Advice Needed: Cutting Cable TV

[IronMonster]

Yeah, My question is why do you need a replacement? We had cable at the house in Seattle which I never watched... When we moved to Idaho simply did not hook it up, been almost two years and I have not even thought about not having it until I read this thread.

I suppose it takes a bit to get over the adjustment, but once you do it's not like you miss TV.

 

[308]

Books?!....Who the heck reads those anymore?...

I used to read a lot then got lazy, or maybe it's because my eyes are not good anymore
Recently I've been listening to books with the Audible.com app and have made it through 25 books in the last couple months and now I am 10 months into the One Year Chronological Bible. This all seems to work well with my brain and can usually describe in great detail everything I have listened to...much better retention than when I read visually.

 

[notazombie]

Andy, I'm currently building a new house. My wife had only one request. Was it fancy counter tops? Huge closet? Heated bathroom floors? Steam shower? Nope, she wanted a library.
Nerd.

I'm about 5 months without satellite now. Use Netflix mostly although my wife probably uses Hulu the most. When the new house is done we'll probably get a large antenna since it's on a hill. Current accommodations are in a low spot surrounded by trees so an antenna probably wouldn't be of much use right now.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Having a library in your house and "reading room" is a wonderful thing.
I own more books than I can count...Need to get a picture or two of my library up and posted.

Audio books are a great way to go as well...we listen to those while on road trips.
Andy

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

I quit cable in 1985; still breathing, and bought an ATV with the money..

No internet either! Working off our 4G when not in town with free wifi.

Tried Hughes Net for 8 years...fail. The nearest cables is 3 miles down the hill.

Simple antenna gets 20+some stations.

Edit: we try not to support the liberals in the entertainment industry.

 

[JRuby]

We get over 32 channels on a set of rabbit ears in my wife's sewing room. I actually like it better than dish. At 3:00lpm Laugh in comes on. It is interesting that when they talk about the future it's 20 years in the past. I like old tv shows. Just a quirk of mine.

 

[Jamie6.5]

Chances are, you can build a better antenna than you can buy, if you want local news, weather etc, or if you're still into sports etc.
Search on "Gray-Hoverman" and get the plans, or head over to YouTube to see some examples.

Great range, UHF/VHF capability and it's free once it's up. I can get 44 channels out of PDX from 60 miles out. And the networks are in HD, with no compression, so I get a better picture than with Sat/Cable.

And, that way when there's nothing on you want to watch, you don't tend to resent the fact that you're paying for nothing.

 

[techiej]

Dropped cable/sat for TV about 7 years ago. Do have a high speed internet connection so still have Comcast. With a Roku and my Playlater setup we get all of the TV & movies that we would want to see.

 

[DONOTBUGME]

I wanted to cut the cord and get rid of my $135.00 a month cable/internet bill. However, when I called comcast, internet only was $90 a month. So add in netflix and Hulu and I am pretty much right back where I started. I called century link, and they only offered a speed of 20 down and 2 up for $50 a month, which would be great bandwidth if it was 2005. That is their fastest speed! My internet bandwidth with comcast is 30 down and 7 up.

 

[notazombie]

20 is still plenty for multiple simultaneous streaming devices.

 

[ikemay]

We just use Netflix , Amazon Prime and Hulu...

If I may suggest , maybe you could get acquainted with the local library and a used book store...
There are whole worlds out there to discover in the reading of books.

Books?!....Who the heck reads those anymore?...
Well what did ya expect from a guy who regularly shoots and hunts with antique guns?...
Andy

We cut satellite years ago. We now use the library for dvd's ...... movies, television shows, etc. Oh, and yes books, lots of books. We have a Roku box which has different "free" t.v/movie channels, they have some commercials but not too bad. Also, KIRO 7 and King 5 stream live off Roku, free but has all the regular commercials. KOMO 4 streams some content, but I never find it actually happening.

We nuked Netflix long ago. Tried Amazon, Hulu and few others but didn't really find anything worth paying the subscription price for.

