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We've cut the cable (4 Viewers)

RC94 said:
I have been thinking about cancelling TV although I would still have to deal with the cable company for internet.  Cancelling TV would save me about $90 a month.  As I watch TV tonight, I have been getting increasingly annoyed with the commercials so I decided to keep track of how long the commercials are compared to how long the show is.  7 minutes of show and then 5 minutes of commercial.  Pretty soon the commercials will be longer than the actual TV shows.  On top of that, there is rarely anything good on TV.  I wind up watching reruns of the Simpsons more than anything else.  I have already seen all of these episodes several times over the years and yet it's still more entertaining than most of what else is on.  I am going to cancel my TV tomorrow.  I don't have a replacement plan and Kodi seems like a pain in the neck, so I might just go without TV altogether.  Any recommendations?  Is Kodi worth buying a fire stick for?  I have Netflix and PS4 and would like to use my PS4 for everything if possible.
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Kodi is incredible.  Get yourself a sports streaming account and you're set with pretty much whatever you want that's remotely mainstream.

 
Thanks everyone!  I am definitely going to do some combination of these suggestions.  It's certainly better, and cheaper, than cable.  Plus, I despise Cablevision so simply leaving them is going to feel great.  I just wish I didn't need to use them for internet.  On top of increasing prices, their customer service sucks and the TV is always having connection issues with channels randomly going in and out.

 
RC94 said:
I have been thinking about cancelling TV although I would still have to deal with the cable company for internet.  Cancelling TV would save me about $90 a month.  As I watch TV tonight, I have been getting increasingly annoyed with the commercials so I decided to keep track of how long the commercials are compared to how long the show is.  7 minutes of show and then 5 minutes of commercial.  Pretty soon the commercials will be longer than the actual TV shows.  On top of that, there is rarely anything good on TV.  I wind up watching reruns of the Simpsons more than anything else.  I have already seen all of these episodes several times over the years and yet it's still more entertaining than most of what else is on.  I am going to cancel my TV tomorrow.  I don't have a replacement plan and Kodi seems like a pain in the neck, so I might just go without TV altogether.  Any recommendations?  Is Kodi worth buying a fire stick for?  I have Netflix and PS4 and would like to use my PS4 for everything if possible.
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The ps4 is a solid option at a good price.  If you search this thread there is an abundance of info on all the options.  Good luck and congrats 

 
RC94 said:
Thanks everyone!  I am definitely going to do some combination of these suggestions.  It's certainly better, and cheaper, than cable.  Plus, I despise Cablevision so simply leaving them is going to feel great.  I just wish I didn't need to use them for internet.  On top of increasing prices, their customer service sucks and the TV is always having connection issues with channels randomly going in and out.
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If you signup for amazon prime, be sure to take advantage of the free shipping and other services. The money I save (with subscribe and save) on dog food, cat food,bird food, razor blades and other necessities is > the $99 annual price.

 Check out all prime benefits here https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200444160

especially love the prime music with the ability to download the songs to your device

 
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RC94 said:
I have been thinking about cancelling TV although I would still have to deal with the cable company for internet.  Cancelling TV would save me about $90 a month.  As I watch TV tonight, I have been getting increasingly annoyed with the commercials so I decided to keep track of how long the commercials are compared to how long the show is.  7 minutes of show and then 5 minutes of commercial.  Pretty soon the commercials will be longer than the actual TV shows.  On top of that, there is rarely anything good on TV.  I wind up watching reruns of the Simpsons more than anything else.  I have already seen all of these episodes several times over the years and yet it's still more entertaining than most of what else is on.  I am going to cancel my TV tomorrow.  I don't have a replacement plan and Kodi seems like a pain in the neck, so I might just go without TV altogether.  Any recommendations?  Is Kodi worth buying a fire stick for?  I have Netflix and PS4 and would like to use my PS4 for everything if possible.
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Watched Last Man on Earth when it aired OTA Sunday, holy cow I keep forgetting what a pain the commercials are. Won't make that mistake again. 

Yes kodi is worth buying a firestick for. Better off getting the fire tv. 

 
culdeus said:
Amazon Prime - Sort of call this free but this is massive

HBOGo when Thrones is on, or I guess Westworld.  I cancel it when they don't have any content I am currently watching

SlingTV when I am interested in college football or there are a string of games on ESPN I want to watch, a month or two here and there.

Netflix - When they have enough content built up and I can't find anything on amazon

MLB.tv - But this takes a DNS unblocker to watch local games and last year I didn't bother with either.   

There are some other stuff for kids like disney and crap like that which are free
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Like this approach a lot. 

 
JoeSteeler said:
If you signup for amazon prime, be sure to take advantage of the free shipping and other services. The money I save (with subscribe and save) on dog food, cat food,bird food, razor blades and other necessities is > the $99 annual price.

 Check out all prime benefits here https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200444160

especially love the prime music with the ability to download the songs to your device
Click to expand...
Prime is worth it just for the purchasing power alone.

