What a month it’s been, and it’s only started. Besides getting a new graphics card, and having the issues of a faulty DVI-D port, something else came the same day I got that rush order. Something unexpected, that would change things we might not even need to be changed.
Had a guy from AT&T come to the door (about 2-3 hours after I got the rush order), asking about the health of our DISH service. He claimed that it happens to satellite dishes, that within a few years, they have to be realigned. The guy came in my room, and saw he was right (showing a signal strength between 68-69). I actually said “nice” under my breath.
Yet after telling him just how much my parents are paying monthly for their DISH bill, he suddenly changes from sending a tech guy out to realign the dish (and that would be
it)… to trying to get us to get back into DirecTV (claiming we would “get a better deal”).
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But at the end, my mother decided to cancel the offer, saying she’s heard this crap before. Basically, they keep promising us that they’ll take the other dish down and install the new one in its place. But when the tech guy shows up, it always turns into “we cannot legally do this”. We have gotten this treatment, time and time again. And each time, a new set of holes are in the roof.
Enough is enough. No more switching TV providers. No more holes in the roof. So she tried to call DISH in hopes of saving money on their bill. .. No dice there.
And now, we’re switching to Spectrum (after I just said no more switching.. however, this is cable and not a dish), using my account to do so. Though we’ll save money (by splitting the bill 50/50), we’ll get less in features. 100 channels (compared to 250 with DISH), and the DVR only works for the room it’s installed in (compared to any room in DISH). It feels like a massive downgrade, just to save a few dollars.
May not even keep it, or even this speed upgrade from 300MB to 400MB (that comes with it in a bundle (by switching from this old TWC plan, to Spectrum)). It would be sweet, but I also want to feel I got my money’s worth.
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What ‘slightly’ worries me even more (even though I still have the authority to say “no” to everything), is they also bundled phone service (and tried to get me to make a new line), to keep costs as low as possible. Though the guy told me that I don’t have to use the service (or even agree to have it installed). But I feel I’ll get the same thing that my parents get with the dish; the first person saying “yes”, then the tech guy saying “no”.
I have to ask before he does anything to the lines. And if I do get a “no, you have to have the new phone line for the bundle to work”, then I’ll say “no” (and to take your boxes back, because we’re sticking with DISH).
Hopefully, I’ll get a “that’s right, you don’t have to have the new phone line.”
We currently have phone service with AT&T, where my parents have DSL internet through it. And I rather not do anything to screw that up. That’s why I don’t want a new line.
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*sigh* Things were better off if that guy never showed up, and BS his way into our lives.
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And you could say “then just drop the TV service and go with the internet speed upgrade”. I tried this, but after hearing the price (that would start at $89 something) would go up $20-30 in a few years, I would literally be paying the same amount I’m paying now, just to be 100MB faster.
Not really worth it. And honestly, I feel my internet speed is fast enough. I don’t really need it (especially since the last time they upgraded it from 30MB to 200MB, I had issues the day after). Though they ironed themselves out overtime, I don’t really want to go through that again.