Cutting the cord

[Wormius]

Drill a small pilot hole if going from the attic. I was about 2 cm off and drilled through both the ceiling and the wall of my kids room with a 1/2" drill. :~(

[Wormius]

By the way, any recommendations for a gigabit network switch?

[Aegypticus]

Originally Posted by Wormius

By the way, any recommendations for a gigabit network switch?

I have 3 of these (Netgear Gigabit Switch), 1 x 5 port and 2 x 8 port. I've never had any problems with them. They just chug along doing their thing. Never had to unplug them or anything to fix any issues. I think the 5 port switch has been going for like 4 years uninterrupted aside from any power outages. The price on them is pretty nice, they go on sale frequently, and I really like that they have a metal body instead of cheap-feeling plastic.


I have a question of my own... not sure if it's been answered in this thread previously. I still have a home phone line, but I really want to ditch it. The only thing that's been stopping me is I have some attachment to the number. Is there any good, cheap way to keep my number without paying for Shaw home phone service?

[oilyfan]

Yeah I second the Netgear Prosafe switches recommendations. Rock solid, and reasonable cost, the metal body is nice.

I also have a 24 port dlink switch that has worked well.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Aegypticus

I have 3 of these (Netgear Gigabit Switch), 1 x 5 port and 2 x 8 port. I've never had any problems with them. They just chug along doing their thing. Never had to unplug them or anything to fix any issues. I think the 5 port switch has been going for like 4 years uninterrupted aside from any power outages. The price on them is pretty nice, they go on sale frequently, and I really like that they have a metal body instead of cheap-feeling plastic.





I have a question of my own... not sure if it's been answered in this thread previously. I still have a home phone line, but I really want to ditch it. The only thing that's been stopping me is I have some attachment to the number. Is there any good, cheap way to keep my number without paying for Shaw home phone service?

We transferred our home phone line from Telus last year to my wife's cell phone with Rogers. Was pretty seamless.

If you want to go with a voip service, that I don't know.

[sureLoss]

Not sure if it is worth it but Sportsnet is now offering it's streaming service for $24.99 per month without a TV subscription. No contracts. So I guess you could buy it just for the Flames season.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/more/sportsn...ginning-apr-1/

[getbak]

$25 a month?



It's like the Rogers family are really the Bluths from Arrested Development.

Lucille: You couldn't give Gob a banana? It's one banana! How much could it cost? Ten dollars?

Michael: You've never even been inside a grocery store, have you?

[MrCallahan]

Originally Posted by getbak

$25 a month?



It's like the Rogers family are really the Bluths from Arrested Development.

That's $5 cheaper than the monthly cost of Gamecenter.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Not sure if it is worth it but Sportsnet is now offering it's streaming service for $24.99 per month without a TV subscription. No contracts. So I guess you could buy it just for the Flames season.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/more/sportsn...ginning-apr-1/

Interesting.
The worst of that is MLB TV is $109US for the season. Rogers previously lifted blackouts for all Jays games on MLB TV. So for the same money, you could get every MLB game. My guess is now the Jays will be blacked out there.
Same money, far less service

[gottabekd]

Yea, this Sportsnet NOW thing seems out of the blue. But welcome news that Canadian media companies are catching up with consumer demands. I probably would have subscribed if they had this throughout the hockey season.

Now I am going to wait and see what happens with the MLB. There are thousands of Blue Jays fans in Canada that have already subscribed to MLB.TV, anticipating that like years past, Blue Jays games would not be blacked out. If Rogers does turn on blackouts, I imagine there will be backlash.

So despited how exciting it is to have an 100% legitimate sports streaming option for non-cable subscribers, I can't help but think that MLB.TV service for baseball is still a better value. This year they have a single team option for $US 85/season, which is a fair bit cheaper than $CAD 25/month for the duration of the season. And MLB.TV has no commercials, can rewatch old games (or start late and catch up), and is available on many, many more devices.

So opening up Sportsnet NOW is a step in the right direction, but I think I'll wait and see what happens to MLB.TV before subscribing to either.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Not sure if it is worth it but Sportsnet is now offering it's streaming service for $24.99

8 months of hockey for about 2 months of what I was paying for cable? I'll take it.

