Cutting Cable help needed

[SharonM]

We want to cut the cable but not get rid of TV. We pay $107 per month for cable. We pay 54. for internet.

Can someone help by telling me how Roku works? Can I use it to replace my cable subscription? And then can I watch tv through the roku? We watch mostly network shows and football and baseball. Although some of the big cable channels like tnt or tbs syfy if they have a program that is good.

We have amazon prime video, and Netflix for movies.

 

I really need to cut costs.

TIA

[ThisIsTheDay]

I need to have basic cable to get my local tv stations. 

 

I am a techno-moron.  For me, the Roku is just like an additional remote control.  I can watch regular tv, or I can basically turn the channel to my Roku, and from there, I can choose Netflix, or Amazon, or whatever else I watch through the Roku.  It's not going to replace your cable, since you're no longer paying for those stations. 

 

Although Roku makes it sound like you can watch anything off of the internet, it's not that simple; we've never successfully done that, even though we have high speed internet.
 

[MEmama]

We tried to get rid of cable but having internet only would have been more expensive than bundling the two. Makes no sense to me, but there you go. Hopefully you have more success.

[KatieJ]

There are some channels on Roku such as PBS or History. However you can't watch PBS live for example. You can watch shows PBS puts on Roku , let's say Downton Abbey which is currently airing. You can watch a current episode the day after it airs and then until PBS pulls it a few weeks later.

History channel will let you watch some programming for free but other programs you have to sign in thru your local cable account to get more current shows.

Roku works well for Netflix and Amazon, but any on the big three networks you have to wait until it shows up on Netflix or Amazon.

 

Are you bundling your cable and Internet from the same company? It would very likely be cheaper if you did.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

We have both Roku and Apple TV boxes. Without a cable subscription, you won't be able to watch live TV through either one. When you try to log into the CBS, ABC etc. apps, you're asked for your cable provider login info.

 

You can watch Netflix if you subscribe, Hulu if you subscribe, and a host of other more or less useful free or subscription channels. We subscribe to both Netflix and Hulu, so we watch both of those through either box. We also have Amazon Prime, so we can watch shows from there through the Roku, but not the Apple TV. In terms of free content we watch, there's the PBS and PBS Kids content, History Channel, Smithsonian Channel, occasionally some stuff from A&E, Tastemade (food-related content), Bloomberg...maybe a couple of others (mostly DH). 

 

If you have Apple products in the house, I might suggest you look into an Apple TV instead. The ability to stream directly to the box so you can watch the content on the TV opens up a lot more options (such as streaming network shows from their websites for free). You also get access to the whole iTunes store, which has come in handy for movies fairly often.

 

ETA: You probably also want to make sure your Internet service doesn't have data limits--that might ratchet your costs up even more. The only thing we really miss from getting rid of cable is that we can't just sit down and watch special events, like the Thanksgiving parade or the New Year's ball dropping. We've figured out alternatives (Grandma records things like parades for watching later that day) or just gone without. 

 

ETA again: You definitely won't be able to watch much, if any, content from TBS, TNT, etc. They keep their content VERY close--you can't even watch much of it on their website online. And sports, too, is a hitch. Most people who watch a lot of sports stick with cable, AFAIK, because there's really no way to get that stuff online. 

Edited January 30, 2016 by ILiveInFlipFlops

[EmseB]

Have you tried rabbit ears for the networks?

 

We don't have cable, but don't get network shows until after the fact and no sports. Just Amazon FireTV for Prime and movie rentals.

[gingersmom]

We cut cable months ago and got indoor antennas for local TV (about $35 each)

 

I don't miss paying that crazy high cable bill at all!!!

 

I have apps on my iPad for history channel, lifetime, abc, nbc and cbs so I can catch up on whatever I missed. I have Comcast app also and can get tons of show for free.

 

I spend about $10/month buying shows like Top Chef.

 

It was a great decision and I have zero regrets.

 

We have spotty internet at our house and the Roku did not work.

