How many of you have cut the cable?

[meateater]

Bestbuy, Walmart, Walgreens, etc. have digital antennas for around $10. I live in a metro area so didn't need anything really powerful. I bought the cheapest, then figured if it was not adequate I'd bring it back and put it toward a more powerful one. The cheapest one worked.

I think the government converter program has ended. But, people who originally got the converters are upgrading their tv's, so people are giving away converters, selling on craigslist, etc. If its a newer tv, you won't need the converter. If you hear of anyone getting a new tv over the holidays, find out if they've got an old one their getting rid of, and see if they'll give you the converter or sell it for cheap (these cost $50 when they first came out, and the government coupon was for $40, so I would not pay more than $10).

You don't need to cancel cable to try this out - get the equipment, hook it up, and see what you get (I get 5 pbs stations, when I only got 2 with cable, so I really liked the change). If you don't like it or it doesn't work, you can always return the equipment (its uncomplicated stuff without alot of packaging, easy to get it back in the box in resellable condition).

[jetsfan2010]

I REALLY appreciated everyone chiming in with their suggestions and their current set up. I am thinking of using my desktop pc as my "entertainment center" and connecting it to my tv, to watch things off the pc on the big screen. Im not a big movie viewer, so not sure if netflix would be worth it for me, but I do watch a lot of sports, and I know I would miss that if I didn't have it. ESPN3.com is an option I am exploring.

My goal is to spend no more than 100/mo TOTAL for cable/tv/internet and phone

[jetsfan2010]

Just to clarify as well, I actually have a HDTV, not an analog, so I need to get an antannea that I can use in liew of cable to get channels in, since it didn't seem to come with any.

[Logan]

I recently cut cable myself. I took the monthly savings and bought a Playstation 3 which happens to also be a very good Blu-Ray player and I subscribe to Hulu for $7.99 a month to watch some shows. I also signed up for playon which allows me to watch some shows not available on Hulu. Playon is 20 bucks for a year and downloads many internet shows and videos and sends it to your tv through a device such as Playstation 3.

For a phone I use OOma which was purchased over a year ago for $200 and then you pay nothing for the rest of your life.

The playstation was an investment but pays for itself with the savings from cable.

Logan

PS..I watch local stations for the news. I could never stand CNN/FOX/MSNBC since they're more opinion than news. I want to watch the news not some idiots opinion of Sarah Palin's Hairdo.

[WhatMoney]

Just to clarify as well, I actually have a HDTV, not an analog, so I need to get an antenna that I can use in lieu of cable to get channels in, since it didn't seem to come with any.

First of all an antenna is an antenna - terms like "digital or HDTV antenna" are just useless marketing terms. It's like buying automatic transmission tires, or glass windshields (as opposed to steel windshields?)

You can determine what size of antenna and frequency band (UHF, HI-band VHF, or LO-band VHF) you require by using the website below. Just enter your zip code, adjust the map to your actual location, and you will get a listing of all the broadcast TV stations in your area, their direction, frequency band, signal strength at your location, and the antenna size recommended.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Welcome.aspx

If you are in an urban area, the simplest antenna mounted in the attic or near a window or outside wall will usually work fine. If you are rural, and 50 miles from the nearest TV transmitter, and the stations come from 3 different cities all in different locations, you might need an outside TV antenna on a tower with a rotator on top to point the antenna in the right direction - a worst case situation.

Now back in the 1950's and 60's, it was the norm in the country to have an outside TV antenna with rotator. Life was just so hard back in the good old days, having to install outside antennas, and actually rotate the antenna when changing channels, by hand of course, since there were no remotes. I really don't know how we all survived those days, it was tough I tell you!

[chicagoannie]

We lost cable almost 3 years ago. I, too, purchased a digital antenna but all we get is FOX. Which is ok in that they have shows we like BUT my kids are being raised with their rather, uh, "one-sided" view of the news. Only 1 child is disturbed by our lack of cable - but we watch very little tv, probably because we only have 1 channel of crap to choose from, so being the only "no-cable" family in our town is probable not the worst thing in the world. (Comcast went on my Ch 7 so that's one less OLD creditor I have to worry about)

[chicagoannie]

So for us - no cable, Tracfone cell phone which runs me $30/month prepaid and we all use it, which the kids hate. No landline phone - haven't had one of those for years. Internet unfortunately is Cricket prepaid which is $40 month but slower than dial up, which the kids also hate and I agree with them but my internet choices are Comcast or AT&T...both of whom are creditors. I wish I could find good low-cost internet because being able to use Hulu, download videos on youtube, etc. is enough entertainment for all of us and would make up for not having cable!

