Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) 2017 - 2020

[ncbill]

assuming you don't want to clamber up on the roof, Dish offers an outdoor OTA antenna install:

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/need-antenna-installed-dish-will/

IIRC this is the low-profile powered antenna they use:

https://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=144180

 

[MissMolly]

We cut the cord over a year ago and went with an antennae to pull in the OTA channels, a 4-tuner Tablo to serve as the recorder and to transmit the antennae feed to all of our TVs, Roku sticks/Roku TVs in all the rooms, Amazon Prime and we share out son's Netflix (so free to us). Of course, we still pay for internet.

Then today, we received an offer from Spectum offering us 10 channels (in addition to ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and PBS) for $21.99 for 2 years. You get to pick which 10 channels you want. Here is the lineup to choose from (see below)

Then you can also choose from the movie channels like HBO/Showtime etc for an additional $3 for each.

Had Spectrum come out with this deal a year ago, I would probably have done this instead of cutting the cord. We were paying almost $200 for cable/internet/phone at the time. Now just $70 for internet. But, since we are now used to using our Roku sticks, our Tablo (which we watch on the Roku sticks) and the antennae, we aren't interested now. We see everything we want to see with the setup we have. And no more price gouging by the cable company. We don't miss it at all.

 

[Cobra9777]

Ouch... that seems like a deal breaker for me. I had been thinking of giving PSVue a try, but if they don't even have 5.1 surround and 1080i, that's a major problem. Seems like there still isn't a "good enough" TV streaming service that checks all the key boxes on my list. Of the ones I've looked into recently, probably YouTube TV comes the closest, although apparently it also lacks 5.1 audio support.

AFAIK, none of the new live streaming services offer 5.1 or 1080p. If anyone knows differently, I'd like to know.

...Then today, we received an offer from Spectum offering us 10 channels (in addition to ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and PBS) for $21.99 for 2 years. You get to pick which 10 channels you want. Here is the lineup to choose from (see below)...

That is an interesting offer. Locals (including PBS) plus 10 cable channels of your choice for $21.99... and likely 5.1 and 1080p. Spectrum is our local cable alternative to FiOS. The Science channel is missing though which would be a big deal for me. Plus I don't want a bunch of additional hardware for each TV and start switching inputs again. We like the simplicity and completeness of the Fire TV platform. I also don't want to give up FiOS 50/50 internet. The local Charter/Spectrum outfit still tops out at 30/5.

 

[Midpack]

Then today, we received an offer from Spectum offering us 10 channels (in addition to ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and PBS) for $21.99 for 2 years. You get to pick which 10 channels you want. Here is the lineup to choose from (see below)

Then you can also choose from the movie channels like HBO/Showtime etc for an additional $3 for each.

Wow, that’s a great deal. I looked, not available in my area, yet.

But TV is going to get more attractive/competitive over the years ahead. Good riddance to the cable/satellite model.

 

[audreyh1]

Really enjoying streaming Ultra-HD (4K). Somehow our 20Mbps connection is doing just fine.

We don't watch any broadcast TV or any news. Watch lots on the PBS app, but not news.

So far Netscape and Amazon are the only providers sourcing us Ultra-HD content.

 

[MissMolly]

AFAIK, none of the new live streaming services offer 5.1 or 1080p. If anyone knows differently, I'd like to know.



That is an interesting offer. Locals (including PBS) plus 10 cable channels of your choice for $21.99... and likely 5.1 and 1080p. Spectrum is our local cable alternative to FiOS. The Science channel is missing though which would be a big deal for me. Plus I don't want a bunch of additional hardware for each TV and start switching inputs again. We like the simplicity and completeness of the Fire TV platform. I also don't want to give up FiOS 50/50 internet. The local Charter/Spectrum outfit still tops out at 30/5.

