Cutting The Cord on Cable/Satellite TV Service?

PortlandSoxFan

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Yeah, I love YTTV...but their price jump policy sucks. I was early (fall 2017 I believe) and grandfathered in for my first year or so...then BAM it went up $15. Now, another $15. Count me in on the exploring alternatives.

EDIT: I didn't get any such email, nor a popup on the webpage when I logged in (but the new channels were there). My billing date is 7/2, wonder if it will come after one last charge at the old rate.
 
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Time to Mo Vaughn

RIP Dernell
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Mar 24, 2008
7,204
Yeah, I love YTTV...but their price jump policy sucks. I was early (fall 2017 I believe) and grandfathered in for my first year or so...then BAM it went up $15. Now, another $15. Count me in on the exploring alternatives.

EDIT: I didn't get any such email, nor a popup on the webpage when I logged in (but the new channels were there). My billing date is 7/2, wonder if it will come after one last charge at the old rate.
On or after your 7/30 bill, so you'll have one more month at the lower price.

It's a shame that cord cutting is getting back to just looking like cable again.
 

PortlandSoxFan

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I don't mind paying if I'm going to get the content I want. But now I'm paying $115/month for YTTV, Hulu no ads, Netflix, Disney+ and HBOMax. Then another $75 for my cable internet. But every service has some kind of exclusive content I enjoy having access to. At least in the old days of cable it was all in one place!
 

The Talented Allen Ripley

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It's a shame that cord cutting is getting back to just looking like cable again.
The saving grace of internet-based TV is the ease of access and lack of contracts. I originally was a PS Vue subscriber, but then they dropped NESN, and within a day I was a YTTV subscriber. No contract to wiggle out of, no appointment to make for a cable guy to show up and install shit, no visit to a storefront to pick up/drop off equipment. That alone is worth cordcutting for. The price for me is still more attractive than cable, too, although that gap is closing rapidly.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Apr 22, 2016
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The saving grace of internet-based TV is the ease of access and lack of contracts. I originally was a PS Vue subscriber, but then they dropped NESN, and within a day I was a YTTV subscriber. No contract to wiggle out of, no appointment to make for a cable guy to show up and install shit, no visit to a storefront to pick up/drop off equipment. That alone is worth cordcutting for. The price for me is still more attractive than cable, too, although that gap is closing rapidly.
Same. I also like that YouTube allows you to watch on their app anywhere anytime any channel. Back when I had cable my company (Spectrum) pretended they offered a similar service but when you used their app something like 80% of the channels were blacked out if you weren't on your home WiFi. Maybe that has changed now, not sure.

And, yeah, even with those advantages YTTV has gone from "obvious no brainer" for me to "ehhh I guess I'll keep it for now" status. But if I was going to switch to an alternative it would very likely be a different streaming service - having now seen the other side, I really can't imagine going back to the days of all the hoops cable makes you jump through that TAMR notes.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Apr 22, 2016
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New York City
Pretty sad how the fragmented streaming service industry is making cable a reasonably attractive option once again.
The really sad thing is this isn't even true, since so many streaming services now have exclusive content. So while it's theoretically possible that one day cable might again be a decent alternative to, say, YouTube TV, it's never going to be a decent alternative to HBOMax, Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, etc. because cable won't get you all the content exclusive to those services (although in some cases they may offer package deals, slightly better rates, limited-time offers, etc.).
 

Seels

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Jul 20, 2005
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NH
Just dumped yttv. From $40 to $50 to $65 over the course of a year? No thanks.

Basically a 60% price jump from like a year ago. I don't even know what the $10 jump was for...whatever, I'll just stream the playoffs when they come around.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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Sigh. I'm rural enough where I can't get cable without paying exorbitant fees to run the lines to my property. I loved that PSVue and YouTube TV gave me access to NESN cheaply. But yeah, I was on the YouTube TV bandwagon when it was $35/mo. $65 is a tough pill to swallow.... I'll probably cancel.
 

tims4wins

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Jul 15, 2005
37,059
Hingham, MA
Without sports and with the summer TV schedule I cancelled any service for the time being. When some of the network TV shows start up again I may resubscribe but we’ll see. I’m betting against an NFL season this fall.
 

