Trimming the cable cord?? Need help thinking through solutions.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I finally convinced hubby that paying for hundreds of channels of cable when there is nothing on is a huge waste of money.  Most of what we want to watch is available streaming, except for PBS.  We live far enough out in the suburbs that we would need an antenna.  I am thinking what we save could be put toward upgrading our internet speed and maybe add a streaming service.  We have Amazon Prime and Netflix.  I am not that thrilled with Netflix.  Lots of movies/shows that were in my queue disappeared.  What about Hulu?  Also, does anyone have experience with an HDTV antenna?

 

 

[Barb_]

I just went with direct tv now and a fire stick. $35 a month for basic channels and $5 extra for hbo. I have a leaf style antenna for local channels and pbs and I'm good to go.

 

 

 

https://www.directvnow.com

[itsheresomewhere]

Google your area and the HDTV antenna to see reception/channels in your area. We have one and it is pretty good. It picks up a nice amount of stuff.

 

We have prime and Netflix but added sling recently. I am really liking sling. For the price of sling, I am really getting so much more than I pay for it.

[Barb_]

This is the antenna we use:

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IN26Z5A/ref=asc_df_B01IN26Z5A4932066/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B01IN26Z5A&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167122786755&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=901000798898316503&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9030165&hvtargid=pla-474664885872

 

I have more trouble with interference in Chicago than I do in Phoenix.

[SJ.]

For a while we have been mostly watching from Amazon Prime and Netflix. I just recently added Hulu and cut cable. For a TV antenna I bought something like this (though I thought it was closer in price to $20): https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00RFLXE0A/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1491799315&sr=1-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&dpPl=1&dpID=314dhEs72WL&ref=plSrch

 

My dh was very skeptical about the antenna but we get every station and the antenna is on the floor behind the entertainment stand. No one has missed cable and everyone has plenty to watch.

 

We are about 20 miles away from the broadcast antennas. Check out nocable.org to see how far you are.

Edited April 10, 2017 by SJ.

[bettyandbob]

We bought a pretty good antenna a couple of years ago. We supplement that with a Roku and subscription to Netflix and Hulu. We tried Amazon prime and found that really didn't give us anything. We get all the PBS stuff through the Roku.

 

We kept cable internet. I don't think we upgraded our speed though. Dh figured out dropping cable TV even with the subscription to Netflix and Hulu has saved us more than 100/month. We had the basic, no premium channel service for cable.

 

Antenna is a digital TV antenna.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Diana P.

[retiredHSmom]

We got rid of cable 7 years ago but I will admit that we aren't big TV watchers. We have an HDTV antenna mounted in our attic. We get fantastic reception on about 30 channels with it. (We live in the DC metro area, about 12 miles south of Washington DC) we have Netflix, Amazon Prime and Apple TV. We have a Roku but we only subscribe to sling tv during college football season to get SEC TV.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Tania

[SparklyUnicorn]

We priced cutting cable and going with a service and upgrading Internet.  In the end the price difference didn't turn out to be great enough to bother.  They get you because they charge you more when you only go with one of their services. 

 

So do the math before you decide to do that. 

 

Also, if you call to cancel your cable, you might find that they will offer you a discount.  We've done that before too.

 

 

[bettyandbob]

We priced cutting cable and going with a service and upgrading Internet. In the end the price difference didn't turn out to be great enough to bother. They get you because they charge you more when you only go with one of their services.

 

So do the math before you decide to do that.

 

Also, if you call to cancel your cable, you might find that they will offer you a discount. We've done that before too.

Here's the weird thing. For the first several months our savings was less. Then after 6 months of being an internet only subscriber Comcast dropped our rate for that. It's like they have a rate for people who previously bundled and that is more and a rate for people who.just want one thing and that is less. And of course they don't tell you how they figure that. So it's not always true that if you unbundle services you won't save, it just might take time to appear.

[hellen]

We are about 20 miles away from the broadcast antennas. Check out nocable.org to see how far you are.

That website was overly optimistic for our location. Of the major channels, we only get Fox and NBC. We have the Mohu Leaf antenna.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I hated Hulu until they came out with the 11.99 no commercial option.  Now I love it.

We have a chromecast on my tv so I can use my phone to watch all my CW shows with their app.  The Roku has the CW app built in.

We also have Amazon Prime and Netflix.

