Cable vs Couchtuner - missed expectations

It can be very difficult to give up many addictions. I'm so glad I cut my cable 30 years and 4 months ago, before getting addicted to a decent TV selection. The local cable co had just imposed an ex-post-facto rate increase, while simultaneously delaying the upgrade of its meager offering (about a half dozen channels for those of us not buying Showtime) another year.

Broadcast TV's digital transition greatly expanded my view-able choices from about 7 to about 45 channels, with vastly better reception than the old analog days. Actual useful content has expanded by a much smaller ratio, less than 2x.

If you cut the cable programming, how much would land-based internet-only service cost? Are any non-cellular wireless systems available, such as what my dad's rural house now uses?

 

We pay for Netflix ($10? I don't even know...) streaming and have an Amazon Prime account ($100 a year? I have no idea). Great for movies and TV shows on both of them.

In the house we have a central server. It runs a DLNA server that every TV, PS3, XBOX, Phone, Laptop, etc can connect to and stream whatever they want from the server to the device.

I use Juice to automatically download shows that have RSS streams, for instance it automatically downloads some MSNBC shows every day and puts them on my server.

On the server I also have approximately 30TB (yes Terabytes) of media which includes lots of shows from the 1950's and 1960's that aren't on TV anymore. Every DVD and Bluray that I own generally stays in the clear wrap in the storage room and I download a digital copy for the server. Legal? Well, that's a gray area. But if I pay for the movie I don't feel it is wrong to download it.

At our secondary US house we have lots of satellite setup. We pay for Dish Network on 2 DVRs (4 tuners) ($300 month) and for Shaw Direct (Canadian Satellite, $180 USD / month) on 2 DVRs (4 tuners). This allows us to record or watch 8 shows at one time and then they call all be streamed. So at all the other houses or even on the go like on the phone we can login and stream any DVR show or live tuner stream from any of the 8 tuners.

In addition to that, we generally go to 1-2 cinema movies a month. 2-3 theatre performances a month, and 1-2 concerts/symphonies a month. And whenever a good non-filthy comedian comes to town, we go there.

We could drop all the satellites but honestly there are times you just want to turn on HGTV or whatever and "veg" without thinking about what is actually on. Great background noise, worth every penny.

And of course the internet bills are all ontop of that lol. $400/mo at the main house, $200/mo at the remote house. Cell plans are all unlimited everything from waaaaaaaay back in the day.

 

If the CC unlimited really is unlimited, then you've already noodled it out for yourself.
If I lived where you live, I'd definitely augment with OTA TV.

I live in a suboptimal area for OTA, since I straddle two markets 120 degrees apart, but I have Netflix, Amazon, and no desire whatsoever to follow current broadcast trends.

In the interest of full disclosure, I do get U-Verse at half price and my beloved company is knee-deep in getting us switched over to DTV (now, a part of the family!) for substantially less but that's a CFO thing.
I would happily subsist on broadband content.

Nowadays unbundled broadband (unlimited, if you can get it) and streamed content seem to be the way to go for cord cutters.

 

We cut cable maybe 18 months back. The main "TV" we watch is the evening news, via a home made antenna on an upstairs landing, with RG6 cable and a powered splitter to a couple of TV's. We're getting 4 or 5 local channels, beside the news we'll occasionally watch something else, but all and all the pile-on of commercials is getting really hard to stomach.

Our main viewing time is via Netflix, using a wired Apple TV, split between movies, series (lots of police prodedurals) and the occasional documentary. Also YouTube, either directly through the Apple TV or sent over from our phones. I'll also download the occasional newer movie, various obscure series, and we use ShowRSS to keep up to date with current several series. Of course all of this requires a broadband connection, that's are main bill.

 

I am tempted to cut the cable. Used to like CNN and weather channel now all you get is reality TV no news and no weather, what's the point? Cannot believe CNN has not replaced Larry King now that Piers Morgan has left.

 

I will be the LUDDITE of the group and say we sliced the cable in 1994 when we moved out of the city and into the country. I think at the time the cable bill was around $40 per month.

Sling TV -- have any of you looked into it or considered it? I had consideried it. Try doing a google NEWS search for it for actual newspaper or broadcast news articles on it. It seems pretty interesting for those who want only a dabbling of channels at not so much $$$.

IIRC correctly, you can jump into and out of Sling at will to pick up those "must see" broadcasts, but again, I may be a bit off on the details....

At the moment, all we have is a rooftop antenna installed by a professional, which gets all the OTA channels possible without having a "rotator." If we installed the rotator," which moves the antenna around, we could pull-in a few extra channels. At the moment, we get Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS PBS and a few weird channels, which are subsets of the OTA broadcasts -- such as METV; GRIT. All-in-all, we get around 20 channels.

I'm happy enough. We live out in the way rural outskirts of the metro area. We have DSL, but the speeds are pokey. We get 3.37 mbps download speed. I am no expert, but I am told streaming won't really work at those speeds, which is why I had sort of pushed Sling ideas to the side and why the rest of the options are also not really practical.

