Has anyone on here successfully cut the cord?

Personally I've never paid for cable (in my 30s)

I have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime (and occasionally HBO when I decide to add it on)...and the internet to find stuff. That's been enough for me.

Yep. I have is one of those cheap antennas that you can find on Amazon and I get lots of channels (half I don’t watch though). The only downside is that if it’s overcast skies or bad weather it can cut out or freeze up. I rarely watch TV anyway so it doesn’t really bother me. I also have a Roku and steam from there as well. That’s it. I even got rid of Netflix earlier this year because it’s all shit now and was a waste of money.

I forgot to say that although I don’t know the exact amount, I am saving at least half a grand a year by getting rid of the basic cable package that I originally had included with my internet.

I’m in my 60s and couldn’t give a rats ass about cable. If I can’t stream it, or find it online, I probably won’t miss it. I’m in SF so I’m sure I save at least $2k per year by not having it.

Nearly a month ago, I canceled phone/internet/cable and signed up for internet (which came with a phone, whose number I do not know). It saved $288 a month. I did not "cut the cord" to save money, rather, the internet speed was so damned slow and they did nothing to improve it despite multiple complaints and service calls. I had not used the house phone for years. And the HD TV signals went pixelated regularly. It drove me nuts.

Netflix, Amazon Prime, and jailbroken Firesticks keep me in everything I want, and offer anything I might want. (NB, use an IP anonymizer on your Firestick in case they ever start cracking down on it.)

Aside from the $3000+ annually in savings, it helps me maintain sanity. So far, so good. I now have lightning fast speeds. Woo hoo.

I have the local channels I get with an antenna which I watch about 3 times a year. Everything else I get from Netflix, Piratebay or basic Youtube. I also have kanopy from my public library. That keeps me more than busy. I use Streamfare for the news.

Umbilical? No.

What are you watching on cable that's so damn important? King of Queens? Everybody loves Raymond? CNN? MSNBC?

None of that is worth paying for. They should be paying you for taking away what's left of your life.

Cut the cable, but keep the high speed internet. If you miss cable TV, you can always Sling it, YouTube TV, or use something else that's less than $30-$50/month. Do a Google search on cutting the cord. You'll find lots of websites that will offer you advice on free to low cost alternatives.

Get WiFi only. Then split a streaming subscription with a friend.

Haven’t had cable since the run up to the 2016 election when I learned I could get MSNBC through Sling.

Even with Hulu, Netflix, and Prime, I’m still paying way less than I used to.

The problem with cable is they keep adding these extra charges, taxes, etc.

I have an antenna on my house and a couple streaming services (Sling TV, Netflix). It's plenty. If I watched more sports I probably wouldn't like my setup, but this works well for me and doesn't cost much.

I've been waiting for years for an a la carte package. Where you can pick only the channels you want. For instance, I don't need Fox News or ESPN

Sling is a good option if you want "live" cable tv. It's only $30 a month. It doesn't have local channels, but network TV can be watched on the networks' websites. I have an antenna with DVR though if I want to record a local channel and have an antenna on each of my TVs. I also have Hulu and Disney+, which are really cheap.

I enjoy using my landline. I hate talking on a cell phone.

I removed Xfinity from my life three years ago. Should have done it long before that!

Now I use a Mohu Leaf OTA antenna on my Sony Bravia and I have the cheapest ROKU made.

Plenty of TV to watch for free.

After 30+ years of cable bills, this is great!

Monthly cost = $0

Yes, I did so several years ago when I bought a Chromecast. There are so many sites these days sharing episodes of TV shows, as well as live streaming of major networks, it was a no brainer for me. Granted, they're littered with pop up ads and other crap, but if you've got a good ad blocker installed on your browser, you can easily stream all this to your TV for free.

Not to mention, there are legit free apps like Pluto and Xumo which offer plenty of programming.

It's also absurd for cable companies to charge their users for "broadcast fees" for channels you can already get for free via antenna.

I only pay for internet, and it's about $63 per month.

Love my Mohu Leaf! I live 1 1/2 hours north of Orlando, and I still receive 67 OTA channels. Of course, about half of them are Spanish, religious, or shopping channels, and some of the others often have bad reception, but out of the 67, I actually watch about 25. And it's free!

I have my internet through the cable company, $86/mo., but I use it all the time. I got an ISP and I feel relatively safe watching almost anything I want to watch online. And streaming sites (which I learned about here on DL) have many of the cable channels -- and watching them (why is there never anything on them I want to watch?) makes me extremely grateful I don't pay for cable TV.

I cut the cord a month ago after moving to a new place. I have a Roku stick and I love it.