The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa

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The really sad thing is this isn't even true, since so many streaming services now have exclusive content. So while it's theoretically possible that one day cable might again be a decent alternative to, say, YouTube TV, it's never going to be a decent alternative to HBOMax, Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, etc. because cable won't get you all the content exclusive to those services (although in some cases they may offer package deals, slightly better rates, limited-time offers, etc.).
But it's always going to be fraught with tradeoffs, unless you literally subcribe to every possible service. I think the strategy would be to rotate the streaming services based on the content you want being released. If you subscribe to Hulu just because of the Handmaid's Tale, there is no point to maintaining an active subscription in between seasons. My point was that dropping cable was a no brainer before. Now it's not so simple, especially if you can get a new customer package deal on cable locked in for 1-2 years (which would also in some cases yield a complimentary subscription to Netflix and HBO Max).
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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But it's always going to be fraught with tradeoffs, unless you literally subcribe to every possible service. I think the strategy would be to rotate the streaming services based on the content you want being released. If you subscribe to Hulu just because of the Handmaid's Tale, there is no point to maintaining an active subscription in between seasons. My point was that dropping cable was a no brainer before. Now it's not so simple, especially if you can get a new customer package deal on cable locked in for 1-2 years (which would also in some cases yield a complimentary subscription to Netflix and HBO Max).
True, but with Hulu specifically their annual Black Friday deal ($1.99/mo for 12 months for Hulu with ads) is probably the best deal in TV. The only catch: an individual isn’t eligible in consecutive years, so the ‘ette and I rotate accounts.
 

johnmd20

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I have Youtube TV as a backup(it's good for a TV wall) and because I use it in my office. So I'm sanguine about the cost out of the gate and I'll confess I saw that price increase and it was a little bit shocking.

Funny, I'm watching CNBC right now and that price increase just flashed across the news feed at the bottom. Great timing.

It is only a matter of time until streaming costs as much, or more, as cable. The convenience is better than ever, but the costs are also significantly higher than they were even 5 years ago and it's obviously a significantly more amount than 20 years ago. But I do like my TVs.
 

Marceline

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The main reason I have YouTube TV is for live sports, so it's near useless to me at the moment. The price increase just made me realize I should have canceled 2 months ago.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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Thank you, Peacock!
No cc needed, no charge (for most, not all), no bs. Can catch up on Suits and other stuff.
 

HomeBrew1901

Has Season 1 of "Manimal" on Blu Ray
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Like PSF, I'm looking to jump from YTTV due to that price hike when the only reason I have it is really for the local channels. I haven't found a good antenna that is worth the money to get them without streaming... so what are all you cool cats and kitten's using these days?
 

Flunky

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So just to share my experiences with Optimum for people living in lower Ffld county:

I took my cable boxes to the Optimum store in Norwalk and discussed switching to internet only and what the cost would be. On their website new customers pay ~$45 a month for the 300 tier service and ~$75 for the 500. They wanted to charge me ~$115 for the 300 level and ~$125 for the 500. I am going to attempt to engage retention to see if I can leverage a $120 lower cost in my cable bill if I switch (we pay about $230 right now all in for 300 level service and basically all channels except The Movie Channel channels). If they can give me everything I have now for $155 per month I probably wouldn't switch to Hulu Live. It'd probably be worth it to keep the cable subscription for the log on to the various standalone apps out there instead.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

Homeland Security
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Dec 4, 2005
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Portsmouth, NH
So just to share my experiences with Optimum for people living in lower Ffld county:

I took my cable boxes to the Optimum store in Norwalk and discussed switching to internet only and what the cost would be. On their website new customers pay ~$45 a month for the 300 tier service and ~$75 for the 500. They wanted to charge me ~$115 for the 300 level and ~$125 for the 500. I am going to attempt to engage retention to see if I can leverage a $120 lower cost in my cable bill if I switch (we pay about $230 right now all in for 300 level service and basically all channels except The Movie Channel channels). If they can give me everything I have now for $155 per month I probably wouldn't switch to Hulu Live. It'd probably be worth it to keep the cable subscription for the log on to the various standalone apps out there instead.
Good luck. Granted I was dealing with Comcast, but I tried and tried to lower my bill, dropping packages, removing services like a land line and everything I tried resulted in a *higher* bill so I was stuck. We debated doing the "switch it to her name for new subscriber deals" but realized we didn't watch more than a handful of normal cable channels and mostly everything else is via streaming. I normally would cancel because I basically only kept ATT TV Now for live sports (which aren't a thing anymore) but I'm grandfathered in and have the $80 Max plan at $50 and HBO they only whack me for $10 on top. I don't want to lose that. As it is, we're probably going to change internet suppliers, as I'm kind of tired for paying $80 or whatever for it, but since we're now much more reliant on it, I'm hesitant to fuck it up. I'd probably end up divorced if my saving $20/month for us led to her having issues working from home, so it is what it is.
 

