Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) - 2021 version

[foxcreek9]

I know it is more than I need speed-wise. Their pricing was very non-linear. They had 75GB ($20), 200 ($40), 400($55), 800 and 1Tb. The lowest 2 were limited data and required a Modem/router at $15-$25, the $25 rental included unlimited data. At 400GB they included the Modem/router. IF I rent their Modem, A wifi extender is free if required. I will need one to get to my garage shop area reliably. If I go over the data limit, It would be an extra 30. I was concerned about the data limit.I went that way for the 1st year. At the time, I'll see how much data we use and decide if I will buy my own router and drop to a lower speed.

My 85 YO father's TV is (generally) on from the moment he gets up, all streaming. This is how much data he uses, he has never gone over 800 GB.


July 668 GB
August 618 GB
September 425 GB
October 347 GB
November 504 GB
December 655 GB


Comcast here gives you 2 free "over" months. If you go over you can always switchto another plan

 

[qwerty3656]

I'm not sure if I should start a 2023 version of this or not. WE have decided to drop Dish satellite service. It will take about a month to get things in place. First, the TV is on at least 12 hours a day. It is used a lot for background noise, something to break the quiet. We currently have 2 Roku TVs and a roku stick on another TV. Over thanksgiving we signed up for Hulu on the 1.99 special. Step 1) We currently have ATT DSL service at 12mb speed. It easily kept up with streaming but has a data limit that I think would easily be broken if we streamed constantly. In preparation, we recently signed up for Xfinity 400mb speed with unlimited data. They installed it this week. We switched all of our devices over to that new WiFi network and things seem good so far. Step 2) Today, I ordered a Tablo to record OTA channels. Possibly use it to feed one TV that seems to have an intermittent antenna cable buried in a wall somewhere. It should be here next week. We plan to use a spare USB HD that is surplus to our current needs. Step 3) as soon as we have confidence in the Xfinity (maybe a week or two) we will drop the ATT internet and kill our landline. Step 4) Once we have confidence in the Tablo setup, (another 2 weeks) we will drop Dish service. Step 5) Decide on which streaming services we will add, if any. We currently get 90+ OTA channels, of which mostly the 5 major networks. We currently have Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. Looking at Discovery+ and maybe 1 other.

Between dropping Dish, ATT internet and phone, and getting a higher speed internet service via Xfinity, we will save about $170 per month. Navigating the new setup will take some getting used to. DW does not like changes like this but also wanted to control the $ going out the door. We'll see how it works out in a few months.

We just dropped dish. It was a really annoying process. Switched to YoutubeTV and so far so good.

 

[Buckeye]

My 85 YO father's TV is (generally) on from the moment he gets up, all streaming. This is how much data he uses, he has never gone over 800 GB.


July 668 GB
August 618 GB
September 425 GB
October 347 GB
November 504 GB
December 655 GB


Comcast here gives you 2 free "over" months. If you go over you can always switchto another plan

If you are on an unlimited plan, I don't think you are able to see how much data you use per billing period. You might want to double check.

 

[JoeWras]

CRLLS: a few things... We love our Tablo, but every now and then, the atmosphere does something and our reception is a bit glitchy. Although watchable, we find a backup plan is to use Hulu for shows like "The Good Doctor".

For background noise, we like Pluto TV. They use a pretty low bitrate which doesn't matter for background shows. All kinds of fun stuff on Pluto for free.

 

[CRLLS]

1/18/23 update. Step 2 is now done: The Tablo Dual Lite came in. in true cheapness, I bought a used one off of eBay. It came in like-new condition with all the original packing etc. It took a bit to get it hooked up, but finally got it all figured out. It is now up and running. I have had a few video glitches which may be due to the many splitters I have on the line. I will be addressing that in short order. Step 3 is done partway: Confidence is there in the Xfinity service too. Only had a short problem where it dropped out yesterday. The install required a new feed from the telephone pole. The cable would be buried in a week or so. It turns out that yesterday was the day. The bury-guy was disconnecting and connecting the wiring. ATT phone service was cut off. We kept the internet service while I attempt to unlink our email account from ATT. Step 4 Complete: We dropped Dish yesterday. Our receiver was a VIP722K. They told me to just recycle it. I see on eBay they are selling for around $30+. I wonder how a buyer would get them connected, I guess that is not my problem. It may not be worth the effort to try to sell it.

