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Cable Free for Six Months

I've thought about doing this as well, cutting the cable cord. My wife and I looked at the Pro's and Con's...aka...what shows do we watch and can we get them from an outside/online source? In a lot of cases the answer was no or probably not. Plus, right now the kids have a lot of shows they wouldn't be able to get. So, we signed a new 2 year contract and that's a little less than a year out from expiring.
I looked a HD antenna's, costs and if they'd work for me. What I found is, there is about a roughly 75 mile circle from your house where it would pick up a signal to the point where it looks full HD. Much more than this and the curvature of the earth starts to interrupt/block the signal. So, those of you that are in a metro area, or within about 50 miles of a few major network, you're good! For me, for example, I'm just on the edge of a few and with in the range of one. That's the downside of living in the middle of nowhere, KS.
 
Six4three5 said:
Yeah unfortunately it doesn't include Internet which I'm overpaying for that through Time Warner as well. I have one more billing cycle for my 2 year contract with DirecTV and then I was going to call. I figured I can't complain too much considering I signed a contract with them but if they don't come down after the contract is up I'll be looking elsewhere for sure.
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I called DirecTV in my last month and said I was cancelling at the end of the month. It was amazing how fast they called back and I ended up paying $50 a month for same package that I was paying over $100.

You are stuck though with Time Warner and you can thank the city of Rochester for that dumb deal.
 
Canadan said:
We are paying about 110 for okay internet and cable. It's bundled through Cincinnati bell, and the internet alone would be about 70 or 75. That's how they get you to commit to both, which i get -- But for me it's better than PS Vue.

Give me sports channels for 10 bucks a month and that's all I'd need, personally.
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I honestly wish I could pick the channels I wanted for $10 a month because I'd have only about 5-10 channels. Right now I'm paying $116 for DirecTV and $85 for Internet through Time Warner. I can't complain about the speed but the cost definitely sucks I'd save more by bundling and going to Time Warner, but the reason I switched from them is because they just kept getting more and more expensive. If DirecTV doesn't play ball I may just play the game and switch back and forth every 2 years when they spike the prices.
 
Its a bit of a grey area but you could get an Android tv box and use Kodi, but for sports it is still a challenge.
 
JB said:
How much gear did you buy up front?
And can you give a breakdown of costs for that $85?
I see Sling as $20
Hulu as $10
Netflix as $10
Amazon as $8
Internet for us would be $50

Not including taxes on any of this and we are almost right where we started maybe a few dollars off and that only gives 1 TV options in some instances.
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Absolutely.
I had already owned my own router and modem and those costs had been recouped.
Sling(20), Hulu(8), Netflix(10) which I didn't add until January, Internet is 50.
Since Amazon is and has always been a 1 payment deal for us, I don't include in the monthly bill. Which I didn't back when I had cable either so it keeps the comparisons the same.

Equipment upfront was definitely a cost. Tried a couple different antenna's, some amazon basics, some mohu, and ended up hitting a lightning deal on a Mohu Sky for $79 which is normally 120-150. The tablo device was around 175 if I recall when I got it. I already had Fire Stick and Roku devices, so I wasn't out money there. So the cost to jump in was let's say 270 after taxes. This was done in late May last year, so the costs from those purchases have been recouped.

Again it can save money, but it doesn't always. All depends on your original bill. For us it works because our original bill was crazy for what we were getting and after many many attempts, we were just spinning our tires with TWC. Couldn't do anything with a Sat Dish because we rent, it really came down to lack of viable options. If I add in the equipment costs to what I paid for, the services I get now, vs what my bill had been and add up the prospective bill for that vs what I've spent in the last 10 months with this, I come out over $400 ahead.
 
amsmith61 said:
I called DirecTV in my last month and said I was cancelling at the end of the month. It was amazing how fast they called back and I ended up paying $50 a month for same package that I was paying over $100.

You are stuck though with Time Warner and you can thank the city of Rochester for that dumb deal.
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Yeah unfortunately we're stuck with them but I may be going back to a bundle with them if DirecTV doesn't want to keep me as a customer.
lightningbolt44 said:
I am at $96 for Direct TV and 75$ For Gigabit Internet through AT&T I keep meaning to call them and try to get it bundled now that they are offering that.
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Which package do you have Ron? I have the cheapest one in my area that includes the golf channel.
 
ddec said:
Absolutely.
I had already owned my own router and modem and those costs had been recouped.
Sling(20), Hulu(8), Netflix(10) which I didn't add until January, Internet is 50.
Since Amazon is and has always been a 1 payment deal for us, I don't include in the monthly bill. Which I didn't back when I had cable either so it keeps the comparisons the same.

