Ditching Cable

[nastety92]

Good afternoon all.

I'm in the process of selling my current home and we are looking to buy a new house. When we move into the new house we've been thinking about not signing back up for a "bundle" package with a major TV, Internet, Phone provider. Right now we have a Verizon bundle and pay roughly $160 a month for everything.

If you have ditched cable can you please let me know what you are using, what specific components you are running and roughly how much you pay a money? Also, how do you like it compared to cable?

We've had Verizon for the past year or so and we had Comcast before that. We felt that the Verizon service was very good and the internet was fast but it is a lot of money for how much we use it. We had one regular HD box, one HD/ DVR box and one regular cable box.

Thanks for the help,
Nick

[brainanator]

If I were paying, I would just buy high speed internet from the most cost efficient local ISP. Between netflix, hulu, youtube, and other online services and downloads I feel that cable TV is something I can live without.

[josh9mille]

if.you can go.with Comcast internet you should. Its pretty much the fastest in the country right now. If you get business class you get speeds upward of 100mps and no limits on bandwidth. You don't need to be a business to get it either. You could stream video to every TV and computer in your house without it breaking a sweat.

[RokleM]

Odd, Comcast is barely in the top 10 in most charts, beat out by Charter, Google, Verizon FIOS, Cox, and others...

For your Internet, there is one and only one clear answer, asks other locally. Every provider is different and every part of the country is different for that provider. Ignore all other recommendations and get answers from where it ACTUALLY matters, those that use the varying services locally.

I haven't been able to fully ditch cable, but I have minimized expenses. When we moved two years ago, there was no reason for home phone anymore if you have a cell for the most part. For cable TV, look at the price of the bundles of channels for specifically what you want to see. Ditching two HD/DVR boxes (per month cost on those) I was able to replace it with a combo of HD Homerun Prime and Media Center. Basically it takes your cable signal, converts it to IP based traffic, which can then stream to any supported device in your house. I can watch/record 6 shows at once with infinitely more robustness. Easy to use for those with some technical ability, cheaper in the long run, and fully legal and supported by the cable companies per government mandate. My cable price is low and after removing the expensive "rental HD/DVR boxes" from my bill, the cost for the replacement solution was recovered quite quickly. This solution could also be used to grab the HD broadcasts out of the air, giving you the big providers locally (ABC/CBS/NBC/etc).

IF, and a big IF, you feel that online shows (and we're talking legally) sufficiently supply you with what you require, give that a try. If you read up, most become somewhat fedup with that solution and many of the shows that the general population would like to view are not necessarily online or working well. Quality is also questionable at best.

[nastety92]

Originally Posted by RokleM

Odd, Comcast is barely in the top 10 in most charts, beat out by Charter, Google, Verizon FIOS, Cox, and others...

For your Internet, there is one and only one clear answer, asks other locally. Every provider is different and every part of the country is different for that provider. Ignore all other recommendations and get answers from where it ACTUALLY matters, those that use the varying services locally.

I haven't been able to fully ditch cable, but I have minimized expenses. When we moved two years ago, there was no reason for home phone anymore if you have a cell for the most part. For cable TV, look at the price of the bundles of channels for specifically what you want to see. Ditching two HD/DVR boxes (per month cost on those) I was able to replace it with a combo of HD Homerun Prime and Media Center. Basically it takes your cable signal, converts it to IP based traffic, which can then stream to any supported device in your house. I can watch/record 6 shows at once with infinitely more robustness. Easy to use for those with some technical ability, cheaper in the long run, and fully legal and supported by the cable companies per government mandate. My cable price is low and after removing the expensive "rental HD/DVR boxes" from my bill, the cost for the replacement solution was recovered quite quickly. This solution could also be used to grab the HD broadcasts out of the air, giving you the big providers locally (ABC/CBS/NBC/etc).

IF, and a big IF, you feel that online shows (and we're talking legally) sufficiently supply you with what you require, give that a try. If you read up, most become somewhat fedup with that solution and many of the shows that the general population would like to view are not necessarily online or working well. Quality is also questionable at best.

Thanks for the information guys.

Could you let me know what type of expenses you had to get you setup up and running? Also, how much are you paying a month for internet and any other cable related fees?

Thanks,
Nick

[Kcaz25]

I don't have a tv provider. I do have internet.

[brijar]

My family lives quite well without cable. Between local broadcasts, netflix, Youtube, and Redbox rentals, we have all the entertainment we need. My dad still has home phone service, though I'm trying to convince him to replace it with a cell phone or just eliminate it completely and use only his existing cell number. Land line service costs as much as an unlimited cell phone plan anyway.