u/TheMainTony

Mom and dad are paying $175 a month for Dish. Like all the basics but no premium channels + a main thing and two hoppers or joeys or whatever they're called. (main tv + 2 spare rooms)

After several failed discussions with CS and Retention, I had them convinced to cancel Dish and go with YouTube TV for $65-85 a month.

Then they decided to look into Starlink for the lake house. They say that there's a combo deal and they want to keep Dish to get the Starlink deal/combo.

Best as I can tell, Starlink on its own is $55+ a month.

IS there a combo deal? I've googled and found a couple, but in all of them it's from Dish authorized resellers and the Starlink is always $55+ or whatever. If that's the case, they're still saving money "my" way.

Any info is appreciated.

Comcast was charging me $157 for one line of cellular and 1GB internet.
I called and called. I chatted. I spoke with the retention team three times. If we could lower the bill, I might've stayed.

T-Mobile cellular: $45
T-Mobile internet: $40

I'm in a pretty saturated area for signal and pick up 500MB even in the daytime. A month into the cellular and two weeks into the internet and so far so good.

That said....I still owe on my Comcast Pixel. I'd be happy to pay it off. When I log in to "make a payment" I'm told I don't have mobile service and it won't let me make a payment or go further.
So I guess they can keep taking monthly auto-pay. I bill-paid them a check today from my credit union, to see if that did anything.

Whatever.

https://preview.redd.it/j0cgu11yfjoh1.png?width=613&format=png&auto=webp&s=f57121fb3aa8bcb1dcd2f09b2404e972574222c1

https://preview.redd.it/5ww2h8lufjoh1.png?width=375&format=png&auto=webp&s=38b3eb9634abbbfb69639e62d91beb6bc0697036

ETA: Thank You! for the enthusiastic and varied advice. I think we're going to trial YouTube. It's only $60 for the first three months.

I asked a while ago and it was suggested that I "leave them alone" and I agreed. Now several months later, they're coming to me, wanting to switch.

They're paying $175 a month for Dish. They obv want to pay less and Dish has shown no love.

Important Items: Locals, Old-Timey Western channel, Game Shows, Football and maybe some NASCAR (yee haw!).

ETA: They have Prime for shopping, so could parlay that into some "free" viewing.

I'm leaning toward YouTubeTV but I come before you looking for your thoughts and ideas.

Hulu Live? Sling? Philo? (...that's all the names I have...)

So I sent my 2013 off to have the battery 'reconditioned' and 'balanced' and it came back with a better battery but now I have a check-engine light for the evap. Grr.

Is that pricey to have done?

Both Shows:

As someone formerly in production, I find myself slightly annoyed by the excessive drone shots. It's just lazy photography.

Anyone else? Just me? 🤣

I've had my CT for eleven years so I'm a little out of practice in driving a 'regular' car.

I'm waiting for my appointment have my hybrid battery serviced and don't want to drive the CT even though I've reset the error. (I may drive it to the appointment)

I've borrowed a friend's spare Highlander (2021, I think) for my daily commute.
$105 to fill it!
*my car used to cost $18 to fill and has never cost more than $40! (California prices)
I'm struggling to keep the econo-meter (MPG) above 16. SIXTEEN!
*my car averages 35-38 for my weird 13-mile commute that goes through exurban & suburban & urban streets.

I will never again question the wisdom of owning a 0-60 in 10 secs car!!

There's a place locally that sells "rebuilt, matched, and balanced for long service life" modules at "rebuilt packs begin at $270-$1600 with core exchange" If that's $270 a module, that seems steep.

Or I can ebay the one describe by the photo for $849, free ship.

It's early here, nothing's open yet. Of course I'm going to contact and make calls but I'm looking for advice on which road to go down....

I'm working today and will get into the Carista and Dr Prius of it all tomorrow....

https://preview.redd.it/iyj6z7kxisgh1.png?width=1204&format=png&auto=webp&s=065c4ce5054fdf9d5038aebc6aba391f7146f313

Mom and dad are 75 each and .....well, you know.

They're paying $175 a month for Dish Network.
I brought it up that Hulu+Live is $90 a month, DirecTV is $60-some, YouTubeTV is $80-some....

I might be getting through to them, but the question will come up: is there any easy way to get the local channels? Yes, I know the antenna route....but I don't to add unnecessarily to their learning if I don't have to. What happens on the locals anyway? Local news? Maybe sports? Certainly not mom's 60-year old John Wayne movies!

I have been a cordcutter a long time, but I do it my way and (I'm told) wrong. But I like it.
I started with a Tablo and an antenna. Today, I've got Paramount, Disney, HBO, Showtime, Hulu, Peacock, Starz, and maybe one or two others...all ad-free. When I want news, I pull up NBC Bay Area. It's only 100 miles away. Close enough.

I just want to make it as easy as possible for these people.
All the TVs in their house are RokuTV and there are several Onn Pro Google boxes (sometimes I housesit and I want my TV my way LOL)

I absolutely do not want to go the shady EyePeeTV route.

