Alternatives to Tulsa Cable
Larry Moffett
Has anyone researched the alternatives to Tulsa Cable?
I would be interested in what you looked at, pricing and any conclusions
that you came to. I want to get "Unconnected from TCI" as soon as
possible.
thanks -- Larry
FoxFan
Wireless Cable. They broadcast via microwaves, contain HBO and Cinemax
as part of the basic service, and are only around $29.95 per month.
They have a shop at Eastland Mall if you want to learn more, last time I
was there it was near the elevator. I was going to subscribe to them but
there is a large hill between my house and the transmitter tower that
prevents a clear signal.
Meanwhile, for those of us stuck with TCI, pardon my shameless plug and
check out my web page containing the new channel lineup, with links to
as many networks and cable channels I could find. It's at
http://members.aol.com/mctulsaok
BTW, are you the same Larry Moffett who taught at Booker T. some fifteen
years ago? If so I was one of your students.
Ray Russell
I've had DirecTV since about June of '94. Got fed up with problems with
TCI reception. They even tried to blame my equipment. Never could get the
problems squared away. I've been very pleased with DTV.
Check Out:
http://www.dbsdish.com/
http://minot.ndak.net/~brichard/dss.html
--
Ray Russell
rrus...@ionet.net
Larry Moffett <mof...@ionet.net> wrote in article
<32C811...@ionet.net>...
bamlock
just one thing to remember while looking
Primestar = TCI (same company)
--
bam...@ionet.net
{whats wrong with america is
not always the GOV'T but it's
a good place to start}
Scott Rule IOS
Has anyone researched the alternatives to Tulsa Cable?
I would be interested in what you looked at, pricing and any conclusions
that you came to. I want to get "Unconnected from TCI" as soon as
possible.
thanks -- Larry
I am thinking about switching to Heartland cable, but they will have to
install an antenna to receive the microwave signal from a transmitter
in Sand Springs, I won't know until Jan 7th how tall the antenna will
need to be (this is line of sight reception, same as Direct TV but the
signal comes from a tall tower instead of a Satellite) this is sort of
a drawback since it does not look good for your house in the city to have
some sort of broadcast station looking antenna on top of it, but depending
on your location this might not be the case..
Something to consider is this, if you decide to go with Direct TV or
Primestar you will not get the local NBC, CBS, ABC or FOX stations, you
will also have to put up $200-$300 up front for equipment (Yes, you get
some free programming, but once you spend that kind of money it makes it
hard to switch back to some other service), plus if you have more than 1
TV in your home you will need to buy another $100 to $200 receiver which
can tune in the stations to show up on your televison (These things to me
are the biggest drawbacks of the dish), I would wait and in a few years
you should be able to pipe the signal received from the dish directly to
your cable ready TV and select them with the existing TV or VCR tuner.
Now, as far as HeartLand cable goes, this is sort of what they do, the
signal received by their antenna is connected to the coax at you home, all
TV's and VCR's can tune in the channels without a special receiver (But the
channel numbers will not agree with the TV guide, a small price to pay) but
you will get a higher resolution signal (does not really matter with TV's
which are in most homes), and you will get all the local channels 2,6,8,11
and 23 and it is like TCI (1 monthly fee which you can quit at anytime)
and this is for $29.95/month. The number is 1-800-880-0292.
This is HeartLands list of channels:
Lifetime, TNN, CMT, The Weather Channel, Discovery, ESPN,
Primesports, CNN, CNN Headline News, TNT, USA, TBS, Nickalodean,
The Cartoon Network, Disney, Family Channel, AMC, A&E,
The History Channel, WGN, The Science-Fiction channel,
MTV, 2(NBC local), 6(CBS Local), 8(ABC Local), 11 & 23(FOX local),
HBO 1, HBO 2
as a bonus they give you CINAMAX free for 1 year, then its $7.95/mo
As far as Pay-Per-View events go, they offer them with a phone
call to their office.
Steve Bowen
Scott, is your list complete? Does Heartland offer C-SPAN?