Flunky

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Unfortunately we have but one real provider option. We can get Frontier but it’s VDSL and I am not sure how far we are from the VRAD. My previous experience with them vis a vis connection stability was quite poor and that was when we lived in a much more urban area. For all their price shenanigans Optimum/Alice is very reliable and fast.

I think we might just take the current subscriber cost for internet only, reduce the bill a little and be content that they don’t have their boxes in our house.

We’re planning on using Hulu Live with a bunch of extras like unlimited streams and no commercials, we watch a ton of Hulu programming
 

jtn46

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Oct 10, 2004
9,757
Norwalk, CT
So just to share my experiences with Optimum for people living in lower Ffld county:

I took my cable boxes to the Optimum store in Norwalk and discussed switching to internet only and what the cost would be. On their website new customers pay ~$45 a month for the 300 tier service and ~$75 for the 500. They wanted to charge me ~$115 for the 300 level and ~$125 for the 500. I am going to attempt to engage retention to see if I can leverage a $120 lower cost in my cable bill if I switch (we pay about $230 right now all in for 300 level service and basically all channels except The Movie Channel channels). If they can give me everything I have now for $155 per month I probably wouldn't switch to Hulu Live. It'd probably be worth it to keep the cable subscription for the log on to the various standalone apps out there instead.
I lowered mine about $35 with better internet by going to the Altice box. Wouldn’t give the Altice box a good review, some quirks with net, it goes to sleep and a reboot (which it does on its own at least once a week) takes a good 10 minutes to restore everything.
 

Couperin47

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The major cable companies have all decided to ride their current customer base to the hilt while all other options raise their rates til the differences are minimal unless you are the kind of consumer willing to switch constantly, chase limited promotions and otherwise spend considerable time (and the effort of dealing with a mess of slow inconsistent interfaces) to try and save. They all know exactly what options you have available and if, like a lot of us, you have no decent alternate broadband option, they will not budge on charging whatever the market can bear. Monopoly pricing is a great American tradition.
 

tonyandpals

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Mar 18, 2004
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Just to add to the recent comments with my recent experience. We have at least three broadband+ options in my town. Comcast, Fios and RCN. I had been with RCN for nearly 20 years. I called about a year ago to see what they could do for me to reduce my pricing. I was able to get on some sort of fast plan that ended up being less, as there was a promo for the next year. I called back recently and told them I was cutting the cord and wanted to explore their internet only options. They gave me pricing that didn't match what I saw on the web. Turns out the web pricing was for new customers. I asked for that price and they wouldn't budge. They said I'd have to leave for at least three months to get that price. So I told them okay, probably leaving then. I did my shopping and decided on Fios for internet only. Made the appointment with the tech and reached out to RCN online chat to cancel services. They asked what could they do to keep me and I was like WTF. I told you I was leaving, so nothing at this point. Went ahead and cancelled. Get a call a few days later, same time as the verizon tech was installing, asking what they could do to retain me. Would they give me the new customer price now? Yes they would. I said good, I'm sticking with Fios though, thanks.

So we have fios now and I'm happy with it.
 

The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa

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Sep 9, 2006
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Just to add to the recent comments with my recent experience. We have at least three broadband+ options in my town. Comcast, Fios and RCN. I had been with RCN for nearly 20 years. I called about a year ago to see what they could do for me to reduce my pricing. I was able to get on some sort of fast plan that ended up being less, as there was a promo for the next year. I called back recently and told them I was cutting the cord and wanted to explore their internet only options. They gave me pricing that didn't match what I saw on the web. Turns out the web pricing was for new customers. I asked for that price and they wouldn't budge. They said I'd have to leave for at least three months to get that price. So I told them okay, probably leaving then. I did my shopping and decided on Fios for internet only. Made the appointment with the tech and reached out to RCN online chat to cancel services. They asked what could they do to keep me and I was like WTF. I told you I was leaving, so nothing at this point. Went ahead and cancelled. Get a call a few days later, same time as the verizon tech was installing, asking what they could do to retain me. Would they give me the new customer price now? Yes they would. I said good, I'm sticking with Fios though, thanks.

