Cord cutters

[Bamspeedy]

That doesn't make sense, netflix is $10 a month and prime is $99 a year, so you should be paying around $18 for both of those.

Since amazon prime has the free shipping, most forget to include that in figuring cost of TV and include it in the 'online shopping' category.

I feel bad for American hockey lovers. I would presume that in hockey-passionate markets like Detroit, the games are more easily available than elsewhere? At least I'd hope so.

I heard there is some tournament or game of the best American and Canadian high school kids or something that 3/4 of Canadians watch. Yet it is not available on American TV at all (or some obscure channel).

NHL does have local TV broadcasts.
http://www.secondcityhockey.com/201...ks-tv-schedule-information-2016-17-nhl-season

 

[onejayhawk]

That doesn't make sense, netflix is $10 a month and prime is $99 a year, so you should be paying around $18 for both of those.

This is valid. Prime is paid of a different budget. Prime gives you free shipping. We had it for years before taking advantage of the programming.

Since amazon prime has the free shipping, most forget to include that in figuring cost of TV and include it in the 'online shopping' category.

GGOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

J

 

[warpus]

I heard there is some tournament or game of the best American and Canadian high school kids or something that 3/4 of Canadians watch. Yet it is not available on American TV at all (or some obscure channel).

I'm not a huge hockey fan, just merely an average fan (by Canadian standards anyway), so I'm not sure which tournament you mean, but that doesn't surprise me. This country really is hockey mad.

Thinking about it I wonder if you mean the World Juniors. They are a big deal over here. Surprisingly though nobody cares about the World Cup of hockey... probably because for some reason that is always scheduled to coincide with the Stanley Cup playoffs. I've been told they do this so that European hockey fans can have tournaments that they "can win", but that's never made sense to me, as there are a bunch of European countries that can compete with Canada and the U.S. (like Russia, Sweden, Czechia, etc.)

 

[Farm Boy]

A lot of the costs of Amazon get miscategorized. >.> <.< >.>

If you want hockey coverage, I'd guess it's regional by the broadcast networks or ESPN27 or whatever, isn't it? I know I can get Cubs, Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks(or at least I used to be able to) when I bothered to tune the antenna. Is that still the case?

 

[rah]

I bought an old house and when I went up to the attic I found a huge antenna hung up there. IT's not even a special HD one. But it's so huge it works just fine.
I ran a new cable to my 60 inch plasma and the broadcast channels look fantastic. And now that they've gone digital each network broadcasts up to 3 channels. The contents is quite diverse. At no cost. (accept for having to deal with commercials. It's a nice backup for those rare times when the cable goes out. I used to use it more when our cable box dvd player would only record a few shows at the same time, but the new boxes don't have that issue.

 

[Farm Boy]

Good to know. The World Series was broadcast(I acquired a smallish digital antenna just for it), but I don't know if that was a special case.

 

[Zelig]

I pay $12/month for Orange is the New Black, so everything else on Netflix is free for me.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I pay $280 a month for internet, cable, and home phone. I only have home phone in there so that I could get the unlimited internet bundle. So.. yeah. I actually used to pay more, but I moved my cellphone to another company (and now pay a lot less) and got rid of 2 speciality (soccer) channels that were costing me $40 a month extra.

That's twice what I was paying before the downturn here that caused so many people to leave the province after losing their jobs in the oil patch and in the Calgary offices. Their loss is my gain, since landlords are now giving some nice incentives to persuade renters not to move. My basic cable and internet are paid by the property management company until the end of February next year (same deal as last year). If I add any channels or bundles, or go over my data allowance (which I never have anyway), I have to pay the difference. My phone is such a basic landline, it doesn't even have an answering machine. This means no Doctor Who, but I know of a website where I can watch episodes for up to a week after their broadcast. So there's no need to fork over $$ for the bundle that includes the Space Channel and maybe one other channel I might want but several others that are useless to me.

And no, they didn't raise the rent to make up for that. This building has vacancies, which wouldn't have been the case a couple of years ago. They want to keep tenants.

One day i will cut my cable, but.. I need my HD sports. Hockey and all the different soccer leagues and cups and competitions I like to watch. Streams are sucky, so.. here I am spending a fortune on cable each month.

