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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.

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Do any of your funds own Dish ?

After talking to five or six reps , the only thing that has been accomplished is : They will phone me back to determine whether we committed to have a possible price increase after putting Dish on hold while snow-birding . They do this by listening to tape when putting dish on vacation mode. We did receive notice via mail of $5 increase or the option to opt out of contract. $5 isn't going to break the bank, but going from $120 to $156 is more than I can stomach ! My reply to last rep was , " send the boxes if price isn't restated to $121 & I'll find someone to do the buy out".
At this time , if someone has a good TV - Internet package please reply.

Thank you, Derf

Comments

  • edited March 2022
    Just got a big new tv as a gift. Roku connection ready-to-go, on the back of the thing. This is all Greek to me. I'm a Luddite. The TV uses our internet connection. Amazing choices! Too much to even digest, and we are not even using any premium channels or features which would involve any add-on costs. Friends shared their Netflix password, so we have that, too--- although after searching quite a bit through their offerings, it seems to me that most of it is junk.

    News, movies, old tv series, concert films. Documentaries. You name it. TV channels I never heard of, never knew existed. I suppose you could do the same, eh? Our internet happens to be with T-Mobile. No trouble at all with their internet service. On the other hand, customer service regarding my phone is a pile of mongoose feces. Nice, polite, upbeat... and useless. Anyhow, we're getting all these channels in our house even WITHOUT any cable or dish hook-up. I hope this is useful to you. Wife has a smart phone with T-Mobile. $50/month. My senior flip-phone is $20/month. Internet is $50. So, all of it adds up to $120/month. No need for a landline phone. Good luck, @Derf.
  • edited March 2022
    @Crash ; Thanks for reply. TV + internet close to $2 Bills !!!! Her phone & mine paid by others. I did gather some info on Roku & others but didn't follow through. Time to reconnect I guess. Forgot to ask, how many TVs can be on at the same time with different channels ?
    Thanks again, Derf
  • Derf said:

    @Crash ; Thanks for reply. TV + internet close to $2 Bills !!!! Her phone & mine paid by others. I did gather some info on Roku & others but didn't follow through. Time to reconnect I guess. Forgot to ask, how many TVs can be on at the same time with different channels ?
    Thanks again, Derf

    Hello, @Derf. How many TVs can be on at once, watching different channels? I'll find out, and get back to you here. We have guests coming in tomorrow, and THEY will know. :)
  • @Derf. I found this:
    "The Roku players can be connected to only one TV at a time. Roku players have only one connectivity port (HDMI/USB) to connect to a TV. If you watch one TV at a time then you can simply plug out the Roku player from TV and Plug it in in another TV. But two TVs cannot be connected to one Roku player at same time."
  • Thanks @Crash : I'm waiting to hear back from Dish. Appears they record every call so they can check on the conversations. I forgot to have them check on recent conversation with billing & was told I could get the price I thought was okay.

    Have a good weekend, Derf
  • Hi @Derf
    What is this conversation doing in "Fund Discussions"?
    Thank you.
    Catch
  • I was hoping to get more views. Are you the new sheriff ?
    How's the weather in MICHIGAN ?
    I figured I would hear from someone, but I see it didn't get flagged.
    Have a nice weekend, Derf
  • I'm holding a flag with a mouse button click, as I write:):):)

    Almost spring in parts of Michigan, but that is a lot of turf to cover.

    Michigan State just beat Wisconsin in B-ball in the conference tournament.........

    Good Evening to you.
  • @catch22 : You forgot to mention Coach Howard (MI) & his performance for Sportmanship of the year award. His second performance was ***** !!
    Actual I was using that post to gain some info & inform Dish customers to be VERY careful if they put their tv in vacation mode while in a promotional. We're currently in review.
    Good evening to you
  • edited March 2022
    @Derf. Brilliant idea. But if you really want more attention, TYPE YOUR TITLE IN ALL CAPS. That will get you some serious eyeballs! (old editors’ trick) :)

    I cut the cord with DirecTV back before AT&T sold the looser they owned. I’d say what I thought of them over the many years I dealt with them … but the board is too polite for what I’d say.

    Sling is a reasonably priced internet TV option. With sports add-ons it can get pricy. One of many good choices. Yes - there is a lot of free stuff. But haven’t tried much of that. PBS app is easy to download and free and informative viewing.

    I have the “Disney, ESPN, ESPN+, Hulu Live TV” Bundle. Approximately $70 monthly for the package and virtually every college BB game played can be viewed. (Tons of other sports too). Gets all our locals and works better in this remote area than an antenna does.

    If you like pro basketball, NBA League Pass is excellent. I subscribe thru Amazon at around $12 monthly. But available elsewhere similar price.

    To bring this thread back to Other Investing, TD Ameritrade has a 24 hour network covering markets and trading techniques. Sling includes it in their package. However, the TD Ameritrade App can be downloaded for free off the internet and you can than watch it on your TV completely free.

