cutting the cord / streaming tv thread

NationalTitles18

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May 25, 2003
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DirecTV is just hacking me off badly lately. Every new update seems to break something. Font sizes broke a few months ago and still not fixed. Update the other day caused TV in BR to no longer be "authorized". Required a call to tech support at 9:30 for a refresh signal but first I have to play the support game even though I already reset the box twice prior to calling. 20 years I've had DirecTV and was always happy. I knew when AT&T bought it the service was doomed. Strongly considering a switch to Dish, but had them one year while renting a place and did not like them either. Internet is not stable enough to rely on it for streaming.
 

UAH

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Thank you for sharing your experience. This seems to be the common complaints I hear from people who use internet tv, regardless of the provider. For me, until this gets to be a less frequent complaint. I will stick with paying higher prices for programming.
If one had access to high speed fiber internet the value equation would change dramatically. Unfortunately that option isn't currently available here.
 

Bamabuzzard

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I have DirectTV and thought about doing the same but every year when they increase my bill to $120 and I call to cancel they give me a $60 credit for 12 months which brings my bill down to $60. Just not much money to be saved from $60 which includes 3 TVs hooked up, HD DVR, streaming capability etc. Only hassle is having to call once a year to get them to lower the bill. If they don't lower it one day I'll probably switch to streaming but it's going on 7 years and they've always provided these credits when I call to cancel. I really don't have any complaints with DirectTV other than having to call once a year when the credits fall off..
I'm about to make that phone call. I'm paying $118/month. I hate the hassle of having to do it but I'm simply not going to switch to internet tv and to save money but lose quality. My family watches a lot of live sports tv and that for us is non-negotiable with regard to quality.
 

CrimsonForce

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I'm about to make that phone call. I'm paying $118/month. I hate the hassle of having to do it but I'm simply not going to switch to internet tv and to save money but lose quality. My family watches a lot of live sports tv and that for us is non-negotiable with regard to quality.
If you haven't called before this is sort of how the process works for me. When you call, the first person will be useless since it's just your basic customer service rep. They'll offer you like a $5/month credit or something like that. I always just say I'd like to set up a cancellation date. Eventually, they'll transfer you to "customer retention" department. They don't tell you that but that's exactly what it is. The person in customer retention has a lot more latitude to provide offers to keep customers from cancelling. It's normally pretty smooth with them. I tell them I want to cancel because of the high cost and usually within a few minutes they're offering the $60 credit for 12 months. Sometimes they'll offer to give a discount on a upgraded package and I just say I'm happy with what I have except the price. It's definitely worth 10-15 minutes of my time to save $720 ($60 x 12months) over the course of the year..
 

92tide

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May 9, 2000
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So we decided to cut the cord and I wanted to bring this thread back up to ask a question. I think we have decided with Hulu Live as I already had a Hulu subscription for regular streaming. So, it was a no brainer to try it out with them first...this will save us over $100 a month (we had a bunch of HD/DVR boxes and movie channels..etc)


Local channels I get with Hulu are FOX and NBC. I get the ABC primetime shows on demand which is fine.


My question is for the first Alabama game on ABC...is that usually available in the WatchESPN app? And the CBS games, we can just get the CBS subscription for the small fee during CFB months?


I tried a digital antenna and that couldn't pick up anything on multiple tvs. I could only get the CW and some other channels I didn't want.
i was able to watch all of the bama games except the cbs on hulu live last year. iirc, the abc games were available thru hulu via espn. we are able to get our local cbs channel for those games.
 

uafan4life

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I have a couple of questions for the cord-cutters: How are you actually saving any money? And is it actually worth it?


Here's why I ask that question...

I have Comcast internet, TV, and home security. In order to utilize streaming services, you need a fairly beefy internet connection. Due to my profession, I pretty much can utilize just about the fastest connection I can get. Right now, I've got a 150mb+ downstream, 25mb+ upstream connection and I wouldn't really want to go backward. I also have a 6-tuner Tivo DVR with four Tivo Minis that connect to it. For my TV subscription, I've got 260+ channels, including a bunch of movie channels. Granted, we don't watch many of the channels we receive but we do have that option. We get all the local channels and sports channels we want, can record up to six things at a time, and watch any of our live or recorded TV channels/programs as well as Hulu/Netflix on any of our five TVs plus our phones and computers at home or on the road.

