Cut cable and use hulu instead - have you done it?

[Pooh]

Wondered if anyone has canceled cable/sat-tv and just use hulu or other services for tv shows via connections to an ipad or other device.

Was researching which new smart phone & tablet to purchase and came across this idea; does it work? seems much cheaper than cable even though we are not heavy tv watchers and only seem to watch USA, BBC, no premium movie channels, NFL, and hgtv-crap. Is this a realistic thing to do or would their be issues/problems.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-...an-ipad-2012-8#get-a-hulu-plus-subscription-3

 

[Nukem]

I was not a fan of Hulu, cause they didn't have any shows I like and most of their programs had to be watched from the computer. I did go down to basic cable, and up my internet speed. I use Netflix a lot.

 

[blue_myriddn]

We did it 5 years ago and haven't regretted it a minute. I bought a Roku, ran an ethernet cable over to our TV cabinet and stream Netflix primarily from there. As far as devices go, the Roku is in my opinion the best "basic" box. A few notes though:

1. Best bet is if you like watching classic TV shows. For example we are watching Fraiser & Top Gear and that keeps us happy. If you want to be up to date on the latest shows, you will have a hard time. In an another example, we are just now running through the Game of Thrones series 1, whereas most cable users have already seen it. So prepare to be a little behind the times.
   
2. Sports is the Achilles heel. Baseball is the big one in our house, so we branched out and got the NBA streaming thingy. With football, you might have a hard time. By in large, sports fans have a harder time cutting the cable.
   
3. Pick up an antenna and see if you can get local channels - you may be surprised.
   
4. Netflix & Amazon Prime seem to be better than Hulu. Give them a look and see which fits you. We have had Netflix for ages, but Amazon is tempting me to switch of late.
   
5. If you have a small internet provider, double check their terms - I know a guy who had his cable turned off because he was streaming too much. Your data consumption is going to go through the roof and that ticks off some cable providers. Also keep an eye out in case they start charging per MB for home usage (I have hard that is being debated)
   
6. *edit* forgot the ipad. We LOVE the ipad in connection with this. It is basically our mobile TV. There is pretty good cross memory between the devices, so you can turn the TV off downstairs, go upstairs and finish off a show with the ipad in your lap.

Good luck and feel free to ask any specific questions, happy to help i I can

 

[flaminio]

Been cable free for years now. I get all the content I need either OTA for free, or from Netflix streaming ($8/month). I kinda miss some shows, but I enjoy the extra $$$ I have every month more.

 

[Vega$ NSX]

Roku + Netflix here. My thumbs up hand is now larger then my head.

 

[Russ]

Still have cable (fiber actually) but dropped all Viacom channels and assorted others. Fed up with the endless crap they were pumping into my living room. No more.

 

[e.pie]

I have soley been using Netflix and Hulu for over a year now. No regrets.

 

[ThumperAC]

I just enjoy sports (from racing to football to basketball) too much to give it up.

I think if I did give it up, I would cancel out any savings by spending more money at sports bars to watched live events.

 

[sahtt]

Been cable free for years now. I get all the content I need either OTA for free, or from Netflix streaming ($8/month). I kinda miss some shows, but I enjoy the extra $$$ I have every month more.

2nd. I've never paid a cable bill (I'm in my late 20's) and don't plan to. When I hear people complain about Hulu or Netflix it's usually because they don't have as much up to date content as cable.

What I think in my head is "Pal, you seriously need to spend less time and energy watching TV." I only use the FREE version of hulu and it has tens of thousands of hours of content - way more than I could ever watch. Spending $1,000 a year for cable is flat out insane. If you need cable that bad then you really need to cut it.

 

[MichaelS]

Don't forget that many people can get lots of free HDTV over the air. Check out antennaweb.org to see what's available in your area and what kind of antenna you'd need.

My antenna gives me better picture than cable, probably because it's not compressed more. Anyway, most stations have several channels, for old movies, TV shows, etc.

Cutting the cord saves me $70+ per month, which is a lot more than Netflix...

Some people miss watching shows on special channels like Discovery, History Channel etc., when they first come out.

Just stuff to consider...

 

[jond]

We did it 5 years ago and haven't regretted it a minute. I bought a Roku, ran an ethernet cable over to our TV cabinet and stream Netflix primarily from there. As far as devices go, the Roku is in my opinion the best "basic" box. A few notes though:

I did the same. At the start of the recession I cut cable to save more money.
I bought a Roku and added netflix.
I found that by making a youtube account and subscribing to channels I was interested in, I had more than enough mind numbing entertainment there every night.
I ended up going back to cable though. I'm a news junkie and live CNN is the one thing I can't do without.

Another thought is to buy 4-5 different TV series boxsets on DVD off ebay, watch them, sell them back on ebay, repeat.
I would imagine it would be far cheaper than netflix.

 

[e.pie]

There are alternatives to CNN, for example you can stream Al Jazeera English and the UK's SkyNews for free.

 

[Pooh]

Thank you all for your comments! The information is really helpful. Since we already are basicially watching repeats (USA network broadcasts all the previous season shows) I don't think it will matter that the content isn't current. THe only shows we really watch are NCIS, Suits, Burn Notice and the Legal whatever show they have with a guilty pleasure of watching Law and Order SUV when Don's not around; Don really likes Homes on home or Homes Inspection shows.

I use to have an antenna-only TV pre-marriage and our area gets 4-5 local stations though I'm not a TV news watcher nor rarely watch network tv so not much use to us (though maybe would watch more public tv if had to give up bbc). For football I can always go watch at a friends house. Maybe I'd be more social that way!

I hate paying cable bill (FIOS) and we have it bundled with phone and internet. Need to figure out a better way of doing this. Since I work from home need quick internet connection. Don't really want a home land line, but we have it for when older family members visit.

