I canceled cable this afternoon

[bagdropper]

I have dropped just about everything except my cell phone, DSL (roughly 45 mbps down) and YTTV (which I split costs with my brother).

I'm down to $85 for my TV/Internet. Hell, my cell phone costs that exact same amount (it's for hot spotting at my cabin...only provider that gets reliable data reception there).

I pay for no other streaming services full time any more. If something interests me to binge on, I'll reactivate say Netflix or HBO Max etc for a couple months, get caught up...then cxl again.

"TV" (except for sports) just doesn't interest me all that much any more. I watch free Youtube about 95% to 5% actual TV any more.

 

[coasterhawk75]

I dumped Mediacom Internet in favor of Metronet Fiber (500mb) in October. Kept basic cable but I'm dumping that too next month.
Got rid of Directv in December after being a subscriber since day one.
Using YouTube TV (4K) now. I get Disney+ and Hulu through my Verizon cell package and I do have Amazon Prime.
Not paying any other streaming and my "technology" cost is less than half what it used to be. No issues with any of my choices.

 

[Bank of Hawk]

I still have dish with sports package and starz. I subscribe yearly to ESPN+. Those two options give me access to stream everything I want when out of the house or in a different room in the house as all the TVs can stream. The only TV actually hooked up to the dish is the big one in the living room. $140/mo for the dish + the extras. Is basically what I pay. Idk even know what the ESPN+ is yearly. We have amazon prime for the occasional show. We also have Apple TV and pay that yearly (good series’s in there). Yes I also pay for Netflix because like 8 family members are using my user and password.

At this time I have no interest to switch my TV situation, don’t care about saving a few dollars to be thrifty with it our #1 source of entertainment at home.

 

[jamesvanderwulf]

They’ll get my Direct TV remote when they pry it out of my cold dead hands. Every thing about streaming sucks….

 

[Pete Malloy]

I've got to figure things out to see what the right mix is. I currently have:
Netflix
Prime
Disney+
Hulu
ESPN+
Peacock

I don't have local channels, which is only really a problem for football.

Paramount, Apple TV, HBO, YTTV? Got some thinking to do.

Buy a leaf antenna to get local channnels. I currrently pull in 41 channels over the air using an antenna in addition to my streaming channels.

 

[wausauhawk]

I've got to figure things out to see what the right mix is. I currently have:
Netflix
Prime
Disney+
Hulu
ESPN+
Peacock

I don't have local channels, which is only really a problem for football.

Paramount, Apple TV, HBO, YTTV? Got some thinking to do.

This is what we have, plus HBOMAX through our AT&T family plan. Hulu live/Disney+/ESPN+ is $80/month. I do get local channels w Hulu live. Cut the cord several years ago & saved a lot of money, now I'm guessing the costs are close to a wash.

 

[luvmyhawks]

This is what I tell my wife when she brings it up.
Besides the cost creeping back up to the same amount, I have zero patience to manage eight different streaming services.

Seems like a lot of work to save $30-40 a month when its all said and done.

‘Geez, no kidding. All of this…

You will get a discount considering it looks like you have the Disney + bundle.

I had Xfinity cable and internet before I moved last summer. I was paying $200ish for cable with sports package and Showtime. Internet was 400 down and 15 up with a 1TB data cap. Now I have AT&T 1 gig fiber with no data cap along with YTTV for $145. My plan with YTTV is to keep it into May and put it on pause until one week before football season. I can just get by with apps for the summer.

T-Mobile covers $9.00 of my Netflix bill and complimentary Apple TV+. My Walmart + membership gets a Paramount + membership. I am on a $20 yearly membership for Peacock. I will have to renew this as Peacock will be carrying B1G football and basketball games starting this fall. I also have the Disney + bundle. I get credited for that bill monthly by using an Amex Platinum. The Platinum also gets the Walmart + membership for free. I will be pausing Prime starting next month as I do use Walmart + more than I thought I would.

For all of this not including Prime or my T-Mobile bill I am paying $156 a month. Much cheaper than what I was getting with Xfinity.

to save $50-60 a month? And losing my surfing, dvr, dealing with sports… no thanks.