I used to watch anything to do with figure skating. But my favorites retired around the time when I had no working TV, so I just got out of the habit. I have no idea who the top figure skaters are anymore, and don't really care. The only sports-related stuff I've watched in recent years has been bits and pieces of the Olympics ceremonies. I haven't bothered with the actual events.

Mind you my work pays me back for my internet. Every single $ I spend on internet I get back as cash at the end of the year. So that $280 should really be more like.. $180.

Do you work from home sometimes?

I cut the cord a few years ago, and use Amazon, Hulu and Netflix. Like hobbs said, those three are actually producing a lot of good content. Hulu posts shows 4-8 days after they air, but with commercials (yes, I pay for internet, I pay for Hulu, and I watch commercials - welcome to America). I also really like AMC and FX (also SyFy and BBC America), and I have to wait as much as a year for many of my favorite shows.

Canadians can't get Hulu, and our Netflix has only a fraction of the offerings that the American site has.

Geoblocking means there's a ton of things we can't watch legally. For instance, if I miss my soap, I can't just watch it later on abc.com.

There's also more Canadians than Texans so I assume that qualifies as "big enough to not be called small"

Add in the snowbirds, and there are quite a few Canadians in Texas, as well.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

@warpus, wow... $280 a month is a lot. I pay a bit less than 60 euros for internet 100 mbs, TV, home phone, and two cellphone lines. And you used to pay even more? thats crazy.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

@warpus, wow... $280 a month is a lot. I pay a bit less than 60 euros for internet 100 mbs, TV, home phone, and two cellphone lines. And you used to pay even more? thats crazy.

You need to realize that insanely high prices for telecommunications is normal in Canada. There are so few major companies here, and any time a smaller one sticks its head out of the snow and gets noticed, it's stomped on. People say "shop around" but when the only other choice is the one you quit in the first place... In my half of the country, I can get cable and internet from either Telus or Shaw, and if I'm not mistaken it's Bell or Rogers in the Eastern half of the country. Most of them rip customers off shamelessly in some way or other. I've been reasonably lucky with my provider during the last several years, but there are some awful horror stories out there.

There have been numerous articles on our national news website giving suggestions for cutting the cord, but the thing is that most only work if you happen to live within shouting distance of the 49th parallel or in some other major population center. I'm not allowed to have a satellite dish or antenna on my balcony (not even allowed to have a clothesline there, for that matter), so I'm dependent on TV and computer. And I don't live anywhere near the border.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Sounds like harder antitrust regulations are needed.

 

[warpus]

@warpus, wow... $280 a month is a lot. I pay a bit less than 60 euros for internet 100 mbs, TV, home phone, and two cellphone lines. And you used to pay even more? thats crazy.

Yeah the internet is like $76 plus fees plus tax, the home phone is $40 plus fees plus tax, and cable is the rest.

This package was the only way I could get unlimited internet at the time. I had to get the $76 internet package (45Mbps down3Mbps up on an average day) (probably advertised as 100 down and 5 or 10 up), the home phone (which I don't use at all), and from what I remember $90 VIP cable package + PVR rental cost + 2 extra receiver rental costs plus fees plus taxes

I am calling them soon because I don't want the home phone.. but I want to keep my unlimited internet. So we'll see what happens

I used to give these guys $70 plus tax for my cellphone plan. But then I switched to this other company that gave me 4x as much data and only charge me $36 a month after tax. So you might ask: "Why not switch you cable or internet?". I could switch my internet, but I don't have any other options for cable. And cable is the main part of the cost. The internet I don't care about as much because my employer pays me back for every single cent I spend on my internet.

Yeah, we have it really bad here in Canada when it comes to cellphone plans, the internet, cable TV packages, the cost of cheese and other dairy products, internal flights, city2city bus service, and trains. Yes, these exact things. They are really expensive and crappy here (except for the cheese, it is just like anywhere else in terms of the quality, but very expensive)

These are the worst things about Canada. Most people think it must be the cold weather or the high taxes or all the signs in French. Nope, not at all, it's the overpriced cheese, crappy third world quality train and bus service, expensive internal flights, and a set of monopolies that make our digital content access points unreliable and very pricy.

 

[onejayhawk]

I pay $12/month for Orange is the New Black, so everything else on Netflix is free for me.

What is the big deal with that show? I watched an episode and tried a couple more before I gave up.