On Thu, 2 Jan 1997 22:23:23 GMT, sco...@ssd.fsi.com (Scott Rule IOS)
wrote:
Josh McCormick
: > Has anyone researched the alternatives to Tulsa Cable?
: > I would be interested in what you looked at, pricing and any conclusions
: > that you came to. I want to get "Unconnected from TCI" as soon as
: > possible.
Myself, I put services like Heartland and the Dish Network in the same
category. Sure, Heartland carries the local channel, but the selection
available on both of them is actually quite tiny compared to a DSS
(DirecTV/USSB) system.
The advantage of a DSS system is that there is a huge channel selection,
and the picture and sound quality is excellent. My brother, who is
upgrading from a Heartland system to a DSS system, recently complained about
the lack of stereo sound on Heartland.
What I am trying to say is that if you're simply wanting to unhook from
TCI, Heartland Wireless or the Dish Network, or something similar is a
good choice.
But if you are looking for something far superior to TCI, a digital
satellite system (or even a real satellite dish) is the best way to go.
--
=====================================================================
== Josh McCormick Galaxy Star Systems ==
== jmc...@galstar.com Providing Quality Internet Access ==
== Systems Administrator WWW: http://www.galstar.com/~jmccorm ==
=====================================================================
Don J. Singleton
Josh McCormick (jmc...@galstar.com) wrote:
: : > Has anyone researched the alternatives to Tulsa Cable?
: What I am trying to say is that if you're simply wanting to unhook from
: good choice.
: But if you are looking for something far superior to TCI, a digital
: satellite system (or even a real satellite dish) is the best way to go.
What do you do about the local news, etc. Clearly an A-B Switch could
be used to switch between the digital system and an antenna, but is there
any way to do that switching using a remote channel changer from the
digital satellite dish?
And if one is upset at TCI, is one not faced with choosing between one
satellite dish company which they own, or going with one that ends up
sending your money out of state, and hence not contributing to the
Oklahoma economy. Are there any good small dish systems run by Oklahoma
based companies other that TCI?
And since we are having this discussion on the internet, to try to tie it
in, do any of the mini-dish systems have or plan in the near future to
have, any sort of Internet Access.
--
Don Singleton, President, Tulsa Computer Society
voice (918) 622-3417
internet t...@galstar.com d...@ionet.net
Steve Bowen
On 5 Jan 1997 14:57:13 GMT, d...@ionet.net (Don J. Singleton) wrote:
>Josh McCormick (jmc...@galstar.com) wrote:
>: : > Has anyone researched the alternatives to Tulsa Cable?
<deleted>
>
>What do you do about the local news, etc. Clearly an A-B Switch could
>be used to switch between the digital system and an antenna, but is there
>any way to do that switching using a remote channel changer from the
>digital satellite dish?
>
>And if one is upset at TCI, is one not faced with choosing between one
>satellite dish company which they own, or going with one that ends up
>sending your money out of state, and hence not contributing to the
>Oklahoma economy.
Last time I looked, TCI was not based in either Tulsa, or Oklahoma. I
think their money leaves the state just as well!
> Are there any good small dish systems run by Oklahoma
>based companies other that TCI?
<more deleted>
>Don Singleton, President, Tulsa Computer Society
Steve Bowen
Don J. Singleton
Steve Bowen (ste...@ionet.net) wrote:
: Last time I looked, TCI was not based in either Tulsa, or Oklahoma. I
: think their money leaves the state just as well!
Well they certainly indicate in their TV ads that much of the money stays
in Oklahoma. While that is no guarantee of validity, I do see a large
number of trucks driven by TCI employees, most of whom I suspect live in
the area, buy their groceries, etc here, etc.
I suspect the Oklahoma TCI payroll is a great deal greater than that of a
small 18" dish.
--
Don Singleton, President, Tulsa Computer Society
Steve Bowen
On 7 Jan 1997 05:19:27 GMT, d...@ionet.net (Don J. Singleton) wrote:
>Steve Bowen (ste...@ionet.net) wrote:
>
>: Last time I looked, TCI was not based in either Tulsa, or Oklahoma. I
>: think their money leaves the state just as well!
