Well, I have noticed that Netflix has been buffering a lot lately mostly when I'm bingeing on a series.
We never cut the cord because we never had a cord to cut! We went straight from Broadcast TV to Satellite. Hal
After our DTV stopped working instead of buying another one we also switched to DirecTV. We have considered the pros and cons of cutting the cord but we like having the service.
We went from Comcast cable to DirecTV when they were offereing a special through Sam’s Club. For the first year it was fine, but then the price of everything went up quite a lot, and Bobby was actually watching less television than he had been. The main programs that he watched were also ones that came over the local channels and he could get those using the tv antenna that he had installed. It didn’t make any sense to keep paying for something that we never used; so we sent all of the equipment back to DTV and cancelled the service. We did have to pay an early-disconnect fee; but it was only about $60, so less then the per month fee would have been by a long ways. We did keep the AT&T internet that went along with DTV; but I switched over to the lowest plan that we could get, and now we pay $10 per month for our internet connection and nothing else. We get local channels from the antenna, and Bobby watches movies with the iPad or on the Dell all-in-one. It works great for us !
Direct TV works here, but not well. True cable is not available to us as we are outside "civilization". We have DTV, but it isn't worth much. Since the children have left, we only watch a few shows in the evening in the winter. The grandchildren watch videos or PBS Kids which we can get on an antenna. I love my internet and stream videos often. If I get the courage, I will discontinue my DTV and go with ungraded internet and antenna by next winter.
We had Cox cable for six years. Their prices went up periodically so that our tv, internet, and phone grew enormously. Almost two years ago we switched to direct tv/AT&T for a bundled package. Our contract will be up this fall sometime. Not sure what we're going to do. I don't like what we've got; I don't like what we've had in the past. I'm not going on a contract again. Looks like the major company have you by the ying-yang any way you go.
When we first moved to Millinocket, neither DSL or cable was available, so we had a satellite package that included television and internet. Now, cable and DSL are available here. Later, we spent a half a year in a more rural area where those were our only choices, and I thought that satellite did okay as far as being able to watch television but it was hardly reliable as an internet connection.
I would cancel my Direct TV and go back to antenna if I could get a good reception. We had an antenna about 6 or 7 years ago and each time it was windy, the sound broke up so bad you couldn't follow what you were trying to watch. I got so tired of it, that's when I subscribed to Direct TV. I don't watch anything but the local channels as it is though. I subscribed to the Family channel and it is still more than I want but at least this service works when it is windy which is most of the time here.
Denise, We live in the boonies, but we can get quite a few channels with an amplified digital antenna that you mount inside the house on a wall or window. Wal-Mart and Amazon carry a selection, but I would go for the high-end ones unless you are close to a major city.
I sure don't live close to a major city. I'm about 60 or 70 miles north of one. Do trees make a difference with you? I also have a lot of trees around my house. Some would probably say I live in the woods. That's why I'm asking.
I am in a birch forest. What you can get will depend on the quality of the antenna and the orientation. I can get 6 channels in one room and 9 or 10 in and adjacent room--strange and I don't know why. The orientation is just a few degrees different. If you decide to try it, check out one of the antenna sites to determine the best direction for your site.
Having had DirecTV there have been changes since we first got it. We had all the premium channels and I added that sports package for Johnny's birthday present. That package ended after the football season was over. Believe me he took advantage of it everyday, all day. That's when I sat down at my computer and signed up with Netflix. What can I say it was his birthday present . Later, we dropped all the premium channels for a more affordable package. Then again to the basic package when I got laid off from my job which is less than $100 a month. It's been four years now and I haven't missed having the premium channels because of having Netflix and my own video library consisting of VHS, DVDs, and B-rays. If there is a movie that we really would like to see there's the option of video on demand or paying for the movie. My son has VUDU through Walmart and included me as a member. I don't know how many of you are familiar with VUDU but it's a digital library of movies the members own and want to share.. So if we ever decided to cut the cord we have options in place.
I thought about this later that Direct TV has me spoiled now. I pay for the network service so I can watch what I have recorded on other tv's in this house and I LOVE IT!!!!! I have a recorder but I have to watch it on the TV that it was recorded from and so many times before I got Direct TV, I was wishing I could watch it in my bedroom but I couldn't then and now I can. That may make the difference with me but thanks anyway!
We have cancelled our Netflix subscription. For the last few months, @Bobby Cole has been grumbling about the poor quality of the movies that he was finding on Netflix, and said that it was even getting hard to find films that were not foreign-made ones, or dubbed from some other language. We decided that since Netflix has been explanding into so many other countries, that they probably are now carrying a lot of films that cater to those countries, and less of the films that are strictly American ones. Since I rarely watch Netflix anyway, we only keep it for Bobby to watch, and if he can find better shows on Amazon, which comes with our Prime membership, then it didn’t make any sense to keep on paying for Netflix. For a while, Bobby had Hulu and Netflix both, but he cancelled Hulu also. Since we dropped DirecTV several months ago, we are actually only paying for internet and our Prime membership now, which saves quite a bit of money for us overall.