[Surferdude]

After pretty much 20 years, we finally decided Foxtel was no longer worth the $88 / month we pay.
In the beginning, ads were rare. Pretty much all the shows were new.
In recent years, there are as many ads as on FTA. About 80% of the shows we would watch are repeats.

I sent them an e-mail a couple of weeks ago detailing my concerns and telling them what we watch (although I'm sure they'd know that) and asking for their "recommendations".

They replied with an offer which would see us drop to $75 / month with "most" of the same access.

So yesterday I rang them to cancel the deal.

Over the course of the conversation we went down to $60 / month for the $75 deal.

Then to $40 / month with a very similar deal. Plus they'd throw in the latest box which allows recording of shows (so we could skip the ads) and a heap of other new technology.

And finally, just in case I changed my mind down the track, how about we leave you connected for $10/ month with 10 channels (didn't ask which ones).

No thank you. Maybe you should have offered me some of this BEFORE I contacted you and I MIGHT have been tempted.
As my son said a few years ago when he resigned from a company after failing to gain either recognition for his contributions OR a slight salary increase. (Where he went carried a 50% increase and a few other perks). They said, "Just tell us how much it'll cost to get you to stay"
His reply, "Too little' too late!"

So, now if when we get wireless broadband, if it costs us a little more than what we are paying now, we'll still be in front by about $800 to $900 pa. 

[Dazzler]

That's a big saving. 

As I've mentioned before, we have Foxtel on T-box for $19.50 P/M and for about 6 months of the year pay $25 extra for the Sport channels (mainly for the V8 Supercars). We will be switching that off on Monday.

We only get something like 11 channels for $19.50 but Trish enjoys the Discovery Channel, Lifestyle Channel and National Geographic and the kids watch a couple of others. So it does the trick for us. $25 for the V8's is a bit rich though seeing as Trish isn't keen on me using that TV to watch golf or tennis etc... Can only use Foxtel on Tbox on one TV at a time. Can switch but it takes time...

[Surferdude]

T Box is a Telstra thing isn't it?

[Dazzler]

T Box is a Telstra thing isn't it?

Yes, basic little PVR. They use a different thing now, but still support the T-box. I quite like the way they work, so I stocked up. We have 3 of them. You can rewind live TV and even streaming Foxtel by 30 minutes..

[beerman]

We have Netflix and Foxtel online. I don't think you get Ads on foxtel online.

Watch the AFL on my phone via the AFL app (you can put it up onto a TV but it limits the size to protect Foxtel this and the NRL are free to telstra customers.

[asathorny]

Good move 

[Hornet]

I have stopped the Foxtel rip off and now have FTA only. To replace all the so called "Foxtell Goodies" I have been setting up Kodi on the PC. I read most of the "Goodies" could be accessed via Kodi (+Wookie) and a VPN. After about 4 weeks I have now succeeded getting some sports channels, netflix, and several others. Still working on Australian sporting but had no luck so far. If I had my Grandkids here I am sure they would know how to open Kodi to more sites. Kodi is a complicated setup and I am sure other members, more IT knowledgeable, would get Kodi going in quick time. At Harvey Norman the other day and a gent in the IT section said he used Kodi for TV and Streaming. said it was great but difficult to setup.
Anyone experienced using Kodi?

[Surferdude]

I have stopped the Foxtel rip off and now have FTA only. To replace all the so called "Foxtell Goodies" I have been setting up Kodi on the PC. I read most of the "Goodies" could be accessed via Kodi (+Wookie) and a VPN. After about 4 weeks I have now succeeded getting some sports channels, netflix, and several others. Still working on Australian sporting but had no luck so far. If I had my Grandkids here I am sure they would know how to open Kodi to more sites. Kodi is a complicated setup and I am sure other members, more IT knowledgeable, would get Kodi going in quick time. At Harvey Norman the other day and a gent in the IT section said he used Kodi for TV and Streaming. said it was great but difficult to setup.
Anyone experienced using Kodi?

Never heard of it but will be visiting my son tomorrow.
Will check it out.

[The Gonz]

10 Best Kodi Live TV Add-ons for 2017

[The Gonz]

With my recent professional role teaching Spanish, I've taken to RTVE.es A la Carta, televisión y radio online gratis for a lot of free, ad free viewing. Well done Spanish TV.

