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Cut the cord and save money (if you do it right)

jehb2

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We cut the cord a number of years ago. What I love is we switch programming services to suite our fancy and still save a bundle. I remember when I thought Tablo and Sling were the best thing since slice bread. Now I’m totally in love in YouTube TV. (Of course there’s always Amazon Prime since I get the free shipping).
 

Bucky

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It’s a great alternative for many, just not everybody. We tried it and decided to go back to DISH eventually. Costs us $20 more than cutting the cable did but far less hassle when things do go wrong. Now if something does go wrong, which it hasn’t, we pick up the phone and call DISH. when we were cordcutters and something went wrong, which it did, we kept getting the buck passed when we called for help. Was it Slings fault or Roku or Tablo, etc, etc. Actually never did find a DVR from a provider that we were totally happy with. Sling came the closest. Like I said, great but just not for everyone.
 

dioxide45

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We have cut the cord. Though still not technically because DirecTV no longer prorates the final bill and we are paid through July 5th. So we have to pay a full months bill even though I dug the dish out of the ground yesterday. Receivers are all disconnected and sitting in a box waiting for their recovery kit to arrive. We are thinking that we will just start using an indoor HD OTA antenna. Have looked at Sling and YouTube TV, but all of those are still expensive for far fewer channels. YouTube TV is $50 a month and at least you get local channels and their DVR feature seems pretty good, but it is still $50 a month. We were paying $110 for DirecTV. Add Amazon Prime and Netflix to that $50 and we aren't very far off what we were already paying.

If we are able to pick up a fair share of network broadcast channels OTA, then we may look in to getting a TIVO DVR. With that we can stream Prime and/or Netflix and still be able to DVR the network stuff. I told my wife that after a while she wouldn't even know or remember what is missing that she used to or could watch on the cable channels because of all the new original content from the streaming guys. She seems okay with it and a TIVO would still give us the flexibility to watch when we want to watch and would pay for itself within a few months over DirecTV. Now of course we need to see what we can pick up OTA.
 

SmithOp

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We have cut the cord. Though still not technically because DirecTV no longer prorates the final bill and we are paid through July 5th. So we have to pay a full months bill even though I dug the dish out of the ground yesterday. Receivers are all disconnected and sitting in a box waiting for their recovery kit to arrive. We are thinking that we will just start using an indoor HD OTA antenna. Have looked at Sling and YouTube TV, but all of those are still expensive for far fewer channels. YouTube TV is $50 a month and at least you get local channels and their DVR feature seems pretty good, but it is still $50 a month. We were paying $110 for DirecTV. Add Amazon Prime and Netflix to that $50 and we aren't very far off what we were already paying.

If we are able to pick up a fair share of network broadcast channels OTA, then we may look in to getting a TIVO DVR. With that we can stream Prime and/or Netflix and still be able to DVR the network stuff. I told my wife that after a while she wouldn't even know or remember what is missing that she used to or could watch on the cable channels because of all the new original content from the streaming guys. She seems okay with it and a TIVO would still give us the flexibility to watch when we want to watch and would pay for itself within a few months over DirecTV. Now of course we need to see what we can pick up OTA.

You might want to put your address in and do a site survey at antenna web to get an idea of what is possible.

https://antennaweb.org/

We are still attached until YouTube TV app comes to Fire Stick, then I’ll try the free trial.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 

bbodb1

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I know we had a similar thread on this matter a few months ago, but with the constant change of options available these days a revisit is never a bad idea. Wait a few minutes and a new option appears (or so it seems)....

Something I have noticed though is how my TV viewing habits have changed. I either no longer have the patience or willingness required to make the most out of cord cutting. As I sift through the mounds of options available these days, I guess I am getting increasingly pickier as time goes by because I can find very little worth watching these days. I know that is a very general statement - and I definitely cannot make the claim to have watched everything available on the various streaming services we currently use - but I find it a bit sad how TV represents another area where we now have fewer things that bring us together and have a shared experience.

Not that I am trying to make the discussion of TV shows a measure of social interaction, but I can recall many a conversation starting around the work water cooler over Who shot J.R. or how M*A*S*H ended (just to cite a couple of quick examples). Yes, I am kind of rambling this morning but I guess I am trying to say that even in something as seemingly unimportant as TV viewing, I see another example of how our society is losing cohesion.
 

buzglyd

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I will eventually try he services out. PlayStation Vue seems most appealing to me because I’m a sports junkie. I get all the San Diego stations perfectly OTA with cheap Amazon antennas.

Retraining the mother in law to use a new service will be the hardest part.
 

