Cutting the cord

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bigj_16

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Right now we have XFINITY. I am looking at cutting the cord. I am not much of a techie, so I would like the cord cutting to be as seamless as possible. Some of the ones I am looking at you have to get local channels by an antenna(Amazon and Sling) whereas Youtube TV has local over the internet. Some of the "must haves" are Netflix, AMC, HBO, Starz Cinemax, IFC, and USA in that order. If we have to drop some, we'll consider it. Anyone have suggestions on what to get, the process involved, internet speed, etc.?
 
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Do consider if your current internet price is lower because you also have a cable subscription. With Cox, my total bill is around $150/mo for internet + TV. If I drop the tv then my internet price (for the same speed) goes up to $100 because I lose the bundle deal. I was considering paying for PS Vue streaming service which would have been around $40-$45 so my overall savings was not as much as I had hoped.
 
Yup, it's all about the cost of a fast I'Net hook up ... Enough megabits to make streaming work while another person does "net work, will cost enough that you may be a wash ...
 
Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Yup, it's all about the cost of a fast I'Net hook up ... Enough megabits to make streaming work while another person does "net work, will cost enough that you may be a wash ...
We have more speed than we need and only pay for what we want to watch. Internet is $61 Netflix: we pay for this every month, since its kid-show selection is great and they allow downloading for offline watching, which we use for long trips. Amazon: we subscribe to Prime, so we utilize this for what it's worth. There aren't actually many shows that we have liked very much, but they've had a few (The Man in The High Castle being one I liked). HuluPlus (no commercials): we usually pay for 4-8 months (depending on how many shows interest us or how slow we are to watch them), then cancel when we've finished for the season. HBO: At $15/month, we only paid for one month (after the free trial) last month, so we could bing-watch Game of Thrones and a few other shows, as well as some decent movies I hadn't seen available elsewhere or that I hadn't see in a while. Most of the others were just as [censored] as every other service's offerings. I was actually really disappointed with how quickly we got through the few things we really wanted to see on HBO. I guess that's good, because $15/month is a lot! Others: we haven't tried many others, but we're open to the suggestions here.
 
I am researching but not cutting the cord in NY. My brother uses Amazon and daughter uses Netflix and Sling. My cord in NY is more of a single strand rather than a cord. At a whopping 4Mb I need to keep DirectTV. My new home in DE has FIOS so there I will try and avoid getting FIOS TV service. But a bundle price could make it a no brainer. From the info I read there is not much money to be made by just supplying the broadband service. Maintaining anything like wires going to someone's home is never an inexpensive proposition. The money is in supplying content.
 
You also have to look at bandwidth caps. You will go through a lot of data while streaming
 
Originally Posted By: bigj_16
So, I am kind of getting the idea that cord cutting isn't that seamless and not as cost saving as conventional wisdom suggests?
It was before it came a thing. If you were never in a bundle deal then it would make sense to stop paying some $75-$125 per month for cable TV and then just go with your $45 internet and a $10 streaming service. But the companies know now.. and basically price things in such a way that in the end it seems competitive with streaming. Cable TV still has way too many ads for how much you pay, though...and people are moving to a mindset where you can pick what to watch when you have time. Hard to do that with cable TV.
 
Originally Posted By: bigj_16
So, I am kind of getting the idea that cord cutting isn't that seamless and not as cost saving as conventional wisdom suggests?
You can't find cheap fast enough unlimited internet in your area? Like ~10-15mps unlimited data for ~$30/month? That's what we have and it seems to be fast enough even at night for 3 video streams. Downloading 30gig for a new free video game takes a while but it runs over night or during the day and its done. We have netflix and that's it for paid video. There's more free recorded racing series than I can watch, and I find I like playing some free online PvP game more than watching TV anyways.
 
Originally Posted By: bigj_16
So, I am kind of getting the idea that cord cutting isn't that seamless and not as cost saving as conventional wisdom suggests?
No-it isn't. The cable companies are raising the cost of stand-alone Internet. And those who are providing streaming services and carrying the networks are increasing their prices to cover those costs. The only TRUE COST SAVINGS comes when you use an over the air antenna and Netflix/Hulu. If you want a streaming service to mimic your cable company-those are getting more expensive.
 
Originally Posted By: bigj_16
I have 200 Mbps download speed and 10 Mbps upload speed with a 250 gb cap.
How many hours of TV do you watch per day or per month? Netflix says each 1 hour of HD streaming consumes about 3 GB of data. But you can go into your settings and configure Neftlix to use less data, possibly accepting some quality loss.
 
Originally Posted By: bigj_16
I have 200 Mbps download speed and 10 Mbps upload speed with a 250 gb cap.
That is a low cap for such a high speed package. Most give close to a terabyte with that kind of speed. I had 30Mbps a few years ago with a 250 GB cap and we hit the cap all the time. Got sick of worrying about it and switched to a 20Mbps that has no cap.
 
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Some of the "must haves" are Netflix, AMC, HBO, Starz Cinemax, IFC, and USA
HBO is 15/mo, Netflix is at least 10. If you have all of those services the cost will add up quick, and you likely won't even be able to watch all of those shows at once.
 
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
Quote:
Some of the "must haves" are Netflix, AMC, HBO, Starz Cinemax, IFC, and USA
HBO is 15/mo, Netflix is at least 10. If you have all of those services the cost will add up quick, and you likely won't even be able to watch all of those shows at once.
Right, which is why you should only pay for what you need. No one really needs all of the channels, all of the time. We pay ~$70-85/month for great internet speed and the services we want to watch. When the seasons of the sitcoms you watch are over or you get tired of Kimmel and Fallon, cancel HuluPlus and re-up when it makes sense, or you've finished binge-watching shows on some other service.
 
When I cut my cord I bought a set of highly rated antenna (I think it was Antenna Direct with 4 bow ties and a grill in the back), and test it out on a broomstick and a 50' cable through the window first, to see if I would be happy with the result. I mount mine on a 2x4 on my fence to about the ceiling height, and attach the cable to where the Comcast input would be afterward to see if the cable length cause any significant cable lost. Once it was working fine for a week I called Comcast to cancel. We only watch PBS anyways, and they always have good signal in my area.
 
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Originally Posted By: Reddy45
I remember when there weren't caps because everyone wasn't streaming 24/7...
My cable company (ComCast/Xfinity) has data caps in most cities they service.
 
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