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Cutting the Cord (Ditching TV, not having a baby)

Cutting the cord on Monday, February 1st.

Dropped AT&T Uverse (was going from $185 to $220/month, even w/ all of the promos they added and begging I did).

Went to Xfinity for 250mbps internet + HBO & local channels for $59.99. Keeping Netflix & Amazon Prime and adding Hulu (w/o commercials) & Sling TV (paying the extra $5 for sports package).

Will be running everything through my Xbox One. Everything together should cost me $110/month.

Anyone see any problems w/ that? Besides the obvious issue of not having a DVR (which doesn't yet bother me)

Welcome to the club -- not having a DVR hasn't been a problem for me, since Hulu pretty much serves that purpose

Looks like a nice setup. I've got access to all that except HBO and sling, and I'm at about $58/month (thanks to a buddy's Netflix/ESPN logins). Running through several Rokus, a FireTV stick for Kodi, and a roof-mounted antenna pushing a signal to the whole house.

Only thing I could suggest adding would be Kodi somehow for the TV/movies that aren't on the services you have, and Roku/FireTV stick for the other TVs in your place
 
Yeah, I think I am going to do the Roku 3 deal when I sign up for Sling TV this weekend... Sounds like that is the best choice out there right now. Will use for 2nd TV (kids playroom). Will probably wait a while on 3rd TV (bedroom) since we don't use it much, anyway.

Looking forward to the 250mbps internet... Way more than I need, but has to be better than the Uverse 48mbps I had that was nowhere near that speed and just mediocre in general. Bought what I think is a good cable modem (ARRIS SURFboard SB6183) and router (NETGEAR AC1750 R6400)... So should be able to have good speed and house coverage.

Not sure what to make of the Xfinity local channels option... Pretty sure that means they will have to set up some sort of box (which I don't want), but it seems like that is easier that figuring out an HD antenna (and they aren't charging me for it, anyway).

Definitely interested in Kodi (from the little I've read on this thread)... That might be something to tackle once I've gone through a week or two with the initial setup.
 
Yeah, I think I am going to do the Roku 3 deal when I sign up for Sling TV this weekend... Sounds like that is the best choice out there right now. Will use for 2nd TV (kids playroom). Will probably wait a while on 3rd TV (bedroom) since we don't use it much, anyway.

Looking forward to the 250mbps internet... Way more than I need, but has to be better than the Uverse 48mbps I had that was nowhere near that speed and just mediocre in general. Bought what I think is a good cable modem (ARRIS SURFboard SB6183) and router (NETGEAR AC1750 R6400)... So should be able to have good speed and house coverage.

Not sure what to make of the Xfinity local channels option... Pretty sure that means they will have to set up some sort of box (which I don't want), but it seems like that is easier that figuring out an HD antenna (and they aren't charging me for it, anyway).

Definitely interested in Kodi (from the little I've read on this thread)... That might be something to tackle once I've gone through a week or two with the initial setup.

My house has horrible Wi-Fi coverage, and I've gotten around that by plugging the Rokus via ethernet into powerline adapters, those things are awesome

My HD antenna installation was really easy since the previous owner had directv. I just took down the dish, and used the mast and existing wiring (already split to the rest of the house) to install the antenna. Of course if you dropped the local channels from Comcast they'd probably double your internet rate for "unbundling"
 
Yeah, I think I am going to do the Roku 3 deal when I sign up for Sling TV this weekend... Sounds like that is the best choice out there right now. Will use for 2nd TV (kids playroom). Will probably wait a while on 3rd TV (bedroom) since we don't use it much, anyway.

Looking forward to the 250mbps internet... Way more than I need, but has to be better than the Uverse 48mbps I had that was nowhere near that speed and just mediocre in general. Bought what I think is a good cable modem (ARRIS SURFboard SB6183) and router (NETGEAR AC1750 R6400)... So should be able to have good speed and house coverage.

Not sure what to make of the Xfinity local channels option... Pretty sure that means they will have to set up some sort of box (which I don't want), but it seems like that is easier that figuring out an HD antenna (and they aren't charging me for it, anyway).

Definitely interested in Kodi (from the little I've read on this thread)... That might be something to tackle once I've gone through a week or two with the initial setup.

If you have an android device phone or tablet you can test Kodi out for free since you can download it from the play store and see if it will meet your needs before investing in boxes or sticks for your tv.
 
