I Cut the Cord and Couldn’t Be Happier (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

Several years later no regrets. I find that we rarely use our Amazon DVR. We watch news, NFL and Jeopardy live via antenna when we watch them. All other "network" TV we stream commercial free via Hulu.

We are in a similar situation, in that we rarely use out Recast DVR, except to allow it to record shows to inform us that a new episode has aired. We do this mostly because the network affiliates out of Reno are very sloppy with their commercial breaks, coming in to the beginning of a show late, cutting away in the middle of a show, etc. mostly to run more local ads, news promos, and PSA’s. The ABC affiliate is the worst (they are also The CW on a substation), often having issues with their translators that cause them to go off the air, sometimes for days while they wait for parts and/or an engineer to come out to fix the issue (they let their engineering team go a few years back to cut costs).

Since we have Paramount+ with no ads, we always watch our CBS shows there so we don’t have to skip through commercials. We watch ABC on Hulu, NBC on Peacock, and The CW on The CW app, all with ads unfortunately, and lately their ads are becoming repetitive again, mostly for more new drug therapies that I am not interested in even if they were affordable.

It is also preparing us for the inevitable day when Amazon stops providing programming data for their now discontinued Recast DVR.

 

[Bartman]

I'm recording a dozen network shows each week on two iView OTA DVRs. These are shows I watch that my wife has no interest in. If I didn't use DVRs I don't believe I'd remember to watch them all each week!

 

[dpippel]

We cut the cord years ago and don't miss it one little bit. I use a Silicon Dust Flex 4K network tuner and Plex DVR for the times when we want to record something OTA. Works great.

 

[bmasters9]

Since we have Paramount+ with no ads, we always watch our CBS shows there so we don’t have to skip through commercials. We watch ABC on Hulu, NBC on Peacock, and The CW on The CW app, all with ads unfortunately, and lately their ads are becoming repetitive again, mostly for more new drug therapies that I am not interested in even if they were affordable.

Why do all these advertisers think you need to be interested in all these medicines and therapies, even when you may have clearly said you're not?

 

[Todd Erwin]

Why do all these advertisers think you need to be interested in all these medicines and therapies, even when you may have clearly said you're not?

It is assumed, but they rarely if ever take surveys to determine what ads to show (other than possibly age).

 

[Todd Erwin]

It is assumed, but they rarely if ever take surveys to determine what ads to show (other than possibly age).

The CW is the worst, since there is no login, per se, and assumes based on the content you are viewing.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Well, I guess I'll keep looking. YouTube TV isn't really much of a bargain any more:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/youtube-tv-price-increase-1235354332/

If you have an American Express card, check your offers. We just switched to YouTube TV a few weeks ago. For the first three months, we are locked in at $54.99 per month before the price increase applies. Also, through Amex offers I am saving another $25 per month for three months. So it's only costing us $30 per month for the 1st three months. We can always switch to something else later.

 

[bmasters9]

The CW is the worst, since there is no login, per se, and assumes based on the content you are viewing.

What does that mean, "assumes based on the content you are viewing"-- does that mean that if the interface sees you clicking on a certain show to see, they think you want to see more of that show or of that kind of show?

 

[Todd Erwin]

What does that mean, "assumes based on the content you are viewing"-- does that mean that if the interface sees you clicking on a certain show to see, they think you want to see more of that show or of that kind of show?

No, it means it only shows ads they think appeal to the key demographic for that show, such as medications for Hep-C.

 

[Malcolm R]

Seriously considering cutting the cable cord. Spectrum recently removed two channels I was watching pretty regularly with their "realignment" a couple months back. Now their new deal with Disney has removed several other channels I watched.

Looking at some options last night, it looks like YouTube TV likely would restore everything I lost except I'd have to trade off NESN. Not a huge baseball fan, but I often have the Red Sox games on through the summer in the background. But this is likely not a deal breaker. Somewhat surprisingly, they do seem to carry NBC Sports Boston which carries the Celtics.

I think Fubo has NESN, but I believe they don't carry some of the channels I'd like to get back. I think I'd rather live without NESN.

