Cutting the cable cord

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Well, we officially kicked Spectrum out of our house today. Called customer no service, no waiting at this point, and disconnected the service. I have to take our 5 boxes and their cable modem to UPS and drop them off, probably tomorrow. The cancellation lady did offer me the same service we have had (costing $225/month) for only $168/month, and increase the internet speed to 1 G to match the Lumos. We said no thanks. I'llll see ya! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

We have been streaming TV only for the last month since I signed up for YouTube TV, using the Spectrum internet connection.

We had Lumos internet installed on Friday morning 10/6 (finished about 1 pm) and I put my Netgear NIghthawk Mesh 6.0 router on it and the transition was seamless. Except ... my SO has a Road Runner email address that was tied to Time Warner, now Spectrum. She could receive emails but not send them when on the new wifi signal. Worked fine when we went to cellular data and I even reconnected our router to the still working Spectrum internet and it worked fine, so I had isolated the problem to the Lumos equipment/system. My email worked fine.

Called Lumos tech support Friday afternoon about 4:00, the tier 1 tech wanted to escalate my problem to a tier 2 tech and he promised we'd get a call back by 6 pm. Call never happened. Didn't have time until Tuesday to mess with it again and I called Spectrum and their tech looked up the twc.rr.com email ports for the incoming and outgoing servers. That was helpful, not that I knew how to get to those setting on the iPhone. Wednesday morning I called Verizon (our phone service supplier) and after about an hour of his time he transferred me to Apple tech support. The Apple guy had me uninstall and reinstall the email account, making sure the "ports" were correct and they were. Couldn't install it when on the Lumos wifi and put the phone back on cellular data and it (the email account) installed quickly. He (Apple) told me to call Lumos back. This took another 2 hours of getting to a tier 2 tech, who told me he could see our Lumos router, but couldn't see my Netgear router, its not "their equipment". Finally set up an appointment for a Lumos tech to come out with a Lumos router, which would be Thursday or Friday. Ugh. 5 minutes later the field service tech called and said he'd be there in 30 minutes! (We live in Greensboro, he lives in High Point, where Lumos, formerly Northstate, is based.) Great! Then we got a call back from another Lumos tier 2 tech and explained the problem. He made some changes to something in their modem and I lost internet entirely. So he changed it back to what it was except for one setting. I rebooted the router and Voila! It worked and my SO's phone could send email! I told this guy to cancel the service tech (who was gonna be at the house in 15 minutes). 20 minutes later the field tech was at the house, he hadn't gotten the call to cancel. We had a nice chat, I explained everything, praised the original installation guy and the last tier 2 tech guy, and he checked out and "blessed" the installation job. Nice young guy - he'll be my "go to" field service tech if I ever need something.

Net result, after maybe over 6 hours of frustrating phone time over three days, I'm a happy camper!

Lumos internet costs me $50/month for 1 Gig speed.

[wavedukefan70s]

Well, we officially kicked Spectrum out of our house today. Called customer no service, no waiting at this point, and disconnected the service. I have to take our 5 boxes and their cable modem to UPS and drop them off, probably tomorrow. The cancellation lady did offer me the same service we have had (costing $225/month) for only $168/month, and increase the internet speed to 1 G to match the Lumos. We said no thanks. I'llll see ya! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

We have been streaming TV only for the last month since I signed up for YouTube TV, using the Spectrum internet connection.

We had Lumos internet installed on Friday morning 10/6 (finished about 1 pm) and I put my Netgear NIghthawk Mesh 6.0 router on it and the transition was seamless. Except ... my SO has a Road Runner email address that was tied to Time Warner, now Spectrum. She could receive emails but not send them when on the new wifi signal. Worked fine when we went to cellular data and I even reconnected our router to the still working Spectrum internet and it worked fine, so I had isolated the problem to the Lumos equipment/system. My email worked fine.

