Cutting the Cable Cord

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dislaxxic
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Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by dislaxxic »

We had this thread at LP (i think??) and i had meant to re-visit it to see if i could actually DO it.

Some folks on here much smarter than me had given some great advice on how to get rid of your cable bill...

Could those folks re-post some techniques for getting out from under Verizon Fios or Comcast, the two carriers in our area??

Thanks in advance!

..
"The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog." - Calvin, to Hobbes
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HooDat
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by HooDat »

First of all get yourself a good HD antennae. And then look on the web - there are sites that will show you where the local broadcasts are coming from specific to your house so that you can properly place your antennae. I recommend paying up a (little) bit for a decent one. LEAF was one of the top choices when we cut the cord - but it may have changed. You will be amazed at how many channels are actually out there, and the quality of the picture is better than cable. I only watch NFL games on broadcast now if I can.

You still need internet (how could we live without it?) - and we have lots of eyeballs on screens in our house, so I pay up a little for high speed access.

Then you have to decide what other things you want to watch. Your real choices for content boil down to Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and SlingTV. Haven't tried Sling yet, but have been intrigued. Netflix is getting the cold shoulder in terms of access to tv and movies since Disney now owns everything, so they are moving more toward original content. We are migrating away from a Netflix focus to a Hulu and Amazon focus. Hulu lets you mix and match how much other stuff you want buy ala cart (like ESPN or HBO....) as does Sling. Amazon is part of our Prime membership and has decent stuff now and again.

Apple tv gives you access to apps but not content. You will need and AppleTV, or a Roku, or X-Box, or Wii, or Amazon-stick thingy..(that's the technical term :ugeek: ) to be your interface to the tv. If you area Mac house (like we are) and go with Apple TV - pay up for the voice controlled remote.

Last thing you will need to decide is how important a dvr is.

ps edit - I forgot to mention the new-ish Youtube TV. Haven't tried that yet either. I am curious if anyone has any thoughts on it?
Last edited by HooDat on Tue Oct 09, 2018 12:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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HooDat
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by HooDat »

with Hulu and Netflix (still) we are under $100 for everything including high speed fiber based internet. With cable I think we were paying $200 +

We dropped the land line phone too - by the way. If they gave me one, I might take it just to have a number to give out to folks who I really don't want to have it....
STILL somewhere back in the day....

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thatsmell
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by thatsmell »

My father in law has youtube TV. Loves it.
Said it's well priced and has all the content he wants, which is nothing exotic.
As I understyand, It is only offered in areas where all the local stations play ball.
It is essentially local NBC/CBS/Fox affiliates, plus a basic cable package with TBS, ESPN etc.
He is local to South FL. He watches live TV via the youtube TV app.
Wherever he travels- MD, Italy, etc, he can log on to Youtube TV in his house and watch TV including South Florida local programming.
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Brooklyn
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by Brooklyn »

No need for cable as I watch PPV sports such as pro wrestling, pugilism, UFC, online every month for FREE in sites such as these:


usagoals.nu

bosscast.net

livetv.sx/en

watchstadium.com

batmanstream.net

vipboxtv.se/




There are many more - also check for the colleges and college conferences who stream online for free as that is where I watch lax when the games are on. As noted above, youtube presents many live events such as sports, music concerts, and movies for free.
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Matnum PI
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by Matnum PI »

I bought a Leaf antennae less than a year ago, stuck it to my glass sliding door in the basement and... I get everything within whatever miles. It's a lot of channels. I bought a Roku TV and it's pretty awesome. I could've bought a regular TV and with internet access and it'd also be awesome but... That's what I did. Did SlingTV for a bit then stopped. Did Fox Soccer for the World Cup. I have Netflix (comes for free with my cell phone carrier) and Amazon Prime (came with the shopping service my wife bought). In other words, I pay zero, have access to a lot and, on occasion, I'll pay $8 or $19 or whatever, watch what I want to watch for a month and then... I stop. When i want, pick it back up, etc. A landline and cable are very distant in my rear view mirror.
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ohmilax34
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by ohmilax34 »

Matnum PI wrote:I bought a Leaf antennae less than a year ago, stuck it to my glass sliding door in the basement and... I get everything within whatever miles. It's a lot of channels. I bought a Roku TV and it's pretty awesome. I could've bought a regular TV and with internet access and it'd also be awesome but... That's what I did. Did SlingTV for a bit then stopped. Did Fox Soccer for the World Cup. I have Netflix (comes for free with my cell phone carrier) and Amazon Prime (came with the shopping service my wife bought). In other words, I pay zero, have access to a lot and, on occasion, I'll pay $8 or $19 or whatever, watch what I want to watch for a month and then... I stop. When i want, pick it back up, etc. A landline and cable are very distant in my rear view mirror.
Which of these services allows you to watch lacrosse on tv?
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Matnum PI
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by Matnum PI »

ESPNU. and other ESPNs. you can get this with Sling along with a bunch of other channels with their sports package (pay by the month, is either $20 or $25, can't remember) or directly from espn with roku ($5 a month, i think), etc. and, a part i like very much, i only pay for this during february, march, april,and may. or only april or whatever i want. and, when i lave in mid-may, i get 50% of what i paid that month back. (i'm pretty sure about this.) i.e. i only pay for what i use and i can use it when i want. turn it on and off.
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thatsmell
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by thatsmell »

What’s everyone want for internet speed ?
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thatsmell
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by thatsmell »

For all you D3 lax fans-

Had a pleasant surprise as I was going through my Roku sports channels- Both the CAC and NESCAC D3 conferences have their own free Roku channels.

