Cancel your cable.

[JDPriestly]

There have been a number of posts complaining about the quality of the coverage of Obama's health care conference by cable news networks.

Here is the painless way to cancel your cable.

Subscribe to DSL instead. Buy a gadget that connects your computer to you TV and watch whatever you want without paying for anything you don't want.

DSL internet is not free -- might even be close to the same price in many places, but you don't have to pay for the corporate nonsense on cable news and other channels if you don't want to.

You can get all of C-Span and the White House information on the internet.

We combine Netflix and the internet and don't miss cable at all.

If you are working or like to socialize or read or play board games or fish or garden or play sports or anything other than watch TV all day and all night, you will probably find that Netflix combined with the internet are all you need.

We have a pretty good-sized TV and just hook a lap-top up to the TV. We can have the sound go either through separate speakers or through the TV. It is a great solution. You do not have to be a slave to cable.

We have saved money with this method.

[Captain Hilts]

1. I did. That's why I went to the gym to watch it and was horrified by Campbell Brown on CNN.nt

[tabbycat31]

2. in many areas you need a landline for DSL

including mine. I'm cellphone only and cable's my only way to get online. If an alternative comes around Cablevision is toast

[JDPriestly]

6. Your cable company doesn't offer internet? They do in some areas.

We used cable internet. That is what we cancelled. We switched to regular DSL internet.

[tabbycat31]

8. it does offer internet

that's what i'm using now--- but just internet is almost the same price as internet and TV

[truedelphi]

73. That is our story too. We get an excellent phone rate(landline) &

And excellent internet rate - but if we cancel out the additional cable TV subscription, then the other two services are hit with a price rate increase of 50% a piece - so we end up paying more if we don't have cable TV than if we have it!

[Mike K]

55. I'm in Central New Jersey -

- where I subscribe to Cablevision for tv (over 200 channels), broadband Internet (very fast) and unlimited continental U.S. telephone service. Overall I've had almost zero problems with any of it throughout the past ten years.

But, like anything else that's good, it isn't cheap -- which is the only problem.

[aaronbav]

23. CHeck with your phone company and ask if they have DRY LOOP or "naked"

DSL. Here in the Atlanta metro area which was formerly Bellsouth and now AT&T SE ,that is what we have. We have the 1.5 Mb service for $37/mo flat rate. The DSL lite package is (I think) 19.95/mo. WE chose the more expensive 1.5 service because we were afraid that since, in addition to my wife and I, we have two teens and we all stream stuff at various times, - sometime at the same time, and I was afraid the DSL lite service would not be up to the task. The 1.5 seems to have been sufficient so far. Have been a few hiccups occasionally but not to bad.

One thing I can say about DSL vs. COMCRAP - The DSL was always FAR MORE RELIABLE than COMCRAP.

About a year before I got laid off we switched from Bellsouth to COMCRAP and we regretted it for the entire year we were with them - CONSTANT outages of the internet (T.V. was reliable though - we currently are now relying on OTA broadcast and in our area reception is far from good.).

After I was laid off, I was VERY HAPPY to drop Comcraps unreliable service.


We cut cable 2 years ago when I was first laid off and for the most part haven't missed it - especially with Netflix (we have the 8.95/mo 1 DVD + stream to PC - which I have my PC with TV out connected to our T.V. and the audio connected to our stereo) and it has been fine.

We use MagicJack for our Phone - it mostly works, but is occasionally unreliable. Resetting it usually helps.

[Cronus Protagonist]

36. Cable is more reliable and gets 6 megs downstream

It blows DSL out of the water. I doubt anyone who has decent cable Internet service would voluntarily downgrade to DSL. And the cable guys comes over and fixes things for free - the DSL guy... wait, there isn't DSL guy, you're on your own, or you can pay for a phone company guy to come and tell you the same thing the operator told you, "it's inside the house".

[TwixVoy]

39. I used to work at AT&T.... Uverse uses VDSL

It is MUCH faster than the cap the cable company has on you. Of course Uverse is only available in certain areas.....

There is also Verizion FIOS which blows Uverse away.

[Hawkeye-X]

52. Shared bandwidth vs direct bandwidth (cable vs DSL)

I'll take direct bandwidth anytime.

I get 12m down/786k up via Qwest's FIOPs

[aaronbav]

69. In our case, DSL was far more reliable than ComCRAP. We

had CONSTANT outages and slow downs with COMCRAP. Bellsouth/AT&T OTOH has been ROCK SOLID RELIABLE. True we don't have the fastest connection, but for us it really is not an issue, and since I am unemployed, I am quite thankful that we can have the Dryloop DSL - unfortunately it looks like it will ALL be coming to an end soon since the ASSWIP Rethuglikan Bunning is blocking UI extensions...

wonder what all teh cable co's. Phonce Co's Utilities. grocery stores will do when millions of people starts finally giving up because of the actions of on Asswip Rethug... I hat Rethuglikans....

