I was lured to the dark side (Cable TV). Now I need your help

[Z3Dreamer]

Cut the cord years ago. Have Prime, Netflix, Hulu, a Tablo for recording OTA and some great antennae. Seasonally, I had signed up for Sling and enjoyed it. A year ago, I could get hundreds of Spectrum TV channels for an extra $31 which is close to what I was paying for Sling. So, I went to the dark side and subscribed. Yesterday, I received a bill where the 1 year discounts went away. My bundle for TV, Internet, Phone went from $106 to $140. Before I added TV, my phone and Internet was $74. Now if I dumped TV it would be $85 for phone and internet. So a $10 increase in a year plus.

I can go with a new product called Spectrum Choice where I get all my local stations plus 10 of my choice. There are only about 5 I really want, but once I select my 10, I can never change. The guy said the work around is to switch to some other plan then 2 days later switch back and re-select. Cost is $38. Other streaming plans are about that.

So, I was thinking about going back to Sling but wanted to know if you were happier with PS Vue, Google TV, Direct TV now or whatever streaming product you have? And what you pay?

Thanks.

 

[pb4uski]

I looked into Spectrum Choice for my mom a month ago. At the end of the day conventional cable TV from Spectrum wasn't much more and was what she was used to so we stayed with that. Similarly, I would consider it but DW probably wouldn't like it so I decided not to go for it ourselves either. If it was just me then I might... I think it is an interesting product.

It looks like Spectrum Choice will only save you $17/month... ($140 - $85 = $55 vs $38).

In any event, $123 or even $140/month isn't bad for TV, internet and phone.... between Dish, DSL internet and VOIP phone or monthly bill is close to that.

 

[REWahoo]

Off topic, I had to laugh when I saw the thread title. The only service companies that may be universally disliked as much as the cable companies are the credit reporting agencies...or maybe the IRS.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

I looked into Spectrum Choice for my mom a month ago. At the end of the day conventional cable TV from Spectrum wasn't much more and was what she was used to so we stayed with that. Similarly, I would consider it but DW probably wouldn't like it so I decided not to go for it ourselves either. If it was just me then I might... I think it is an interesting product.

It looks like Spectrum Choice will only save you $17/month... ($140 - $85 = $55 vs $38).

In any event, $123 or even $140/month isn't bad for TV, internet and phone.... between Dish, DSL internet and VOIP phone or monthly bill is close to that.

Rewahoo mentions the dislike of cable companies. Although it will only save me $17 a month, no longer being a cable TV subscriber makes me feel good.

 

[pb4uski]

Whatever floats your boat.

 

[Fishingmn]

We have been on Sling TV Blue ($25) and have been quite happy. Rabbit ears for local channels with a OTA DVR.


We do pay $65 for 50gb internet service.

 

[ivinsfan]

There are at least a couple of ongoing threads on this topic, do a quick search for them.

All streaming services have pros and con and you will find lots of info in these already existing threads, in fact I'd suggest you ask the mods to move your post to one of them.

 

[RonBoyd]

I am very happy with our DirecTV NOW service. If one, also, subscribes to other AT&T services the price is way down... and it includes HBO. I pay only $10 per month (less $5 Bundle discount -- we have 2 cell-phones and a Mobile Hot Spot) because I got in early but the current pricing is pretty attractive. If you can subscribe to AT&T, that is the way to go.

I would suspect that the deal will be even better (as far as choice of networks) now that the Time-Warner thing is over with.


FWIW, there is a school of thought that AT&T is treating DTVN as a loss leader to boost their wireless subscriptions. No other streaming (or Cable) company has this luxury.

 

[MichaelB]

Off topic, I had to laugh when I saw the thread title. The only service companies that may be universally disliked as much as the cable companies are the credit reporting agencies...or maybe the IRS.

True, but even so, in each I think there may be one player who stands out in terms of popular dislike - Comcast and Eqifax.

 

[MichaelB]

So, I was thinking about going back to Sling but wanted to know if you were happier with PS Vue, Google TV, Direct TV now or whatever streaming product you have? And what you pay?

Thanks.

We had Sony PS Vue last year and for our limited use, it served the purpose - replaced Comcast at a much lower price, we didn't need that big ugly STB, and we ordered & cancelled easily online (we're seasonal users).

Right now we have DirecTV Now and PSVue. It's only $10 additional cost and we'll cancel one at the end of the month. I prefer DirecTV, DW likes PSVue, but we'll probably stick with DieecTV because it has a channel we like (History).

In the past week both have had problems buffering, although it was much more serious with PSVue. This is my biggest concern.

 

[rodi]

I am very happy with our DirecTV NOW service. If one, also, subscribes to other AT&T services the price is way down... and it includes HBO. I pay only $10 per month (less $5 Bundle discount -- we have 2 cell-phones and a Mobile Hot Spot) because I got in early but the current pricing is pretty attractive. If you can subscribe to AT&T, that is the way to go.

I would suspect that the deal will be even better (as far as choice of networks) now that the Time-Warner thing is over with.


FWIW, there is a school of thought that AT&T is treating DTVN as a loss leader to boost their wireless subscriptions. No other streaming (or Cable) company has this luxury.

Not sure since we aren't in their area but isn't FIOS party of Verizon and don't they offer bundles. Again, not sure since I don't live in a Verizon FiOS area.

 

[Scrapr]

We have been on Sling TV Blue ($25) and have been quite happy. Rabbit ears for local channels with a OTA DVR.


We do pay $65 for 50gb internet service.

This. Take your phone to Ooma. About $5/month

buy a steak dinner

 

[RonBoyd]

Not sure since we aren't in their area but isn't FIOS party of Verizon and don't they offer bundles. Again, not sure since I don't live in a Verizon FiOS area.

I don't know either. I am referring to AT&T and that must be in the San Diego area.

 

[RonBoyd]

If you are not interested in Sports, this might be attractive:

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/att-just-officially-announced-watch-tv-with-30-live-tv-channels/

Entertainment Meets Unlimited

Today AT&T just announced their new AT&T Watch TV a $15 a month service with 30+ Channels. The service will launch next week along with two new AT&T Wirelles plans AT&T Unlimited &MoreSM and AT&T Unlimited &MoreSM Premium.

 

[Midpack]

So, I was thinking about going back to Sling but wanted to know if you were happier with PS Vue, Google TV, Direct TV now or whatever streaming product you have? And what you pay?

We studied them all, and we have PS Vue Core at $44.99/mo - it’s the best choice for us. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for others.

All the apps vary considerably, you get what you pay for in general. You have to decide what channels you want, whether live local majors (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) are important (vs on demand majors or OTA), how many simultaneous streams you want, which if any cloud DVR service you want and whatever budget you can live with (from $20/mo to $80/mo+). Then survey the apps offered by PS Vue, YouTube TV, DirecTV Now, Hulu Live and Sling TV to see what fits your criteria at your location (channel lineups are location dependent for some). I’d narrow it to a few, and then do free trials to make your final choice.

Then double check which streaming hardware you’ll be using like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast as the apps UI can vary across hardware. So your app and hardware choices are best made in conjunction with each other.

And finally, the apps and hardware change all the time, so what was ideal a year ago may not be now.

At least there aren’t any contracts to prevent you from changing if another app becomes more appealing for you.

 

[Cobra9777]

Not sure since we aren't in their area but isn't FIOS party of Verizon and don't they offer bundles. Again, not sure since I don't live in a Verizon FiOS area.

No, Verizon sold the FiOS business to Frontier a few years ago.