Insight was on site today at home looking at my cable modem problems. Turns out, as I expected and has happened before, the signal going to the outside tap at my house had dropped. They’re going to work on it, but that happens with a different crew and they don’t need me for that. The Internet works if I move the modem to the basement (one splitter closer to where it comes into the house,) so I’m still online. Just an annoyance.

I also called Insight to see if I could save money on my bill. I cancelled HBO, so I’ll just have to hang with Chuck or Nate if I want to watch the next season of the Sopranos. (And all the older seasons, if you can sit through them, are on DVD.) I decided that, for the first month or two, I didn’t want to give up the cable box/HD/DVR capabilities yet. In fact, I ordered an upgrade … The dual tuner model of their DVR is only a nickel more than the single tuner for the next 12 months (then it’s $3 more per month.) So that’s getting upgraded next week. In the meantime, I’ll just watch my pennies and if things get tight I’ll cut down to just the extended cable plan (gotta have my comedy central.)

But, with football starting, and ESPN and FOX in HD, I don’t really want to get rid of the HD pak yet. That, and then basketball starts I want to have a digital box so I can either see the games in HD if possible, or order the Full Court games/days I want.

The other choice is that I get a digital pak (meaning some select digital cable channels) for free. I’m currently getting the sports one, but I’m considering changing it to the family one. (That way, if mom ever visits, she can have her discovery health. *shudder* Oh God, it would even be on DVR, so it could be rewatched and rewound. Ew.) I’m a little annoyed that would mean missing the SciFi channel, but in reality I never watch any of these extended channels (sorry Josh, I just don’t get up to the golf channel,) so it doesn’t really matter (and it doesn’t save me money.) Here are the paks:

Movie Pak
502 WE: Women’s Entertainment
503 Independent Film Channel
504 Fox Movie Channel
505 Lifetime Movie Network
506 Sundance Channel
516 Encore Wam
517 Encore
519 Encore Love
521 Encore Mystery
523 Encore Westerns
527 Encore Drama
529 Encore Action

Sports & Lifestyle Pak
160 Sci-Fi Channel
161 GSN
163 SOAPnet
164 Fox Reality Channel
273 Bloomberg
274 History International
275 GAS
401 Fox Soccer Channel
402 ESPNEWS
403 ESPN Classic
404 Outdoor Life
405 Golf Channel, The
406 NFL Network
407 CSTV
409 Fuse
410 MTV Hits

Family Pak
120 Noggin
121 Discovery Kids
122 Biography Channel, The
123 Discovery Home
124 Discovery Times
125 Military Channel
127 Toon Disney
128 Nicktoons
130 DIY Network
131 Fine Living
162 BBC America
220 Discovery Health
272 Science Channel, The
276 VH1 Classic
277 VH1 Country
278 VH1 Soul