Ditching cable but still having TV

[mavric]

Roku is the way to go ,Hundreds of free stuff to watch, Netflix's is only 8.00 mo with hundred's shows,movies . I think roku has about 50-60 channals . Radio shack sell's roku for about $50. If you have like, playstaion , a blueray player and others . I heard about roku from Clark Howard . Ton's of this is free some u buy,But cheap. Best $50 bucks i ever spent!

[GoingDown]

I know $8 isn't much, but I'd rather pay nothing. I'd rather have as few monthly bills as possible. In my experience, the public library gets most of the popular movies on DVD, and like I said, they are free to borrow.

I also prefer watching movies on DVD rather than streaming them or downloading them. I think the picture quality is better when they are DVDs.

Never heard of roku, but I will look into it. Is it $50, and then never any monthly bills after that?

[Drazil65]

After paying on average $100 for internet and cable (nothing fancy just digital cable HD and lite internet) we decided that we were going to find a way to cut back. I watch tv mostly at night during the week (after kids in bed of course ). We are big movie and documentary watchers so re did a reassessment of our true needs. So first we joined Netflex ($8.53), love, love love it!!! Then we went to Roku, cannot say enough about it. We paid $58 a piece for 2 (HD versions). One for our bedroom tv and one for the big tv in family room. The only paid subscription we have on it is the Netflex and you can watch Netflex on 2 devices at the same time so it works in our home if we are all watching in 2 different rooms. Of course we also get it on our computer as well if we want it.

Roku is a one time lay out and that is it. We get so many free apps for tv stuff, like Syfy channel is free (my family likes Face Off series), we get major news channels free apps for streaming (several are real time and some you can stream for different stories) but we get all of our news on the interenet (local and world), we feel in love with the House of Cards series on Netflex and like so many completed the entire first season and are having withdrawals waiting for the 2nd season to come on. You get used to watching tv with no commercials real quick....we love it!!!!

So our tv watching bill is now $19.99 for internet service (major cable company we kept what we had) and $8.53 for Netflex subscription. Our old average was $100 and if we watched movies on demand back then we were averaging $120 a month....huge difference and we control what we watch and when, love it!!!!

[alo]

Another great savings is becoming an Amazon Prime subscriber (free 2-day delivery on a tons of discounted items). I think it is about $80/year. I joined because I get a huge discount on diapers ++ delivered to my door monthly (subscribe-and-save option). You can get groceries, pet supplies...no driving to specialty stores!! Gas savings.

(The alternative for me is driving to Babies R Us armed with coupons and I still don't get the lowest cost!!)

And there are a ton of other free inclusions...on demand movies, free ebooks...so this covers me for entertainment, too!!! Use it anywhere, on your phone, tv, computer cause you just log in to your account.

Best part, you can try it out for free for a couple months and see if it works for your needs!
Love sharing cost savings ideas!

[Drazil65]

Thanks for the info on Amazon Prime subscription, we have been looking at that one as well ($79 a year paid once a year). There seems to be so much on the website so between Netflex and that one we would not have enough time in a year to watch everything. The cable companies (one in particular I would say) must absolutely hate this streaming stuff....but for the rest of us who want to be in control of what and how we watch tv and movies, more power to us!!!!

[keepsmiling]

I have Amazon Prime (you can get it free with a school email addy btw- then half price)...
Haven't figured it out yet. We tend to watch USA shows like SVU and Psych, NCIS... are any of them free? Sorry if it's a dumb q. I only see the ones you have to pay for.

[alo]

keepsmiling, you have to search through the network list once you get go to Prime Video Streaming...USA has Deadzone but that looks like it.

[iswmle]

We have not had cable in over 2 years. We have a Roku, Netflix, and we torrent. Yes, torrenting is probably not the best and most legal way to get things, but it is available. We download everything from movies to school books for my fiance's grad program. This is not a recent thing, both of us have torrented for at least 5 years. My brother torrents movies for my mom and himself on a weekly basis. There was recent noise in the news about ISPs trying to cut down on the torrenting, but it is poorly enforced and there are already work arounds.

