We've cut the cable

[ChiefD 18,476]

Just wanted to come back and say thanks to you all for this thread.

Signed up for Hulu Live on Saturday and tested it on all my TV's. Had to go with Hulu Live so I could get the Royals. 

Main TV: runs through the Xbox

Garage TV, Bedroom TV, and Patio TV: runs through Google Chromecast using my ipad as my remote

Kept my internet service for now, but will have Google Fiber installed in about a month which will triple my speed. 

Total saved per month = $90

Gonna drop off the cable boxes today. I have to admit it was such a pleasure to call the cable company and tell them to buzz off. 

[matttyl 2,689]

Hulu doesn't have Nickelodeon, neither does DirecTV or Playstation Vue.  My kid would flip out without Paw Patrol (he calls it "Puppies").  Any other cord cutting option that has it?

ETA - Looks like Sling has Nick Jr. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by matttyl

[Craig_MiamiFL 2,473]

1 hour ago, matttyl said:

Hulu doesn't have Nickelodeon, neither does DirecTV or Playstation Vue.  My kid would flip out without Paw Patrol (he calls it "Puppies").  Any other cord cutting option that has it?

ETA - Looks like Sling has Nick Jr. 

Viacom recently purchased PlutoTV. Probably where you'll find going forward.

Right now, they've got some decent free content on it. Not sure if they'll be moving to a pay subscription service in future. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Craig_MiamiFL

[Cowboysfan8 7,611]

6 hours ago, ChiefD said:

Just wanted to come back and say thanks to you all for this thread.

Signed up for Hulu Live on Saturday and tested it on all my TV's. Had to go with Hulu Live so I could get the Royals. 

Main TV: runs through the Xbox

Garage TV, Bedroom TV, and Patio TV: runs through Google Chromecast using my ipad as my remote

Kept my internet service for now, but will have Google Fiber installed in about a month which will triple my speed. 

Total saved per month = $90

Gonna drop off the cable boxes today. I have to admit it was such a pleasure to call the cable company and tell them to buzz off. 

Which cable company, and did they offer you anything to stay?

[schlesinj 39]

9 hours ago, Cowboysfan8 said:

Which cable company, and did they offer you anything to stay?

Fios just offered to sort of keep my plan about the same as the discounted package I initially signed up for (it was about $10 more per month).

[Al Czervik 279]

17 hours ago, matttyl said:

Hulu doesn't have Nickelodeon, neither does DirecTV or Playstation Vue.  My kid would flip out without Paw Patrol (he calls it "Puppies").  Any other cord cutting option that has it?

ETA - Looks like Sling has Nick Jr. 

Philo seems to have all the Nick channels.

[matttyl 2,689]

6 minutes ago, Al Czervik said:

Philo seems to have all the Nick channels.

But no locals.  Thus far Sling looks to be our best bet (if we cut).

We'd get locals, Nick, ESPN, tnt/tbs, history, ID channel (wife loves that), travel, HGTV, and ability to add redzone during NFL season.  Will give the free trial a shot and go from there.  The drawback seems to be that you can't stream content through many channel's "apps". 

Edited March 14, 2019 by matttyl

[Al Czervik 279]

1 minute ago, matttyl said:

But no locals.  Thus far Sling looks to be our best bet (if we cut). 

Yes, I'm looking to pair Philo with something else.  Philo is pretty cheap and I'll use it to cover the Nicks and some other channels.  And then use the other service to get locals and other channels I want (really want MLB Network).  Think I can do both and still net out okay vs what we pay for cable.

[ChiefD 18,476]

12 hours ago, Cowboysfan8 said:

Which cable company, and did they offer you anything to stay?

Consolidated Communications. They used to be Everest, then SureWest, and now Consolidated. Got worse with every new owner.

They didn't even put up a fight. Just said: "Ok. Turn in your equipment at the office."

Which was pretty much their normal response to anything. They are the worst. 

[schlesinj 39]

For any baseball fans MLB.tv does not support LG smart TVs this year.  Alternative is buy some type of Firestick for that TV.

[sho nuff 16,560]

On 3/13/2019 at 11:59 AM, rustycolts said:

Hulu plus has locals but if they go up again I will be dropping them and just going with my antenna for locals.  To many options out there for streaming services to let companies hold us hostage like the cable companies use to.

