Until football season started.
I've had a hard time so far. I didn't realize how many good games were on ESPN instead of CBS or ABC (NBC is still the lame-o Notre Dame network). For the first two Gator games, I went to one of the Desert Gator viewing locations, a restaurant called Jilly's, and then last Saturday's game was on CBS. As a family man, it can be inconvenient to go to a restaurant to watch a game, not to mention it's more expensive, because when you're at a restaurant for 3+ hours, you're going to order something.
In addition to my football viewing woes, Cristina has had a hard time taping Oprah, the one show she watches regularly. She normally tapes it and then watches it at night while she's folding clothes. I know VCRs have become anachronistic (just go to the store to buy blank VHS tapes and you'll see what I mean) but we've been techno-hold outs. We've never had TiVo or anything fancier than a plain old VCR. I get tired of stacks of tapes lying around, tapes not being taped over because there's a certain episode she wants to watch with me. I haven't taped Gator games in years. If I see an instant-classic game that I want to keep for posterity, I'll download it and burn it to a DVD. Cristina doesn't like how watching multiple games disrupts our weekend family time, and I can understand that. I don't mind taping games and watching them after the kids are in bed. It's nice to be able to skip the commercials. But again, it's clunky to do it with a VCR.
So when Cris asked me how much it costs to get cable with a DVR, I jumped at the opportunity to do some research. We were already paying Cox $65 a month for internet and phone, so I checked out Qwest to see if we could add TV for not too much more than that.
So get this: we can switch over to Qwest and get faster internet (7 mbps vs. Cox's 1.5), free unlimited long distance calling, DirectTV (200+ channels) with DVR...all for about $95 a month. I'm willing to spend an extra thirty bucks for all that.Some people hate Qwest. Some people hate Cox. We've had 'em both before, and they both have their pros and cons. But I have no big gripe with Qwest, so bring it.
The switchover happened yesterday. Qwest is DSL rather than cable, so I no longer needed my old cable modem and wireless router. Qwest has a wireless modem that does both (one less outlet in use!). While the guy was installing the DirectTV dish last night, I got the modem up and running. I could immediately notice a difference in the speed on the internet, which was gratifying.
It's nice to know that we can call family from our home phone and not worry about how long we talk. Not that I'm a long talker anyway, but Cristina can sometimes yack away an hour or two at a time. Unfortunately, Qwest's international plan wasn't very good, so we'll stick to Skype for our Scottish, German, and Costa Rican contacts.
And we'll finally get to experience DVR. It still kind of blows my mind to think about pausing a live football game. I'm looking forward to taping some games this Saturday to watch after the kids are in bed. And though we will still limit the TV for the kids, it will be a relief to have commercial-free Noggin back. I like that channel. It's where we were introduced to the Wonder Pets!
The kids didn't know we were doing this until the guy was there last night installing the dish. Alex was so excited he had a hard time falling asleep. Funny...most families just take cable TV and video games for granted. To Alex, getting cable is something akin to Santa moving into our guest room. If we ever bought a Nintendo DS or a Wii,...geez, I think his head would explode.Which brings up a thought: could limiting the media for our kids actually cause them to crave it more when they're old enough to make those choices for themselves? Maybe. Despite philosophical and developmental reasons for limiting media, there's also the "we must accustom our children to hardship" objective. From a personal experience, I had no cable TV until I was 11 years old. I wanted it badly then, but I can live without it today. Despite my football cravings, I'm far from a TV junkie. I'm kind of proud of how whenever someone asks me if I watch such-and-such, 9 times out of 10 I say "no." I wish I could say I don't watch much TV because I read so much. That would be the English teacher thing to say. But the fact is, I veg out on the computer more than the boob tube.
Dishes Gone WildWhen I called Cox this morning to cancel, the lady asked my reason for cancelling. I told her, "Oh, you know how it is. When you only have two choices, sometimes you just want to drink Pepsi instead of Coke." Silence. I don't think she got my analogy. But I was pleased to give her an answer that wasn't on her script.
So if you don't hear from me for a while, send in the paramedics. I may be in a DirectTV-induced coma.
4 comments:
Yeah, I hear ya. We haven't even had basic channels for almost a year now. No TV at all since November last year when Oprah was filming an episode here. I did join Netflix so we can watch some Tv there and movies for only $10 a month. But no games and no Oprah or ellen degeneres which is a show I miss. I am not reading that much more either. Was spending too much time on computer, but recently deactivated facebook so even that is becoming less of a time waster.
doing more real stuff I guess with real live people. Nice I have to say.
We got rid of cable 2 years ago. I never had it as a child, my parents STILL don't have it. We spent our time outside, and I want our kids to do the same. I do miss the DVR/Tivo (I loved Tivo.) But honestly, since I don't watch Oprah and we don't watch sports, there is nothing we are really missing. We do have Netflix to get the obscure movies we like to watch.
For me, getting rid of cable was a good thing, and has actually helped us as a family. When we had it, we had the tv on constantly, there might be something on, and we "needed" to see what it was. I need a computer detox, or at least a way to waste less time on here. Oh well, one step at a time, eh?
Enjoy your DVR, they are a beautiful thing.
:}
I got a good laugh at your response to the Cox customer service question. You have to wonder what she really typed in that blank space.
Welcome to the 21st century. We've been DVR'ing for years. In my opinion, it helps you weed through the junk you don't want (or need) to see - commercials, other television shows you really do not need. For instance, when everyone else is in bed at 8:30 PM and I want to sit down to watch a show, I can watch what I want, rather than "channel-surfing." The kids know what they want too. Basically, there are 2 shows they faithfully watch (Star Wars Clone Wars and {gasp} Wipeout). We don't have to sit through (too many) other shows that they may have no interest in otherwise.
In sports, I like to tune in about an hour late to skip commercials. Plus, being a family-man, it makes interruptions to important sporting events non-issues. I can't imagine trying to watch a Gator game live with 3 kids running about expecting no interruption. Bits and pieces is the key.
We have only a few shows we really watch, but we'd never get to watch them without a DVR. Since we rarely go to the theatre, that is our entertainment expense. As far as VCR's go, we have one for the kids as we have many movies for them in that format which are picked up at garage sales for so cheap.
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