[Burninator]

The video quality of Sportsnet NOW is meh.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Aegypticus

I have a question of my own... not sure if it's been answered in this thread previously. I still have a home phone line, but I really want to ditch it. The only thing that's been stopping me is I have some attachment to the number. Is there any good, cheap way to keep my number without paying for Shaw home phone service?

Originally Posted by Wormius

We transferred our home phone line from Telus last year to my wife's cell phone with Rogers. Was pretty seamless.

Relatives of mine did the same when they retired last year. Transferred their number from their Telus landline to a cell phone and carried on. No fuss, no issues etc. Mind you they stayed with the same carrier in this case (Telus), just switched the number to a new device.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Relatives of mine did the same when they retired last year. Transferred their number from their Telus landline to a cell phone and carried on. No fuss, no issues etc. Mind you they stayed with the same carrier in this case (Telus), just switched the number to a new device.

Yeah, it has worked out fine. I am concerned about not having a landline from a kids at home standpoint. We have some old cellphones that could be used to make a 911 call if necessary. Are there any super cheap voice plans for cells that don't expire after a month?

[Stealth22]

Originally Posted by Aegypticus

I have 3 of these (Netgear Gigabit Switch), 1 x 5 port and 2 x 8 port. I've never had any problems with them. They just chug along doing their thing. Never had to unplug them or anything to fix any issues. I think the 5 port switch has been going for like 4 years uninterrupted aside from any power outages. The price on them is pretty nice, they go on sale frequently, and I really like that they have a metal body instead of cheap-feeling plastic.

Originally Posted by oilyfan

Yeah I second the Netgear Prosafe switches recommendations. Rock solid, and reasonable cost, the metal body is nice.

I third that recommendation. I have two of the GS108's, and they have been rock solid. I love the metal construction too.

I just bought a 24-port Netgear from Memory Express...it was on sale for $209 (regular $259) until last night. I also bought a 16-port Prosafe Plus w/ PoE for the IP cameras I'm going to install, lol.

[gottabekd]

Originally Posted by Burninator

The video quality of Sportsnet NOW is meh.

For a free throw-in for cable subscribers? Sure, the quality is good enough to catch a stream.

For $25/month, and as the primary means to watch sports? I would want better. Maybe for my 65 year old parents, they wouldn't notice compression, or know what video compression looks like. But for the longest time they couldn't tell the difference between SD and HD.

Maybe once they release the Sportsnet NOW support for Chromecast or Apple TV, and I can sit far away from the screen, the compression would be less noticeable.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Stealth22

I third that recommendation. I have two of the GS108's, and they have been rock solid. I love the metal construction too.



I just bought a 24-port Netgear from Memory Express...it was on sale for $209 (regular $259) until last night. I also bought a 16-port Prosafe Plus w/ PoE for the IP cameras I'm going to install, lol.

Is the 24-port one that the same one that Staples has for $189? It looks out-of-stock at the moment, but was just doing some checking. I think APEGA has some discounts at Staples.

[Stealth22]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Is the 24-port one that the same one that Staples has for $189? It looks out-of-stock at the moment, but was just doing some checking. I think APEGA has some discounts at Staples.

Why, yes, it is. I checked around for lower prices, so I'm not sure how I missed that, unless it was just put on sale in the past few days.

Too bad Mem Ex isn't going to adjust the price...item has to be in stock at the competitor in order to qualify.

That RGMG.

EDIT: Looks like some stores in Calgary have it! I guess I'm going to Mem Ex after work! Thanks for letting me know!!

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Stealth22

Why, yes, it is. I checked around for lower prices, so I'm not sure how I missed that, unless it was just put on sale in the past few days.

Too bad Mem Ex isn't going to adjust the price...item has to be in stock at the competitor in order to qualify.

That RGMG.

EDIT: Looks like some stores in Calgary have it! I guess I'm going to Mem Ex after work! Thanks for letting me know!!

I might pick it up after work. What's Memory Express' policy on price matching? Do they just match a lower price, or beat it by some percentage?

[Stealth22]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I might pick it up after work. What's Memory Express' policy on price matching? Do they just match a lower price, or beat it by some percentage?

I believe they beat by 5%, IIRC.