Out here, Satellite is our only other real options, but I refuse to pay $1,000 plus per year for "moving pictures." At the moment, the fireplace, a good Cognac (or even a middling one) a good book and a loyal dog are all I need to make the evenings complete.

 

You might be ok with 3.37 mbps. For sure run it with a wired connection, not wifi.

Internet Connection Speed Recommendations

We're with Shaw, spending $78 monthly for around 25 mbps. When I first hooked up an Apple TV and Netflix I just used wifi and it would pause, take a long time loading. Using a network cable (which was right there, remnant from our son's X-Box days) fixed that.

 

we're at $170. for comcast cable basic preferred, and mediocre internet, and $60. for a landline. then another $85. for 2 cell phones.
somethings gotta go. i've tried verizon, (no savings and less channels) add ing cable phone package, ($15. savings. other cell service, (no savings).
maybe we'll drop the land line and one cell phone, not sure yet.
problem with cable is, we only watch 10 or 12 channels, but have to pay for a hundred.

 

He should give it a try.

The wireless (non-cellular) internet I had put in at my dad's rural house is just 2 Mbps. Sister has had no problems streaming her Netflix account. And her kids have had no problem with their various streaming stuff. All done over wifi. Not simultaneously, of course.

[PS. The provider recently boosted bandwidth to 4 Mbps. The above experiences were observed well before that notice.]

I cut mine Sept. 1985, when the price was about $7/month. Total channel count was in the single digits.

Something sounds amiss, unless you are significantly far north of me or obstructed by hills. My DIY installation, without rotator and only a few feet above the gable (single story, lots of trees) gets 45 channels. Farther north, you'd be getting less stuff from Seattle and Cougar Mountain, but more from Bellingham, Victoria, and Vancouver.

 

With T-Mobile Binge-On, you get unlimited video with partner services like HBO GO, Netflix, and Sling TV. Sling TV is currently 30% off for T-Mobile customers. Ack, I'm sounding like a T-Mobile employee. The 5gb plan you have doesn't qualify for unlimited video, you'd have to upgrade to a higher cost plan but even if you don't, you get the advantages of 3x more video. Binge-On essentially throttles data so you get a max 480p video. My 2.5 gb plan which also doesn't qualify is enough bandwidth to hotspot YouTube for my 2 daughters on iPads while on 4g connection, not even LTE. YouTube is not a partner service but still gets throttled. If YouTube ever gets added as a partner service, I'm going to upgrade my T-Mobile plan and say bye bye to Comcast Internet.

Oh and I cut the cord 10 years ago right around when Netflix started streaming service. I'm contemplating switch to Sling TV at $14 a month for live TV since Netflix will stop the $8 a month grandfathered cost next month.

 

Just looking at Sling TV to refresh my memory. It seems like a heck of a deal.

Issue is, I have no way to play it, so to speak. I have a laptop, which I have tried to use on my Panasonic Plasma via both in-house wifi and direct Ethernet (?) cable from the main desktop to the laptop and then to the Panasonic, but it stalls and buffers via both hardwire or wifi so much it is maddening.

Guess I could try investing in a firestick or a Roku, but then I would still have the issue of the cable running from the main computer in my den, out the door, down the hall and into the living room! and still no guarantee of any improvement.

Our dlink wifi modem is not too robust unless you are within 20 feet or so of the modem....

Hill obstruction is what the antenna guy said. That, and something about ground reflection? Also, lots of big cedar and fir trees, but he said that really is not much of an issue.

 

At the risk of sounding more like a T-Mobile employee, if you're a customer, they give you a free TMobile hotspot wifi router to borrow. It's a $180 802.11ac router which is one of the best you can buy.

If wifi is still your problem, you can try installing power line adapters. http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i:aps,kowerline ethernet

I have the TP Link power line adapter for my vintage xbox360 that only has wired Ethernet.

 

Got rid of T-Mobile 13 months ago after being a customer for about 10 years and moved to Verizon. T-Mob coverage is abysmal where my wife and daughter need it the most. My son and I had no issue, but neither of us are tied to our cell phones either. Indeed, I often have no idea where my cell phone is -- and when I carry it, it is seldom turned on.

 

If your gonna ditch Cable my vote is to use your computer / Internet for your news needs, and stream Netflix to your tv for your movies and shows...

Netflix has gotten a lot better recently and has tons of new mini series and content..

Grab a redbox flick if Netflix doesn't have what you need.

 

I recall going down to a post office, dutifuly filling out a money order for $5.50, bi-monthly, then into an envelope with a stamp. Back in the early '70's. God it feels like the stone age.

 

Going on 6 years now with OTA and Apple TV, no regrets

 

...I am recently trying Sirius radio for the home, and they have CNN or other channels audio, that might be how I can get the news I like without cable. Audio quality seems lower on the spoken word channels but I am still experimenting with on-line vs. satellite radio reception.

 

OTA CBC radio is dynamite up here. Tax funded, nary a commercial, very good, varied programming.