[Alessandra]

Roku is hardware, a box originally developed to stream Netflix to your tv by using home wifi. It goes through your router, and your computer does not need to be on. Roku now has a number of so called channels, in addition to Netflix. You can get Amazon content (both prime streamed and purchased). Actually, many, many channels, mostly free.

 

There are channels for most major national tv stations, but you don't get the nightly news. You get individual stories, and it can be hard to tell if they are current or not. The 'live' news stream does not seem to be the same as on tv. I miss the nightly national news and also the local news!

 

I don't watch any current tv shows, so the most I can say is that the Hulu channel on Roku might work for you.

 

Apple has similar hardware that also allows you to mirror what is on your computer, iPad or iPhone. apple doesn't have an Amazon channel, competition. I have the old Apple TV, not the newest release. We use our Roku more than our Apple TV.

 

In addition, Google and Amazon have similar hardware, but not as versatile as Roku or Apple.

 

In your case, I would get the Roku. The device is inexpensive. Most channels (including Netflix and Amazon) are free, so no ongoing costs. You will need to connect it to your tv with an HDMI cable. I can't remember if it comes with the Roku or not.

 

You will not be able to duplicate your cable experience, but you can still find lots to watch -- only 24 hours in a day, after all, lol.

 

Oh, I forgot about sports. Someone who knows about that should reply. I have no idea.

Edited January 30, 2016 by Alessandra

[Alessandra]

We cut cable months ago and got indoor antennas for local TV (about $35 each)

 

I don't miss paying that crazy high cable bill at all!!!

 

I have apps on my iPad for history channel, lifetime, abc, nbc and cbs so I can catch up on whatever I missed. I have Comcast app also and can get tons of show for free.

 

I spend about $10/month buying shows like Top Chef.

 

It was a great decision and I have zero regrets.

 

We have spotty internet at our house and the Roku did not work.

What indoor antennas did you get? I would like to get local news. Can you tell me how big the antennas are and how many cables are required. With a DVD player, Roku and Apple TV, I feel as though we are in a sea of hardware.

 

I really miss Aereo, which streamed broadcast tv over the Internet via my Roku and let me record shows for $8/ month! But the Supreme Court shut them down.

[Alessandra]

We have both Roku and Apple TV boxes. Without a cable subscription, you won't be able to watch live TV through either one. When you try to log into the CBS, ABC etc. apps, you're asked for your cable provider login info.

 

You can watch Netflix if you subscribe, Hulu if you subscribe, and a host of other more or less useful free or subscription channels. We subscribe to both Netflix and Hulu, so we watch both of those through either box. We also have Amazon Prime, so we can watch shows from there through the Roku, but not the Apple TV. In terms of free content we watch, there's the PBS and PBS Kids content, History Channel, Smithsonian Channel, occasionally some stuff from A&E, Tastemade (food-related content), Bloomberg...maybe a couple of others (mostly DH).

 

If you have Apple products in the house, I might suggest you look into an Apple TV instead. The ability to stream directly to the box so you can watch the content on the TV opens up a lot more options (such as streaming network shows from their websites for free). You also get access to the whole iTunes store, which has come in handy for movies fairly often.

 

ETA: You probably also want to make sure your Internet service doesn't have data limits--that might ratchet your costs up even more. The only thing we really miss from getting rid of cable is that we can't just sit down and watch special events, like the Thanksgiving parade or the New Year's ball dropping. We've figured out alternatives (Grandma records things like parades for watching later that day) or just gone without.

 

ETA again: You definitely won't be able to watch much, if any, content from TBS, TNT, etc. They keep their content VERY close--you can't even watch much of it on their website online. And sports, too, is a hitch. Most people who watch a lot of sports stick with cable, AFAIK, because there's really no way to get that stuff online.

Exactly this. (We were posting at the same time.) I miss special events too.

[Chris in VA]

We have a large antenna in the attic and watch network TV for free. We get the basic ABC, NBC, CBS,FOX channels, then a whole host of other, like 3 PBS channels,MeTV, 2 ION channels, three movie channels and MHz news channels from around the world. All free.

 

We do have Netflix, also--through the Wii.

 

Would that be an option for you?

