Dumping Cable But Somehow Keeping Internet...

[Mo Money]

Dumping Cable TV But Somehow Keeping Internet...

Today I got yet another rate increase from my dear, dear cable company -- Comcast. We have cable and internet bundled (no landline). It goes up every three months or so.

Has anyone just dumped cable and kept the internet, while using some service for movies and TV shows like Netflix or Chromecast? I am tired of paying these horrible people any more than I have to....

Suggestions, anyone?

 

[gauss]

I have been using Cable based Internet for over a year now. I never subscribed to the television in my current home (I did have dish network for a few years however). Works great, but they are being acquired by Comcast. Not looking forward to that...

The one major problem with the Cable Internet vs my prior solution (DSL Internet) was that the DSL use to continue to work when the city had a large power outage, but the Cable Internet either goes out very quickly after the power outage or it only lasts a few hours. Of course I am supplying my own power to my computers via a local generator.

-gauss

 

[Al in Ohio]

Been doing that for over a year. Its the way of the future. Soon millions will be joining the same party.

 

[Mo Money]

Al in Ohio: If you don't mind me asking: What are you paying for internet, and are you getting it from the cable company that formerly provided you with cable TV?

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We bought a cheap lap top from Sam's Club and connected it to the TV with an HDMI cable. A wireless keyboard and mouse for $30 from Radio Shack is our "remote".

We have Hulu Plus, Netflix, Prime and everything on the Internet. Many shows are on the network web sites the day after they broadcast. So if you can wait a day to watch your favorite shows you can save $1,200 or so a year.

 

[Mo Money]

daylate: Sorry for being thick, but I assume you are still using the cable co's internet service, or are you getting it from another source?

 

[daylatedollarshort]

daylate: Sorry for being thick, but I assume you are still using the cable co's internet service, or are you getting it from another source?

We still have cable Internet. We have competing cable companies and we are wired for all of them, so every 6 months or so we just cancel or threaten to cancel and get the new customer rates. We switched to Ooma for phone so usually the best high speed Internet only rate is around $40 - $55 a month depending on who has the best special.

Right now we have basic cable on one TV, too, as it cost the same as Internet alone. But the living room just has the lap top set up.

 

[imoldernu]

Comcast is a strange company... Comcast in your town may have a low end internet cost of $30... Where we live, there are no alternatives, as DSL ...except for satellite.
The lowest cost for me is $65, which does not include any equipment.

Haven't dumped DirecTV yet, but by using Plex, I can see still being able to get same day news... and the entire broadcast (national networks) a fullhour, and not the individual clips.
The same goes for the network shows... full current episodes.
Now the networks show up on the Plex interface...
ABC CBS, CNBC, History, A&E, PBS... with most popular shows available same day or day after they are broadcast.

There doesn't seem to be much interest in this yet on ER, but my guess is that as more people sign on (free) this will become more popular. There is a learning curve that could be intimidating, but having patience and understanding that in order to provide the full menu, with visuals, actors, synopses, and popularity stars, the program takes a very long time to search and load. In my case, with hundreds of videos, thoudands of photos and thousands of MP3's it too more than a day, working in the background.

Media Bowser 3 is similar, but not as advanced.

 

[pb4uski]

FYI - we have been on Dish for 3 years and have been pretty happy with them but our equipment is old. Only 2 tuners and 200 or so hours DVR.

I called Dish yesterday and told them I wanted to upgrade to the most current technology - 8 tuner Hopper and 2000 hour DVR - but would only do so if they offered me the same deal that new customers get which is a $25/month discount for the first 12 months with a 2 year contract. My installer had previously told me he didn't think they would do anything but I got on-line as if I was a new customer and saw what the deal would be.

They offered something lower but I held fast and said that if I switched to Direct TV with a similar set up it would be a bit less expensive over 24 months but I preferred to stay with Dish but they needed to offer me the same deal new customers get otherwise I was going Direct. The rep spoke to a supervisor and then agreed to give me the same deal as a new customer.