[quote]Netflix, Amazon Prime, and jailbroken Firesticks keep me in everything I want, and offer anything I might want. (NB, use an IP anonymizer on your Firestick in case they ever start cracking down on it.)

Do you use an IPTV service?

What features do you get with a jail broken fire stick?

I still have cable because they provide high-speed internet. I'm satisfied with the speed (very fast, IMO). However, I don't pay for any channels.

The rip-off is "renting" this damn modem / Wi-Fi router. For a while, I had my own modem / router that I bought. Then, I had reception problems. The cable guy came over and said the problem was my modem / router. (It had just about paid for itself at that point.)

So, now, I'm back to renting -- some stupid amount like $20 per month for this stupid router. I may buy another one. It reminds me of the old days when my mom used to rent her land line phone.

R20 Yes, I do.

R21 A jailbroken Firestick removes built in "firewalls" and allows you to stream anything you can find. You should use an anonymous VPN so that nobody can trace the streaming to you. Why? Because you can watch nearly anything broadcast in the world irrespective of licensing or copyright laws. So, it is legal to jalbreak your Firestick, but illegal to use it to view unlicensed and copyrighted content.

Consumer Reports just did an article on how to cut your cable bill dramatically.

I cut cable 18 months ago and have never looked back. I feel released. Now I have Netflix, Amazon Prime and Stan and anything I can't find on those streaming services I torrent download. All of this costs about a third of what cable used to cost and I am not paying Rupert Fucking Murdoch one cent anymore.

Just do it!

I haven't cut the cord and my son looks stupid, being 26 years old without a proper belly button yet.

At home I have cable because it's part of the HOA fee and I can't opt out of it. But I'm currently at a summer house where I used to have cable but no more. About 3 years ago I decided to cut the cord and installed an outdoor antenna for the local channels (I get 26 channels on the antenna), and I have Sting TV for the other channels I like to watch. I went from paying $135.00/mo for cable to $30.00/mo for Sting

I cut the cord with TWC years ago and haven't regretted it. I have DSL with Verizon, which works fine I guess I'm saving $70 a month. There are so many free or low cost content that cable is fast becoming obsolete, and they know it.

So OP, after reading the comments to your thread, what are you going to do?

Cable is not becoming utterly obsolete, R28. What's happening is that the cable content companies are reclaiming their content and releasing it on their own streaming services; and/or the cable companies are releasing streaming services. Eventually through mergers they'll be back in control of the market, at which point they'll start jacking up prices.

The only thing that will stop the gouging is if enough people give up cable programming altogether, or cities stop their anticompetitive utilities franchising.

I moved houses in early 2020 so It was a great opportunity to cut the cord. I went with YouTube Live because I wanted local channels. I don’t have all the channels I used to have but I am paying a hell of a lot less (though YTLive just recently upped their price by approximately $10 😬).

I use Spectrum for Internet only and gave up my landline too.

I supplement with Netflix, Hulu and Roku. I also subscribe to HBO Max but may give it up at the end of the year if they still haven’t made an agreement with Hulu. Thinking of getting Britbox instead.

YouTube Live is outrageously priced because it decided to include all channels like cable. If a service has all channels, most of which you will never watch, ever, it's not worth it.

I get 50+ channels free. To that I add Netflix €6 and am adding a package of 30 news, classic film, and miscellaneous channels for another €6. More than I could want for €12 per month.

I did add HBO for a couple lockdown months, but that's another €6 or 7/no. but then I stopped when I saw the couple things I wanted to watch.

A out €150 a year I don't mind at all since I sometimes paid as much as that in a month in the U.S.

I cut the cord!

WiFi thru Frontier Fios ($90) Roku Box At&tTv Now App ($60) Includes HBO Max Locast App ($5 local channels and PBS) Netflix App ($12)

I'm getting ready to drop At&tTv Now and switch to Sling TV.

All the above can be watched on your devices or through a Roku or a SmartTV

I cut the cord years ago when I gave up on all of the local cable carriers (they always blamed me for problems, saying it was my tv......meanwhile there were outages all through the neighborhood, but they wouldn't refund me for the days I had not service, etc. and my tv was never a problem, even when I had an old analog set). I signed up for SlingTV as soon as I could when it first launched, but lately I find I don't watch it, so I'm dumping it this week. I have a regular antenna and can watch the local/national news. Plus I have a firestick and watch Amazon Prime and some free apps (such as tubi). When college sports is back to normal, I will look into some ESPN options.

cut almost 11 years ago. THANK GOD!