Haven't had more than the basic cable option in over 20 years.  $70 for basic cable with internet.  $11.99 for Hulu, $8.99 for Netflix (ish) and of course, $99 a year for Amazon Prime.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Google your area and the HDTV antenna to see reception/channels in your area. We have one and it is pretty good. It picks up a nice amount of stuff.

 

We have prime and Netflix but added sling recently. I am really liking sling. For the price of sling, I am really getting so much more than I pay for it.

 

Gave Sling a try, I found their Android interface to be unwieldy as all heck, it was terrible so I cancelled.

[Noreen Claire]

We have an antenna, Netflix, and we borrow lots of things from the library to watch.

[Chris in VA]

We've only had antenna TV, never cable. We get lots of channels, but we are in a major metro area. We do have Netflix (there's a ton of garbage on it, but good foreign movie selections and some good original content). Our son has Amazon Prime and treats us to current movies by hooking up his laptop to our TV. 

 

We get ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox (just broadcast Fox, obviously), ION, PBS--then a bunch of weird bonus channels. We get shopping channels (QVC, HSN, and another one), MHz foreign news channels (I love FRANCE 24), and what we used to call UHF channels--you know, the ones you used to tune in on the second dial of your TV! lol So we get a couple of movie channels (nothing current, of course), MeTV (old shows), a channel that shows old game shows, and some others.

It's a strange mix. 

[DawnM]

We have a rooftop antenna and still don't get great reception.  We are only 19 miles from the heart of the city, but with the trees and hills, we just can't get good reception.  But YMMV.

 

We went without cable TV for just over 4 years and then added it back.  

 

I realized about 4 months in to no cable that the thing I missed the most was the DVR.  So we got a Tivo that can be used with OTA TV. I was able to find one on eBay with a lifetime subscription for a reasonable price.

 

We had to up our internet speed because of Dh's working from home 3 days per week, and when we did that, it was only $30 to add back cable TV.  DH likes having it because he keeps his shows (golf, car shows, American pickers, etc...) on in the background while he works.

 

But back to going without if that he what you want to do:

 

1. Roku boxes or Amazon Fire sticks

2. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Playon TV, Sling

(they all do different things so you really need to google and research.)

3. A strong antenna that can go to all of your TVs either in the attic or rooftop 

4. Look into getting a Tivo with lifetime if you like recording network TV or the ability to pause live TV

 

 

[Carol in Cal.]

I hated Hulu until they came out with the 11.99 no commercial option.  Now I love it.

We have a chromecast on my tv so I can use my phone to watch all my CW shows with their app.  The Roku has the CW app built in.

We also have Amazon Prime and Netflix.

Haven't had more than the basic cable option in over 20 years.  $70 for basic cable with internet.  $11.99 for Hulu, $8.99 for Netflix (ish) and of course, $99 a year for Amazon Prime.

What is CW?

[JustEm]

We priced cutting cable and going with a service and upgrading Internet. In the end the price difference didn't turn out to be great enough to bother. They get you because they charge you more when you only go with one of their services.

 

So do the math before you decide to do that.

 

Also, if you call to cancel your cable, you might find that they will offer you a discount. We've done that before too.

 

See I got around this issue by getting the cable and internet bundle and just not taking any of the cable equipment. So technically I have the bundle so I get fast internet for pretty cheap, cheaper than I could get for slower internet. If I had taken the equipment they would be charging me $30 extra bucks in rental and other fees.

[Vintage81]

We use Direct TV Now. We have the smallest package for $35/month and over 60 channels are included. 

 

We've also tried Playstation Vue. It is similar pricing to Direct TV Now, but Direct TV Now had a few more channels we liked.

 

Both have worked well. 

[Wheres Toto]

We have an antennae and bought our own Channel Master DVR so we can record off those channels.  We get all the networks plus PBS - basically all the channels up to 13, like you used to get way back before cable.  Including CW (which is channel 11 for us).

 

We do also have hulu, a fire stick, a chromecast, and the kids watch through the Wii and Wii U.  If we miss a show on the DVR or something happens (it doesn't adjust for sports that run late or news breakthroughs) we watch it online.  Almost every channel has an online streaming where you can watch episodes a day or two after they air.   

 

The only channel we haven't found a way to watch is MTV.  We used to watch Teen Wolf and haven't been able to watch that since we switched.  Dh orders Sling to watch Football and College Basketball.

[DawnM]

What is CW?

 

http://www.cwtv.com

 

A TV station.  It tends to have a lot of teen/young adult type shows.

 

I will admit I watch Riverdale.  