[Hornet]

Thanks Gonz for the Link. There is a lot in there for me to experiment with.
Kodi appears to be OK in reviews, It is a free open source program that recommends one use a VPN to overcome Geo restrictions. I have had to uninstall and reinstall it about 6 times because of my lack of knowledge and I cannot find a comprehensive manual. I am slowly getting results but  younger children would be more capable and much faster than I. Will be good to get an opinion from the young ones.

[i30premy]

Hi All,
I've been running a Win7 Media PC for a number of years now, have an add in - Emby
Recently been having problems with reliabilty so WAF is detioriating so added a FetchTV Mighty to our system. Turns out it was a dodgy SSD which has now been replaced.
Have had a play with Kodi as it claims to be able to record FTA TV but I've never been successful in setting it up so will stick to WMC & Emby.

Mainly using as a PVR for FTA TV but it has a number of paid subsciption channels that you can sign up for.
Hadn't previously bothered but have just found out all the paid stuff is free for Dec 2018.
Fetch aslo has a couple of extra features as it can directly access catch up TV & also Netflix, Stan & other channels.
Might end up signing up for Netflix as son has done & he has set up a VPN and gets access to the US site - Aus only gets 30% of what's available there

[neptune]

what about the setup caravanners have where they use satellites to access 100's of tv channels for free......

[Dazzler]

what about the setup caravanners have where they use satellites to access 100's of tv channels for free......

That's called Avast (we have it as an alternative access to all free to air channels because we are in a fringe reception area)

We only use it if our regular signal gets patchy as you don't get your local news live and the adverts are for outback areas like Alice Springs and Mount Isa.

You get 100% of the free to air channels from around the whole country, but no extra sport or foxtel type stuff. 

[beerman]

Hi All,
I've been running a Win7 Media PC for a number of years now, have an add in - Emby
Recently been having problems with reliabilty so WAF is detioriating so added a FetchTV Mighty to our system. Turns out it was a dodgy SSD which has now been replaced.
Have had a play with Kodi as it claims to be able to record FTA TV but I've never been successful in setting it up so will stick to WMC & Emby.

Mainly using as a PVR for FTA TV but it has a number of paid subsciption channels that you can sign up for.
Hadn't previously bothered but have just found out all the paid stuff is free for Dec 2018.
Fetch aslo has a couple of extra features as it can directly access catch up TV & also Netflix, Stan & other channels.
Might end up signing up for Netflix as son has done & he has set up a VPN and gets access to the US site - Aus only gets 30% of what's available there

How is he getting US Netflix? It used to be easy as, now it is much harder....

[Surferdude]

[quotse author=Hornet link=topic=47322.msg447253#msg447253 date=1512169987]
I have stopped the Foxtel rip off and now have FTA only. To replace all the so called "Foxtell Goodies" I have been setting up Kodi on the PC. I read most of the "Goodies" could be accessed via Kodi (+Wookie) and a VPN. After about 4 weeks I have now succeeded getting some sports channels, netflix, and several others. Still working on Australian sporting but had no luck so far. If I had my Grandkids here I am sure they would know how to open Kodi to more sites. Kodi is a complicated setup and I am sure other members, more IT knowledgeable, would get Kodi going in quick time. At Harvey Norman the other day and a gent in the IT section said he used Kodi for TV and Streaming. said it was great but difficult to setup.
Anyone experienced using Kodi?

Never heard of it but will be visiting my son tomorrow.
Will check it out.
[/quote]
Cam has never head of it but tells me people accessing Stan/Netflix etc through the backdoor are risking prosecution now that metadata is being kept. Doesn't think  VPN will protect them if the rights holders get serious and apparently they are.

[i30premy]

How is he getting US Netflix? It used to be easy as, now it is much harder....

Has a 2nd router ($40) plugged into his 1st router and a VPN account (from $30USD?) & sets the origin as US.
Apparently plenty of VPN's have instructions on what settings to use.

A thread here on Whirlpool Netflix

[Aussie Keith]

@ $88 per month surely they are taking the piss in a major way. I particularly dislike the slashing and burning of the price to try and retain business. It really irritates me that they are happy to rob you until you decide you don't want to pay any more and only then will they offer you mates rates. Grrr...





We also have a Win 7 HT box with a tuner but instead of Kodi, I just have WMC. When I built it in 2012 I tried a few things and WMC was the best bang for the least amount of effort at the time and its been that way ever since.

Since Netflix, we rarely use it other than for Netflix of course, catch up TV, spotify, maybe some communal browsing. Regarding WAF, I can highly recommend the Logitech K400 or whatever the current model is.

Easy enough to run a software VPN like PIA.