[Um_2_4]

I am looking into slingTV, $20/mo and includes lots of the channels we would be interested in. But it does not include local channels. That is an issue for us, we don't get great reception, even with an outdoor antenna.

 

We currently have the basic cable with internet, just because it was cheaper to bundle them together then get the internet alone. :huh: 

 

But we mainly use our chromecast. We can cast anything from a tablet or computer.  

[gingersmom]

What indoor antennas did you get? I would like to get local news. Can you tell me how big the antennas are and how many cables are required. With a DVD player, Roku and Apple TV, I feel as though we are in a sea of hardware.

 

I really miss Aereo, which streamed broadcast tv over the Internet via my Roku and let me record shows for $8/ month! But the Supreme Court shut them down.

http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FlatWave-FL-5000-High-VHF-Ultra-Thin/dp/B0063705PE/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1454192176&sr=1-2&keywords=winegard+antenna

 

No extra cable needed.

Edited January 30, 2016 by gingersmom

[whitestavern]

We cut the cable cord about six months ago. We have an HDTV antenna that we purchased on Amazon, I believe. I think it was about $80. With that we get about 20 channels. We get all the major networks, our local PBS, and some channels we'd never heard of that have some decent offerings. One channel is all old TV shows, which is fun to watch with the kids.

 

We also have Amazon prime.

[Mom2Five]

We don't have cable. We have one of those converter boxes that the government was giving out free coupons for years back. We are able to get nbc, abc, fox, a couple weird old movie channels and some pbs channels.

[Alessandra]

http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FlatWave-FL-5000-High-VHF-Ultra-Thin/dp/B0063705PE/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1454192176&sr=1-2&keywords=winegard+antenna

 

No extra cable needed.

Thank you! It looks good.

[bettyandbob]

We got rid of cable. We have internet only and dropped out bill by over $100. They suggest bundling saves money, but dh found it did not. First, we just relied on antenna for TV. Then dh got the roku, which is great. Regular channels through antenna we don't pay for. We do pay for Netflix and hulu and watch through roku. I like pbs on roku, sometimes there's a show I can't watch at the regular time and I can find it on pbs or hulu the next day. Sometimes that option is limited--so you could not wait a month to watch some shows you miss.

If you want to watch shows when they first air, I don't think you can do that on roku. It's a day delay. So, if I want to see things on a major network I need the antenna.

 

Our outside antenna cost about $100 and dh installed it on the deck, so no climbing or roof stuff.

 

We had to get the antenna so I could see sports occasionally. Dh watches no sports and he would have been fine without the antenna. I can watch whatever airs over major networks.

 

ETA the savings above does include the fact that after dropping cable we added Netflix and hulu. It doesn't include one time antenna expense. That paid for itself in one month compared to cable.

Edited January 31, 2016 by Diana P.

[Alessandra]

We have a large antenna in the attic and watch network TV for free. We get the basic ABC, NBC, CBS,FOX channels, then a whole host of other, like 3 PBS channels,MeTV, 2 ION channels, three movie channels and MHz news channels from around the world. All free.

We do have Netflix, also--through the Wii.

Would that be an option for you?

How do attic antennas work? I presume you have to run cable to the tv, right? Our walls are almost full, lol -- older house, but I'd like to know anyway.

 

  

We cut the cable cord about six months ago. We have an HDTV antenna that we purchased on Amazon, I believe. I think it was about $80. With that we get about 20 channels. We get all the major networks, our local PBS, and some channels we'd never heard of that have some decent offerings. One channel is all old TV shows, which is fun to watch with the kids.

 

We also have Amazon prime.

Can you tell me about what brand you have?

[Jaz]

We use an antennae for regular tv.

 

We use a Roku box for Amazon to purchase shows and watch free ones on Prime.

 

We use the Roku box, pay $20/month for Sling TV, and are very happy with it. It isn't perfect and sometimes glitches a bit, but my dh likes watching sports and my dd and I like HGTV, Food Network, and some of Lifetime (Project Runway). On those 3 channels, we can go back 3 days to watch shows so it works a little like a DVR.

