Cutting the Cord

dosry5

Well-Known Member
Nov 28, 2006
7,479
6,464
113
Johnston
Well, while you don't have Imon yet, at least you have high-speed Centurylink as an option. I didn't even have that at first. With that said, yep, still hope for Imon. They are pretty awesome actually. I think it is Fiber or something because I don't even need a cable modem anymore. I just plug an ethernet cord from the ethernet wall jack they put in my wall directly to my wireless router. That's it. Also, their customer service is amazing, especially when compared to Mediacom (very low bar). Not only does any phone call pretty much go straight to a person (maybe one keytouch to get there), but they are also amazingly nice and pleasant to deal with. Same thing goes for their repairmen who come out. The repair people also don't ding you for everything when they come. Shoot, I didn't even mention that they'll do great stuff too like buy up a bunch of tickets to events around Cedar Rapids and then offer them out free to all their customers. We've taken advantage of this multiple times. In fact, I'd say everything they do is almost the opposite of Mediacom.

So how long have you worked at Imon?
 

CysRage

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2009
13,378
8,682
113
Just got my new Roku 2 hooked up and have the end of my SlingTv trial and started the Playstation Vue trial to compare them. Both are awesome! Neither have cut out for me and hopefully it stays that way. I think I will end up choosing Playstation Vue since it seems to have the most comprehensive channels for only $35 (including all ISU football and basketball games if you bundle with Cyclones.TV). The Slingplayer interface is awesome! It is like just like Netflix's interface. Hopefully Playstation Vue will mimic that interface soon. My only fear is using up my data cap (250 gig). I will be looking closely at my data usage this month.
 

Gunnerclone

Well-Known Member
Jul 16, 2010
75,629
79,929
113
DSM
Just got my new Roku 2 hooked up and have the end of my SlingTv trial and started the Playstation Vue trial to compare them. Both are awesome! Neither have cut out for me and hopefully it stays that way. I think I will end up choosing Playstation Vue since it seems to have the most comprehensive channels for only $35 (including all ISU football and basketball games if you bundle with Cyclones.TV). The Slingplayer interface is awesome! It is like just like Netflix's interface. Hopefully Playstation Vue will mimic that interface soon. My only fear is using up my data cap (250 gig). I will be looking closely at my data usage this month.

Did you do the research to verify that VUE + cyclone.tv will cover 100% of football and basketball games? Even the holiday basketball tournament? If so that is going to go a long way towards making up my mind to end Directv.
 

CysRage

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2009
13,378
8,682
113
Did you do the research to verify that VUE + cyclone.tv will cover 100% of football and basketball games? Even the holiday basketball tournament? If so that is going to go a long way towards making up my mind to end Directv.
Yes, all football and basketball games. The holiday tournament this year is on the ESPN family of networks which the middle of the pack PS Vue package has all of them. Even the cheap PS Vue package has ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, and FS2. The only exception to this is if ISU plays on ABC, FOX, CBS, etc but you can watch over the air for free if you are in range.
 

stateofmind

Well-Known Member
Jul 16, 2007
6,635
4,174
113
Ankeny
I have two Fire TVs and a PS4. If you have reliable internet you will love it. I don't recommend Fire stick.

So far the switch to Mediacom is helping. 100 Mbs down and 20 up and 999 Gb a month for $45 for the first year.

Centurylink said we were using around 700 Gb per month. They never warned us for overages and when it basically became unusable they swore they weren't the issue, didn't offer to send anyone out and gladly took my cancellation. So weird.
 

StormnClone58

Well-Known Member
Jan 24, 2008
1,905
386
83
West Des Moines
Yes, all football and basketball games. The holiday tournament this year is on the ESPN family of networks which the middle of the pack PS Vue package has all of them. Even the cheap PS Vue package has ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, and FS2. The only exception to this is if ISU plays on ABC, FOX, CBS, etc but you can watch over the air for free if you are in range.

If isu is on abc that is part of espn family and thus you can get that game on the watchespn app with your psvue login ... Same goes for fox with fox sports go app ...
 

CysRage

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2009
13,378
8,682
113
I have two Fire TVs and a PS4. If you have reliable internet you will love it. I don't recommend Fire stick.

So far the switch to Mediacom is helping. 100 Mbs down and 20 up and 999 Gb a month for $45 for the first year.

Centurylink said we were using around 700 Gb per month. They never warned us for overages and when it basically became unusable they swore they weren't the issue, didn't offer to send anyone out and gladly took my cancellation. So weird.
How the heck did you get them to offer 100 Mbs for $45? I basically begged them to throw me a deal so I would stay with them. The best they offered was 50 Mbs for $50 but under a 2 year contract. I told them no since I was switching to Centurylink 12 Mbs for $30.
 

all4isu

Member
Jun 4, 2006
41
3
8
Des Moines guys...What indoor antenna are you using for locals? I purchased the #1 selling antenna on Amazon, but can't pull ABC.

Amazon product
Thanks for any suggestions
 

ArgentCy

Well-Known Member
Jan 13, 2010
20,405
11,148
113
Check the OTA threads for channel 5. That channel is on a very difficult to pick up low frequency VHF? I think. It almost requires a seperate anntenna depending on location.
 

