![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Decluttering e-version
Sep. 6th, 2025 01:40 pmI had not updated my plan at Verizon for … a long time. I mean, other than to figure out how to return the cable box that T. decided he no longer wanted which was probably a year ago now.
I’ve had some discussions with various folks in the family about whether we could get rid of the “land line” (it’s not, it’s verizon voip) and whether we could get rid of our TV plan. Ultimately, everyone was basically unopposed. So I tried to figure it out on the verizon website, failed, and went to chat. I got rid of the phone and the TV, and have gone from 75 to 500 on the internet, and the whole thing is going to cost at least $100 less. Tech shows up in a couple weeks, and we’ll have to figure out returning the Tivo cable cards, but that’s about the extent of it.
I basically don’t watch TV (I do watch some stuff on Disney Plus occasionally). Years ago, I was still watching some NCIS shows, and TRMS and then Alex Wagner, but of course that’s all different as of this year and I had stopped watching before this year anyway. But R. and A. both wanted to know how they would watch This Old House and America’s Test Kitchen. Worst case scenario, the money I saved on Verizon goes to YouTube TV, and that’s fine. But I did want to do better than that if I could.
Step one: PBS website. You can definitely watch some This Old House there.
Step two: But if you go to the This Old House app, you can watch all of it. And cast it to your TV if your device supports that. Woot! Problem Solved!
And now: ATK, the tougher nut. Amazon Prime has some seasons. Philo may or may not have some seasons for free; I couldn’t get it to work. PBS has some of at least one season. So it seems clear that ATK vibe could be satisfied, somehow. Worst case scenario, a year of access to all of it via the ATK website is about $50. Which is less than YTTV for one month. I’m scoring this a win as well.
I’m trying to decide if I want to tackle the news subscriptions today or not. Probably I will go play my game for a while instead.
A little backstory on this project. I’ve been doing living room planning for the new house. I got to wondering just what exactly we would need in terms of equipment for the TV. I picked out the TV, with a focus on good sound quality, knowing that apps for all the streaming would be built in. But then: DVD? Playstation? XBox? I have no idea! But we don’t have cable at the new house, just internet, so the Tivo is not going there with us. And then I got to wondering why I hadn’t done that here at this house. And so here we are.
On the list of very many things we don’t do around here, xbox and playstation are extremely high, so those may be next on the decluttering list. But first! Game! (Sliding Seas is still fun, altho slower now that I’m past level 200.)
I’ve had some discussions with various folks in the family about whether we could get rid of the “land line” (it’s not, it’s verizon voip) and whether we could get rid of our TV plan. Ultimately, everyone was basically unopposed. So I tried to figure it out on the verizon website, failed, and went to chat. I got rid of the phone and the TV, and have gone from 75 to 500 on the internet, and the whole thing is going to cost at least $100 less. Tech shows up in a couple weeks, and we’ll have to figure out returning the Tivo cable cards, but that’s about the extent of it.
I basically don’t watch TV (I do watch some stuff on Disney Plus occasionally). Years ago, I was still watching some NCIS shows, and TRMS and then Alex Wagner, but of course that’s all different as of this year and I had stopped watching before this year anyway. But R. and A. both wanted to know how they would watch This Old House and America’s Test Kitchen. Worst case scenario, the money I saved on Verizon goes to YouTube TV, and that’s fine. But I did want to do better than that if I could.
Step one: PBS website. You can definitely watch some This Old House there.
Step two: But if you go to the This Old House app, you can watch all of it. And cast it to your TV if your device supports that. Woot! Problem Solved!
And now: ATK, the tougher nut. Amazon Prime has some seasons. Philo may or may not have some seasons for free; I couldn’t get it to work. PBS has some of at least one season. So it seems clear that ATK vibe could be satisfied, somehow. Worst case scenario, a year of access to all of it via the ATK website is about $50. Which is less than YTTV for one month. I’m scoring this a win as well.
I’m trying to decide if I want to tackle the news subscriptions today or not. Probably I will go play my game for a while instead.
A little backstory on this project. I’ve been doing living room planning for the new house. I got to wondering just what exactly we would need in terms of equipment for the TV. I picked out the TV, with a focus on good sound quality, knowing that apps for all the streaming would be built in. But then: DVD? Playstation? XBox? I have no idea! But we don’t have cable at the new house, just internet, so the Tivo is not going there with us. And then I got to wondering why I hadn’t done that here at this house. And so here we are.
On the list of very many things we don’t do around here, xbox and playstation are extremely high, so those may be next on the decluttering list. But first! Game! (Sliding Seas is still fun, altho slower now that I’m past level 200.)