We are now on Step 6: Trying to figure out what service to stream. I picked up the Hulu for $1.99/ month in December. It turns out that Hulu's offerings are extremely slim on the channels they say are included. Like only 1 show on the History channel. 2 shows that we want to continue to watch are The Curse of Oak Island and Yellowstone, plus the Motortrend channel. We 1st signed up for Paramount+ for free on our T-Mobile account thinking Yellowstone was there. It turns out that Yellowstone is not on "Paramount+" due to some special agreement. It is on "Paramount Network". So now I found Philo which is another service thru T-Mobile for 15/mo for 1 year, then 25/mo.

This is a complicated transition. While there are so many viewing options, getting to find any one program takes quite some time. DW is being patient as every day the "setup changes while we are transitioning. I hope we get used to this streaming setup. When all this is complete, our viewing/internet savings will just about cover the increased price of a few dozen eggs.

Joe, I just loaded up Pluto TV. It looks promising. Thanks for the heads-up on that.

 

[RonBoyd]

1/18/23 update. Step 2 is now done: The Tablo Dual Lite came in. .

You seem to be implying that you can stream subscription services with a Tablo unit. That is not the case.

Can I record streaming services like Sling TV or Netflix with Tablo?
No. Legal and technical reasons prevent Tablo from recording content from sources other than an ATSC OTA TV antenna. You can read more about this on the Tablo blog.

Can I record cable or satellite signals with Tablo?
No. Tablo is designed to record and stream Over-The-Air (OTA) broadcast signals from ATSC TV antennas. We do not support recording from cable or satellite signals, cableCARDs, or clear/unencrypted cable (QAM).

Do I need internet to use a Tablo OTA DVR?
Yes. You DO need internet access to use Tablo Over-the-Air DVRs. Like many modern gadgets, Tablo is a network-connected device, designed to have consistent high-speed internet access and will not function optimally without it.

And the Internet is only needed so you can display the recorded files on more than one TV.

Full disclosure: We have a Tablo Quad and would be very sad without it, but it is for Antennae TV only... Oh! our SageTV unit does all the same stuff and is now fifteen years old.

 

[CRLLS]

You seem to be implying that you can stream subscription services with a Tablo unit. That is not the case.

Can I record streaming services like Sling TV or Netflix with Tablo?
No. Legal and technical reasons prevent Tablo from recording content from sources other than an ATSC OTA TV antenna. You can read more about this on the Tablo blog.

Can I record cable or satellite signals with Tablo?
No. Tablo is designed to record and stream Over-The-Air (OTA) broadcast signals from ATSC TV antennas. We do not support recording from cable or satellite signals, cableCARDs, or clear/unencrypted cable (QAM).

Do I need internet to use a Tablo OTA DVR?
Yes. You DO need internet access to use Tablo Over-the-Air DVRs. Like many modern gadgets, Tablo is a network-connected device, designed to have consistent high-speed internet access and will not function optimally without it.

And the Internet is only needed so you can display the recorded files on more than one TV.

Full disclosure: We have a Tablo Quad and would be very sad without it, but it is for Antennae TV only... Oh! our SageTV unit does all the same stuff and is now fifteen years old.

My post was a follow up on post #1145 where I wrote:

Step 2) Today, I ordered a Tablo to record OTA channels. Possibly use it to feed one TV that seems to have an intermittent antenna cable buried in a wall somewhere. It should be here next week. We plan to use a spare USB HD that is surplus to our current needs.

I neither thought, wrote, nor implied that a Tablo can stream or record at all. If you thought I wrote differently, I'm sorry. As you say, a Tablo acts as an OTA tuner(s) and can only play or record only OTA live signals. It is controlled thru an (Roku for me) App which may look similar "streaming" to some. It does not "stream" anything.

 

[RonBoyd]

I neither thought, wrote, nor implied that a Tablo can stream or record at all. If you thought I wrote differently, I'm sorry.

No. This was clearly on me. I misread/misunderstood what you wrote.

Depending on the TV, we use Roku, Shield, or FireTV Cube to access the Tablo unit. We use the Cube with the main TV since it controls everything. We can turn the lights off/on/brightness, answer the front door without getting up, answer the phone, view the security cameras, change channels/networks, etc.