 

[Tenacious E]

YouTubeTV is $65/mo and has all the sports I want to watch. Dish and Direct TV have become a joke with their constant negotiating and dropping local channels.

We have YouTube TV and could not be happier with it. I agree it has every channel that we would want to watch. Everything else is an app that you would need to have regardless of whether it was YouTube TV cable or some satellite provider.

 

[RileyHawk]

I don't understand the argument that going to streaming is so much "trouble" that it's not worth it. It's a little different than watching satellite or cable but mostly in a very good way. The only real downside I see is it takes a couple moments to change from one channel to another on YTTV. For the quality, availability, ease of use, portability and cost it's well worth it in my mind.

I can't imagine having to deal with a cable company or DirecTv on issues, pricing, outages, etc. I would pay more for streaming just to stay away from those things.

 

[TennNole17]

Streaming amongst different apps is not difficult. At least for me- I have a TCL tv with roku built in

 

[BelemNole]

I wonder how some of you walk and chew gum at the same time.
YTTV has all the sports I want. And I channel surf just fine.
Additionally I can watch it from anywhere on a phone or other device.
You can add 4 family members so my kid at college can watch and so can my parents.

 

[NoleinATL]

I don't understand the argument that going to streaming is so much "trouble" that it's not worth it. It's a little different than watching satellite or cable but mostly in a very good way. The only real downside I see is it takes a couple moments to change from one channel to another on YTTV. For the quality, availability, ease of use, portability and cost it's well worth it in my mind.

I can't imagine having to deal with a cable company or DirecTv on issues, pricing, outages, etc. I would pay more for streaming just to stay away from those things.

It is not difficult, it is an annoyance that saving a couple of dollars is not worth it that at this stage of life.

To the second point, the best IT provider is typically the cable company in this part of the world, so whether you stream or not, you still have to deal with a cable company. How the cable companies respond once the in-home Verizon and T Mobile options ( both priced at about 50 per month) become more widespread will be interesting how cable companies respond

 

[RileyHawk]

It is not difficult, it is an annoyance that saving a couple of dollars is not worth it that at this stage of life.

To the second point, the best IT provider is typically the cable company in this part of the world, so whether you stream or not, you still have to deal with a cable company. How the cable companies respond once the in-home Verizon and T Mobile options ( both priced at about 50 per month) become more widespread will be interesting how cable companies respond

Atlanta has Google fiber, I believe, but maybe not in your neighborhood yet. I would think there are other options as well but maybe your situation is unique. My BIL still has cable in his homes and it drives me crazy to try to find something using their interface. It's all a matter of what you're used to though.

When I made the move a few years ago I was concerned about not being able to go to a channel number, the delay in switching and other things that I knew would be different. It took no time to get over it once I made the switch. FWIW.

 

[Tenacious E]

It is not difficult, it is an annoyance that saving a couple of dollars is not worth it that at this stage of life.

To the second point, the best IT provider is typically the cable company in this part of the world, so whether you stream or not, you still have to deal with a cable company. How the cable companies respond once the in-home Verizon and T Mobile options ( both priced at about 50 per month) become more widespread will be interesting how cable companies respond

It is not saving a couple of dollars, at least not for us. Our DTV bill was around 230 with all of the charges for DVRs and such. I’ve probably saved $5k since changing over. And, the product is better too. Win win.

 

[NoleinATL]

It is not saving a couple of dollars, at least not for us. Our DTV bill was around 230 with all of the charges for DVRs and such. I’ve probably saved $5k since changing over. And, the product is better too. Win win.

Honest question, not trying to be a contrarian.
How long did it take you to save 5k?

At our primary home, we have Cox Cable, with the cable package that included HBO we were paying 255 a month. Dropping cable but upping the IT package to have enough data to not have a penalty for data usage our total bill would have been 218.
There are 2 other options for IT, Century Link which is overpriced and slow, and satellite which is awful. Cox has much better IT performance than any other outlet. Therefore until the 5G TMobile or Verizon home internet is available it would take 11+ years to be 5k up

 

[TennNole17]

Honest question, not trying to be a contrarian.
How long did it take you to save 5k?

