anybody go completely cableless?

[Muushka]

Hi E

We are without any paid TV except for Netflix. We finally dumped DirecTv. Well we tried last year when Mr Muush was unemployed but they kept giving us credits we had it for about 10 months paying practically nothing for it.

Anywhoo, we have an antenna for the local channels, we get about 10. And we have Netflix and we stream, so we have tons of TV, much more quality than satellite. For $8.95 a month.

But Mr Muush loves his NASCAR (which comes on ESPN occasionally and Speed, which knocks it up a tier on the paid TV venues) and his Iron Chef America (hey, right up your alley, ever watch it?), so next year we will probably get something. But right now, frugal me is happy!

 

[MickeyDisneyFan]

I dumped cable and got a cheapo pc from ebay that I hooked up to the tv to use to stream. We also do netflix and use boxee as well. I looked into directv online streaming of nfl games but its $350!!

The cheapskate in me knew I could find a better deal and I did, check out veetle.com they have every football game as well as most other sports streaming. I watched the Yankee game last night in HD streaming.

Between hulu, boxee, and veetle I dont miss any of my old shows and pay only 39 a month for the cable modem. I cringe when I think about what we used to pay for tv.

 

[kim532]

I'm thinking about cutting back to the lowest allowable to keep internet and then just using Netflix (we already have it).

This is exactly what we do and I do not regret it one bit. We can get about 13 channels with our atenna on our house, All the major networks, PBS, and a couple of other odd ones.

We use Netflix instant que through our Wii for a lot of tv too.

Cable isn't not workth the $$$. That $ can go to my Disney fund.

Kim

 

[swilshire]

Does it count if you never had cable? When we travel and stay in hotels, we enjoy watching it for a day or two and then get bored with it. I've been tempted to get it at home, but never wanted to spend the money.

We have high-speed internet through AT&T finally after years of dial-up.

Sheila

 

[fkj2]

Does it count if you never had cable? When we travel and stay in hotels, we enjoy watching it for a day or two and then get bored with it.

Sheila

Yeah, my cable experience occurs at WDW when I'm taking a break from the parks. All I see of any interest is CNBC--which is limited--and the Weather Channel.

All in all, cable isn't something I'd pay for.

 

[lyncecelia]

We recently cut our cable. We only watched CBS and GSN....and while GSN isn't on regular TV, it wasn't worth the expense...

However, we don't get regular TV either....sooooo....yeah

 

[Squirrel!!!]

We got rid of cable 2 years ago. I have never missed it. We watch only movies and Netflix on the TV now.

Even DD10 has gotten used to it.

I love how much quieter the house is!!!

 

[Muushka]

Yeah, my cable experience occurs at WDW when I'm taking a break from the parks. All I see of any interest is CNBC--which is limited--and the Weather Channel.

All in all, cable isn't something I'd pay for.

Don't base your cable experience on what is on TV at WDW. WDW's programming is the worse of any I have ever seen.

 

[n2mm]

I thinking of getting rid of my cable. Well not entirely because we have a package that includes or internet access.

I think my major peeved is that the price is going up (again) and it seems like there is NEVER ANYTHING ON!!. Sorry for shouting.
We have a HBO package and except for Saturday night when they show a new movie, the rest of the week is old reruns. I mean last week one of the HBO channels aired "The Wiz"!!! Not the classic with Judy Garland, the crummy remake with Diana Ross (at age 45 trying to play Dorothy)

I'm thinking about cutting back to the lowest allowable to keep internet and then just using Netflix (we already have it).

Anybody else got rid of cable and managed to survive.
My teens of course think I'm trying to send them back to the "dark ages"

Yes, we did about 2 months ago. Like you, the price was too high for what we got. So we cancelled it down to limited. We had to get limited or there would be only snow. We get the basic 4, 5, 7, 9 and a few local stations (CW, ION, and PBS). It's been a couple of months and I can't believe how addicted we were. Those "too do" list are getting done as we don't have anything distract us. We only had basic cable (FX, Disney, weather, SciFi,etc) and it was $65 a month, now we pay $20 a month. We did the same for our phone. Our phone was combined with our internet. We paid $115 a month. We called and had the long distance removed and told them we could get the internet for 24.99 from the cable company and did not want to pay the 49.99 they charged. They matched the price and our phone and internet bill is now 1/2 of what it was...around $60 a month (not sure exactly as we had some credits during the adjustment because of the "paying in advance" method they use.) So we are saving $100 a month now. We struggled to decide whether we wanted to get rid of our land-line, but decided for the $15 a month they charge we would hold on to it for now. We've had the same phone number for 35 years, and it's sort of sentimental.

As for the cable, when our 16 yo grandson visits, he doesn't complain, he actually talks to us now instead of watching TV....not a big deal for him as they have direct TV at his house. My granddaughters (3 and 5) asked about spongebob and the disneychannel for awhile, but I turn on PBS and that seems to be enough for them. They just don't watch TV anymore at our house and play in their playroom here now.

