Cutting the Cable; Lessons Learned

[Custom Eyes]

Originally Posted by eriksat1

I would cut the cable (Dish Network) in a heart beat if I was able to get a decent internet at my house. 2019 and the only thing I can get at my house is slow as crap DSL can't even watch netflix without buffering every few minutes. I kept the satellite tv and cut the dsl. Oh yea one more thing CenturyLink SUCKS!!

Same DISH and internet problem here. We only have internet from the cell towers available here, so I use a Verizon Jetpack. My 15gig data limit lasts about 2-3 Netflix movies streaming from Chromecast to the TV, even on low resolution, then the speed slows and it's starts buffering. Plus, then all my internet connections are slowed to that unbearable speed until my next billing cycle.

[pjshorthorn]

Originally Posted by mjayn

Paragraphs please. Its really hard to read.

I have been off cable for 14 months now.

I have the Nvidia shield and a couple of Miboxes. basically turbo charged fire sticks with full android OS installs.

I use my antennae for local channels as well as free andriod versions of IPTVs. They have some channels.

Then I picked up YoutubeTV just to take the edge off. Its a nice system, sports, all Networks, DVR, guide all that. I believe this is the service that can be a good transition for cutting cable. I am learning more and more and finding more and more ways to watch what I and everyone else watches. So I will be hopefully getting rid of Youtube TV soon.Hulu, Sling and a few others are similar and they all can probably play a similar role.

I will copy your post and try to split it up. Maybe I can help with specific questions. But looking at this little screen I cant read it.

Feel free to PM me if you want. But YoutubeTV(Hulu, Sling) is main suggestion for transition.

It could have been in green font to pizz you off even more

PjShorthorn

[Custom Eyes]

Originally Posted by pjshorthorn

It could have been in green font to pizz you off even more

PjShorthorn

Or discuss pizza in all green fonts. That will get him really going.

[pjshorthorn]

Originally Posted by Custom Eyes

Or discuss pizza in all green fonts. That will get him really going.

Lime is wrong on a lot of different levels, but this may be the tops.

PjShorthorn

[mjayn]

Originally Posted by Hot Runr Guy

You mentioned Comcast above, are you eligible for their Xfinity Mobile service? I finally converted the last of my AT&T cell phones to Xfinity Mobile a couple of weeks ago.

HRG

I am not sure. I only have internet from comcast, nothing else. That sounds like another chance for comcast to force a bundle. But I will check it out, my cell contract is up in 2 months, thx.

[Hot Runr Guy]

Originally Posted by mjayn

I am not sure. I only have internet from comcast, nothing else. That sounds like another chance for comcast to force a bundle. But I will check it out, my cell contract is up in 2 months, thx.

All you need is internet, and it's not part of a "bundle", it's a separate account. Maybe not for everyone, but it's saving me money.

HRG

[KATatonic]

We cut the cord in '08 when the economy started tanking. Job was looking sketchy and ultimately I did end up unemployed for a bit.

We have OTA on 3 TV's with excellent picture quality. We have a TIVO DVR that works on 2 of the TV's. Finally a netflix account along with Amazon Prime Video. I think initial investment was about $400 and $20 a month for the streaming services.

The only thing I miss is Blackhawk games but this year missing them isn't a bad thing. Wow what a bad season.

[REW]

MJ,
You indicated that cell phones are a whole additional thing.

However, I am interested in what folks pay for all of their monthly electronics, including their cell phone bill for everyone in the home.

After all, the cell and or land phone has to come out of the household budget every month as well as other expenses.

Be safe

[buckaroo]

We dropped cable in 2003. Now we just have antenna. And books. And the internet. No Netflix or anything else. But we do binge watch some shows on dvd and Blu-ray. Don’t miss cable or satellite at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bigdaddyguns]

I dropped Comcast video service at the end of Dec when my contract was up. I was paying $175/mo for bundled video plus internet. I got tired of the customer retention dance to shave some percentage off the monthly bill for a 2 yr contract. I retained Comcast internet and bumped the speed up to 400 Mb/s for $85/mo. With internet only service there are no additional fees and taxes which always seemed to creep up with the bundled service packages.

I am running PlayStation Vue for cable channel content which is about equivalent to my previous Comcast channels for $50/mo. So I am saving $40/mo on recurring expenses. No contract with PS Vue just a month to month subscription. The other attractive feature on PS Vue is the client integration into my new TV. I don't need another box to get PS Vue on the set. The picture quality is very good and stable. The DVR and On-Demand is really nice too and allows you to fast forward thru commercials.

I have Amazon Prime Video client/app on the set but don't watch it much. Also have OTA antenna hookup. The TV provides a guide for the OTA channels and has a 90 min rewind buffer on the current channel you are watching. No DVR capabilities but does allow to rewinds content and skip around.

I am running a home theater PC (HTPC) as another input to TV. HTPC has integrated OTA tuner and PVR. Using Kodi as a front-end client for the PVR and other media files I have stored on that server. Also running Windows Media Center to serve up video content to some Xboxs sprinkled around the home net to get live and PVR services to those sets.

One negative parting shot with PS VUE is watching via a PS3 box. It is a total dog on a PS3 and unusable. I have some PS4s and the PS Vue guide and video are very good and crisp with that hardware device.

So far I am very satisfied with dropping Comcast video and going over the top with PS Vue. The one thing I have to manage now is total data volume on my internet service. Comcast has a 1 Terabyte data limit per month. Early in January my kids were around streaming a lot of 4k video which drove my data consumption up quickly to 400 GB. I am at 600 GB so far for the month with a week to go so I should be okay.