DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Cutting cable...

Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to cut cable and still have good internet? We pay $200/mo for cable, internet, and landline phone service (we don't even own an analog phone!)?

Amazon Fire TV Box($90 or so) and load terrarium TV and Modboro on it. Every movie and TV show. I got a great deal on the internet for $30 a month . I will never pay for cable again

I pay $54 (tax in) for Spectrum's 100Mbps and $105 (tax in) for Dish's Top 200 package, (I think that's what it's called) that has all of the sports, as well.

I have unlimited call/text and 5 GB/month internet on both my tablet and phone, and pay $20/month for each through Mint Mobile. I have been well pleased with their service on both devices.

I do have MagicJack as well, but I'll drop it in a few years when it comes up for renewal in 2021. It seems to me that I bought 5 years for something like $129, but I just don't see myself paying for that again.

I left Spectrum when they wanted me to pay $110 a month for 50 mbps service because I had been a customer too long to get the $50 rate...

I've been with At&t since. I got phone and directv but talked to them about straight internet only at first. You can get good internet for about $30 a month. I do a ton of streaming and have been as happy with it as I ever was with Spectrums supposedly faster service.

I got the whole deal for $130 a month which was about what I was paying for internet and phone with spectrum. Also, this is not bundle pricing. You can get what you want, even cell service all on the same bill.

this is a good suggestion

I have a ROKU. Tons of free stuff out there. I buy Netflix, my daughter's buy HULU and HBO Go and we share passwords. It's all the TV I can possibly watch. I'll add an antenna but honestly don't miss anything. 150.00 per month instantt raise!

I do have a Fire stick in the bedroom. (Does that sound proper?!)

We pay $75 for com cast 100mbs...tie it to roku with netflix,and our Prime account (I also can log on to my dad's direct TV online account and access their channels through roku apps).

Got to watch the Internet speeds especially if you run it through wifi. My 100 mbs drops to mid thirties with wifi degredation. This only matters if doING multiple streams at same time as most streaming platforms needs 5plus mbs to stream seamlessly. We used to have a cheaper speed....maybe 25mbs but once it went through wifi it was,actually a little over 10mbs....and streaming to three tvs plus the possible phone or laptop at the same time was,not diable.

I think the upgraded Internet package cost us an additional $25/month, but we dropped a $150 cable package so we still were ahead $125 so I am happy.

But be ready. Cable/Internet providers won't go away. The need $x to stay in business. As everyone switches off cable and streams of an ISP...look for prices to rise dramatically for Internet service. Those I. The practice of cord cutting now are enjoying lower prices in their budget....but that won't last forever as the tidea grows

We fired DirecTv in July. We have Netflix and Amazon Prime. We have AppleTV on one TV and likely to add another.

Only issue I have is sports. I was going to do NFL Game Pass but somehow when I signed up and paid through Google Play, the subscription doesn't register to the NFL and doesn't work. Google won't refund saying it is the NFL and NFL says Google has to cancel...been a nightmare. The NFL, ironically, has the worst customer service of any company I've ever seen!!!

What are you guys doing for Sports????

I pay $65 for Spectrum’s 100mbps internet and I subscribe to PlayStation Vue for $60. PS Vue is an app that can be downloaded on any Android or IOS device. My living room TV is an Android TV, so I have the app installed directly on the tv. The rest of my TVs have Firesticks with the app installed. We also have Netflix and Amazon Prime.

PlayStation Vue $60 tier has many channels including pretty much all sports channels, ESPN, Fox Sports, MLB TV, NFL Network, NBA TV etc. We have local 3, 5, 19 in the app, the Fox channel is the national FOX Network but I have a digital antenna to get local Fox 8 if I want to.

PS Vue channel line up

Click the link if interested and see the different packages and channels offered on each package

Yep call the internet company and pester the crap out of them till you get somebody to cut your bill.

Cable, internet, and phone $230 per month.

Cable is in 5 rooms, and you can watch on demand and DVR programs in every room. Cable includes HBO, Showtime, Cinamax, Stars, The Movie Channel, 335 channels in all. Internet includes 2 TB of info per month, and Phone is unlimited and no long distance charges.

Hey, I just thought about this. I can watch my Dish Network on my tablet, from anywhere. I bet I could hook up my tablet to my TV, as well, and watch my tablet on my TV. Hmm ..... I think that I have to do away with a couple of my Joeys, and save a little money. Since I almost never watch TV in my bedroom, or in the basement, I think I can save a little cash.

Hmm .... I just looked and the Roku Streaming Stick will allow me to easily do this wirelessly. I may have to invest $39 and get rid of 2 of my Joeys. I just looked, and my Joeys cost me $7 each. It's a no brainer to get rid of 2 of them on TVs on which I rarely use them, and add a Roku Stick instead. I can move the stick if I really want to watch in my basement or bedroom. Cool, I found a cost saver that will get me under $100/month.

