Went Roku years ago and never looked back. We had DSL at our old house, I think 5Mb/s, but had no problems. No 4k TV, no 55" screen though. Only one device running Roku although we never had a problem watching a movie and casual websurfing at the same time.
One nice perk of cutting the cord was that after about a year we had no idea what was hitting the movie theaters--nor what the latest and greatest TV show was. Cutting the cord cut the commercials too. On average I watch maybe an hour of TV per week. My wife watches a bit more but she has several series on DVD (remember those?) that she has had for years and that she can put on while doing cooking, sewing, whatever.
Cutting Cable-Roku?
- Thread starter PontiacHO
- Start date
For cellphones my wife uses PagePlus and I use Tracfone. I'm not sure what is better but they do work. She ported her Verizon number over to Page Plus whereas I bought a burner phone at some point and kept changing phones over time. It's a bit of a pain, and I don't remember any of the details now, but if you go to a forum called Howards they review cellphones and prepays and seem to have a bunch of knowledge. Anyhow I think we are around $10 per phone per month right now--we're not heavy texters nor surfers nor talkers so the most basic plans plus using whatever freebie wifi is available when we go someplace gets us by.
We've had ROKU since January . No problems watching shows ( HULU ) or listening to music ( I-Heart ) . The signal is about 5.9 . Hooked on the regular YOUTUBE for music , vehicle reviews and classic T.V.. Helps pass the the time during this crisis . Hope all are doing well .
TV is a big WASTE + NOT needed. lots of ways to save $$$ these days as we constantly overspend + waste money on unneeded things. except for winter football i would turn it OFF. my $$$ is OK but i hate overpaying for anything + anything for TV of any kind is a WASTE. theres always something to do if you want to do something. internet is something i like + feel its worth the money to me. to each his-her own!!
I think I'm 4-5 months into the roku and indoor antenna thing. Wish I had done it years ago!
I can get about a dozen or so over the air stations with the antenna and there's so much on Roku without spending another dime on a pay service, you should be good to go. I have had netflix for years so I do pay for that. I pay $69.99 for spectrum internet. With ultra basic TV added on that, I was paying like $133.31. Ridiculous.
Cellphones is another rip, but I do have 4 unlimited lines through Cricket for $100 all-in. The bride and MIL share our old Verizon account and that like $110 for just the two lines.
I paid too much for Hulu live until I tried Sling and learned I could watch live tv "news" there for less. I have Disney+, sling and Netflix subscriptions covering 6 ROku TVs in 2 houses in different cities. Way..cheaper than cable.
If you order amazon you may try amazon prime, they a lot of shows too.
Lots of free stuff, "popcorn" etc that has some movies you may have forgotten and would enjoy again.
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A month ago we tried an indoor MOHU antenna that covered 60 miles . No signal . Too many hills in between here and signal tower close to 60 miles away . Getting HBO through HULU . Watched THE OUTSIDER . Good stuff . Hadn't watched HBO since it was pulled from DISH .
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For a free home phone I use an Obihai/Polycom 200 with a free Google voice number. Have used it for years.
Have used an over the antenna & Roku also for several years.
For a while you may miss out on some stuff, but there's so much streaming content and you can activate services you would like as you want them.
I cut the cable cord back in March of 2014 I believe. Saving myself $75 a month. That's $4200 in my pocket.
Definitely go with Roku and explore the freebies before signing up. I havent paid for TV since I moved out in 2007, never missed it once with the options we carry. We have Hulu, Netflix, and Prime and theres never a shortage of things to watch. Halfway through the Sopranos on Prime.
The Channel Master Stream+ is an awesome little Android TV device that gives you the ability to DVR local channels at no cost and also allows integration of Sling TV. Combining these two is a great substitute for cable.
Pluto is also a great service that is completely free and provides a lot of really good content.
I cut the cable cord 2+ years ago and am saving ~$1200/year. Went with HDTV antenna and Roku for streaming all the free stuff available today (which is ever increasing). I really don't miss cable TV and having freed up $1200 a year for more important things is a good thing.
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
I cut the cable cord 2+ years ago and am saving ~$1200/year. Went with HDTV antenna and Roku for streaming all the free stuff available today (which is ever increasing). I really don't miss cable TV and having freed up $1200 a year for more important things is a good thing.
TV antenna (attic) + Roku (Premiere x3) + Philo ($20/mo 59 channel streaming service) user here. No issues whatsoever using the Roku boxes with WiFi and 50mbps Internet. As others have stated, check out Roku's free streaming options before subscribing to another streaming service, you might find everything you need using just the free services.
Originally Posted by PontiacHO
Good information. I really appreciate it. Cell phones are next. Tired of being squeezed by Verizon too.
We are using pre-paid at less than $10/month per line. Just to have us connected everywhere. There are many options with different providers. For the "long talks" we use hangouts(over wifi) - free call to any phone in the US. One of the prepaid allows us to purchase small chunks of data within the monthly fee we pay - so we have that on the go as well. There is wifi available at any place (home/office) so we do not need the traditional phone most of the time.
ls1mike
$50 Site Donor 2022
We love Roku, all our TVs have it. It saved us a bunch.
Originally Posted by benjy
TV is a big WASTE + NOT needed. lots of ways to save $$$ these days as we constantly overspend + waste money on unneeded things. except for winter football i would turn it OFF. my $$$ is OK but i hate overpaying for anything + anything for TV of any kind is a WASTE. theres always something to do if you want to do something. internet is something i like + feel its worth the money to me. to each his-her own!!
If you don't mind me asking, how much are you paying for cable TV ? What about your internet ? I'll presume your internet is from your cable provider too and if it is, the cost of internet-only will go up. Many people pay $200/mo or more for cable TV and internet and if that's the case with you, you'll still save money if you're smart. We haven't had cable TV for 10 years but did have Dish Network with their lower-cost packages (Flex $35 + locals $10 + $30 in hardware costs). Switched to YouTube TV and it was $35/mo at the time but has quickly increased to $49 ! 
Still saving money over Dish though.
My internet cost was always separate so it's a non-factor in the above.
As far as Roku, it just so happens to be what we use. Many folks use Amazon Fire Stick or their smart TV's built-in apps. I have nothing against Fire Sticks, they simply didn't exist when I bought our first couple Rokus. As for smart TV apps, I'll never go that route (long-term). The TV manufacturers don't support their TVs for very long meaning the apps will become outdated or apps for new services will never exist on an older TV. If you replace your TV every 2-3 years, this might work for someone though. If someone replaces their TV that often, I question their interest in saving money though !
Still saving money over Dish though.
My internet cost was always separate so it's a non-factor in the above.
As far as Roku, it just so happens to be what we use. Many folks use Amazon Fire Stick or their smart TV's built-in apps. I have nothing against Fire Sticks, they simply didn't exist when I bought our first couple Rokus. As for smart TV apps, I'll never go that route (long-term). The TV manufacturers don't support their TVs for very long meaning the apps will become outdated or apps for new services will never exist on an older TV. If you replace your TV every 2-3 years, this might work for someone though. If someone replaces their TV that often, I question their interest in saving money though !