Comparing that to the options for "cutting" the cord - which is a stupid phrase because you can't really cut the cord unless you opt for a wireless ISP - and I literally can't save enough money to make it worthwhile. We don't want to lose local channels and aren't willing to lose the sports channels, HBO, or Showtime. If I drop the TV portion of our package then we lose $40 worth of discounts, making the internet and home security more expensive. If I went with ADT for home security instead, it would be even more expensive. From my research, the only way I can get what I want from streaming services, after factoring in the more expensive internet and home security, would save me less than $5 a month and cause me to lose my DVR functionality and a lot of channels that we may not watch often but do watch on occasion.

So, I don't really see how anyone can be saving much money unless, one, they were seriously over-spending in the first place or, two, their TV/Internet provider prices and packages are structured much differently than in my area.
 

TideMom2Boys

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In regards to using YouTube tv, I am using it on Xbox ones (we have one in every room already except one) and will be getting the $30 Roku for our tv near the kitchen.

In regards to money saved:

Charter bill: $160

$85 for the Cable
$20 for DVR
$35 for 5 boxes
plus other fees and taxes

We have internet through AT&T Fiber.




It will be $40 plus taxes for youtubetv and the one time charge for one Roku since we already had the Xbox ones. There were so many channels we never watched and YouTubetv pretty much has all the ones we do watch. I also already have Netflix,Hulu (reg) and Amazon prime.
 

uafan4life

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In regards to using YouTube tv, I am using it on Xbox ones (we have one in every room already except one) and will be getting the $30 Roku for our tv near the kitchen.

In regards to money saved:

Charter bill: $160

$85 for the Cable
$20 for DVR
$35 for 5 boxes
plus other fees and taxes

We have internet through AT&T Fiber.




It will be $40 plus taxes for youtubetv and the one time charge for one Roku since we already had the Xbox ones. There were so many channels we never watched and YouTubetv pretty much has all the ones we do watch. I also already have Netflix,Hulu (reg) and Amazon prime.
Holy crap! I'm paying just under $200 a month for my TV, Home Security, Internet, Hulu, and Netflix subscriptions. Of course, since I own my Tivo and the Minis, as far as Comcast is concerned I'm only using one outlet - their CableCard. That right there would drop $55 off of your bill. I'm curious, though, as to why you already had separate TV and Internet providers?
 

TideMom2Boys

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Holy crap! I'm paying just under $200 a month for my TV, Home Security, Internet, Hulu, and Netflix subscriptions. Of course, since I own my Tivo and the Minis, as far as Comcast is concerned I'm only using one outlet - their CableCard. That right there would drop $55 off of your bill. I'm curious, though, as to why you already had separate TV and Internet providers?
We did have charter internet for years and our total bill was around $270 with cable and internet. We switched because AT&T fiber was cheaper..only $80 and it was a lot faster and no problems. We had problems with the internet all the time with charter. It would cut out at random times and never got the speed that it said it would.

We have home security through ADT for a good price.




Charter wasn’t always this expensive for us, but we have been with them for at least 10 years. So they finally stopped giving us discounts last year.
 

Bamabuzzard

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Aug 15, 2004
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I have a couple of questions for the cord-cutters: How are you actually saving any money? And is it actually worth it?


Here's why I ask that question...

I have Comcast internet, TV, and home security. In order to utilize streaming services, you need a fairly beefy internet connection. Due to my profession, I pretty much can utilize just about the fastest connection I can get. Right now, I've got a 150mb+ downstream, 25mb+ upstream connection and I wouldn't really want to go backward. I also have a 6-tuner Tivo DVR with four Tivo Minis that connect to it. For my TV subscription, I've got 260+ channels, including a bunch of movie channels. Granted, we don't watch many of the channels we receive but we do have that option. We get all the local channels and sports channels we want, can record up to six things at a time, and watch any of our live or recorded TV channels/programs as well as Hulu/Netflix on any of our five TVs plus our phones and computers at home or on the road.

Comparing that to the options for "cutting" the cord - which is a stupid phrase because you can't really cut the cord unless you opt for a wireless ISP - and I literally can't save enough money to make it worthwhile. We don't want to lose local channels and aren't willing to lose the sports channels, HBO, or Showtime. If I drop the TV portion of our package then we lose $40 worth of discounts, making the internet and home security more expensive. If I went with ADT for home security instead, it would be even more expensive. From my research, the only way I can get what I want from streaming services, after factoring in the more expensive internet and home security, would save me less than $5 a month and cause me to lose my DVR functionality and a lot of channels that we may not watch often but do watch on occasion.