Actually, it says no set top boxes, no equipment fee and no contracts. It's streaming, not cable. According to the email:

• APPLE device requirements: iPad®, iPad® mini, iPhone® and iPod Touch® running iOS 8.0 or higher.
• KINDLE FIRE tablet requirements: All Kindle Fire models, including Kindle Fire HDX, are supported, except first-generation Kindle Fire.
• ANDROID device requirements: All tablets and phones running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and above are supported.
• Roku device requirements: Roku 1, 2, 3 or 4 streaming player and Roku Streaming Stick (excluding first-generation Roku devices).
• Xbox One requirements: All Xbox models are supported.
• Samsung Smart TV requirements: TV model years 2012-2016 are supported.
• Charter-authorized modem is required to stream on Roku, Xbox One and Samsung Smart TV.

 

[Cobra9777]

Actually, it says no set top boxes, no equipment fee and no contracts. It's streaming, not cable. According to the email:

• APPLE device requirements: iPad®, iPad® mini, iPhone® and iPod Touch® running iOS 8.0 or higher.
• KINDLE FIRE tablet requirements: All Kindle Fire models, including Kindle Fire HDX, are supported, except first-generation Kindle Fire.
• ANDROID device requirements: All tablets and phones running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and above are supported.
• Roku device requirements: Roku 1, 2, 3 or 4 streaming player and Roku Streaming Stick (excluding first-generation Roku devices).
• Xbox One requirements: All Xbox models are supported.
• Samsung Smart TV requirements: TV model years 2012-2016 are supported.
• Charter-authorized modem is required to stream on Roku, Xbox One and Samsung Smart TV.

OK. I'm now somewhat intrigued. I Google-searched "spectrum streaming" and found this website. Definitely an interesting offer. A few downsides... (1) I have to be a Spectrum internet customer and can only access the service via the Spectrum internet at my home address, (2) there's no Fire TV support, and (3) no cloud DVR (requires equipment rental). That's bad. But what's worse, when I enter my address, it just goes to a page with all the standard Spectrum cable offerings. Nothing at all related to this new streaming service. If it's streaming, why do they need my address? I suspect I'll be getting even more advertising in the mail now.

I'll stay on the sidelines for now with PSV. But it's very encouraging to see more legacy cable operators jumping into the live streaming space. I like the idea of picking 10 channels from a large list... plus PBS live. But probably no 5.1 or 1080p since it's streaming.

 

[karen1972]

I got the Spectrum Streaming email too. It comes with 7-day free trial so I will see how that goes. I switched to DirectNow which I'm pretty happy with but we can't get live TV, had to buy CBS all access separate and some of the on-demand is pretty delayed or very few past episodes, so there is a few things we are missing, so good time to do a comparison.

I just checked out the signup, if you take the list of premiums as a package its $15 or $3/each. Separately HBO is $7.50... still not bad but not the $5 DirectTVNow is charging.

If I try it out and its good, it will save me another $15 a month guaranteed for 2 years... without a contract so I could always diss them if something better comes along.

 

[Freedom56]

We have been with Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable) for over 20 years now. Their internet service is fantastic and always has been. The included mobile hot spot service throughout the country is great also. Their streaming cable service however, is not ready for prime time. They contacted us with their $21.99 offer. I told them that we were not interested. They sweetened the offer with a 7 day free trial plus an upgrade to Ultra internet service for 1 year that we could keep even if we didn't keep the streaming service. We have the base internet service that gives us 100 mbit/sec and ultra would give us 400 mbit/sec. The base service is more than enough for us. We tried it for a week and found it to be very unstable with frequent lock-ups. We installed the streaming app on a Roku Premiere+, Roku 3, and Roku 2. It performed poorly on all three Roku models. We encountered frequently video lock-ups that required us to exit the app and restart. We notified Spectrum of the issues and they said they were aware of the problems on the Roku platform and were working on the issues. I searched online for solutions and just found others were having the same problem. We used to have Sling Blue and found that to be much a much better service at $25 per month We canceled the trial and kept the upgrade to Ultra internet which is absolutely superb. The other issue with Sprectrum streaming is that there is no support for 4K or 4K HDR streaming and no plans to offer it. Even a free service such as Pluto has 4K streaming.

 

[Midpack]

If it's streaming, why do they need my address? I suspect I'll be getting even more advertising in the mail now.

