Cutting The Cord (so to speak)

[fendrguitplayr]

After a recent rate hike I'm thinking about other options than a bundle from our IP.

Have you "cut the cord" yet and if so, what are you using for wifi and tv?

I'm guessing about $100 for wifi and streaming sites seem to vary a lot.

Some of the most popular ones include options such as Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max.
Tubi, Freevee, Pluto, FilmPlus, and more are free and might work as well.

So, who's cut the cord and what are you using now?

 

[middy]

I have an AppleTV box and pay for Amazon Prime (which now has some live tv and sports), HBO Max, and Netflix. I also spring for YouTube premium which is nice to avoid all the ads on all my devices. The local news has a free app.
That’s all I need.

 

[middy]

I used to get Disney+ but none of it was worth watching, IMO

 

[uriah1]

Ya, I am looking for my exit from cable land

Looking at youtubeTV . They have many channels plus local.

Not sure about data size, speed, etc... and network mesh or not, for connectivity stuff.

 

[TomBrokaw]

No cable, only internet since 2010. ATT at the time, moved and got Cox cable in 2012. Purchased my own modem and router.

We subscribe to Netflix, Hulu (cheapest tier), Amazon Prime, and we have an Amazon prime sub-subscription for Britbox (that I need to cancel, haven't used it for months). So we're paying $84 for internet, $15.50 for Netflix, $8 for Hulu, I guess $10 for Prime? But that's "free" since I like the free fast shipping) and $8 for Britbox for a total of about $125 a month.

I've never missed cable and I absolutely love watching TV on our schedule. I had a DVR years ago and it was OK but scanning for good stuff to watch and then scheduling the recording was a pain. Sitting down and just clicking Play is the best and I'll never go back.

I should note, we don't watch any sports, except for the world cup once in a while. I have an antenna for that. From what I've seen, most sports requires some sort of live tv package and those are usually a significant addition, ~$40 and up.

I've had a few PCs that I got specifically for TV/movies, and recently bought one of these for a relative:

HP EliteDesk 705 G4 Mini Desktop AMD A12-8870E WiFi 16GB 512GB SSD Windows 11 | eBay

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(HP EliteDesk 705 G4 Mini Desktop)
That one is nice since it is very small and has wifi built in, no need for an adapter. I've been testing it and in our house at least, which is small, it's fine on wifi through a couple of buttonboard/plaster walls.

The one I'm using for our own house is larger and wired only, but still pretty small. With a crawlspace I was able to wire it. It's older, more like this:

HP 8300 Elite USFF Intel i5-3570S 3.10GHz / 8GB RAM / 128GB SSD / Win 10 | eBay

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(HP 8300 Elite USFF)
I like having an actual PC since I have better control compared to an app on a device or a smart tv. I use Firefox with uBlock Origin. Makes youtube videos ad free, which is great.

You need a wireless keyboard and mouse and the space to use them, as well as a Displayport-to-HDMI cable which is no more expensive than a regular HDMI cable.

If you go that route, make sure it includes the AC adapter.

 

[imwjl]

We have cable provider for ISP only, have moved to a Verizon plan mix with everyone having one of 3 unlimited bundle, and for WiFi are a big fan of Ubiquiti SOHO brand called Amplifi. I'm fine with their previous model, have set up the newer one, and @getbent will probably offer some expertise with the WiFi 6 version. I think he has a pair. Where I've put them or suggested them in staff homes one of the WiFi 6 units are just fine.

You want the good WiFi from Ubiquiti (Amplifi) or Cisco (Meraki) if you are where there is a lot of radio congestion and for security and services. So far Amplify have not been in the broad vulnerabilities some have had and they patch fast.

3 in our family have the Verizon unlimited that also includes Disney and I think Hulu. With that, and our Apple bundle no one "needs" or misses what cable companies have for content.

We ended up $ ahead with monthly costs with the up to date cellular plan and Apple TV box. Another bonus is cellular performance is better. 2 of the Verizon unlimited plans in our 5 lines put the phones at highest priority on their network. Everyone is happy all over.

There are good web tools for cellular knowing coverage and the state of 5G rollouts. We give a lot of support to around 1000 employees. Everyone who's gone down a path like this has been happy. Between the home and phone changes plus closing the carrier best for my region everything works really well.

 

[Brent Hutto]

I don't save any money now compared to when we had Time Warner cable but for a roughly similar amount of money I get stuff I actually want to watch. We get our Internet from Spectrum but that's it for them. The actual content we stream through Amazon Prime (and some subscription add-ons like Britbox, MHZ, etc.) and through a Fubo.TV subscription (which is very pricey but has all the soccer I care to watch and then some). Also ESPN+ and Peacock for some additional soccer content, I watch a LOT of soccer.

