I am SO sick of dealing with these assholes. They just randomly added $30/mo for something called "Vivid TV" which I never asked for or authorized.

So I steeled myself for the voicemail shitstorm and called them and got "Your expected wait time is 30 seconds"...every minute or so for 15 minutes.

I DID finally get the programming removed, but I have to pay the bill anyway and I'll get an adjustment "next month".

I goddamned better or I'm going to go full auto...

AT&T worked properly for a long, long, time. Then, January 8, 1982, the consent decree broke the company apart and every experience with customer NO-service is now a dumpster wreck or train fire.

I went to work for AT&T / Bell Laboratories in 1960 after leaving the Navy. Great place to work! After the consent decree, not so great.

I was an AT&T customer for many years. The new thing that calls itself AT&T sucks donkey balls, I no longer use them for anything.

quote:

dumpster wreck or train fire

I'ma steal that! Right up there with Rocket Surgery!

Get YouTube TV

None of that BS; Comcast was doing that to me as well: "TV franchise fee" $15 "Sports fee" $12. My bill was like 40 bucks more a month than they had promised.

If there are fees, they are all wrapped into the base price

I concur with this ^^^^^^^. Just re-enrolled in YTTV and have ZERO complaint or regret.

I might just have to look into YTTV. I don't care for myself, but if I can find a suitable substitute for SWMBO, I'd dump DTV so fast there'd be a thunderclap from the hole in the air where their antenna used to be...

I understand, from your post in the "Anyone Using Starlink" thread, you're kind of stuck with the thing that currently calls itself "AT&T," but I have to tell you that company is absolutely the worst TelCom provider I ever dealt with in my entire, extensive experience in I.T.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
AT&T worked properly for a long, long, time. Then, January 8, 1982, the consent decree broke the company apart and every experience with customer NO-service is now a dumpster wreck or train fire.

It wasn't the breakup that did AT&T in, directly. AT&T, the real AT&T, was still an excellent company. The RBOCs (Region Bell Operating Companies, aka: "Baby Bells"), initially seven of them, became a different story.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
I was an AT&T customer for many years.

So was my employer. And they did a right good job.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
The new thing that calls itself AT&T sucks donkey balls, I no longer use them for anything.

The thing that now calls itself "AT&T" isn't really AT&T at all. In 2005 SBC (initially one of the seven RBOCs - Southwestern Bell Corporation) acquired AT&T and took the name for itself.

But "a rose by any other name."

By the time SBC acquired AT&T it had already absorbed Ameritech , PacTel, and a couple others RBOCs. A couple years after acquiring AT&T, it acquired BellSouth. Before acquiring AT&T it bought out BellSouth's share of Cingular (the wireless carrier which had been a joint endeavor), bought AT&T's failed wireless endeavor from them, and was granted license from AT&T to re-brand Cingular to "AT&T Wireless." The writing was on the wall.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I might just have to look into YTTV. I don't care for myself, but if I can find a suitable substitute for SWMBO, I'd dump DTV so fast there'd be a thunderclap from the hole in the air where their antenna used to be...

Being on DSL, you might find the bandwidth a mite constraining for YTTV.

Looks like your DSL provider must be Consolidated Communications (which acquired Fairpoint, which purchased the Verizon's old copper plant)?

You could always do what this man did: This Man Built His Own ISP. Now He’s Getting $2.6M to Expand It

quote:

posted January 04, 2024 01:22 PM Hide Post

Being on DSL, you might find the bandwidth a mite constraining for YTTV.

Right, hence the questions about Starlink. No way DSL will support both YTTV and my Netflix/Prime streaming.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

posted January 04, 2024 01:22 PM Hide Post

Being on DSL, you might find the bandwidth a mite constraining for YTTV.

Right, hence the questions about Starlink. No way DSL will support both YTTV and my Netflix/Prime streaming.

And, with Starlink, plus all that, you'd end up with a pretty hefty bill:

• Starlink: $90-$120/mo.
  
• YTTV: $74/mo.
  
• NetFlix: $15/mo.
  
• Prime: $12/mo. (with adverts come February)

$190-$220/mo., or up to $2,650/yr.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
And, with Starlink, plus all that, you'd end up with a pretty hefty bill:

• Starlink: $90-$120/mo.
  
• YTTV: $74/mo.
  
• NetFlix: $15/mo.
  
• Prime: $12/mo. (with adverts come February)

$190-$220/mo., or up to $2,650/yr.

Sigh...Some days, I miss 3 channels and B&W TV...

The fine folks at Spectrum would incrementally increase my bill by a couple of bucks a month, hoping I would not catch it. When I did, I would call and cancel one of their "programming packages".
In order to offset the thievery. I finally just have basic cable for 24 bucks a month. Any more price increases and I will cancel that.
Legalized theft!

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

posted January 04, 2024 01:22 PM Hide Post

Being on DSL, you might find the bandwidth a mite constraining for YTTV.

Right, hence the questions about Starlink. No way DSL will support both YTTV and my Netflix/Prime streaming.

Any chance Fidium Fiber will be rolling out in 'East Overshoe' anytime soon?

ETA - Just checked and it appears that Hancock, ME is on the list (either available or planned, not sure), but that's a ways down the road from you I believe.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Sigh...Some days, I miss 3 channels and B&W TV...

You and me, both, Paul.

The only things we watch OTA, now, is the local nightly "news" and my wife watches some stuff on the local PBS affiliate.

Even as recently as six years ago there were something like six or so programs we watched on OTA TV, in addition to the nightly local and network news. That was the reason, when the two-channel OTA DVR we had looked like it was EOL'ing, I spent a bunch of time and money on a much more sophisticated, networked, four-channel OTA tuner and DVR.

If I'd known then what I know now I probably wouldn't have bothered, because it all goes mostly unused. Unused to the point that, if they ever actually do EOL the ATSC 1.0 digital standard and replace it with ATSC 3, I may well simply not bother with changing things out.

There simply isn't very much of interest to us on broadcast TV anymore.

As for streaming: We refuse to end up paying massive subscription TV prices for TV. We never had cable or satellite TV for that reason. We're now back down to one major streaming service again, NetFlix, plus PBS Passport, BritBox, and OAN. So about $25-$30/mo.