OP, it's not like it's permanent, if you change and are not happy, you can always go back.

 

[mrodgers]

I've started on a forum that is based on Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and thus far I've gotten the suggestion many times to cancel the TV satellite.

I've read plenty about streaming from the internet. The problem is, connecting the computer up to the TV looks absolutely horrible. My TV is a 27 inch CRT. It doesn't take to the computer output at all. Not only that, the computer is in the basement, not upstairs where the TV is.

Oh, it is hockey season! There is no way I am going to sit and watch a hockey game buffer in every 3 minutes with my horribly slow internet connection, if I could even find somewhere that it is streaming from.

TV is our only downtime entertainment. We don't go out, we don't eat out, we don't have the money for that all the time. The entire family reads books a lot. If books were to become our only downtime entertainment, we'd be spending more money buying books than we spend on the TV bill (no local libraries.)

I'm keeping my satellite TV and will work through it.

 

[Judique]

I thinking of getting rid of my cable. Well not entirely because we have a package that includes or internet access.

I think my major peeved is that the price is going up (again) and it seems like there is NEVER ANYTHING ON!!. Sorry for shouting.
We have a HBO package and except for Saturday night when they show a new movie, the rest of the week is old reruns. I mean last week one of the HBO channels aired "The Wiz"!!! Not the classic with Judy Garland, the crummy remake with Diana Ross (at age 45 trying to play Dorothy)

I'm thinking about cutting back to the lowest allowable to keep internet and then just using Netflix (we already have it).

Anybody else got rid of cable and managed to survive.
My teens of course think I'm trying to send them back to the "dark ages"

We have high speed net and basic cable with netflix and we survive! Basic and high speed are the same price to have both...no savings to drop basic.

 

[Nayan]

I thought about it, but I am a huge sports nut and so is my son so that would never work for us. Plus we watch quite a bit of niche programming that you can't find anywhere else. Sure it costs us just about $180 a month (for cable, phone and internet), but it breaks down to $6 a day. Like a PP said, we too use our tv/computers as our entertainment and downtime. Where else can you get a full 24 hours of entertainment for $6 for 3 people?

 

[denisenh]

i was sick of our high cable bill and we cut back to basic cable. i miss HGTV but somehow i have managed to survive without it.
we all could survive on a lot less....and probably be better off without it as well.

 

[jmjousley]

We actually have to carry cable, at least the basic tier (Time Warner) in order to get Broadband (RoadRunner). What we've done however is purchased a Roku box and we subscribe to NetFlix. We can watch so many things (including many Disney chanel series) on the Ruku box connected to our television. We love it.

 

[pampam]

I've started on a forum that is based on Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and thus far I've gotten the suggestion many times to cancel the TV satellite.

I've read plenty about streaming from the internet. The problem is, connecting the computer up to the TV looks absolutely horrible. My TV is a 27 inch CRT. It doesn't take to the computer output at all. Not only that, the computer is in the basement, not upstairs where the TV is.

Oh, it is hockey season! There is no way I am going to sit and watch a hockey game buffer in every 3 minutes with my horribly slow internet connection, if I could even find somewhere that it is streaming from.

TV is our only downtime entertainment. We don't go out, we don't eat out, we don't have the money for that all the time. The entire family reads books a lot. If books were to become our only downtime entertainment, we'd be spending more money buying books than we spend on the TV bill (no local libraries.)

I'm keeping my satellite TV and will work through it.

So how does this work? Sorry for being Tech illiterate.

We have a 3 year old tv. It is not HD. Our computer is downstairs. TV is upstairs.

 

[mrodgers]

So how does this work? Sorry for being Tech illiterate.

We have a 3 year old tv. It is not HD. Our computer is downstairs. TV is upstairs.

Would work with the right input to the TV, the right graphics card in the computer, and a looooong cable

My TV is 14 years old, 27 inch CRT I bought in 1996, and looks better than any new LCD/Plasma that wasn't HD that I've ever viewed. I have an S-Video cable going from the satellite box to the TV, that is the digital link. My work laptop has S-Video output, so I can plug the laptop into the TV. Of course, that would require me to bring the laptop home, which I don't, wouldn't help my wife and kids out any during the day, and now working through a financial debt reduction program means no new personal laptop/computer for me for a while.

 

[JaymeC]

We have netflix that's hooked up through our blu-ray player and a set of buny ears on top of the tv so I can watch Glee and House

Other than that, no cable in our house With netflix I get everything I want to watch for the most part.

 

[rangermom]

I am seriously thinking about doing this. We already watch Netflix through the Wii in the living room, but I do not want to drop Direct TV yet until I get a blue ray for my bedroom.

Hopefully I will get one for the family for Christmas.

 

[jodifla]

The cable companies are looking to put a stop to this....and while I'm not thrilled with cable companies, why should people get things for free while others foot the bill?

So you'll likely see an end to free shows on Hulu and the like.

 

[mommyrants]

We have a digital converter box and rabbit ears. With the new digital spectrum, we get about 25 channels for free!