>
>Well they certainly indicate in their TV ads that much of the money stays
>in Oklahoma. While that is no guarantee of validity, I do see a large
>number of trucks driven by TCI employees, most of whom I suspect live in
>the area, buy their groceries, etc here, etc.
>
>I suspect the Oklahoma TCI payroll is a great deal greater than that of a
>small 18" dish.
That's an assumption you've made. The facts are much harder to get.
Are you including all the retailers who sell the dish? How many local
jobs can be attributed to these sales? Are you including the local
advertising? The installation contracts?
Remember when TCI's customer service was closed in Tulsa, and the jobs
moved to Denver?
>Don Singleton, President, Tulsa Computer Society
Steve Bowen
ste...@ionet.net
ste...@cottagesoft.com
Stephen Adams
Since recent changes to TCI reflect abitrary moves without the consent of us
"locals"...I say screw'em. If they are not going to provide the service that
we want then we take our dollars elsewhere. Moeny talks...bullcaca walks.
Clearly TCI is not interested in contributing to the OK economy.
Brad Smith
Hi,
I have been using Heartland Wireless Cable for a month now and I really
love it. It is nice to see local (2,6,8,11,23) channels CLEARLY for a
change! I thought at first that none of the channels had stereo sound,
but I was wrong. A lot of them are in stereo. Recent bad weather did
not seem to affect the signal, which can happen with microwave
transmissions.
Heartland is really overwhelmed with business, so bear with them if you
are waiting for them to come and install at your house. It will be
worth the wait. This system also works on all your cable-ready TV's and
VCR's.
TCI is digging their own grave. Too bad.
Roger
Interesting discussion as I am fed up with TCI. Don is right about a large
bit of the TCI revenue staying in Tulsa, but I suspect he may be wrong in
the contrast to the revenue of the "dish" people. According to a Tulsa
World article on TCI layoffs both nation wide and in the Tulsa market, the
Tulsa segment of TCI was going to be laying off "32 employees . . . " which
equals ". . . 9% of the Tulsa employees." When I do the math, that
suggests TCI employees around 360 people locally (before layoffs). That is
a stark contrast to the insert in the December TCI bills lashing out at
satellite companies and referencing the ". . . over 1000 jobs" in the Tulsa
market. A copy of both items to TCI both locally and nationally asking for
clarification has thus far resulted in no response. Though not always
true, in this case I think I am inclined to believe the newspaper account.
Anyway . . . both locally and state wide, the small dish systems are
creating a lot of full and part time work. In the Tulsa phone directory
alone, there are more than two dozen installers and service people plus at
least six dedicated dish dealers. Assuming similar numbers throughout the
state -- and let us not forget that, even in this day and age, in Oklahoma,
there is still more land area that is NOT cable available than is -- there
are plenty of people who can not get cable -- dish systems generate a fair
amount of local revenue. Equal to TCI? No way! But closer than a lot of
people (including TCI) would have you believe? I think so.
Anyway . . . something to think about.
Roger
Steve Bowen
Earlier in this thread, I asked whether Heartland offers C-SPAN, and
got no answer. Does Heartland offer C-SPAN, C-SPAN2 or both?
Steve Bowen
ste...@ionet.net
ste...@cottagesoft.com
Sue Miller
Heartland does not offer C-Span in this area, but I surely wish that
they did! Also would like to see the channel that a friend told me
about, which deals almost completely with computer information!
Heartland does provide a decent array of channel selection for a
reasonable price. And the reception is nearly always excellent! I'm
satisfied; just would like to see a more expansive channel selection!
Steve Bowen
On Sat, 25 Jan 1997 11:48:44 -0600, Sue Miller <dol...@ionet.net>
wrote:
>Heartland does not offer C-Span in this area, but I surely wish that
>they did!
Sorry to hear that. I guess it's the dish for me then...
Steve Bowen
ste...@ionet.net
ste...@cottagesoft.com