ot: one more time - streaming TV service

[huck*this]

We have not had cable for over 5 years. Although we don't watch much TV we found that Philo for $16mo suites our needs just fine. Fantastic service. Give them a look.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by morrisericd

One question - has anyone bought their own 1G EMTA (we need the phone jack, I was told) modem and gotten rid of the $13/month rental fees Comcast charges? Internet searches turn up lots of options but this forum always steers me in the right direction.

I got an Arris TM822G DOCSIS 3.0 8x4 a few years ago, which I use with a voice and internet Comcast Triple Play package. I think it cost about $120 at the time, and it has more than paid for itself now. When I switched out the previous modem, I got it activated with a phone call to Comcast tech support, and it has operated reliably since. This model was new when I got it a few years ago, and there are likely updated models now.

While many people use combined modem/routers with Comcast, I purposely chose to use separate modem and router units. The TM822G is a modem only, with no router functionality.

[Tony T]

How is your Over The Air (OTA) reception?
If good, consider getting an antenna and a TiVo Bolt OTA (so you can record shows).
SKIP Mode on a TiVo is great. Press one button to skip past commercials (the #2 reason I bought a TiVo).
For streaming, Hulu with commercials is dropping to $6 next month (and free is you use Sprint), but for $12, you can get it commercial free.

[morrisericd]

I reached out to a friend in the industry and the Netgear CM500V is (in his opinion) the best option for my situation. Thought I'd pass that along.

I'd still like to cut the cord at some point. I'll keep looking at options.

[paredown]

We went internet only about a year and a half ago. I took the time to hook up a mini powered Leaf antenna from Amazon for OTA--and I think we have used it once.

We stream Amazon (we have Prime) and Netflix (had that forever). We picked up a Roku-enabled TV that has built in menu for other services for the guest room and occasionally I will use one of the free news services. In the living room, we have a Chromecast dongle plugged in, and a mini PC with a DvD player so we can stream lots of stuff on the big flat screen.

We still have a "land line" for my wife's business--and I picked up a cheap Obihai IP device (same as Google voice) and we pay $5.95/mo to an aftermarket phone service that works better than the FIOS service (and I can maintain my own blocked numbers list to screen out the junk callers).

We have missed nothing about network television--except maybe Rachel Maddow...

[SpokeValley]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

I got an Arris TM822G DOCSIS 3.0 8x4 a few years ago, which I use with a voice and internet Comcast Triple Play package. I think it cost about $120 at the time, and it has more than paid for itself now. When I switched out the previous modem, I got it activated with a phone call to Comcast tech support, and it has operated reliably since. This model was new when I got it a few years ago, and there are likely updated models now.

While many people use combined modem/routers with Comcast, I purposely chose to use separate modem and router units. The TM822G is a modem only, with no router functionality.

This might help. I used this when I bought our modem and it's relatively seamless. I got a Zoom 343 Mbps DOCSIS 3.0, probably three years ago.

https://mydeviceinfo.xfinity.com/customerinfo

[sfo1]

We cut direct tv last week for youtube tv. ~$150/mo to $40/mo. for 90% of the same thing and no hardware.

Very liberating.

[choke]

Originally Posted by morrisericd

my $260/month Triple Play package

The best I could do was $241

Those numbers just boggle my mind.

[sfo1]

One hidden benefit you may find in cutting the cord is that you'll likely watch less tv (assuming your new service does not offer 10k channels).

[jlwdm]

I cut the cord two years ago primarily because I was tired of dealing with the cable company. I did not watch a lot of network TV so it has not been a big deal. I subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime and Acorn.

I am subscribed to Playstation Vue for the NFL playoffs so that I can watch some games in my home theater. I have a cheap antenna in my office which receives all of the networks.

All streaming services are a little different and there is not one that is the best. You need to look at the channels you want, dvr capabilities and picture quality - especially for sports.

You need to make sure the service you use has all of the networks in your local market. It varies from city to city.

Services like HULU don't provide high quality streams.

I was a charter subscriber to Directv Now but quit the day after it started. I could not get through to support and the streams were poor. I probably should have stayed longer as it was a great rate. At that time you were not getting much in the way of networks though.

Streaming works just fine for my needs.

Jeff

[paredown]

Originally Posted by choke

Those numbers just boggle my mind.

Absolutely--we pay a flat $49/mo for internet only (plus taxes and fees of course). No modem/router rental, since I set up my own. No set top boxes either. Throw in the monthly rental for Netflix (<$20); Prime we would get anyways for the shipping.

[R3awak3n]

Internet is $60. DirectTVnow is $40. So for $100 we have internet and access to a ton of TV channels. More than enough... Still not cheap but I dunno how people are ok with paying $200+ on cable and tv.

[don'TreadOnMe]

Sony Vue, Netflix, Amazon Prime.
50up/50down Verizon Internet.
Rokus & Chromecast Audios all over the place.
We’ve no complaints.

[oldpotatoe]

We cut the cable about 4 years ago and don't miss it at all. I have a 'leaf' antenna and get 3-4 'broadcast' stations so I can watch the news(NBC)..Netflix, Hulu, Britbox, Acorn, Amazon, some others..I use Apple TV..with internet only

I DO go in to Xfinity every 2 years or so and get the latest 'deal' that includes a landline but we never use it..Cellie only.

It's only a matter of time before all 'TV' is via internet..

[commonguy001]

Currently pay 55 a month for 60 meg internet and as of today use Hulu Live or whatever they call it which is around 43 bucks a month. So far I like it but I've only been on it a month.

We cut the cord in 2012 and I don't miss satellite at all. Even back then the bill had crept to 155 a month just for TV without any premium channels.

For streaming services I've used the following in order of when I've tried them.

Sling TV - I was on it right after they started it and it wasn't great. Really glitchy and poor picture quality. I would guess since that was years ago that they've gotten much better.

PSVue TV - The Sony package was great, loved the guide and DVR function but they kept cutting channels and then raised the price 10 or 15 bucks. As we rarely watch TV when it's nice out we cancelled it after the price went up which was maybe a year and a half in if I remember.

DirecTV now - They had a deal where if you paid 4 months in advance they'd give you a free Apple TV 4k so for a bit less than an ATV4K retail I got the Apple TV and months of service. Overall I really liked it even without a DVR when I first started. To be honest I rarely used the DVR when it was available as it only held 20 hours and seemed like you were always deleting shows to keep under the limit. Overall I liked it but cancelled after maybe a year because spring came and we were gone a lot.

Hulu - I'm new to the Hulu streaming but I like it so far. Picture is great (they all seem to be now) and the interface is good once you get used to it. I like the recent channel feature which is almost like a back button. Saying that, I'll probably cancel it as soon as it gets warm out as I have a lot going on this year and will likely not use it.


I think my favorite overall was Sony but Hulu and then DirecTV Now are close.