 

[Sojourner]

Well, I finally joined the club. After 20+ years with DirecTV, I recently called and canceled my service. I figure we'll save somewhere in the neighborhood of $100/month, along with the added benefit of not having to call DirecTV's "customer retention" department every year to try to negotiate bill credits and other discounts. It was great while it lasted, and I was a very satisfied DTV customer for many years, but time marches on.

Since DW and I very rarely watch live TV of any sort, we've decided to go without a streaming TV service (like YTTV or Sling) for now and just continue on with our "big 3": Netflix, HBO Max, and AMZN Prime. I suspect we'll be quite content with this arrangement, since neither of us has any interest in watching news or sports on a regular basis. It's actually quite striking how drastically our viewing habits have changed over the past 4-5 years, going from 90% live TV and DVR (via DirecTV) to essentially 100% on-demand streaming.

 

[qwerty3656]

Well, I finally joined the club. After 20+ years with DirecTV, I recently called and canceled my service. I figure we'll save somewhere in the neighborhood of $100/month, along with the added benefit of not having to call DirecTV's "customer retention" department every year to try to negotiate bill credits and other discounts. It was great while it lasted, and I was a very satisfied DTV customer for many years, but time marches on.

Since DW and I very rarely watch live TV of any sort, we've decided to go without a streaming TV service (like YTTV or Sling) for now and just continue on with our "big 3": Netflix, HBO Max, and AMZN Prime. I suspect we'll be quite content with this arrangement, since neither of us has any interest in watching news or sports on a regular basis. It's actually quite striking how drastically our viewing habits have changed over the past 4-5 years, going from 90% live TV and DVR (via DirecTV) to essentially 100% on-demand streaming.

I recently got rid of directv as well. Even with subscribing to youtubeTV (need the sports and news, etc), I'm saving $85 a month. They really jacked their rates on me over the last year. They also really jerked me around when I tried to cancel - I will never use them again.

 

[Midpack]

Well, I finally joined the club. After 20+ years with DirecTV, I recently called and canceled my service. I figure we'll save somewhere in the neighborhood of $100/month, along with the added benefit of not having to call DirecTV's "customer retention" department every year to try to negotiate bill credits and other discounts. It was great while it lasted, and I was a very satisfied DTV customer for many years, but time marches on.

Since DW and I very rarely watch live TV of any sort, we've decided to go without a streaming TV service (like YTTV or Sling) for now and just continue on with our "big 3": Netflix, HBO Max, and AMZN Prime. I suspect we'll be quite content with this arrangement, since neither of us has any interest in watching news or sports on a regular basis. It's actually quite striking how drastically our viewing habits have changed over the past 4-5 years, going from 90% live TV and DVR (via DirecTV) to essentially 100% on-demand streaming.

Good plan. And you're young at heart - in that most 18-29 year olds, and many 30-49 year olds, do exactly the same plus - they also cancel/resubscribe constantly to keep costs down. They'll subscribe to Netflix and binge watch whatever is of interest for a month or two, then cancel and do the same with HBO Max, Hulu, and the others. They constantly change subscriptions month to month. You can save a ton if you're willing to play that game. We are starting to do it - e.g. we let Apple TV+ lapse, but we'll probably re-up when all of Ted Lasso season 3 is available, and then cancel once we've watched all the episodes (along with anything else of interest there).

Even though we have Hulu+Live (DW) - I watch "free" YouTube more than any other program of any type...so my viewing habits have changed radically as well. The only thing I'd miss without Hulu+Live is live sports. I can get all the news I need without live TV, and most of the rest of live content is of no interest to me (unlike DW).

 

[CRLLS]

Dish treated me just the same as you guys reported with DirecTV The agent had all kinds of questions he had to ask before he could/would go further. I didn't want the hard sell. I kept saying I wasn't going to answer. He just kept asking. I finally said," If you need something in the system for you to move forward with my cancellation, just put in I'm moving to Ukraine. " That pretty much stopped his questions.

Like you, I'm done with both DirecTV and Dish. Technology moves on and so did I. I can't wait to see what is becoming mainstream in 5-10 years from now.