Equipment upfront was definitely a cost. Tried a couple different antenna's, some amazon basics, some mohu, and ended up hitting a lightning deal on a Mohu Sky for $79 which is normally 120-150. The tablo device was around 175 if I recall when I got it. I already had Fire Stick and Roku devices, so I wasn't out money there. So the cost to jump in was let's say 270 after taxes. This was done in late May last year, so the costs from those purchases have been recouped.

Again it can save money, but it doesn't always. All depends on your original bill. For us it works because our original bill was crazy for what we were getting and after many many attempts, we were just spinning our tires with TWC. Couldn't do anything with a Sat Dish because we rent, it really came down to lack of viable options. If I add in the equipment costs to what I paid for, the services I get now, vs what my bill had been and add up the prospective bill for that vs what I've spent in the last 10 months with this, I come out over $400 ahead.
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Okay so removing Amazon seems right.
And you are limited to only one set with some plans, but that works.
So you are sitting at about 88.
Not too shabby. First year though (as you mentioned) is a bit rough because you are adding about $30 per month in equipment costs, to bring it to $118.

That seems about right for where I priced it at, which is why we didnt make the move, because the savings were about $9 a month and that was using single room plans on things. Long term it can definitely save, but my fear is with the ever changing platforms, Im just not there yet.
 
Thank you for all the responses. So, I am looking at getting sling tv for espn, and my wife likes to watch cnn, so that is a bonus as well. I am also going upgrade our hd antennas to aan amplified version to see if that will help with local stations. I will still be missing out on the golf channel, but signing back up is at least $50 per month plus boxes....
 
I've been using my firestick that I have sideloaded with kodi, its a great alternative but sometimes it a hit or miss with some games and ppv events.

i've been wanting to pull the plug on my uverse fix but I just cant leave my HD fix.
 
Bennet00 said:
We cancelled our cable service about six months ago in an effort to save a bit of $$ as we primarily watched Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Amazon Prime for regular TV and movie viewing. The thing that is missing in this equation is sports. Is there a good fix out there I am unaware of, or am I going to have to go back to cable to get access to live sports? Online has been hit and miss.....
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I just moved into my new house about a month ago and we decided to not have cable and stick to just Hulu and Netflix. It has been pretty hard especially not having the golf channel but when Playstation Vue went national I jumped on it. For $35 a month i get ESPN, Golf Channel, FXX, FX etc. Even paying for Vue and internet I am saving way more than having to go with a cable bundle or Direct TV.

Prior to Playstation Vue going national I almost got sling TV. Its a good deal especially for getting ESPN, only drawback was no GC Channel.
 
With playstation Vue you also get cloud based DVR and there is no contract.
 
I've thought and thought about this. Live sports really is about the ONLY think keeping cable companies going now (or at least from becoming internet companies). Nearly everything else is reliably available somewhere else. Most of it is even legal.
 
I just wish there was an easy way to get the golf channel. That's all I want.

Thought about getting sling TV and maybe a Roku or something to have a DVR type device but not sure it really well be worth it.
 
Local sports is what keeps me from jumping ship. There is not an easy legal way to get Rays and Lightning games without cable. Since that is probably close to half of my viewing that's a killer.

If I liked out of market teams I could get around that.

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Our household has been cable free for a couple of years now and honestly, outside of the Golf Channel, I don't miss it. We have an antenna for local channels as well as Amazon Prime and Netflix and we have so many shows on our watch list that we will have no problems finding something to watch. I do really wish I could get the Golf Channel though.
 
KEV said:
Our household has been cable free for a couple of years now and honestly, outside of the Golf Channel, I don't miss it. We have an antenna for local channels as well as Amazon Prime and Netflix and we have so many shows on our watch list that we will have no problems finding something to watch. I do really wish I could get the Golf Channel though.
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If you have an Apple TV I noticed the PGA channel was there though I haven't checked cost yet.
 
Something to think about when comparing costs is the DVR rental. With cable and sattelite companies, you are renting all of the boxes. This is honestly where the majority of their revenue comes from. The box costs them $100 and they rent it to you for $15-20 / month for life. Should be illegal!

I had 2 HD DVRs in my home. Combined the DVRs cost $43 / month to rent them. Over 7 years, I paid $3,612 to RENT the stinking boxes. That really pissed me off! I recently went out and bought the newest Tivo Bolt. The Tivo Bolt is only $249 from Amazon. That right there has a return on investment of 5 months. Right now, you can get a lifetime Tivo subscription for $400. So after approximately 17 months, with my cable bill at about $50 without the rented DVRs the Tivo's are paid off.