So we have fios now and I'm happy with it.
Anecdotally, that seems to be how most of the companies now handle the negotiation of a customer threatening to leave. You basically have to schedule a cancellation and disconnect day. Then in the meantime they will come to you offering the promotion they had just denied you a few days earlier. One exception to this was and remains Charter/Spectrum. They will almost never, ever budge. Their take is, if you want to disconnect, so be it.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

Homeland Security
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Dec 4, 2005
19,615
Portsmouth, NH
Unfortunately we have but one real provider option. We can get Frontier but it’s VDSL and I am not sure how far we are from the VRAD. My previous experience with them vis a vis connection stability was quite poor and that was when we lived in a much more urban area. For all their price shenanigans Optimum/Alice is very reliable and fast.

I think we might just take the current subscriber cost for internet only, reduce the bill a little and be content that they don’t have their boxes in our house.

We’re planning on using Hulu Live with a bunch of extras like unlimited streams and no commercials, we watch a ton of Hulu programming
We've got two - Xfinity and Consolidated (?) - but it's literally that now she's working 100% from home so short of taking a day off, even if I lined it up perfectly, yeah we're dependent on it. I could get by, she couldn't. It's not worth the hassle to swap to save $20 as much as it bugs the shit out of me.
 

cornwalls@6

Less observant than others
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Apr 23, 2010
6,248
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So, I recently purchased a fire stick, with the intention of eventually cutting the cord from Comcast form good. For now, I'm using it with a Vizio hdtv, that I pull out onto my patio to watch the sox, etc. I did the full set-up, have subscribed to YoutubeTV, etc. The fire stick remote now controls everything, power, volume, etc. The first few times I used it everything was good. Lately, the remote will not turn the tv on without multiple attempts. Just sits there dead, and dark. Then after several attempts, minutes, and much profanity, it will finally turn the tv on, and I'm off and running. Has anyone else ever encountered this? If so, is there any easy fix?
 

edoug

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Jul 15, 2005
6,007
So, I recently purchased a fire stick, with the intention of eventually cutting the cord from Comcast form good. For now, I'm using it with a Vizio hdtv, that I pull out onto my patio to watch the sox, etc. I did the full set-up, have subscribed to YoutubeTV, etc. The fire stick remote now controls everything, power, volume, etc. The first few times I used it everything was good. Lately, the remote will not turn the tv on without multiple attempts. Just sits there dead, and dark. Then after several attempts, minutes, and much profanity, it will finally turn the tv on, and I'm off and running. Has anyone else ever encountered this? If so, is there any easy fix?
I have to keep my original tv remote around because my firestick has changed the source on my tv a few times. Changing it from HDMI 1 to HDMI 2.
 

cornwalls@6

Less observant than others
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Apr 23, 2010
6,248
from the wilds of western ma
I have to keep my original tv remote around because my firestick has changed the source on my tv a few times. Changing it from HDMI 1 to HDMI 2.
I ran into the problem of not even being able to use the TV remote, because I had set up the first stick to override that. Didn't seem to be an issue with any of the connections.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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Is there a free way to stream FOX for a day or two?

Stuck somewhere with DISH (Fox contract dispute apparently)
 

Marceline

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Canton, MA
I canceled YouTube TV due to the price increase and no live sports.

Now live sports are back and I found out that all the viable TV streaming options are basically the same price.

Hulu, $65 if you want functional dvr.
Fubo is now $65 also.

Once NBA playoffs start I will probably be reactivating my YouTube TV account.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

RIP Dernell
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Mar 24, 2008
7,204
I canceled YouTube TV due to the price increase and no live sports.

Now live sports are back and I found out that all the viable TV streaming options are basically the same price.

Hulu, $65 if you want functional dvr.
Fubo is now $65 also.

Once NBA playoffs start I will probably be reactivating my YouTube TV account.
Not sure if you've considered it, but there's also this new service called Cable that's available in many regions.
 

MuzzyField

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Is there a free way to stream FOX for a day or two?

