I said Do It! Before he could complain about $15 more a month.

Hes going to LOVE DVR. I told him it will change his life. Then he doesn’t have to sit through commercials and he can tape all three late shows. Or record the football game on 62 while watching the game on fox.

In a few days I will introduce her to YouTube's feature to "record" her shows, so she can watch them anytime she wants and skip commercials. Her reaction was "what if you need to go to the restroom?"
I showed her how she can pause even live TV. You would have thought I just showed her a live Martian.
She had no understanding of how you can pause live television.
I could go on... she thought doing this would interfere with her laptop since the TVs are now connected to the internet. She didn't think you could do both at the same time.
Mom just has no experience in modern things. She never worked outside the home, and for the past 30 years she has only gone to church/doctor/Walmart. She is a hermit.

 

[sealybobo]

In a few days I will introduce her to YouTube's feature to "record" her shows, so she can watch them anytime she wants and skip commercials. Her reaction was "what if you need to go to the restroom?"
I showed her how she can pause even live TV. You would have thought I just showed her a live Martian.
She had no understanding of how you can pause live television.
I could go on... she thought doing this would interfere with her laptop since the TVs are now connected to the internet. She didn't think you could do both at the same time.
Mom just has no experience in modern things. She never worked outside the home, and for the past 30 years she has only gone to church/doctor/Walmart. She is a hermit.

Your mom accepted internet connection? How modern she is. My dad refused. He is so prone to say no to anything people suggest. He can’t sleep and doesn’t want to have to take the pills? I suggest pot but he’s sure his digestive system can’t. He’s an idiot. He’s so wrong but you can’t tell him nothing.

We bought him a tablet. If he would have given it a chance it would have changed his world. But another thing is he’s cheap and internet means $40 more a month. That’s $500 a year. He says he’s saving it for us but we’ll be fine. If tv is all you do, knock yourself out dude. Spend the money.

And my brother is loaded. Do I appreciate what he will leave me sure but to my brother it’s a drop in the bucket.

Why worry about me Dad? I have the full cable package. You’re depriving yourself of what I have so you can leave me half your money? Idiot!

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Your mom accepted internet connection? How modern she is. My dad refused. He is so prone to say no to anything people suggest. He can’t sleep and doesn’t want to have to take the pills? I suggest pot but he’s sure his digestive system can’t. He’s an idiot. He’s so wrong but you can’t tell him nothing.

We bought him a tablet. If he would have given it a chance it would have changed his world. But another thing is he’s cheap and internet means $40 more a month. That’s $500 a year. He says he’s saving it for us but we’ll be fine. If tv is all you do, knock yourself out dude. Spend the money.

And my brother is loaded. Do I appreciate what he will leave me sure but to my brother it’s a drop in the bucket.

Why worry about me Dad? I have the full cable package. You’re depriving yourself of what I have so you can leave me half your money? Idiot!

My Dad also refused to have anything to do with computers. Had absolutely zero interest in it.
Wouldn't get a cell phone either. No way, no how. Debit cards? Hell no!! Even when it got to be nothing but a hassle to use cash, he still wouldn't hear of it. Never would use cruise control, never tried FM radio either... only listened to two different AM radio stations for decades.
He died of brain cancer in January 2017. He hated everything modern, but he was awesome otherwise.

 

[sealybobo]

My Dad also refused to have anything to do with computers. Had absolutely zero interest in it.
Wouldn't get a cell phone either. No way, no how. Debit cards? Hell no!! Even when it got to be nothing but a hassle to use cash, he still wouldn't hear of it. Never would use cruise control, never tried FM radio either... only listened to two different AM radio stations for decades.
He died of brain cancer in January 2017. He hated everything modern, but he was awesome otherwise.

I tell my dad I feel sorry for grandma because she just missed the smartphone. He agrees. Then I remind him so has he. Only it’s not too late.

We really should just get the iPad again, upgrade him to tv and internet, and every time we go over when we talk about something he wants to look up, have him Google it. Show him how easy google is. Start there. Move up to a Facebook page so he can stalk people. Lol hed love it. Spy on relatives he doesn’t talk to anymore. Look people up to see if they are still alive, Greek news and movies. He won’t listen to music anymore after ma died.

 

[sealybobo]

My Dad also refused to have anything to do with computers. Had absolutely zero interest in it.
Wouldn't get a cell phone either. No way, no how. Debit cards? Hell no!! Even when it got to be nothing but a hassle to use cash, he still wouldn't hear of it. Never would use cruise control, never tried FM radio either... only listened to two different AM radio stations for decades.
He died of brain cancer in January 2017. He hated everything modern, but he was awesome otherwise.

He could cancel the Detroit newspaper. Just look at news online. Add his favorites like fox and MSNBC so he can be fair and balanced. Lol

 

[Flash]

We dumped our telephone land line five or six years ago. Don't even miss it.

Last year we dumped our $350/mo cable and don't miss it. We replaced it with Youtube TV for less than 1/3rd the cost. We were already streaming several other services like Netflix so we have plenty to watch.

Cable would be much more affordable if we could pick the networks we wanted to subscribe to. For instance, my previous cable package had all kinds of foreign soccer broadcast, several Spanish networks, a couple of queer networks and several Black entertainment channels. We were paying for stuff we never watched and couldn't opt out for a cost savings.

I read an article the other day that because so many people are opting out of land telephone lines and cable TV that the companies are not investing in upgrades and even needed maintenance. The systems will deteriorate over time.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

We dumped our telephone land line five or six years ago. Don't even miss it.

