Cutting the cord

[uabericm]

I’ve been trying to cut the cable TV cord for years. 10+ years ago, I had Windows Media Server connected to the TV with a Bluetooth keyboard that had an integrated mouse. It was a battle and after a few months, I was back on cable/satellite.

Now jump forwards 10 years, and I’ve now been with PlayStation Vue for over a year. The services have finally got it figured out to meet my needs. All I’ve ever needed are the sports channels and the HGTV for the wife.

But now, I’m irritated. PSVue has just installed another price increase and it will now be 49.99/mo. I’m almost back to the cable/satellite prices. PSVue started at 33.99 or 35.99 (I can’t remember). So does anyone have any other streaming services they recommend or can talk me off the cliff from leaving PSVue?


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[lopott]

We have:

HD antennae directional
AT&T unlimited data = directTV now for $10 a month and free HBO
use apple TV and Roku for individual channels (bravo, espn, nbc sports) with directTV now log on
Ooma home phone
Netflix and Amazon Prime
dumped Hulu too much overlap
We run the eero mesh network and decent cable internet speed

all in all save about $60/month

by the way when you push guide on over the air TV it comes up just like the cable guide. Works great.

[waterbuffalo]

Cutting the cord

We have Comcast for the internet speeds (fastest in our area). And we have the package with the cable (which we don’t ever use) it just makes the package deal cheaper.


The rest we and HD antennas on every TV just to get the kids channels ( that they now took off, to make people pay for it [emoji35]). So now we use Netflix for the kids stuff, movies, etc, etc. edit; oh and we have roku!!

DirectTV, sucks balls, never had so many television problems in my life. AT&T is just as bad on their internet service.

I’m pulling up a chair and watching this thread because I was too wondering the same. What are you guys doing with cutting the cord??

[dvsone79]

HD antennas for OTA channels. AT&T Uverse for ISP @ $40 per month. SlingTV for $20mo, plus $5 per month extra for sports channels that I only subscribe to during college football (ESPN). And Amazon Prime TV which is a streaming service very similar to Netflix. If you already have $100 per year Prime membership then Prime streaming is included. So $65 total for internet and TV. We subscribed to Amazon Prime long before this just for free shipping for all we buy from them. But if you want to add that into your monthly cost breakdown, it works out to roughly $8 per month (similar cost to Netflix which I think is $10/mo). We use a FireTV as our media device.

[dvsone79]

For the record, if you’re subscribing to one of the internet tv streaming options (Sling, PlayStation Vue, DirecTV Now, etc), it isn’t really cutting the cord. Its just a different, albeit more modern and cost effective, alternative to cable/satellite. I think that is where the “cable/satellite” industry is headed. Comcast/WOW (or whoever your current ISP is) will still be the provider of your internet and TV, the TV will just be delivered differently. And with the death of net neutrality will come the inevitable throttling. They’ll start throttling back the speeds of your streaming content and charge you more for an internet plan that is “optimized for TV streaming”.

[dvsone79]

Google Fiber just launched in my city (Huntsville, AL). It isn’t available at my house yet but my brother has it and it is blazing fast. He’s getting download speeds that surpass typical write speeds of a computer’s hard drive. Basically means the internet connection isn’t the bottleneck anymore. When fiber optic internet becomes more prevalent, it will really get interesting. Streaming over connections with that much speed and bandwidth will be nothing. Cable TV and satellite literally won’t be able to compete. The only reason they can compete right now is because of how new the alternative services are, and the reluctance of current subscribers to try something that isn’t familiar. Another decade or so and cable tv will be extinct, along with satellite tv.

[mzimme]

Google Fiber just launched in my city (Huntsville, AL). It isn’t available at my house yet but my brother has it and it is blazing fast. He’s getting download speeds that surpass typical write speeds of a computer’s hard drive. Basically means the internet connection isn’t the bottleneck anymore. When fiber optic internet becomes more prevalent, it will really get interesting. Streaming over connections with that much speed and bandwidth will be nothing. Cable TV and satellite literally won’t be able to compete. The only reason they can compete right now is because of how new the alternative services are, and the reluctance of current subscribers to try something that isn’t familiar. Another decade or so and cable tv will be extinct, along with satellite tv.