I think it may have made a difference that I was off contract for the last 12 months - if I had called right after my initial 24 months I don't think they would have been so accommodating. Anyway, a half hour call resulted in $300 in my pocket.

 

[RetireAge50]

We have comcast internet only (no cable tv). With taxes cost is $65 rack rate or $50 if we call and threaten every 6 months. Pretty much all the tv and movies stream through Roku and Apple TV. Local channels also come in high def via roof antenna from Costco. What's missing are the sports channels.

 

[Calico]

I used to bundle basic cable tv and Internet through Time Warner and paid $125/month. Cut the cable tv and just get Internet from Time Warner now - $40/month. No landline; cell phone only.

Use a Roku and get everything I want via Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and the websites for NBC, CBS, ABC, etc. (I tried an interior antenna for the local OTA channels, but too many trees around here.) Don't miss cable and wish I had cut the cord years ago.

Note : I watch no sports, so not missing anything.

There was recently a long thread here about "cutting the cord" and all the alternatives people use. You might try searching for it. Good luck with whatever path you choose!

 

[wolf]

Use Comcast for internet only. $67.

Use, Ooma, VOIP, for home phone. $4 month. Can call anywhere in US.

Have AT&T here, have not done the 6 month, plan yet. (go back and forth,
catch their new subscriber promotion).

Have TV antenna on roof. You would be surprised how many channels there are. HD.

Usually, just rent a DVD, at Redbox, if there is a good movie out.

Also, have smart and pre-paid dumb phones.

San Francisco Bay area, CA

 

[Calico]

.....There was recently a long thread here about "cutting the cord" and all the alternatives people use. You might try searching for it. Good luck with whatever path you choose!

OK, I found the other long thread - the title is "Dropped Cable Today" - search for that and you will get lots of ideas for alternatives to cable!

I would post a link to it but I don't know how to do that and frankly I'm too lazy to learn right now.

Picture of me every month when I DON'T have to pay for cable tv:

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Usually, just rent a DVD, at Redbox, if there is a good movie out.

We dropped the Netflix DVDs by mail when I realized the grocery store a few blocks from our house has Redbox.

 

[bUU]

Been doing that for over a year. Its the way of the future. Soon millions will be joining the same party.

At which point in time the marketplace will catch up and the new way will end up costing pretty much just as much as the old way used to cost.

 

[Koogie]

If you want to use DSL for your internet, you don't necessarily have to have a landline. We don't have landline phone service but we get our internet over the phonline with DSL and "dry loop" service.

We went with a cheapish small DSL reseller and they charge us $8/mo extra for the "dry loop" service (AFAIK, most of it gets kicked back to the telco)

 

[Al in Ohio]

Al in Ohio: If you don't mind me asking: What are you paying for internet, and are you getting it from the cable company that formerly provided you with cable TV?

For a year I was paying $29/ mo for high speed cable (15 Mbps) through my internet cable company ( Time Warner) but now I pay $37.99/mo.

 

[someguy]

What about sports? And do they have stuff from NatGeo, Smithsonian? HGTV? My experience with most similar systems has been that what they do have has terrible video quality...often less than SDTV.

Comcast is a strange company... Comcast in your town may have a low end internet cost of $30... Where we live, there are no alternatives, as DSL ...except for satellite.
The lowest cost for me is $65, which does not include any equipment.

Haven't dumped DirecTV yet, but by using Plex, I can see still being able to get same day news... and the entire broadcast (national networks) a fullhour, and not the individual clips.
The same goes for the network shows... full current episodes.
Now the networks show up on the Plex interface...
ABC CBS, CNBC, History, A&E, PBS... with most popular shows available same day or day after they are broadcast.

There doesn't seem to be much interest in this yet on ER, but my guess is that as more people sign on (free) this will become more popular. There is a learning curve that could be intimidating, but having patience and understanding that in order to provide the full menu, with visuals, actors, synopses, and popularity stars, the program takes a very long time to search and load. In my case, with hundreds of videos, thoudands of photos and thousands of MP3's it too more than a day, working in the background.

