I have been re-evaluating the household expenses now that I am refocusing my life on our newborn baby. Today, I looked at my cable bill. I was appalled.

And then I am told I need to pay more for the NFL network (and no, they will not refund me for the Jesus networks that now occupy 32% of the channels on the system).

Has anyone tried Verizon's (or another non-dish) service? Do they have DVR? Is it cheaper? Would switching require someone coming out and redrilling holes?

All I want is HBO (The Wire comes back soon) and NFL net.

On another note, I am also thinking of switching to Verizon's wifi for my computer - any experiences with that?

Thanks!

No experience with Verizon content here other than DSL (it's been getting more stable lately... thank goodness... but I'm still waiting for FIOS and I live in the densest area in the region!)

I am going through a similar hands-wringing with my DirecTV service. I had their seasonal basic sports package which let me get a lot of NBA coverage that I wouldn't otherwise get (of course, who gives a crap about the Sixers, I want to see all the Spurs games), and during the offseason I catch a glimpse of other games in season for a while.

But this crap is too much. $120 a month now... and very few high-def channels [maybe it's my receiver?] I'd like to get bundled service and pay more... say $140 for both internet and digital tv... but VZN charging me $40 a month plus this is driving me bat****.



Last time I did my budget, I looked at my car expenses+garage ($300), phone ($60), DTV ($120), DSL ($40) and insurance [$You don't wanna know].

I could have an extra $1,000 a month walking-around cash if I got rid of most of this and a bunch of other stuff I got that's cyclical. Every two months I could take a first-class trip somewhere nice, like Aruba.

Two weeks ago I changed my debit card number and got a new card. A bunch of stuff that used to ding my card every month ($15 for classmates.com??! why the f___ did I sign up for classmates.com? I don't wanna hook up with my schoolmates that bad).

I expect to get a lot of dunning notices next month, and I'll go through which ones I wanna keep and give them my new account information... and the ones I don't... f___ 'em.

If my car insurance rates jack up again like they did this January (2% rise)... I'll ditch the car and cancel the insurance policy... and book a flight to Athens to celebrate.

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WHYY pays their CEO $750,000 a year. So WHYY should I renew my membership? Seems they have no problems finding money and spending it unwisely.


And this is why you should donate to PACCA, not PETA:

In September, PETA made headlines in Vermont and across the nation for asking Ben & Jerry's ice cream to use human breast milk in their ice cream, instead of cow milk

The Verizon FiOS TV service isn't available in the city yet, as they do not have a franchise license in the city. You can get it for phone/internet service though.

If/When it is available, they shouldn't need to drill any more holes. On the outside of the house, all they do is take the incoming coax cable line, cut it, and connect it to their box.

__Jason

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That's a bit more complicated since I'm in a high rise. It comes through the cellar to a junction serving the businesses downstairs and goes up a runner to all the other floors (where there's a splitter box on each floor)

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WHYY pays their CEO $750,000 a year. So WHYY should I renew my membership? Seems they have no problems finding money and spending it unwisely.


And this is why you should donate to PACCA, not PETA:

In September, PETA made headlines in Vermont and across the nation for asking Ben & Jerry's ice cream to use human breast milk in their ice cream, instead of cow milk

Yummy congrats on the new baby- Verizon FIOS is not available in the city yet ?? Not sure if it will ever be offered in center city. My biggest beef with comcast is why don't they offer ala carte programming. If the only channels I watch are NBC,ABC,CBS,ESPN,HBO and MSNBC then why not just pay for those channels. I have had comcast cable for 10-15 years and pay each month for E,discovery,FOX Noise,MTV, lifetime channel and never ever watch any of these channels , makes no sense. I am sure comcast could even structure it so that they could offer ala carte programming while maintaining or even increasing profits.

I'm not positive about this, but I don't think the cable companies are able to do this because the networks (and the conglomerates that own them) have a lot of say in how their networks get bundled. Like, if you are going to sell channel "A", then you must bundle channels "B through J" with it.

I too would love to see ala carte programming.

__Jason

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Ah yes its sooooooooo Comcastic to be ripped off each month for tv. This has been a topic on many posts and sure will continue. Can we not meter tv like other utils and pay for time usage or just be able to select a few various channels of liking to package as a plan and pay out on that. Simply riduculous and most of the country is pretty much forced to use them if you want tv and such. Monopoly eating machine that is giving nothing back to long time subscribers anywhere and not to mention Phila. as the mother hub with the new building and all. Maybe they will cut costs for Phila. residents because of that. We shall see. Or you need to be an employee to get free / discounted services. Anyone who has experienced their horrid customer service and on site tech installers knows how that goes. On one note they generally want to keep your business and will offer something of lower cost to keep your business. Try to speak with a supervisor when calling up and ask for the retention dept. May have luck that way depending on what mofu is working that day and what mood they are in.
Verizon Fios tv is not setting up lines in urban settings. And that a whole other bag of worms to deal with the install of the newer fiber optic lines and pull out of the old copper lines. So whats left is only satelite direct tv.
Verizon high speed internet is relatively reliable and there is also the Earthlink wifi types which have many kinks in the networking presently.

Bottemline any way to not write that check each month to ComCash will make me feel better and put more cash in my pocket for other things.

I used to have Verizon FiOS WiFi Internet when I lived in the 'burbs.

Their wifi is great and much faster than Cumcast. They offer tiered packages for internet according to how much speed you want to pay for.

My mom just got the triple play from Verizon fios: Phone, Internet and Cable. I went to check it out and it's great. It's much cheaper and they offer on demand and you can pay an extra fee per month for DVR.

I've called Verizon a few times to ask about Fios in the city. They assure me it's coming soon but they can't say when. I've also asked my landlord about it and if the building was wired for fiber optics...he told me that our building is ready for Fios and that he's also heard that Verion is coming soon. Sorry I don't have any dates.

When they come...BUH BYE COMCAST.

My first child was exactly the impetus I needed for ditching Cable. The savings have gone (for 11 yrs now) into a college savings fund. I'd like to think that the kids are better off with other activities than being parked in front of the TV. Sure, I miss some of the sports I used to tune in, but we're surviving just fine

I hate Comcast as much as everyone else, but I've come to accept them as a necessary evil that I may never get away from. That said, you can't blame Comcast for the lack of ala carte channels. The networks all bundle their channels as mentioned previously and force Comcast to include them all. Want CBS? Then you have to take MTV, MTV2, VH1, Comedy Central, etc. You'd be surprised how many TV conglomerates there are out there.

Look at HBO. I'd pay $5/mo just for HBO....but you can't do that, you have to pay $15/mo for HBO 1, 2, 3, ....,16, 17, etc.

That said, if it were not for the bundling of channels together, many of the smaller niche networks simply wouldn't exist. Most people wouldn't buy them ala carte so there would not be enough revenue to keep them running. The general population subsidizes the smaller stations. For example (and I'm just picking a channel I don't watch), take the Independent Film Channel IFC. There are probably not many people who would pay a couple $'s a month for it. The few thousand that would pay it are not enough to support it so it would go out of business. There are many such channels like this out there.

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-Tim K

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