If you go with only local antenna and Sling, what replaces the DVR box? We don’t like to have to watch a show when it’s being broadcast.
@raclut, to my knowledge cable/internet billing and the like does not build credit scores but using it as a way to get lower rates sounds like a good idea.
@dragonmom we have found that many shows are available for on demand watching once the next episode has been broadcast. So…if you don’t mind waiting a week…you can probably pick form the menu on Hulu, Netflix or Amazon Prime.
There have been similar threads before so I apologize for repeating comment but the issue my children have (H will never cut the cord) is that they only want internet and solo pricing is more expensive than a useless package of cr*p channels which then leads to all the taxes and fees. Love to hear if anyone has way to get just internet cheaper.
@dragonmom. With Hulu live you get dvr with like 200 hours or something like that. We rarely use it since the shows are available like right after they air or close enough. This can’t be used for channels with HD TV attenna but I can also get them though Hulu live if I need to record a local station
for my daughter in Boston you can only get the good internet rate from xfinity if you bundle it with TV - so she did that
At $207, I quit for Sling. The box was $20 or 40, (forget, but it’s AirTV, not Roku, so with a flat antenna (cheap,) we pull in extra local network channels. Lol, at the time, Scandal was still on.) $40 for the full Sling channels and $5 for more cable news. Plus tax.
Now l have all the channels we want, (we can edit our guide list.) The landline and web costs about 88, with tax, still Verizon. (Dang, this pkg is hardly more than internet alone.)
Save 800+/year. Good customer service. Sometimes funky, but well worth it. No viewing issues. Their On Demand isn’t as extensive as Fios, (Sling does replay current shows a lot,) but as thumper said, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime fill in most blanks with older shows.
I tried every which way to get a deal with V. No dice.
(I don’t get the Fios BBC America, but now can subscribe, if we want.)
Don’t be afraid to cut the cord.
As a company, V is doing fine. But residential isn’t their big ROI.
Anyone notice Amazon is now nickle and diming? Theres Acorn, BritBox, some Materpiece deal, all extra $.
I pay $60/month for fios internet. I have no cable bill or land line. The tv gathers dust in our home. I have seen a promo for $40/month for new customers for a one year contract. No monthly phone bill as they (cellphones) are prepaid and we add minutes/data/text as needed.
Funny. After posting this I am seeing Xfinity ads for $50/month.
We switched from DirecTV to Hulu (plus Netflix and Amazon prime, which we already had anyway) maybe 6 months ago. They actually cut me a good deal to stay, but I had already decided it just wasn’t worth it.
Honestly I watch a lot less TV, because it’s marginally less convenient. Which is probablya good thing. Most shows have the last few episodes on Hulu, so I don’t bother with the DVR feature.
We have DSL…and it’s $45 a month. It would be $65 a month…but it is a bundle…which includes our old landline. The landline cost is $4 a month and saves us…$20. Works for me.
Our neighbors say we would have trouble if we had four people streaming at the same time…but that’s not the case at our house at all.
Like someone else noted…our TV watching has changed…we watch what we can get, and we are happy with that. We dont need 250 channels at a ridiculous price.
We are so done with cable TV.
ETA…I’m wondering how these companies are going to survive…FIOS, Uverse, Spectrum, etc. our 30 something kids do not have cable TV and never have. And I can’t see them getting it in the future. If this is the wave of the next generation, these companies have some work to do to stay in business.
It just bugged me no end, thumper, that with FIOS, we got so many sports channels, cartoon channels, ridiculous special interest channels of no interest. I’d call and ask, can I revamp to get xxx and yyy and drop zzz and they’s say, YES!!! But what they meant was, if I upgraded to another package that cost more. (Still more gar-bahge than I wanted, but the privilege of paying more.)
Yes, I adore not being connected by cable. I can walk around with my tablet while a show is running.
In our area Verizon became Frontier. We got out when our last contract ended and it took months of errors. Call center would tell us things were taken care of then the next paper bill would come for the month after we quit several times. Even got a bill for the returned box from when it was Verizon. KEEP RECEIPTS WHEN RETURNING DEVICES, even years after doing so. Cancel more than a day sooner than they say you need to.
We switched to Spectrum (which used to be Brighthouse and considered very good back then- we missed the horrible changeover) and get more channels. H uses his Roku but I still like cable. Have done a seniors class on cutting the cord but I’m not ready (use Ooma for phone, btw). Spectrum allows you to use your internet service for other than TV devices. Last week H had golf in the same local channel on a different TV through Roku when I switched on the main (newest) TV. His reception was several seconds (more than a minute?) behind my cable connected TV. Weird.
We gave up cable for internet and tv for Directv and DSL maybe 8 years ago as the cable bill just kept rising, they had limits on internet stuff and their customer service was horrible. Directv worked for awhile, then they stopped with discounts and promotions. Son urged us to try YouTube tv. It was an adjustment but we did and haven’t looked back. We got it first at $35/mo for the channels they offered. They have recently expanded their channels (adding several that we enjoy) and raised it to $50/mo. Still a great deal for us as we have channels we use, we are saving over $1000/yr and the internet bundled with landline is fine.
The kicker is since I left Directv, I have been bombarded with offers to come back. They offered me $500 to stay! I said to the CSR - “If Directv had just lowered my bill by $20/mo, I wouldn’t be leaving. But now you are willing to give me $500 to stay? That doesn’t even make sense.” So I won’t go back based on principle. Plus we are happy with YouTube.
@wis75 where we live, ATT became frontier.
We had Charter which is now Spectrum. Like you, we returned the cable boxes on time, and had a receipt that indicated so, and a $0 balance on our account.
But wait…about a month later the crooks sent us a bill for $5 and change. Say what? Luckily we didn’t have auto pay for this bill. So we called…they claimed it was some “service charge”. No we weren’t paying it. We canceled almost two weeks before the end of the month for which we had paid. If anyone owed anyone money…they owed US. It took three different “supervisors” before they “waived the fee” like they were doing is a huge favor.
So…when you cancel also make sure you cancel auto pay, and don’t get sucked into paying any “service charge” for after you cancel. That was just a garbage reason, we thought.
OP here. I was out of town this weekend, so just seeing all the much-appreciated dialogue. Additional information regarding my situation. I have an LG OLED TV that’s a few years old (HD, not 4k). I’d like to get another one that is 4k, as prices have gone down. Any thoughts on the best source of programming, especially if I try to separate my internet and tv sources?
We are quite happy with the quality of our giant Sony TV running off the HD Roku stick. Our fancy pants LG TV does not live up to the expectations. It has a puny buffer, and the image feels artificial - too contrast and too bright. We much prefer the Sony’s implementation of the tech.
@BunsenBurner Is your LG an OLED? Ours is awesome, with incredibly black blacks. But we also have an LG LCD in our guest room, and it has that artificial picture that I can’t seem to adjust away.
It is the latest and greatest one. I don’t like the Disney cartoonish colors of the images. I much prefer the realistic image quality of the Sony. I highly recommend going to a store that carries all of these brands and looking at the screens IRL.
That said, we don’t use the built in streaming apps. Rokus are superior to those in our experience. The built in apps always need another update and sometimes have gaps and delays (buffering issues?).
We will not do autopay for TV et al again- had stopped it soon enough. I easily pay online every month- no hassles. Hmm- our year plus old LG OLED TV is 4k- I thought they all came that way. H gets the now 13 year old Panasonic plasma with dripping shadows on the screen (my reason for replacement). Buy the TV you want (that fits the budget), regardless of your input source.