At our primary home, we have Cox Cable, with the cable package that included HBO we were paying 255 a month. Dropping cable but upping the IT package to have enough data to not have a penalty for data usage our total bill would have been 218.
There are 2 other options for IT, Century Link which is overpriced and slow, and satellite which is awful. Cox has much better IT performance than any other outlet. Therefore until the 5G TMobile or Verizon home internet is available it would take 11+ years to be 5k up

You didn’t ask me, but I’ll answer-

My cable bill (including internet) with Xfinity was right at 230.

I have 50gb internet now 60- plus unlimited - which I forget what the add on was, but my total bill with them now is 85.

My subscriptions run around 30.

Is it a modest per month savings? Yea. But- I stream and not scroll anyways, so it made sense for me.

The biggest cut the cord mistake is immediately signing up for any $40+ package per month. You lose any “savings” and might as well have stayed bundled

If you’re cool with streaming- and almost everything is streamable now- then it’s easy with a TCL/ native smart tv.

I have friends who are well to do, and $100 bucks a month isn’t a savings vs convenience deal to then, and they have conventional cable setups. To me it helps.

 

[NDallasRuss]

I wonder how some of you walk and chew gum at the same time.
YTTV has all the sports I want. And I channel surf just fine.
Additionally I can watch it from anywhere on a phone or other device.
You can add 4 family members so my kid at college can watch and so can my parents.

I think this may end up being a factor. Not only can I get channels, but the kid at college can use the log in also. That's helpful.

 

[TennNole17]

I think this may end up being a factor. Not only can I get channels, but the kid at college can use the log in also. That's helpful.

Fwiw, my logins are shared with my daughters for streaming.

One uses my logins on a Mac, one a tv. My mom complains when I don’t renew HBO

 

[millah_22]

We have…

YYTV 4K $70
Netflix (FIL account)
Disney+ $12
Amazon video (prime)
Fiber Internet (100mb) $55

$137 total

ya but how much do you spend on BRAZZERS?

 

[RileyHawk]

I think this may end up being a factor. Not only can I get channels, but the kid at college can use the log in also. That's helpful.

Keep in mind, with YTTV you can only have 3 simultaneous streams going at one time. We share with our kids too and once in a while we get bumped off. Doesn't happen often though.

 

[Tenacious E]

Honest question, not trying to be a contrarian.
How long did it take you to save 5k?

At our primary home, we have Cox Cable, with the cable package that included HBO we were paying 255 a month. Dropping cable but upping the IT package to have enough data to not have a penalty for data usage our total bill would have been 218.
There are 2 other options for IT, Century Link which is overpriced and slow, and satellite which is awful. Cox has much better IT performance than any other outlet. Therefore until the 5G TMobile or Verizon home internet is available it would take 11+ years to be 5k up

About 3 years. We always had robust internet for Netflix and such because our internet options were robust or crap. Our apps such as Netflix didn’t change, as we watch what we want. The only variable was our cable/satellite/web-based television provider. As indicated, our directv bill was like 230/mo. YTTV has gone up in price but I have used 70 as our average number. 5,000/160 is 31 months. We are saving almost 2k per year. Now we did buy a few Rokus to make the experience better, so back out about 300 on one-time hardware costs.

Also, we got metronet in our neighborhood last year, which is 60/mo for all the data and download speed you can shake a stick at. So now we’re are saving a lot on that versus what we were paying for mediacom internet. So we are saving hundreds on that per year now as well.

 

[Tenacious E]

You didn’t ask me, but I’ll answer-

My cable bill (including internet) with Xfinity was right at 230.

I have 50gb internet now 60- plus unlimited - which I forget what the add on was, but my total bill with them now is 85.

My subscriptions run around 30.

Is it a modest per month savings? Yea. But- I stream and not scroll anyways, so it made sense for me.