[dirty ethel rackham]

Thanks for all the advice.  We only have one TV.  But we do live in an area with mature trees and we are about 25 miles from the nearest signal transmitter.  It is a major metropolitan area.  This is why we got cable in the first place ... we could not get certain channels without it.  We did have an rooftop antenna, but it was very old and not effective (and not compatible with digital signals.)  I'm crowd-sourcing a local solution to the antenna question to find what is most effective. 

 

Now I just need to break it to my 23 yo who's only reason to watch tv is The Expanse on the ScyFy channel.  

[Wheres Toto]

http://www.cwtv.com

 

A TV station.  It tends to have a lot of teen/young adult type shows.

 

I will admit I watch Riverdale.  

 

I must have my Supernatural.   :closedeyes:

[Wheres Toto]

Thanks for all the advice.  We only have one TV.  But we do live in an area with mature trees and we are about 25 miles from the nearest signal transmitter.  It is a major metropolitan area.  This is why we got cable in the first place ... we could not get certain channels without it.  We did have an rooftop antenna, but it was very old and not effective (and not compatible with digital signals.)  I'm crowd-sourcing a local solution to the antenna question to find what is most effective. 

 

Now I just need to break it to my 23 yo who's only reason to watch tv is The Expanse on the ScyFy channel.  

 

SyFy is available online - http://www.syfy.com/episodes

 

We live in a major metro area but in a very hilly, wooded area.  Direct TV came and said they couldn't get us a signal but we have a lot of success with our antennae.   What brand works best for you might depend on your area.  

[SparklyUnicorn]

Here's the weird thing. For the first several months our savings was less. Then after 6 months of being an internet only subscriber Comcast dropped our rate for that. It's like they have a rate for people who previously bundled and that is more and a rate for people who.just want one thing and that is less. And of course they don't tell you how they figure that. So it's not always true that if you unbundle services you won't save, it just might take time to appear.

 

That won't happen because here rates are fixed for a period of time (usually 2 years).  So they definitely are not going to just drop our rate in the middle.

[dirty ethel rackham]

SyFy is available online - http://www.syfy.com/episodes

 

We live in a major metro area but in a very hilly, wooded area.  Direct TV came and said they couldn't get us a signal but we have a lot of success with our antennae.   What brand works best for you might depend on your area.  

My son knows that it is available online, but it is the only show that he stops everything to watch when it airs.  It cracks me up.  He'll adjust to whatever new reality we end up with. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

See I got around this issue by getting the cable and internet bundle and just not taking any of the cable equipment. So technically I have the bundle so I get fast internet for pretty cheap, cheaper than I could get for slower internet. If I had taken the equipment they would be charging me $30 extra bucks in rental and other fees.

 

yeah they get you on equipment, that's for sure

[Guest]

That won't happen because here rates are fixed for a period of time (usually 2 years). So they definitely are not going to just drop our rate in the middle.

We are waiting on fios to expand. Cable dropped to reasonable south of us where it did. in the meantime dish is the only option aside from $pectrum and we need internet.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Heigh Ho

[gardenmom5]

amazon prime and netflix both vary what is available free. things on amazon can go from being free to having to pay to view.

 

I have found a couple interesting things on history channel - but have to pay to view on the history channel itself.

 

I'd love to cut the cable cord (and I had preferred dish), but we have it for football. . . .if dh makes a change - it will always be in august at the start of football season.

 

that said, so far cable has been the fastest isp for us. . . though, we've heard rumors someone has been installing fiber.

[shawthorne44]

I wish we had cut the cord a longggggg time ago.   I'd had Tivo since it was new, so I am uncompromising about watching what I want to watch when I want to watch it and not when it is on.  Also, we have three people with very different viewing preferences.  This is what I did.  

 

