Cutting the cord and so confused!

[cjnix29]

Ok, looking through our budget, our cable bill has really gotten out of hand. Trying to take back some control! But there seems to be a lot of options, but I'm not sure what the pros and cons are. I currently already have amazon prime and netflix. But Hulu, sling tv, etc., and then what can I get with an antennae? but what kind of antennae? I don't want to end up spending just as much to cancel out the cable, but DH has some shows and sports he likes to watch, and then how do I get network tv for the news, and the Amazing Race when it starts again!

 

[Alesia]

Ok, looking through our budget, our cable bill has really gotten out of hand. Trying to take back some control! But there seems to be a lot of options, but I'm not sure what the pros and cons are. I currently already have amazon prime and netflix. But Hulu, sling tv, etc., and then what can I get with an antennae? but what kind of antennae? I don't want to end up spending just as much to cancel out the cable, but DH has some shows and sports he likes to watch, and then how do I get network tv for the news, and the Amazing Race when it starts again!

The amazing race is on hulu.

I can't get much of anything with an antenna, but I don't miss the network channels. I can watch most network shows on Hulu and I just get the news online.

I suggest sitting down and making a list of the shows you watch, finding out how you can watch each one without cable, and figuring out how much it's going to cost you.

 

[cjnix29]

yeah, but trying to figure out what we can get for free, v. what we would have to pay for with these sites seems to be more difficult than I anticipated. Then...heaven forbid I should be able to figure out through our cable provider's website what the cost of just internet is....good grief, like I'm asking for nuke codes! But calling them is worse! lol

 

[Alesia]

yeah, but trying to figure out what we can get for free, v. what we would have to pay for with these sites seems to be more difficult than I anticipated.

This is pretty helpful: http://www.theverge.com/a/online-tv-stream-price-guide

Then...heaven forbid I should be able to figure out through our cable provider's website what the cost of just internet is....good grief, like I'm asking for nuke codes! But calling them is worse! lol

You're going to have to call them.

Once you cut the cord, you're going to find yourself watching a lot less TV.

 

[DVC California]

We cut the cord (DirecTV) about 6 months ago and have never looked back. We have some cheap rabbit ears for OTA and get a handful of stations. For everything else, we stream using our Apple TV box. But really, we don't watch that much TV and are just as happy watching things on our tablets.

 

[havaneselover]

I have Verizon Fios. I pay $150 / month for HD cable, phone, and high speed internet with one home dvr and another box. I think I was told for $80 / month I could get faster internet and the networks. I'm seriously considering it for when the kids go back to school. I really don't want to pay for anything else and my tvs aren't smart tvs but DS will throw a fit if he can't watch Phineas and Ferb and I will miss Bravo and my cable news.

 

[denecarter]

Once you cut the cord, you're going to find yourself watching a lot less TV.

Unless you start binge watching entire series you missed out on when they were on air. I've watched 10 years worth of Stargate: SG-1, 5 years of Stargate: Atlantis, 7 years of Star Trek: The Next Generation, 2 years (so far) of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine... Firefly, Third Rock From the Sun, Farscape... I think you get the idea.

 

[MinnieForMe]

We've been cable free for a year now. It took me three tries to get Comcast to tell me the price for internet only. Then, when I called back a week later, they changed it. I packed all their equipment up and drove straight to their customer service center and told them I wanted to cancel my $220 a month package with no internet because of their price changing. The rep was happy to match the original price so we kept internet only.

I don't miss anything but my 10 year old misses the Disney channel. I hope Disney decides to have a paid streaming option soon.

Good luck!

 

[sayheyrenee]

bought Element on amazon. Just need wifi with it

 

[MillauFr]

The rep was happy to match the original price so we kept internet only.

How much is Comcast charging you for internet only? After going round and round with them for a few rounds I got them to mark mine down to $39.95 for Economy Plus internet. I think the download speed is 3MPS.

 

[Alesia]

How much is Comcast charging you for internet only? After going round and round with them for a few rounds I got them to mark mine down to $39.95 for Economy Plus internet. I think the download speed is 3MPS.

Are you kidding??? That's what I'm paying for 30mbps internet from Time Warner.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Following along! Thanks for that link, very helpful. Does anyone happen to know the amount of data it uses up when you just use Netflix/HBO Go through Chromecast or Apple TV? No unlimited internet where we live, so we'd have to balance our computer data usage with this.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I watch very little TV but dh and our boys do. Well, they used to. We've had Verizon FIOS since 2009 with 5 boxes. 2 are HD. We don't even watch the channels we have in HD. Dh finally has admitted this week that he really doesn't watch that much TV. As in seriously watch. He says it's just background noise while he's on his laptop. Back in 09 our kids were much younger and thrilled to have Boomerang in addition to Cartoon Network, Nick, etc. Now though, they are 6 years older and ds18 watches almost no TV at all. The one show he does watch (Jon Stewart) he DVRs and watches on the kitchen TV while he cooks after school. Such a waste to have the box in his room. Ds15 like some shows like Mythbusters and How It's Made. Well those are not worth the stupid $215/month we pay. That is with their upgraded internet, Quantum.
Dh has finally agreed it's a waste of money and he's looking into getting an antenna. We are less than 10 miles from downtown Philly so we should be able to get local channels.
I just did an online chat last night with Comcast & Verizon to get their internet only prices. Verizon is $84.99+ tax per month for Quantum. With the Comcast chat, after explaining EVERYTHING in a few entries, how we've had FIOS for 6 years but now hardly ever watch TV, blah, blah blah, we just want internet only. So he asks are we currently with another cable provider. grrr.... I also stated we have 3 desktops, 3 laptops and we like fast internet. 2 lines later he asks if we have any laptops or devices connected to the internet.


