Looking to reduce monthly bills, as I'm paying out the rear end for TV right now, and it sure isn't worth it.

Currently, I'm using ATT for cell, home internet and TV services.

I like the TV honestly, it's the best app as I only need ONE box and can use the Amazon firesticks on my other TV's at home, and at my lake condo. That's why I have kept it so far.

But... it's friggin expensive.. I called to cancel and got the price down with a deal of theirs, to about 130 per month for home internet and cable.

That's still a lot.

Then there is their internet... Their speed is 100mbps here, that's the max package... I speedtest at 105mbps. That's not bad, but other places are offerring 400mbps and 940 mbps...

I can get Charter with 400mbps and a similar TV package for the same price, but their DVR and their app sucks. In fact, I couldn't use their app on my Fire TV sticks... I'd have to buy Roku sticks or rent cable boxes from them.

That doesn't save me any money.

So I'm looking into other options.

We really don't use that much live TV, but i like the option.

I want to have news channels, and some of the sports channels (Like Cardinals and Blues games) don't give a crap about NFL or NBA.

I'm seeing offers for Hulu Live, Sling, Philo, and others. Is anyone using these? How do they compare quality and price wise to what you had before?

ETA... We already have a regular Hulu account, a Netflix account, and a Disney+ account (although now that Mandelorian is over, probably will cancel that until the next season)

I'm really hoping to hear some experiences with Hulu Live, Philo, or Sling. I've never used them and want to know if they are too good to be true.

Kevin

We watch virtually no current shows on major networks. We have comcast internet and stream content from Prime and Disney+ thru our Roku.

We just pay for Netflix and split a Hulu account with a friend. That's it as far as pay services are concerned. I want to say that, all said and done, we're saving maybe $40/mo vs. a cable + internet bundle.

We watch Youtube via smart TV and also get some sort of free digital TV thing with some very repetitive things on (frankly only ever watched the Bob Ross channel).

We have found no need for any of those other services or devices, although I did get a free AppleTV one year subscription just recently...which I haven't used once thus far.

We're also not sports watchers, having given up on all sports teams for their political propaganda, so that might change our decision if we were diehard sports fans.

Kevin - We switched to YouTube TV for $65 about 6 months ago - half of Dish Networks fare. We also have Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu @ $1.99 per month. Our internet is from a local company at $62 a month for 35 mbps. Not fast but sufficient to stream 4K. Our Youtube TV is on pause about half the year as we snowbird. Nothing is cheap anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
Kevin - We switched to YouTube TV for $65 about 6 months ago - half of Dish Networks fare. We also have Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu @ $1.99 per month. Our internet is from a local company at $62 a month for 35 mbps. Not fast but sufficient to stream 4K. Our Youtube TV is on pause about half the year as we snowbird. Nothing is cheap anymore.

Damn, that isnt' any cheaper than i pay now, although you are getting a great deal on netflix and Hulu... How are you getting those so cheap?

Amazon Prime and a ROKU. Saving a hundred a month. Takes a few months, but no longer miss cable. Tried Hulu for a month. Exhausted what we want to watch on it. Same with Showtime. Internet 45 a month will drop to 25 tomorrow. (supposedly)

I have Philo for the wife's Hallmark channels. Philo has a DVR-ish feature to watch saved shows. The picture quality has been good. I watch a lot of https://www.pluto.tv/ . Lots of channels for free, but no DVR just On Demand. I've got Amazon Prime and Google Movies (or whatever they call it this week) for when Pluto's got nothing of interest. If I ever again need to see local TV news, I have a digital antenna that I rarely use.

I've had and cancelled Spectrum cable TV, Netflix, Hulu, and Youtube TV. I am stuck with the same crappy 100 Mbps Spectrum cable internet that just went up $20 to around $85/mo. My local power co-op is supposed to be running fiber with a lower monthly fee, but I think they're holding out for the government cheese related to rural broadband.

About the only sports we watch is MLB games. We use the MLB TV app for that. But the last time I checked, it's $95/yr for literally no games due to the Covid.

