I cut the cable cord (sort of)

[pb4uski]

I figured that I would share our quasi cord-cutting experiment. We live in a rural area with no OTA because of a mountain between us and the local transmitters.

When we were in Florida last winter we had our Dish TV service on vacation... $5/month to keep it on hold. When we returned from Florida I put in the absolute cheapest package I could get and still get my local stations (CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox) ... their Welcome Pack which is $20/month get us our local and some limited cable channels, including HGTV which is a much for DW. So our total cable bill is about $63/month...$20 for programming, $39 for equipment (4 TVs and a centralized DVR that any TV can access) plus $4 in taxes.

So we pay $63/month summer and $5/month in the winter.

It has worked out ok but I miss TNT and USA but we access that via DD's Infinity connection via the internet but have to tolerate the commercials.

Recently I told DW that I was thinking of upgrading our Dish programming so we didn't have to do the commercials and she said that there was no need to... so we'll see.

BTW, to get the Welcome Pack you have to call Dish... you cannot get that cheapo programming package via the internet portal.

Are you a current Dish Network customer and tired of paying $50 or more for a bunch of channels you don’t watch? I recently discover a “secret” programming package that gets my family all local channels in HD plus popular channels like TBS, History, TLC, MSNBC, Hallmark, Hub, HGTV, Food Network, Oxygen, CMT, and Boomerang for a whopping 65 cents a day . We get 60 channels in all, plus one HD-DVR receiver, for a grand total of $26.99 a month. (If you don’t want the DVR service you only pay $19.99/mo.)

The package is called the ‘Welcome Pack’ and most people don’t know that it’s available to ALL Dish Network customers, new and old. Why it’s called the ‘Welcome Pack’ is a mystery to me. If you log into your online account you’ll notice that this package is NOT an available option. Currently, the only way you can get the welcome pack is to call them at 1-800-333-DISH and ask for it. Took me 5 minutes to call and get our programming changed.

Below is a screenshot of what your account will look like once you have the ‘Welcome Pack’. Your account will actually say ‘Package No Longer Available’ – WRONG! The secret is you just gotta call and ask for it!

 

[easysurfer]

I cut the cable years ago when I FIRE'd. But just got a card in the mail from Sling TV offering 7 free days. Looks like I'll spring for that come baseball playoffs time then cancel after playoffs and go back to just OTA with Amazon Prime.

 

[ElizabethT]

I would love to eliminate our cable - but more for philosophical reasons than economic -- I don't like monopolies. I don't watch the thing except one hour for PBS evening news. Our cable runs $140 a month and that includes internet, phone (unlimited long distance) and TV. My wife curses the cable company but she watches many of the cable channels and if I made her use different devices to get to things like HGTV, TLC, FOOD, etc I'd be the recipient of those curses.

With the time I'd invest rigging up an alternative, I can save a lot more on our tax bill.

Are you willing to wait until AM next day to watch news? PBS is available at no cost online at PBS.com, and also as a free channel on Roku, if so. We watch all of our PBS shows that way, simply waiting a few hours for them to be made available next day, shortly after midnight I believe, for streaming.

 

[ElizabethT]

We've been both cable and landline free for about five years, which puts us some $6,000 ahead if I'm doing the math correctly - approx $100 per month x 12 months x 5 years. More than the savings though, is the sense of freedom from our cable provider, and from TV in general. We get by quite nicely with a Roku, and piggyback off of a family member for Hulu and Netflix, meaning $0 cost to us. We only watch about an hour of TV a night on average, so sharing with our generous family member has not created a device conflict to date.

We recently did the 7 day Sling free trial and I was happy to cancel it out on day seven. The reasons were two fold - the Sling channel buffered a lot. Like a lot. It was beyond annoying. And secondly, I found myself watching way more TV than I had previously, which I didn't view as a good thing.

At this point I can't imagine any circumstance that would draw us back toward paying a cable company for the privilege of TV viewing when there are so many less expensive alternatives available.

 

[harley]

Are you willing to wait until AM next day to watch news? PBS is available at no cost online at PBS.com, and also as a free channel on Roku, if so. We watch all of our PBS shows that way, simply waiting a few hours for them to be made available next day, shortly after midnight I believe, for streaming.

