Topic: Moving... getting new internet/tv/phone service

[charlie]

I probably should have posted this before I made decisions, but I forgot and when I am ready to make a decision I just do it. But, we're moving and I'm getting new service for internet, TV and phone. Here's what I wanted:

• Cheaper - I want to save money wherever possible.
• Fast internet - I plan to stream stuff to the GoogleTV and we always have lots of computers/phones/iPods/etc connected to the network.
• HD + DVR - If we're going to actually get TV service instead of streaming all of our TV, we have an HD TV and we simply don't watch shows live, so a DVR is a must.
• Home Phone # - We want a single "home" phone # we can give out to companies and family.

Here's what I went with:

• Phone: No landline, but a Google Voice # connected to our cell phones. We'll see how this goes. I might consider whatever that internet based phone thing ober recommended if we don't like not having a home phone.
• Internet: Comcast cable internet (Performance package). They say "up to 15 Mbps" for downloads. We'll see how much I really get. My current DSL is "up to 1.5 Mbps" so this will hopefully allow us to do whatever we want and actually stream HD quality stuff. I decided to rent their modem for $5 a month but would consider buying one after I'm comfortable that we'll keep the service and I have time to research them. Total package is $34.99 up front, $34.99/mo for 6 months, then $49.99/mo for 6 months, then the contract ends and it goes up another $10 to $15.
• TV: DirecTV. HD DVR in one room and standard DVR in another. $100 up front plus maybe some installation costs, $47.99/mo for the first year, $62.99/mo for the next year, then the contract ends and it's $78.99/mo. Considered a Comcast bundle but the prices were about the same and I get a $180 Costco gift card for doing DTV at Costco, plus the Comcast DVR sucks balls and the DirecTV one looks like it doesn't.
• Other: Netflix streaming + 1 DVD.

Did I make good choices? Should I get internet phone? Should I get my own cable modem?

Here's my payment breakdown (with install costs prorated over the first year):

What	Current $/mo |	$/mo first 6 mos |	$/mo next 6 mos |	$/mo year 2 |	$/mo after |
Internet	$28.00	$37.91	$52.91	$65.95	$65.95
TV	$85.63	$62.57	$62.57	$62.99	$78.99
Movies	$10.80	$10.80	$10.80	$10.80	$10.80
Phone+Long Distance	$45.76	$0	$0	$0	$0
Total	$170.19	$111.28	$126.28	$139.74	$155.74

[charlie]

So far I'm not as happy with DirecTV as I had hoped. My local channels are not in HD, which means when I turned on my recording of the basketball game it was 4:3 and standard definition. Seriously? 50% of my TV viewing is the broadcast networks.

The menu system is a bit confusing, but I might just have to get used to it. The DVR controls are much more responsive than the Comcast ones, but less responsive than DishNetwork's DVR so that's a step down for me.

At least the install went smoothly.

[ober]

I would double check for HD versions of your local channels.  All of my local channels have a SD and HD channel with Time Warner.

[Perspective]

My parents digital cable box has a cool feature. If you select an SD channel and there is an HD equivalent, it will prompt you and ask you if you want to switch to the HD version.

[charlie]

I would double check for HD versions of your local channels.  All of my local channels have a SD and HD channel with Time Warner.

Yeah... I plan to call when I get the chance. I did see HD broadcast networks lower down in the list, but they weren't available to me for whatever reason.

I have an HD antenna that actually provided a much clearer picture than DirecTV. (I'm assuming because the installer used old cables already running through the house, but maybe that's irrelevant.) The problem is that I don't think I can hook up the antenna to the DirecTV box to use with the DVR. I did that with my Dish Network box until they eventually gave all the local channels to us in HD. That was cool. But I didn't see any inputs that would work on my new box. I'll have to ask them about that, too.

[KnuckleBuckett]

FYI

OTA (over the air) HD is usually of superior quality to most other sources of HD media.

[Steve]

Get a FTA box and flash it to dish network. Free everything.

[charlie]

Woo hoo!!



At the old place I was lucky to get 1.4 Mbps download.

...

Edit: At the old place now to unhook the router (should I get a better router?!?)... This is what I got:

[kermi3]

Ugh....I'm about to go through this...yuck....I"m glad you were successful with it....

[Steve]

Complainers. Where I'm moving they barely have high speed. There is dish network and only dish network and it reminds me of idsn

[charlie]

Fuck... brought the router over last night and not only did speeds decrease, but the connection goes in and out and I have no clue why. Why can't it just work, I really don't feel like troubleshooting right now.

[Steve]

Is it linksys? If not get a linksys.

[KnuckleBuckett]

I have to agree with Steve here my Linksys E3000 rocks.  I have had it for maybe a year and haven't had a single issue.

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/UK/en/products/E3000

[Steve]

I have solved every single router issue ever by switching to linksys. Ask obes, I turned him on to DD-WRT and he's been happier then a pig in shit ever since.

[Mike]

I'm actually thinking of switching my router to a switch and dealing with the DHCP part via a Linux box.  Seriously, most consumer routers just piss me off with their candy-ass GUIs.

And I had a problem with my brother's Linksys router.  It wasn't doing one of the WAP family password hashing correctly and I had to go in via a maintenance interface to put it in directly.