Yeah...the price raising and changing options thing seems to get to the point where cutting the cable becomes just as costly and as much of a hassle as having Direct is having to call each year to get my price back down.

Ive held on to Direct and was close to switching...but they keep getting me down to where its negligible that Id be saving any money to cut the cord and I have more channels and an interface Im comfortable with.

[themeanmachine 263]

49 minutes ago, sho nuff said:

Yeah...the price raising and changing options thing seems to get to the point where cutting the cable becomes just as costly and as much of a hassle as having Direct is having to call each year to get my price back down.

Ive held on to Direct and was close to switching...but they keep getting me down to where its negligible that Id be saving any money to cut the cord and I have more channels and an interface Im comfortable with.

If you want the channels that a traditional cable/satellite service provides, I think this is the right approach. The biggest cost to the provider is programming, so there was no way the internet-based alternatives were going to be able to provide similar services for a significantly lower cost in the long run. They accepted lower margins when first launching to try to gain market share, but it’s inevitable that the prices will be similar to traditional services in the long run since the provider’s costs are similar.

[Gianni Verscotchie 521]

4 hours ago, schlesinj said:

For any baseball fans MLB.tv does not support LG smart TVs this year.  Alternative is buy some type of Firestick for that TV.

This is a bummer because now I need to use another remote. The bright side is that AppleTV 4k upconverts the picture to HDR and looks excellent.

[Craig_MiamiFL 2,473]

Really liking Philo so far after bailing on DTV Now. Has everything I need with the reality TV trash.

Very good affordable option if don't need sports. 

[stbugs 2,958]

18 hours ago, Craig_MiamiFL said:

Really liking Philo so far after bailing on DTV Now. Has everything I need with the reality TV trash.

Very good affordable option if don't need sports. 

I checked their channels and they wouldn’t work for me. Wife loves Bravo, so I can’t even think about switching without that.

[JoeSteeler 3,405]

Here is something I didn't know about until yesterday.

at&it watch streaming 35 channels for $15 https://www.attwatchtv.com/

no locals so would need an ota  and not yet available for Roku. May work for some people looking for a budget option

A&E
AMC
ANIMAL PLANET
AUDIENCE
BBC AMERICA
BBC WORLD NEWS
BET
BOOMERANG
CARTOON NETWORK
CNN
COMEDY CENTRAL
DISCOVERY
Food Network
FYI
HALLMARK
HALLMARK M&M
HGTV
HELLO LABS
HISTORY
HLN
IFC
INVES DISCOVERY
LIFETIME
LIFETIME MOVIES
MTV2
NICKTOONS
OWN
SUNDANCE
TBS
TCM
TEENNICK
TLC
TNT
TRUTV
VELOCITY
VH1
VICELAND
WeTV

[DropKick 1,082]

Cutting the cable on Thursday.  Wife could never give up all the stations.

Currently have Netflx via an Xbox.  Any recommendations for a device upgrade (roku, firestick).  Thinking I'll need at least one device for an upstairs TV and another (at least as a backup for the older xbox)

[formerfourdigit 71]

13 hours ago, DropKick said:

Cutting the cable on Thursday.  Wife could never give up all the stations.

Currently have Netflx via an Xbox.  Any recommendations for a device upgrade (roku, firestick).  Thinking I'll need at least one device for an upstairs TV and another (at least as a backup for the older xbox)

I have a Fire TV Cube coming today, upgrading from an OG Roku Stick.  Basically my 2.4Ghz wireless network is unusable now for some reason, thinking it's just saturated now in the suburbs but also I learned that Roku uses Wifi-Direct which causes some interference...   I did some testing and saw definite performance hit when Roku was on, though it wasn't remotely good either way. So looking forward to having a hardwire connection and as well as 4K/HDR ready.  It is also basically Alexa and can work like a universal remote apparently, though I have an old Harmony setup still in play.