[Hawkeye-X]

51. I have dry loop. Yanked my phone # from Qwest (cancelled landline)

and switched to a provider who carries my videophone number. Still have DSL from Qwest. Yes, the provider can handle 911 calls with no problems.

Hawkeye-X

[crazyjoe]

3. what about re-runs of "Burn Notice" ?

[Fla_Democrat]

15. Doen..... is that you?

:shrug:

If the name means nothing, I guess not.... :hi:

[Warpy]

16. Ha! I love that one, too

It's far fetched enough to be downright silly, but it's great. The internal monologue plus Sharon Gless as the neurotic mother are the hooks. I was hooked by the first show, when he told us the best way to lose a tail was to drive like an idiot, something I figured out years ago.

I know the first season is out on DVD, I have it. I think the rest will likely be out on DVD eventually.

[monmouth]

18. And White Collar. Best shows on the tv.. Go USA!....n/t

[JDPriestly]

24. I don't want any of my money -- not one cent -- to go to Fox.

Fox is on all the cable available in my area -- even on the simplest package.

[SPedigrees]

40. FOX is not on my directv package. I unsubbed to all the major networks

some time ago. Kept all the movie channels, HBO and SHOWtime, CSPANs, nature channels, history channel, etc. I don't like watching video on the computer, but I make full use of netflix.

[niyad]

30. burn notice, white collar, in plain sight and royal pains. can't miss those.

[tammywammy]

50. I really like Burn Notice and Royal Pains.

:)

[jtrockville]

61. Not sure about the others, but white collar is available on usanetwork.com

[truedelphi]

74. The internet solution for TV -- thanks!

i am even posting it to my Journal

usanetwork.com
(So I can watch TV on the computer)

[ohheckyeah]

4. DSL isn't available in my area.

For high speed Internet it's either cable or satellite, so no I won't be canceling my cable anytime soon.

[JDPriestly]

5. Sorry to hear that.

Does your cable company offer an internet connection?

[ohheckyeah]

Yes, I use cable for the Internet and

satellite for the t.v.

[pipi_k]

46. I don't even have cable in my area...

and as for DSL, my house is the last one on the DSL line that goes down the hill and over the "mountain" to the main connection in town. So anyone up the hill from me on the other side has to deal with either satellite hookup for the Internet, or plain old modem (aughhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!), which we dealt with for a number of years until they brought DSL to town.

Someday my town will enter the 21st Century. :7

[Indepatriot]

7. KILL YOUR TELEVISION!

We did in 04' and after a few weeks of "cold turkey" discovered we'd rather read, play music, or heaven forbid, have a discussion! Never been happier, healthier . You owe it to yourselves and the ones you love. KILL YOUR TELEVISION!

[JDPriestly]

11. Absolutely, Indepatriot.

The amazing thing is that we saved money after we stopped watching TV.

The constant advertising does something to the brain in my experience. I became far, far, far less likely to buy things on impulse once I stopped watching TV.

[Indepatriot]

20. Your Brain can only process so much drivel

before you're affected. Even if you know they're manipulating you it still gets to you. I studied advertising and know their techniques, yet also found I buy less junk since cutting the cable.

[Supersedeas]

44. if only i could get me peeps to agree

[jdp349]

62. best solution for those who can't moderate themselves

I agree

[Lorien]

65. I haven't watched much of anything on it for 15 years, but then I grew up without a TV

so it just doesn't seem to have the mesmerizing effect on me that it does for some people. Honestly, most programming is incredibly boring!

[Jamastiene]

68. You can say THAT again.

"Honestly, most programming is incredibly boring!"

I couldn't agree more.

[Webster Green]

9. I did that some time ago.

Got rid of the TeeVee too.

When I canceled Comcast, I told them it was because I was sick of all the propaganda disguised as news.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

10. I still watch Sanford And Son n/t

[Blue-Jay]

25. "If Della Reese is your niece,

Attila the Hun is my son."

Later -

Lamont: Della Reese!
Della: And you must be Atilla the Hun!

[Warpy]

12. I never bothered with cable. I worked nights

and stayed up late on my off nights. There was nothing much on the cable stations besides informercials, and I could see them on broadcast TV for free. I got grandfathered in to cheap DSL when the cables were first laid in this neighborhood. I watched them doing the work and called the phone company and voila! I was one of their first. DSL saved what was left of my sanity when I was living on beans and rice and nothing else.