Not a fan of Hulu. Had it once for a year and had a lot of technical issues (freezing, buffering) that don't affect other streamers.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I don’t have any first hand experience with YouTubeTV or Fubo, but we have been using commercial free Hulu to replace most of our non news/local sports antenna viewing and have had NO issues for the last year. We use it on our LG Smart TV and via AppleTV. If they have a free trial maybe try it again?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Seriously considering cutting the cable cord. Spectrum recently removed two channels I was watching pretty regularly with their "realignment" a couple months back. Now their new deal with Disney has removed several other channels I watched.

Looking at some options last night, it looks like YouTube TV likely would restore everything I lost except I'd have to trade off NESN. Not a huge baseball fan, but I often have the Red Sox games on through the summer in the background. But this is likely not a deal breaker. Somewhat surprisingly, they do seem to carry NBC Sports Boston which carries the Celtics.

I think Fubo has NESN, but I believe they don't carry some of the channels I'd like to get back. I think I'd rather live without NESN.

Not a fan of Hulu. Had it once for a year and had a lot of technical issues (freezing, buffering) that don't affect other streamers.

Fubo is the only service that seems to have the regional sports networks, but you pay more because of that. The RSN's were not a big deal to me -- I don't watch MLB or the NBA, and I am a Montreal Canadiens hockey fan (not a Red Wings fan), so I don't watch Bally Sports Detroit.

We've had YouTube TV since early this year after dumping Xfinity cable TV, and we've been happy with the service. The only channel I lost that I cared about was the NHL Network, and I only watch that during the IIHF World Junior tournaments over the Xmas holiday and in May. I can always subscribe to Sling TV just for those two tournaments if I really want to see them. All the channels my wife cared about were available on YT TV.

If you have an American Express card, check your offers, as they sometimes have deals for this service. When we signed up, I ended up getting $25/mo off for the first three months through Amex, plus YT TV had a cheaper introductory price for those same three months. Ended up paying about $30 for each of those months. Even now at full price, we are saving $70 per month with YT + Internet over what we paid Xfinity for Internet, TV and home phone -- we just dumped the home phone, as we really didn't need it anyway. Next year, I may dump Xfinity's Internet service for Wide Open West and save another $30 per month.

 

[DaveF]

I'm now a cord-cutter in the modern sense of it: Cut the "Cable" cord while keeping the "internet" cord.

I canceled my home internet / service plan, and set up new service in my wife's name with internet only. Did this with a friend's corporate referral to get the best new customer pricing available right now to drop my monthly down about $30/mo and lock it in for the next few years.

I've heard of this new-customer switcharoo approach to saving money. But I'd always talked with reps and gotten better pricing; and the cancel/setup felt like it would be dodgy and put me at risk of having a major service gap.

Turns out canceling/restarting service is about as easy talking with a rep to negotiate better pricing. And unlike the "talk and hope" approach, there's no doubt what plan and price I was getting. We had a hiccup and lost service for about an hour first thing the service transition morning, until we figured out what the problem was, talking with tech support. But that's as much my fault for using my own router instead of using the provider's router. But then it was all back to normal, save for no cable TV.

My wife has been exploring the FAST services to find background noise to replace her HGTV addiction. And I'm getting around to removing the TiVo from the various rooms and unprogramming it from remote controls.

 

[RICK BOND]

I'm now a cord-cutter in the modern sense of it: Cut the "Cable" cord while keeping the "internet" cord.

I canceled my home internet / service plan, and set up new service in my wife's name with internet only. Did this with a friend's corporate referral to get the best new customer pricing available right now to drop my monthly down about $30/mo and lock it in for the next few years.

I've heard of this new-customer switcharoo approach to saving money. But I'd always talked with reps and gotten better pricing; and the cancel/setup felt like it would be dodgy and put me at risk of having a major service gap.

Turns out canceling/restarting service is about as easy talking with a rep to negotiate better pricing. And unlike the "talk and hope" approach, there's no doubt what plan and price I was getting. We had a hiccup and lost service for about an hour first thing the service transition morning, until we figured out what the problem was, talking with tech support. But that's as much my fault for using my own router instead of using the provider's router. But then it was all back to normal, save for no cable TV.

