NGKU related: talk to me about cable

[13liza]

We have had the same cable and internet provider for five years and each year they raise our rate, we call, they give us a discount, repeat. This year, we call- they say they have no coupons. I want to just cancel because it's seriously getting to be a lot of money, but I love TV. Seriously. Have any of you cancelled cable? What do you use instead? Or have you taken up a new hobby? Help!

[poseyk]

I never had cable until DH (then SO) moved in. He insists on cable so he can have MLB Network. I didn't miss not having it, but now that I've had it for 2 years I probably would miss some shows. We just recently got Netflix and I think I could have that and not have cable. It would be so much cheaper, but DH won't go for it.

[13liza]

Jan 27, 2015 13:32:58 GMT -5 poseyk said:

I never had cable until DH (then SO) moved in. He insists on cable so he can have MLB Network. I didn't miss not having it, but now that I've had it for 2 years I probably would miss some shows. We just recently got Netflix and I think I could have that and not have cable. It would be so much cheaper, but DH won't go for it.

I didn't have cable until college and now I don't want to let it go. DH is totally fine as long as we keep internet. In fact, I think we had this same discussion last year. The amount of money is just getting ridiculous- especially when I think about what we actually get for it.

[pismoduo]

We technically have Cable TV. But only because Comcast keeps giving us this deal where if we have Cable TV and Internet through them, it somehow costs me less than having just internet.

But the box is in a grocery bag in the garage and we've never hooked it up. I do on occasion use Comcast's Xfinity Online to watch some TV shows, but I'm pretty sure I could use Hulu the same way if I dumped cable. Netflix is a good option, Hulu is good. We also download some shows that we really want to watch. But we don't watch a lot of TV either, mostly we play video games.

[Deleted]

I've never had cable. We just use Netflix and Amazon Prime.

[getzystark]

We don't have cable and can't really get any regular TV either. We use Hulu, Netlfix and Amazon Prime. We've considered adding Direct TV back but for the price you get a few good channels and a lot of SHIT channels and I refuse to spend $80 a month to watch the Walking Dead for only a few months.

[Rama]

Jan 27, 2015 13:29:56 GMT -5 13liza said:

We have had the same cable and internet provider for five years and each year they raise our rate, we call, they give us a discount, repeat. This year, we call- they say they have no coupons. I want to just cancel because it's seriously getting to be a lot of money, but I love TV. Seriously. Have any of you cancelled cable? What do you use instead? Or have you taken up a new hobby? Help!

MrRama and I kicked cable some 3-4 years ago and got Hulu+ AND Netflix instead.  Between the two, we catch almost everything we would ever want to watch -- Hulu for the new stuff, Netflix for the older stuff -- and the commercials are minimal/not present.  Cable would easily cost us $30+ more a month.  Having both costs us around ~$19 after tax.

We also have Amazon Prime, so we get to watch Amazon Instant Video for a lot of stuff that is missing from the other two.  Factoring that in ($99/12 months = ~$8.25), we're still coming in UNDER what we'd pay for cable AND we get to watch WHATEVER we want on OUR schedule.  Win-win-win.

[nuggetrn]

We don't have cable. We haven't since DH and I moved in together 3 years ago. We use Netflix and have contemplated getting hulu as well but haven't.

I had cable for a very brief time growing up and DH had it at his parents. He was able to let it go pretty easily, I don't think he misses it. It helps that he is not a sports guy, so it's not like he neeeeeds cable to watch his teams or anything.

I watch more TV at work than I do at home. They have cable and most days I find it pretty irritating. I can never find anything to watch. No way would I ever pay for that annoyance at home.

When we lived in our apt we had an antenna and could get regular channels but now that we have moved I haven't been able to get anything. I really wish I could get the local news still. That's the only thing that bugs me.

[ldubhawksfan]

We don't have cable. Antenna FTW.

[luckypanda]

We have cable, but do you have competing cable companies? We play a game where we swap cable companies yearly to get the best rate. We have gone without and between Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime we had enough stuff to watch! Good luck! The cable game sucks.

[heatherj9603]

We cut the cord. We have Comcast Internet. It comes with a basic cable box. Which is basically just the free channels but they come in more clear than rabbit ears. But it also comes with on demand, so I can watch shows the next day if I can't watch it live. But it also came with free HBO.

Then we have a ps4 and we can watch Netflix. We are thinking of getting a Roku.

eta: we pay 50 a month. Which is also using their fastest internet option, which is best for streaming. Then Netflix is 8 a month. 

[sunfrogger88]

We did the Hulu and Netflix and Amazon prime thing for a year when our internet was DSL. But we can get Fios now and we need a home phone and internet. So having cable is not that much more per month.

[piccyami]

We went without for a few years in grad school. We just used Netflix/hulu/amazon prime. We made it, but never knew what was going on around us because we couldn't get "local" stations. "Local" meant 70 miles away. We have DirecTV now.

[singingsea]

We cancelled cable about a year and a half ago. Shit got ridiculously expensive. No regrets here. We use Netflix and Hulu (tons of popular shows on there). We watch a lot of PBS too.

:::getting on soap box:::

I think it's been a really positive change for our family. We still have our shows we watch and DS has his Saturday morning cartoons but we're not just mindlessly sitting in front of the tube anymore. In the summer we're outside playing and in the winter we're reading or coloring/insert art crafty thing here. You don't realize how much television you're watching until you take it away.

Edited for spelling.

[jefa]

Jan 27, 2015 14:13:39 GMT -5 singingsea said:

We cancelled cable about a year and a half ago. Shit got ridiculously expensive. No regrets here. We use Netflix and Hulu (tons of popular shows on there). We watch a lot of PBS too.