You might get more junk mail, but they may have a legit reason to ask. It doesn’t matter for cable channels, but any streaming service that is offering any live local major channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Telemundo, etc.) is very location/address dependent. I know for YouTube TV, DirecTV Now, PS Vue and Hulu Live - live locals varies by market, and it’s changing every day! e.g. in the past few months Hulu Live has gone from no live locals to all of them where I live.

 

[Cobra9777]

You might get more junk mail, but they may have a legit reason to ask. It doesn’t matter for cable channels, but any streaming service that is offering any live local major channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Telemundo, etc.) is very location/address dependent. I know for YouTube TV, DirecTV Now, PS Vue and Hulu Live - live locals varies by market, and it’s changing every day! e.g. in the past few months Hulu Live has gone from no live locals to all of them where I live.

You're probably right. With only 10 cable channels, a core part of this Spectrum offering seems to be the locals, including PBS. So they won't offer it until they've got all the local affiliates lined up. The other streaming services went live nationwide and then added locals slowly starting with the larger markets.

When I subscribed to PSV a few months ago, they were the only major streaming service with all the locals in my market. Now, all the services carry my locals. Things are changing fast. It's probably time to do another comparison.

 

[Rustic23]

Cut the cord in January. I was paying $120 for Dish, and another $80 for 12 meg internet from Windstream. No local channels through an antenna in our location. I tried PS Vue, Hulu TV, and Youtube TV. All three on their free sample program. We setteled for YouTube TV $35, and Hulu no comercials $12. YouTube does not do Discovery or History channel, and seems to have a nice selection of movies. PS Vue was buffering more than YouTube, and Hulu TV has a very confusing interface. It took me most of the free period to figure it out. I plan on testing Directv Now when they get their new interface and DVR. I do not include Netflix or Amazon prime in here as YouTube TV is largely a replacement for 'Live' TV. With it we get NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox out of Houston.

Edit: All this is run from Roku boxes/sticks on three TV's

 

[LastOfTheBoomers]

Started my 7 day YouTube TV trial yesterday- took about 15 minutes to set up the dvr with all the shows - very easy.

So unless I run into something that I really don’t like - I will be calling Comcast and dropping TV - has anyone else done this lately? I’ve only called up to renegotiate a new rate.

 

[Midpack]

Started my 7 day YouTube TV trial yesterday- took about 15 minutes to set up the dvr with all the shows - very easy.

So unless I run into something that I really don’t like - I will be calling Comcast and dropping TV - has anyone else done this lately? I’ve only called up to renegotiate a new rate.

Many of us have cut the cord. Did you have a question?

With Dish we had a legacy channel lineup (no longer offered) with three TV's, two 9 year old receivers, one DVR and Dish floated us a price increase to $83 from $78/mo. I called to renegotiate again, this time no dice. A new subscriber would pay $96/mo + fees/taxes for the same package with current equipment vs our old equipment.

When I called to cancel in Jan 2017, they immediately cut our cost to $43.85/mo for 6 months and then extended to 12 months. I wanted to change anyway, but DW resisted, didn't want to learn new stuff. When Dish finally couldn't live with that any more in Jan 2018, they offered us $20/mo off or $25/mo with a 2-year contract. Buh-bye!

In our case for content, we ruled out Sling and DirecTV Now, tried Hulu, YouTube TV and PlayStation Vue and dropped Dish for PlayStation Vue. We have Comcast internet at 25 mbps (fine for 2 people), but we'd have that without TV. For hardware, I also ruled out Apple TV, Amazon Fire Stick and Chromecast in favor of Roku (though I have a Chromecast on the exercise room TV). But content and hardware are largely personal choices - all the content and hardware mentioned have their merits and flaws.

We cut the cord 8 weeks ago, and we're thrilled with PlayStation Vue using Rokus, spending $45/mo. We have a better channel lineup, (any device) cloud DVR, and can view on up to 5 devices simultaneously (3 TV's plus iPhone/iPads). As of a few days ago, we could even travel with our Rokus and watch our channels including DVR on any TV almost anywhere. Before that, traveling with PS Vue was limited to mobile devices, TV's had to be on your home network only, no longer.

