We had been in contact with our internet/tv company for 9 months before they finally did anything (just got internet/tv hooked up Thursday and we've been in the house since mid December). Unfortunately it seems like not everyone is always on the same page for what should or needs to be done. They continuously changed their mind and FINALLY decided we could install our own conduit with sweeps at certain lengths so all they had to do was pull wire and install their pedestals above ground. Good thing because we already had 2 of the 3 runs done. They quoted us $8000 to dig and install conduit for one run about 250' long. Multiply that by 3 if they had decided our installation of conduit wasn't okay. In the end we were out $60 for them to install at the house. No charge for them to pull wire. After saying all that.... try to talk to someone else. In our experience it depended on who you talked to or who looked at the project. Sorry you're having to deal with this. It's incredibly frustrating.

Last year the then-Oceanic/Time/Warner cable box could be controlled for volume by its remote. Before we arrived this month, new owner Spectrum (Charter) rewired with "digital" cable. They provided a new box and matching remote for the BR box, but left the old box and its remote in the LR. When we couldn't get that remote to control for volume, Spectrum provided a new remote, but not a new cable box. Nope. Still couldn't change volume. Today we will unhook the LR HD-DVR cable box and take it and the new-style remote into the Spectrum office. We are dropping the DVR service. We will get a non-DVR cable box -- and, I hope, a remote that will control volume. (Yeah, sure.) I foresee that we will have to re-do ALL of this if/when we replace the current TV. (sigh) artemis and Bob -- Most of our guests are like you. They are here to enjoy the island, not sit and watch "Days of Our Lives" (or whatever soaps exist today). We rent both via VRBO and an agency. (We can bump their bookings.) I see other people's ads that stress the GIANT TV setups; evidently a larger daily requirement than I'd have thought. You can see our condo and our competition -- 1BR 2Bath Ocean View at Maui Kamaole in South Kihei. I want to get the TV situation settled before calling a photographer for new photos of the condo. (We are the "Many Happy Returns" ad.) raee -- We are getting programming as part of the deal. At one time we had to pay extra for HD; not now. chloecat -- What is an Amazon Prime Box, please? I think we need cable just to get reception here; no OTA signal, and we are prohibited from installing a dish.

We have Comcast Xfinity as my DH loves tennis. We pay almost three hundred. We also have Apple tv, firestick, and many others. I never watch tv until 8 at night. Then I watch a good movie, usually foreign. Because I am deaf with an implant and two hearing aids, I can only use CC as I can't understand a word when the people talk over each other so that limits my t.v. time. I'm actually ok with that as I accomplish more by myself in my studio plus doing chores. My daughter just gave me a home pod and I love it. I can turn the music up to the max and hear it yet, even then, I limit myself. Oh, and with the home pod, my 3-year old great grand Dylan and I can dance all over the place lol. It's the best feeling. We have Spectrum in Maine but we can't go yet as they closed down to out of staters.

We had to add a Firestick to a smart TV because our smart TV was not able to update so that we could add the apps we wanted. Its an older (7 years) smart TV that came with a few apps. I bought a smart tv and a few years later it would no longer connect to my home wifi. Tried everything, ATT my carrier couldn't figure out the problem. So I finally called one of my engineering alumni who is a senior tech mgr at the tv manufacturer. He explained that indeed, the television makers do not continue to upgrade the software so at some point smart tv sets go dumb LOL I used roku for streaming apps quite happily for awhile along with UVerse from ATT for tv. That was fine till last Christmas when UVerse and our wifi went down on Dec 22 and were gone for a full week(!). I was already planning to cut cable at some point since UVerse is no longer a supported product thus no more annual phone call where you threaten to cancel and they lop off a third of the monthly cost. Price was ridiculous and I just needed a nudge to cancel. Ended up with XFinity (Comcast) wifi that came with several free apps including Peacock for a year. I was already a Hulu customer so I signed up for Hulu Plus Live tv ad free. It's not cheap at $90/month but UVerse was $150/month so I'm still ahead. I may go down a level or two on the Hulu because I don't think I need ad-free. Didn't realize you can record shows and FF through ads on replay which is how I watch 99% of my television. I like it ok, it's sort of a pain to get to things like local/national news on Hulu with a series of clicks and slides but overall I'm glad we are finally cable free. The XFinity wifi is a lot faster than the ATT wifi although we still get occasional buffer pauses.