    PS - Another business channel, Bloomberg TV, will cost you. However, Bloomberg Radio has very similar (sometimes identical) content and is completely free. Simply download the Bloomberg radio app and start listening 24 hours a day on device of choice.

    Happy viewing!

  • Thanks @hank , much appreciated. Badgers got booted last night ! Thinking All American wasn't 100% so he will get some much needed rest along with the rest of the team before Big Dance starts.
  • ...So, what's next? Waiting for bracket selection? GO, ZAGS!
  • We live on Cape Cod where unless you can run your internet off your phone ( hard to do with movies etc) yo have one choice Comcast.

    The recently jacked up prices $30 a month just because they could. We have the basic package for $ 120 ( Little sports, no CNN) to essentially watch local broadcast TV NBC CBS etc, because the nearest station is 80 mile away in Boston.

    I am going to try Sling again for news but in the past when we recorded NBC news they dropped episodes. Rumor is internet only at Comcast costs $65, so we would have $60 to spend on other stuff and still come out ahead.

    Who says America has a competitive market?
  • edited March 2022
    “We live on Cape Cod where unless you can run your internet off your phone ( hard to do with movies etc) yo have one choice Comcast.”

    I’ve had Starlink for about 18 months and it’s terrific internet at $99 monthly plus a one-time $500 for the equipment. From there you can subscribe to any number of internet TV packages as low as $40 - and on up to the moon. Also some free content.

    BTW - Before getting Starlink I relied for internet on 4G from Visible (owned by Verizon) which had dropped their data caps. By running the 4G streaming feed first into a MacBook (than to a TV) I actually managed to stream movies off of 4G. Less than ideal, but did work reasonably well with the buffering. (Would not work for live TV)

    Just a thought …..
  • Appears, @hank, that Starlink might be available in SE MI in 2023, or so they say.
  • edited March 2022
    BenWP said:

    Appears, @hank, that Starlink might be available in SE MI in 2023, or so they say.


    @BenWP - Wow.I’d assumed they covered the entire U.S. by now. It was such a high priority with me I signed up / applied for the beta version in early 2020 and was fortunate to be included in the very early rollout in late 2020. I’m surprised it’s not more widespread by now. Suspect it’s more related to bandwidth capacity than geography - particularly in urban areas. Also, learned that the kits are in limited supply due to a silicone shortage - of all things.

    One may log on to their webpage and enter zip code. They’ll let you know if and when available.

    Found this. Appears quite recent: “Starlink is still in its early stages as a satellite provider and isn’t available everywhere yet. Even if there is service in your region, you might live in a place where it's oversubscribed for the number of satellites in orbit. If that's the case, you'll have to wait for additional Starlink launches to bring more bandwidth to your area.”
  • Cape Cod where unless you can run your internet off your phone ( hard to do with movies etc) yo have one choice Comcast.

    Verizon shows DSL speeds of around 3Mb in Cape Cod. I've managed to watch television on 1Mb DSL, so in theory you should have enough speed. But I agree, it's not something to use unless there are no alternatives. Xfinity/Comcast seems to have 300Mb (lowest speed) for $29.99 first year, $59.99 2nd year. Plus taxes that's likely the $65 you're hearing about.

    For that money, I'm getting a "free" landline with Verizon FiOS (not an option available to you) as well as internet.

    Consumer Reports just put up a page (for subscribers) describing various streaming services, including what they cost, and what they lack:
    https://www.consumerreports.org/streaming-video/guide-to-streaming-video-services-a4517732799/

    Excerpts of that piece can be found at the link below. It includes the writeups of DirecTV Stream, Fubo TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling, and YouTube TV. It omits other services covered in the full CR piece including Acorn, Amazon Prime, AMC+, AppleTV+, BritBox, CNN+, Criterion, Discovery+, Disney+, etc.
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/video-streaming-services-that-let-you-cut-cable-tv/ar-AAV05N6?ocid=msedgntp

    FWIW, I use Sling Blue. $35, streams to up to three devices simultaneously. As opposed to Orange, has more news, less sports, no Disney. It doesn't include CBS or ABC, but in my market it includes the local NBC and Fox affiliates. For the rest, if you're near local broadcast stations, it integrates with AirTV2, a device that will pick up local channels and stream it through your intranet to the Sling app. $49 promo. Once positioned for optimal reception, one doesn't have to worry about getting those rabbit ears near the TV to work well. Doesn't help if you can't pick up local channels, though.

    To tie this back to Dish, Sling is owned by Dish. And since DISH is in the S&P 500, there's a good chance that if you own a broad-based index fund, you own a piece of the company.
  • @sma3 : with the price increase were you given the chance to cancel service with no additional charge ?
    Beware of (proms) as with Dish if you put TV on vacation mode it goes back to the "standard" pricing !
    As for now, We'll keep it for a couple of months & then kick it to the curb, unless our old pricing is reinstated.

    Fool me once shame on you Fool me twice ......., Derf
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