So, I don't really see how anyone can be saving much money unless, one, they were seriously over-spending in the first place or, two, their TV/Internet provider prices and packages are structured much differently than in my area.
I think whether "cutting the chord" is worth it or not depends on each person's individual situation, preferences, what they're willing to get rid of and not get rid of etc. You said yourself that though you don't watch many of your 260+ channels, you do like the option to watch them if you decided to. So you're basically saying "Though odds are I'm probably not going to use/view those channels I normally don't watch. I want to pay for the option to if one day I decide to."

It's the same thing my wife told me when I insisted on getting the 4-wheel drive package when buying my pickup truck. She kept asking me why I wanted the 4 wheel drive package when I rarely would be in a situation when I'd need it. My response "I want it just in case I need it one day." Knowing full well the cost of the option would never truly be worth the number of times I would actually use it. And 14 years later, though I'd never admit this to my wife, I have not used the 4 wheel drive in my truck enough to justify the extra cost of "having it just in case I need it." LOL! But let's keep that between all of us on Tidefans. ;)
 
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TideMom2Boys

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I think whether "cutting the chord" is worth it or not depends on each person's individual situation, preferences, what they're willing to get rid of and not get rid of etc. You said yourself that though you don't watch many of your 260+ channels, you do like the option to watch them if you decided to. So you're basically saying "Though odds are I'm probably not going to use/view those channels I normally don't watch. I want to pay for the option to if one day I decide to." It's the same thing my wife told me when I insisted on getting the 4-wheel drive package when buying my pickup truck. She kept asking me why I wanted the 4 wheel drive package when I rarely would be in a situation when I'd need it. My response "I want it just in case I need it one day." Knowing full well the cost of the option would never truly be worth the number of times I would actually use it. And 14 years later, though I'd never admit this to my wife, I have not used the 4 wheel drive in my truck enough to justify the extra cost of "having it just in case I need it." LOL! But let's keep that between all of us on Tidefans. ;)
My husband mentioned this when I first brought it up. He said that he will just surf the channels at night and find something to watch. Well...I told him that I will have to get him used to doing that through the 3 streaming services we have or the YouTubetv.
 

kwftide

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Thank you for sharing your experience. This seems to be the common complaints I hear from people who use internet tv, regardless of the provider. For me, until this gets to be a less frequent complaint. I will stick with paying higher prices for programming.
I'll add my two cents:

We have DSL and haven't experienced any drop in performance on the weekends with YouTube TV. The interface is the most intuitive and feature-rich IMO. The ability to record programs and movies in the cloud is great and the selection of channels is hard to beat. Overall, we think it's the best service as compared with Sling TV and PS Vue.

Hope this helps someone who is trying to decide.
 

uafan4life

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I think whether "cutting the chord" is worth it or not depends on each person's individual situation, preferences, what they're willing to get rid of and not get rid of etc. You said yourself that though you don't watch many of your 260+ channels, you do like the option to watch them if you decided to. So you're basically saying "Though odds are I'm probably not going to use/view those channels I normally don't watch. I want to pay for the option to if one day I decide to."

It's the same thing my wife told me when I insisted on getting the 4-wheel drive package when buying my pickup truck. She kept asking me why I wanted the 4 wheel drive package when I rarely would be in a situation when I'd need it. My response "I want it just in case I need it one day." Knowing full well the cost of the option would never truly be worth the number of times I would actually use it. And 14 years later, though I'd never admit this to my wife, I have not used the 4 wheel drive in my truck enough to justify the extra cost of "having it just in case I need it." LOL! But let's keep that between all of us on Tidefans. ;)
Yes but I'm literally talking about paying an extra $5, here. Compared to simply losing my DVR functionality, losing those channels is nothing. I'd gladly pay more than an extra $5 a month to keep DVR functionality.
 

uafan4life

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We did have charter internet for years and our total bill was around $270 with cable and internet. We switched because AT&T fiber was cheaper..only $80 and it was a lot faster and no problems. We had problems with the internet all the time with charter. It would cut out at random times and never got the speed that it said it would.

We have home security through ADT for a good price.




Charter wasn’t always this expensive for us, but we have been with them for at least 10 years. So they finally stopped giving us discounts last year.
Was the TV option with AT&T that much more expensive?
 

Bamabuzzard

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Yes but I'm literally talking about paying an extra $5, here. Compared to simply losing my DVR functionality, losing those channels is nothing. I'd gladly pay more than an extra $5 a month to keep DVR functionality.
I was just using that one component to say that whether something is worth it or not depends on each person's situation. There are a lot of people whose tv/internet/security system aren't setup like yours. So cutting the chord and the savings that come along with it are worth it. It seems in your case the answer is no. So you have your answer on what you should or shouldn't do.
 

