Cut the Cord

[Sour Masher]

That's one of a few I like.
Are you close enough to your local tower(s) to pick up anything via antenna? I get quite a bit myself.

Good question that I never considered with modern tvs. I will look into how that might work. It is an interesting network, with lots of old content that am surprised is not accessible elsewhere (or maybe much of it is and I haven't found it). She watches Martial Law, Wonder Woman, Star Trek, Batman, and MacGyver on it mostly.

[revo]

Did Youtube just drop ESPN? Do you have to pay separately for ESPN now? I read it was getting dropped but when I searched it looks like it's still there....


Apparently the deal breaker in my household is whether or not we get Bravo so we have access to those evil reality shows with drunk rich ladies. Lawd hammercy!

Not sure, but I have the Disney/Hulu/ESPN+ package anyway. BTW, if you don’t hsve ESPN+ and like college basketball or the NHL, you don’t know what you’re missing.

[revo]

If it is not too personal how much do you save per month?

Not at all. The cable/internet providers are minimal where I live now. Zero competition. So my bill skyrocketed from where I used to live, having Fios ($140/mo.) to $300/month now. I upped my internet to 1000 mbps, which costs me $120/mo. The rest was cable TV, so $180/mo.

I would save $180-$65, or $125/mo ($1500/yr).

[fuhrdog]

Did Youtube just drop ESPN? Do you have to pay separately for ESPN now? I read it was getting dropped but when I searched it looks like it's still there....


Apparently the deal breaker in my household is whether or not we get Bravo so we have access to those evil reality shows with drunk rich ladies. Lawd hammercy!

They lost ESPN/disney owned channels but got them back a couple days later and gave everybody a $15 dollar bill credit for the inconvenience. Since Disney owns Hulu I'm sure they were playing hardball with YouTube to try and lure customers to Hulu live.

[DMT]

I too cut the cord a couple years ago and don't miss it at all.

[virgonomic]

I recently signed up for IPTV. The going rate is $15 CDN per month but I found it for $45 USD/year. No brainer. Hundreds of international channels and series.

[Sour Masher]

The wife has agreed to cut the cord. We added paramount, Peacock, and will add Sling Blue soon. Then the cable gets cut off. We are still negotiating if we are keeping the phone service. She wants to keep it as she is paranoid about giving her cell phone for anything. But all we get is scammers and surveys on the home phone, for the most part.

[revo]

To answer an earlier question, the only issue so far has been a lag on live sports. So when I text buddies, I’m always anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes behind.

[revo]

An update:
3 months later, and I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. If you have less expensive internet than I do ($120/mo.) without data caps, what are you waiting for, lol?

I have 1 gig speed internet + YouTube TV, Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Showtime, Apple TV, Hulu, ESPN+, Disney, the NBA package, and Paramount+ for a little more than half the price of what I paid before. It’s crazy. When you add up cable box rentals, DVR, taxes, fees whatever, it’s insane. If cable companies don’t adapt to the new environment, they’re sitting ducks.

[Sour Masher]

An update:
3 months later, and I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. If you have less expensive internet than I do ($120/mo.) without data caps, what are you waiting for, lol?

I have 1 gig speed internet + YouTube TV, Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Showtime, Apple TV, Hulu, ESPN+, Disney, the NBA package, and Paramount+ for a little more than half the price of what I paid before. It’s crazy. When you add up cable box rentals, DVR, taxes, fees whatever, it’s insane. If cable companies don’t adapt to the new environment, they’re sitting ducks.

Yes, I am exactly where you are, except just a couple of months into being cable free. Have mostly the same subscriptions, except we went with Sling over Youtube TV. Not only are all of our services combined still $80 less than cable, we now have whole house dvr with Sling. Our only regret is not doing this sooner, and the funny thing is we wouldn't have even done it if they didn't keep increasing their fees. Had they stayed even close to competitive with the Sings and Youtube TVs of the world they could have survived. As it is, it seems just a matter of time before their last cable customers die off. They companies will still do well, since they will be internet service providers, and it will be many more years before cable goes the way of the Dodo, but it seems inevitable.

