[Early B.]

sorry about the trees.  At least you probably got a great teaser deal for 12 months!

Yep. They gave me HBO for free. Not sure for how long, though.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I've been kicking around the idea of cutting the cord for several months. I've called them before and given them the verbal "treatment" to get the bill lowered, but it never got me much of a discount. Paying $180 for the Charter bundle has never set right with me since day one. 
Just got the bill in the mail today, they raised it to $220. 

yea...That's not gonna fly. 

I tried the antennaweb.org website and due to the rural valley I live in, there are four channel I can get, two of which I've never heard of. 


Key words I'll be researching:
- Amazon Prime (I am a member)
- Netflix (already a member, but not streaming)
- Hulu
- Aereo
- Roku
- Google streaming dongle thingy
- http://www.playon.tv/
- Android movie streaming app thing

Lots of good info in this thread, thanks to all who have posted helpful information.

[thunderbrick]

 
Just got the bill in the mail today, they raised it to $220. 

DAMN, Bob!  Did you order all-porn, all-the-time, or do you get that from satellite?

Out here in the sticks we have TV, high-speed web, DVR and phone for just over half what you pay. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

  No, the porn is on Cinemax and comes with the movie channel bundle. 

But seriously, for the price we get:
- 30 Meg internet
- Four HD DVR boxes with the movie channels. No sports channels (and no porn )
- Phone

[WireNut]

I've been kicking around the idea of cutting the cord for several months. I've called them before and given them the verbal "treatment" to get the bill lowered, but it never got me much of a discount. Paying $180 for the Charter bundle has never set right with me since day one. 
Just got the bill in the mail today, they raised it to $220. 

yea...That's not gonna fly. 

I tried the antennaweb.org website and due to the rural valley I live in, there are four channel I can get, two of which I've never heard of. 


Key words I'll be researching:
- Amazon Prime (I am a member)
- Netflix (already a member, but not streaming)
- Hulu
- Aereo
- Roku
- Google streaming dongle thingy
- http://www.playon.tv/
- Android movie streaming app thing

Lots of good info in this thread, thanks to all who have posted helpful information.

Holy shit, cut that cord and get an antenna. I did and couldn't be happerier. Get Roku also, cheap and streams great with my ASUS router.

[Nick B]

Seems the landscape may be changing more re cable. CBS came out with an internet subscription service for $5.99 a month. I like the idea of choosing what I want, but not sure if I'd pay the monthly fee as I rarely watch CBS.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/10/16/cbs-unveils-new-subscription-internet-streaming-service/

[Bob in St. Louis]

Holy shit, cut that cord and get an antenna. I did and couldn't be happerier. Get Roku also, cheap and streams great with my ASUS router.

Indeed. But like I said, due to my location, I can only get a handful of "b rated" independent stations on the antenna.
Question for you though....what's the deal with the Roku and ASUS? Are they a matched pair, meaning that to use the Roku do you have to have THAT router?

[Early B.]

Indeed. But like I said, due to my location, I can only get a handful of "b rated" independent stations on the antenna.
Question for you though....what's the deal with the Roku and ASUS? Are they a matched pair, meaning that to use the Roku do you have to have THAT router?

No. I use my Roku with a Netgear router.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Roget that. thanks.

One hurdle is that I'm trying to keep four people happy with this change. 

[brooklyn]

I cut the cord two years ago. I used a Magic Jack for phone service for three years which was $22.00 a year. Now I just have internet service and a indoor digital antenna for local stations and I use a cell phone for calls. More people should tell the cable companies to stick there service where the sun don’t shine.

[mcgsxr]

I hear you Bob, I have not been able to cut the cord yet.

My other users would revolt.

I was able to trim down the satellite service and associated bill when I picked up a streaming box loaded with XBMC.

We still have a basic type satellite package that allows for local news, and live sports.

All movies are streamed via the XMBC box.

I did ramp up the internet service too.  Went for a faster connection and unlimited bandwidth.

All in all, I cut out $40 a month after spending a one time $140 on the XMBC box last November.

More than paid for itself, and the faster internet is nice now that there are very often 2-3 ipads blasting away these days.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Good info guys, thank you.

I have a question for you Roku users......Especially the users that have owned a Squeezebox.
If the Roku as "buggy" as the SB equipment was? I don't mean that in a snippy troll way, but I think those of you that can relate know why I'm asking. 

[gregcss]

Good info guys, thank you.

I have a question for you Roku users......Especially the users that have owned a Squeezebox.
If the Roku as "buggy" as the SB equipment was? I don't mean that in a snippy troll way, but I think those of you that can relate know why I'm asking. 

I have squeezebox touch and Roku 3 and have not had any issues. I "cut" the cable on 8/2013 and don't miss it at all except sports on occasion.

