July 16, 201511 yr OK, I'm ready to cut the cord and be done with cable TV. I know there are subscription services like Netflix and Hulu, but what are some of the other options? Especially for sports programming! Do you need an internet ready TV? Do you need more bandwidth than providers like Fioptics will give you? Thanks for your input!
July 16, 201511 yr You can buy plenty of bandwidth through FiOptics and I would start researching Apple TV, Roku, etc.
July 16, 201511 yr I'm cutting the cord just this very day. Moving back to AT&T for the internet and setting up Sling TV and Netflix on my Amazon Fire TV Stick. You don't necessarily need an internet-ready TV. Google Chromecast, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV will all plug into your HDMI spot and connect to your internet wirelessly. I'm subscribing to Sling TV through the Fire TV and it gets me the big ESPN channels including SEC Network and several other sports stations for $25/month. It does not, however, have NBC Sports, CBS Sports, or Fox Sports 1 or 2, all of which I will miss. I don't know enough about Fioptics to answer the last bit.
July 16, 201511 yr ^I will be going with Sling TV in a few months. I'm done paying $160+ for DTV and Internet when I only watch 5 of the channels.
July 16, 201511 yr Author I'm cutting the cord just this very day. Moving back to AT&T for the internet and setting up Sling TV and Netflix on my Amazon Fire TV Stick. You don't necessarily need an internet-ready TV. Google Chromecast, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV will all plug into your HDMI spot and connect to your internet wirelessly. I'm subscribing to Sling TV through the Fire TV and it gets me the big ESPN channels including SEC Network and several other sports stations for $25/month. It does not, however, have NBC Sports, CBS Sports, or Fox Sports 1 or 2, all of which I will miss. I don't know enough about Fioptics to answer the last bit. Pardon my technology ignorance, but do you have to buy a console that plugs into your hdmi interface?
July 16, 201511 yr Pardon my technology ignorance, but do you have to buy a console that plugs into your hdmi interface? There's usually some little piece of equipment. The Fire TV Stick and the Google Chromecast aren't much bigger than a USB thumb drive and plug right into the back of the TV in the HDMI port. Roku boxes are a little bigger.
July 16, 201511 yr When it's all said and done...having to subscribe to this and that after buying all the hardware...is it really any cheaper than a basic satellite package?
July 16, 201511 yr When it's all said and done...having to subscribe to this and that after buying all the hardware...is it really any cheaper than a basic satellite package? Depends on how much junk you're trying to buy. Fire TV Stick: one-time purchase of $35 Sling TV: $20/mo Then you can start adding from there. Sling TV Sports Extra (to add ESPNU and others): $5/mo Netflix: $8.99/mo Hulu: $7.99/mo It's whatever you want and -- most importantly -- I get to cut Time Warner out of my life.
July 16, 201511 yr Depends on how much junk you're trying to buy. Fire TV Stick: one-time purchase of $35 Sling TV: $20/mo Then you can start adding from there. Sling TV Sports Extra (to add ESPNU and others): $5/mo Netflix: $8.99/mo Hulu: $7.99/mo It's whatever you want and -- most importantly -- I get to cut Time Warner out of my life. I have DirecTV...from what I read sounds like it's a good thing I don't have TWC, though I do have their internet service. I have Netflix, and watch it a lot. However, the gf watches a lot of network/cable programing. Without some sort of satellite/cable, how do you get A&E, home and garden, Discovery, History Channel, Golf Channel, etc? Also would miss out and some sports channels as you mentioned. I can see for some Netflix and Hulu subscriptions would almost satisfy their watching needs, but if I cut out DirecTV seems to me I would be missing a lot of stuff I watch. And just getting Netflix and Hulu...you are at what, $15.00 right there? Now for somebody paying almost $200 a month for satellite or cable...yep I can see cutting back there and being able to save a lot of money.
July 16, 201511 yr I have DirecTV...from what I read sounds like it's a good thing I don't have TWC, though I do have their internet service. I have Netflix, and watch it a lot. However, the gf watches a lot of network/cable programing. Without some sort of satellite/cable, how do you get A&E, home and garden, Discovery, History Channel, Golf Channel, etc? Also would miss out and some sports channels as you mentioned. I can see for some Netflix and Hulu subscriptions would almost satisfy their watching needs, but if I cut out DirecTV seems to me I would be missing a lot of stuff I watch. And just getting Netflix and Hulu...you are at what, $15.00 right there? Now for somebody paying almost $200 a month for satellite or cable...yep I can see cutting back there and being able to save a lot of money. I'm at about $150 for cable and internet combined. If I can cut TV and internet to less than $100/month and all I'm going to lose is a few of the deeper sports channels, I'll figure out how to live with it. Now, if I were a fan of some of the regional pro teams like the Pacers or the Reds or something, losing cable would be a killer. I'm not, which makes it feasible.
July 16, 201511 yr Look into kodi tv. You can youtube it. It's free and thousands of movies and tons of plugins. Just need to hook a cpu or laptop thru hdmi to your tv.
July 16, 201511 yr I have Netflix, and watch it a lot. However, the gf watches a lot of network/cable programing. Without some sort of satellite/cable, how do you get A&E, home and garden, Discovery, History Channel, Golf Channel, etc? Also would miss out and some sports channels as you mentioned. FWIW, I live in an apartment building that won't let me put up a dish (so no DirecTV) and isn't connected to the U-Verse lines or I'd probably have one of those. The basic Sling TV package ($20) has a few channels like the ones you mention. Don't know which ones, but I know that ESPN, ESPN2, and AMC were enough to grab my attention. The lack of Comedy Central hurts but I guess that's what Hulu is for.
July 17, 201511 yr I had cut the cord and use TWC for cable. I upgraded to 30 and paid $40 a month for Internet. They sent me a promotion to get basic channels for $10 a month so I picked that up. So I get basic cable, 1st 70 stations or so (no HD though but I get network stations in HD with antenna) for about $60 a month with fees and taxes. I have a Roku and subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime.
July 17, 201511 yr ^I will be going with Sling TV in a few months. I'm done paying $160+ for DTV and Internet when I only watch 5 of the channels. This is how I feel and Sling is likely the route I'll go too. What about the NFL?
July 17, 201511 yr This is how I feel and Sling is likely the route I'll go too. What about the NFL? You'll need an antenna, but you can get all the local channels over air in HD. Unless you're shelling out for Sunday Ticket on DTV then not much changes.
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