 

 

[kewb]

We cut the cord over the summer. I have not missed cable at all.

We stream with chromecast on one tv and use the wii to stream on the other.

Plenty to watch. I have heard from friends who are sports watchers that cutting the cord is more difficult.

[monstermama]

Here's a good website explaining what kind of antenna you may need.  It also links to several websites that'll show you based on your address what OTA channels you're likely to get.

 

We cut the cable years ago.  We can watch local news and things like that over OTA, we subscribe to Netflix, and if there's any current shows we do season passes through iTunes.  I still miss HGTV a little bit, but not enough to pay $20 a month for Sling TV!

[Artichoke]

We have a digital antenna that goes on the wall which gets all of the local channels including the major networks.  I think dh got it from Amazon for about $40.  We also have Netflix.  Before we had the lowest cable package for local stations which cost about $18 a month. 

[FaithManor]

We have not had cable for most of our marriage. We do pay for Netflix, and we get Amazon streaming through our Prime membership. We make do with that although during the Olympics we use Tunnel Bear to fool the computer into showing us as a Canadian residence so we can watch it on the BBC because NBC spends more time yammering than airing the competitions, and they cover very few of the sports. With tunnelbear we so A LOT more and not so many commercials either. I think tunnelbear is $5.95 a month. You can also stream tv shows with it.

[Rachel]

We have Sling TV with the sports package for $25 per month. It includes the ESPN channels, TBS, TNT, and the SEC network (almost a requirement around here so we don't miss college games). We watch through a Roku and an inexpensive antenna we got at Best Buy. We occasionally have trouble getting ABC but haven't had any trouble getting Fox, NBC, PBS, or CBS.

 

The only thing I don't like about the Roku is that there are no parental controls so my kids can access my Netflix account just as easily as their own. There are also movie channels through Roku that I don't particularly want them watching that they could access. It hasn't been a problem but I could see it being a potential issue as they get older.

[Barb_]

We have the extra large Amazon version of the Leaf antenna. Sets up super fast.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00X4RAEZC/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1454201817&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=amazon+antenna&dpPl=1&dpID=411sDqYXoxL&ref=plSrch

[KungFuPanda]

Have you tried an antenna? We grabbed one as an afterthought for DS from the As Seen On TV shelf. It was supposed to work with new tvs and we thought he'd get a channel or two (We haven't had cable in years and he's the only one who cares.) He gets over 30 channels on that stupid thing!!!

[redsquirrel]

FWIW, I have never had cable or a TV, and since we've had internet, I've never missed a ball drop on New Year's Eve or a presidential election night. It has always been streamed.  I bet the Thanksgiving day parade is also streamed and you can watch it online. The nice thing about New Year's Eve and election night is that, so far, we also don't get shown commercials.

 

I don't have a roku or a TV, we just have laptops and watch everything that way.  We have Netflix and Amazon Prime, I much prefer Netflix and mostly like Prime for the free shipping. I've never bothered with Hulu plus.  You can still watch some stuff on Hulu without paying, but it's been over 20 years since I've had cable and I'm not on top of current shows, to say the least. I also pay 5$ a month to Tunnel Bear so we watch current stuff on the BBC, such as Doctor Who and Sherlock, but I suspect those days are numbered. It's only a matter of time before that gets cut off.  Oh well, lol.

 

For news..does anyone watch the nightly news anymore?  I can get podcasts that are audio only.  I listen to the podcast of the Rachel Maddow show M-F.  I also listen to Meet the Press and a couple others.  I think NBC also podcasts their nightly news?  Mostly I listen to BBC world news and NPR, both via the radio on my iphone. Honestly, most of my news comes through Twitter, these days. I do have a subscription to the NYT and I read that daily.  I can watch PBS through their site, but I have to wait until it's the next day. That has never been an issue. We can watch The Simpsons and I watch The Nightly Show and Colbert's show online. I can't stream it live, but that's not an issue for me. I'd rather watch it when it is convenient for me, not when it is shown.

 

DH and I are not sports fans of any sort, so that is a non-issue here.

