Thinking about dumping cable TV

[glennzo]

and maybe the land line....

During dinner last night with my son and daughter-in-law my son was telling us about their plans to change the way they watch "TV". Tired of the high price of cable/Internet/phone, about $175 per month for them (that's about what we pay too) , they've been looking at something called a "roku box". Combined with a monthly subscription to Hulu Plus and / or Netflix they say that they can watch almost anything they're interested in. Most cable programs are available the next day.

I'm all ears. You have no idea how much I despise my ISP.

Everything package from my ISP: $175 per month

Roku box about $100 to buy outright. I believe we may need one per room / TV.
Internet only from my ISP is, I believe, about $60 per month but it depends on speed tier.
Subscription to Hulu Plus is $8.00 per month.
Subscription to Netflix is $8.00 per month.
We already have a 1 year old Vizio that has several built-in apps and is connected to wireless. We also have a smaller Samsung that has several built-in apps and is connected to wireless.

I see this model as something that has potential for huge savings so my question is, are any of my fellow members currently doing something like this? Did you get rid of the cable package plan in favor of Internet only? How is it working out? Any regrets?

And before anyone states the obvious, http://www.roku.com/

[beaker_]

$200 per month jusitifies both hoping wifi & free to air satellite. ie., $35 per month is too much!

[Adunaic]

Out of interest are these normal US prices or are you out in the country?

I pay £12 ($19) a month for 40Gb limit and 16mb/s (Should be £28 ($44) but I always haggle with my ISP). If I want Unlimited bandwidth and 100Mb/s it is £45 ($72).

[Dan]

We were internet only with our cable provider, and content to be so. Two months ago they added local channels at no extra cost; a buck less, as a matter of fact. (In other words, they changed out the filter trap up on the pole. <....> ) so now we have the possibility of watching local news etc., but ... why? I can count on the thumbs of my left ear the number of times we've turned it on, and I anticipate that to be peak usage.

Once you locate (and use) the "Off" switch, a number of things happen. Because you suddenly have to get a little picky about what you do with your spare time, you start consciously thinking about those choices. And when you start thinking about what you really want, you automagically start applying the basic smell test to the electronic stuff that's coming into your life. Oddly enough, you soon discover that much of it completely fails that first basic inspection of what you actually want as a part of your daily experience.

In short, I highly recommend it. Once the stupefying inertia of the TV is broken, by default you have to re-define "entertainment" ... and that is a very healthy process.

What I found was that cable TV was mostly an electronic sewer line -- and it was running in the wrong direction! <....>

[stoat]

Originally Posted by glennzo

...are any of my fellow members currently doing something like this? Did you get rid of the cable package plan in favor of Internet only? How is it working out? Any regrets?

My daughter did exactly what you described. When she moved to a new town about three years ago, she signed up for Internet-only cable and Netflix. No cable TV. But she uses her Wii gaming system to do the streaming to a TV screen. She still has that arrangement today. No regrets.

My wife and I moved to the same town, too. Our three granddaughters are that important to us. But when we moved, we decided to disconnect the cable TV and replace it with books, CD music, DVD movies, and trips to the mountains. The cable TV lady laughed at me when I declined her offer to transfer our cable service to the new town (90 miles away) and leave TV behind forever. I remember the date (May 25, 2009) because I thought she was going to be right. She was wrong. I'm now so used to not watching TV that I didn't even turn on the TV the last time I was in a motel. True story. I recommend this idea to anyone who might be considering exorcising that poisonous crap from their lives.

[MALsPa]

Originally Posted by Dan

Once you locate (and use) the "Off" switch, a number of things happen. Because you suddenly have to get a little picky about what you do with your spare time, you start consciously thinking about those choices. And when you start thinking about what you really want, you automagically start applying the basic smell test to the electronic stuff that's coming into your life. Oddly enough, you soon discover that much of it completely fails that first basic inspection of what you actually want as a part of your daily experience.

In short, I highly recommend it. Once the stupefying inertia of the TV is broken, by default you have to re-define "entertainment" ... and that is a very healthy process.

Hear, hear!!!

A BIG +1!

[glennzo]

More accurate numbers, thrown together rather quickly, reflect a savings of around $85.00 per month and more than $1000 per year.