Personally, I'm willing to wait a week or so to find out the news. I assume if the world ends I'll find out soon enough. The rest is just noise. That's why I still have cable. No where else has such a large collection of time wasting, non-socially redeeming programming available. It's worth the price.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Update on my own cord cutting, since cutting in late 2014. Upfront costs for Tablo DVR, hard disk, lifetime Tablo subscription, 2 antennae, additional Rokus and various parts - $720 or so. I already had internet, Netflix and Amazon Prime so those are not additional costs. Monthly savings are $122. Net savings (after initial costs) over 20 months - $1,720. Add $122 each month.

I subscribed to Sling TV for 3 months last year for college basketball. Subscribed to Sling TV this year for Olympics - paid for 3 months upfront but it came with that Roku I have been wanting. Paid $75 - got a $50 Roku. So subtract $75 or so from annual savings.

I still have internet and land line with the cable company. Land line went out, recently. Dealing with them was so painful. Think of all the pain I have missed by not having cable tv.

Btw, depending on the weather, I can pick up about 65 channels. Many are duplicates, but so is cable.

Did someone say happy dance?

 

[W2R]

Did someone say happy dance?

I share your joy!

I "cut the cable" on my television on May 15th, 2014. I already had Amazon Prime for shipping, but never use it for TV, and although I have F's Netflix on my TV I have never watched even one show by myself using that either. Just not my thing. I don't watch much TV, TBH.

F made me a fantastic homemade antenna out of just a 2x4 and some wire. Pretty cool. I reimbursed him $4 for those materials according to what he said they cost; he used some stuff from his junk box at the house that he didn't want me to pay for. Using that antenna I can get all the TV I really want on dozens of channels via OTA.

Other than that I didn't buy any equipment at all, so initial outlay was $4.00. I still get cable internet.

I am SURE cable TV has gone up since then, but even using the May, 2014 price I have already saved $3,085.

 

[Downhill From Here]

Just saw that Sling TV has added NFL Network, Red Zone, and Comcast Sports Net for our area. That's a game changer for me. I'll be dropping cable and subscribing to their Blue package for $25 per month. I'll miss the ability to pause live TV, but for that kind of savings I'll live with it.

 

[Freedom56]

Here's what I did to reduce monthly cable, phone, internet expenses:

1- bought my own Motorola cable modem for $50 and saved the $8 per month rental fee charged by Time Warner Cable
2- Dropped Direct TV after they were raising my monthly to $107 per month. I bought 2 Roku players for $59 each and run Playstation Vue for $39.99 per month (about 75 channels that I actually can watch).
3- Replaced my VOIP provider from Lingo at $37 per month to Ooma premiere with international calling for $18.00 per month (including taxes). The Ooma hardware cost me $99. I have two phone lines and full features plus call blocking that eliminates 90% of scammers and telemarketers and robocallers.
4- Kept Netflix for $9.99 per month

My monthly bill now is:

$59.99 for high speed internet (100 M/B sec)
$18.00 for phone with international calling (2 lines)
$39.99 for TV (for up to 5 TVs)
$9.99 for Netflix

I'm saving about $67 per month over bundle deals offered by cable companies.

If we didn't have mountains blocking the TV broadcast towers, I would have set up antenna for free OTA HDTV reception.

 

[easysurfer]

I cut the cord several years ago. After several attempts (different antennas and DVRs), the set up I'm happy with is:

1) DVR - Maganox HDD/DVR recorder
2) antenna - HD Frequency Cable Cutter Indoor/Outdoor
3) streaming - Amazon Fire TV
4) baseball playoffs if Cubbies are in - Sling TV (keep only for playoff time then cancel)

For the most part, I'm happy. I get the all local channels and overall the reception is steady. The picture on the DVR, though not high def is adequate for my eyes and I can pause live TV and burn to DVD if I want.

My favorite antenna was a home built coat hanger, but I get CBS better with the purchased antenna. The antenna is mounted indoors (beauty in the eye of the beholder ) by my balcony window.