 

We only pay for internet, not cable. There is some stuff we don't get to see.  A couple of the recent presidential debates required a cable account sign in, oh well.  And I hear about lots of TV shows that I will never see, but I'm used to that and don't really care.

 

Because you mentioned cutting costs I will mention this, DH and I recently looked into getting our house converted to solar power.  It didn't happen, for a number of reasons, but the interesting thing was that the company who worked with us sat down to look at our electricity needs.  They flat out could not believe that there are four people living in our house. They said we had some of the lowest power usage they had seen, and though there was one person living in our house.  I think it's because we don't have a big TV and all the stuff that goes with it.  Because, frankly, we are NOT very careful about keeping stuff off.  As I look around I can see that every single light downstairs is on..ahem... We have all the 'stuff' that I would think most families of four have. The difference is no "home entertainment system" So, while cutting the cord and going internet only is great and I highly recommend it, consider also getting rid of the TV and going laptop only.  It might save you $$ on your electricity bills.

 

Anyway, not paying for cable and not having a TV hasn't been a big deal for us.  My kids are teenagers and have never seen broadcast TV and I am able to have a great deal more control over what they are exposed to.  I can't imagine having all those commercials in my private space, or paying those prices when I only want four channels.  Is there some stuff I miss out on? Yep. But everything, and I mean everything, seems to make it to Netflix sooner or later, lol. And I can wait.

[DawnM]

Watch TV through an Antenna.  Roku is for streaming things like Netflix, for which you need a subscription.

 

You might want to look into getting a Tivo (used HD with Lifetime on Ebay run about $200).   You can record network TV on it and pause live TV.  We found that when we didn't have cable, the DVR is what we missed the most.  Getting a Tivo solved that issue for us.

[DawnM]

Another thing to consider.  Is your internet portion going to go up once you drop TV?  Is the deal you have because it is a bundle?

 

We have cable right now after 4 years without.  Our internet went up to $67/mo.  Adding TV raised it to about $100.  It was only an additional $33 for TV.  TV alone would be more, but since it was bundled, the cost was down.  On my bill now it says my TV is $50 and my cable is $50, but if I drop TV, the cable bill goes back up to $67.  For us, the extra $33 was worth just keeping TV.  We have Tivo boxes so we don't need their DVRs or added equipment.

[Prairie~Phlox]

Without an antenna, sports will probably be hard to watch. We won't give up cable for this reason. I've been successful getting Comcast to lower our bill just by calling & recently, we locked in a price for life with them (or untill we cancel)

[Matryoshka]

We have a large antenna in the attic and watch network TV for free. We get the basic ABC, NBC, CBS,FOX channels, then a whole host of other, like 3 PBS channels,MeTV, 2 ION channels, three movie channels and MHz news channels from around the world. All free.

 

We do have Netflix, also--through the Wii.

 

This is what we do too, except we have Netflix through our TiVo and Roku.

 

Big antenna in the attic is the best thing ever, though I guess it might not work as well if you're in a remote area. How did people in those areas get TV reception before cable?

[Guest2]

My DH is a huge TV fan and we use through our Roku using WiFi. We subscrbe to Sling for ESPN and HGTV( that's for me), ABC,NBC,lots more for $20 a month , I think. CBS is seperate for $5 a month. Between Sling,Hulu Amazon Prime and Netflix( which we were already paying for) we are only paying less/ probably have same amount of channels. Very few commercials. You do have to wait a day for the shows to be aired. Super dependable if you have good wifi. Our tv/ internet was bundled, but we are still saving about half the cost of cable.

Edited February 1, 2016 by Silver Brook

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

This thread is making me want an antenna, but DH is the kind of person who wants the TV on, even for background noise, whenever he's home. Relatives of ours gave us their cable login for ABC (to watch the ball drop one year, they said we should just keep using it *sigh*), and it has drastically increased the amount of time the TV is on on this house. Getting an antenna would be the beginning of the end here! But it would so nice to have immediate access to just a few things :(

 

FWIW, I have never had cable or a TV, and since we've had internet, I've never missed a ball drop on New Year's Eve or a presidential election night. It has always been streamed.  I bet the Thanksgiving day parade is also streamed and you can watch it online. The nice thing about New Year's Eve and election night is that, so far, we also don't get shown commercials.