[revo]

Yes, I am exactly where you are, except just a couple of months into being cable free. Have mostly the same subscriptions, except we went with Sling over Youtube TV. Not only are all of our services combined still $80 less than cable, we now have whole house dvr with Sling. Our only regret is not doing this sooner, and the funny thing is we wouldn't have even done it if they didn't keep increasing their fees. Had they stayed even close to competitive with the Sings and Youtube TVs of the world they could have survived. As it is, it seems just a matter of time before their last cable customers die off. They companies will still do well, since they will be internet service providers, and it will be many more years before cable goes the way of the Dodo, but it seems inevitable.

When I was cancelling cable, they asked why and I said I was switching to streaming only. They said "oh, we have streaming now too." Except it was only slightly less expensive than the regular cable service and the DVR service, they said, would cost by how many hours I wanted to record. Like an extra $20-$40 a month. I was like, whaaaaaat, you realize DVR service on YouTube TV, for example, was free. They're really out of touch with reality.


And to be clear, when I said I have all of the above "for a little more than half the price I paid before" that meant OF CABLE ONLY. I was STILL buying most of those streamers anyway. So the reality is it's probably 60% less of the total monthly nut it was before, and I now get MORE than I had before.

[madducks]

This is hilarious.

[revo]

Yes, I am exactly where you are, except just a couple of months into being cable free. Have mostly the same subscriptions, except we went with Sling over Youtube TV. Not only are all of our services combined still $80 less than cable, we now have whole house dvr with Sling. Our only regret is not doing this sooner, and the funny thing is we wouldn't have even done it if they didn't keep increasing their fees. Had they stayed even close to competitive with the Sings and Youtube TVs of the world they could have survived. As it is, it seems just a matter of time before their last cable customers die off. They companies will still do well, since they will be internet service providers, and it will be many more years before cable goes the way of the Dodo, but it seems inevitable.

Not sure this will be the case, as since this post, the 5g companies have stormed into the ISP world. If I could ensure the quality and reliability of their internet speed, as well as the house coverage, I, like many others, will drop the hard-wired cable/ISP companies like a bad habit. $50/mo. for T-Mobile vs. $120/mo. for my local company is a big savings. T-Mobile does allow you to try it out for a week, so I might do that soon.

Honestly, I think the old-timey local ISP/cable providers are dead meat, probably only being saved out of consumer laziness and fear of change.

[ironfist]

Not sure this will be the case, as since this post, the 5g companies have stormed into the ISP world. If I could ensure the quality and reliability of their internet speed, as well as the house coverage, I, like many others, will drop the hard-wired cable/ISP companies like a bad habit. $50/mo. for T-Mobile vs. $120/mo. for my local company is a big savings. T-Mobile does allow you to try it out for a week, so I might do that soon.

Honestly, I think the old-timey local ISP/cable providers are dead meat, probably only being saved out of consumer's laziness and fear of change.

I've been on T-Mobile for over a year now and it's more reliable than my cable was. I think you're right - the cable companies will pass away along with the oldest generation and no one will feel bad for them at all. Years and years of treating their customers like garbage and providing a shoddy product. Good riddance

[revo]

I've been on T-Mobile for over a year now and it's more reliable than my cable was. I think you're right - the cable companies will pass away along with the oldest generation and no one will feel bad for them at all. Years and years of treating their customers like garbage and providing a shoddy product. Good riddance

Interesting. How many of the Gateway boxes do you need in your house? My house is pretty large (~4500 sq ft), how many would allow for good coverage? Do you have a basement, and if so, how is the coverage down there where there's poor outdoor visibility? Do you pay for the equipment? What's the typical speed?

Even with paying for1gig mpbs, it gets so degraded going to wifi, that many times we get under 10 mpbs just 100 feet or so from the router. And I need extenders all throughout the house. My kids constantly complain about the speed and getting lagged out of their games. I would love to make the switch.