I did get a satellite in 2006, but only when I'd gotten too blind for a lot of stuff on the puter. A transplant later, I can see, but keep the dish for things like LinkTV, Ovation, TCM, and a few of the science and travel shows.

I get all my news from the world press through Newseum. There are links above the front pages and yes, I can manage to read most European languages well enough to figure out what's going on. There are English language papers all over Asia for news from that region.

There is no earthly reason to bother with broadcast or cable news. It's all corporate propaganda and tabloid fluff, lying through omission at best. If that's all you use cable for, definitely shut it off. You can do much better with a DSL hookup and no corporate bias.

[JDPriestly]

13. Thanks for the tip on Newseum. I'll check it out.

[Warpy]

17. Sorry, should have given linkie

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/

It's my one stop shopping for ordinary news. For breaking stories, I check out Twitter--really. I can usually home in on one or two people there to follow, people on the ground who know what they're talking about. Everything has to be taken with a pound of salt, of course, but it's a way to get a rough idea of just how bad things are.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. Actually, since getting a flat screen monitor, tv sucks.

We watch movies on the 17 inch. puter monitors, now anything on a normal tv looks like hell.
So we have turned off the tv and will unhook from cable ( we have dsl via phone).
There is nothing on tv I can't get one way or the other on the web, with much more control over what
I choose to watch.

[Warpy]

19. My TV screen is a TV/monitor LCD screen

but I find that for special effects blockbusters (the newest Star Trek being the most recent), sitting close to the puter screen gives the best effect.

I'm not rolling in dough, my TV/monitor LCD is a 20 incher bought refurbished at Overstock.com and cost probably what the next thief will get for it from a fence.

[dixiegrrrrl]

41. lOL....I hear ya.

I had mentioned to Mr. d. that I found watching movies on the puter screen, with headphones, a much more
intimate experience. Thought I was the only one.


Our budget is not big at all, but we are retired.
And I have found we spend money on books ( very cheap deals at PaperbackSwap dot com, and bookmoochdot com)
and on NewEgg dot com.
Living wayyyyyyyy out in the rural sticks, those are the items that make life interesting.
We save hundreds of dollars not buying gas, work clothes, etc.
No place to go, no need to "dress up".

[Warpy]

42. I own one "posh skirt" in case somebody insists on inviting

me to one of the fancy restaurants here, but honestly, I'd much prefer formica and fluorescents in a strip mall because that's where the really good family owned and operated restaurants in this town are.

Otherwise, it's Cape Cod formal: a clean shirt and jeans with no holes in them, a style that also works well out here in cowboy land.

[Blue-Jay]

21. .

[4lbs]

22. I'll keep mine. My cable company, Cox Cable, gives me all 3 CSPANs.

In addition, DSL? Only if I had to. I'm happy paying $30 monthly for 8 Mbit download and 2 Mbit upload speeds via cable broadband service.

[TreasonousBastard]

26. Get rid of cable because three news channels suck? I don't have cable...

for three sucky news channels. I don't have cable for sports, or how to buy a house, or infomercials about cheap knives or sex toys at 4AM, either.

(Well, ok, maybe the sex toys...)

I have cable because I can't get much broadcast TV where I am and there are some shows I actually LIKE on TV. Some of those are even informative. Jeez, what a thought-- watching TV for entertainment without having to turn on a computer or wasting time downloading.

And, ummm, today was one of those days I was glued to the screen checking traffic and weather on cable because I was supposed to be somewhere about 60 miles down the road. Cancelled, thanks to the very local and specific snowstorm reports.

FIOS or DSL are not not available from the phone company where I am, but if they were, I know the rates, and they would be more expensive and slower.

[Toasterlad]

27. Or You Could Just Change the Channel.

If your solution to not watching things you don't want to watch involves removing a perfectly good way to watch what you DO want to watch, you are engaging in what is commonly and generously known as "over-thinking".

[jkshaw]

28. My husband and I followed the entire summit

on the Internet at our separate computers. We didn't miss any of it, didn't bother with C-Span, I had two windows up so that I could Google unfamiliar participants for us. We had no interruptions by talking heads or analysis or calls in to C-Span. We enjoyed it. I'm sure the summit is on Whitehouse.gov for viewing later for those of you having discouraging results yesterday.

We wouldn't want to give up our Satellite TV connection because we would miss Rachel Maddow, the best person anywhere to explain the political shenanigans going on in the country. But Rachel and, at times, Keith Olbermann, both on MSNBC, comprise the sole use to which we put our connection to MSNBC.