We cut the cord about 2 years ago, we kept Time Warner/Spectrum internet and by doing this we got Spectrum unlimited data/talk/text for $40 a person including taxes.

All of our close friends share HBO Max, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and Disney + occasional I will miss a show, but with this many options there is usually something to watch.

We now have Roku and Hulu. I like the Tubi offerings. By dropping the Satellite service we have 10 times more tv choices. The cost is now reduced by $2,500 per year.

You should be able to run Charter/Spectrum TV app on your firesticks.

How to Run Spectrum on Firestick

If you're wanting to cut costs, this is going to be your best bet:

1. Get a digital OTA antenna for local news and live major networks.

2. Grab the Hulu/Disney/ESPN bundle for $13/month. It's the same price per month as you're currently paying for just Hulu and Disney+, and gets you sports through the ESPN+ app. For you, it's basically free ESPN. (I know there's a way to merge your existing separate Hulu and Disney accounts into a bundle, but you'll have to research that.)

3. Keep Netflix, and supplement with other free ad-supported streaming options like PBS, Youtube, Pluto, and Vudu, as well as Kanopy through your public library account.


With that, you can get everything you're wanting - including local news, some live TV, and sports - plus more streaming content than you could ever hope to consume, all for the same ~$30 per month that you're already paying for just Netflix, Hulu, and Disney streaming.

It looks like Rogue is on spot and I agree with his assessment.
You just have to find out what internet only costs and add that to your total.
Also, not sure why you would need faster internet.
That may be a different discussion.

I'm currently spending $58/mo on 100mbs service. I have Netflix & Amazon and will also stream YouTube.

Forgot to add I've also got the rabbit ears hooked up for the dozen channels. Major networks etc..

Cheers~

I haven't had any tv in my home that wasn't Amazon Prime or Hulu in almost a year. I don't miss a damned thing outside of those two services. Oh, and I recently picked up Disney for the Star Wars stuff.

We "cut the cord", really more like "unhooked the satellite dish" a couple of years ago.

Going with OTA and my collection of DVD/VCRs and Tubi on the computer.

Used to pay around $180 a month for a bunch of feces on tv, now pay $0 a month for a smaller bunch of feces on tv.

Only show I watch regularly on TV is SEAL Team nowadays.

Just watch your ISP's. I'm seeing the MSO's (cable companies) start capping TB's/GB's forcing customers who have cut the cord into more expensive internet plans.

I'm finally looking at cutting off Dish Network this year. I've been running dual ISP's since the pandemic began, for work purposes, because of internet outages. Dual ISP's means 100% uptime and I have everything UPS'd, including my surveillance system so I can even tolerate power outages. I've always liked satellite service for redundancy. For me it's the PQ. Many of the streaming apps are 4k while satellite remains 1080i. But I pay $80 a month for satellite. A DVR + 3 boxes and all the movie channels sans HBO/Max because ATT are thugs and refuse to deal with DISH network. But I get HBO Max app for free. Right now if I kill my satellite, it's just not going to save me that much money once I load up on apps but it will. Problem is I want a menu with live channel streams to flip through. I've tried the apps, opening one and closing it, searching for content, etc. PITA. May be the year for me too though.

DirecTv agreement is up soon, so I'll hit them for a disconnect or discount, their choice, Internet is home office company, so I can leach off it for streaming and home web access, still its not cheap.

2021 think I'll be putting more effort into eliminating the excessive Entertainment expenses that COVID has driven up.

Kevin, I have nothing to offer except I feel your pain. I, too, am an AT&T subscriber.

Kevin, we are dirctv and have internet, landline, and all dirctv channels for $200/mo so no help here as well

We have been on YouTubeTV for about 1-1/2 years now. We like it fine, it's just the internet is so expensive. I hope the cable companies are seeing the handwriting on the wall.

Just do this:

1) Reduce your plan to internet only.

2) Slap a good antenna on your main TV or buy a rooftop antenna and attach to where your cable used to go for all your TVs.

3) Wait a few weeks to see what you’re lacking.

4) Pay for a few streaming services.

Just get it done. You’ll save $100+ a month and start doing shit besides watch the boob tube.