 

You know, in the past, we have been able to stream some stuff, but never reliably. For example, this past year I was looking for the parade, and the only links I could find were links that were either dead, never loaded, or just took us to ad-loaded pages with no actual streaming. We've watched the ball drop in the years before we had the ABC login, but it was hard to get a reliable connection, and I remember the countdown freezing at 30 seconds once and we couldn't get back on. It was all more trouble than it was worth. 

 

I'm generally uncomfortable using other people's logins (or pirated feeds or whatever) for stuff like that, but DH has no such qualms, so I've lost that battle. Frankly, I'd get rid of every screen in this house if I could right now :banghead:  That ship has long since sailed, though.

[Katy]

nm

Edited July 22, 2016 by Katy

[AmandaVT]

Without an antenna, sports will probably be hard to watch. We won't give up cable for this reason. I've been successful getting Comcast to lower our bill just by calling & recently, we locked in a price for life with them (or untill we cancel)

 

Any tips on getting Comcast to lower your bill? Our bill is exorbitant at the moment. We have phone, cable and Internet and have been informed that we'd only save $20/month if we canceled the cable portion. Since we're big football fans and we cannot get any reception from an antenna where we live (mountains all around us), we feel locked in. 

[Chris in VA]

How do attic antennas work? I presume you have to run cable to the tv, right? Our walls are almost full, lol -- older house, but I'd like to know anyway.

 

 

 

The cable runs outside along the wall of the house, goes in thru a hole in the brick to the basement, and then goes thru the basement ceiling to come up thru the floor behind the cabinet which holds the TV. I had to ask dh, because I have never seen the cable!

[SharonM]

Thanks for all the information. The Hive is such a wealth of knowledge!

My ds bought an antenna this weekend but we live on a hill and cannot get good cell reception here. I am hopeful that when we move we will do better though I expect we will probably be stuck with the same cable company.

[DawnM]

We got an attic mounted antenna on a rotator with a remote from Amazon.  On a clear day we can get about 30 local channels.  We must have a neighbor into something like ham radio though, because every evening at about 5:30 it cuts down to about 6 channels, and the others become either really pixelated or unwatchable for an hour or two.  We're more than an hour's drive from the broadcast location.  In bad weather we only get a couple of channels too.  We mostly only use this for news and weather and PBS though.

 

We got Amazon or Roku sticks for all the tv's in the house.  I prefer the Amazon and DH prefers the Roku.  I think only the Roku handles CBS content though, so that might change.

 

We still pay for:

• hulu plus ($12 for the no commercials option makes the normal shows faster & easier to watch than with the old cable DVR)
• netflix ($8 - we had this before cutting cable)
• amazon prime ($100/year - we had this before)
• blaze ($99/year - DH loves Glenn Beck)
• we're about to add the CBS on demand thing, which I think is $8/month

Previously after our contract discount ended we were paying about $120/month for cable, plus still paying for Amazon, Netflix, and the Blaze.  Our annual cost after adding CBS will be $360 total or so, but only $20/month in new charges, which will save about $90 a month.  I like not having cable.  My kids watch so many less commercials, and I can exit a show in one room and resume it in another (or in the dentist waiting office on an iPhone with headphones).  Plus, parents going to our bed when kids go to bed reduces incidents of kids not staying in bed.   They're not missing anything, because no one else is staying up.  And the one in our bedroom has a headphone jack on the remote, so if I'm sleepy but DH is awake he can stay up & watch tv without bothering me.

 

With cable, the whole-house DVR system was like an extra $80 a month additional (with fees), and we could never justify paying for that.  Now we have the same features without the cost.  The only thing that's really changed is our internet seemed a little slower. When I switched the devices to Google's public DNS servers that changed too.  Everything is super fast.

 

Do make sure your internet has unlimited streaming though.  The only company we could do that through here was Uverse.  We had some other internet providers that had maximum usages, and with streaming and DH working from home sometimes we were way over their limits.

