How has your cable cutting experience been?

[robinb]

Want to get the 'deal' price again? Take a look around at competitor's offers like DirectTV or whatever is popular in your area and find out current promotions for new customers. Then call your cable and ask what you need to do to end service, they will ask why. Tell them you have an appointment set up in a couple week to switch providers. They'll offer you a better deal

Normally I don't play lowballing games but it's self-preservation here. Thru the years with cable, it was shocking when my year contract was up and they'd switch me back to 'normal' pricing. The last time (don't have cable anymore) my bill went from somewhere around $150/month for triple play to $285. We paid that for months before we got around to calling to renegotiate. I don't mind an increase but they get carried away!

Short cut for renegotiating: tell them you're switching.

I learned that way too late in my "career" of cable/satellite purchasing. I was with DirectTV for nearly 10 years and finally called them and asked for them to give me a break. They refused to give me the same deal as new customers even though I had never asked for a break before. I changed to Dish and about 2 weeks later got a "Come back! We miss you!" postcard with the the same deal as new customers. Too late!

I will certainly tell them that I plan on changing and will follow through if they don't help me out.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

We're in the trial process of YTTV. I'm having trouble getting it to play on an older TV. I got the picture using a HDMI to composite cable but for some reason I can't get sou
As a side note, we were able to cut cable at our second home and play the YTTV there too. Eliminating that cable bill too.

The sound on HDMI is digital, not analog. You might want to try one of the Roku devices that have composite video and L/R audio out connections - not all do. I don't have the Amazon or Google devices now so I can't speak about them. I will say I've tried all three in the past and found the Roku the most user friendly - in fact the TV I use has Roku built in.

 

[hmsTigger]

Do you mean you actually cut your cable provider entirely? How do you get local channels? We are not big cable TV watchers but do like the local channels for news and weather.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

Do you mean you actually cut your cable provider entirely? How do you get local channels? We are not big cable TV watchers but do like the local channels for news and weather.

We use an over-the-air antenna & just recently Locast became available in our area so we use that thru our Roku box, too.

 

[piglet1979]

Do you mean you actually cut your cable provider entirely? How do you get local channels? We are not big cable TV watchers but do like the local channels for news and weather.

We have YouTube TV. We get the local news channels through YouTube TV just like we did with cable.

 

[firefly_ris]

Cut the cord in 2006, never missed it...

 

[Theta]

Do you mean you actually cut your cable provider entirely? How do you get local channels? We are not big cable TV watchers but do like the local channels for news and weather.

We bought this tv $59 antenna from Walmart. Was really happy when it picked up all the local channels and about 12 others. Reception is great!

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Antennas...UHF-VHF-Indoor-Outdoor-HDTV-Antenna/578927395
We are in an apartment and had to move it a couple different places to pick up the best signal. Probably a little more than what we needed, but since it is only a one time cost, thought we would keep it. I think good ones can be had for $20-$30.

Our wifi is included in our rent, but cable was going to be $97 a month. No way! Happy I got this.

 

[firefly_ris]

We bought this tv $59 antenna from Walmart. Was really happy when it picked up all the local channels and about 12 others. Reception is great!

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Antennas...UHF-VHF-Indoor-Outdoor-HDTV-Antenna/578927395
We are in an apartment and had to move it a couple different places to pick up the best signal. Probably a little more than what we needed, but since it is only a one time cost, thought we would keep it. I think good ones can be had for $20-$30.

Our wifi is included in our rent, but cable was going to be $97 a month. No way! Happy I got this.

You can easily make an antenna as well. We just finished building a new two story 'shed' that's being used as an outdoor hangout (gas/electric/TV), my husband has built a few of these for random outdoor spaces --

https://www.popsci.com/learn-defy-cable-company-diy-hdtv-antenna/
For the shed we just mounted it to the interior wall.

Gets the same amount of channels as our $75 roof-mounted ChannelMaster home antenna. Actually it gets one more -- CBC (Canadian) that we can't ever pick up in the house.

 

[SteveH]

Do you mean you actually cut your cable provider entirely? How do you get local channels? We are not big cable TV watchers but do like the local channels for news and weather.

For the most part you can get all the local alphabet channels with most all providers, though some will charge an extra fee. Hulu, YouTube etc all that that option.

