Another cord cutter

[Donald]

After 10+ years of 4Mb DSL I finally got fiber to the home. I went for 25Mb up/down and am getting slightly more than that with a 5ms latency.

Around where I live and especially on my road (dirt) we never had cable, only old telephone copper. I had DirectTV and DSL, DirectTV is expensive for what I watch and DSL was slow and expensive.

Now with 25Mb fiber I will go with Hulu, Netflix and Amazon. As soon as I watch episode 5 of Chernobyl I will call and cancel DirectTV.dated

The phone company (Consolidated Comm) with their fiber needs no power on the poles, and it can go miles to a central office. No copper, no junctions of the phone cable pairs every mile or half mile to get wet, and no lightning issues. Whats not to like about the way they are rolling it out. If all you want is a phone, you can attach a normal phone with RJ11 to the ONT which optionally can have a battery.

Cable company is rolling out something different to people who previously had cable for television, Its fiber but not the same.

I consider myself a cord cutter even though the cord I am cutting is a satellite connection. And its interesting to realize just how much stuff for DirectTV comes over broadband vs the satellite.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted by Donald
I consider myself a cord cutter even though the cord I am cutting is a satellite connection. And its interesting to realize just how much stuff for DirectTV comes over broadband vs the satellite.
Yeah, cord cutting is a bit of a misnomer these days, given the overall digital convergence.

My AT&T TV service that I cut earlier this year used to be delivered over the same broadband link as my Internet service, so technically I haven't cut any cords. I just unsubscribed from one of the services.

 

[csandste]

Cut the cord about three years ago and didn't look back. Those annoying salesmen in Costco and Walmart know to stay away because I'm loud in my scorn.

 

[Rat407]

We have DirecTv and the only thing keeping us on it is the DVR. We never watch live TV. Record everything and watch at our leisure. Once they come out with a DVR that can record over the air channels as well as streaming then we will go that route. Yes I know the whole point in streaming is to watch it when you want. But we are lazy and it is way easier to just turn on the DVR and hit play than to search for it.

 

[Andrew1972]

Personally I think people shifted from paying for cable package and now do ala cart via Netflix, Amazon and some other streaming service like HBO or Hulu.

A real cord cutter is using a over the air antenna and up to one paid service over internet like Netflix or Amazon Video.

Eventually the cable companies will offer ala cart service.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted by Rat407
Once they come out with a DVR that can record over the air channels as well as streaming then we will go that route.

For OTR recording on DVR, look into Plex TV:
https://www.plex.tv/tv/

As far as recording streaming shows, like you said, that kind of defeats the whole purpose of streaming, plus, it's probably not allowed - they don't want you storing that content offline.

 

[928]

Have a look at YOUTUBEtv - $50- mo/ no contract , recorder keeps programs up to 9 mos

https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/

 

[Propflux01]

Originally Posted by Quattro Pete

For OTR recording on DVR, look into Plex TV:
https://www.plex.tv/tv/

As far as recording streaming shows, like you said, that kind of defeats the whole purpose of streaming, plus, it's probably not allowed - they don't want you storing that content offline.

It's becoming allowed now. Netflix already let's you download and watch offline. Works about the same way as Spotify. You can download it, watch at your convenience, but it's not really shareable. The days of "owning" movies is coming to an end.

 

[Donald]

I think the BIG issue for me with DirectTV was the cost vs what I watched. DirectTV has thousands of channels of which I watch 2 or 3. Law & Order (and derivatives) , some MSNBC news shows and wife watches a few shows on HGTV and a wedding gown reality show.

If I was getting lots of movies and other interesting shows I might have kept DirectTV. But I am not.

 

[benjy]

TV is way overpriced like vehicles especially 4WD trucks. i got cheap $50 monthly dish for now + cheap rarely used cell @ $25 for 3 months, $18 a month for my very old DSL plan! too much TV + inactivity contributed to health issues mainly obesity + cell talking causes many accidents! cell accidents are not reported because of like big pharmas bad drugs $$$$$$. cut your costs + cut your TV service when you watch little, for me thats warmer months in Pa!!

 

[atikovi]

I thought the term cord cutter referred to someone eliminating landline phone service for cell phones.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted by atikovi
I thought the term cord cutter referred to someone eliminating landline phone service for cell phones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cord-cutting

 

[Donald]

What ever happened to the huge satellite dishes people had to pull in free TV? Wonder if anyone uses them anymore. Maybe they encrypted all the signals and so having a dish buys you nothing. Someone commented that those huge dishes were the state flower of Arkansas.

 

[old1]

I also cut the cord from the cable TV. I put up an antenna on my roof. Since I am unable to climb roofs anymore I had to hire it done by an expert. He also knew what booster etc I needed. Cost me over $600 all told, but that will pay for itself in a year. I get more channels than I did before with my basic cable. We are in a fringe area for reception, so needed top of the line stuff and boosters to get good reception.

 

[JustinH]

Well, the pay TV apps all went up in price.

I needed one with all the local channels and the cable channels, so we had DIRECTV now app for about a year for $27.50.

The special promo price ran out, now they want $50 per month.

That is pretty much the same price as Spectrum cable TV, with less channels.

We have a new house, I may mess with mounting an antenna inside my attic, but I haven't decided if I want to go that route yet.

 

[ethnix]

What's the net savings buy cutting out DTV?

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by Rat407
Once they come out with a DVR that can record over the air channels as well as streaming then we will go that route.

For OTR recording on DVR, look into Plex TV:
https://www.plex.tv/tv/

As far as recording streaming shows, like you said, that kind of defeats the whole purpose of streaming, plus, it's probably not allowed - they don't want you storing that content offline.



I am still trying to fathom why one would want to use a DVR to record streaming content one could watch any time they please. Other than that, there are some excellent OTA DVRs-Channel Master and Tablo being just two.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by ethnix
What's the net savings buy cutting out DTV?


I would say close to $100. But how does one compare? I don't add in the cost of my broadband as I need that for general wen/email and working from home. I also do not include Amazon as I have that mainly for free shipping. Hulu has various tiers, but you need to go to about the $30 tier if you want live TV.

If I got rid of broadband all together I would save at least $500 a month since I could not order anything from Amazon. But what fun would that be?

 

[Papa Bear]

I'm DSL on old copper (15Mdown/1Mup) unlimited b/w with free VoIP phone $54 Can/mth . AntennaCraft HBU-33 OTA antenna (32 channels)
All I need - life is good

 

[mikem350]

Originally Posted by JustinH
Well, the pay TV apps all went up in price.

I needed one with all the local channels and the cable channels, so we had DIRECTV now app for about a year for $27.50.

The special promo price ran out, now they want $50 per month.

We have a new house, I may mess with mounting an antenna inside my attic, but I haven't decided if I want to go that route yet.


My wife and I watch a LOT of TV, its basically all we do....
Recently we became fed up with ATT Uverse rising prices and watching mostly Netflix movies. We punted both Netflix and Uverse for Directv NOW, which is streaming only with no DVR box. DTV NOW includes most programs of HBO also as well as local channels and DVR function.My DVR (cloud) recording time is 20 hours max. But this service is always stated to be "beta"...so things as well as prices will change! At present its only got about 50 channels...but good ones no fluff

I would caution cord cutters to remember that one big drawback is losing good remote control functions! I like to FF thru commercials, etc and you might be unhappy. ROKU remote seems to be ok so far, and its a good device overall, and gives access to other services...like TUBI (free w/ limited commercials.