 

[JoeWras]

I can't wait to see what is becoming mainstream in 5-10 years from now.

Nothing but teenage mystic shows. LOL!

Seriously, who knows? Part of me feels like we reached peak streaming and are on some slide down.

Things are always changing, right? Radio was revolutionary, then playing music on the radio was radical, then B&W TV, then Color TV, then cable.

Cable was a huge disruption. There was a certain golden age of cable where prices were not too screwy and there were a lot of diverse programming choices.

Then it went to hell when reality programming took over, yet at the same time, streaming gained steam and importantly started producing quality, unique content.

Now it seems to be going to hell again. HBO is jettisoning loads of titles in favor of going to reality shows from its Discovery holdings. Netflix has had a come to <your god> moment and realized they can't just produce with unlimited budget. They are cutting shows and it hurts and there is screaming out there, I mean seriously loud screaming.

Meanwhile, sports continues down some fractured whirlpool with less and less OTA free content month by month. You need cable or one of the Fat streamers. But the Fat streamers (Hulu+Live, YTTV) don't have the regional sports networks. You may have to buy those separately.

It just isn't feeling real promising right now. Technology will move forward with better and faster streaming devices that probably can deliver a quality cloud based fast-forward to you some day (instead of the postage stamp).

But what's happening with programming? Are the content owners really going to continue this war on each other and the consumer by requiring us to subscribe to each of their services? Will there be consolidation or bundling (back to the future?).

Who knows? All I know is it continues to change rapidly.

Whew, got that off my chest. Sorry for the ramble.

 

[Yoheadden]

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/top-to-consider-before-buying-smart-tv

This is one of the best articles I have read about explaining what to consider about buying a new tv.

 

[Sojourner]

Good plan. And you're young at heart - in that most 18-29 year olds, and many 30-49 year olds, do exactly the same plus - they also cancel/resubscribe constantly to keep costs down. They'll subscribe to Netflix and binge watch whatever is of interest for a month or two, then cancel and do the same with HBO Max, Hulu, and the others. They constantly change subscriptions month to month. You can save a ton if you're willing to play that game. We are starting to do it - e.g. we let Apple TV+ lapse, but we'll probably re-up when all of Ted Lasso season 3 is available, and then cancel once we've watched all the episodes (along with anything else of interest there).

Yeah, I think we'll play the subscribe/cancel game with some of the more niche services, like Paramount+, Apple TV+, and others. I have zero interest in paying for those for more than a month or two at a time. I might even drop in and out of HBO Max once my current, discounted rate ($8/month) expires.

The only thing I'd miss without Hulu+Live is live sports. I can get all the news I need without live TV, and most of the rest of live content is of no interest to me (unlike DW).

Live sports was the biggest reason I hung onto DirecTV for so long, but I finally realized I just wasn't into it nearly enough to justify the price tag. What I'm planning on doing for the occasional live sporting event I want to watch is to sign up for a 7-day trial of one of the live streaming services, like YTTV, FuboTV, Sling, etc. And who knows, maybe I'll end up liking one of those services enough to keep it beyond the trial.

 

[JoeWras]

Live sports was the biggest reason I hung onto DirecTV for so long, but I finally realized I just wasn't into it nearly enough to justify the price tag. What I'm planning on doing for the occasional live sporting event I want to watch is to sign up for a 7-day trial of one of the live streaming services, like YTTV, FuboTV, Sling, etc. And who knows, maybe I'll end up liking one of those services enough to keep it beyond the trial.

We were going to our local NHL team's games regularly (in person) so TV didn't matter much. With the team's success, and with the demographic dropping in age (Instead of "things," they have experiences like throwing beer and puking it up), we're phasing out. That will save a few grand a year.

So, we're paying the $20 a month for 5 months to get the local regional sports channel. During playoffs, for 1 or 2 months, we subscribe to YTTV. Still way ahead over the cable monopoly.

 

[audreyh1]

We have way too much streaming at the moment, but they kept sending me these great deals, ha ha!

 

[Trailwalker]

Slickdeals posts "free" specials on paramount plus for 30 days all of the time. I binge and cancel, binge and cancel.

 

[explanade]

Ordered AT&T Fiber install.

My Comcast contract ends next week.

See if they will give me a deal or else I will probably terminate.