On another note, I'm a bit pissed that FX-on-Sling doesn't have The Americans on-demand (yet?) for the season that opened last night. This is one of the few shows I'd pay for individually, so I bought the season through Prime.

 
Uruk-Hai said:
Prime is worth it just for the purchasing power alone.

On another note, I'm a bit pissed that FX-on-Sling doesn't have The Americans on-demand (yet?) for the season that opened last night. This is one of the few shows I'd pay for individually, so I bought the season through Prime.
Click to expand...
 fxnow has a sling "provider" login

here

 
Uruk-Hai said:
That's not working for me. I get the page to sign on with my Sling account info, but then it just goes to a page that has "SC404" in the upper left corner (the rest of the page is white) and the tab says "POST data".
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try here...click the three bars at the top left and go down to provider sign in...see if that works

http://www.fxnetworks.com/

 
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JoeSteeler said:
for PS VUE users, how much content do they have on demand? 
Click to expand...
i haven't checked what actual shows are on demand, but I get fox, abc and nbc on demand, but I just favorite all the shows I watch and it dvr's those shows for 28 days.

I get cbs through cbs access. 

FYI, Playstation vue UI sucks on roku. 

 
Canceled my cable TV.  For the internet service alone they are charging $75 a month.  I ####### hate Cablevision.

 
omahawildcat25 said:
i haven't checked what actual shows are on demand, but I get fox, abc and nbc on demand, but I just favorite all the shows I watch and it dvr's those shows for 28 days.

I get cbs through cbs access. 

FYI, Playstation vue UI sucks on roku. 
Click to expand...
why does it suck?

 
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Good interview with Jim Miller on The Dan Patrick Show yesterday. A lot of conversation on cable cutting and streaming. 

It takes a few minutes to really get in to it but the entire interview is a good watch and listen.

ETA. They don't discuss it for the entire interview. Probably the 1st 7-8 minutes or so.







 



 
 
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NutterButter said:
What speed are you getting?  That's not too outrageous for a non-promo plan.
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They say it's 50 but I have frequent problems with it so I find it hard to believe them.  Is there a way I can check on my computer?

 
RC94 said:
Canceled my cable TV.  For the internet service alone they are charging $75 a month.  I ####### hate Cablevision.
Click to expand...
I'm kinda in the same boat, which is why I haven't technically "cut the cable".  I was quoted I think 80, or maybe 89 a month for internet only at my house (which we need as my wife works from home....and we're not living in the 19th century).  Right now for ~130-140 a month I'm getting slightly faster internet (like 100 mbps), HD TV with ~100 channels or something crazy, an HD DVR with a voice remote which is pretty sweet, and their cable modem (which has better specs than the one I own).  That's a lot extra for ~$50 a month.  Sling alone, which wouldn't have my locals, would be ~$25 or so. 

 
AT&T provides their "GigaPower" fiber network in our neighborhood for $80/mo.  When I upgraded a couple weeks ago, I went with the 100Mbps plan for $60 (internet only, including modem and free install.)  One issue is that devices that are more than a couple years old won't recognize the 5ghz wifi signal, but even the 2.4 is much faster than what I had.  I did a speed test on my (very) old iPad 2 and was only getting about 25-30 (still plenty fast enough). The tech had an iPad Air and got 127. I'm not sure how to speed test my Amazon Fire, but would be interested in seeing what its getting now.  AT&T upgraded my modem when they installed the fiber. I was previously on copper with a very old modem they gave me when I first signed up for Uverse about 8 years ago.

 
RC94 said:
When I go to this website it is saying 5.12 mbps for downloads and 7.7 mbps for uploads.  I am not very literate in this.  Am I getting ripped off?
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You need to check it from a wired (not wireless) device that's connected directly to the modem (or directly to the router if it's connected directly to the modem). 

You'll pretty much ALWAYS get a lower reading when testing on a wireless device. 

 
Lehigh98 said:
Is there a consensus on best one to get?
Click to expand...
I believe smoothstreams is one of the best if not the best source.   Apparently there are different resellers/domains to access it.   I use live247.tv but they're not accepting new registrations.    You can also access smoothstreams from http://www.mystreams.tv/,   Maybe there's someone else here that uses that domain that can vouch for it.

 
My router is pretty new.  Netgear brand but it wasn't that expensive.  I got a new router today from Cablevision so it was free, and now it's testing at 39.41 download, although upload was just 4.03.  It should run better in general since I don't upload much, but I am still concerned about that upload speed test.  I asked them and I am supposed to be getting 60 download and 25 upload.  Thank you all for your help.  It should be better now, but I am curious your thoughts on the upload and if it really matters.

 
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75Mbs for $75. Comcast is my only choice.  Figure $1/Mbs for a non-promotional rate for what the market is right now. I refuse all promotions because that always comes with a contract and I cut cable to get away from contracts.  If you aren't getting close to your speeds make a technician come out to test your line from the street box to your house. I've made them dig up and replace the line (that they like to bury bare) before.  We at least deserve to get what we pay for from these monopolies.