1st, I get it. No one really cares. I'm just venting and sharing my experience.

When I signed up for Mobile eight or nine years ago, I left $30 Visible for a company with a $35 plan that did 'free' phones, something Visible doesn't do. Present day: I'm paying $72 and the 'free' phone (after 24 credits) is now $29 a month and somehow my bill is $72. #Done

T-Mo had a deal: better-than-free phone (after 24 credits), $799 trade on (on a $699 Pixel?) and a $400 contract-breaker to pay off the $250 owed on my Comcast Pixel. And a $45 55 & Older plan (hey! just barely!)

All done, after the credits are applied, the bill should be between $38 & $42 for the first two years.

We'll see. If it works out, I'll bundle their internet and get out of the Comcast game completely.

Thank you for coming to my TED Vent.

ETA: Oh! One of the best bits!! When I messaged with Suneetha at Comcast Central & told her I needed to lower my bill or I was leaving, her only point was, "You still owe $250 on your phone commitment and that would need to be paid. Are you sure you can afford that?" #ByeSuneetha

Are they dead or not?

I start Blood this week but doubt it'll be resolved there.

Spoilers didn't bother me, so let loose with the info!

Why is expected of the customer to subsidize the poor pay offered by the establishment?

"If you can't afford to tip, you can't afford to eat out!"
-I can afford to tip but, at these prices, your boss can afford to pay you a decent wage.
-You chose a job in an industry that's had the low pay+tipping scheme going to 90+ years with no sign of changing.

I'm telling you, if the customers rose up, the industry would have to change.
The discussion needs to be between the staff and the management, not between the customer and anyone. Including and villainizing the customer is a diversion. The employer is the villain and the employee allows themself to be complicit.

Gun to your head & you're pulling up your last watch.

What's your single favorite episode?

While I love the four Live eps and look forward to them coming through the rotation, I think I'd have to say it's Believe in the Stars.

"I'ma call you back. I's snitting next to Borpo!"

Just here to see if anyone who has left Mobile is still hanging around the sub. Maybe you still have cable or internet.

I'm leaving Mobile. 100% for sure. When I started with them, it was $35 a month. Now I pay $72. As soon as I pay off my Pixel. You know the one that was supposed to be $0 & has suddenly become $29 a month. Whatever. So I'm making bigger payments on it 2x a month.

Here's the Q: Who did you go to after Comcast?
I'm considering Fi because it's T-Mo and I really want to try Nothing phone....which works best on T-mo.
Or I just keep the Pixel and go to Visible, which is Verizon (like Comcast)

Just discussion.....

I'm ready. The 3 is in my cart and I want to pull the trigger.

1. Then I read a review that says that Google Wallet/Pay is buggy on NothingOS. Has that been fixed?
2. Then I read that there's no mag charging....that's ok, though. A mag case will fix that, yeah?
3. I'm on Comcast/Xfinity, which is a Verizon MVNO and I read this: "...If used, the device must be manually added to Verizon’s IMEI database via customer support before activation."

I can't activate until I check the IMEI but I don't have the IMEI until I order the phone.

Has anyone traversed the Nothing return policy?

Windows 11 Pro
Disk Management + Aeomi Partition Assistant
I have a couple of PNY 128 USB Flash disks that I've used for other things (Linux installs maybe) and can now no longer be read by Windows. It sees the USB device but throws this error when I try to format or repartition after reading fails

https://preview.redd.it/tojpq5c9ghdh1.png?width=746&format=png&auto=webp&s=57b1fc5c557250457c71d8948b9ee5d47d388da2

Aeomi will tell me the specs, serial number, the 128 of it all. Aeomi will delete the partition, create a new one, format it, but Windows still won't see a drive. Always the image above. It actually happens all the time but I was able to fix it once. But just once and I don't remember how I did it. I've deleted, created, formatted, set active. Nothing.

Usually I toss in the towel and just warranty them, but I think that's up. I'm confident these are good drives because they're recently fresh from the package, but otherwise I'm at a loss.

Thoughts?

https://preview.redd.it/4w9t3arvghdh1.png?width=349&format=png&auto=webp&s=325cb4d176b64d16ad34e5e641b078ffb32bf2a5

I'm six years late to that party but I'm catching up quickly. Currently on the Sex ep.
I love the banter and that the boys don't shy away from certain ...erm... proclivities.

I sometimes feel like they miss the true meaning of this or that, but they were eleven when the show started and I was 22 so I'll allow it. I watched when it was on TV, I bought the VHS, bought the DVDs, bought the silver quilted thing (Absolutely Everything?), bought the streaming versions of everything, was at the opening night of the film and even have collected everything +Inside Out from the Swashbuckler's Estuary.

"Hey Google, play 70's disco!"
"Hey Google, play 80's one-hit wonders!"

75% of what I get are covers, and bad ones at that. And it's an increasing phenomenon.
Thumbs-Down is gone on the Nest/Home.

I know I can get hyper specific (play Donna Summer) and it would probably work.

Do you have any tips and/or tricks?