I had all of the movie channels at one time, but I almost never watched them. I have a free trial of HBO Now, but as soon as Hard Knocks is over, so is it. lol

I want to drop Directv so BAD .. living down here in NC. , Directv is the only way to get my Browns games ( Sunday ticket ) They are way to high all the way around since the merger with AT & T ..

I just checked one of my really old (like an original) Roku's, that I haven't used in quite a while .... and the channel store is no longer available .... but I can get a Eoku Express that will allow screen casting, for $21.44, tax in and with free shipping.

$21 to drop a $7/month expense works for me.

I use playstation vue as well. 50.00 a month, plus internet. More channels than I need.

I was all geared up to clip the cord. Still exploring options, including the new discounted "pick your own channels" option from Spectrum. Bottom line, the company that provides your internet has you by the bizalls. That's why they lure you into a "bundle" situation by inflating the price of just internet. I have one choice for internet - both at work and home - Spectrum.

Now the game changer - Spectrum Mobile.
Everything 100% free except the data. By the Gig - $14 per month... Unlimited - $45
VERIZON NETWORK for cell with access to the thousands of Spectrum wifi hotspots.

I have 5 phones, my bill is over $300 on a "share plan"... Only two of the five use significant data. My bill would drop to $140. Fine print: Must be a Spectrum cable customer. It now becomes smarter to NOT cut the cord. Drop my programming cost on a pick your own channel tier and still save over $100 per month... and actually have more leverage when I call and work a better deal (I do every time they raise rates and always save money).

Great deal for someone with multiple phones, probably not enough to stay "attached" for people who don't. Comcast has a nearly identicle plan through Xfinity.

If I were to cut the cord... Antenna back on the house for all local channels in HD. I subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime video already and would never change that - everything through my Rokus (two upstairs, a Roku TV in the living room). Anything else I want is a'la cart through Amazon Prime (currently HBO for Hard Knocks and binge watching anything else before I kiss it goodbye). Might even explore SLING and the channels they offer at a very fair rate. I did find out last year, however, that TBS, TNT, etc, (on Sling) will allow you to stream NBA games - until the playoffs, then bye-bye NBA... ridiculous.

My biggest fear was having problems "streaming" sports (bad picture, buffering, dropping, etc). Not a big deal now that LeBron is gone and the Cavs will suck again.

It was a whole lot simpler when you just had 3 channels plus a couple on UHF, and it was free. Your phone service was provided by a Bell System company and cost about $25 a month since they were the only game in town and had everybody.

Cell phone...I remember when if you were talking on a cell phone, you were in jail.

I use Sling. It has a lot of the channels I like. Doesn't have the locals. It's like 26 bucks a month with tax. Has FSO and etc so all the Indians and Cavs game are usually on.

Cut down on my cable bill on actually a substantial scale. I stream it through the Roku device which it has/had a killer deal if you sign up for it, it gave you one or gave you a nice discount on the nicer model Roku Ultra which is what I got. No issues really.

Right? And the only thing that would "inter-net" was a huge Walleye on Lake Erie.

So with all these wonderful streaming tricks, how does one go about getting the little al channels?

and what I forgot to say is the biggest advantage to Fire Box over ire Stick(besides the bigger memory and faster processor) is Fire Box has an ethernet port so you can run it directy into your modem or router rather than the Firestick that has to use WI FI .

I cut the cord a few years back. I have internet only from our local cable company. My wife is fine with Netflix and our local stations we bring in on an antenna. We have a Tivo for our channel guide and DVR. We have Amazon Prime TV, it comes with your Amazon Prime subscription, but she's not remotely interested in watching that service.

For sports, I have Youtube Live. While it lacks the NFL network it has practically every other sports channel and it provides your local stations too, they top it off with a cloud based DVR for time-shifting shows. At $40 a month, of the streaming services like Sling, PS Vue and Hulu Live, I like Youtube the best.

Thanks everyone...lots of info to research here. I know there are a bunch of streaming services, and choosing one or two won't be hard. It's the actual internet that's confusing. We currently have Spectrum and the internet seems to do okay with two of every device going most of the time, I just think it's stupid to pay $200 a month for basically internet and FSO for the Reds. I don't really think we have another option for internet around here than Spectrum unless I'm missing something.

I was thinking of Spectrum internet only + Sling Blue/Orange for FSO + Netflix + Amazon Prime.

Most of the streaming services give a free trial period. You can try a few out and see which one you like better.

The shame is that we have to go to such lenght's just to get some basic service at a REASONABLE price..