Called Lumos tech support Friday afternoon about 4:00, the tier 1 tech wanted to escalate my problem to a tier 2 tech and he promised we'd get a call back by 6 pm. Call never happened. Didn't have time until Tuesday to mess with it again and I called Spectrum and their tech looked up the twc.rr.com email ports for the incoming and outgoing servers. That was helpful, not that I knew how to get to those setting on the iPhone. Wednesday morning I called Verizon (our phone service supplier) and after about an hour of his time he transferred me to Apple tech support. The Apple guy had me uninstall and reinstall the email account, making sure the "ports" were correct and they were. Couldn't install it when on the Lumos wifi and put the phone back on cellular data and it (the email account) installed quickly. He (Apple) told me to call Lumos back. This took another 2 hours of getting to a tier 2 tech, who told me he could see our Lumos router, but couldn't see my Netgear router, its not "their equipment". Finally set up an appointment for a Lumos tech to come out with a Lumos router, which would be Thursday or Friday. Ugh. 5 minutes later the field service tech called and said he'd be there in 30 minutes! (We live in Greensboro, he lives in High Point, where Lumos, formerly Northstate, is based.) Great! Then we got a call back from another Lumos tier 2 tech and explained the problem. He made some changes to something in their modem and I lost internet entirely. So he changed it back to what it was except for one setting. I rebooted the router and Voila! It worked and my SO's phone could send email! I told this guy to cancel the service tech (who was gonna be at the house in 15 minutes). 20 minutes later the field tech was at the house, he hadn't gotten the call to cancel. We had a nice chat, I explained everything, praised the original installation guy and the last tier 2 tech guy, and he checked out and "blessed" the installation job. Nice young guy - he'll be my "go to" field service tech if I ever need something.

Net result, after maybe over 6 hours of frustrating phone time over three days, I'm a happy camper!

Lumos internet costs me $50/month for 1 Gig speed.

I stream aswell.spectrum was outrageous.
I ended up with att running fiber straight to my wall.
I'm going to have to stream local TV.
Speed is great .
I use tubi and a few other free services for movies.
Wife is on me about her shows so I lm going to have to pay a little to make her happy. But it's worth it.
If I can think of any other free services that aren't junk I will post them.

[Kdogg]

Well, we officially kicked Spectrum out of our house today. Called customer no service, no waiting at this point, and disconnected the service. I have to take our 5 boxes and their cable modem to UPS and drop them off, probably tomorrow. The cancellation lady did offer me the same service we have had (costing $225/month) for only $168/month, and increase the internet speed to 1 G to match the Lumos. We said no thanks. I'llll see ya! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

We have been streaming TV only for the last month since I signed up for YouTube TV, using the Spectrum internet connection.

We had Lumos internet installed on Friday morning 10/6 (finished about 1 pm) and I put my Netgear NIghthawk Mesh 6.0 router on it and the transition was seamless. Except ... my SO has a Road Runner email address that was tied to Time Warner, now Spectrum. She could receive emails but not send them when on the new wifi signal. Worked fine when we went to cellular data and I even reconnected our router to the still working Spectrum internet and it worked fine, so I had isolated the problem to the Lumos equipment/system. My email worked fine.

Do they let you keep the Road Runner email forever? I thought that goes away when you cut the service. They've told be that. Just a heads up.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Do they let you keep the Road Runner email forever? I thought that goes away when you cut the service. They've told be that. Just a heads up.

Yeah, that email will go away at some point. Better setup a Gmail soon and let all the contacts know.

[Phredd3]

Do they let you keep the Road Runner email forever? I thought that goes away when you cut the service. They've told be that. Just a heads up.

My road Runner e-mail address lasted more than a year before I just stopped using it. They may have shut it off due to inactivity at this point, but as long as I was checking it, I was able to receive messages there. After about a month, I would only send from the new address, so I don't know if outbound worked just as long or not.