We have a laptop hooked up with an HDMI cable to a big screen television, which is where we watch our shows. We keep up with all the new tv series, like Walking Dead, Vikings, Supernatural, etc. Our internet is a wee bit expensive ($60 for turbo) but it is a lot better than what a lot of people are paying for cable.

[Kristy12]

I bought the recommended indoor antenna for my area as recommended on antennaweb.org. I think is was about $80. I bought it on Amazon along with a very long cable cord. I simply followed the installation instructions and have been getting between 24-30 digital channels for a year now. Plenty of channels for free. I subscribe to Netflix streaming for $7.99 a month and watch as many movies and TV shows I want, on my TV through my computer.

[nioka]

I have been using OTA for years saving thousands. However, I am limited to network channels.

When I visited my elderly aunt in Philadelphia a few years ago she asked me to pick out new TV for her. I like the tv brand I was using and picked the same for her. She was delighted with the picture. Shen then showed me her cable bill and my jaw dropped to the floor. The cable company was charging her for individual equipment in every room in her house but she only had one tv. I went the cable company and got that straighten out.
When I got back to my aunt's house I was still steaming. From what I seen of the tv stations she liked I found them limited to network channels. I went out back of her house and there on the roof was an antenna that had to forty years old with the antenna wire dangling in the air. Out of curiosity I got what I needed and connected this old antenna to the new tv. I ran the auto program and to my surprise she got 34 hidef channels. She got the local Philadelphia stations and also, Delaware, NJ, and some NYC stations. Needless to say she was very happy. We cancelled her cable the next day.
The funny thing is that within six months of not paying those ridiculous cable bills she recouped all the money she put out for her new TV.

[TXskyblue]

I currently have AT&T U-verse, but it's on a 1-year special bundle with internet that was actually cheaper to get WITH the TV service than it was without it. Weird, but that's how it is.

When the year's up, I plan to ditch the U-verse TV (keeping internet) and just use my Roku. Netflix for $8.65/m is impossible to beat. I also have Amazon Prime through the Roku as well. Don't use it very much but it's a solid service.

[cometkitty]

I am trying to get our budget nailed down and we were paying $180 a month for internet and cable with Verizon. So I am having a local cable provider install a new internet connection this week which will run about $50/month (we work from home sometimes so I need a fast/solid connection).

Our DVD player has WiFi and lets you connect to Amazon, NetFlix, Hulu, etc. (kinda like Roku) so I signed up for HuLu which is only $8/month and we can then get cartoons for the kids and all the major shows. So it will be a savings of about $120/month!

[GoingDown]

I am trying to get our budget nailed down and we were paying $180 a month for internet and cable with Verizon. So I am having a local cable provider install a new internet connection this week which will run about $50/month (we work from home sometimes so I need a fast/solid connection).

Our DVD player has WiFi and lets you connect to Amazon, NetFlix, Hulu, etc. (kinda like Roku) so I signed up for HuLu which is only $8/month and we can then get cartoons for the kids and all the major shows. So it will be a savings of about $120/month!

Yes! My old DVD player finally stopped working, so I got a new one, and I was surprised to find out that it does indeed have wifi, so I can get onto website right from the comfort of my living room recliner and my big screen t.v. I do Amazon, because I can control how much I spend per month with it, and only pay for what I want to watch. And I can buy the Amazon gift card for cash at the grocery store, so I can have a built in limit on how much I spend on Amazon. Since I have no credit card or debit card associated with my Amazon account, just the pre-paid Amazon gift card, once the money on the card gets used up, that's it for that time period. There is no way to run up a huge bill.

Another thing people might look into is Google Chromecast. You plug the USB into any functioning USB port on your computer, and it sends out a signal to your t.v. You can watch Youtube and any other web video service on your big screen t.v. for free.