Stuck somewhere with DISH (Fox contract dispute apparently)
I'm guessing it's a Cox Media Group station. Orlando and Jacksonville are among the markets dealing with this via Dish.

If you're close enough to the transmitter hook up an antenna and scan for channels.

I use the "Fox Sports" app on my Apple devices ("Fox Sports Go" is the portal for the regional sports nets Disney ended up with and had to sell... Sinclair now owns them) to watch games on the move. You'll need credentials from a non-Dish subscriber to access, but it's a short-term fix if you have credential access and you don't have to subscribe to anything.
 

Marceline

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Not sure if you've considered it, but there's also this new service called Cable that's available in many regions.
I have and it was the same to slightly more as going with YouTube, Hulu or Fubo. I prefer the functionality of YouTube TV so I think it's probably the best option given everything costs the same now.
 

SumnerH

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Dope
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Jul 18, 2005
31,893
Alexandria, VA
Are you in a market covered by locast? It's a not-for-profit broadcast TV streaming servce.
Also in Chrome you can set your location. Shift-Ctrl-J to open the developer console, go to the ⁝ menu, “Run Command”, Show Sensors.

Then in the Sensors drawer, select a location in the Geolocation dropdown. San Francisco is there by default, or add Boston at 42.3438/-71.0798 Latitude/Longitude. Once you've set a location, then go to locast.org.

You'll have to do re-select the location when you visit, but it lets you view the local networks for whatever location you pick.
 

Saints Rest

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Is there any way to use a Google Nest Wifi Mesh network in conjunction with an Altice One box? Some Googling seems to suggest that the Mesh system won't work unless you tell Altice One to disable their inherent Wifi network or set it to bridge mode. But Optimum isn't providing any direction in this.

Question 1: Do I indeed have to disable or bridge the Atice Wifi?
Question 2: If so, how do I do this?
 

Matty005

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Aug 28, 2005
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Arlington, MA
Also in Chrome you can set your location. Shift-Ctrl-J to open the developer console, go to the ⁝ menu, “Run Command”, Show Sensors.

Then in the Sensors drawer, select a location in the Geolocation dropdown. San Francisco is there by default, or add Boston at 42.3438/-71.0798 Latitude/Longitude. Once you've set a location, then go to locast.org.

You'll have to do re-select the location when you visit, but it lets you view the local networks for whatever location you pick.
Would this work to watch Patriots games when they’re on CBS or FOX?
 

Vinho Tinto

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Dec 9, 2003
7,047
Auburn, MA
Would this work to watch Patriots games when they’re on CBS or FOX?
If the account thinks you are in the home market, you should get the games. Last summer, I took my time to update my account after relocating to Massachusetts. I was getting my old locals until I did.
 

edoug

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Jul 15, 2005
6,007
Also in Chrome you can set your location. Shift-Ctrl-J to open the developer console, go to the ⁝ menu, “Run Command”, Show Sensors.

Then in the Sensors drawer, select a location in the Geolocation dropdown. San Francisco is there by default, or add Boston at 42.3438/-71.0798 Latitude/Longitude. Once you've set a location, then go to locast.org.

You'll have to do re-select the location when you visit, but it lets you view the local networks for whatever location you pick.
Good reason to get a Chromecast.
 

Zedia

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Jul 17, 2005
6,988
Pasadena, CA
Also in Chrome you can set your location. Shift-Ctrl-J to open the developer console, go to the ⁝ menu, “Run Command”, Show Sensors.

Then in the Sensors drawer, select a location in the Geolocation dropdown. San Francisco is there by default, or add Boston at 42.3438/-71.0798 Latitude/Longitude. Once you've set a location, then go to locast.org.

You'll have to do re-select the location when you visit, but it lets you view the local networks for whatever location you pick.
Would you know how to do this on a Mac? And if you do, can you explain it like I’m five?

edit - nevemind, it’s Cmd-Opt-I on Mac.
 
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Chainsaw318

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Nov 6, 2006
1,902
Burned . . . Blacklisted
I think I’m out of contract now with Comcast, on one of their ridiculous TV/internet/phone packages.

my only other vendor option in my building is RCN, and it looks like the are advertising their fastest internet service (up to 940) with $100 gift card and a free month. Package is $50. I play $120ish now.

I may have to update my modem and router, but that’s not a big deal and I can find a way to stream the little live tv I watch.

What am I missing that will screw me here?