[stbugs 2,958]

2 hours ago, formerfourdigit said:

I have a Fire TV Cube coming today, upgrading from an OG Roku Stick.  Basically my 2.4Ghz wireless network is unusable now for some reason, thinking it's just saturated now in the suburbs but also I learned that Roku uses Wifi-Direct which causes some interference...   I did some testing and saw definite performance hit when Roku was on, though it wasn't remotely good either way. So looking forward to having a hardwire connection and as well as 4K/HDR ready.  It is also basically Alexa and can work like a universal remote apparently, though I have an old Harmony setup still in play.

I love my cube. You can use Alexa to turn on the TV and to switch between HDMI ports. I still have Dish, haven’t had a chance to figure out which service so it’s nice. It’s even cool that if you are on Dish and want to go to the Fire TV you just hit the home button and it switches the input automatically. 

[The Man With No Name 1,047]

Anyone have CeeVoo?
 

Looks interesting but having just heard about it, know nothing about it.

[Walking Boot 8,295]

56 minutes ago, The Man With No Name said:

Anyone have CeeVoo?
 

Looks interesting but having just heard about it, know nothing about it.

 

It's just an antenna?

Depending on where you live you might be able to pull OTA from a cheaper one. Here in LA I'm close enough to the transmitting towers that a $20 basic model from Amazon gets me a hundred-plus channels. 70 of them are in Korean, of course. 

Edited March 21, 2019 by Walking Boot

[peaces 826]

He fixes the cable?

[Cowboysfan8 7,611]

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/3/21/18276040/comcast-flex-streaming-announced-features-pricing

I really don't know what any of this means. But I'm tired of paying Comcast as much as I am per month

[rogwadd 63]

9 minutes ago, Cowboysfan8 said:

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/3/21/18276040/comcast-flex-streaming-announced-features-pricing

I really don't know what any of this means. But I'm tired of paying Comcast as much as I am per month

I got sucked back in about a year and a half ago.  Dropped Comcast cable maybe three years ago and kept internet.  Received tv from OTA. Kodi and Amazon Prime.  Comcast offered me streaming and their X1 service.  Hooked the #### up to my 4k tv and found I was only getting SD.  An HD feed was going to cost more.  Shipment went back the next week. 

[Socrates11 381]

3 hours ago, The Man With No Name said:

Anyone have CeeVoo?
 

Looks interesting but having just heard about it, know nothing about it.

I tried a couple of those flat plastic antennas you attach to a window or wall and they disappointed. I'd get a few channels really well and the rest were static. If you are in a city and close to broadcast towers it may do the trick for you, but if you are out in the 'burbs like me you may want to pay a little more for a metal antenna and put it on your roof or in the attic.

[tonydead 7,539]

23 minutes ago, Cowboysfan8 said:

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/3/21/18276040/comcast-flex-streaming-announced-features-pricing

I really don't know what any of this means. But I'm tired of paying Comcast as much as I am per month

No.  It's a weak attempt to get into streaming while holding onto an antiquated technology.  There is zero reason for cable tv with today's bandwidth on the internet.  More of their tired old tricks, their boxes, probably hidden rental fees, taxes.  F them.  Buy a fire tv for $50 and never go back with all streaming options available, even the free ones.  

[Cowboysfan8 7,611]

6 minutes ago, rogwadd said:

I got sucked back in about a year and a half ago.  Dropped Comcast cable maybe three years ago and kept internet.  Received tv from OTA. Kodi and Amazon Prime.  Comcast offered me streaming and their X1 service.  Hooked the #### up to my 4k tv and found I was only getting SD.  An HD feed was going to cost more.  Shipment went back the next week. 

The hell of it is, I enjoy my Comcast cable, I have internet too. 

No problems. But it pisses me off to no end that I'm paying over $200 per month for  basically the same package that they advertise daily for new customers to get for $89 per month

I even get the ads in the ####### mail  🙄

####ers

[Cowboysfan8 7,611]

1 minute ago, tonydead said:

No.  It's a weak attempt to get into streaming while holding onto an antiquated technology.  There is zero reason for cable tv with today's bandwidth on the internet.  More of their tired old tricks, their boxes, probably hidden rental fees, taxes.  F them.  Buy a fire tv for $50 and never go back with all streaming options available, even the free ones.  

