Do you subscribe to cable TV?

[rkbabang]

The Roku thread reminded me that we haven't had a topic about cord cutting in a while and since we now have a personal finance section I thought I'd start one.

 

I recently cut the cable TV cord a few months back.  I was subscribed to Comcast's Xfinity "triple play" with 200mb/s internet, phone, and TV.  It was costing me $234.55/month.  And that doesn't count subscribing to Netflix and Amazon prime which I also had. Insane.

 

I dialed that back to just Xfinity internet and upped it to their 400mb/s plan for $99.95/month.

 

For home phone I bought an Ooma device from Amazon which is $99 for the device and free to use. It actually costs $4/month for taxes and fees.

 

For TV, as I said in the Roku thread, all of my TVs have Roku where we have Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Crackle, and I subscribed to PlaystationVue which gives us our local channels, some cable channels, and DVR service for $39.99/month and works with the PlaystationVue Roku app you don't need a Playstation video game system.

 

My wife also wanted HBO, so I subscribed to that through Amazon and we can view it on the Amazon Roku app.

 

So $234.55 to Comcast is now: $99.95 to Comcast + $4 to Ooma + $39.99 to Playstation Vue + $14.99 for HBO = $158.93

 

Saving $75.62/month or $907.44/year and I have double the internet speed I used to have, I did a speedtest and it is actually testing over 430mbs download speed.

 

[Gregmal]

I never really watched much TV to begin with. Don't have the attention span. Much rather read. We got rid of DTV about two years ago and really only have NFLX plus AMZN Prime with a Showtime/HBO/Starz subscription which varies depending on the time on year and the shows on. Total cost is less than $350 a year for everything. Live sport is probably the only thing I miss, but usually I can just go to a bar and watch or even the event itself; something much more engaging than just sitting on a couch.

[rkbabang]

I never really watched much TV to begin with. Don't have the attention span. Much rather read. We got rid of DTV about two years ago and really only have NFLX plus AMZN Prime with a Showtime/HBO/Starz subscription which varies depending on the time on year and the shows on. Total cost is less than $350 a year for everything. Live sport is probably the only thing I miss, but usually I can just go to a bar and watch or even the event itself; something much more engaging than just sitting on a couch.

 

I would have said exactly that 5 years ago (that I only read and never watch TV). But the rest of my family does watch TV, and even I have started watching more than I ever have in my life.  I'd say I spend about an equal amount of time watching TV as I do reading for the last year or two, but for the maybe 30 years before that I'd say I averaged less than an hour per week watching TV and at least 10 hours per week reading.  Unlike years ago there are actually some good shows to watch now.  This is the golden age of television right now. 

 

[Gregmal]

I never really watched much TV to begin with. Don't have the attention span. Much rather read. We got rid of DTV about two years ago and really only have NFLX plus AMZN Prime with a Showtime/HBO/Starz subscription which varies depending on the time on year and the shows on. Total cost is less than $350 a year for everything. Live sport is probably the only thing I miss, but usually I can just go to a bar and watch or even the event itself; something much more engaging than just sitting on a couch.

 

I would have said exactly that 5 years ago (that I only read and never watch TV). But the rest of my family does watch TV, and even I have started watching more than I ever have in my life.  I'd say I spend about an equal amount of time watching TV as I do reading for the last year or two, but for the maybe 30 years before that I'd say I averaged less than an hour per week watching TV and at least 10 hours per week reading.  Unlike years ago there are actually some good shows to watch now.  This is the golden age of television right now.

 

The wife does watch way more television than I do. There are some shows I enjoy, but with the streaming services available, you still don't need to fork over $180 a year to HBO or whatever. Typically, if it's just a show or two that is non-NFLX, we just wait til its concluded for the season and then order say HBO for 1 month and binge the entire 10-12 episodes or whatever so it only costs one month rather than start the subscription and watch one episode a week for 4 months. Movies are easy too. You can now go on EBay and find Bu-Ray copies for under $5 delivered. Youtube also has a great deal of free content, especially sports highlights(bye bye ESPN).

[LC]

We have internet+streaming services.

 

If it were up to me i'd ditch the streaming and just download everything but the wife is still living in 2003 and thinks the RIAA is going to come sue us to the stone age.