So the same $180-ish per month that used to pay for broadband plus cable and a DVR now pays for broadband and a bunch of stuff we couldn't get on cable. There's pretty much zero content we're interested in on the networks or on cable channels like USA/TNT/whatever so that cable subscription was pretty much a waste by the time we got rid of it a few years back.

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

Amazon prime is cheap (Like $10). It has some pretty good free stuff. You can rent any movie for 5.99.

We just watched the new Top Gun on Amazon the other night. Netflix is 15.

I pay $45/mo for cable internet Xfinity (prepaid) with wifi.

 

[Toto'sDad]

Ya, I am looking for my exit from cable land

Looking at youtubeTV . They have many channels plus local.

Not sure about data size, speed, etc... and network mesh or not, for connectivity stuff.

I'm down to internet and youtube tv. If it wasn't for football, and being able to dvr it and golf, I'd chuck them. I'm figuring they are going up again in price pretty soon, if they do, I think I'll turn it off and see if I can live without it. I watch too much tv anyway. I originally got youtube tv for my wife's HGTV, and my sports programming. HGTV is going in a direction that causes us to turn about half of their programming off, and go to one of the free channels on Roku anyway, Youtube tv is skating on thin ice.

 

[Toto'sDad]

HGTV is pretty much ruined for us now. The NFL is going in so many directions, it's getting pretty hard to stomach, (their SB half time shows, aren't shows at all) and now golf is involved in a battle between the PGA, and LIV, I have never watched a LIV event, mainly because of Greg Norman. He came to Bakersfield and started a golf course that he didn't finish leaving behind an eyesore. (Like Bakersfield needed another one) The PGA tour has a bunch of no names on it now that watching them play is like watching paint dry. I will always play golf until I just can't but I'm getting close to not being ABLE to stand watching it.

 

[Midgetje94]

Well we have a lot of streaming services. But only pay directly for a couple. Our TMobile bill covers Netflix. My job pays for paramount +. So we only pay directly for Hulu and Disney+.

 

[fendrguitplayr]

I pay $45/mo for cable internet Xfinity (prepaid) with wifi.

What speeds (up and down)?

 

[blowtorch]

Never bundled anything to begin with- it's always been clearly a money losing proposition to me, and I can't at all understand why anyone would ever pay a red cent for teevee

 

[buster poser]

Comcast "gig" circuit with a Ubiquiti Amplifi HD blanketing the house.

We only pay for Hulu w/HBO Max, F1.tv, and Prime (but I'd cancel it if it weren't 'free' with the other Amazon services). We also have AMC+ and Disney+ via some free promotion(s). Haven't had Netflix in over a year and don't have network "streaming" services (fubo, Youtube.tv), though I sign up for a new trial every so often or for playoff baseball. Still discontinuing MLB.tv this year, picking up whatever service(s) lets me watch IMSA and WEC live.

 

[Mark617]

We cut the cord in September and got rid of the house phone. I use YouTube Tv
It’s fantastic

 

[lowatter]

Roku has enough with add-on channels to meet our needs. If you can deal with commercials there's tons of free programs and movies.

 

[jackinjax]

We didn't exactly cut the cord with Xfinity, but, we crippled them pretty good. Internet and TV package with them had jumped the $200 mark, maybe pushing over $235-240ish range, and that was without any of those "premium" HBO, SHOWTIME, ETC channels.
We ditched cable TV switched over to internet and discovered we only needed only 75 MbPS to stream YouTube TV. Of course YouTube had a price increase shortly after we signed up, but still cheaper than Xfinity. We have a Roku device and a Samsung TV that comes with a ton of free channels of rerun TV.
Maybe we're not saving that much money, but it sure feels good to stick it to Xfinity!

 

[Blrfl]

For me, it's very close to over. Haven't used the cable at all in a couple of months, the MythTV DVR that ran from 2008 on has been shut down and Verizon's Cable card is on my desk waiting for me to call and cancel it. I still have mobile with them and the Internet service has been excellent for many years, so I'll probably bump the speed on that up to the next tier.

The only thing I'll miss is easy access to the local stations, but even needing that is a rarity these days.

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

What speeds (up and down)?

No earthly idea. But it runs everything good.

 

[GeneB]

We have two tv's each with an indoor antenna in a window and a roku ultra box. We get 62 channels on the antenna. Tampa, Lakeland and Sarasota transmitters are all in the 30-ish mile range. For the internet we have Frontier FIOs at 500 gig. It was $39 a month when we got it 5 years ago. Now it's $61. I only have Amazon prime as a paid app. We also have kanopy which hooks us into our library system offerings. If you aren't aware of kanopy check to see if your library is online with it. It's not all movies - also online classes and guitar tracks and instruction videos are all available.