Wish google would hurry up with their fiber, balloons and whatever else they are working on to get gigabit service to everyone. 

 
RC94 said:
My router is pretty new.  Netgear brand but it wasn't that expensive.  I got a new router today from Cablevision so it was free, and now it's testing at 39.41 download, although upload was just 4.03.  It should run better in general since I don't upload much, but I am still concerned about that upload speed test.  I asked them and I am supposed to be getting 60 download and 25 upload.  Thank you all for your help.  It should be better now, but I am curious your thoughts on the upload and if it really matters.
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For streaming TV it does not really matter.

If you are getting 40 down you will be right as rain for any media content on a single device.

 
@RC94 Tell them you're not getting the speeds with their router and ask them what they plan to do about it.

I'm on Netflix, Prime, and a Kodi.  I've done a month or two of cable or Sling here and there for the soccer World Cup, Olympics, and Copa America/Euros.

I suppose I could dump Netflix and just use Kodi, but I like having Netflix for ipad streaming in bed.

You said there's nothing good on TV - maybe the percent of good shows is low, but there are a lot of good shows to binge on.  It's a completely different way to watch TV, but I find it to be a great improvement in our house.  You could binge for months on great shows like:

  • Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul
  • Archer
  • Fargo
  • Game of Thrones
  • Daredevil / Jessica Jones / Luke Cage
  • Orange is the New Black
  • Stranger Things
  • Band of Brothers / The Pacific
  • The Wire
  • Walking Dead / Fear the Walking Dead
  • Sherlock
  • Master of None
I can't even really guess at how many hours of entertainment that is.  I'm sure I'm missing 20 more great shows, and there are 20 more crappy shows that will grab you (Z Nation and Dark Matter for me).  There are really good shows out there, just cut out all the Ice Road Hoarders shows and focus on the great stuff.  If you chew through all of that, drop Netflix and Prime and binge on the IMDB Top 100 movies through Kodi.  By then, half of the great shows will have new seasons.

 
Thanks again to everyone regarding the internet connection.  It seems to be faster and better now.  I will keep an eye on it and try to work with Cablevision to fix it if I still have problems.

Back to the TV, I will look into Kodi.  I don't have a device to use it unless I can use PS4, so it will take some time until I can get an Amazon Fire or another device.  I don't buy a lot on Amazon, but I may get Prime now that I don't have TV anymore.  It sounds like a good deal if you can get your money's worth from other purchases.

For now all I have is Netflix and I must say, it's been a bit of a strange day without any TV.  It's been a busy day so I haven't noticed it as much as I will over the weekend, but now that things have settled down I am watching Netflix and may play some Skyrim.  I think after this weekend I will have a better idea of how I will pass the time without TV.  This is basically the first time in my life I haven't had TV.

 
I am very close to cutting the cable.  Comcast in our area now streams local channels for $12 / month which I need because I can't get ABC or Fox with an antenna.  I am going to get that service and likely Playstation Vue or Sling.

We don't have a Playstation so I need to get a device for each TV.  Which one should I get?  Apple TV, Amazon Firestick or Roku?

 
The Flying Turtle said:
I am very close to cutting the cable.  Comcast in our area now streams local channels for $12 / month which I need because I can't get ABC or Fox with an antenna.  I am going to get that service and likely Playstation Vue or Sling.

We don't have a Playstation so I need to get a device for each TV.  Which one should I get?  Apple TV, Amazon Firestick or Roku?
Click to expand...
You'll probably get differing opinions, but all three seem to be viable options. I take it your TV isn't "smart"?

I have an older generation Roku (a "3", I think) and it does everything I need it to do. 

 
Uruk-Hai said:
You'll probably get differing opinions, but all three seem to be viable options. I take it your TV isn't "smart"?

I have an older generation Roku (a "3", I think) and it does everything I need it to do. 
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Only 1 is "Smart", but I am not sure how smart.  I have 2 that are a couple of years older and will need something.

 
The Flying Turtle said:
Only 1 is "Smart", but I am not sure how smart.  I have 2 that are a couple of years older and will need something.
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Check your smart TV to see if you can load apps like Sling or whatever is not already on it. I have one that's just average intelligence - can only use the apps it came loaded with  :D

 
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The Flying Turtle said:
I am very close to cutting the cable.  Comcast in our area now streams local channels for $12 / month which I need because I can't get ABC or Fox with an antenna.  I am going to get that service and likely Playstation Vue or Sling.

We don't have a Playstation so I need to get a device for each TV.  Which one should I get?  Apple TV, Amazon Firestick or Roku?
Click to expand...
Firestick or Roku.

Please stop listing Apple TV with those two. That's like listing Smart Cars with Lexus and Acura. They're cute to look at, but only weird people own them. 

 
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I would go with Fire TV.  If you have multiple TVs, maybe Fire Sticks on the secondary TVs.  The Amazon devices are more open, meaning you can put Kodi on there.  Roku is more closed, from what I understand.  I don't think Kodi can go on a Roku.

 
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