Luanne

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We haven't cut any cord. Still have a landline since cell service in our house is VERY unreliable. Haven't cut satellite service as our internet is too slow for streaming.
 

turkel

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We cut the cord. I was already paying for Netflix and Amazon prime, so we save $100 a month from our former dish service and we didn't activate any cable at the apartment. Amazon offers free Firefox which although us to access YouTube free. Also cut the landline.

No regrets.
 

klpca

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We cut then returned - for a discount - but are cutting again. The only thing that we will remotely miss is sports. Does anyone have a good strategy to see MLB, NFL, and NCAA sports? We have Amazon prime and Netflix. I remember that Sling was suggested a few years ago but I only seem to remember that NCAA basketball was available through them. Any advice for some kind of a sports network/package?
 

bbodb1

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Although it has been coming for a couple of months (apparently), a Sling price increase hit my bill this month.
Time to drop Sling. I can't say I am a fan of their advertising since they advertise at $25 per month yet to make the service useful you'l likely pay something closer to $40 per month (after DVR and taxes).
 

buzglyd

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We cut then returned - for a discount - but are cutting again. The only thing that we will remotely miss is sports. Does anyone have a good strategy to see MLB, NFL, and NCAA sports? We have Amazon prime and Netflix. I remember that Sling was suggested a few years ago but I only seem to remember that NCAA basketball was available through them. Any advice for some kind of a sports network/package?

PlayStation Vue has all the sports channels. It is the one I would choose currently.
 

Steve Fatula

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Cut quite some time ago and will never pay for cable, satellite, etc again. But services like PS Vue are not really cutting the cord to me, they are still expensive. I guess that all depends on what you were paying before of course. Ymmv.

The only sports I miss is NCAAF. But that is easy, I'll uncut one month a year, bowl season, since Sling can be had and cancelled quite easily and without penalty. Even if Sling has bad quality, irrelevant as I'll use the ESPN app which I have always had beautiful results with even on 120" screen. Anything else I care to watch is either on network TV, or, at a local restaurant on a big screen. I do watch less sports now, and I live!
 

VacationForever

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We had been talking about cutting the cord, i.e. cable, as the price kept going up. Two days ago, we were newbies who knew nothing about streaming services and thought we had to buy dedicated laptops to hook up to the TVs, and then thought we should buy newer TVs to replace our 5-year old Samsung Smart TVs and finally realized that we have a cheaper and better solution - Roku boxes. Now we have FuboTV with Sports Plus add-on and a separate subscription for ESPN+ through Roku. We save $80 per month as we were paying $150 per month just for cable on 2 TVs and now it costs us about $70 per month. We pay another $60 per month for internet. Goodbye to cable!
 

vacationhopeful

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My avartar home is in the woods. I now have 2 digital TV antenna for the LR and MBR TVs.

So, I get a (singular) TV show Channel. Yes, one TV entertainment Channel. I also get a weather channel and a Spanish channel. Oh .. .the one TV entertainment is not ABC, CBS or NBC ...or Public Broadcasting. It is just old TV shows. The local Weather Channel is played about equally on my TVs in the woods.

Fortunately, I own a bunch of DVDs. But, just one DVD Player.

My regular home has Comcast cable and internet. Yes, more channels .. but a BIG monthly bill.
 

MrockStar

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I have been actively avoiding adding any cable/internet/wifi/landline at our lake cottage. So far only watch DVD's and dont laugh, VHS movies at night somtimes or when it rains. We have so many other activities, family/friends vitingting that we dont miss U-verse cable at all. We dont even have an antenna so so far so good.
 

vacationhopeful

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Get a digital antenna ... Walmart sells one that is a bit more than 2' tall and looks like a big figure-8. Have your digital TV do a channel scan.

My avarta TV gets digital channels 69.1, 69.2 and 69.3 ... plus some other channel numbers in different languages or strange shows.
 

CPNY

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We had been talking about cutting the cord, i.e. cable, as the price kept going up. Two days ago, we were newbies who knew nothing about streaming services and thought we had to buy dedicated laptops to hook up to the TVs, and then thought we should buy newer TVs to replace our 5-year old Samsung Smart TVs and finally realized that we have a cheaper and better solution - Roku boxes. Now we have FuboTV with Sports Plus add-on and a separate subscription for ESPN+ through Roku. We save $80 per month as we were paying $150 per month just for cable on 2 TVs and now it costs us about $70 per month. We pay another $60 per month for internet. Goodbye to cable!
I went with just internet and YouTube tv. I also have the watchATT TV app free with my wireless plan. Cable and internet went from 200 to 100 a month with streaming. I actually watch more channels even though I technically have less.
 

dioxide45

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After our move, we now only have Amazon Prime and watch YouTube a lot. I hardly ever turn the TV on. Unpacking is consuming so much of our time, once we are settled in I may get an indoor antenna to see what kind of stations we can pull. I think our main problem will be that we are on the southeast side of the building and all of the local stations are to the northwest. So that may impact the kind of signal we can get.
 