[DU82]

I stream aswell.spectrum was outrageous.
I ended up with att running fiber straight to my wall.
I'm going to have to stream local TV.
Speed is great .
I use tubi and a few other free services for movies.
Wife is on me about her shows so I lm going to have to pay a little to make her happy. But it's worth it.
If I can think of any other free services that aren't junk I will post them.

I bought a 4th generation Tablo, which combines over-the-air channels with free streaming channels (think Pluto) and a DVR. There is no charge for the broadcast guide (that’s the reason they added the free streaming channels.). The device was a one-time cost of $99 at Best Buy or Amazon. If you get good reception with your antenna, it’s a great option. There’s an app for phones and tablets, as well as Fire TV ‘and Roku sticks (waiting on the -promised apps on Samsung and LG TVs.)

My problem is that I can’t get local ABC or CBS here in Durham near RDU airport. I’ve tried a few antennas but none work consistently yet. Still working on that. (I can stream the CBS station through Paramount+; not sure about ABC ‘yet.)

[Kdogg]

I bought a 4th generation Tablo, which combines over-the-air channels with free streaming channels (think Pluto) and a DVR. There is no charge for the broadcast guide (that’s the reason they added the free streaming channels.). The device was a one-time cost of $99 at Best Buy or Amazon. If you get good reception with your antenna, it’s a great option. There’s an app for phones and tablets, as well as Fire TV ‘and Roku sticks (waiting on the -promised apps on Samsung and LG TVs.)

My problem is that I can’t get local ABC or CBS here in Durham near RDU airport. I’ve tried a few antennas but none work consistently yet. Still working on that. (I can stream the CBS station through Paramount+; not sure about ABC ‘yet.)

Have you tried the ABC11 app? Also the Roku Channel has local channels (depending on the market). It’s free and available on Apple TV, Google TV, Amazon and of course Roku.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Do they let you keep the Road Runner email forever? I thought that goes away when you cut the service. They've told be that. Just a heads up.

Before installing the Lumos internet, I went to the local Spectrum store and asked about her keeping the triad.rr.com email address, which she does NOT want to give up. I asked "for a friend who was moving out of the area where Spectrum internet isn't available" and she would be on another service." The lady said "she won't have a problem, although Spectrum does plan to "eventually" get rid of the road runner servers. So at some point she'll have to go through the hassle of changing, which she definitely doesn't want to do. Such is life. Hope it's a long time from now.

[DU82]

Have you tried the ABC11 app? Also the Roku Channel has local channels (depending on the market). It’s free and available on Apple TV, Google TV, Amazon and of course Roku.

Looks like I need my “TV provider” for full access on the ABC ‘app. The ABC11 app shows the local news “live” even if something else is being broadcast. (That’s after a quick check on my iPad.

So, cutting the cord doesn’t appear to work for everything. I know I can get the local news, but doubt I can get things like live sports. Although, My sister uses the network app to watch her local station in NYC, also owned/operated, and can watch General Hospital, so there should be a way. Need to spend more than five minutes on this.

Our HOA has a technology club, and they are having a “cutting the cable” talk next week. I’m going to see if they have suggestions about antennas (and more.).

The Tablo app is a little clunky to use, but it gets things done once you figure it out. One issue is that to see what’s on live; looks like ’ll have to check multiple apps to get everything available. I do like the convenience of the Cable guide from Spectrum. Do you (or anybody) know an online source that acts as a TV Guide?

[Kdogg]

Looks like I need my “TV provider” for full access on the ABC ‘app. The ABC11 app shows the local news “live” even if something else is being broadcast. (That’s after a quick check on my iPad.

So, cutting the cord doesn’t appear to work for everything. I know I can get the local news, but doubt I can get things like live sports. Although, My sister uses the network app to watch her local station in NYC, also owned/operated, and can watch General Hospital, so there should be a way. Need to spend more than five minutes on this.

Our HOA has a technology club, and they are having a “cutting the cable” talk next week. I’m going to see if they have suggestions about antennas (and more.).