[supernova]

29. I'm doing the same; dumped DirecTV

I told DTV to take a hike last fall. Had to tell them again a couple of weeks ago. Seems they kept me hooked up w/o my consent :grr: and then had the nerve to make a collections call against me!

Anyway. My fiance is building me a TV box and I'll have Hulu and Netflix on demand.

Having a sys admin for a fiance rawks! :woohoo:

[progressoid]

31. Ironically, C-SPAN wouldn't exist if it weren't for Cable.

C-SPAN, an abbreviation of Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network owned and operated by the cable industry. It airs non-stop coverage of government proceedings and public affairs programming. C-SPAN does not accept outside advertising; the only commercials aired are for its own programming and products.

...

Brian Lamb, C-SPAN's chairman and CEO, conceived of C-SPAN while working at Cablevision, a cable industry trade magazine, as their Washington, D.C. bureau chief. C-SPAN was created as a cable-industry financed, non-profit network for televising sessions of the U.S. Congress and other public affairs event and policy discussions. Bob Rosencrans, a cable industry pioneer, was alone in providing the initial seed funding of $25,000 to start up C-SPAN. It receives no funding from any government source, has no contract with the government, and does not sell sponsorships or advertising.

etc... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-span#Organization

[cherokeeprogressive]

32. Cancel my cable because I don't like the way the health care conference was covered?

I don't think so. Mainly because how it was covered is absolutely irrelevent to anything going on in the real world. No one who was either for or against HCR in any form, for any reason, was swayed by anything said yesterday.

Cancel my cable because I don't like the way an exercise in futility was covered? Nope.

I don't have cable anyway, I have satellite.

[Statistical]

33. I can't give up my TV and I love being able to record shows SO...

I put an antenna in the attic and bought a TIVO HD.

I get flawless HD picture, ability to record shows I like, and it works better than the cable crappy DVR. That was 3 years ago.
It cost me about $600 for TIVO HD, antenna, cabling, and lifetime service.
In last 3 years that has saved me about $2300 ($65 per mo x 36 months).

Pretty good ROI I think.

[DrDan]

34. I found the coverage excellent

[gorfle]

35. Cable is currently the highest quality internet access commonly available.

Cable internet is generally faster than DSL can deliver today. Unless you can get fiber to your home, Cable is the fastest internet solution for most people.

We have cable TV with our internet access because it is only like an additional $10 for the TV. But we never watch it. We do all our TV watching via Netflix.

[northofdenali]

37. I'd love to.

Can anyone tell me how to do it in Fairbanks, Alaska? There is ONE cable company (GCI) for the City of Fairbanks; our only alternative that I'm aware of is satellite dish, and the cost for that is prohibitive.

[flyarm]

38. NO!

[frylock]

43. from my cold dead hands

[Bennyboy]

45. I did this two months ago and I LOVE IT!

seriously. Not only do I not have to hear schrill know it alls that are stupid as shit, No commercials. And I watch what I want to watch now. I was watching The nany one night at 9 PM and thought, what am I paying for here. Now I watch teh West Wing, of Cheers, or Frasier or wahtever I want. I still watth the network shows and stream them live or a bit later.

I am getting this next week. http://streamdirect-tvpc.com/index2.asp

[Lorien]

64. Let us know how the stream Direct TV works for you

I haven't watched much of anything on TV in the past 15 years, but I would have liked to have seen the Olympics.

[Born_A_Truman]

47. Nope!

I don't have cable (not available) nor DSL (not available) but I have satellite tv and internet and have to have it for my business.

[Luciferous]

48. I already did 2 months ago... we've had a computer hooked up

to our TV for over a year now, and since the only thing we really watch on TV is PBS we figured it was a waste of money.

[Lorien]

66. And you can watch all PBS programming for free on PBS.org anyway. nt

[onenote]

49. no thanks.

Of course, if that's what you or anyone else wants to do, that's none of my business.

[Mike K]

53. Can I get -

- The History Channel, The Learning Channel, National Geographic, The Discover Channel, The Animal Planet, Nature and PBS via DSL?

Except for an occasional good movie or some other special show, cable generally sucks. But those channels noted above keep me entertained most of the time. I can find something enjoyable, educational, or at least worth watching, on the cable any time of the day or (usually) night.

But that's me. I know that others feel differently.