We cut the Xfinity cord a few years ago. Very happy with the decision (though it took me a few years to finally do it; afterwards, I could only shake my head at myself for waffling about it for so long). We have a Roku and subscribe to Sling, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Disney Plus. All of that combined is still cheaper than our cable bill used to be.

I want to cut the cord. what hardware is needed? with cable, you have the DVR box. u can record programs. can you do it with streaming?

I have internet via my local cable provider, and that's it. Get a Chromecast, you can stream anything to your TV via your phone or computer. Almost all my friends have some sort of streaming subscription, and they can share it on my TV when I'm entertaining. Many phone carriers are bundling "free" Netflix and Hulu these days.

Personally, I can just find almost anything I want to watch at home online, commercial free. I don't mind waiting a day or two later to download a given show or movie until it's available.

Local news/channels - via antenna.

You "get" to steal content that you should be paying for, R21, thus jacking up prices for those who choose not to break the law.

roku or fire stick? which one to get?

My co-op has a cable contract with TW/Spectrum, it's only $50 a month including internet, modem/router, all basic cable channels and two premium channels. Not a bad deal, I'm keeping my cable.

I save about $200 a month for dropping Direct TV. It took a bit to adapt but I don't miss i now . One can watch news shows on You Tube to check in.

Philo is 20 bucks a month and all the channels we want. No sports.

Three channels I can't live without, TCM, MSNBC and CNN.

I think you would be surprised what you can live without.

Especially when it comes to teevee.

Same here, R45. I also love my classic TV channels: MeTV, Antenna TV, and Cozi TV.

Last night, after watching the RBG coverage for hours and getting more and more depressed, I was so happy to switch over to the Carol Burnett Show at 11:00 on MeTV. My mind welcomed that much-needed break.

I bought an indoor antenna about a year ago off of Amazon for $30. I shut off my cable completely. I get high def broadcasts of the major networks, (NBC, CBS, ABC, CW) etc. I watch maybe an hour or two of tv a night...sometimes not at all. I hate sports so that wasn't something I cared to lose. I use my tv for video games more than anything else.

I don't even have a single streaming service. No regrets. TV is a time suck. I'm saving a ton of $.

Everybody's different. If you can afford cable and like the selection of channels it offers, you might as well keep it.

Except the rates are far too high. You're getting fucked but you don't seem to mind.

I'm with R49. It depends on how much choice and convenience you're willing to trade for saving money. I've investigated this; it would save me about $70/month. Trivial compared to my total internet/TV/phone cost per month.

I wonder how many of the cord-cutters here also shop at Aldi? 😊

[quote] Except the rates are far too high. You're getting fucked but you don't seem to mind.

R50, "far too high" compared to what? Is there some arbitrary standard for cable prices that, when exceeded, constitutes costing too much?

Channel list on Philo -

A&E AMC American Heroes Channel Animal Planet Aspire AXS TV BBC America BBC World News BET BET HER Cheddar CLEO TV CMT Comedy Central Cooking Channel Destination America Discovery Discovery Family Discovery Life DIY Network Foot Network FYI Game Show Network GET TV Great American Country Hallmark Channel Hallmark Drama Hallmark Movies and Mysteries HGTV History IFC Inspire Investigation Discovery Law & Crime Lifetime Lifetime Movie Network Logo Motor Trend MTV MTV Classic MTV Live MTV2 Nick Jr. Nickelodeon Nicktoons OWN Paramount Network People TV Revolt Science Sundance TV Tastemade TeenNick TLC Travel Channel TV Land One TV Up TV VH1 Vice We TV

Where's The Weather Channel, R52? No TWC, no deal. There are also (as far as I can see) no American all-news channels, so when a major disaster strikes, you won't be able to watch.

I remember 9/11. I can't imagine going through that day without CNN or some other LIVE and COMPREHENSIVE news coverage up-to-the-moment.

[quote] Three channels I can't live without, TCM, MSNBC and CNN.

So for r45 are these available on the cracked firestick? PBS? NBC? MeTV? HBO?

I started to cancel Xfinity back when they switched TCM to a addon option combined with several garbage sports channel but backed off. TCM is only only essential channel and they hold me hostage that way.

Not sure what internet deals people are getting. I get $39-$49 for internet only - plus the absurd fees, router rental, scams. Basic cable is maybe $20/month more. I have Netflix and Hulu - but don’t mind spending $20/month for TCM, Coai, Movies! and the random crap I come across when I just want a distraction for 30 minutes.

PBS is now pulling some scam, when you try to watch certain episodes of their different series, a message pops up that you need to subscribe to ACORN to see any episodes you've missed. What a load of crap. meanwhile, the same exact series, such as 'A Place Called Home' are up at OVATION (if your cable provider has this this channel) and the back episodes can be accessed for free.