 

[statsman]

DW is finally playing with the Roku. Pluto TV has been added. So far, she's found a couple of channels she occasionally likes that weren't ever on AT&T's TV services. A couple more that AT&T took offline the past couple of years.

Also, the ION channel on our AT&T U-Verse TV service is in letter-box, SD video quality (may reflect the local channel). In short, it sucks. The ION channel on Pluto TV is in HD. Again, another channel she occasionally likes (not a critical one), but seeing it in HD was an added bonus.

Quick question: I assume if the Roku is on the main menu with the app shortcuts and favorites that the device is not streaming. Is that correct? I don't think the Streaming Stick 4K is "off" unless the power is removed from it, in which case I believe it would need to reboot after power was restored in order to start using it again. While we have unlimited data on our Internet service, I would rather not be streaming data if we're actually not watching TV.

 

[MissMolly]

DW is finally playing with the Roku. Pluto TV has been added. So far, she's found a couple of channels she occasionally likes that weren't ever on AT&T's TV services. A couple more that AT&T took offline the past couple of years.

Also, the ION channel on our AT&T U-Verse TV service is in letter-box, SD video quality (may reflect the local channel). In short, it sucks. The ION channel on Pluto TV is in HD. Again, another channel she occasionally likes (not a critical one), but seeing it in HD was an added bonus.

Quick question: I assume if the Roku is on the main menu with the app shortcuts and favorites that the device is not streaming. Is that correct? I don't think the Streaming Stick 4K is "off" unless the power is removed from it, in which case I believe it would need to reboot after power was restored in order to start using it again. While we have unlimited data on our Internet service, I would rather not be streaming data if we're actually not watching TV.

Correct.

 

[Momcpa]

Peacock is offering the first year for $30. Do any of you subscribe to Peacock? Like it or not ?? What do you watch on it? I'd like to try it for that price, but not sure if I want to add another TV subscription. Thanks for comments and/or suggestions. If it helps, I really like legal shows, detective shows, who-done-its, etc. I like them as movies or series.

 

[GenXguy]

Peacock is offering the first year for $30. Do any of you subscribe to Peacock? Like it or not ?? What do you watch on it? I'd like to try it for that price, but not sure if I want to add another TV subscription. Thanks for comments and/or suggestions. If it helps, I really like legal shows, detective shows, who-done-its, etc. I like them as movies or series.

There's a free tier of Peacock.

Peacock Premium is included for free with my Comcast internet, but they are supposedly going to take away that free perk at some point. I like it fine, especially since it's free and don't really have desire to watch much stuff anyway.

Back before the holidays, they added 3 Hallmark channels and some Hallmark movies.

I sometimes watch an older TV series on there like House or Battlestar Galactica or a movie. I watched the Joe Montana series on there. Watched the series "The Fall" on it. I don't watch a lot of TV, but there's plenty to see on there.

The ads don't last long, so it's pretty tolerable. 60 seconds is pretty common. Sometimes less.

Peakcock Premium Plus is the one that has no ads on a lot of the content.

 

[JoeWras]

I bought the year a few months ago for $24, or so. I did so for Battlestar Galactica, The Office and a few other things.

DW found some movies we/she watched.

For about $2 a month, that's been fine. We probably won't re-up right away because we've exhausted what we want to see.

I've been happy with the commercial breaks. They have been very minimal in length, and one of the movies only forced you to watch 2 minutes at the beginning, then no commercial at all during the movie.

 

[RonBoyd]

Do any of you subscribe to Peacock? Like it or not ?? What do you watch on it?

We subscribe to Peacock and I have mixed feelings. The main one being that, as we subscribe to the "basic" that includes Ads, recordings preclude Subtitles. So, the choice is no Ads and no Subtitle of Ads and Subtitles.

In the plus side, they do have some shows that are worth watching. We are currently watching "Poker Face." It is kinda a combination of "Columbo" (the killer is revealed at the beginning), "Murder She Wrote"(she always knows the victim personally) and "The Fugitive" (she is being hunted by the police... and the mob.)

The Ads aren't a real problem since the longest are only 60 seconds and few in number.

So, I reluctantly recommend it. Of Course, if regular NBC programming isn't available (not the Peacock stuff), then the answer is "get it."