I'd also say a lot of cord cutters walked away from those two features; local news & weather. I know I haven't watched a local TV talking head in over a decade unless its on their website and I get better weather forecasts when I want it on my phone, I no longer want to consume "news" on their schedule.

 

[SC Minnie]

We cut the cord in January. We've been using YTTV since. I did research on what the channels provided and made a choice from there. DH wanted to make sure he could still get his sports channels he was used to. With YTTV we get the local channels we're used to for local news plus just about everything else we had watched on cable. The only channel we don't get on YTTV that we would watch sometimes is Hallmark. We could pay for the app separately but I don't miss it that much.

I don't see us going back to cable.

 

[robinb]

Ugh. I was wrong about how much I pay. I looked at my bill again and I am paying $92 for my cable TV ($76 for the package plus $16.45 for local channels) and $60 for Internet (which includes a $15 discount, so that will go up to $75 once I dump the cable TV).

Unfortunately, there are only 2 choices for internet where I live and the other is AT&T which is considerably slower. At up to 50 Mbps I'm not sure it will be adequate. I currently have 90+ Mbps. Does anyone here stream with slower internet speeds?

 

[piglet1979]

The only channel we don't get on YTTV that we would watch sometimes is Hallmark.

Same with me. I did just get the app FRNDY TV. I get the Hallmark channel and the Weather Channel plus a few more. I missed the weather channel during hurricanes as I like their coverage the best.

 

[firefly_ris]

Ugh. I was wrong about how much I pay. I looked at my bill again and I am paying $92 for my cable TV ($76 for the package plus $16.45 for local channels) and $60 for Internet (which includes a $15 discount, so that will go up to $75 once I dump the cable TV).

Unfortunately, there are only 2 choices for internet where I live and the other is AT&T which is considerably slower. At up to 50 Mbps I'm not sure it will be adequate. I currently have 90+ Mbps. Does anyone here stream with slower internet speeds?

Our internet is supposedly 100MB but it normally only gets speeds at about 40MB (with direct connection slightly higher than wifi). We stream without issue on that.

 

[tikilyn]

We're in a rural area and our internet is a wisp company out here. We pay for upto 10mbps and consistently get between 2 and 6 mbps. We have no problem streaming on multiple tvs and my son is a huge online gamer. He hasn't complain yet about speeds.

 

[Happiest mommy]

I wish we could cut cable here in NYC the prices are crazy I called just to have service for my internet and it was the same price of basic cable

 

[MillauFr]

I'd also say a lot of cord cutters walked away from those two features; local news & weather. I know I haven't watched a local TV talking head in over a decade unless its on their website and I get better weather forecasts when I want it on my phone, I no longer want to consume "news" on their schedule.

Agreed. The local TV news here is complete garbage. You can still watch videos of all of their stories on their websites but I rarely do.

 

[EMHDad]

We dropped cable about 6 years ago. Our primary viewing is Vudu. We own about 1800 movies and 700 seasons of shows we like. We got a 3 yeah subscription to Disney+ (payed once, but averages to under $4 a month). We pay $2 a month for Hulu. We paid from Amazon Prime for the shipping, so we get video for free and share Netflix with family. Also, get over the air broadcast channels. I’ll never go back to cable.

 

[Psychodisney]

The sound on HDMI is digital, not analog. You might want to try one of the Roku devices that have composite video and L/R audio out connections - not all do. I don't have the Amazon or Google devices now so I can't speak about them. I will say I've tried all three in the past and found the Roku the most user friendly - in fact the TV I use has Roku built in.

Ended up buying aTV on Amazon prime day at Best Buy. Figured that in 3 mos, we’ll have recovered the cost of the TV. No Roku needed as its a smart TV So we’re able to use Youtube TV easily.
So far so good with YouTube TV. It worked perfectly at our vacation home too.

 

[MillauFr]

Another benefit of streaming is you aren't subject to local sports blackouts like you are with Cable TV.

 

[havaneselover]

Ended up buying aTV on Amazon prime day at Best Buy. Figured that in 3 mos, we’ll have recovered the cost of the TV. No Roku needed as its a smart TV So we’re able to use Youtube TV easily.
So far so good with YouTube TV. It worked perfectly at our vacation home too.

What brand? I have Samsung smart TVs and still much prefer using rokus.