follow-up: dumping zip and dumping rogers!
Thank you to everyone who participated in the recent "help me get rid of zip" discussion, both on wmtc and by email. And thanks to CNET, for this video! I started out asking about movies, but ended up with so much more. Goodbye, Rogers! Whoo-hoo!
So many friends and readers have told me they've cancelled cable TV service, but we weren't able to do that: we needed cable for baseball. And we also subscribed to MLBTV online. I hated the redundancy, but there was no other way to have baseball both at home and for Allan at work (where he watches three games each week). But thanks to you all, we've done it.
So here's what we have:
1. I've already cancelled Rogers cable and internet! I had already dumped Rogers for cell phone service, getting more for my money with Wind. So now I am Rogers-free.
2. Later this month, (at the time suggested by friendly, helpful customer service rep) I will order TekSavvy cable-modem internet service.
3. We will purchase a Roku, through which (we are told) we can stream MLBTV onto our TV, and which will eventually support Netflix Canada and other streaming services. If that doesn't work for some reason, we'll get a PlayStation3 for the same purpose.
4. We continue to subscribe to MLBTV, as we always have.
5. One-time expenses for Roku purchase, any necessary adaptors, and TekSavvy modem.
6. I'll subscribe to Netflix Canada when it's available on Roku, because for the low price, why not have the option.
7. I'm also subscribing to Cinemail, a low-budget version of Zip, with friendly service and a wide range of plans, so that I can continue to subscribe in the spring and summer at a lower level, then bump up to the higher level in the winter.
8. When I cancel Zip in April as always, I will not re-subscribe in the fall.
We gain:
1. No more paying for cable TV! Wow! An entire bill disappears!
2. No more paying extra for baseball on cable TV!
3. No more giving money to over-priced media giant!
4. We will pay slightly less for internet, and will lose the 95GB cap. The cap will now be 300GB (and if you go over, which is tough to do, it's only $0.50 per GB).
5. I can rent movies all year, because we're no longer paying for the baseball cable package, and because Cinemail has cheaper plans.
We lose:
1. Red Sox games when they play the Blue Jays, which are available on cable TV but subject to local blackouts on MLBTV. It's only a handful of games a year, plus Allan is blacked out at work anyway. We'll listen to them on the radio (which I really enjoy). No biggie.
2. I will have to watch Coronation Street online.
3. My half-hour of TV before bed, a lifetime habit of how I fall asleep. Not sure what will happen with that, but I know I'm not paying for cable TV just to watch re-runs of The Simpsons.
And that's it. Allan doesn't watch any TV. My TV watching is very minimal. And now it's over.
* * * *
Movie season may be a bit more challenging, a combination of Cinemail, the library, streaming Netflix, and borrowed DVDs. But I've had it with Zip.
We still have to hook up the streaming-to-TV thing, but we have two months to work that out, plus at the minimum, we can certainly watch on our netbooks.
Predictably, when I called Rogers to cancel, they offered me all kinds of promotions to try to get me to stay, including a deep discount on TV. That just makes me more pissed off and determined to leave. As you know, I hate haggling.
So many friends and readers have told me they've cancelled cable TV service, but we weren't able to do that: we needed cable for baseball. And we also subscribed to MLBTV online. I hated the redundancy, but there was no other way to have baseball both at home and for Allan at work (where he watches three games each week). But thanks to you all, we've done it.
So here's what we have:
1. I've already cancelled Rogers cable and internet! I had already dumped Rogers for cell phone service, getting more for my money with Wind. So now I am Rogers-free.
2. Later this month, (at the time suggested by friendly, helpful customer service rep) I will order TekSavvy cable-modem internet service.
3. We will purchase a Roku, through which (we are told) we can stream MLBTV onto our TV, and which will eventually support Netflix Canada and other streaming services. If that doesn't work for some reason, we'll get a PlayStation3 for the same purpose.
4. We continue to subscribe to MLBTV, as we always have.
5. One-time expenses for Roku purchase, any necessary adaptors, and TekSavvy modem.
6. I'll subscribe to Netflix Canada when it's available on Roku, because for the low price, why not have the option.
7. I'm also subscribing to Cinemail, a low-budget version of Zip, with friendly service and a wide range of plans, so that I can continue to subscribe in the spring and summer at a lower level, then bump up to the higher level in the winter.
8. When I cancel Zip in April as always, I will not re-subscribe in the fall.
We gain:
1. No more paying for cable TV! Wow! An entire bill disappears!
2. No more paying extra for baseball on cable TV!
3. No more giving money to over-priced media giant!
4. We will pay slightly less for internet, and will lose the 95GB cap. The cap will now be 300GB (and if you go over, which is tough to do, it's only $0.50 per GB).
5. I can rent movies all year, because we're no longer paying for the baseball cable package, and because Cinemail has cheaper plans.
We lose:
1. Red Sox games when they play the Blue Jays, which are available on cable TV but subject to local blackouts on MLBTV. It's only a handful of games a year, plus Allan is blacked out at work anyway. We'll listen to them on the radio (which I really enjoy). No biggie.
2. I will have to watch Coronation Street online.
3. My half-hour of TV before bed, a lifetime habit of how I fall asleep. Not sure what will happen with that, but I know I'm not paying for cable TV just to watch re-runs of The Simpsons.
And that's it. Allan doesn't watch any TV. My TV watching is very minimal. And now it's over.
* * * *
Movie season may be a bit more challenging, a combination of Cinemail, the library, streaming Netflix, and borrowed DVDs. But I've had it with Zip.
We still have to hook up the streaming-to-TV thing, but we have two months to work that out, plus at the minimum, we can certainly watch on our netbooks.
Predictably, when I called Rogers to cancel, they offered me all kinds of promotions to try to get me to stay, including a deep discount on TV. That just makes me more pissed off and determined to leave. As you know, I hate haggling.
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