J

 

[Valka D'Ur]

What is the big deal with that show? I watched an episode and tried a couple more before I gave up.

J

For some, it's the women-in-prison thing. For the people who are Star Trek fans, it's All About Kate Mulgrew.

I watched maybe half an hour of the first episode, and gave up. I'm not that much of a Kate Mulgrew fan to give it a second chance. Some people are gaga over it, though, enough that there are multiple threads about this show on a Star Trek forum.


As for me, my normal TV watching consists of General Hospital, whatever CBS reality show is on (Season 34 of Survivor started tonight and The Amazing Race is supposed to start up again in April), and possibly one or two series I might be following (most recently, Timeless and Victoria).

Most other things I watch are either on Netflix or YouTube. And last night I found two episodes of Space Island One (a really underrated British SF series about an international group of scientists working aboard a space station in Earth orbit). I've been binge-watching a bunch of stuff on Netflix, and have finally caught up with the current episode of Riverdale - which is basically the Archie comics meets Twin Peaks.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Yeah the internet is like $76 plus fees plus tax, the home phone is $40 plus fees plus tax, and cable is the rest.

This package was the only way I could get unlimited internet at the time. I had to get the $76 internet package (45Mbps down3Mbps up on an average day) (probably advertised as 100 down and 5 or 10 up), the home phone (which I don't use at all), and from what I remember $90 VIP cable package + PVR rental cost + 2 extra receiver rental costs plus fees plus taxes

I am calling them soon because I don't want the home phone.. but I want to keep my unlimited internet. So we'll see what happens

I used to give these guys $70 plus tax for my cellphone plan. But then I switched to this other company that gave me 4x as much data and only charge me $36 a month after tax. So you might ask: "Why not switch you cable or internet?". I could switch my internet, but I don't have any other options for cable. And cable is the main part of the cost. The internet I don't care about as much because my employer pays me back for every single cent I spend on my internet.

Yeah, we have it really bad here in Canada when it comes to cellphone plans, the internet, cable TV packages, the cost of cheese and other dairy products, internal flights, city2city bus service, and trains. Yes, these exact things. They are really expensive and crappy here (except for the cheese, it is just like anywhere else in terms of the quality, but very expensive)

These are the worst things about Canada. Most people think it must be the cold weather or the high taxes or all the signs in French. Nope, not at all, it's the overpriced cheese, crappy third world quality train and bus service, expensive internal flights, and a set of monopolies that make our digital content access points unreliable and very pricy.

My 100Mbps down / 10Mbps up are real speeds (in fact they are usually a bit higher), it is unlimited too. However I have the basic cable TV pack with many extra channels but without access to any special series or sport events (pay per view is an odious alien concept here) and cellphone lines are limited to 2 Gbytes and 100 minutes each. Home phone is unlimited. I also have free access to a special wifi network which covers most cities.

Trains buses and roads are wonderful here, don't know about internal flights since Spain is not big enough for that being so relevant, however i would change all that in an eyeblink for living in a country with much lower unemployment rate and higher wages, like Canada for example.

 

[warpus]

My 100Mbps down / 10Mbps up are real speeds (in fact they are usually a bit higher), it is unlimited too. However I have the basic cable TV pack with many extra channels but without access to any special series or sport events (pay per view is an odious alien concept here) and cellphone lines are limited to 2 Gbytes and 100 minutes each. Home phone is unlimited. I also have free access to a special wifi network which covers most cities.

Trains buses and roads are wonderful here, don't know about internal flights since Spain is not big enough for that being so relevant, however i would change all that in an eyeblink for living in a country with much lower unemployment rate and higher wages, like Canada for example.

There is a lot that is great about Canada, don't get me wrong. If all the things I mentioned sucking and being overpriced don't matter to you too much, then you would love it here.. Assuming you don't mind cold winters.

Having said that though, people who are graduating university are finding it hard to find jobs these days, not only in the city where I live, but also the whole province, and to a degree the country. The number of jobs being created is growing, but not as fast as the population. Not only that but a lot of positions are slowly being "Americanized", meaning little benefits, as little vacation time as possible, etc. at least based on what I've been hearing. And on top of all that the feds want to set up even more programs bringing in skilled temporary foreign workers for some reason, which doesn't make sense to me at all.