It looks like there is a lot of basketball content on right now, but would assume that lacrosse would get the same some love in the spring, especially given the historical quality/competitiveness of CAC and NESCAC teams lacrosse-wise.

I expect some good lax this spring too!

For those without a smart TV or ROKU, you can buy a ROKU Express plug-in for $24 on Amazon and it will get you free access. Pretty good for those cold spring weeknight evenings

I haven't looked for them yet, but I learned that the Centennial and Landmark conferences have channels as well as Stevenson and Dennison Universities.
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DD-Tech
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by DD-Tech »

thatsmell wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 1:29 pm For all you D3 lax fans-

Had a pleasant surprise as I was going through my Roku sports channels- Both the CAC and NESCAC D3 conferences have their own free Roku channels.

It looks like there is a lot of basketball content on right now, but would assume that lacrosse would get the same some love in the spring, especially given the historical quality/competitiveness of CAC and NESCAC teams lacrosse-wise.

I expect some good lax this spring too!

For those without a smart TV or ROKU, you can buy a ROKU Express plug-in for $24 on Amazon and it will get you free access. Pretty good for those cold spring weeknight evenings

I haven't looked for them yet, but I learned that the Centennial and Landmark conferences have channels as well as Stevenson and Dennison Universities.
thanks smells

Check out the Stevenson Athletics channel Inn roku for some good lax games. They do a great job over there with their sports programming.
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thatsmell
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by thatsmell »

Agree! Stevenson is really one of the best! I've watched their onlone games, just never via Roku. Their production values and announcers are top notch. Hats off to the mustangs for a job well done. It is much appreciated!
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HooDat
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by HooDat »

Patriot league broadcasts most of their games on the internet as well.
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dislaxxic
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by dislaxxic »

I have a question. When you BUY an On Demand movie from your cable subscriber, as opposed to renting it, what happens when you switch or drop your cable subscription? You're "buying" these films, often for $19.99 or so, so is there some way to download them so that you keep what you bought? Do they stay in your DVR? Don't you often have to return your DVR once you drop or switch providers??

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kramerica.inc
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by kramerica.inc »

HooDat wrote: Wed Mar 06, 2019 2:40 pm Patriot league broadcasts most of their games on the internet as well.
Yes, And the PL broadcasts can be viewed on the Stadium app on Roku.
Badlands
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by Badlands »

I tried Sling and dropped it in favor of Youtube TV, which is much better. Interface is way better, DVR is 100x better . . .
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Nigel
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by Nigel »

I've been w YouTube TV ($50) for about a year now and mostly very pleased. However, they announced in Feb a divorce from the YES network (Yankees baseball) and now are pushing thru a healthy price increase $65 (while adding 8 mostly useless (IMO) channels to their lineup). Two big negatives in my book. Time to jump to Hulu Live.

YouTube TV Adds ViacomCBS Channels, Announces Price Increase

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/youtube ... -increase/
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youthathletics
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by youthathletics »

Here we are almost 4 years from the original post on this topic....

Quite certain I have convinced the wife to cut the Cable Cord. Leaning towards youtube TV but wanted to get some feedback from others on possible other services or maybe you have found that each paid subscription ends up putting you back close to the original cable fees you were paying.

What say you?
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youthathletics
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by youthathletics »

Email this morning:

Your ESPN+ subscription is about to renew at a new price

The price of your monthly ESPN+ subscription is increasing and will automatically renew at the new price of $9.99 on September 18, 2022. Your payment method on file will be charged unless you cancel your subscription before then. If you are a Disney Bundle subscriber, this change does not impact your current total Disney Bundle price.

If you no longer want access to ESPN+ and wish to cancel your subscription, go to "Manage My ESPN+ Subscription" and click "Cancel Subscription."

Thank you for being a part of the team!
A fraudulent intent, however carefully concealed at the outset, will generally, in the end, betray itself.
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HooDat
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Re: Cutting the Cable Cord

Post by HooDat »

I think ESPN+ comes with some of the streaming packages. I have been on and off various ones over time. A few months ago, I dropped Netflix for upping my rate. They kept sending me emails about do I miss them yet. Finally came back with an offer at rate below what I had been paying. I'm not missing it...

The model Amazon, Apple, Disney and Netflix have moved to: pay a fee to access our index and then "rent" the shows you want to watch turned me off. We had built up a solid dvd collection a while ago. Just bought a new dvd player (man they are inexpensive now!) and adding to the collection instead of paying monthly fees.

Broadcast tv. And then ESPN during lacrosse season....
STILL somewhere back in the day....

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