[tooskinneejs]

Last spring I:

 

-Replaced my Verizon Fios triple play ($185/m) with: Fios Internet only ($55/m), Ooma home telephone ($5/m), and DirectvNow ($35/m).  Ooma and DirectvNow are both internet-based.

 

-Replaced AT&T wireless phone service ($165/m for 4 lines) with: Cricket Wireless ($100/m for 5 lines).  Cricket is an AT&T subsidiary and uses the exact same network, but charges only a fraction of the price.  Wish I had figured that out years ago.

[doughishere]

it is so convenient to switch around all these internet "movie" providers....one month i get HBO and watch all the new stuff they have to offer and the next i subscribe to showtime..unsubscribing from HBO obv.

 

why would you get cable tv?

[rogermunibond]

Have Verizon Fios - $143 for 75/25 Mbs, 300+ channel package.  No home phone, wireless post-paid with Google Fi.

 

It really doesn't pay for me to drop the cable bundle and then have to add back the various streaming services to get all the soccer/football that I like to watch.

 

In an area without competition to the cable MVPD, I could see cord cutting, but in this area the active competition between Verizon and Comcast keeps the pricing more reasonable.

 

 

[ICUMD]

Canadian here.  No cable. 

- Bell Internet - (rural setting) 1.5 MBPS  (slower than many developing countries... don't get me started).  Unlimited Data. $60/mo

- Magic Jack Phone - ~ $5 / mo

- Media - Netflix $10.99/mo, Youtube and the odd purchase of DVD's for TV series/ classic movies (ie. James Bond Collection) etc.

 

Don't watch much TV though.  Do mostly reading/surfing on the Internet.

 

[rogermunibond]

ICUMD - curious if you've looked at Xplornet satellite broadband?  They are provisioning all the Canadian capacity from Viasat-2 for Ka-band data.  It's high latency but in the US they have been offering 25 Mbps unlimited for $150/mo.  Wondering what the tradeoffs are between speed, total bandwidth and cost for rural subscribers.

 

Canadian here.  No cable. 

- Bell Internet - (rural setting) 1.5 MBPS  (slower than many developing countries... don't get me started).  Unlimited Data. $60/mo

- Magic Jack Phone - ~ $5 / mo

- Media - Netflix $10.99/mo, Youtube and the odd purchase of DVD's for TV series/ classic movies (ie. James Bond Collection) etc.

 

Don't watch much TV though.  Do mostly reading/surfing on the Internet.

[ICUMD]

Hi Roger,

 

I've had some brochures re: Xplornet.  A quick look at their pricing is $100/mo for 5 MBPS with a data limit of 50 GB.

 

I don't know if the 5 MBPS is guaranteed or not. 

 

Based on my household use, we get by with 1.5 MBPS.  Can stream to one device (though it does pause at times).  Importantly, its fast enough to browse stocks and place 'slow' value oriented trades.  Plus, it is buried cable so generally reliable. I also like the unlimited use and cheaper price of course. 

 

The slow speed I am currently getting is due to the distance from the substation.  Rumor has it that we will be getting fibre next spring - so I'm hopeful for that. 

[JayGatsby]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/millennials-unearth-an-amazing-hack-to-get-free-tv-the-antenna-1501686958

Non-paywall: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/antenna-sales-surging-among-millennial-cord-cutter-11727999.php

[rkbabang]

We have internet+streaming services.

 

If it were up to me i'd ditch the streaming and just download everything but the wife is still living in 2003 and thinks the RIAA is going to come sue us to the stone age.

 

Ha.  We had the same discussion at my house.  My wife thinks because of our political views we don't want to make it easy for the government to come after us.  So we have to follow the laws even if no one else does.  She could be right.

 

[fareastwarriors]

We have internet+streaming services.

 

If it were up to me i'd ditch the streaming and just download everything but the wife is still living in 2003 and thinks the RIAA is going to come sue us to the stone age.

 

Ha.  We had the same discussion at my house.  My wife thinks because of our political views we don't want to make it easy for the government to come after us.  So we have to follow the laws even if no one else does.  She could be right.

 

You guys mean download stuff illegally? Why? Money or just ease/access?

 

 

[rkbabang]

We have internet+streaming services.

 

If it were up to me i'd ditch the streaming and just download everything but the wife is still living in 2003 and thinks the RIAA is going to come sue us to the stone age.