[Bluenorthwest]

54. Three tiny outlets suck and so you would have us throw out

lots of great stuff? I hardly watch these channels you foolishly expect to be 'news' because of their titles. I enjoy TV. Sue me. I don't watch your CNN/Fox/MSNBC stuff, save for Keith. So why should I cancel service I like because of crap you don't like, that I don't watch? There are many channels I don't watch, your favorites are among them. Yet I watch many things. Amazing.

[tammywammy]

56. No, thank you

I like NatGeo, History Channel, TNT, USA, etc. I rarely, rarely, ever watch cable news shows. I also spend plenty of time reading and doing things away from screens.

[Green_Lantern]

sorry but I love my DVR...

As far as cable news, just don't watch it. You can also watch BBC News on PBS.

[EFerrari]

57. I did that for a while but reverted to Dish. They have Amy, Laura and Thom

on every weekday morning on FreeSpeech TV.

I *never* watch CNN or MSNBC. They are a total waste of my time.

[Egnever]

58. Agreed, Though I do miss some things like olympic coverage

Course if you get satellite after the contract expires you can always get a descrambler box and get everything for free including ppv.

Posting right now on my 56 inch in my living room.

[Codeine]

59. No thanks. I actually enjoy watching television now and then.

There is a wealth of quality programming out there if you take the time to find it. Television can be entertaining, edifying, and damned good fun.

And I still have time to read (voraciously), play board games (certified board game geek), paint miniatures, have a social life, and keep my apartment sparkling clean. Life does not have to be an either/or proposition.

[Jkid]

60. I can I Play Devil's Advocate?

If you choose to watch television via internet only, you must know that most channels don't offer every program in their lineup on the internet. Unless a show is really popular or in prime time, you'll get nothing or get get short clips of programing. Programs available during the daytime on broadcast and cable are unavailable: especially daytime programing on broadcast tv (such as court shows, talk shows and such) Even every program your PBS station offers may not be available on the internet. The only possible way to get those programs is by other means (read: direct download/torrents)

Now, with my devil's advocate side out of the way, there are a few things with internet only TV and digital Over-The-Air television I must explain. First with over-the-air television, I advise you to check if your actual tv set can receive digital signals. If not, you may have to buy a converter box or a new digital tv set.

But before getting a digital TV set, first get a converter box and use any antenna that can receive UHF/VHF signals (an antenna that has rabbit ears and bow-loop) to check it you have any good reception with all the channels in your area. Otherwise you'll be switching back to cable and your transition from cable to OTA/internet tv project will be a waste of time.

There's another thing you must know about Broadcast HD, programs in native HD are still limited, primarily during primetime, unless a show is really popular. (This also applies to any most cable/satellite channels that have a HD-equivalent. Unless it's a movie or sport channel , there is still limited programing in native HD.

tl;dr: The internet can't provide everything that cable/satellite offers unless you're willing to direct download/torrent. Check if you TV set can receive digital signals and test if you can get a decent reception signal. HD programing in Broadcast television is still limited to primetime.

[ginnyinWI]

63. TV keeps me on my exercise bike.

For 40 min a day, six days a week. It keeps me from being super bored, and reading a book or listening to the radio wouldn't work as well.

[MrsCorleone]

67. For those not willing to cancel, please at least call & write your provider & demand C-Span 1, 2 & 3

Many cable providers do not carry all of the C-Span options, especially C-Span 3, which is where hearings are covered.

Pressure them to carry C-Span or find a competing provider that does.

[Initech]

70. Can't access DU without it, can't get DSL either.

[Liberal In Texas]

71. Haven't had cable since 2001. It's amazing how you can do without.

Watch KO online if I want to. Have Netflix for movies and the serial shows. Don't miss it and don't miss the outages and the repeats. Also don't miss the constant RW BS on the "History Channel" and "A&E" etc.

I do pay for XM Radio. It's worth it for under $10 a month. (I believe they have a deal right now that's about $7.50/mo.)

[Angleae]

72. I used to have DSL

Then the phone went dead one day and all I could get from Verizon was an automated message on how to fix it myself. Haven't had DSL or a landline since.

[Vinca]

75. We've got Fairpoint DSL that cuts in and out so often you would

drive yourself nuts trying to watch anything on it. Half the time I hit the "Post Message" button and the thing is down again. The last time we called to complain they said they weren't taking any more complaints . . . I swear.

[LWolf]

76. No thanks.

I don't get DSL, am happy with my cable internet, and don't watch cable news networks...or any tv (or radio) news or talk shows.

Somehow I manage to stay informed.

Edited to add: I didn't watch Obama's health care conference; I worked 12 hours that day. I did predict that there would be nothing new to inspire me to support Obama's health care reform, and I was correct.

Universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care was never on the table.