 

 

Are you saying your TV bill alone was $120 or was that with internet?  

[redsquirrel]

This thread is making me want an antenna, but DH is the kind of person who wants the TV on, even for background noise, whenever he's home. Relatives of ours gave us their cable login for ABC (to watch the ball drop one year, they said we should just keep using it *sigh*), and it has drastically increased the amount of time the TV is on on this house. Getting an antenna would be the beginning of the end here! But it would so nice to have immediate access to just a few things :(

 

 

You know, in the past, we have been able to stream some stuff, but never reliably. For example, this past year I was looking for the parade, and the only links I could find were links that were either dead, never loaded, or just took us to ad-loaded pages with no actual streaming. We've watched the ball drop in the years before we had the ABC login, but it was hard to get a reliable connection, and I remember the countdown freezing at 30 seconds once and we couldn't get back on. It was all more trouble than it was worth. 

 

I'm generally uncomfortable using other people's logins (or pirated feeds or whatever) for stuff like that, but DH has no such qualms, so I've lost that battle. Frankly, I'd get rid of every screen in this house if I could right now :banghead:  That ship has long since sailed, though.

 

I've never watched a parade on TV in my life, so I can't speak to that specifically, but seeing the ball drop or whatever hasn't been a problem for us. I can't remember a consistent problem with things lagging or cutting out or buffering. It was back when we had dial up, but we haven't had that in over 10 years.  

 

And something would have to be a REALLY BIG problem to convince me I needed to pay for cable and buy a TV to watch it on. Like, I can't imagine a problem that big. If the ball drop froze with 30 seconds to go, well, I've got an iphone and can do the countdown myself.

 

We really wanted to watch a particular primary debate, but at that time, the news channel hosting it required a cable account to log in to stream.  I checked twitter and bam! Turns out people were streaming it themselves via an app called 'periscope'.  It allows your phone to stream anything.  People were literally just aiming their iphone at their TV and streaming the debate and we could watch it on my phone. They took the time to mount their phones on tripods and everything. It was like watching it via facetime, but anyone with the app could tune in and watch. We also watched some of New Years Eve from Times Square that way.  People on the ground were streaming it live. 

 

So, I think things are just going to get easier and easier.

[Katy]

nm

Edited July 22, 2016 by Katy

[SparklyUnicorn]

We tried to get rid of cable but having internet only would have been more expensive than bundling the two. Makes no sense to me, but there you go. Hopefully you have more success.

 

This is where they get you.  They will likely go up on Internet.  Then they'll present it as only being a few more bucks to add cable.

 

I am seriously considering getting rid of cable though.  We barely watch TV anymore.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Yeah just looked this up.  We have phone, Internet, and cable (Fios) for $151 per month (firm with all fees).  Just looked up what we'd pay for Internet alone.  $80 plus fees.  Then we would also need phone.  So at that rate we might as well just freaking buy the package. 

 

Makes me crazy.  But I figure we don't spend much on cell.  We only have prepaid and per year we spend less than $100 total.  Most people  pay more than that per month. 

 

 

[Farrar]

One additional thing you can do is get a DVR for the antenna. We have our old Tivo hooked to the antenna. We can DVR all the network TV stuff or, of course, watch live TV.

 

We have only a very few times missed having cable since we cut a couple of years ago. I sometimes wish you could watch Syfy shows more easily.

 

One more thing I suggest if you're hesitating is to budget yourself one (or one per person or three for the household or whatever) cable show that you simply can't live without and buy it new as it airs on Amazon. It'll still come out cheaper than paying for cable.

 

 

[Ellie]

We haven't had satellite in over four years. We have NetFlix, which we watch via our Blu Ray player. Local channels, including the major networks, comes in through an antenna (also, we bought a new smart TV, and we get more channels because of it. But I digress, lol). We pay for streaming and one DVD at a time. I will never go back to satellite/cable.

 

We pay for Internet, which we have never bundled with anything, so dropping DishNetworked saved us over $120 a month. The $30 or so we pay for Netflix is worth every penny. And almost everything that is shown over the air or on cable/Internet can eventually be streamed, so we don't worry about missing anything.