[jetsfan2010]

So for us - no cable, Tracfone cell phone which runs me $30/month prepaid and we all use it, which the kids hate. No landline phone - haven't had one of those for years. Internet unfortunately is Cricket prepaid which is $40 month but slower than dial up, which the kids also hate and I agree with them but my internet choices are Comcast or AT&T...both of whom are creditors. I wish I could find good low-cost internet because being able to use Hulu, download videos on youtube, etc. is enough entertainment for all of us and would make up for not having cable!

Honestly, as long as I have internet I am perfectly fine. I much rather keep my internet connection than cable.

[NewPage]

We switched from DirecTV to Dish in April, don't have any movie channels except the ones that come in our pkg (Encore & the like, no HBO etc). We do have the one-disc out Netflix plan.

We have 2 phone lines, one is hubby's business (we dropped the Yellow Pages advertising from it a couple years ago), the other is our personal/fax line. We have DSL on that one b/c to run it thru the business line would cost more. We have fast DSL bc his business is very internet/email dependent.

Additionally we each have a cell phone, with the cheapest plan he can get us. However we do need data so he can access orders & such while away from the office. Pre-paid would not afford him what he needs technically speaking, and our son & myself are added to the plan for less than a pre-paid for each of us, so there you go.

[WhatMoney]

We lost cable almost 3 years ago. I, too, purchased a digital antenna but all we get is FOX. Which is ok in that they have shows we like BUT my kids are being raised with their rather, uh, "one-sided" view of the news. Only 1 child is disturbed by our lack of cable - but we watch very little tv, probably because we only have 1 channel of crap to choose from, so being the only "no-cable" family in our town is probable not the worst thing in the world. (Comcast went on my Ch 7 so that's one less OLD creditor I have to worry about)

I would give away all my TV's if FOX was the only channel I could get.

Did you try the antennaweb.org page I listed above, to see what broadcast channels are within reception range of your location? You must be a long way from Chicago if you can only get one station. The distance limit is around 50 miles from a station without a serious antenna. I used to live 90 miles from Chicago and could watch most of the Chicago stations with an outside antenna mounted on the roof.

[bk2009]

I'd really like to give up cable. I will miss some of my shows though - like House Hunters (are they on Hulu?). I figured that we could get a digital converter, but we do have a digital tv, so maybe we only need an antenna? Any idea if the huge antenna on the roof would work? I don't think it's connected inside anymore, guess we'd have to figure that out. I'd like the antenna for our local channels - for things like news and football games. I figure most everything else can be watched through hulu or on the channel's website. My husband is slowly coming around to the idea, mainly because TWC sucks lately and because they keep raising our rates.

We'll keep our highest speed internet through them - I take online classes and he works from home, so it's essential.

We cut our landline years ago and only have cells. We don't have smart phones, but I still think that we probably pay too much for our cells. We're not in a contract though (just have been riding through on our old plan) and don't really want to re-up into a contract just yet, so we live with what we have.

[tanya0525]

Just curious, who has kids? How has your cut backs effected them and family time. I haven't heard anyone mention this.

[tobee43]

we have "few" choices in this area...we have "basic" tv service...no cells and no extra "cable" channels...we still have a land line...we need it! our package is approx 80 monthly for phone, dsl and tv ...still high we think.

[chicagoannie]

Just curious, who has kids? How has your cut backs effected them and family time. I haven't heard anyone mention this.

Well, my kids hate not having cell phones now (and yes, they really probably are the only ones at their schools who don't have them) and my 13 year old is embarrassed that we don't have cable. The other kids don't mind so much - he is the one who hurts a bit over all we no longer have, the other kids don't seem to mind as much.

We were never big TV watchers so family time has not changed much. Not having good internet is more serious as 2 of my kids have online textbooks and crummy cricket internet is SOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOWWWW that oftentimes pages don't load properly. I wish we had fast enough internet to get Hulu and youtube videos.

[tobee43]

thankfully my kids are grown and pay for their own! whhhhewwwwwww.....i can't imagine how difficult it is to cut the cost with teenagers and kids in the house...that would be really tough for them.