VacationForever

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Roku comes with lots of free live TV channels and movies. If it were only for me, I would not subscribe to anything. My husband watches alot of TV, so the FuboTV plus ESPN+ are really for him. We already have Amazon Prime and Acorn and we both like Acorn.
 

WinniWoman

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After our move, we now only have Amazon Prime and watch YouTube a lot. I hardly ever turn the TV on. Unpacking is consuming so much of our time, once we are settled in I may get an indoor antenna to see what kind of stations we can pull. I think our main problem will be that we are on the southeast side of the building and all of the local stations are to the northwest. So that may impact the kind of signal we can get.

My husband and I were just discussing this regarding for when we move to the rental. The owners of the house had a big tv on a staircase wall that we in no way could get to and we right now have a small tv that would be on a stand close to our sitting area so we could see. So I would think the cable company would have to run more wires to the tv. So why not just use internet? Been trying to get him to do this for years.

I told him we should just get internet and see how it goes. I could care less about TV, but he always has it on when he is home. Plus I would think it could save money, though I know they have those bundle packages. I also told him to forget a landline phone for there- we will just use our cells- hopefully they have cell service there.

As with you, we will be busy getting settled (though we will really never be settled until our new house gets built. In fact, a lot of things will stay in boxes.) and hubby will still be working so the simpler things are the better.

Good luck in your new place! I know what an ordeal moving can be! I am in the throws of it all right now and I want to wake up and have it be all over with.
 

Ralph Sir Edward

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I got out of the TV habit in the 1980's. I Started building a DVD library when they first came out (1998). I have been building ever since. I now have over 2000 DVDs. I found that watching without commercials put an entirely different slant on TV shows. (Plus better picture quality on old shows.)

Given the cost of cable (and its equivalents) over the years, it didn't cost more than cable to build the DVD library. Plus I have the ultimate in flexibility.
 

Cornell

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My husband and I were just discussing this regarding for when we move to the rental. The owners of the house had a big tv on a staircase wall that we in no way could get to and we right now have a small tv that would be on a stand close to our sitting area so we could see. So I would think the cable company would have to run more wires to the tv. So why not just use internet? Been trying to get him to do this for years.

I told him we should just get internet and see how it goes. I could care less about TV, but he always has it on when he is home. Plus I would think it could save money, though I know they have those bundle packages. I also told him to forget a landline phone for there- we will just use our cells- hopefully they have cell service there.

As with you, we will be busy getting settled (though we will really never be settled until our new house gets built. In fact, a lot of things will stay in boxes.) and hubby will still be working so the simpler things are the better.

Good luck in your new place! I know what an ordeal moving can be! I am in the throws of it all right now and I want to wake up and have it be all over with.
HI Mary Ann, A couple of thoughts on this as I had cable / cut the cord / went back to cable.

The small TV you refer to must have an HDMI input for a Roku , Firestick, etc. Just make sure of that before you go that route.

However, if TV is really important to your husband and offers some sort of familiarity / comfort during this time, my suggestion would be during this period where you are in the rental is to continue w/the familiarity of cable. You seem really overwhelmed. Why introduce new technology and challenges to the mix just to save maybe $20-$30 a month ? If your husband likes watching "live TV" vs watching pre-recorded content on TV such as Netflix series or movies, I think he will be frustrated. It's a whole different looks, feel , navigation to watch live TV through services like Hulu.

Save the cord cutting endeavor for when you get settled in your permanent home.

Just my two cents.
 

WinniWoman

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HI Mary Ann, A couple of thoughts on this as I had cable / cut the cord / went back to cable.

The small TV you refer to must have an HDMI input for a Roku , Firestick, etc. Just make sure of that before you go that route.

However, if TV is really important to your husband and offers some sort of familiarity / comfort during this time, my suggestion would be during this period where you are in the rental is to continue w/the familiarity of cable. You seem really overwhelmed. Why introduce new technology and challenges to the mix just to save maybe $20-$30 a month ? If your husband likes watching "live TV" vs watching pre-recorded content on TV such as Netflix series or movies, I think he will be frustrated. It's a whole different looks, feel , navigation to watch live TV through services like Hulu.

Save the cord cutting endeavor for when you get settled in your permanent home.

Just my two cents.


Thanks. Yes- we use Roku and Amazon Prime and also have a subscription to a news talk network. Our little TV handles all this. But- if cable has a decent bundle package we could go for it, as long as we can set it up in the house where we need it. We can’t put our TV on that wall where the owners have theirs.
 

WinniWoman

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BTW- remember my hubby put the broken tv outside in the rain and someone took it? Guess what showed up yesterday? lol!

When we get back from vacation- off to dispose of it at Best Buy.
 
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