 

[kgtest]

I cut the cord several years ago. After several attempts (different antennas and DVRs), the set up I'm happy with is:

1) DVR - Maganox HDD/DVR recorder
2) antenna - HD Frequency Cable Cutter Indoor/Outdoor
3) streaming - Amazon Fire TV
4) baseball playoffs if Cubbies are in - Sling TV (keep only for playoff time then cancel)

For the most part, I'm happy. I get the all local channels and overall the reception is steady. The picture on the DVR, though not high def is adequate for my eyes and I can pause live TV and burn to DVD if I want.

My favorite antenna was a home built coat hanger, but I get CBS better with the purchased antenna. The antenna is mounted indoors (beauty in the eye of the beholder ) by my balcony window.

Never had cable except for that time I figured out how to hijack it years ago. can't do that anymore. I pay $10.99/mon for Netflix and 9.99/mon for a newsgroup subscription where I download latest movies.

I built my own home theater for under $2000 and its quite impressive 110' screen, 8.1ch with 16speakers, a 15" and 12" sub. Fully automated, highest quality vid/audio and sometimes lossless. I live in the woods and reception isn't great but I ordered an outdoor hd antenna to see if that will help. 5tb hard drive stores all the content. I built a little script that maps to my universal remote. One button can dim the lights, queue the movie previews and play the feature film. Works well to allow me time to run and pop popcorn.


My four guilty pleasures in life (hobbies):
1. Home Theater
2. Skiing
3. My truck
4. ER


hard to sneak all this in on a budget but I fare well.

 

[someguy]

If you haven't already, check out Sony Playstation Vue as an alternative to Sling. It's $30/mo for the slim package which includes (among others) NBC SN, ESPNx, and Fox Sports. I think that slim package compares favorably to having Sling blue and orange. Also, Vue has a cloud-based DVR function so you don't have to watch everything live. On the Roku at least, the interface is a bit clunky but still -- pretty nice and IMO a worthy alternative to Sling.

FWIW, both Sling and Vue logins appear to work for the networks' apps directly (e.g., NBC SN channel on Roku and the app on phone).

 

[socca]

I built my own home theater for under $2000 and its quite impressive 110' screen...

Yes, 110 feet is quite impressive. According to Wikipedia, the largest IMAX screen in the world measures 117' x 97', so you're up there with the very best.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

I'm ready to cut the cord but don't really know what I need to do this. Currently have Frontier (formerly Verizon), and have cable, internet and phone. Costing me about $215 per month. I'm running four TV's and the equipment rental is about $50/month. No premium channels but we do have Netflix. I'm thinking Roku 3 or 4 but don't know what else I need except for an antenna for local channels. Figure I'll keep Frontier's router and use them for my internet provider. I'm thinking about hiring the Geek Squad from Best Buy to tell me what I need and have them set it all up. Is there any advice you can give me?

 

[Dawg52]

I'm ready to cut the cord but don't really know what I need to do this. Currently have Frontier (formerly Verizon), and have cable, internet and phone. Costing me about $215 per month. I'm running four TV's and the equipment rental is about $50/month. No premium channels but we do have Netflix. I'm thinking Roku 3 or 4 but don't know what else I need except for an antenna for local channels. Figure I'll keep Frontier's router and use them for my internet provider. I'm thinking about hiring the Geek Squad from Best Buy to tell me what I need and have them set it all up. Is there any advice you can give me?

It's not that hard to do but if you don't care to fool with it all, the Geek Squad may not be a bad idea. There is a cord cutters group on Facebook that has a lot of good info. In my case, I bought a modem and router off the advice from this group and use Comcast internet. But you can continue renting your provider's modem/router. I have an Amazon Fire box in my living room as I like Amazon Prime shows/movies and their box features their stuff a little better. But a Roku 2,3 or 4 will work as well. I use a Roku 2 in my bedroom. As far as what antenna you need, it depends on where you live. Some people who live in rural areas may need one attached to their roof. In my case, all I needed was a cheap $15 one hooked directly to my tv's. It picks up all my local channels.

Do you have a neighbor or someone close by that has cut the cord? They might be able to give you some advice.

 

[REWahoo]

I'm ready to cut the cord but don't really know what I need to do this.... Is there any advice you can give me?