I had Verizon FIOS 50/25 for 1 year for $50/month then all of a sudden it's was $85. Well the promotion ran out. I called and complained - in the end they would not lower the internet only service, but if I packaged 50/50 internet with select HD cable then they could drop it to $65. Does not make sense to me. 

Good luck with your quest 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yea, that doesn't make sense, but communication companies seldom do in their decisions regarding the end users monthly bill. 
Thank you Greg.

[TomS]

Yea, that doesn't make sense, but communication companies seldom do in their decisions regarding the end users monthly bill. 
Thank you Greg.

Bob,

One thing I learned is if you talk to providers on the phone about new service, you have to drag them kicking and screaming to tell you the non promotional rate. I kept asking what it would be in 6 mo, 12 mo, 18 mo, t 24 mo, etc. and kept taking the agent through that loop until I got the info I wanted. I wore them out with questions. Worst case is all I cared about, so there are no surprises and I knew exactly when the bumps would kick in. Then, I calculated the true total cost for 3 years to compare various options and played it back to them.

Now I have Mediacom 60mbit internet for ~$40/month. I use an Obihai 202 2-line IP phone box ($70) with Google Voice lines for zero cost phone. I added a few other IP virtual phone lines to it for business, and they also have very low fees. I think I've spent ~$25 or so total the past year, for phone with LD. Obihai uses your existing home phones just fine.

I just use Directv because I watch a lot of NFL and other sports and there isn't much other way to get them. I don't subscribe to any movie or premium stuff, but I do use an Apple TV ($99) and/or my Sony DVD player for various services like Netflix, Hulu, etc. A Roku would probably be better, but I already had the ATV. Works great for me.

[Mike Nomad]

Something of an update...

Still using rabbit ears to get ABC & CBS. Have been using a Roku 3 for streaming for a while. Using AT&T's U-Verse "Power" Internet (whoever thinks up these names should be punched in the face...repeatedly) for pipe.

Now that HBO has made The Move, things should start getting interesting. Let the beatdown on POS cable companies begin.

Ditched the dish back in '11. No regrets, and more than a grand a year back in my pocket. Getting by just fine with an antenna for local b'cast, and streaming Netflix out of my Oppo. Until the content pushers have full al la carte, they can go pound sand.

[Doublej]

Something of an update...

Still using rabbit ears to get ABC & CBS. Have been using a Roku 3 for streaming for a while. Using AT&T's U-Verse "Power" Internet (whoever thinks up these names should be punched in the face...repeatedly) for pipe.

Now that HBO has made The Move, things should start getting interesting. Let the beatdown on POS cable companies begin.

You mean let the shakedown of HBO begin. As I have said before he who controls the pipe rules. HBO may become the cellular companies best buddy as people start to stream HBO and blow through their data plan monthly caps.

[Mike Nomad]

Shakedown? To a point. What do you think is happening _now_? To use your example, cable companies control pipe...

HBO is getting smart, deciding to be less dependent on one pipe (cable), and seeing where the demand curve is across several pipes (Cable, "Home" Phone Company, "Cell" Phone Company).

Besides, the two outfits that drive the demand for pipe (Netflix & YouTube) are going to stay right where they are.

You mean let the shakedown of HBO begin. As I have said before he who controls the pipe rules. HBO may become the cellular companies best buddy as people start to stream HBO and blow through their data plan monthly caps.

[Doublej]

Shakedown? To a point. What do you think is happening _now_? To use your example, cable companies control pipe...

HBO is getting smart, deciding to be less dependent on one pipe (cable), and seeing where the demand curve is across several pipes (Cable, "Home" Phone Company, "Cell" Phone Company).

Besides, the two outfits that drive the demand for pipe (Netflix & YouTube) are going to stay right where they are.

Google Netflix pays Comcast or Netflix pays Verizon. Netflix is paying Comcast and Verizon to 'guarantee' a good user experience. Don't you think that HBO and CBS will wind up doing the same thing?

The cell companies will love it because they either get paid by the gig or performance slows after so many gig. So if you are streaming these channels you'll wind up paying more on your monthly bill or wanting to up the full speed portion of your unlimited contract.

Home phone company. DSL really? Who has DSL these days.

[wushuliu]

Between Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and Roku, cutting the cord should be easier than ever. Anyone paying $150/mo needs to look at the fact that they are paying $1800/yr!!! Amazon is the most expensive but includes Prime shipping which and Prime Music. Netflix has just added HGTV shows like HH and HH Int'l and Property Bros., which honestly comprises about 80% of our cable watching. The only reason we still have cable is because we are new to the area and got a ridiculous no strings deal for $80/mo. including 50mbps internet and dvr.

The key to getting the most out of these streaming companies is to research their libraries. For instance Netflix may not seem like much at first but if you get an app like Instant Watch Browser you can see *every* title netflix adds every week not just what's featured in New Releases and  ALL of their streaming titles can be searched by genre, etc. You'll be amazed at all the great stuff that's on Netflix using an app like that.

http://roku.permanence.com/