I pay a combined total of $74 per month for internet and landline service. That includes all taxes and fees.

I use a $29 Roku stick for television. Works fine for me.

[quote]Not sure what internet deals people are getting. I get $39-$49 for internet only - plus the absurd fees, router rental, scams. Basic cable is maybe $20/month more. I have Netflix and Hulu - but don’t mind spending $20/month for TCM, Coai, Movies! and the random crap I come across when I just want a distraction for 30 minutes.

My co-op gets such a great deal, because the complex, more than one building, can guarantee 95% of the residents will subscribe. The contract is always for three years.

I pay $79 a month JUST for internet. I was paying about $130 per month when I had cable bundled in. So I am saving 50 per month with just using my antenna. Once you start subscribing to all the services, you might as well just pay for cable. I don't subscribe to anything. Was paying $25 per month for Sirrius XM in my car, but cancelled it when the virus hit since I'm not driving. They sent me deal after deal trying to get me to sign up, so I just took them up on the offer and paid $72 for a full year of even more channels than I had before. In other words, it's worth it to cancel shit and see what they offer.

Haven't had cable in years. I did they keep jacking up the price. These little hidden fees. I perfectly happy with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. It's a lot cheaper and I have a lot more variety. Sometimes I'll cancel a couple of them. And then get like HBO or Disney plus. Then go back to them. That's a good thing about having streaming channels is you can cancel and then get them back at any time.

r53 - you can get abc cbs nbc and fox over the air in hd. The philo package included cloud dvr so not only do you get most cable channels people want but a dvr to record them with.

The Weather Channel is one of the most useless channels ever. You can get the weather on your phone.

I love Philo. $20 and we get a lot of the channels we watch.

🤑 [italic] I Am A Proud All American Cord Cutting Aldi Shopper !

[Quote]so when a major disaster strikes, you won't be able to watch.

Youtube provides live news channels free and many are international.

We saved but now with Google jacking up the prices a lot on YouTubeTV, were paying about the same.

Annoying, but we can share YouTubeTV with family at least so we feel like we’re helping our older relatives cut the cord and save a lot even if we’re at net 0.

This is a great time to call various service providers and see if they're willing to give deals. Covid is hitting these businesses too and some are willing to give discounts to keep you as a paying customer. I found out when I tried to discontinue two services.

I was ready to cut the cord after feeling ripped off by my ISP - I had the package with cable TV/phone/internet and it was pushing $190 a month. It was lucky for me that the company seems to be desperate to keep people from leaving, and they offered me an unbeatable deal. They offered me the package they give to new subscribers, which cut my bill down to $80.00 a month (and they dropped most of those bogus "fees" that add onto your total each month) AND they gave me free Showtime till 4/30/2021. (This is Optimum/Altice)

I did the same for my Sirius satellite radio subscription (I listen online/don't have a car or the external radio). When I called to drop this service, they offered the unbelievable deal of $1.00 a month to keep my account active! You never know till you try.

No, but I did let my premium soccer package expire without renewing it.

I haven't had cable since 2011

It seems there are different definitions of cutting the cord. Many here are referring to cutting cable but having alternative internet access which costs in some cases, I think. I have only broadcast antenna acccess and live in a relatively smaller area. I still get all three networks, PBS, Fox, MeTV, Comet, Bounce, GRIT, Charge and some other misc. It is about 20 channels and all the TV I need. It is not everything anytime I want but it is free. Actually, much more than in the old days of antenna TV.

All these blood-suckers nickel and diming us and playing games with 3 month freebies for which they continue to bill us afterwards. Fuck them. There are too few hours in the day to waste phoning them time and time again to make things right Netflix, Amazon and news via Youtube are sufficient in this house now

I can't imagine holding on to $180/mo cable because of a weather channel and CNN.

I mean, both of those things are available so easily. Weather is in a million apps and there are many news sources available. Most cable news is asinine anyway.

I love having a DVR and just watching all my tv programs off of it, at my convenience and fast forwarding though all the commercials. Also don't like having to deal with an antenna for local channels. While Direct tv is expensive, I find it to be something I'm willing to pay for.

I use my TIVO with my antenna only. Never had an issue.

R13, Any la carte package, will cost you more. They'll hike up the rates for the channels most people want.

Has anyone switched to Ology? $25 a month for all kinds of programing.

Bump - anyone have experience w/Locast streaming @ $5/mo?

I have. I have Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube. It’s enough for me. I don’t ever watch cable tv. (I have a smart tv.)