My wife has been exploring the FAST services to find background noise to replace her HGTV addiction. And I'm getting around to removing the TiVo from the various rooms and unprogramming it from remote controls.

I Cut the Cable cord about 7 and a half years ago now. Just Internet and Home phone $75.00 a month. Been saving a lot of $$$$ ever since. Internet today has become like AIR. You have to have it. It's a Necessity.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I am taking the next step in our quest to save money. Today we are switching our Internet Service Provider from Xfinity to Wide Open West. After being locked in for a year of 500Mbps service for $80 per month, we just received a price hike to $116 per month. Since I am tired of doing this annual dance with Comcast/Xfinity, I am switching to WOW and getting 600Mbps service for about $50 per month with no locked in contract.

We cancelled cable TV and home phone with Xfinity last year. Our monthly cost went up to $236 per month. We instead now have YouTube TV at $73 per month, so our total cost for TV + Internet should now be under $125 per month -- an approximate $110 per month savings.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I was able to negotiate my Internet and phone bill with Spectrum from $120 down to $90 a few months back. I was successful after asking to speak with retention and complained that it was not fair that only new customers qualified for synchronous Internet (equal upload and download speeds), and not only that, but their after-promo price was still lower than what I was paying for 500/20 service. They rep agreed with me and found a 12-month promo that came out to $90 for both internet and phone.

This week, Spectrum upgraded all customers in my neighborhood to synchronous service, meaning I am now getting 500/500 service.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

^$90 just for 500bps internet+phone still seems too much me thinks... although now you're getting 500/500.

_Man_

 

[David Norman]

Must be nice living a location with a non-monopoly. Spectrum is 30-50% higher here than a couple counties away. Unfortunately the alternative is non-5G cell, "HIgh Speed" 50mb service from ATT for 20% more than my current Spectrum and a couple of advertised "High Speed" rural type ?antenna or wireless services slower than ATT. Supposedly in 6-12 months a Fiber Outfit name Ripple is supposed to offer service at least in soem neighborhoods near us, but so far the reviews I've read of that company are pretty sketchy to be nice about it.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

^NYC area is kinda odd. We (still) seem sliced up into a lot of different semi-monopolistic markets here usually w/ competition only between Verizon (still not always FiOS) vs whichever cable provider (most often Spectrum). @Josh Steinberg out in some odd town on LI seems to get the best deal -- I get the feeling there must be some odd, local ordinance (that's very LI) or some such going on out there for the truly great, non-promo pricing he gets.

Ditching landline phone service probably also helps though near as I can tell -- Spectrum over here seems to wanna charge ~$20 to add/include that after whatever initial promos expire.

_Man_

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Ditching landline phone service probably also helps though near as I can tell -- Spectrum over here seems to wanna charge ~$20 to add/include that after whatever initial promos expire.

_Man_

That helps here with Xfinity, which adds over $20 per month to the cost. Supposedly Wide Open West is only $10 more per month. I need to find something cheaper for my elderly mother, who currently has Xfinity 150Mbps Internet + home phone for $80 per month, but also gets a $30 per month credit through the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). However, the ACP ran out of money and was not re-funded, so this is the last month she gets that credit. I am thinking about switching her phone service to Vonage for $10 per month, and can then switch her Internet to Xfinity's new "Now Internet" offering, which would be $30 per month for 100Mbps. I just need to make sure that I can port her phone number from Xfinity to Vonage (don't see why I can't).

Our WOW Internet installation was completed yesterday, after a little troubleshooting that ended up being a configuration issue with my Deco mesh router. Afterwards, I dropped off the old Xfinity router/modem at the local Comcast store and cancelled the service. I didn't get any hard sell to stay as a customer. It appeared the Comcast employee was quite used to handling these cancellation requests, which doesn't surprise me. Comcast lost 2,036,000 cable TV customers and 38,676 Internet subscribers in 2023, and in the 1st quarter of 2024 have lost 487,000 cable TV customers and 65,000 Internet customers. Spectrum has been experiencing similar customer losses.