$50 fire TV...idk what that means but I'll look into it

I have a fire stick

[tonydead 7,539]

Just now, Cowboysfan8 said:

$50 fire TV...idk what that means but I'll look into it

I have a fire stick

I don't pay for anything other than internet and I don't miss anything that is out for tv shows and movies.  I can show you how. I get live local channels and stream live NFL. 

If you're not comfortable watching illegal streams the pay services recently mentioned in this thread start as low as $20 per month.  No contracts, hidden fees, rental fees, strings attached, none of that crap. 

Most people can get free local channels with a HD over the air antenna, like we used to watch tv before cable was invented. 

The stick is slow, but, if you're patient you can try all the above out on it for free.   All of the pay services have free 7 day trials.  When you decide to cut the cable you'd want to upgrade each tv to a fire or cube (better and faster versions of the stick).   

Ask questions as you go in this thread and we'll walk you through it. I have a guide I wrote, several pages long, but it's a bit out of date now.  

[rogwadd 63]

i enjoyed my Comcast as well, but grew tire of being screwed year after year.  I was $250 plus.  Yes, the new customers are offered $89/mo but then eventually  find themselves having to eventually cut premiuim channels. I grew tired of trying to chase loyalty points and just bailed.  

Repeating tony, I was not going to get sucked back into extra fees for HD feeds and equipment charges. And to clarify, I have fire tv, the 4k dongle, not the box.

[shadyridr 14,320]

9 hours ago, rogwadd said:

i enjoyed my Comcast as well, but grew tire of being screwed year after year.  I was $250 plus.  Yes, the new customers are offered $89/mo but then eventually  find themselves having to eventually cut premiuim channels. I grew tired of trying to chase loyalty points and just bailed.  

Repeating tony, I was not going to get sucked back into extra fees for HD feeds and equipment charges. And to clarify, I have fire tv, the 4k dongle, not the box.

Even the new customer deals are a ripoff. They advertise that price but then they add DVR fees and rental fees for every box and taxes and it gets to be close to $200 before you're all said and done. Its all the fees that piss me off.

[CletiusMaximus 8,863]

I need a recommendation to pick up HBO for a few months (you know why).  I have Hulu and Prime, so can go through either of those.  I don't need the live service, so could do their streaming service if that is cheaper.  Would appreciate any recommendations on the cheapest way to get access.  I will be streaming 4k through my Fire.

 

[Socrates11 381]

3 hours ago, CletiusMaximus said:

I need a recommendation to pick up HBO for a few months (you know why).  I have Hulu and Prime, so can go through either of those.  I don't need the live service, so could do their streaming service if that is cheaper.  Would appreciate any recommendations on the cheapest way to get access.  I will be streaming 4k through my Fire.

 

Just got it through my Prime. Works well.

[Moe. 1,987]

Your best bet for an HBO promo rate will be whatever streaming service you are subscribing to at the moment. I doubt you’ll find much right now though for obvious reasons. You’re probably looking at the full 14.99/mo and it just comes down to personal preference in terms of how you subscribe. 

[Craig_MiamiFL 2,473]

Decided to stick with Philo. Best option I've come across to date in terms of channels/price/quality.

Dtv better get the Viacom situation resolved or they're going to lose a ####load of customers.  I imagine they'll work something out as they're still available on dtv despite deadline yesterday

Got offer of free month to return to dtv now. May consider to watch some of nba playoffs but their 'new packages" leave a lot to be desired for me.

Edited March 23, 2019 by Craig_MiamiFL

[Ranethe 1,700]

1 hour ago, Craig_MiamiFL said:

Decided to stick with Philo. Best option I've come across to date in terms of channels/price/quality.

Dtv better get the Viacom situation resolved or they're going to lose a ####load of customers.  I imagine they'll work something out as they're still available on dtv despite deadline yesterday

Got offer of free month to return to dtv now. May consider to watch some of nba playoffs but their 'new packages" leave a lot to be desired for me.

I had never heard of Philo, so I checked it out. Thinking it’s going to be an option soon. 

We had cut our cable to basic a few years back (for sports/local) and used PSVue to fill in (also have Netflix/Amazon/Hulu, though only paying for Amazon Prime). Then got sucked back into cable with a promo deal. Going to end soon and might go with Philo.