We're saving $500-600/year with no loss in TV entertainment and improved capability. Dish has sent us a couple "we want you back" flyers.

Good luck.

 

[explanade]

Started my 7 day YouTube TV trial yesterday- took about 15 minutes to set up the dvr with all the shows - very easy.

So unless I run into something that I really don’t like - I will be calling Comcast and dropping TV - has anyone else done this lately? I’ve only called up to renegotiate a new rate.

Comcast will charge you more for just data.

They will try to offer you a deal to keep TV probably. But it might involve taking on their phone or home security service as well.

Also, be careful about your data usage. A streaming service shouldn't threaten a 1 TB a month cap. Yet when I did a trial of Direct TV Now for a couple of months, Comcast claimed my usage went way way up, even though I was watching at most a couple of hours of streaming.

I wouldn't put it past Comcast to detect packets for these streaming services and then boost your data usage. There is absolutely no transparency.

 

[Midpack]

Also, be careful about your data usage. A streaming service shouldn't threaten a 1 TB a month cap. Yet when I did a trial of Direct TV Now for a couple of months, Comcast claimed my usage went way way up, even though I was watching at most a couple of hours of streaming.

I wouldn't put it past Comcast to detect packets for these streaming services and then boost your data usage. There is absolutely no transparency.

Good point about data usage, you need to know your speed and data cap.

We have a 1TB data cap, based on our first 8 weeks we’ll have a hard time going over 600MB, and thats worst case in winter. Will use less spring, fall and especially summer.

We have Comcast and we can see our running data usage at any time. I know because I’d looked before, and was monitoring every couple of days when we first went to all streaming TV 8 weeks ago. If you have Comcast, you should be able to see for yourself too?

 

[audreyh1]

You might get more junk mail, but they may have a legit reason to ask. It doesn’t matter for cable channels, but any streaming service that is offering any live local major channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Telemundo, etc.) is very location/address dependent. I know for YouTube TV, DirecTV Now, PS Vue and Hulu Live - live locals varies by market, and it’s changing every day! e.g. in the past few months Hulu Live has gone from no live locals to all of them where I live.

They also have to collect sales tax.

 

[explanade]

Good point about data usage, you need to know your speed and data cap.

We have a 1TB data cap, based on our first 8 weeks we’ll have a hard time going over 600MB, and thats worst case in winter. Will use less spring, fall and especially summer.

We have Comcast and we can see our running data usage at any time. I know because I’d looked before, and was monitoring every couple of days when we first went to all streaming TV 8 weeks ago. If you have Comcast, you should be able to see for yourself too?

I have their app. on my iPhone.

I guess if I log into Comcast.net, it would show the same thing.

Right now, with the only streaming from their Stream TV app, I get 300 GB at most a month.

But when I was trailing these competing streaming services, it was showing around 800 GB. Like I said, I wasn't using it that much.

I would check before I go to bed and next morning, it would be like 20 GB higher!

If you Google, you will see people have had disputes with them. There's a reason their reputation is so low.

 

[Cobra9777]

They also have to collect sales tax.

After you set up an account... sure. But we were talking about why an address was needed to determine "availability" of a streaming service, most of which are offered nationwide at launch. I think Midpack was probably correct about the local affiliates. But also, the service is only offered in conjunction with Spectrum internet service. So they need the address to be sure you can get Spectrum internet. It appears that the current mailings are going to existing Spectrum internet customers with no TV package.

 

[Midpack]

But when I was trailing these competing streaming services, it was showing around 800 GB. Like I said, I wasn't using it that much.

I would check before I go to bed and next morning, it would be like 20 GB higher!

If you Google, you will see people have had disputes with them. There's a reason their reputation is so low.

