Jumping Ship

[garno]

We're losing the will to live. We work from home and have FTTC. BT cannot or will not provide ad date for FTTP. So we're going to the dark-side. County Broadband have just installed fibre in our area. My question is we have EE TV, Netflix, Disney, Youtube, Amazon etc. Can we keep the BT TV or do we have to order the lot through County Broadband? I'd ask them myself but their CS is dreadful. 

[rbz5416]

BT can't tell you because they don't know.

You can only have EE TV in conjunction with a BT/EE broadband package. You can go direct to Now for the Sky packages & can have a monthly TNT Sports pack (at a premium price), but you won't be able to record any of it.

[garno]

Thx for that. Not good but loading large csv files, graphics, gaming and multiple devices connected just doesn't work at 26 Mbps. Hey ho....

[JonUK]

If you intend to go with another ISP you will lose direct access to BT/EE TV and have to return the BT/EE TV box.

Your chosen ISP does not supply a TV service, so won't supply a TV box.

Best bet will be to get an Apple 4k TV and install the required APPS on it.

[garno]

Ah that's how it works thanks. We have new Samsung frames with all the apps so I should be good to go

[Hunter2660]

I hate to mention it, but there's always Sky Stream. You're not tied to any ISP and, to be honest, not much dearer than EETV with HD pack included. It's an option.

[garno]

not aware of that so another option on my list. Many thanks

[stereohaven]

@garno There are some great threads on cord cutting over on AV Forums,  where the Apple TV is the recommended device for many due to it's quality, power and VPN capability. 

Alternatively, nothing to stop you buying a BT Pro Box off of eBay or similar if you have an aerial and want to use that as a Freeview PVR for recording some channels and the apps on the Samsung for other viewing. 

A few other top tips:

• NOW TV is cheaper and more flexible direct even if you can't record - always cancel on repeat to get the best deal
• TNT Sports + Discovery+ is vastly overpriced for what it is, but it can be bought as an add-on with some EE mobile services as a side benefit for much less
• Freely is due to launch in Q2, which is official Freeview over broadband. It may only be available in some TVs at launch but it's offering will develop over the next 12 months according to Cordbusters, so you may not need an aerial at all
• If you do have an aerial or satellite dish, your Samsung can usually record at least 1 channel at a time like a PVR if you plug a hard drive into it
• itvX premium and Channel 4+ both deliver live streams and catch up in HD without ads on many devices and are quite cheap. They are shadows of themselves on the Pro Box which doesn't include live streams or HD, even if you pay

[Midnight_Voice]

@garno 

Most everything is covered above, but just to emphasise that you will have to contract individually with each  streaming app service that you want when you switch to CS, and do it independently of them.

With Now, with each Membership you sign up to (Entertainment, Cinema, Sports, Boost, etc.), avoid the Now discounted offers with the six-month lock-in, and just take the straight month-to-month on each, discounted if available, but otherwise list price.

As soon as you have any Membership at list price, you can play the Cancel game; start the cancel process, and somewhere in the process you should get an automatically offered discount for a number of subsequent months forward. You should break even against the six-month deal in month three, or even month two, after which it’s all upside.

When the discount is coming to an end, repeat the Cancel process, get a further discount.

If the unthinkable happens, and you get right through the cancel without a discount being offered because Now are playing hardball, you can just Uncancel straight away, and be back in where you left off 😛

[garno]

Really appreciate this advise on content and price including availability you've provided. Many thanks best garno