Gibbon

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2013
460
784
93
Ames
Des Moines guys...What indoor antenna are you using for locals? I purchased the #1 selling antenna on Amazon, but can't pull ABC.

Amazon product
Thanks for any suggestions

When I had an indoor antenna like that in Ames, ABC was very difficult to pick up. I needed to have my amplifier (which your antenna might not have) plugged in to even have a shot at getting a picture. I don't know how much the quality of the indoor antennas varies between products, maybe that has something to do with it as well.
 

ArgentCy

Well-Known Member
Jan 13, 2010
20,405
11,148
113
For VHF channels in the 2-10 range you need a long dipole. Think rabbit ears. In Des Moines I don't think you'd need an amplifier but one single antenna will not work for the other channels and Channel 5

https://www.antennasdirect.com/faqs.html#faq6

One potential problem with re-using low VHF (2-6) and high VHF (7-13) TV channels for DTV is the possibility of interference from other signals during certain times of the year. "Skip" may bring in distant broadcasts on the same channel and create interference. Low VHF (2-6) digital broadcasts are particularly prone to interference and is often hard to receive reliably, regardless of what model of antenna is used. (That would include WOI channel 5) Note: The physical size of low VHF and high VHF antennas is much larger than that of a UHF antenna.
 

ArgentCy

Well-Known Member
Jan 13, 2010
20,405
11,148
113
I have a very large outdoor antenna with an amplifier but live almost 70 miles from that TV tower. I get ~20 channels very reliably but can only pick up WOI ABC a few times during the night. The crazy thing is that if I am getting channel 5 I am also picking up the usual Des Moines stations but I'm also getting Cedar Rapids and Quad City stations.
 

Tailg8er

Well-Known Member
Feb 25, 2011
7,878
4,735
113
38
Johnston
Just got my new Roku 2 hooked up and have the end of my SlingTv trial and started the Playstation Vue trial to compare them. Both are awesome! Neither have cut out for me and hopefully it stays that way. I think I will end up choosing Playstation Vue since it seems to have the most comprehensive channels for only $35 (including all ISU football and basketball games if you bundle with Cyclones.TV). The Slingplayer interface is awesome! It is like just like Netflix's interface. Hopefully Playstation Vue will mimic that interface soon. My only fear is using up my data cap (250 gig). I will be looking closely at my data usage this month.

Yeah, you'll have to watch that data. I have 350GB thru mediacom, and after a week of testing VUE I was over 75GBs.

I ended up sticking with Dish for now because they offered me my current package with no commitment for $60/month.
 

clonebb

Well-Known Member
Oct 23, 2015
3,620
3,252
113
Des Moines guys...What indoor antenna are you using for locals? I purchased the #1 selling antenna on Amazon, but can't pull ABC.

Amazon product
Thanks for any suggestions

I just use a basic RCA rabbit ears one. I can get all the local channels, including the CW and Ion. May get a Tablo or TiVo DVR next. I use Sling TV though my iPad Pro and Apple TV box. Suspended Directv for 6 months, but if all is well for football and basketball, I will cancel.
 

ISUCY23

Well-Known Member
Nov 16, 2008
6,863
2,980
113
Ames
Pulled the plug last week on standard cable and switched to PS Vue. So far it has worked great. Although, navigating it is going to take some time to get use to. But you can't beat the price.
 

SouthJerseyCy

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2008
1,880
2,042
113
56
Question for the PSVue folks. I see the network channels listed. Are those your 'live' local networks or just on demand content from the networks. I'm in a heavily wooded area outside Philly and have had extreme trouble getting good OTA reception.
 

StormnClone58

Well-Known Member
Jan 24, 2008
1,905
386
83
West Des Moines
Question for the PSVue folks. I see the network channels listed. Are those your 'live' local networks or just on demand content from the networks. I'm in a heavily wooded area outside Philly and have had extreme trouble getting good OTA reception.

From what ive read or heard it depends on your home market ... For us dsm folks its an on-demand based service ... Ive also heard for some of the most established markets its the actual live channels ... I believe if you look at the service online it will indicate your market and tell you what you will get and a free 7 day trial never hurt anyone ...
 

cycloneworld

Facebook Knows All
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Mar 20, 2006
30,077
22,428
113
Urbandale, IA
Ok, so I guess I'm becoming more technically challenged as I get older. Here's where I'm at now as we plan to move back to the DSM area in 2 weeks:

Internet options: CentryLink 5 Mbps (yikes) for $14.99 for first 6 months or Mediacom at 100 Mbps for $49.99 for first 12 months. Neither readily says what is goes to after the promo periods. I assume CL won't be adequate?

Think I've settled on Vue. I have a PS3. We will probably downsize to 2 TVs when we move. So it sounds like I'll need to buy a Roku or FireTV, correct? Any suggestions which? Have a 60" Vizio that we use for our main TV (it can stream Netflix, Prime, and Hulu). I assume we'll want to use the new device for that to get the best picture? Our other is an older 42" in our bedroom. I assume the PS3 would go there.

I'll need an antenna to get OTAs (do I need 2?).

Will that cover me?
 

ArgentCy

Well-Known Member
Jan 13, 2010
20,405
11,148
113
2 antenna's are only needed in the Des Moines area if you want to reliably get ABC channel 5 all the time. That one is difficult because of the frequency and power that they transmit.
 
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