Cutting the cord with Comcast?

[karenbaco]

I know this topic has been up a few times on the boards but I need advice tailored to us. Ok so we finally got Fiber Optic Internet installed in our neighborhood. It was lightening fast but we are stuck with Comcast because we aren't willing to give up TV. We don't watch a ton of TV but we do want our local channels, and some of the other channels like Animal Planet, History, E!, AMC, A&E, HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, TLC, etc. We also need a home phone line because our alarm is connected and monitored. I also love recording my shows....despise commercials. Can anyone share how they took the plunge by cutting the cord with Comcast? Our internet would be covered with the Fiber, what are the suggestions for Cable and phone?

Thank you!

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

We got rid of Comcast and went with Uverse from AT&T, we love it, the price was all inclusive with the DVR, boxes etc which was nice because I felt like Comcast was nickle and diming us, they came out fast and the customer service has been great. We got a really nice intro offer for a year, I hope we can extend it because we are hooked. And we have never had a problem with service like we did with Comcast, it seemed like the on demand would freeze up at least once a week. I haven't had that happen once with Uverse. If you have Uverse in your area I would highly recommend it.

 

[brymolmom]

I never had Comcast - but cut cable out around 4 years ago or so. We have a PC hooked up to our computer and get local channels through an antenna. We can also record on any station that comes in onto the PC using Windows Media Center (had to buy a couple of cards - but can record 2 shows at a time). Not sure about those special channels but I can tell you I get plenty of Food Network fix off of Netflix - older seasons of all those shows. I also used to watch Discovery Health a lot but you would be surprised how quickly you get used to not having them - especially since you mention that you don't watch it a ton. We have amazon prime and I let the kids rent movies or seasons of shows from Amazon - over the course of a year it is a TON cheaper than cable.

We held onto our land line through the cable company for a couple of years after we got rid of the cable TV...But then dropped that for OOMA a year and a half ago.

All told I bet we have saved over $4000.

Good luck with your decision. I will tell you the TOUGHEST part is pulling the trigger and just doing it. You will get used to whatever new setup that you get.

 

[cjnix29]

we cut the cord too, have comcast for internet only. I have netflix and amazon prime, which I had before we cut cable. We added hulu and sling. If we could get food network without sling, we would probably get rid of that. We have roku boxes because we don't have smart tvs. honestly, I don't miss cable one bit!! We get a lot of apps with roku, and get all our local channels with an antennae. Can't speak for the DVR, but hulu gives you a lot of shows the day after. we do use my dad's dish password for some of the channels we get though, which has helped for some of the things my husband watches. (We trade, dad uses my amazon and netflix.) Can't speak to home phone either. We got rid of that too, we only kept it for when our son was home by himself, but got him a cell. so no longer needed the phone. Do the math for your situation. Our internet price is pretty high since we don't have it bundled with other services. But I figure I have saved about a hundred bucks a month. (not counting amazon or netflix since I had those before we cut the cord).

 

[MrPTato]

Who do you have for alarm? We don't have phone line but our alarm is connected through a cell phone box hidden in an upstairs closet. Switch to just cell phones?

 

[karenbaco]

does Hulu have live tv like Sling?

 

[Sadie22]

Verizon FIOS triple play includes Internet, phone, and TV.

 

[Nayan]

does Hulu have live tv like Sling?

No it doesn't.

 

[PlaneJoy1]

We bought a digital antenna for local channels and have Sling TV with the Roku stick. We've had Direct TV and Uverse in the past. I'm over spending $100+ a month for TV we just don't watch very much. So far, we've been happy with the decision.

 

[LinderInWonderland]

We cut the cord three years ago and the only thing I missed was HBO. Since HBO Now is finally out for Roku, I don't miss anything anymore. We also have a digital antenna for local channels, Amazon Prime, NetFlix, Hulu (which you can now pay a few dollars more for commercial free), and WWE Network. My high-speed internet is $95/month and we pay $55 for all the streaming. Before, I was paying $110 for cable with HBO and DVR, $16/mo for Netflix and Prime plus $90 for my internet.

In your case, I would call your alarm company and see what your options are for monitoring. I used to have a WiFi phone from T-Mobile (router hooked up to cable internet) and they had my address so in case I had to call 911 they could still find me. Ask them if it has to be a land line. I also think that Sling would a good choice for many of the channels you watch.

I really thought I would miss flipping channels more, but honestly don't. I have so much content available that I am never out of stuff to watch, but if I feel I really need to 'idiot blink', I watch YouTube on my Roku (which you can also get a commercial free version of by paying for it). Still, even with YouTube commercials and Hulu commercials, I am not seeing anywhere near the amount of advertising I used to. When I watch a football game on the digital antenna, I am shocked by how many commercials I have never seen before.