• I built a home theater PC.   This cost some money because I wanted the one with 4K video.  This dude has some great advice.   https://mediaexperience.com
• I bought a lifetime license of the max version of PlayOn for $50.   That is awesome.  It can record anything I can stream.  You can set subscriptions on the shows you watch, and it automatically records them as soon as they are available.  Sometimes the networks will stream a show for only a day.   This catches them.  
• PlayOn has ad-skip.  It does it automatically!   It is so cool.   I hate ads.  I still sometimes say "Baaa" (in a showed-you tone) to the TV when we see the occasional black screen for a split second where a commercial should be.  DH and I used to argue over who had to "man the remote" and fast-forward through commercials.  Such first world problems!  
• Another nice thing about it is that you can record stuff in the wee hours when there isn't much internet traffic.   We had the second lowest internet package and we never had a problem.   Internet cable is out only choice for internet and neighbors share the band-width.  Because of that we didn't have to upgrade our internet.  We are now on the lowest package which is 'faster' than out previous package.  
• We also have Hulu and Netflix and Netflix DVD.   If it were just DH and I, we would pick either hulu or netflix, but DD likes shows on both and she likes finding new kids show on the roku.  I don't know if this is still true but on Hulu some shows (Disney) are available on the commercial version but not on the other.   Price on both is minor.  
• For shows that we can't stream for free like HBO and Syfy shows we either get the DVD's from the library or Netflix DVD.   I copy them and then delete as we watch.  Actually everything we delete as we watch.  
• So far there hasn't been anything we can't watch with the above methods, but we gave ourselves permission to buy one TV season a month on Amazon.  They are $20-25 each and you can buy the season at the beginning and watch each show as it is added.   We were paying $140/month.   We could buy 67 full TV show seasons a year for that money.  I don't think we could name 67 TV shows.  I thought we might get Doctor Who that way, but we got busy watching other shows.  We might buy the next Game of Thrones season as that was the only one we were impatient for.   
• We also have a digital antennae but we haven't used it much.   We live far away from the source so we had to buy the nicest one.  
• One reason we didn't cut the cord earlier was football.  For DH, I had to come up with a way for DH to watch football.   Last season we got NFL GamePass.  That was very unsatisfying.  Games weren't available when they said they would be.  For example Sunday games often were still unavailable Monday wee hours of the morning.   Also, they'd said the Roku channel would work, and it didn't.  We record the game in two or three sections because it acts funny if you are watching and rewinding through a show still being recorded.  
• So, DH mostly watched football off the antennae.   He likes being able to pause and rewind so we record off the antennae.  There is shareware that does that.   A year subscription to an online TV guide is $50.  
• Oh, and another nice thing about PlayOn is that you can record the stuff on Hulu and Netflix before they go away.   I try every month to look at the stuff that is going away on both and setting anything interesting to record.   Actually it is nice just having everything to watch in one place, so even Netflix made shows that will never go away, we record.  Also, they sometimes do that only even or odd numbered seasons are available thing.  

eta: we watch Expanse, but I forget which method we used to get it.  
Also, we are 55 miles away from the source.  

Edited April 10, 2017 by shawthorne44

I finally convinced hubby that paying for hundreds of channels of cable when there is nothing on is a huge waste of money.  Most of what we want to watch is available streaming, except for PBS.  We live far enough out in the suburbs that we would need an antenna.  I am thinking what we save could be put toward upgrading our internet speed and maybe add a streaming service.  We have Amazon Prime and Netflix.  I am not that thrilled with Netflix.  Lots of movies/shows that were in my queue disappeared.  What about Hulu?  Also, does anyone have experience with an HDTV antenna?

 

I think the key to cable cutting is realizing that we are awash in an ocean of entertainment options from all kinds of sources, but not every source has every option.  So, if you can go in with the mindset of "there's more than a lifetime worth of stuff to see on streaming/OTA/public library/wherever, but it may not be the same shows I have been watching, I just need to find what I like", instead of "OMG, I have to keep watching the exact same shows, and I'll die if I miss them", I think you should be fine.

[mamaraby]

We have the Mohu Leaf 50 and live within 50 miles of two major markets. The ones that come in the best are the ones that are further away interestingly enough.

 

If it's a currently airing show, we watch it either through Hulu, an app (the free CBS one via airplay off the iPad), or iTunes (season passes to The Expanse and Doctor Who). The rest is either on Netflix or Amazon Prime, but mostly Netflix. I can watch PBS programs live, but mostly I watch it on the PBS app on my AppleTV. Tbh, I prefer watching on the apps after it airs because then I can watch it when I want to and not when it airs.

 

I've also found that it went a bit like cancelled cable -> watched live when it aired -> got busy, watched on app -> forgot to watch new episodes -> discovered YouTube and started watching specific channels more often than I watch broadcast TV. I had some laundry to fold last night and normally I watch some mindless TV, but last night I watched a couple of YouTube videos on my AppleTV. I think it's entirely possible that except for the two shows I buy season passes for and the few shows I watch on the PBS app, that I'd watch even less TV if it weren't for my dh.

[Lady Florida.]