The biggest cut the cord mistake is immediately signing up for any $40+ package per month. You lose any “savings” and might as well have stayed bundled

If you’re cool with streaming- and almost everything is streamable now- then it’s easy with a TCL/ native smart tv.

I have friends who are well to do, and $100 bucks a month isn’t a savings vs convenience deal to then, and they have conventional cable setups. To me it helps.

What you are not factoring in is if you were with directv for years, you accumulated many DVRs each of which have a monthly charge, paid for a whole home network, paid additionally for HD, and then there were all these fees. It added up to about 230. YTTV gives us the same functionality for 70. Maybe for your situation there were negligible savings, but for us they were massive.

 

[Funky Bunch]

You didn’t ask me, but I’ll answer-

My cable bill (including internet) with Xfinity was right at 230.

I have 50gb internet now 60- plus unlimited - which I forget what the add on was, but my total bill with them now is 85.

My subscriptions run around 30.

Is it a modest per month savings? Yea. But- I stream and not scroll anyways, so it made sense for me.

The biggest cut the cord mistake is immediately signing up for any $40+ package per month. You lose any “savings” and might as well have stayed bundled

If you’re cool with streaming- and almost everything is streamable now- then it’s easy with a TCL/ native smart tv.

I have friends who are well to do, and $100 bucks a month isn’t a savings vs convenience deal to then, and they have conventional cable setups. To me it helps.

This doesn't seem like an apples to apples comparison though. Your comcast package gave you local networks, ESPN, etc. YTTV alone costs $65. Aren't your channels a little different now?

 

[TennNole17]

This doesn't seem like an apples to apples comparison though. Your comcast package gave you local networks, ESPN, etc. YTTV alone costs $65. Aren't your channels a little different now?

Yea- I don’t have ESPN, I sign up for Sling a few times a year ($40/month) if I want ESPN. I have stupidly also signed up for ESPN+ a few times thinking it would give me a game I wanted to watch on ESPN- and been disappointed.

Local channels I have CBS on Paramount+, and NBC on Peacock. Rabbit ears for the others.

 

[NDallasRuss]

Yea- I don’t have ESPN, I sign up for Sling a few times a year ($40/month) if I want ESPN. I have stupidly also signed up for ESPN+ a few times thinking it would give me a game I wanted to watch on ESPN- and been disappointed.

Local channels I have CBS on Paramount+, and NBC on Peacock. Rabbit ears for the others.

I'm surprised that ESPN+ doesn't really ever have anything of value on. It's mostly smaller college games and 30 for 30's.

 

[TennNole17]

I'm surprised that ESPN+ doesn't really ever have anything of value on. It's mostly smaller college games and 30 for 30's.

It’s a scam!

Really I’m just mad at myself I’ve fallen for it three or more times 😂

 

[BelemNole]

I'm surprised that ESPN+ doesn't really ever have anything of value on. It's mostly smaller college games and 30 for 30's.

I watch almost all the fsu softball games on it.

 

[TennNole17]

I watch almost all the fsu softball games on it.

Not something I’m concerned with missing coverage on

 

[NDallasRuss]

I watch almost all the fsu softball games on it.

I can see it being useful for lesser covered sports. Maybe be useful one college baseball starts also.

 

[JRHawk2003]

Amazon really whiffed on its LOTR series. Only 37% of people who started it finished it. I have Prime and I bet I have only watched a handful of things over the years. A few series like the Expanse.

But thats the whole problem with streaming series isnt it? You just cant produce enough good content. You find a good series and blow through it and then its back to nothing on.

I pay for Amazon, ESPN+, HBO Max Peacock and Youtube TV and most nights I watch old Star Trek on the H&I Network on the antenna or Hawaii Five-O on free Pluto-TV. I basically keep the Youtube TV because of the six family member thing. Basically ESPN+ is for soccer on weekend mornings.

Once you dont care about baseball or Hawkeye sports as much, you really can cut down.

 

[Tenacious E]

Amazon really whiffed on its LOTR series. Only 37% of people who started it finished it. I have Prime and I bet I have only watched a handful of things over the years. A few series like the Expanse.

