NT, convince me "cutting the cord" is a good idea

 
I finally cut the cord last night.

I was paying $152.70 each month for Cable TV/Home Phone/Internet. I dropped Cable and Home Phone and reduced my Internet bandwidth from 50 Mbps to 5. Now my monthly bill is $38 for internet service + $7 modem rental + $20 for Sling TV. I have an old modem of my own- I'm gonna hook it up to see if it works alright, which would eliminate that rental fee.

I also bought an antenna off Amazon ($25/35 mi range)... I was surprised at how good those local over-the-air channels look now. I was watching an NFL game and it looks as good as cable.

Sling is for the national broadcasts of live sports on ESPN and TNT that I won't get with the antenna. I got a Roku Stick for free through a promo from Sling. And I have a couple of different devices that I can stream Amazon Instant Video from. I do Amazon Prime, anyway, so I don't see that as an additional cost, really.
So you are 100% satisfied with this decision?

What are some of the issues?

Damn you are convincing me
 
Posting for research.

My comcast bill is enormous. For 3 people...we have 2 DVR boxes so cable with hbo, internet, home phone, and our home alarm is through them ($30 a month). Monthly total is $296 :{

Comcast has a monopoly over Baltimore city basically unless you want dish. And i am about done with them and their terrible customer service
 
Originally Posted by DCAllAmerican  

So you are 100% satisfied with this decision?

What are some of the issues?

Damn you are convincing me
Yes, so far so good. The only negatives/comments so far:

1) I need to play with the antenna- I pick up like 37 channels or something (majority have good to great signal), but had to adjust it to get ABC, and I may need to move it into my attic or adding an amplifier to get NBC, because the auto-search isn't picking it up for some reason. Both of those signals are broadcasting from the same direction, though, so maybe just turning the antenna may help. I'm definitely still learning this part. CBS and Fox have been strong from the first time I connected the antenna. Of course the stations available to you will vary by location, check: http://antennaweb.org/Address.aspx

2) Sling and Amazon Instant Video have been working great. So far no problems with streaming at the lower bandwidth (5 Mbps). Of course there's only two of us, and we don't stream a show while doing stuff on the computer, etc. Doing multiple things at the same time is the main reason you'd need more bandwidth.

3) The one thing to consider if you downsize to a cheaper internet tier, though, is not only the bandwidth, but the max allowed data... Before we had like 350 GB/mo and never had to worry about it, now we have 150 GB/mo, which is ~4.8 GB/day. Most days we stay under that, anyway, but if you stream a lot of video (including internet use) on a given day, it's not hard to exceed that. Of course we are on the absolute cheapest internet pkg we can get, so if you're on a "normal" amount of bandwidth/data, you probably won't have to worry about it. Just cutting cable may give you enough cost savings to stick with the same internet settings you already had.

4) Our old modem (a Motorola Surfboard  that we own) is a DOCSIS 2.0 unit. I dunno if that has anything to do with it, but ever since I hooked it up, our internet keeps disconnecting and I have to reset it (and yeah, I called it in so the service provider would have it set up on their end, so it's not that). I hooked the modem we're renting (Cisco DOCSIS 3.0) back up this morning, and have a feeling we're going to see a continuous, reliable connection again. It could even just be that our particular unit was damaged at some point over the years (fried by lightning). So it looks like we're gonna stick with the modem rental for now.

5) I guess if you are a heavy DVR user, you may want to look into ways to set that up. We liked having a DVR, but going without it hasn't really bothered us. A lot of shows are available to watch within a day or two of broadcast via Sling, anyway. And there's always Hulu, etc.

The biggest positives of my new setup:
 

1) WAY WAY cheaper than my old bill (obviously).

2) It's 100% legal.
 
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My current set up right now is the Amazon Fire TV, connected to it I have a USB hub for my wire keyboard with track pad and a 60 something gig flash drive. I've been using Amazon instant a lot lately and I'm def liking it more than Netflix lately. The flash drive is mostly there for Kodi to store movies and shows on to watch whenever for shows/movies I can't get from the streaming services. Also eliminates the need for a DVR. For my live TV needs I use the Fios mobile App originally designed for touch screen devices, i just use my parents log in information because they have fios and it's free with their package and I get 70+ basic HD channels. Including ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, ESPN, Cartoon Network, USA, Comedy Central, and pretty much everything else I'd need cable to watch. Very happy.
 
Can anyone give me tips with using Genesis? I try to watch certain movies and when you click the source its just spins 'working' then nothing happens. Any trick that I might be missing?
 
Can anyone give me tips with using Genesis? I try to watch certain movies and when you click the source its just spins 'working' then nothing happens. Any trick that I might be missing?
Its pretty much a dead link. Theres times i had to scroll down 5 links minimum one by one to have it working
 
Posting for research.

My comcast bill is enormous. For 3 people...we have 2 DVR boxes so cable with hbo, internet, home phone, and our home alarm is through them ($30 a month). Monthly total is $296 :{

Comcast has a monopoly over Baltimore city basically unless you want dish. And i am about done with them and their terrible customer service

Son :x
 
I usually just start at whatever is #40 HQ for TV shows and usually work first time.

I need to set it up where Genesis goes there automatically
 
Na I can't do the cheapest Internet speed

Me neither. Im willing to cut the cord but cant cheap out on internet speed with all the streaming.

Life has been great since not having to pay $70-$100 a month on useless bills.

My bill is now $40 a month and I still think thats too much given I only need Internet through Xfinity Comcast..
 
Me neither. Im willing to cut the cord but cant cheap out on internet speed with all the streaming.

Life has been great since not having to pay $70-$100 a month on useless bills.

My bill is now $40 a month and I still think thats too much given I only need Internet through Xfinity Comcast..

If you don't mind me asking what internet speed are you getting with comcast for $40/month?
 
If you don't mind me asking what internet speed are you getting with comcast for $40/month?

No problem man and its the Performance 25 Internet I get from them.25 mbps and I live by myself so its more than enough. Even when my girl is over and she is streaming and im streaming as well no slow down or buffering whatsoever and its no data restrictions too.
 
Man I`m
No problem man and its the Performance 25 Internet I get from them.25 mbps and I live by myself so its more than enough. Even when my girl is over and she is streaming and im streaming as well no slow down or buffering whatsoever and its no data restrictions too.

there is actually data caps now with comcast, I have the 75 mb but I pay 78 bucks since the promo period is over. I`m ready for these Google fiber rollouts to start next yr.
 
Man I`m
there is actually data caps now with comcast, I have the 75 mb but I pay 78 bucks since the promo period is over. I`m ready for these Google fiber rollouts to start next yr.

I heard about the data caps but it hasnt hit Houston yet. The first thing I wanted was Google Fiber but it wasnt offered in the area smh. Im ready as well.
 
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