 

[peg110]

I have "Dish" Top 200 (4 TV's, no DVR, No premium channels) currently and I only pay (currently) $35/month because I keep threatening to leave because there really is only CRAP on any more. I mean how many times can I watch NCIS, Ancient Aliens, Law and Order, etc... Really if not for the Halmark Holiday Movies (which the DW watches), I'd have it shut off already. I have to call about every 6 months to complain about the price or I will leave and they keep dropping it. However, I am serious about leaving them. I have Digital HD antennas and SkyStreamX boxes (a small Linux box that uses KODI/XBMC for streaming) and I can get TONS of movies and TV series (although sometimes there are buffering issues from the source) on 3 of the TVs plus Netflix and Amazon Prime. So I am ready to cut the cord. My Digitial HD Antenna gets me about 30 Channels (sadly several are "Shopping" channels) and I can get all local channels very clearly.

I dropped home phone for OOMA. I was paying Verizon $60.00/month for phone and internet (same thing as TV, call frequently, complain about price, get discount....) but their Internet (DSL) was problematic at best, constantly having to reset the modem. I just had enough. I cancelled Verizon Phone/Internet. I now have Comcast (internet only) currently at $40/month and OOMA Premeir (first year $100 after that $120.00) plus about $5/month for E911, but I have FAST internet now, and I am poised to stream all my movies (I could only stream on 1 device with Verizon DSL) and shows. So after the holidays, Dish is likely going away too. (Price is supposed to jump up to about $80/month).

Comcast price will go up in a year too but I will likely buy my modem for about $100 and save the $10/month fee (pay off in 10 months). If things get too bad, I'd drop OOMA too as we all have Cell phones. My new cordless phone base can link (bluetooth) to up to 2 cell phones so I still have the convenience of a Land Line and the portability of a cell phone.

 

[hookedonears]

Comcast is horrible. We have AT&T Uverse fiber optic internet and telephone which are great, but for some crazy reason Uverse television is not available in our neighborhood yet. We're not interested in Direct TV or Dish network, so we're stuck with Comcast as well for TV service. What concerns me is that AT&T has purchased Direct-TV and we've quit hearing advertisements for AT&T Uverse. Not sure what to think about that.

 

[Ava]

We also got rid of cable years ago and don't miss it. We use an antenna for local channels and have a SmartTV with Netflix & Hulu Plus. (We used to have Amazon Prime but let it lapse; we didn't use the streaming service that often anyway.) I also got an HDMI cable so we can hook our laptop up to the TV to watch downloaded content. Between all of that we have more than enough to watch and I only pay a total of $76/month - $60 for internet through Optimum, and $8 each for Netflix & Hulu. Another bonus is that the kids pretty much only watch Netflix, and therefore never see toy commercials.

 

[3Gsandme]

We cut the cord several years ago. We still have comcast for internet because they're the fatest local option and we need speed (DH telecommutes), but we haven't had cable for years and haven't looked back.

Now, our savings aren't as huge as they used to be. We have Netflix and Hulu and Sling with HBO (which comes out to around $60/month) and an over the air antenna (1 time cost). We'd be saving money if I cut sling, but I like it. Overall, it's still less money than we were paying to have cable (about a $40/month savings) but not as big as it was before sling (about an $80/month savings).

 

[karenbaco]

We were paying $205 a month for internet/cable/phone with Comcast. I called them and ditched the premium channels which brought us down to $150 per month. The fiber internet in our area goes for $65 month, then we have Netflix and Prime. If we dropped our phone for Ooma our monthly monitoring would go up $10 more per month because we would have to pay for the signal without a land line. Plus I hear Ooma charges about $5 tax per month. So I am stuck trying to figure out the tv. I do love my DVR and would hate to give that up.

 

[peg110]

Ooma does charge tax and E911 fee. Mine is just under $5 a month. Plus if you want the premium features (which include caller ID) it's another $10/month. I opted for a year of premium and also got a discount so it only cost me $100 PLUS free porting ($40 value) of my existing number. So worst case (for me) is that my phone is costing me $160 for the year. Cheaper than most phone plans (of descent quality) assuming you have quality internet.

 

[Sandy61]

I would like to get rid of Dish and get a box with Kodi installed. How fast should my internet be? The fastest I can get out here in the middle of nowhere is 12mb.

 

[peg110]

I would like to get rid of Dish and get a box with Kodi installed. How fast should my internet be? The fastest I can get out here in the middle of nowhere is 12mb.

Well, 12 MB will work, however don't expect to run more than 1 device streaming. You may run into buffering issues.

On a side note, my Dish was just shut off on the 20th. Even at a "Discounted" rate, I couldn't see paying $40.00 a month for Channels that we hardly watch. Even the ones we do are more re-runs. There is little "Unique" programming any more. (at least that seems to interest us).