Recently I sold my house and moved to a condo. Said condo has basic cable only. Moving in there I did manage to get the internet changed from 0.24mbs Verizon to >10mbs Comcast. I wasn’t sure if I could live with just basic cable – which means you have about 7 non-Spanish, viewable channels!
The very thought of being limited like this made me break out in a cold sweat. You have to understand I was leaving a 250+ channel satellite setup with multiple dual tuner HD DVR’s, internet connected HDTV and set top boxes, internet viewable DVR iPad app option and wicked home theater surround sound gig. I even had a bluetooth connector for my receiver so I could listen to iPad streamed music.
Yes, I was very proud of my geeked out den setup. Having at least 25 hours of recorded TV shows at any time I rarely watched live TV. I was rarely bored with TV because they were all shows I chose to record because I liked them!
How was I going to cope with a move to basic cable? It almost kept me awake at night considering the implications…
Now I have been on basic cable for a month and can’t say I really miss my original setup. I have been trying to figure out why this transition has actually been quite calming. I almost felt bound to watch the shows I had recorded before so that space could be freed up on the DVR for more episodes. Now if I miss an episode – oh well, too bad. It isn’t the end of the world! Who knew.
So I still have Roku with Netflix and I did purchase a subscription to Hulu+ so I can get some ‘DVR like’ functionality for a few shows. The Closer is one of my faves and is not on Hulu+, I can get some recordings on the TNT website or I could buy the episodes from iTunes, but really I have little interest.
Having super fast internet speeds gives me more than enough entertainment on my iPad now. My Kindle app had more money spent on ebooks last month than I normally spend in a year! Sure, I actually have to sit through commercial breaks now but it’s amazing what a high score you can get on Bejewelled in a few minutes!
Before I had Dish Network and I have to say I liked them. Customer service was always good and I didn’t think they were too much of a rip off. I always figured when I bought another house I would resume with Dish or a cable provider again. Now though, I don’t think I will. It almost feels like a great ball and chain has been released from my leg – I don’t have to sit and watch 4 hours of House just to get through the season. A new season of Rizolli and Isles – great, can’t see it but I can buy an episode if I absolutely can’t live without it!
Admittedly, I would not have given up my setup for basic cable if I had not been forced to make a choice. I had expected that after a few weeks I would be so aggravated I would offer to pay the extra money for the ‘real’ TV package!
Course then I surfed over to the Comcast website and started looking at the options. You want HOW MUCH for some channels? Oh, that is just the introductory price. Hmmm, so when the 2 years is up, what will this triple play $99 change to? Oh, a heck of a lot more – right. What if I only need it for a few months – oh that package is available but it will cost more to give you the right to cancel – okay dokey.
Forget it – if I find I am not using Hulu+ much I just click the cancel button and it is gone – no late fees, no cancellation fees, no equipment return fees.
The only show I have a slight pang for is kind of embarrassing to admit. I could have said Criminal Minds, or CSI or even The Closer, but no. The show that makes me wonder how they are doing is …. Operation Repo!
Fab can’t wait for your next installment