Ive got Google Fiber in KC. I subscribe to the gigabit service and it's a consistent 300mbps on most wireless devices (like your typical cell phone) and up to 8-900mbps on a hard line. Its great.

[Shaun R]

Signed up for directtv now as it was 35 a month and I got a free Apple TV. It gives me the sports channels I want with little extra. I won’t go back to traditional cable and lived without it for a year, but it’s nice to watch F1 and other racing programs not always available online.

[jon_thornton]

We did directv now as well and love it.

[ProStar190Fan]

I'm in the opposite boat; we kept our cable tv/internet plan however I own all of our equipment which makes the cost come way down, I have ooma for the phone but the quality is driving me crazy and I'm going to go back to the triple play.

If you own your own gear cable still I think is worth it. I purchased the Bolt+ with lifetime access to tivo, and have tivo minis throughout the house, the modem is also ours.

In Chicago I use on the "Latino" X1 preferred double play to save $20/month which comes out to $89.99/month for two years. It normally comes with 150mbps down and 15 up but I need the increase for work to 300 down and 30 up and that adds $20 to the bill. Taxes and other "fees" come out to $18.19.

Especially when you pair it with xFinity Mobile or whatever theyre calling it today, the savings definitely add up.

Keep in mind Xfinity Mobile is a VMNO on the Verizon backbone.

-Tom

[hondaprlud]

We “cut” years ago. Honestly it’s probably time to re-evaluate. We have a TiVo with lifetime (and some minis) which helped the wife and kids with the transition from DVR/cable to DVR/over the air. One OTA antenna serves 4 TVs. Netflix, Amazon prime video (just because we already paid) and Sling when our teams are in the playoffs.[emoji6].

My internet is $60 @ 100mbps down.

Iirc my all in costs took about 8 months to get to positive.


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[h_2_o]

unlimited internet service, directv now, google voice.

right now i'm playing the switch to another e-mail after the x month promotion runs out with direct tv now. my total bill for all 3 is $70/month not bad considering what i was paying. I do live in a rural area and have to deal with dsl because mediacom is our cable provider and they just suck. just remember if you play the promo game with directv now they only accept the same cc number on 2 different accounts. I've been adding and removing e-mail addresses from paypal they have not figured a way around that yet.

[Covi]

4 + years ago my Sony TV decided it wanted to fail. The tv was only 3-4 yo. I was told they don’t make them like they used to and it would cost more to fix than replace. I through the tv in the landfill and never looked back.

We haven’t had a tv in the house since and I love it. I have a HD projector and watch my sports and 1 show / movie in the evening if I have time. I get the news from the internet.

I have the Direct TV app, NBC sports gold, and Netflix. Life is good.

[FoggyNogginz]

Google Fiber just launched in my city (Huntsville, AL). It isn’t available at my house yet but my brother has it and it is blazing fast. He’s getting download speeds that surpass typical write speeds of a computer’s hard drive. Basically means the internet connection isn’t the bottleneck anymore. When fiber optic internet becomes more prevalent, it will really get interesting. Streaming over connections with that much speed and bandwidth will be nothing. Cable TV and satellite literally won’t be able to compete. The only reason they can compete right now is because of how new the alternative services are, and the reluctance of current subscribers to try something that isn’t familiar. Another decade or so and cable tv will be extinct, along with satellite tv.

Google Fiber - up to 1000Mbps, or 1 Gbps advertised.
Comcast in Nashville TN - same.as above, and I often get more in the mornings.
Disk speed in MacBook or Surface Book SSD - 2 to 3 Gbps

There are over 60 million homes in the United States alone with cable connections already to their houses, and millions of miles of cables already in the ground. Cable isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

[jsx30]

We cancelled our cable a few years ago. It was funny that our kids didn't notice for a few weeks.
We have amazon, Netflix, and Hulu. The only time I miss cable is during football season and the game I want to watch is on abc. Hulu or our hd antennae covers the rest of the channels for sports. I got a good deal at the lake for cable and we have it there for now. I really like using the roku products. They seem to work much better than using the built in TV apps...