I have no idea what your usage was like and not discounting your POV, but 20GB a day isn’t out of line with estimates I’ve seen, that’s about 6 hours of HD streaming. Not proud of it but in winter we watch 2-3 hours of TV/day morning and evening and I watch another 2-3 hours of daytime YouTube or TV some days. At times we’ll have 2 TV’s streaming. 3GB per hour per TV/device is probably a good estimate for HD. [When/if 4K TV becomes more common, data caps could be a serious issue]

Watching TV shows or movies on Netflix uses about 1 GB of data per hour for each stream of standard definition video, and up to 3 GB per hour for each stream of HD video. Downloading and streaming consume a similar amount of data. If you are concerned with data caps or bandwidth limits, you can adjust your data usage settings by following the steps below.

I’ve been a Comcast customer for decades and I’m ambivalent. They seem to provide decent service with occasional interruptions and moderate irritation for us. No high speed internet service alternative for us, so we have no choice.

 

[explanade]

Overnight, when nothing was on.

Well the devices were on but asleep.

 

[Freedom56]

I have their app. on my iPhone.

I guess if I log into Comcast.net, it would show the same thing.

Right now, with the only streaming from their Stream TV app, I get 300 GB at most a month.

But when I was trailing these competing streaming services, it was showing around 800 GB. Like I said, I wasn't using it that much.

I would check before I go to bed and next morning, it would be like 20 GB higher!

If you Google, you will see people have had disputes with them. There's a reason their reputation is so low.

I would have to agree with you. Some of those bundled streaming services use more bandwidth because they use older and inefficient video compression to stream video. We don't have any data caps with Spectrum, and if they imposed them, there would be a revolution. We were using Sling Blue with Netflix and noticed our monthly usage between 900GB to 1.4TB per month. This was consistent with the usage we had with PSVue prior to Sling Blue. We cancelled Sling at the end of January 2018 after realizing that we could use our condo cable service credentials and TV Everywhere apps for the 55 cable channels we watch. We also added CBS All Access. The reliability, picture quality, and on demand content availability improved significantly. Some of the TV Everywhere channel apps are streaming content in 4K. Even with that, the bandwidth usage dropped to about 580 GB in February 2018 from just under 1 TB in November 2017 . March 2018 usage is tracking with February 2018. Attached are some internet usage graphs from our Spectrum for account. They usage in October 2017 was 1.2TB. In November 2017 the totals include computer usage, Sling Blue, Netflix, and other low bandwidth internet devices at home. December 2017 and January 2018 include the same services as November 2017 but we left for our other home in Florida until the end of January 2018. Therefore you see a gap in usage in the detailed chart and lower usage in the summary chart. The low bandwidth usage while not at our primary residence, is due to connected devices such as the security cameras, thermostat, weather station, and other smart devices. We canceled Sling at the end of January 2018. February 2018 includes CBS All Access, Netflix, and 55 Channels of TV Everywhere apps and computer usage. Note the drop in bandwidth in February 2018 from November 2017. March 2018 is tracking with February 2018.

 

[Chuckanut]

No data caps with Fontier Fios. And we don't abuse the service by streaming HD for hours when nobody is watching.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

A question for users of the live streaming services, like Hulu Live, YouTube, etc. How easy is it to skip commercials while watching shows recorded on the cloud DVR from your local station? I'm addicted to my 30-second skip button on my cable remote, although I'm NOT addicted to the high monthly bills.

EDIT: I shoulda Googled!
https://help.hulu.com/en-us/skip-commercials-cloud-dvr-recordings
I'm still interested in hearing personal feedback from users.

 

[Cobra9777]

A question for users of the live streaming services, like Hulu Live, YouTube, etc. How easy is it to skip commercials while watching shows recorded on the cloud DVR from your local station? I'm addicted to my 30-second skip button on my cable remote, although I'm NOT addicted to the high monthly bills...

We have Playstation Vue on Fire TV. In addition to live programming, PSV has many shows available on-demand and you can also record them in your cloud DVR. You cannot fast-forward the on-demand shows, but you can fast-forward cloud DVR.

On the Fire TV remote, there is no 30-second skip button. But the "right" button skips 10 seconds forward. So you just have to click 3 times. However, we also have an Amazon Echo set up to control the Fire TV, so it's as simple as saying, "Alexa, fast-forward three minutes."