I’ve never had cable since leaving my parents house.

Unless you watch sports, there is no reason to have cable. It will obsolete soon.

Yeah, we held onto a Sirius subscription they offered us when we to drop last year. I killed the cable, but I can still listen to the news.

I use Philo - all the channels I want to watch and unlimited DVR. I aslo have a tivo OTA that records all the broadcast networks over my HD antenna plus about 30 other channels I get over HD OTA. It also has embedded apps for streaming - what it does not have my LG OLED does.

R76 I've used Locast for a few years, but don't subscribe. It cuts off after about 20 minutes, but I just go back in and maybe lose a minute or so of the program. I use it on my phone when there's something I want to watch when I'm out and about (I have an antenna on my tv at home so don't need it for my tv).

Locast offers many more local stations and their digital channels than my tv antenna picks up (which is about 28 or 30). It's worth $5/month if you don't have an antenna and want to watch local tv.

I want ultra high speed internet - which generally requires broadband. So I’m stuck using a cable provider like Verizon, Comcast, Spectrum - and they have gamed it so you can’t get just internet. How do people get good broadband internet without using the cable companies?

I had cable once only when it was part of the lease in a work apartment I had in another city for three years.

And I never used it.

I decided to cut the cord a few months after I posted this thread. I got an over the air indoor antenna for local channels. The only thing I really miss is TCM, which I kept on constantly. I have looked into Youtube TV and Hulu Live TV, but I'm still going to end up paying for a bunch of channels that I'm not going to watch. So I'm thinking that I'm just going to stick with the over the air channels and my Netflix and Hulu and maybe torrent from time to time.

I don't own a TV. Just internet. I think it's thirty five dollars a month for it. And fifty for the cell phone via t mobile. I know I could be paying less for the cell phone, but what's important is that the calls are never dropped, and the reception is clear. I speak Tagalog, so calling their customer service is actually easy.

I just have cable internet for work. Disney for free with the assholes at Verizon. Amazon Prime. That's it.

R85 Doesn't Sling offer TCM? I calculated (it was a couple of years ago) that I could get every cable channel I viewed regularly, including TCM, for under $100/mo.

I would cut the cord on a second, but my partner MUST watch every Lakers game, and they (like most sports teams) have broadcast deals with local cable companies.

yes, we still have cable due to sports programs that my partner MUST watch. wasting about 200 bucks a month on shitty spectrum. The internet with them isn't great either, the fucking server/router goes off and everyday.

I've been saying it for years, gonna cut the cord but haven't done it yet but I think this is the year.

R83, I feel the same way. I've looked into the cutting the cord, but the savings would be minimal if I keep Comcast's highest-speed broadband.

What's the story, cord-cutters? How do you get superfast internet without a cable subscription? Or do you make do with slower connections?

I have about 200 Mbps internet service in LA via Spectrum (no cable), plus Sling Blue, Locast (for local nets), Disney & Netflix (& Prime). I watch HBO Max @ BF's.

Did this about 3 years ago and have never looked back. Saving heaps of money and have a much better selection of things to watch. Don't think about it OP - just do it.

So another person here will ask again - do you people not use hardwired broadband? Do you just use WiFi cell service? How do you get fast internet? If you “cut the cord” - you only use cell services?

All I need is wifi but my bf likes basketball so we have satellite tv. I don't like any of the channels and the news makes me nervous. I don't think I was missing anything when I didn't have local or satellite tv. I got dvds from the library for free and have Prime and Netflix when I want them.

[quote]So another person here will ask again - do you people not use hardwired broadband? Do you just use WiFi cell service? How do you get fast internet? If you “cut the cord” - you only use cell services?

I had Verizon Fios Internet and Cable. Verizon cable sucks ass, but Verizon ultra ultra high speed internet kicks ass. What I did was cut cable and kept the internet and it cut my bill in half. I don't know if other cable providers will allow that, but Verizon does.

I have 1 GB internet - fiber. I work from home so I expense that. I have Philo - 20 dollars a month. I have Locast 5 dollars a month. I have HBO Max 15 a month Netflix 15 a month.

55 a month for all my entertainment plus Peacock+ is free with commercials as are a lot of the streaming channels. I run everything through Channels DVR/Playon to record it then stream it all via Plextor Media server. I may add Paramount + since they are offering a year commercial free option for 50 bucks. That will still keep my total for TV under 60 a month and I can record it all, stream it all or copy it to my Ipad to watch on a plane etc.

Go ahead. It’s about as scary as the first day of school. By day three you will wonder why you didn’t do it before.