I love it here, and would not want to live anywhere else at the moment, but we do have our faults.

 

[civvver]

I feel bad for American hockey lovers. I would presume that in hockey-passionate markets like Detroit, the games are more easily available than elsewhere? At least I'd hope so.

Was that random or directed at me? Cus I live in detroit suburbs, have mentioned it before. We get cbc here. I think I might have mistyped cnbc before, but it's the canadian channel cbc. Hockey is on that a lot. And then we get every wings game on our local sports channel. They also broadcast every nba piston's and mlb tiger's game. They have two channels if teams play at the same time so you don't miss a single game.

Us is the same as canada, no competition, cus cable companies still own their own lines. Like cell phones there's competition cus everyone has cell receivers on a tower somewhere, it works totally different. For cable internet there's nothing. You can get the one cable guy in town or dsl. I think they need to straight up make them utilities and eminent domain the lines, then let each company use the lines and charge whatever they want to get to their servers. Gas sort of does this, you have to pay the local utility gas line fees but you can actually 3rd party buy your gass from another supplier.

We do prime for the shipping also but I watch a fair amount of shows on there, not as many as cable or netflix. I'm not sure if we really get 99$ of shipping value out of it but we were doing monthly diaper deliveries so we probably do, and we abuse the free returns. We bought 5 Halloween costumes for my daughter and returned 4 of them.

warpus how much internet do you get if you don't have unlimited? Comcast's history is kind of long and weird with that. Several years ago, I want to say around 6 years ago, they had a hard cap of 250GB or so, might have been 300GB is some areas. And then your internet shut off. That was before netflix ruled the world so very few people knew and hit this cap. Heck I usually don't hit it now. But there was so much backlash against them that they removed it. It technically still existed on your service but in name only. If you checked online it would say you had a 250GB cap but that it wasn't being enforced currently. Probably to give you happy feelings that they were being nice to you or something and cutting you a deal.

Well they reintroduced the cap and it's rolling out nationwide now, but it's now 1TB. I still think it's absolute bs to have an internet cap. Their servers can absolutely handle a few users going over. You can pay an extra $30 a month for unlimited. Our 3 month average is around 200GB so we're no where near, but we don't have a 4k tv or stream 4k. 4k takes like 5 times the bandwidth of hd. I actually feel like comcast is intentionally doing this cus their cable tech and channel offerings are behind netflix and other services that offer 4k, so they want to stifle them. For me personally I'm not an early adopter of tv tech, or tech in general really despite my love for video games and tv shows. I still play on a 7 year old pc, I have had an iphone 5s for 4 years and our tv is 1080p. So hopefully by the time we get 4k those caps have gone up, I imagine there will be some kind of renegotiation between netflix and comcast in the next few years and they'll double it or something.

Here's a pretty good article on it.
http://www.techhive.com/article/306...t-data-caps-will-stifle-video-innovation.html

 

[warpus]

Yeah civvver, I should get in the habit of quoting everything I respond to, because I do at times get annoyed at people for the exact same reason.

warpus how much internet do you get if you don't have unlimited?

I'm not sure actually, but I think my last plan gave me.. 100gb a month? or 80. And that cost almost as much as what I pay now for unlimited. I think most people get a lot less than that but don't quote me on that, I haven't looked into this for years so things could have changed.

I used to have a roommate who downloaded a LOT. He'd give me money for the $50 overage fee each month. Fortunately that's what they capped it at, so you could download as much as you want and the most you'd ever pay extra was that amount.

From what I hear from Americans here and there, Comcast is worse than Rogers (the company that has a monopoly here, who I give money to for cable, internet, etc.)

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Good to know. The World Series was broadcast(I acquired a smallish digital antenna just for it), but I don't know if that was a special case.

I can't hype getting an amplifier enough. It costs about $15 and requires a power outlet. It will give you access to many more channels - particularly if you live somewhat close to Chicago. I have 90+ channels over the air though most of them are garbage. Enough of the are gems that they alone are worth the small cost to get the amplifier.

When I lived here in 2015 on an internship, I had an antenna but no amplifier and barely got any channels. I live about the same distance from the transmitters now as I did then and the difference is remarkable.

 

[rah]

How far out do you live? I'm about 25 miles out and get most of them without any issues.