We can’t get much OTA, bought one of those 50 mile window antennas off Amazon, results were mostly poor, which is why I’ll probably hold onto the cheapest cable package.

 

[Man In The Box 2,042]

On 3/19/2019 at 10:41 PM, DropKick said:

Cutting the cable on Thursday.  Wife could never give up all the stations.

Currently have Netflx via an Xbox.  Any recommendations for a device upgrade (roku, firestick).  Thinking I'll need at least one device for an upstairs TV and another (at least as a backup for the older xbox)

If you use Alexa, the Fire TV is a no brainer. The ability to change channels without using the remote is 

[DropKick 1,082]

5 hours ago, Man In The Box said:

If you use Alexa, the Fire TV is a no brainer. The ability to change channels without using the remote is 

The 4K stick? 

[Man In The Box 2,042]

9 minutes ago, DropKick said:

The 4K stick? 

I have the 4K fire TV box. Not sure if it’s still available new. Not sure how well the stick performs. I had the older fire stick first, and it was too slow honestly. So we upgraded. 

[DropKick 1,082]

Just now, Man In The Box said:

I have the 4K fire TV box. Not sure if it’s still available new. Not sure how well the stick performs. I had the older fire stick first, and it was too slow honestly. So we upgraded. 

I read where the box is/was discontinued in favor of the stick (4k).  One would expect it to be improved.  There is also the recast... a DVR type device north of $200.

[DropKick 1,082]

When I canceled, the cable company offered a streaming option for $30.  Wasn't horrible - sounded like a basic package with a choice of some extra channels (one premium).  No support for cloud storage though and not sure if this would be HD or not...

[rustycolts 1,735]

Hulu live just went from $45 to $50 a month.  I will be dropping them as soon as I find a suitable replacement.  Any suggestions?

[Slider 617]

I like YouTube TV the best.

[rustycolts 1,735]

2 hours ago, Slider said:

I like YouTube TV the best.

That is who I went with.  They have all my locals plus a dedicated channel for OCSC games.  Only problem is I just got my wife used to Hulus setup.  Now I'm going to have to get her use to Youtube Tv.  She is even slower than I am to adapting to technology.

[Uruk-Hai 7,481]

Do any of the streaming services have the Weather Channel?

 

[KingPrawn 1,660]

22 hours ago, DropKick said:

When I canceled, the cable company offered a streaming option for $30.  Wasn't horrible - sounded like a basic package with a choice of some extra channels (one premium).  No support for cloud storage though and not sure if this would be HD or not...

I had Spectrum and they offered me the same package. I think they called it Spectrum Choice. It was the local channels and your choice of 10 additional channels from a choice of about 30 channels. Wasn't a bad deal if you didn't need a lot channels. Tried it for about a month but the app was absolutely horrendous. It never loaded and crashed countlessly EVERY night. Was unwatchable and I cancelled after about 1 week. Called service and kept getting the "our engineers are working on it". After doing a little bit of searching on the internet it sounds like the problem was ongoing and their "engineers were working on it" for a couple of years. Wouldn't touch it if they paid me for it.

[Joe Mammy 969]

20 hours ago, rustycolts said:

That is who I went with.  They have all my locals plus a dedicated channel for OCSC games.  Only problem is I just got my wife used to Hulus setup.  Now I'm going to have to get her use to Youtube Tv.  She is even slower than I am to adapting to technology.

After the wife started flinging the remotes across the room I returned our Firestick and just bite the bullet on the Spectrum cable bill.

[joffer 12,265]

anyone figure out how to download HBO GO on LG's WebOS?

[belljr 10,721]

On 3/21/2019 at 9:34 PM, Cowboysfan8 said:

The hell of it is, I enjoy my Comcast cable, I have internet too. 

No problems. But it pisses me off to no end that I'm paying over $200 per month for  basically the same package that they advertise daily for new customers to get for $89 per month

I even get the ads in the ####### mail  🙄

####ers

 You can pry my X1 from my cold dead hands!!!

[NewlyRetired 16,451]

welcome to the party Apple

https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/25/18280920/apple-tv-streaming-service-announcement-price-date-launch-event-2019