I know it ... I feel like it should be much easier to get the services that I want

The Affordable Cable Act (ACA) is just around the corner. Pretty sure this might be doable under the general welfare clause of the US Constitution.

When I was living in the Cleveland area , never thought to much about it .. We had several choices and STO and all the Browns games on the cheap .. Living in NC is a whole different ballgame .. I upgraded a package to get STO with Directv for my Indians .. Well I get STO all day long until the game comes on and then they black it out ; Sweet , right ! I knew when the Washington Gang let Directv & AT&T we were in for it ..

Cable companies have not kept up with the times. I don't think anyone cares about having 300+ stations anymore when they only use 10 or so regularly.

I dumped directv, went with an antenna and tivo to dvr local stations. Use prime and netflix for everything else. Biggest thing I gave up was sunday ticket.

How close do you live to the tv stations you use the antenna to get? How is the reception during bad weather?

I live probably a half hour north of my local stations so I worry how that would come through.

OTA used to be able to "bounce" off the clouds, so you could pick up signals from far away. You also used to be able t pick up weak signals, and watch a program with a partial signal, and a crappy picture. I used to love watching French Canadian episodes of Star Trek when I was much younger.

An HD signal is more of an all or nothing proposition. You either get it all, or you get nothing.

HD is also "line of sight". With a strong enough antenna, and a line of sight, I have seen antennas that can pick up a signal up to 50 miles away. Go to antenna.

You can check what stations you have a chance of picking up here:

https://www.antennaweb.org/Address

It will tell you signal strength based on where you live.

Most of the signal colors I get (when installing 30' above ground) is yellow. Is that good?

I bought a small rocket android box..paid $40 for it..watch live ..it has the nfl channel hbo etc ect...can watch any movie...all I pay for is the wifi..

Yes, that's good.

A Small Multidirectional Antenna is recommended to receive this station. Look for the CTA-certified Yellow mark on the antenna's box.

On cable and satellite you get your local stations, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and PBS. What you get over the air that you don't get from cable or satellite is the other digital channels offered by your local network station. For example, our NBC affiliate, is channel 2, so now digitally that channel is 2.1, but they also offer channel 2.2 and 2.3. These additional channels you don't get with cable or satellite. So in my market with those 5 networks, I get 17 channels from my antenna. I also get other independent networks. In all, I get 27 stations over the air, or OTA.

So, who are you guys getting your internet/wifi from?

I had a roof antenna at my old house, but I got into cable and never put one on my current house. However, I did buy this tubular antenna, that I use upstairs, and it picks up everything in my area beautifully. I also added a flat antenna with a tuner directly to my main Dish setup. that allows me to get the sub channels that Dish doesn't offer. (C/W, Laff, Ion, etc.)

I'm 17-20 miles away. When I first cut the cord I was in an apartment where my windows faced south towards the stations and no issues. I moved last year, and my window where the antenna is facing north. Had to get a stronger antenna, but that has worked out. Never had an issue with the weather, though, there are spots in my new place where I can disrupt the single if I stand there for too long. Overall, no issues.

IIRC color indicates what kind of antenna you can use. Yellow means you should be able to get by with a small indoor antenna. The ones I bought from bestbuy had a two week return policy if they didn't work for me. I started cheap and worked up from there.

We had cut the cord about 5 years ago, and I was using Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime for our viewing.

We had Comcast internet only while we streamed, was paying about 100 a month for the 150 download speed.

Then Comcast sent me an offer in the mail. I got HBO, STARZ, Showtime, MAX, Encore the works, w/ internet guaranteed for 2 years for 160 a month. I went ahead and did that for the two years.

Then when that was up, the price was going to be over 300 a month (that was a few months ago), I checked directv because I wanted to get the Sunday Ticket. They had a deal going at the time, 55 a month for 12 months, then 105 a month 13-24, but you got 300.00 in visa gift cards and a free year of Sunday Ticket. When you cancel Direct, they charge 20.00 per month for every month early you cancel. So after 1 year, I am going to cancel and pay the 240.00 and go back to streaming. So Directv paid their own cancel fee

Honestly, I only use Directv for sports. We still watch the majority via streaming devices.

I have a jailbroke firestick - and have hulu and Netflix.

what app are you using for watching live?

Man, I just looked at Mobdro, and they want security on the phone shut off in order to install the app. That's just not acceptable to me.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Our bill was about what yours was for Armstrong's bundled package. Love the internet, but not the cable. Called them on the phone to rework the deal, went down in person to talk to the manager-the last time I went down they told me if I want to lower the bill, get rid of some packages. So I did, I dropped cable and went to hulu and kept the phone for now and the internet-going to get a digital antenna and I will save about $1250 this year