Feel free to comment with what you have found to be the best providers of mobile-internet-home phone service. fyi we use Verizon as they have the best coverage in our area.

 

[Jamolah]

I keep trying to justify my cable/satellite bill every month. On the one hand I rarely watch that much TV (especially in summer) and when I do it's maybe 3 or 4 Channels. But on the other hand I love having the convienence of being able to turn on the TV and everything is there.

Also I'm a huge Formula1 fan. Is there anyway to get F1 other than cable/satellite?

And I'm in Canada so we don't get Hulu.

 

[itrsteve]

I cut cable with a disconnection order and everything, TW scurried to keep the account and they bundled it with my RR for $60 a month for 2 years (which is nothing IMO).

I would honestly say that besides the NBA 50% of our TV viewing comes from Netflix anyway. I'm going to do the AppleTV with the NBA league pass this next season.

 

[e.pie]

Apple TV just got Hulu this week too.

 

[Gansan]

I'm really edging toward cutting the cable too. I have been preparing, by getting a TiVo, hooking up an antenna, and so now I have a source for normal network programs. I also have an Apple TV where I watch Netflix. For the cable shows I watch, you can do the math and its actually much, much cheaper to buy those shows a la carte from iTunes. So I got the Breaking Bad season pass and so I can stream each episode for the rest of the season for a fraction of one month's bill.

I'm going to keep my cable until the Olympics are done, then I'll quit it.

 

[jond]

One trick is you can TRY cutting cable.
Call them up and say you want to put your cable TV on hold for 3 months.
They should do it without issue.
Your account stays active, you keep your equipment hooked up, you just don't get a bill(or TV).

 

[comtec]

I am only home about 5% of the time spending the other 95% in hotels and still have full cable.

I have comcast and they have all the shows from most every network including movies and shows on the pay channels (hbo,max,sho) available online. Much better then netflix which i also have. To get the live sports or shows i have a slingbox which allows me to watch and control my cable box from anywhere over the internet. It will also sling your cable to a smart phone.

Mike

 

[jond]

I heard Canada is forcing cable companies to allow people to only buy the channels they want.
THAT will be killer if the United States can pull that off too.
I watch maybe 5 different channels.

 

[Ric]

^^ that would work for me as I only watch around 5 channels anyway. However that won't happen in the US as the cable companies will bribe, I mean, lobby the lawmakers not to let it happens.

 

[jond]

^^ that would work for me as I only watch around 5 channels anyway. However that won't happen in the US as the cable companies will bribe, I mean, lobby the lawmakers not to let it happens.

Sad but true. We're free from government, but the USA has basically turned into a totalitarian country because corporations run the country leaving the people with no representation.

 

[DRIFTER]

I have been doing this for a few years. I don't watch to much cable and my local provider sucks. I got pissed off at the customer Service so I took there stuff back and canceled cable. My bill was cut in half and I haven't missed it for a second. I just get my news online now.

 

[sahtt]

I keep trying to justify my cable/satellite bill every month. On the one hand I rarely watch that much TV (especially in summer) and when I do it's maybe 3 or 4 Channels. But on the other hand I love having the convienence of being able to turn on the TV and everything is there.

Also I'm a huge Formula1 fan. Is there anyway to get F1 other than cable/satellite?

And I'm in Canada so we don't get Hulu.

Jamolah,

Believe it or not, I get f1 free through an HD antenna (<$20) through Fox here in the states. It's even in HD. The only thing I miss is motogp but a bar a couple miles from my house hosts it for free every Sunday. More fun to watch it with fellow riders and motogp.com costs more than buying a couple beers to support the bar (oh, the agony).

 

[robr]

About a year ago, my 2 year Comcast contract ended and my cable bill went up to $185 and I said THAT'S IT!!! and proceeded to begin a program of cutting that to be as little as possible.

I put together a spreadsheet to figure out what my costs would be to find alternatives and how long it would take to recoup any initial costs.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AglUX8TTltdsdGZIZHVlOTY0NnBTamM0VXNIekx2c1E

I purchased Ooma for phone service, a $200 outlay but in return, my service with unlimited local and LD calling is about $5/month (taxes and 911 fees). We transferred our number and it has passed the W.A.F. (wife acceptance factor) with flying colors. I even heard her recommending it to her friend a while back. (If interested, I believe I can provide a referral link that will get you this for $150 and I get an Amazon GC or something like that, assuming the program is still happening).

I had my internet bandwidth reduced from 25mbit to 12mbit.
I purchased my own Motorola modem instead of renting one from Comcast
I looked at my Comcast DVR and wrote down all the programs in our recording list and noticed that 95% of them were on standard broadcast channels. The only exceptions were a couple of kid shows. So then I replaced the Comcast DVR with a TiVo, I had our cable dropped to basic cable only and subscribed to Netflix. The TiVo included 7 months free of Hulu but we hated Hulu, especially the TiVo user interface and the fact it had commercials.

So I now pay $12/month for Comcast TV, and our total comcast bill is around $55 which includes internet. I am now working on Phase 2.

We've only had one TV in the house, but I recently picked up a used one for $200, hooked up a Windows PC (needs to have a video card with HDMI out) and bought a dual tuner Hauppauge USB based TV tuner which supports ClearQAM (so no cable card needed though you can install one if you want to purchase premier channels). I set up Windows Media Center and now basically have a 2nd TiVo with no additional monthly costs, just the initial $100ish outlay for the Hauppauge (I already had the PC with HDMI out).

If it passes the wife acceptance factor, I will do away with the other TiVo ($20/month) and just go pure WMC (though Microsoft has killed the product with the release of Windows 8 so who knows how long it will be around... the guide data would suffer first)