We gave up Directv 6 years ago and haven't been sorry. We already had Netflix and were Amazon Prime members since it was just a shipping program. We added Hulu Plus and AcornTV. With those four streaming services it ends up costing us around $30 a month, much less than the $100+ we were paying for satellite We have a Roku box on each tv. 

 

We aren't sports fans so that was never a problem for us. We have a digital antenna for local channels and we get quite a few of those (we're in the Orlando market). We haven't missed having satellite/cable at all.

 

Sometimes we buy a currently airing season if we don't want to wait for it to come to a streaming service for free. We used to buy The Walking Dead but we're tired of that show. Most recently we bought the current season of Vikings. For the most part though, we just wait for our shows to become available or we find other shows to watch.

[Lady Florida.]

I think the key to cable cutting is realizing that we are awash in an ocean of entertainment options from all kinds of sources, but not every source has every option.  So, if you can go in with the mindset of "there's more than a lifetime worth of stuff to see on streaming/OTA/public library/wherever, but it may not be the same shows I have been watching, I just need to find what I like", instead of "OMG, I have to keep watching the exact same shows, and I'll die if I miss them", I think you should be fine.

 

This absolutely. We had to learn to watch tv differently than when we had satellite and over 100 channels to choose from. We don't channel surf (although dh can't completely break the habit so he surfs the hd digital local channels) anymore. We find what we want to watch and watch it. I think it's really better for us because we do less mindless tv watching than we did when we had Directv.

 

 

 

I'd love to cut the cable cord (and I had preferred dish), but we have it for football. . . .if dh makes a change - it will always be in august at the start of football season.

 

 

 

We don't watch sports so maybe I don't understand how it works, but I think you can buy seasons of certain sports (NFL, college football, NBA, etc.). When we first cut the cord that wasn't an option so I used to tell people if they watch sports cord cutting probably isn't a good idea for them. However, I think ESPN now offers seasonal packages, plus I think there are a few other options. If you really want to cut the cord you might check into how it works.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Lady Florida.

[Matryoshka]

I wish we had cut the cord a longggggg time ago. I'd had Tivo since it was new, so I am uncompromising about watching what I want to watch when I want to watch it and not when it is on. Also, we have three people with very different viewing preferences. This is what I did.

Just FYI, TiVo works just fine with an antenna. We've never had cable, and we've had TiVo for years. We buy the lifetime service with the box, so no monthly fees either. We did finally break down and get Netflix, but the majority of what we watch is free from the antenna that we recorded on the TiVo so we can fast-forward through the commercials. We never watch anything live. The TiVo's also great because it can record two conflicting shows (two tuners) and of course we make heavy use of OnePass.

 

We are very lucky in that we get tons of channels with the antenna. It's not even a special digital antenna; it's the same old one we've had for about 25 years.

[foxbridgeacademy]

Also check out Acorn Media, it's $6 per month or $50 per year and has a lot of BBC and PBS type shows.  If you start to miss shows on History/Discovery (especially if you miss the way they USED to be) check out Curiosity Stream. Both Curiosity and Acorn are Amazon add ons as well as stand alone services.

[Zinnia]

We have cable internet, tivo, and an antenna. Occasionally, we do a month of netflix or sling. We have amazon prime, and once or twice a year, we will watch something.

 

For the amount of TV we watch, this works fine for us.

[Lizzie in Ma]

What is CW?

 

A network, The CW, it has all my favorites, Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, the Originals, Supergirl and Supernatural. ;)

[DawnM]

Just FYI, TiVo works just fine with an antenna. We've never had cable, and we've had TiVo for years. We buy the lifetime service with the box, so no monthly fees either. We did finally break down and get Netflix, but the majority of what we watch is free from the antenna that we recorded on the TiVo so we can fast-forward through the commercials. We never watch anything live. The TiVo's also great because it can record two conflicting shows (two tuners) and of course we make heavy use of OnePass.

 

We are very lucky in that we get tons of channels with the antenna. It's not even a special digital antenna; it's the same old one we've had for about 25 years.

 

 

Just a word on that.  Not all Tivos work with over the air antennas.  You need to google and make sure before you buy, esp. if you are purchasing from ebay or CL.

 

We have three Tivos that we have collected over the years as Tivo has had deals.  We have an old HD (13 years old I think), that works with OTA or Cable.  We also have a Roamio basic that works with both.  But they offered a deal on a Roamio Pro and I jumped (cost of device and lifetime only another $150), and it ONLY works on cable.

 

So check before you buy!