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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:55 am 
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I've noticed several conversations here and elsewhere about options for cutting the cable, conversations that prompted me to write an updated "state of the union" on cord-cutting with a simplified focus on the tech-curious consumer. Here you have it Milton, my breakdown of the major options for cord-cutting in 2014. Hope you find it helpful!

Link to the article: http://pnear.wordpress.com/2014/04/06/cutting-the-cable-in-canada-2014-update/


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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 1:28 pm 
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Good read thanks for that! I have considered cutting the cable but have fallen short due to the conveniences of digital cable. I think in another 2-5 years something will be more enticing then the options our right now.


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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 3:16 pm 
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Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:42 pm
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Location: Milton
For me, you still can't beat the ability of channel surfing and reliability of Cable/Satellite/Fibe TV.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 11:37 am 
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Nope, but you sure can beat the massive monthly bill.

My cable cutting experience has shown me that TV is an addiction like any other. Once you cut the cord, there is an initial withdrawal period, followed by you realizing that you didn’t need any of it and your life being no different then before, but with an extra $80 in your pocket every month.

Antenna has something worth watching 80% of the time you just want to kill some time. Netflix and pirating fills in the rest. I no longer watch multiple shows at a time, I watch one, back to back until I have finished a season. It’s kinda neat. We just finished two seasons of American Horror Story, over a 2 month period, and now we’re downloading Bates Motel. Whatever show I’m on at the moment is pretty much all I watch until I have exhausted it. I find we get into the shows a lot more if we watch them like that, it’s more fun.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 11:49 am 
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I have been unsuccessfully trying to convince the wife to do this. Unfotunately she needs (wants) her HGTV and news channels. The moment I can get those replaced, I am making the switch.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 11:58 am 
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That’s always the problem.

For me it was AMC and Discovery, and the wife it was A&E.

You will never replace those. You just bite the bullet, and do it. After a month, you’ll forget why you even cared. The wife included. You’ll adapt to the new shows available to you and forget about the old ones. The thing you need to accept is that it is a lesser experience. Cable is better. What counts is that you won’t give a sh*t after you adjust to the new viewing habits. You find other things to watch.

Summer is the perfect time to do it. You should be outside and drinking anyways.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 12:27 pm 
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bremer wrote:
That’s always the problem.

For me it was AMC and Discovery, and the wife it was A&E.

You will never replace those. You just bite the bullet, and do it. After a month, you’ll forget why you even cared. The wife included. You’ll adapt to the new shows available to you and forget about the old ones. The thing you need to accept is that it is a lesser experience. Cable is better. What counts is that you won’t give a sh*t after you adjust to the new viewing habits. You find other things to watch.

Summer is the perfect time to do it. You should be outside and drinking anyways.


I agree, she doesn't, that's the problem. I could care less about TV as I am more of a movie guy and I watch the occasional cat video.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 12:45 pm 
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prickly_pete wrote:

News is easily replaced. We are barraged with it from all angles at all times of the day. You'll still get the news.
HGTV won't be missed at all. That's a station you watch cause it's on. Instead of watching all these people fix their houses and make cool crafts, she'll just start doing it herself instead.

Just end the cable lifestyle. You'll be glad you did. Wife will moan about it for a few days but that's it. It's an easy addiction to eliminate.


Dude, I wish. Cool pools, awesome decks, home reno, home design, home gardening... You name it, she records it. Unfortunately, its just not background noise, she loves those stupid shows. I have come to the conclusion I must pay $165/month for a cable/internet package I barely use. It hurts, but happy wife, happy life I suppose. We will have this type of content online soon enough, but until then my hands are shackeled.

Oh and its even worse in Georgetown for internet as only Cogeco offers higher speed internet. All Bell would offer is 5mbps download speed at a lovely $80/month.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 1:21 pm 
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Location: Milton
prickly_pete wrote:
Don't gotta always hate on others just cause you don't agree with it. Everyone's got their own interests, preferences, hobbies.


Hahahahah, nice try Pete. No one was hating. Not even close.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 1:31 pm 
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Canada On Demand, via XBMC, allows for the HGTV shows I watch them all of the time. I have a sweet little box that came preloaded. Best money I have spent in the past year.

http://www.amazon.ca/G-Box-Midnight-MX2 ... 2+midnight


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 1:59 pm 
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NotHawthorny wrote:


Dude, I wish. Cool pools, awesome decks, home reno, home design, home gardening... You name it, she records it. Unfortunately, its just not background noise, she loves those stupid shows. I have come to the conclusion I must pay $165/month for a cable/internet package I barely use.


Try making a deal....

Cut the cord for the summer – 3 months of June – Aug, when you have better things to do anyways. Take the $80 a month you save, and pay for her to get a pedicure, tanning beds, hair colored, or whatever other pointless girl nonsense she is into. Get her something for each month she goes without.

After three months of no cord, if she dosen’t like it, then you plug it back in.

It’s a win win. She gets pointless stuff that women base their existence around, and you aren’t out any extra cash in the short term, but at the end you save some dough when shes is on board because she’s used to it.... Or not, in which case your at the same spot you are now – a beta male pandering for your wife’s approval.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 2:07 pm 
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^^ How much of a beating does Cogeco lay on you for disconnecting? I'm presuming that they would make a charge, anyway. I'm too lazy to call them to find out, or search it here :D

_________________
This one thing probably never goes away
I think this one thing is always supposed to stay
This one thing doesn't have to go away


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 2:11 pm 
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I can’t say. I was with Shaw, no contract. I owned my equipment. It was easy once the guy in client retention stopped talking about his starving children..


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 2:42 pm 
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it is pretty painless, like Pete said, 30 days notice. They didn't try very hard to get me to stay which was nice. A Cogeco guy even showed up to pickup my box so I didn't have to go out of my way to return it.

Note: They did show up unannounced when we weren't home and installed a cable filter which interrupted our cable internet service through Start, so watch out for that if you have cable internet through another provider.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 3:16 pm 
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We haven't had cable or satellite for over 10 years. Spent $35 on an 8-bay antenna from one of the electronics shops over on Matheson then another $35 for a high-gain low-noise amplifier off eBay then installed it in the attic. When the Boxee Box came out in 2010 I bought one and used it until late 2013. (The firmware wasn't being updated to support newer streaming players.) During the last round of Boxing-day sales I picked up a tiny Intel NUC computer and tucked it next to the TV. It's 1/3 the size of the Boxee and plugs directly into the HDMI port of the television. A wireless keyboard with touch-pad lets us surf to any site and watch streaming content.

So cable is $80/mo now? Wow. When we got rid of it the cost was $36/mo which I figured was too much.


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