But thats the whole problem with streaming series isnt it? You just cant produce enough good content. You find a good series and blow through it and then its back to nothing on.

I pay for Amazon, ESPN+, HBO Max Peacock and Youtube TV and most nights I watch old Star Trek on the H&I Network on the antenna or Hawaii Five-O on free Pluto-TV. I basically keep the Youtube TV because of the six family member thing. Basically ESPN+ is for soccer on weekend mornings.

Once you dont care about baseball or Hawkeye sports as much, you really can cut down.

Rings of Power was good, but it could have been better. I would think most people who tuned in would have seen it through to see who Sauron was. Another good series I enjoyed was Reacher. But, the original content is not super plentiful. I just view it as an add on to what we pay for delivery of goods we buy, and as my go to place when renting or buying movies.

 

[JRHawk2003]

Rings of Power was good, but it could have been better. I would think most people who tuned in would have seen it through to see who Sauron was. Another good series I enjoyed was Reacher. But, the original content is not super plentiful. I just view it as an add on to what we pay for delivery of goods we buy, and as my go to place when renting or buying movies.

Reacher was a fun series and I liked the Pratt one too. Not deep thinking, but thats ok. The Oil Rig one disappointed me.

Also, Amazon has a ton of series they give almost no promotion to, which I find weird.

 

[bhawk24bob]

I’m canceling Prime and YoutubeTV when they’re ready to bill again, the former keeps delivering broken products to my doorstep and has an ancillary streaming benefit, and the latter really doesn’t provide anything of value.

We will be fine with an antenna, netflix, hbo, the baseball package, and the million free channels on roku

 

[Flie]

Dumped xfinity ($230/month for cable TV + 1 Gb down, 45 Mb up internet) for Metronet for $59/month with 1 Gb up/down internet. We already had most of the streaming services so this was a straight savings for us. Cable TV was just an extra cost that we barely used.

 

[JRHawk2003]

I’m canceling Prime and YoutubeTV when they’re ready to bill again, the former keeps delivering broken products to my doorstep and has an ancillary streaming benefit, and the latter really doesn’t provide anything of value.

We will be fine with an antenna, netflix, hbo, the baseball package, and the million free channels on roku

Good call on Prime. I really almost never use the shipping anymore. There are lots of home delivery options now and really I would rather pay the shipping for the few times I do than be sucked in for $130 a year.

 

[Tenacious E]

Good call on Prime. I really almost never use the shipping anymore. There are lots of home delivery options now and really I would rather pay the shipping for the few times I do than be sucked in for $130 a year.

With the amount of shit the no pics buys on Amazon, I cringe to think what we’d be paying in shipping costs without prime.

 

[Red Hills Nole]

I did the same as my Mediacom bill as of 03/243/2023 was set to go to @316$ U.S. went to Hulu+Live which gives/ gave me access to disney+ . Then I bought something on Amazon and got another offer for Amazon Prime.
Right time, Right place.

 

[IowaPackFan]

Haven’t had cable in over a decade. Can’t think of a single time where I missed out on anything.

 

[theiacowtipper]

I switched to YouTube tv because they are going to have the nfl package. I don’t like YouTube tv as well as I liked dish. I don’t like the interface as well. I don’t like the dvr as well. I did save about 70 a month but it wouldn’t be worth it without Sunday ticket this fall. If it wasn’t for that I’d switch back. The money isnt worth it.

 

[Tenacious E]

I switched to YouTube tv because they are going to have the nfl package. I don’t like YouTube tv as well as I liked dish. I don’t like the interface as well. I don’t like the dvr as well. I did save about 70 a month but it wouldn’t be worth it without Sunday ticket this fall. If it wasn’t for that I’d switch back. The money isnt worth it.

I only have two negative things about YTTV compared to satellite/cable: no numbers on the channels and expiration date for saved recordings. The former can be alleviated by reordering your most watched channels so that they are at the top of your guide, and recording every show you would be possibly interested in. The latter is alleviated by YouTube and Hulu, and on demand viewing.