 

[whitestavern]

How do attic antennas work? I presume you have to run cable to the tv, right? Our walls are almost full, lol -- older house, but I'd like to know anyway.

 

 

Can you tell me about what brand you have?

We bought the Amazon Omni Directional. Dh said to go tvfool.com. It will give you an idea of what channels you can expect and what type of antenna to buy.

[Spy Car]

What many people don't realize is that the free over-the-air broadcast signal offers vastly superior picture quality compared with most cable or dish set-ups. Cable companies compress (degrade) signals so they can deliver more channels on the same wire, but the over-the-air signal is way better.

 

For antennas it is best to pick one that fits your needs for range and direction. A longer range antenna when you need a shorter range one make reception worse, not better.

 

Go to TV Fool and see where the transmitters are in your area. Then work it's that information to get the antenna that fits the bill:

 

http://tvfool.com

 

Bill

[DawnM]

That was the price for tv alone, fiber optic internet is $40/month more.   It was a $180 bill when we cancelled cable (the additional $20 was in fees).

 

For a year cable was $45/month, minus $10 for a bundling discount with internet and for that we thought cable might be worth it.  We had uverse, and then there was the merger with directv, and when the discount expired after the merger it went up it immediately went up to $60, and the very next month TV alone doubled to $120, and the bundling discount disappeared.  I suspect they did an across the board price hike because they want everyone to switch to directv.  They'll save money if they consolidate service.

 

We had Directv before uverse and every month there was something wrong with the bill.  It started with the bill being much higher than the contracted amount.  Every single month they'd promise us they'd credit us, but either the credit wouldn't be there or we'd get some random fee we didn't owe.  I usually have a high tolerance for customer service issues, but I got so fed up I refused to deal with them anymore and made DH call them.  He did it 5 times, even got us a free month a few times, then he cancelled early.  He did manage to get out of the cancellation fee by threatening to sue for his hourly rate for every time they'd violated their own contract and forced him to be on the phone for more than an hour, and for every additional hour a lawsuit would take him.  They apparently took him seriously, because they waived the fee.

 

 

But Fios, Uverse, and Satellite aren't cable.  Do you have cable now through a cable company?  Or how do you have internet?

 

We have cable, Time Warner Cable.  Unfortunately, that is all we can get here.  When we move we may have more options.

 

However, since we have TWC, we bundle our services.  If we do just cable internet, we don't save a whole lot.  For $33 more than internet alone, we get TV.    I am just saying to know exactly what you will be paying (no promo rate, real rate) once you cancel TV.

[DawnM]

What many people don't realize is that the free over-the-air broadcast signal offers vastly superior picture quality compared with most cable or dish set-ups. Cable companies compress (degrade) signals so they can deliver more channels on the same wire, but the over-the-air signal is way better.

 

For antennas it is best to pick one that fits your needs for range and direction. A longer range antenna when you need a shorter range one make reception worse, not better.

 

Go to TV Fool and see where the transmitters are in your area. Then work it's that information to get the antenna that fits the bill:

 

http://tvfool.com

 

Bill

 

 

You can also go to http://antennaweb.org

 

Unfortunately, neither site deals with obstructions, hills, or other things in the way.

 

We live 30 miles from a few networks and with obstructions in the way, we still had a lot of trouble getting a few of the channels.  We muddled through for 4 years,.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Re: bundling

 

We don't have cable (just antenna and streaming).

We don't have phone (just cell phones).

We DO have internet.

It costs us a whopping $15/mo.

 

How?  Never heard of anything that inexpensive. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Ah I may have found the $15 Internet (that does not include fees btw though).  This is for Internet with speeds up to 3 Mpbs.  This is incredibly low and probably useless for anyone who wants to do more than read message boards or who has more than one device.  The lowest speed plan they offer here is for 50 Mpbs and even that we found annoyingly slow (and it costs over $50 anyway).  We have the 150 Mpbs currently.  That costs about $80 plus fees alone.

 

Just saying this is another factor of cost.  A super low cost item is likely to be a super low frills item.