 

Ha.  We had the same discussion at my house.  My wife thinks because of our political views we don't want to make it easy for the government to come after us.  So we have to follow the laws even if no one else does.  She could be right.

 

You guys mean download stuff illegally? Why? Money or just ease/access?

 

Both.  Like I said, I don't do it, but I do know people who do.  They pretty much have access to every TV show and movie ever made, even movies that are still in the theaters in perfect HD.  It's easy to do and you don't even have to hook your computer to your TV anymore there are some nice set-top boxes which are cheap.

 

EDIT:  I forgot to mention they stream live sports and live tv free as well.  Just do a search for "android TV box kodi" and you can do your own research.

 

 

[rogermunibond]

Not intended as criticism but a lot of the illegal downloads and streams are loaded with malware/spyware/Trojans and/or possibly backed by organized crime (global groups, Russian, Chinese, etc.) to farm fake clicks and views.

 

I have downloaded from Bittorrent in the past.  Have also received DMCA notices from my ISP, twice.  Nothing really happens but you do get the "scare".

[rkbabang]

Not intended as criticism but a lot of the illegal downloads and streams are loaded with malware/spyware/Trojans and/or possibly backed by organized crime (global groups, Russian, Chinese, etc.) to farm fake clicks and views.

 

I have downloaded from Bittorrent in the past.  Have also received DMCA notices from my ISP, twice.  Nothing really happens but you do get the "scare".

 

It isn't as easy as paying a subscription to Netflix then watching.  The Kodi plugins constantly come and go and malware is a problem.  I'm just saying that it is doable and a lot of people choose to do it.

 

You could use a VPN for bittorrent to hide it from your ISP.  You could in theory use a VPN to hide streaming from your ISP too, but VPNs slow your connection way down, so it is a solution for downloading not for streaming.

 

[LC]

Both.

 

I like the a-la-carte experience.

 

With Netflix, Hulu, etc etc. You're paying $10/month for a block of entertainment. Call it 20% of the outstanding media available.

 

I mean, if I want to watch Avatar the last airbender, I need Amazon video. If I want to watch It's always sunny in philadelphia, I need Hulu. If I want to watch Game of thrones, I need HBO. Who even knows what Netflix has anymore. If I want to watch the original Star wars trilogy, I wouldn't even know where to go.

 

So now I'm paying 30-40/month and I'm still not getting everything I want to watch.

 

Now compare that to torrent files, I search whatever I want, I get like 4 versions of varying quality/language/etc. and 2 minutes later it's on my harddrive. I can do what I want with it. I want to save it? Great. I want to delete it? Fine. I don't have to worry about it not being there in 6 months because Netflix didn't renew the agreement with whomever.

 

Also, you can get ANYTHING. If I miss a basketball game I wanted to watch, I can either deal with highlights which barely show anything, or I can download and watch the full game. If I miss a TV show from two nights ago, I can download and watch it and not have to wait for some streaming service to pick it up in 6 months or whatnot.

 

Ideally I would buy a tiny, low-energy computer and use that as a media server running plex or kodi. But I don't really watch that much TV or movies so it's not a priority. But you could set it up so that any device could access it, either on your home network or remotely.

 

It's just more convenient.

 

[Ross812]

Video:

-Youtube TV $35/month but shared between 3 people so our portion is $12/month. This is mostly sports - ESPN et al. Fox Sports, CBS sports, Big 10, SEC Network etc and has a built in DVR. 

-Netflix - $11/month

-Usenet - $7/month (google sonarr tv and couch potato)

 

Internet:

$50 - Google Fiber

 

Audio-

1/6 share of Play music - $3/month

Pandora Plus - $5/month

 

So $88/month total

[Ross812]

We have internet+streaming services.

 

If it were up to me i'd ditch the streaming and just download everything but the wife is still living in 2003 and thinks the RIAA is going to come sue us to the stone age.

 

Ha.  We had the same discussion at my house.  My wife thinks because of our political views we don't want to make it easy for the government to come after us.  So we have to follow the laws even if no one else does.  She could be right.

 

You guys mean download stuff illegally? Why? Money or just ease/access?

 

I do it for ease of access. I even download shows I could watch on Netflix or DVR on You Tube TV because it is quicker and easier than opening the content on services I pay for.