 

[albin25]

Like any commodity...
...crap, is always best when it's free.
Un-like any commodity...
...there will never be a shortage of crap.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Dropped cable 8 years ago and havnt missed it since. We do Amazon Prime and Netflix and then stream any thing else we could ever want. The savings alone pay for fun stuff. Our bundle ( cable, wifi, and phone) was over $200 a month, and we watched maybe 10 channels. Now we can watch diffrent things at the same time, stream music, and talk on the phone, all for less then the wifi alone cost us in the past. We have Frontier for wifi, and att&t for cell phone, total bill is less then $70 a month. I wouldnt add multiple streaming options, just pick one and Amazon Prime amd be done! Keep your cell service separate and you will save a ton!

 

[peternov01]

we have been using a roku for about 8 or so years now, just got a streaming stick+ for 70 (69.99) and put it on a new tv in the basement and it is picking up the wifi of neighbors across the street and two houses down. it's even capable of 4k, not that we have a 4k tv but we might in a few years i guess.

 

[Kruel J]

Like others have said, I dropped cable TV 4 years ago. Netflix and Hulu. And high speed internet.

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

20 is still plenty for multiple simultaneous streaming devices.

Century Link lies. They advertise 20 but only provide 5 to 7Mbps.

 

[ikemay]

Century Link lies. They advertise 20 but only provide 5 to 7Mbps.

You might get 20 if you stick to sites "inside" their network. Once you go to sites "outside" their network it probably drops. That's why all the ISP's say speeds "up to". But yeah ..... very misleading.

 

[Caveman Jim]

man, your kids lucky! my parents told me and my brother that driving is a priveledge and if we wanted to drive we would have to get jobs to help pay for car insurance.

Same here and we did it on our own, my older brother & I worked at the same place.

 

[Alexx1401]

I asked this same question on another forum, and the answers I got were about 5% helpful, and 95% technospeak.




Thanks!

TV is now digital. So if you want the free stuff it all depends on where you live. The signal has to have almost line of sight. So farther you are away from towers the better antenna you need. Many sites will let you put in your address and tell you what you need.
Now for everything else. If you have access to cable high speed internet that is the way to go. I started with 3Mbps years ago. Worked great. One kid moved back in so I bumped it to 6MBPS, again fine. Then Wife started watching both Netflix and Hulu, bumped it again to 12MBPS. Cost is just under $40 a month here. With that 3 of us can be watching stuff and all is fine. To me Hulu, Amzon Prime, and Netflix are all great. Try any one of them and see what you think. Now DSL. If you can get cable internet do so. I have never in my life seen anyone I actually know try DSL who was happy with it unless it was the only choice available. One of the big ones Century Link has changed hands and changed names multiple times. This is in my opinion because they have such a piss poor reputation. With cable every time you add something, new device or such it just works. Every single person I have ever helped who had DSL it was a long frustrating hassle on the phone every time you tried to change anything. If you don't have a smart TV I would look into one. They have gotten so damn cheap now and make this a lot easier.

 

[RicInOR]

Toms
How to Watch Live TV Online - Streaming TV Services - Tom's Guide


Amazon Prime - free shipping, the streaming is free then. Or, you can say 9/mo for streaming and get free free shipping.
Plus you can add premium channels should you want them - need Game of Thrones - HBO can be added.
Homeland - Showtime can be added.

What is different between Netflix and Amazon ? Network specific shows. There is much overlap tho.

Do you need live sports? That is currently the big bug-a-boo.
Do you need to watch as the shows air ( as opposed to the following day ) ?
If not, your decision to cut the cord is pretty simple.

Hulu Plus - has most of the currently running shows.


I used to have a ROKU, my Connected TV is about 4 years old so some things are no longer working ( Youtube for one ) I also have a connected BluRay player - same deal, some things no longer work.
We just got a FireStick. It is pretty good.

I have heard good things about current GameSystems - as noted above.

You can also roll your own - get a PC - does not have to be high end - and get a DVR like service on it.