Last year we dumped our $350/mo cable and don't miss it. We replaced it with Youtube TV for less than 1/3rd the cost. We were already streaming several other services like Netflix so we have plenty to watch.

Cable would be much more affordable if we could pick the networks we wanted to subscribe to. For instance, my previous cable package had all kinds of foreign soccer broadcast, several Spanish networks, a couple of queer networks and several Black entertainment channels. We were paying for stuff we never watched and couldn't opt out for a cost savings.

I read an article the other day that because so many people are opting out of land telephone lines and cable TV that the companies are not investing in upgrades and even needed maintenance. The systems will deteriorate over time.

Cable news should be investigated and indicted for exploiting the elderly. That is 3/4 of their business.
Old people don't want change, they will even pay more and more money just to not have to change. And cable TV, by design, takes advantage of them for doing it. They are the only industry in the world that I can think of where their business model is to exploit and punish loyalty.

 

[sealybobo]

We dumped our telephone land line five or six years ago. Don't even miss it.

Last year we dumped our $350/mo cable and don't miss it. We replaced it with Youtube TV for less than 1/3rd the cost. We were already streaming several other services like Netflix so we have plenty to watch.

Cable would be much more affordable if we could pick the networks we wanted to subscribe to. For instance, my previous cable package had all kinds of foreign soccer broadcast, several Spanish networks, a couple of queer networks and several Black entertainment channels. We were paying for stuff we never watched and couldn't opt out for a cost savings.

I read an article the other day that because so many people are opting out of land telephone lines and cable TV that the companies are not investing in upgrades and even needed maintenance. The systems will deteriorate over time.

My uncle had free antenna. But he must have lived real close to the antenna because he got 20 channels. If my dad got all those channels, he’d cancel cable.

But out where we live you only get 8 give or take. My home doesn’t get 2, so no lions games. Some homes dont get nbc. That’s a very important channel to my dad. Me too.

 

[Flash]

Cable news should be investigated and indicted for exploiting the elderly. That is 3/4 of their business.
Old people don't want change, they will even pay more and more money just to not have to change. And cable TV, by design, takes advantage of them for doing it. They are the only industry in the world that I can think of where their business model is to exploit and punish loyalty.

I can't figure out why the cable companies can't offer a menu option where we pick the channels we want and are only charged for them.

The only thing I can think of is that they pick up the networks from satellites and the cost to the provider is the same for five networks as is is for 200.

 

[sealybobo]

I can't figure out why the cable companies can't offer a menu option where we pick the channels we want and are only charged for them.

The only thing I can think of is that they pick up the networks from satellites and the cost to the provider is the same for five networks as is is for 200.

I heard television is dying. In the future you just add nbc to your favorites. Or Fox News.

The one thing is I don’t want to have to pay for every show. Maybe you pay $100 a month and have access to all show and movies. Most is free to view, like youtube.

Even now, can’t you go to nbc.com and watch any show?

 

[GLASNOST]

Moms cable bill was just too ridiculous. Like other cable companies, they do not reward your loyalty, they punish it.
Her cable bill was $310/mo. For 2 TVs, no premium channels, internet and a stupid VoIP phone she insist on having.
So, I did a little dastardly deed. She has been unwilling to change her cable because of her avoidance to any change whatsoever.
I logged into her account and took her package down to the worst package they had. And sure enough the next morning she was telling me something is wrong with her cable. I told her I would look into it, and then came back down and told her AT&T got rid of her package and moved her to a different one. And the only way to get it back was to pay $70 more a month.
Her bedroom TV happens to be a Roku TV. I installed YouTubeTV, hid all of the dozens and dozens of channels she never watches, so she only sees the 12 or so channels she watches, in order of how much she watches them.
Convinced her to try it. She loves it. I knew she would, but also knew without the white lie she would never agree to try it.
So I bought here a 2nd Roku for her living room and got rid of cable.

Now to work on that "land line" phone she doesn't need that cost $50/ month.

Good job! Those cable people are shysters. I once had a 3 channel hook-up. There were several channels to choose from so I took the 3 that I liked the best. So far, so good. But after a few months the German channel I chose was discontinued from list. I didn't really want to take the other available German channel to replace it but I did. After a few months more even that one was removed. Now what? I rang the place and complained but they (more or less) told me to stop complaining because there were several other channels to choose from. Turkish - I don't understand Turkish. Greek - I don't understand Greek. Russsian - I don't understand Russian. Hungarian - I don't understand Hungarian. Serbian - I don't understand Serbian. Egypt - I don't understand Arabic. Etc. Etc. Etc. So, I told them to discontinue my service immediately but they said "no!" because the contract is for 3 months. So, I had to pay the mother f-ers 3 more months! Since then whenever they come a-knocking I tell them to f-off and slam the door in their face. B'stards!

 

[GLASNOST]

I can't figure out why the cable companies can't offer a menu option where we pick the channels we want and are only charged for them.

Yes, you can. We all can.

 

[Sparker]

My mom dropped cable years ago. But now the internet provider can't keep her phone connected. She had many sessions with customer service and now wants a different phone service, but there may be nothing better in landlines. All the phone services want out of landlines because they don't want to spend the infrastructure money.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

My mom dropped cable years ago. But now the internet provider can't keep her phone connected. She had many sessions with customer service and now wants a different phone service, but there may be nothing better in landlines. All the phone services want out of landlines because they don't want to spend the infrastructure money.

AT&T is pulling out of the landline business in 2025.
Once that happens - it is all over for landlines.
China is probably chomping at the bit... once that happens... a few chosen sabotage attacks - and America has no communication abilities.

 

[jack3]

LOL. Good story.

I would never have on ongoing cost for TV or radio.