Cutting the Cord

[NilesMike]

We are in the process of moving and would like to ditch cable. Need advice from anyone who has successfully done it.

Internet speed required:
Streaming service used:
How much $:
Add on fees, taxes?:
Running it on TV or via Roku etc?:

Needs are simple we need the basics AE, HGTV, QVC, Food Network, Bravo

regional NBC Sports Net, a bonus would be the NHL Network.

I have a few ideas but am looking for input, TIA

[fenders53]

I will be watching this close. You can get a lot of channels cheap but a sports package will cost you some no matter how you get it. IMO it was the only thing causing folks to keep cable. Some of what you listed is Warner Media.

[ken-do-nim]

I cut the cord years ago. Instead I use the following streaming services:
1) Netflix - (ex-wife's account)
2) Disney Plus (paid for by Verizon)
3) Hulu (paid for by Verizon)
4) HBOMax ($15 a month)
5) Amazon Prime ($160 annual or something like that, probably won't renew though)
and of course live broadcast TV still works great

For sports I used to use https://v2.sportsurge.net/ but I'm not sure it stlll works.

[Kerim]

I'll get there someday. For now I still have the cord as well as a bunch of the streaming services. I locked myself into the Apple ecosystem a long time ago, but luckily Apple TV makes a solid hub.

[dusterdude]

This is all great,but what do you ya'll use for internet service?internet by itself is about 65 bucks a month here.

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[fenders53]

(06-30-2022, 04:39 AM)dusterdude Wrote: This is all great,but what do you ya'll use for internet service?internet by itself is about 65 bucks a month here.

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Cable internet here and it's more like $85.

[ken-do-nim]

Verizon. But at least they give Disney Plus and Hulu as part of the cost.

[NilesMike]

Internet alone would be $50 ish here.

I'm thinking we're going with that and YoutubeTV for $65

$115

Currently our Comcast with a VOIP phone (which we will drop) is $210 with taxes and fees. UGH

[rayray]

we do youtube tv--it's GREAT

our catv with broadband was pushing 300 per month

now we're around 110 to 120 for youtube tv and broadband

my buddy has some great prices on verizon's FIOS...his might even be cheaper with higher speeds for what idk

[crimsonghost747]

I still think it's crazy how much you people need to pay for these things on that side of the pond. Or rather, I think it's a question of how much you're willing to pay to have ridiculous amounts of stuff to watch from the tv.

Over on this side a decent internet connection is $20 - $50 depending on the country. Let's say $35 is average. Regular TV is mostly free (as in ad-supported) but crap so no I don't think a lot of people watch it. Most people just have 1-2 streaming services (lets say $15/month/service on average).
So quick maths and the regular home entertainment fees would be something like $50-$65 for the average person here. And of course the internet is used for so many things apart from just entertainment.

Also, regarding streaming services, I found that it's worth it to keep switching around. Many services have some great things to watch, but they rarely have a ton of good stuff. So consider something like: 2 months of Netflix, then hop over to Disney+ for 2 months, then to HBO for 2 months. And once that is done, Netflix will already have some new content that you wish to see so you can restart the cycle. While it can be a bit of a hassle, usually cancelling and renewing your subscriptions doesn't take more than a few minutes. Well worth it to cancel when you've seen everything you want to see and to subscribe again later, this way you can indeed pay for only 1-2 streaming services instead of paying for 4 or more each month. It definitely adds up.

[fenders53]

You don't even want to know how stupid high cable got if you allowed it. It was easy to pay $150/mo and that did not include a sports packages you might want to add. Streaming is a great deal by comparison. For many of us internet is an overpriced monopoly that has to be considered
.

[crimsonghost747]

Ahh so if internet is more like a monopoly then that explains it.
Over here it's essentially so that you can pick from several different providers, regardless of how far in the woods you live.
Of course certain providers will have better coverage in the middle of nowhere, and if you want fiber then your choices are quite limited if you are outside of a city.

So the majority of the people have the choice between several providers, all of which can offer you roughly the same service. That definitely helps to keep the price down. Over at my previous home country, it was common practice for your current service provider to just price match any offer you got from their competitors. So that really helped because you were almost happy to get a call from an internet sales person, you didn't even need to switch to another provider, just get their best offer on paper and forward it to the customer service of your current one with a "thinking of switching because I want to save $5/month, but I do like your service... perhaps there is something we can do to make me stay with your company?" and voila, cheaper internet!