TideMom2Boys

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Yes but I'm literally talking about paying an extra $5, here. Compared to simply losing my DVR functionality, losing those channels is nothing. I'd gladly pay more than an extra $5 a month to keep DVR functionality.

You can still record on most of these services. I think YouTubeTv is unlimited storage as well.


Was the TV option with AT&T that much more expensive?

They were separate bills. So my AT&T goes on my cellphone bill. So between AT&T internet and Charter cable we paid $240 total.

The $160 Charter I mentioned was just cable, when we had internet through Charter..it raised the bill to $270. (So we saved $30 last year when we switched internet providers)


Now with AT&T internet and YouTubetv we will just pay $120 maybe $125 with tax .so we are saving about $115 a month.
 

CrimsonForce

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Dec 20, 2012
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I have a couple of questions for the cord-cutters: How are you actually saving any money? And is it actually worth it?


Here's why I ask that question...

I have Comcast internet, TV, and home security. In order to utilize streaming services, you need a fairly beefy internet connection. Due to my profession, I pretty much can utilize just about the fastest connection I can get. Right now, I've got a 150mb+ downstream, 25mb+ upstream connection and I wouldn't really want to go backward. I also have a 6-tuner Tivo DVR with four Tivo Minis that connect to it. For my TV subscription, I've got 260+ channels, including a bunch of movie channels. Granted, we don't watch many of the channels we receive but we do have that option. We get all the local channels and sports channels we want, can record up to six things at a time, and watch any of our live or recorded TV channels/programs as well as Hulu/Netflix on any of our five TVs plus our phones and computers at home or on the road.

Comparing that to the options for "cutting" the cord - which is a stupid phrase because you can't really cut the cord unless you opt for a wireless ISP - and I literally can't save enough money to make it worthwhile. We don't want to lose local channels and aren't willing to lose the sports channels, HBO, or Showtime. If I drop the TV portion of our package then we lose $40 worth of discounts, making the internet and home security more expensive. If I went with ADT for home security instead, it would be even more expensive. From my research, the only way I can get what I want from streaming services, after factoring in the more expensive internet and home security, would save me less than $5 a month and cause me to lose my DVR functionality and a lot of channels that we may not watch often but do watch on occasion.

So, I don't really see how anyone can be saving much money unless, one, they were seriously over-spending in the first place or, two, their TV/Internet provider prices and packages are structured much differently than in my area.
This is pretty much my experience also. I've read on Reddit and other places where people talk about saving $200/month by cutting the cord. My first thought is by gawd how much was your bill to start with? I've detailed my experience with DirectTV already but most cable companies will provide promotional pricing if you try to cancel. That promotional pricing, at least in my area, isn't very much higher than switching over to streaming. So like you I would rather have everything in one interface, one remote control etc. than to save maybe $10/month..
 

CrimsonForce

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The $160 Charter I mentioned was just cable, when we had internet through Charter..it raised the bill to $270. (So we saved $30 last year when we switched internet providers)


Now with AT&T internet and YouTubetv we will just pay $120 maybe $125 with tax .so we are saving about $115 a month.
Yea, $160 for just cable is expensive and would persuade me to look at streaming services if that was the only price available. Did the offer promotional pricing or any discounts when you set up cancellation?
 

TideMom2Boys

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Yea, $160 for just cable is expensive and would persuade me to look at streaming services if that was the only price available. Did the offer promotional pricing or any discounts when you set up cancellation?
The funny thing is..we called to see if we were in a contract. They told us no and told us where to turn in all the equipment and they will cancel it at that time. They didn't even try to persuade us to stay. We both were laughing when we got off the phone, since he was so nonchalant about it. I am sure they are used to people wanting to cancel with streaming tv becoming more and more popular.
 

CrimsonForce

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The funny thing is..we called to see if we were in a contract. They told us no and told us where to turn in all the equipment and they will cancel it at that time. They didn't even try to persuade us to stay. We both were laughing when we got off the phone, since he was so nonchalant about it. I am sure they are used to people wanting to cancel with streaming tv becoming more and more popular.
Interesting. We don't have Charter in this area. We have Comcast, Knology and AT&T and all those companies, at least when I had them, offered promotional rates to stay. Yea, in your situation I would've switched also. $160 just for cable is to much..
 

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