$72.95 for 50MB Internet, Hulu Plus @ $7.99 / month and Netflix @ $7.99 / month or ~ $15.00 / month for the DVD and Internet services will be $89.00 to $96.00 / month. Remember that my current ISP bill is about $175.00 / month.

@ aduniac. We're in the city, not the country.

[BBQdave]

Originally Posted by glennzo

and maybe the land line....

they've been looking at something called a "roku box"...

Doing just that for about 9 years now

We have internet service through Time Warner, $40 a month for 20 MBps-down.
An old ROKU box, original paid $100, but now I think they go for around $50 or less.
A Netflix streaming subscription for around $9 a month.
A couple of cell phones, through Sprint, for around $70 a month. Unlimited North America Long Distance.

It has worked well for our family.

The only complaint, is I do not want to have a cell phone. My Wife needs a phone with data plan for work, so basically they comp my phone and use - so I have no argument not to have one

[billybob linux]

As a side note to this, I came across this today:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...-channels.html

YouTube is taking aim at traditional broadcasters with the launch of 60 new channels featuring programmes made by some of the UK’s most respected production companies.

And

It began courting the television industry in August last year, telling delegates at the Edinburgh Television Festival that it was in the market for their content, and that they ignored “the internet at their peril”.

Does this mean some of the established broadcasters will face some real competion.

[sonoran]

Good quality-of-life move, in addition to the financial benefits.

Virtually everything is available on the net. I googled 'Chicago-Dallas live stream'
last Monday and watched the Bears-Cowboys game commercial-free.

[sea]

This is now of living country, as its what our swiss internet providers offer:
inet only 25'000 bit down/2500 up: 25 CHF (+10 for phone+tv)
inet only 50'000 bit down/ 5000 up: 50 CHF (+10 for phone+tv)

inet 75'000down/7500up + tv (somewhat 180 of digital channels) + phone... ALL FLAT RATE: ~85 CHF

Since my mobile phone as an inet+phone flat as well, for home i only have inet.
However, IF (and thats rare) there is a show i want to watch that isnt show on regular tv, i can choose among MANY diffrent free online TV 'stations' or, go to the channels homepage and watch (or even downoad) a replay.

[coffee412]

We currently have:

1. Comcast Internet (30Mbs down, some stupid number up) 60/month
2. DirectTV - 60 a month
3. Vonage phone service 25 a month
4. Two cell phones (galaxy II) from T-Mobile. 100 a month for 2 phones.

I run mythtv connected to my 53" Sony Bravia. Mythtv is kinda out of date and they have been working on a utube plugin among other things so I am tempted to sit down and reload fresh with the latest version. But I dont have the time right now. What is really funny is that DishTV is offering some feature to skip commercials. My wife looked at me and said "What is so great about that? We have had that for years!".

I dont like the US tv market. Comcast told us since we are not getting their 3-in-1 package then there is an upcharge for just internet.

DishTV keeps changing their lineups and features on the STB.

My biggest question here is - Anyone running Mythtv's latest greatest get the utube plugin to work or any other that can pull in stuff from the internet? Id be interested in knowing if its working and how well.

@Dan - I love your analogy on cable (LOL).

What I found was that cable TV was mostly an electronic sewer line

Best Regards,

coffee

[w2ibc]

id just dump TV all together. its very rare that I watch tv.

I still want the cable monopolys broken up. and see multipal cable companies really compeating with each other. unlike now you have 1 choice and 1 choice only and they get to screw you huge since they know you really have nowhere else to go.

[b4time]

I have not had cable for over 10 years maybe longer.We don't miss it.All we have are rabbit ears and I pick up about 20 hd channels maybe more I really never counted.The only tv I really watch are old reruns,pbs when a good program is on and the news plus dvd,s are only 5 bucks in the discount bin at wally world if I stop there.As of late the news here is even mind numbing and disinformation.A good example is the anchor said cats might be responsible for the bird die off lmao when does might become a news fact fit to broadcast?.Best to get away from mind numbing tv .Every thing you could ever want is on the net anyway and more.

[RupertPupkin]

Originally Posted by glennzo

are any of my fellow members currently doing something like this? Did you get rid of the cable package plan in favor of Internet only? How is it working out? Any regrets?

Yes, Yes, Great, and No.

One of the best decisions I made was dumping cable TV several years ago. It's just a huge waste of money and time. I don't miss it one bit.