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Anyone still bundle internet, tv, landline?

bosch

bosch

Master TSC Shave Member
I know, old school topic, right? They've gone too far this time! Price hikes, messed up service, 3 year old customer service reps, etc.

So, for internet we're forced to use the bundle supplier; only one available.

Do people even still have landlines? Our daughter is a police dispatcher for a local municipality. She says gotta, gotta, gotta keep landline for emergency responder situations. I'd appreciate replies from any of our emergency responders here on TSC??

Then tv? We of course have Netflix. Also, Prime Video. Of the two I'd keep N and dump P, but my wife has an opinion too. What about some of the tv options? YouTubeTV, etc??

I appreciate that we don't emotionally discuss politics on TSC. I'm sure there are some (like me!) who are emotional when it comes to treatment we've had at the hands of some tv/internet/landline providers!

All replies are appreciated! :)
 
I certainly understand your frustration, and I share it. The customer service from many of these companies is abysmal and I really dislike dealing with the TV service providers.

A couple years ago we changed everything. We had Verizon DSL (not FIOS) for our internet (it was sloooow) and Verizon for our home phone and Dish network for TV. We dumped our landline completely and have not missed it at all, we switched to our local cable company for Internet (much faster) and the very basic cable package just to get the local networks. We also have tried Netflix, Hulu, Amazon prime video. I tend to use Netflix more than Hulu. Nothing wrong with Hulu, I just don't seem to use it much, just personal preference I guess. As far as Prime Video, we have just started using it so still checking it out. I tend to do most of my viewing with Netflix and YouTube and rarely watch the traditional networks. I think they will be the next to go and we will likely drop the local cable package soon.
 
I've worked at a "triple play" service provider for the last 22 years come March 1. Seen a lot of things change in that (relatively) short period of time.

In 2005 we did a complete plant over-build, retired our legacy equipment and went 100% fiber optic. We did the bundle / triple-play thing for many years but the younger crowd want nothing to do with land lines.. Or TV for that matter. Broadband is the cash cow for us these days. More so since we received our GIG internet speed service provider certification.

Now we no longer require customers to have a land line with other services and we'll be completely dropping TV service this year as well. TV is a bottomless money pit. We (the company) have been losing money on it for a over a decade now. The content providers are simply setting prices so high that we (as an independent provider) can't afford it any more. Incidentally this is why prices keep getting jacked up; content providers increase prices for service providers (usually a fee based on number of customers the service provider has) and they in turn have to raise end user prices to compensate.

I assumed (and discussed it with co-workers) that the company would eventually go this route but didn't expect it to be while I was still working here. Surprised me! But it's a benefit in that it cuts down on overhead. Maybe we can start giving out actual percentage based raises again before I vamoos!

Also, since we're such a small operation, service outage restoration is less than 2 hours on average.
 
We don’t bundle. We have Internet, Netflix and Sling TV. Sling gives the missus the cable channels she likes.

We also ditched the landline and we both have cell phones.
 
The last time I had cable we had to do the bundle thing. So it was Internet/Cable/Phone. The phone was digital and we really didn't want it so while we had an actual phone number (not that I would know what it was) we didn't even have it connected.

As far as an actual land line...if you can get a true landline...and it works in the budget and all...I say get it...because...if power goes out or cell towers fail or switches go down...that regular old phone (provided it doesn't need power) will still work. The problem is...most "landlines" now are digital and if your cable goes out...so does your phone. Just something to keep in mind.

A few years ago the wife and I dropped cable. We kept internet. Like you we really only had one provider that we could deal with. I like watching a lot of live events so the "on demand" model wasn't really all I wanted. We opted to get Hulu Live/Hulu + whatever it is called. It was a very seamless transition from cable. It had all the local channels, a ton of sports channels, and bunch of other channels. Honestly, if I didn't know it was a streaming service, I would have just thought it was regular cable subscription. The downside is that you need to have more than just the very basic internet speed. I like it a lot because it gives me a "cable" package with on-demand features.
 
We have a bundle TV ,Internet and phone. The only reason for the phone is due to the church having a number at my house. It isn't a landline though. I don't know about you guy but here the phone is though the internet. So no internet....no phone.

I really don't need tv and have the bare bones package. The only reason we kept it is because the wife wants local channels. We have netflix and hulu (free with our verizon mobile). We dropped prime. We had been thinkin about it and current events pushed us over the edge.
 
Wow! Quite the brain trust!! Thanks @MarkB @Fenster @MilkCrate @dangerousdon @The Monkey & @NurseDave so far. This brings up another question. If we cut cable tv, I understand that we may need to "beef up" the internet capability?? I've cut a screen shot of our current set up below. I'd appreciate knowing your thoughts regarding download speed (150 Mbps) and monthly data plan (1.25TB)?? So, we are two, my wife and I. We use mucho internet! She is one of several WFH HR representatives for a major international engineering and construction company. We're both using our internet all the time from say 6 a.m. till 6 p.m. or so. Then we switch to binge watching/streaming shows from basically Netflix or Prime Video til 9:30-10 p.m. Currently we have never exceeded our monthly plan.

Thanks, guys! I knew you would rock!! :cool:


internet.png
 
And for those who think that your cell phone will always be available...

