Ditching Cable

[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