If you don't want lifetime service, Tivo has a full year of service free right now, then $15 / month after that. Still cheaper than renting boxes from your cable provider.

Also, not sure I could cut the cord. I enjoy watching shows as they air and like the random movies that are on. Netflix is always 8 months behind and 99% of the movies are garbage. In the end, $50 / month isn't bad at all.

(I refuse to steal and use a friends account to stream current content as well)
 
I've played the game with Directv and their customer retention department. They will instantly give you incentive to keep your plan with discounts but after those discounts expire it's back to playing the game. I pay $93 for two boxes and the "choice" package or whatever it's called. I used to pay like $40 until all my discounts went away. I feel like paying $35 for PlayStation vue and getting all the channels I watch without having to play games with a customer service department sounds good. I have a ps4 and ps3 so there's two free "vue boxes" with free cloud dvr and all the sports channels minus MSG for sabres games.

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Cable Free for Six Months

I need to do something, but my options always seem to not pan out. I'm paying $250/mo for cable, Internet, and home phone. We only have two Internet choices: Att U verse, and Comcast. I haven't switched to a dish since a former student who works for an installer came out and had some device he pointed in the sky to see if we had line of sight to the satellite. No go. Huge line of trees right behind us, South, blocking reception... I live 100 miles from the next closest metro area, so nothing other than two local stations to pick up live tv. What's killing me is we are 1 of 5 locations in the US where Comcast limits "unlimited" wi-fi to 300g a month. We go over because my security system runs off of it 24/7!
If anyone has some ideas, I'd love to hear them.


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I live in LA Metro and the only cable I could get was Time Warner.

TimeWarner with DVR, Regular Channels, HBO and Internet was nearly $150. And that was with my own cable modem!

So, I cut the cord and went with:

One Time Cost: $135
- Cable modem ~$35 I get CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX, so I'm good.
- Amazon Basics 50 Mile Indoor Antenna $40
- Roku 3: $60 (on sale) However if you get SlingTV, you can get a Roku 3 for $50 which is a killer deal. My TV is technically a "Smart" TV, but holy crap the speed and general use of the UI kills me.

Recurring Costs: $78/month
- Time Warner Cable Internet: $35/month. The slowest I've seen was 18Mbps (once), usually I'm in the 25+ range. I could shave a little off this $$ if I went with Sonic DSL.
- Amazon Prime: $8/month. Granted, I would probably get Prime anyways, but let's say this is my primary use. I also buy Prime when it is discounted and gift it to myself right as my current subscription ends, so my actual cost is actually close to $7 a month than $8 or $9.
- HBO Now $15/month
- SlingTV: $20/month

Considering adding Hulu and Netflix HD and I would only be at $96/month
- Hulu: $8/month
- Netflix HD: $10/month

Of course, I use my internet access for work, online classes I'm taking, (heck, I might be giving a course soon) and general browsing. So even if I wasn't looking to cut the cord, I'd still have gotten this level of internet.

Cons
- DVR: Now I don't do a lot of DVRing, since I don't watch a bunch of TV, this isn't a huge thing for me. If I did, not having a DVR would suck.
- The Golf Channel: They have The Golf Channel over in the UK, I'm hoping it will come soon to the US or jumps on the SlingTV wagon.
- Sometimes blocky HD OTA. (you can already get ABC and Univision for $5/mo on SlingTV, I can see the other stations jumping in on that too)
- Internet Streaming / Mirror Laptop Screen. Yes, Roku has that Miracast, but I hate messing with it and generally have not found it reliable. I have access to an older Apple TV. My Mac can AirPlay direct, and on my Windows laptop, I can use AirParrot for $9 to add Airplay support on my Windows 10 box.
 
Great report D.
 
I'm not trying to be a smart ass but in that scenario I'd just cut a tree or two down. Jeez that's limited options. I'm so happy I got directv/uverse down to $99/mo I can't complain other then the jumping through hoops to do that each year. Can't imagine $250 with virtually no options
 
Thinking of adding a Roku or something similar for some DVR capabilities for regular HD TV. Also thinking about sling TV as a possibility so that we have a little more variety. Or I may just get another fire stick or fire TV for downstairs so we can use HBO now and keep up with Game of thrones.

Any suggestions if Roku is the best of there is another device I should look into?
 
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