In 2016 we had some catastrophic floods in my area...more than 146,000homes were damaged or destroyed. We had a lot of displaced people at that time. One of the AT&T switches (for a lack of a better way of saying it...a switch receives signals from cell towers) went down and the entire Metro Baton Rouge area (approximately 800,000) lost their AT&T service at the worst time. Not that I you would be able to use a landline in a completely flooded house...I just want to point out that cell service is not absolute.
 
bosch said:
Wow! Quite the brain trust!! Thanks @MarkB @Fenster @MilkCrate @dangerousdon @The Monkey & @NurseDave so far. This brings up another question. If we cut cable tv, I understand that we may need to "beef up" the internet capability?? I've cut a screen shot of our current set up below. I'd appreciate knowing your thoughts regarding download speed (150 Mbps) and monthly data plan (1.25TB)?? So, we are two, my wife and I. We use mucho internet! She is one of several WFH HR representatives for a major international engineering and construction company. We're both using our internet all the time from say 6 a.m. till 6 p.m. or so. Then we switch to binge watching/streaming shows from basically Netflix or Prime Video til 9:30-10 p.m. Currently we have never exceeded our monthly plan.

Thanks, guys! I knew you would rock!! :cool:


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I would say that you would be able to run Hulu Live (Hulu +) off of those speeds. As far as the data plan goes...I have 1.25 TB plan also. We let our TV run a lot...I mean the dogs gotta watch their cartoons while I am gone right? Anyway...like I said...we let the TV run a lot...even when we are not watching it. The wife and I are also working mostly from home. And then we are constantly on the internet doing a lot of stuff. October 26-November 25 was are biggest month ever I think and we used 1180 GB out of our 1280 GB (1.25 TB).

But normally we use between 800 and 900 GB per month. If you have teenagers that game...it might be an issue. But if it is just you and the wife...then I think you will be fine. I would monitor it for the first couple of months just to make sure.
 
I agree the data plan should be fine. We had to up ours from 1TB, but we have 3 teens remote learning right now with video streaming zoom meetings, and my wife working from home. Then those teens all sit in their rooms and facetime and watch videos all evening. 2 people should be fine.
 
NurseDave said:
I agree the data plan should be fine. We had to up ours from 1TB, but we have 3 teens remote learning right now with video streaming zoom meetings, and my wife working from home. Then those teens all sit in their rooms and facetime and watch videos all evening. 2 people should be fine.
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Thanks, @NurseDave
 
dangerousdon said:
I would say that you would be able to run Hulu Live (Hulu +) off of those speeds. As far as the data plan goes...I have 1.25 TB plan also. We let our TV run a lot...I mean the dogs gotta watch their cartoons while I am gone right? Anyway...like I said...we let the TV run a lot...even when we are not watching it. The wife and I are also working mostly from home. And then we are constantly on the internet doing a lot of stuff. October 26-November 25 was are biggest month ever I think and we used 1180 GB out of our 1280 GB (1.25 TB).

But normally we use between 800 and 900 GB per month. If you have teenagers that game...it might be an issue. But if it is just you and the wife...then I think you will be fine. I would monitor it for the first couple of months just to make sure.
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Thanks @dangerousdon
 
It’s just the wife and me at home. I have also been working from home since last April. We have been known to surf on our phones (wifi) and binge watch Netflix or Sling. Your plan looks fine.
 
I'll save my rant about ISP data caps for another time, but we've been running an "all streaming" setup for a couple of years now and only once approached the previous 1TB limit (now 1.2) on Comcast a handful of times.

That said, it's just my wife and I doing remote work and streaming TV, so I can easily see why people with older kids doing remote working or streaming additional content could easily cause that to become a problem!
 
Fightingillini22 said:
I'll save my rant about ISP data caps for another time, but we've been running an "all streaming" setup for a couple of years now and only once approached the previous 1TB limit (now 1.2) on Comcast a handful of times.

That said, it's just my wife and I doing remote work and streaming TV, so I can easily see why people with older kids doing remote working or streaming additional content could easily cause that to become a problem!
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Thanks @Fightingillini22
 
dangerousdon said:
Why? We are all angry nowadays! Unleash the dragon...I mean for me, it's Pete's Dragon...but it's still a dragon...right?

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HA!

I'll just say that when Comcast "waived" the data caps last year, there was no degradation of service and Comcast admitted that the network did not falter despite the unprecedented increase in network usage from everyone working/learning from home as well as streaming. So their argument of caps "delivering fairness" to consumers is a complete sham. There is no technical reason for the caps. It's simply another avenue for Comcast to collect revenue.

What REALLY gets me going is their commercials flaunting their dedication to continued remote learning and "the new normal." I guess they support you in the new normal by promising to charge you for the extra data you and your kids will be consuming for the foreseeable future.
 
Fightingillini22 said:
HA!

I'll just say that when Comcast "waived" the data caps last year, there was no degradation of service and Comcast admitted that the network did not falter despite the unprecedented increase in network usage from everyone working/learning from home as well as streaming. So their argument of caps "delivering fairness" to consumers is a complete sham. There is no technical reason for the caps. It's simply another avenue for Comcast to collect revenue.

What REALLY gets me going is their commercials flaunting their dedication to continued remote learning and "the new normal." I guess they support you in the new normal by promising to charge you for the extra data you and your kids will be consuming for the foreseeable future.
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We just got our notice of the potential overage charges for data. I wish we had an alternative to the evil empire in our area, but they’re the only high speed internet provider here so we’re stuck.
 
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