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Any Other "Cable Cutters" Out There?

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Post by Space Cadet 7/12/2018, 7:12 pm

My family decided to "cut the cable" completely about six months ago. And we've never looked back. I installed an antenna network in the house, using the same cables which used to deliver cable to almost every room in the house and an outside antenna. That gave us all of the broadcast networks, along with two or three "specialty" channels from each of those. If you love classic entertainment, you'd love those extra channels. We get about 50 usable channels in all. This cost me $60 for the antenna and about an hour's time to install everything.

We disconnected the cable and raised our internet bandwidth from 40 mbps to 100 mbps, with a net savings of $90 per month. We already used Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and I added Hulu premium for another $6.00 per month on a special offer. The entertainment choices are seemingly never ending and all is well in the couch potato universe. And we're saving just over $80 per month.

We do our streaming, using a Roku stick in the living room and I have a 4K Roku TV in the master bedroom. Roku is quite the bonus on top of everything else. There are quite a few free streaming channels, which offer quality and often hard to find entertainment. Tubi TV and Pizza Flix are two current favorites. And there are new free channels being added regularly.

And all of a sudden, my old cable company seems to really value my patronage and finds a new lower cost package for me to try, each and every month. But... NOPE!!!
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Post by ozradio 7/15/2018, 11:53 am

We cut cable when we moved to Kansas, but that's been almost 20 years so I can't say we're cable-cutters; we've just never had it to begin with. Between Netflix and Amazon and library DVDs, we have more to watch than we have time. Less TV, more time for OTR!

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Post by Bill_Atkins 3/23/2019, 1:36 am

I did "some" cord cutting. But I am not yet 100%.

When Cox arbitrarily raised the rates for the 3rd or 4th month in a row early last year, I decided to do something about my then $260 monthly cable/internet and landline phone (for my wife's business). Many of the rate increases were of the miscellaneous and undefined/unregulated fees. I found that if I disconnected the cable service, the cost of internet and telephone would actually increase over what I was paying for at the time. So, I downsized the cable TV to the lowest possible channel configuration - basically local channels. We also reduced the number of cable boxes to two.

I added YouTubeTV and got more channels than Cox offered and saved over $80 when you factor in the cost of YouTubeTV. I added OTA antennas to the other TV's and I am experimenting with Google Chrome for one other TV and if I am happy with it, I will drop the 2nd cable box.

As many of you do, I also have Amazon, Netflix and IP TV channels and I also use the Beta version of Redbox on Demand. While I have access to Hulu, Sling, VUDU and others, I don't use them as the better half in my family prefers the ease of use associated with YouTube TV and the local Cable channels. However, I have gotten her to agree that the OTA channels on the TV in her office is sufficient and easy to use.

That is my story so far. I continue to explore ways to eliminate any TV reliance on cable. I cannot wait for 5G and will have direct line boxes installed as needed when the service in available in Phoenix. Then I can eliminate the internet service from Cox and finally migrate my wife's business line off Cox as well.

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Post by Space Cadet 3/23/2019, 6:28 pm

Hey Bill, before you make your final decisions, give Philo a free preview. We're on the $20 plan and we love it. I'm seriously considerin' droppin' Netflix. Their price keeps goin' up and the watchable variety keeps goin' down. The total price, is either $16 or $20, dependin' on the plan Ya choose, plus your local sales tax. No fees, add-ons or additional taxes.

Ya get three streams and tons of DVR space. And the three streams can bounce from device to device. My wife and grandson took the service on the road (literally) for the last week, when they went to visit her brother in Tennessee. They had great quality on two Android phones and a Windows Surface tablet, hot-spotted to one of the phones.

Sorry, I'm soundin' like a commercial for the service. But, as I said, we love it. Ya don't even have to register a card for the first two days of the free preview. Just enter a cell number. I'll shut up. Just give it a look.

https://try.philo.com/
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Post by Bill_Atkins 3/26/2019, 8:59 pm

Space,

Thanks for the tip on Philo. I am still doing research on it and some other options. One thing that has been a surprise is that I have started to track the shows that I actually watch and I am finding that the list is very small. So I need to reevaluate my whole TV delivery system needs. Philo looks like a good option. Will let you know how things come out.

Again, thanks for the tip.

Bill

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Post by greybelt 3/27/2019, 3:43 am

We cut the cable 15 months ago and it's been great. We realized how tired we had become of network programming. Our original set of services, contracted separately, had discounts we got through Roku. That was for Hulu and CBSAllAccess. I had a Roku box for many years because I had MLB.tv (tomorrow is opening day -- hooray!). We already were Amazon Prime customers. We were Netflix DVD customers and we switched to the streaming service. We even cut off CBSAllAccess recently as we tired even more of network shows. Hulu is on the bubble, too, now. We add back the Netflix DVD services once the network programming goes on summer hiatus, and enjoy that over the summer since not all of Netflix' library is available for streaming. One thing that surprised us - the PBS streaming service - we were never big PBS users, and their library is much better than their on-air service could ever be, at just $5/mo.

Some of the programs I enjoyed happen to be on YouTube every week (Consuelo Mack's WealthTrack, which is not in the PBS package). Other cable channels have have apps for the Roku that give access to news clips and other items of interest.

Bruce Springsteen had the song 57 Channels and Nothing to Watch about two decades ago. Now it's 500 channels, and there's still very little that we have interest in.

And it's so easy to get hooked on commercial-free viewing.

One thing we never realized is how weather-affected some over the air HD signals can be. Our antenna is in the attic, which just happened to be where all of our cable connections were. So I got one of those booster antennas, and connected it to the cable wiring in the house. Works fine! When we had the house built 8 years ago, I had some of the rooms with computer network cable, so two Roku boxes are direct wired. A wireless Roku stick has been fantastic. I can't believe how good wireless tech has gotten in this regard.

So... we've loved it. Cutting the cable cord worked out really well for us.

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