Media Bowser 3 is similar, but not as advanced.

 

[golfnut]

I love watching sports. Any cheap alternatives. We have WOW cable (bundle including internet, phone and tv). Pay $135 per month. We could also go with Comcast, but they are even more expensive. Would love to hear about cheaper alternatives.

 

[mf15]

I would love to go OTA,but my wife like to watch the Phillies.
What do the Phillies do this year,they make a mega deal with Comcast.
So now most of the Phillies games are on CSN,and next year even less on OTA.
So I am sort of stuck.
Old Mike

 

[W2R]

I want to either go OTA, or to get bare bones basic cable TV instead of my present service. Maybe both. Still, it's kind of a big step and I'm not sure. I don't watch sports.

Right now I am paying over $171/month for cable TV and cable internet, and even though I can afford it that is just insane.

When I first signed up with Cox Cable back in May of 2000, the charges for cable internet only was $10/month, and the charges for cable internet+TV was $11/month. That was the cheapest possible TV service, but it also was why I bought a TV in the first place. Granted, my present TV service is the full digital package, but still I never thought I would end up spending more than 15 times as much just 14 years later.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I want to either go OTA, or to get bare bones basic cable TV instead of my present service. Maybe both. Still, it's kind of a big step and I'm not sure. I don't watch sports.

Right now I am paying over $171/month for cable TV and cable internet, and even though I can afford it that is just insane.

When I first signed up with Cox Cable back in May of 2000, the charges for cable internet only was $10/month, and the charges for cable internet+TV was $11/month. That was the cheapest possible TV service, but it also was why I bought a TV in the first place. Granted, my present TV service is the full digital package, but still I never thought I would end up spending more than 15 times as much just 14 years later.

We thought about it this way, the extra $100 a month over maybe Internet alone was costing us $100 month X 12 months X 40 years $48K. In your case you'd likely save even more than $100 a month with just Internet alone.

 

[rbmrtn]

Right now I am paying over $171/month for cable TV and cable internet, and even though I can afford it that is just insane.

That seems high, is that just basic cable or you getting tiered/premium channels. Mine runs ~$90 for basic cable + internet.

Not a lot of options, no other internet is available. Can't get any OTA. Decoupling the TV part increases the price of the internet service. Netflix,Hulu+, Amazon etc are subscription service so even if you drop cable you pay for those

 

[target2019]

We downgraded Comcrap to Basic, and the cost is about $78/month for internet and plain old TV channels.

Added Netflix, and will probably do some VOIP package and then say goodbue to Verizon POTS.

 

[W2R]

I want to either go OTA, or to get bare bones basic cable TV instead of my present service. Maybe both. Still, it's kind of a big step and I'm not sure. I don't watch sports..

That seems high, is that just basic cable or you getting tiered/premium channels. Mine runs ~$90 for basic cable + internet.

What you have, is what I am thinking of switching to. I have the full digital HDTV + extra packages. Wow, $90/month seems extremely high for just basic cable and internet.

We downgraded Comcrap to Basic, and the cost is about $78/month for internet and plain old TV channels.

Added Netflix, and will probably do some VOIP package and then say goodbue to Verizon POTS.

That seems a little better, I guess. In my case, I wouldn't even bother with Netflix since I am not a movie buff.

I love American Idol and The Voice (yes, this week is TV heaven for me! ). I also like SNL, and local TV news. All of this could be obtained through OTA access.

I sometimes watch cable news channels (and get upset by all the doom-n-glooming, so why?). Occasionally I enjoy HGTV, the Biography channel, or History2 channel. But honestly, I could do without any of these and they sure aren't worth what I am paying. I lived with internet but no TV at all for many years and it never bothered me that much. The reason I got the full digital TV package + extras when I retired, was to see what I was missing. Very little, apparently.