The Tablo app is a little clunky to use, but it gets things done once you figure it out. One issue is that to see what’s on live; looks like ’ll have to check multiple apps to get everything available. I do like the convenience of the Cable guide from Spectrum. Do you (or anybody) know an online source that acts as a TV Guide?

TV Guide is still around (tvguide.com) and still offers the guide which can be customized. They offer an app too but I've never used it. There's zap2it.com, titantv.com and tvtv.us. For some reason my dad prefers tvtv.us for his football (soccer) and cricket schedules.

Before installing the Lumos internet, I went to the local Spectrum store and asked about her keeping the triad.rr.com email address, which she does NOT want to give up. I asked "for a friend who was moving out of the area where Spectrum internet isn't available" and she would be on another service." The lady said "she won't have a problem, although Spectrum does plan to "eventually" get rid of the road runner servers. So at some point she'll have to go through the hassle of changing, which she definitely doesn't want to do. Such is life. Hope it's a long time from now.

Thanks for the information. It's one of the anchors for my parents or...well me because I would be the one doing the leg work. I've tried to get them to keep a running list.

[weezie]

Is there an out-patient clinic I can attend to in order to understand anything on this thread?

[jv001]

Is there an out-patient clinic I can attend to in order to understand anything on this thread?

Please let me know if you find one. Way over my head. I'm in panic mode now regarding road runner email going away. I have so many things that use my email address as my ID it will take me sooooo long to get them changed. I'm praying Jesus comes back before then.

[Steven43]

Is there an out-patient clinic I can attend to in order to understand anything on this thread?

Yeah, no kidding.

When I was growing up we only had four channels at our home — CBS, ABC, NBC, and PBS. My parents were too cheap to get cable (or maybe found it unnecessary), though many of my friends had it at their home.

My parents finally got cable right around the time I moved out of our home in west Texas and began attending college at a university in Munich, Germany. 🤷

[Kdogg]

Is there an out-patient clinic I can attend to in order to understand anything on this thread?

Just throw out some questions if you are thinking about canceling or changing your cable/sat provider. The board will provide.

[Phredd3]

I'm in panic mode now regarding road runner email going away.

Don't be. If there's one simple take-away here, it's that Road Runner addresses stick around a long time. I would adopt a new primary e-mail address, but you will be able to take your time about switching over.

[jv001]

Don't be. If there's one simple take-away here, it's that Road Runner addresses stick around a long time. I would adopt a new primary e-mail address, but you will be able to take your time about switching over.

Thank you. I do have g-mail as my 2nd e-mail but I never use it. May begin.

[Kdogg]

Thank you. I do have g-mail as my 2nd e-mail but I never use it. May begin.

You’ll enjoy the much better and snappier interface. The Road Runner email is just so…Aaaahhh!

You can start the slow migration by having a copy of your RR emails automatically forwarded to your Gmail. They you can update as they come through or archive them in a “To Do” folder.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

You can start the slow migration by having a copy of your RR emails automatically forwarded to your Gmail. They you can update as they come through or archive them in a “To Do” folder.

How does one set up such forwarding?

[Kdogg]

How does one set up such forwarding?

Log into your Spectrum (Road Runner) Email. At the top select Settings. It should take you to the Account page. About a quarter page down you will see "Email Forwarding." Turn it on then enter the email address or addresses you wish to use as the forwarding address. Either send yourself an email to the Spectrum email or ask someone else to do it as a test. If you don't see it in your Inbox check the spam folder. You two should have two copies of the email - one in the Spectrum (Road Runner) account and one in the new email account.

[-jk]

In most systems (don't know specifically about RR) you can also set up an "out of office" type reply telling senders that you're no longer using that account and asking them to update their address book.

Then in a few months or so, turn off the auto-forward and change the auto-reply to say it's no longer monitored and they should resend to your new email.

-jk