Here is a nice guide: Cable TV Alternatives - A Guide to Cutting the Cord

 

[Mulligan]

I'm ready to cut the cord but don't really know what I need to do this. Currently have Frontier (formerly Verizon), and have cable, internet and phone. Costing me about $215 per month. I'm running four TV's and the equipment rental is about $50/month. No premium channels but we do have Netflix. I'm thinking Roku 3 or 4 but don't know what else I need except for an antenna for local channels. Figure I'll keep Frontier's router and use them for my internet provider. I'm thinking about hiring the Geek Squad from Best Buy to tell me what I need and have them set it all up. Is there any advice you can give me?

If you are like me, and really dont want to change...just tired of high bills, call them and ask for customer retention and tell them you are dropping them and doing something else ( fill in any lie you want,, Direct TV, Dish, Sling, etc) Run through the gauntlet and chances are they will knock off your bill some. Ultimately last month Direct TV gave me 2 options...$30 off for 2 years or $50 off for 12 months... I chose the worst option for 2 years because I dont want to call them again for 2 years... FWIW, I pay $140 for 3 tvs, hd, DVR, equipment insurance, and uverse internet is part of the $140... Package has everything but the movie channels.

 

[Moemg]

I'm ready to cut the cord but don't really know what I need to do this. Currently have Frontier (formerly Verizon), and have cable, internet and phone. Costing me about $215 per month. I'm running four TV's and the equipment rental is about $50/month. No premium channels but we do have Netflix. I'm thinking Roku 3 or 4 but don't know what else I need except for an antenna for local channels. Figure I'll keep Frontier's router and use them for my internet provider. I'm thinking about hiring the Geek Squad from Best Buy to tell me what I need and have them set it all up. Is there any advice you can give me?

Aren't you able to get Bright House ? I have 5 tv's , 2 boxes , super fast internet & phone for $134.

 

[Aerides]

Like Mulligan, a couple years ago we decided we were over it, and roughly figured out 80% of what we needed we could do. So we called our cable co, and said "cancel, we're done" and after a bit of back and forth, got to keep everything for about $25 more per month than we'd pay for internet solo (including HBO). So we stayed put. Did the same thing when it came up for renewal.

The offers and scripts they have for "i'm not happy i want a discount" are not remotely as good as "i'm done, cancel". Try a bluff call before you invest in anything else.

 

[Cobra9777]

I'm ready to cut the cord but don't really know what I need to do this. Currently have Frontier (formerly Verizon), and have cable, internet and phone. Costing me about $215 per month. I'm running four TV's and the equipment rental is about $50/month. No premium channels but we do have Netflix. I'm thinking Roku 3 or 4 but don't know what else I need except for an antenna for local channels. Figure I'll keep Frontier's router and use them for my internet provider. I'm thinking about hiring the Geek Squad from Best Buy to tell me what I need and have them set it all up. Is there any advice you can give me?

Verizon FiOS (now Frontier) has a little-known "double play" consisting of internet plus broadcast TV. It's actually cheaper than internet alone by about $10/mo because you get the double play discount. They really try to discourage people from going internet only. This avoids the antenna hassle and requires no equipment rental. We've had that package for about 3 years.

My Setup:
We only use 2 TVs regularly and they are both equipped with Fire TV boxes. We subscribe to Amazon Prime and Netflix. We run Kodi on the two Fire TV boxes which provides online guide and DVR functionality for live TV, plus access to all our owned media on a 3TB external drive. The 2 spare bedroom TVs are each equipped with Chromecasts so visitors (mostly our kids and their families) can cast whatever they want from their phones, tablets, etc. Those TVs also get the FiOS broadcast channels. Landline phone is free using an Obi-200 VoIP device with a Google Voice number.

Upfront cost included $70 ea for the 2 Fire TV boxes, $35 ea for the 2 Chromecasts, $50 for the Obi-200, and $75 for an HDHomeRun tuner. The tuner is connected to a PC which enables live TV, DVR, etc on the Fire TV boxes via Kodi. Ongoing cost is $70/mo for the FiOS package and $20/mo for Netflix/Amazon combined. We had been paying same as you for triple play FiOS. The upfront cost for this setup paid back in less than 3 months.

 

[easysurfer]

My goal tomorrow is to sign up for a month (7 days free) of Sling TV in preparation for some playoff baseball .