Your experience with "cutting the cord"

[RickR]

I'm sure I'm very late to this party -- cutting the cable cord.  We've kept cable all this time, mostly to watch our local sports team (every game televised on the regional sports network, available ONLY on cable).  But rates went way up in 2024.  Also, we lost cable for a couple days during the recent winter storm and I hooked up an OTA antenna to our family room TV.  I was impressed with the quality of the 20 or so channels we got that way!  And then the cable company gave us a credit for the outage, which was nice.  However, it was $8 a day....and that's when I realized it is not worth $8 a day.  I want to retire early, and this is one cut that will have immediate benefits in savings.

Soooo...if you've done the cord cutting, please tell me how it went.  What do you watch when you have a few minutes to spare in the evenings?  Do you use an antenna, streaming, or a combo?  Are you happy with your choice?

One final note from me is that we already pay for several streaming services (Paramount+, Disney/Hulu, Peacock), so there's plenty to watch there.  And like I said, 20 or so good channels on an antenna.  And finally, our local sports team SUCKS this year...they are in full rebuild mode, so we wouldn't be missing much (this is the thing I'll miss the most I think).  

 

[RickR]

One more thing - we'll probably stick with cable for internet only.  There aren't any other fast choices where we live.  800Mbps cable is about $70 a month.  One other option for us would be the 5G home internet services from T-Mobile or Verizon, but I don't think I trust that.  I work from home, so quick, reliable internet is a must.  For those of you that also WFH, what do you use for internet and do you like it?

 

[DegasElite]

I use cable only for Internet. Ever since August 2023, I watch ONLY over-the-air television (and maybe my DVDs at times). Sure it's spotty, and I don't get all of my channels all of the time. But, it's definitely cheaper than cable or satellite TV. I am probably saving over $1,000.00 a year by not getting cable TV. Free is free, meaning no money needs to be spent on the signal. I like free. So, there you have it. Thanks for letting me share.

[MistaMaddog]

Personally, I only watch a few shows on streaming apps (mostly watch YouTube).  Right now I use my Fire TV to find shows that either A.) are on a subscription service and watch through the apporiate app or B.) have to rent or buy even with a Prime sub.

The only time I've watch local channels is for weather reports on the news and I can get those on the station's web site using the Silk browser and also for retro TV sites.  If I want to watch the live news then I use Peacock Plus which gives me the local live channel.  I should put up an outdoor OTA in case my broadband cable goes out but that's a summer project that involves roof climbing.

 

[Marco1019]

We do the same thing in that we use the local cable company (Spectrum) for Internet (which is never as fast as they claim; it's never their fault as they will blame a customer's modem and/or router every time). We're on a hybrid schedule and we can get work completed and videoconference with no issues...until Spectrum will inadverntently drop out.

We also went from DirecTV to DirecTV Stream several years ago in order to cut that bill by 50%. We lost KTLA (local) when we made the switch, but KTLA was added to their streaming service about two months ago. DirecTV Stream is OK at best. Their app has gone downhill slowly and they switched to an interface similar to that of Hula & Netflix. The problem is that it's become more difficult to navigate, especially when we simply want to watch TV.

In addition, we've fallen prey to various streaming services lol. We've had Prime Video, Netflix & Hulu for some time now, but we've subscribed to Peacock, Disney+, and Starz. (We jumped on introductory discounts, but have since dropped Disney+.) We also get Max for free but it sucks now.

I also use a streaming service called Kanopy which is a good, free service. You simply create an account and link your library card and you can choose from hundreds of films. Nothing first run, but plenty of indie & foreign films which I find to be a nice change of pace.

Our viewing habits vary from guilty pleasures to game shows. We started watching Family Feud reruns on Game Show Network for no reason lol.

[AtariSphinx]

On 1/15/2024 at 8:37 AM, RickR said:

One more thing - we'll probably stick with cable for internet only.  There aren't any other fast choices where we live.  800Mbps cable is about $70 a month.  One other option for us would be the 5G home internet services from T-Mobile or Verizon, but I don't think I trust that.  I work from home, so quick, reliable internet is a must.  For those of you that also WFH, what do you use for internet and do you like it?

 

I have 100Mbps and don't have any issues with WFH and several others using it at the same time.  May want to see if you can get away with a slower plan.

Also sometimes if you agree you won't leave the cable company (a penalty if you do) for 1 year they give you a lower rate per month for the year.

[- Ω -]

I'm currently paying only $25.00 per month for... 

  .. which is half of what I was paying for 12 Mbps from CenturyLink before I moved.

I'm satisfied with Xfinity for downloading, but it's upload speeds fluctuate between 1Mbps and 6Mbps depending on time of day.  Now to answer your question, I only stream.  Honestly, I've got too many irons in the fire to watch much TV, let alone pay their bloodsucker prices for a "service" I ignored 90% of the time.  Besides there is so much FREE stuff on a ROKU you can actually spend your whole day deciding on something to watch.