We've officially done it. Our "cord" has been cut. Well... by cord, I mean, satellite connection.
TWC Speedtest "Before"
More important than the the cord we cut though, is the cord we had installed! It's a very small, glass cord that carries LOTS of data. A while back we found out that Empire Access offers fiber in our area (yes, Montour Falls, of all places). I pretty much called up immediately and ordered service.
What did we get? While they also offer TV and phone service, we got the 100/20 internet only package (they also offer a full gigabit option). That's 100 mbps down and 20 mbps up. All for just $50.
If you compare that to the Time Warner Cable I was paying for, it's just absurd. I had the standard TWC package (15 down/1 up) and was paying them $48/mo for that privilege. And that was after saving the $6 or $7 a month with my own cable modem. So it would probably be $55/mo normally. If you sign up for the standard package now, it's only $35. So I have basically been paying the price for Turbo but only getting Standard.
Fiber Speedtest "After"
When I called to cancel TWC the lady tried to offer me an upgrade to their Ultimate package - which is 50 down and 5 up - for $35/mo. Regretfully, I didn't ask how long that price would be good for. But honestly, I didn't care. There was no way in hell I was going to actually keep TWC. And frankly, to offer me still half of what Empire offers - even for less money is just insulting.
Canceling DirecTV was surprisingly easy. The guy on the phone just kind of asked up front if there was anything they could offer to keep me. Of course there isn't. So they're sending a box for me to send back the equipment in a couple days and then I'll be done. This will straight up save us $108/mo.
To make up for the lack of TV, we've got the usuals: Netflix and Hulu+. And I've also got Amazon Prime, but at the moment it's not too simple to stream that to either TV - but I have a Fire TV stick on the way to settle that. As long as the price is reasonable, I'll plan on picking up HBO Go in the spring when it's offered as a standalone service. Gotta have that Game of Thrones!
Empire's fiber service is available in a bunch of small towns right now (Bath, Odessa, Sayre, etc) and is coming to more later this year (Big Flats for sure, likely Elmira). No love for Corning yet though - apparently there are some political issues involved.
Oh... small bonus with the fiber install: it's all Corning fiber. ClearCurve, specifically. Have to support my own job when I can!