Now, I rarely get upset with people I do business with and always try to be as polite as possible but I couldn't take it any more. I finally said, "Clearly you are not reading anything I'm saying. Good night." and ended the chat. I hope his boss audits their chats occasionally and reads it.

I seriously think they are having a lot of customers cancel their cable and only want internet. So they think if they make it difficult, people will give up. Well, yes I did and it's their loss. I still want to know what their price is but if I have to, I'll keep the FIOS internet at $84.99/month + tax. Even if it's $100 with tax, that's better than $215.

I'd love to hear more about Hulu and what it does.

 

[dja14]

We have Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime. The amazon prime was a deal when we bought my updated kindle and I am not sure we will do it again. 13 year old mostly watches it and she is very frustrated that they take so many things on and off (whether they do or not I am not sure but that is her complaint) We stream through a ps4, wii, and blueray player. Kids and hubby watch a lot on you tube too, especially teen boys. Only complaint is hulu tends to freeze up a lot (but we live in the sticks so internet may be the problem but we have the only place so no choice there)

As far as local we just check online. We bought a weather radio and check weather online as well. Most everything else is on hulu or eventually on netflix. If it is not very often it is somewhere else online and it gets watched on the computer/laptop. Over the last few years there have been a few things we have missed but I think so many people (especially young people) who are now streaming everything will go to this.

 

[flateacher]

It depends on where you are (rural or near a big city and how far out) as to what stations your antennae will pick up and what kind you will need. There is a link out there somewhere (sorry I don't have it) that you type in your address and it will tell you what stations (network/local) you will get with what kind of antennae. If you google it - it shouldn't be too hard to find. So the antennae will get you the local and evening news and some local sports if they are on say NBC or ABC.

We cut the cord a little over a year ago and I am soooo happy! So is our budget. I broke it down for my husband like this - "we spend $200 a month on Directv alone. In one year that is over $2,000 - for TV! In 5 years when our oldest goes to college that is $10,000 for her education or our retirement". Then I asked - do you like your sports that much? more than your daughters education? our retirement?... he couldn't argue with that!

He and I are also into sports... if you are local you a pretty much set. If you have a team/sport that you want to watch that is away - there are packages you can buy through roku that are much cheaper than cable etc. Sling also offers a upgrade option for sports and has ESPN.

Hulu is just like Netflix - BUT usually has more recent episodes of the network shows. So if you missed something last night or say on a Monday - Hulu probably has it for you to watch. Netflix is $7 a month for the basic 2 at a time watching subscription and Hulu is $8 a month. So my total bill for tv is $15/month.

The initial set up will cost you some more $$. Depending on the antennae you buy - we bought one for each tv and a roku box. Plus a larger outside antennae mounted on the fence. So I think the total set up was about $150 maybe $200 - so one month of Directv for us.

Bonus - little to no ads/commericals... But as a pp said.... you can easily binge watch shows you missed/loved... who knew Buffy the Vampire Slayer was so fun?!?

 

[MillauFr]

Are you kidding??? That's what I'm paying for 30mbps internet from Time Warner.

$39.95 inclusive of all taxes??? I must be getting ripped off. I'll have to start shopping around and demand they lower my price. Thanks for the info.

 

[MinnieForMe]

How much is Comcast charging you for internet only? After going round and round with them for a few rounds I got them to mark mine down to $39.95 for Economy Plus internet. I think the download speed is 3MPS.

We are paying $49.99 for the fastest speed with Comcast. I believe it's normally $75.

 

[Sixty-something]

I cut the cable cord about 18 months ago. So far, so good. Got the inside antenna for the TV - the kind that look like a mouse pad hanging on the wall. It picks up all the local stations plus some from far off. I also have Roku with Netflix and Amazon Prime. Plan to drop Amazon Prime when the current year ends, it has some good movies but I watched maybe one from their selection in the past month. Roku has some free channels where you can get movies, some of them have commercials in them, but I've found some things I enjoyed. Oh yeah I also cut my connection with the PHONE company at the same time and have been using Magic Jack for over a year now. I think I paid around $100 startup to get the equipment and set it up with my choice of phone number and whatever other thing I needed to get FIVE years of service. That alone has saved me a fortune. So now every month I pay a bill for $65 for my internet (100Mb service) and $9 for Netflix, and that covers all my internet, phone, and tv watching.

 

[Madteaparty001]

I've heard good things about the Roku box, when you search for a title it searches ALL of your apps and shows you the different prices, so you can pick the one that's free!

 

[rucifee]

If you want to put up an antenna, before you spend any money use TV Fool to find out how many channels you would be able to get and if you can get them all from one direction or if you need a unidirectional antenna. With some work you can usually pull all of the local channels from 20+ miles away without too much effort/expense.