PSA for cordcutters looking for a way to watch the NCAA tournament:

If you own a Google Chromecast, you can get a free month of Sling TV which includes TNT and TBS. To round that out, TruTV has a free preview running through April 12, so you don't have to add on the "Lifestyle" package that normally includes TruTV. Pair all that with your antenna for CBS, and you've got all four stations.

https://www.google.com/chromecast/get-offers/
 
If you're a cord cutting baseball fan. Tmobile customers get mlb.tv for free this year.
 
I run kodi on 2 fire sticks and a fire tv. The firetv handles it 1000x better. Highly recommend spending the extra coin on it.
 
I am looking to cut the cord from Charter Communications for cable TV (easily the worst of all cable companies). I went to the solid signal website for their advice on a digital antennae and they came back with a Solid Signal Xtreme Signal HDB8X VHF/UHF Outdoor TV Antenna (HDB8X) so plan to use that plus Netflix and probably Sling TV. Will Sling come straight through the existing Charter internet connection?

Also I assume if I want a DVR I'll have to go with Tivo or something like that?
 
Didn't want to start a new thread for this. Moving into a new house later this month and trying to figure out what cable/internet/phone/gadgets to have there.
Have had Time Warner for internet/cable and no complaints other than maybe cost.
Plan on buying a new TV for the family room. Smart TV in 50-60" range.

Current owners have CPI...would be only reason I would get a landline would be for the security system. Would just use my iPhone 6s through Verizon for phone otherwise.
Have an old ass iPad that's pretty worthless. Would like to buy a new tablet (not attached to Apple). Have a work laptop that I don't want to use for much personal stuff.
Subscriptions I have: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify
Almost all my music runs through Spotify (played on a Sonos) though the Sonos could be replaced/added to as well.

As an old, I have always been lazy and stuck with Time Warner and AT&T. I figure if I am ever going to shake things up, now would be a good time.

Help me out, Pit!
 
TW sucks donkey dong. Uverse has better customer service and contract terms. We are thinking about cutting cord again. If we do, I will probably get an amazon fire TV or fire stick to manage the streaming apps. My TV has some apps but getting a bit long in the tooth.
 
qc you should be able to get a cellular attachment for the CPI system, might be like a $7-12/mo upcharge
 
Just an observation. I watched the tournament using the March Madness app and a chromecast. Worked great. I have an older motorola smart phone setup wifi only that I use for streaming to the chromecast. The mobile apps seem to do a much better job than casting a Chrome browser session. Also picked up the new audio chromecast to use with a Bose radio I have in the home office. Still limited in what it supports but sounds and works well. Spotify tells you that you need premium to stream to it but I figured out a work around.
 
So the wife and I are very interested in cutting the cord. I can get local channels with an HD antenna, so that's good.

The biggest obstacle for me is access to local hockey and baseball broadcasts. I'm in-market so the NHL and MLB streaming packages aren't an option (Comcast SportsNet has the games). If I could get access to these I would probably do it without a second thought. Would things like firstrow or vipbox cover me for that?
 
Those streams are poor quality, laggy, and unreliable. There isn't really a great answer for watching in-market sports and cutting the cord... it's pretty much the biggest downside. I've read you could use a VPN to get around respective league pass blackouts though.
 
+1 on this. Most of the illegal streams are poor quality. Your best bet for watching sports is to use someone's sub account or if just watch it on one device then slingtv.
 
Yep. Simple and cheap VPN service will get you around the local blackouts on mlb.tv and other services.
 
Do you have to watch Sling stuff live or can you start it later?
 
Pretty much live. Some shows have a watch later option for like a week or two. See AMC shows.
 
So the wife and I are very interested in cutting the cord. I can get local channels with an HD antenna, so that's good.

The biggest obstacle for me is access to local hockey and baseball broadcasts. I'm in-market so the NHL and MLB streaming packages aren't an option (Comcast SportsNet has the games). If I could get access to these I would probably do it without a second thought. Would things like firstrow or vipbox cover me for that?

I tested out using a DNS redirect this week with NHL.tv and it worked like a charm. Watched the Canes game on Tuesday with no blackout issues.

Is anyone using an outdoor HDTV antenna hooked up to existing wiring previously used for cable/satellite? Any guidance there?
 
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