:::getting on soap box:::

I think it's been a really positive change for our family. We still have our shows we watch and DS has his Saturday morning cartoons but we're not just mindlessly sitting in front of the tube anymore. In the summer we're outside playing and in the winter we're reading or coloring/insert art crafty thing here. You don't realize how much television you're watching until you take it away.

Edited for spelling.

we want to cut the cord too and this is exactly why. I just have to do it but lazy.

[allycat]

We cut the cord almost 3 years ago (I think? Or 2? I don't remember) and I'm totally OK with it. H says he misses sports, but he catches the highlights on ESPN.com and whatnot.

We have an HD antenna for local channels, and we stream Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime through the Xbox. I watch more than enough TV.

[13liza]

Jan 27, 2015 13:55:42 GMT -5 luckypanda said:

We have cable, but do you have competing cable companies? We play a game where we swap cable companies yearly to get the best rate. We have gone without and between Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime we had enough stuff to watch! Good luck! The cable game sucks.

We really don't- we could switch to Dish, but I fear we'd be in the same situation in a year. I hate this game.

[13liza]

Jan 27, 2015 14:13:39 GMT -5 singingsea said:

We cancelled cable about a year and a half ago. Shit got ridiculously expensive. No regrets here. We use Netflix and Hulu (tons of popular shows on there). We watch a lot of PBS too.

:::getting on soap box:::

I think it's been a really positive change for our family. We still have our shows we watch and DS has his Saturday morning cartoons but we're not just mindlessly sitting in front of the tube anymore. In the summer we're outside playing and in the winter we're reading or coloring/insert art crafty thing here. You don't realize how much television you're watching until you take it away.

Edited for spelling.

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks!

[singingsea]

Jan 27, 2015 14:18:53 GMT -5 jefa said:

Jan 27, 2015 14:13:39 GMT -5 singingsea said:

We cancelled cable about a year and a half ago. Shit got ridiculously expensive. No regrets here. We use Netflix and Hulu (tons of popular shows on there). We watch a lot of PBS too.

:::getting on soap box:::

I think it's been a really positive change for our family. We still have our shows we watch and DS has his Saturday morning cartoons but we're not just mindlessly sitting in front of the tube anymore. In the summer we're outside playing and in the winter we're reading or coloring/insert art crafty thing here. You don't realize how much television you're watching until you take it away.

Edited for spelling.

we want to cut the cord too and this is exactly why. I just have to do it but lazy.

Doooo it. Our Directv bill was up to $132 a month (I know stupid ridiculous...we had premium channels). Just the savings alone was worth it.

[13liza]

Thanks for the encouragement- I think I'm going to go for it. I might cry a little on Saturday when I'm home alone all day while DH is at work, but I'll get through it. Lol

[rufus426]

We are in the Hulu/Netflix crowd. There are a few things that require a cable log in to watch and we use my moms. If we didn't use hers, we know plenty of other people with cable who would not mind.

[ohinvrtedworld]

We have bunny ears to get the basic network channels, and have Netflix. We did a free trial of Amazon Prime but just didn't see enough unique shows to keep it for right now. We don't miss much, especially because we already sucked at remembering when certain shows came on to keep up.

[lovegrilledcheese]

I changed cable providers in June because my old cable provider raised our cable price by almost $100. I then canceled the cable and signed up with another provider who was significantly cheaper for the same services and we have been pretty happy. Once our contract is up in a year I may just keep the internet and only have Netflix and Hulu if they try to raise the price again.

[somethingvague]

We just canceled cable 2 months ago. Our bill was cut tremendously. We have a decent internet package and only subscribe to Netflix. With a Chromecast, we cast movies and tv shows via Showbox and Popcorn Time.


ETA: The only downside is if you enjoy watching a tv show while it airs. With popcorn time and showbox, you can still watch it usually within a few hours, though I generally just wait until the following night to watch whatever it was.

[teambrink]

We have satellite primarily because we are both really into sports and "have" to have things like Sunday Ticket to watch all the football games and other sporting events. We often get things for free though or greatly reduced when we call, H has a way with words on the phone with the customer service reps. Even with deep discounts some days when I look at the bill I am more than willing to go without, but H would not know what to do with himself.

[aussielove]

I've thought about canceling a few times, but Football. We spend every Saturday in the fall watching all the college games and sure, we could go to a bar or something, but I'm not sure after the bar tabs we would be saving anything.

We did switch from DirectTV to Dish a few months back and saved quite a bit.

[kariann12]

We ditched cable when we get engaged in 2012 to save money. It has not been missed. We are a Netflix & Amazon prime household. We stream is on our Roku. Some years MH has "bought" the MLB channel to watch baseball, but other than that we have everything we need. Seriously, you won't miss it.

[MrsRC88]

I could not live without my DirecTV (well, i could, but I choose not to!). We do have Netflix and Amazon Prime in the bedroom and DirecTV with hd/dvr in the living room. I love sports (NASCAR and baseball), and the majority of these are on cable channels.

[goldenlove3]

We got rid of cable a couple years ago. We use a lot of work around to watch what we want. Antenna for local channels. Netflix and Amazon prime. We stream Xfinity on demand through SIL who just added an email address to their account for us. H signs up for MLB and NHL season packages to watch games but we have to trick the system into thinking we're in another country. Everything is still much less than cable!!

Both HBO and Dish Network are going to start a streaming services. Look up Sling TV.

[getzystark]

I miss my QVC.