Cutting the Cord Questions

In My Humble Opinion
21

If you remove TV from your service, you wouldn’t need the cable boxes anymore, but you’d lose all the TV channels. No more NBC, CBS, etc. The cable boxes are likely required for TV services. Most cable companies these days digitally encrypt the TV channels. You can’t connect the TV directly to the cable because the TV won’t be able to decrypt the TV signals.

For the non-TV services like YouTube, you’d have your TV connect to the wifi. I’m assuming the TV is already wifi connected since you said there are non-TV products on it.

I’m surprised that your computer connects directly to the cable port on the wall. Are you sure about that? Typically there is a cable modem that provides the internet interface between your computer and the cable, like this:

Computer —ethernet cable----> Cable Modem ----coax cable —> Cable port on the wall

The ethernet cable has connectors that are the clippy connectors like on a phone cord. The coax cables have screw on connectors.

22

Maybe something like this would be helpful?

Trying to address your points in turn:

You said you’re dropping the TV portion and the Phone portion of your service. You’ll still have your internet, but as for your TV you haven’t discussed in terms of how it’s connected to the internet. It could be an ethernet cable (physical cable with what kinda looks like an extra large phone jack connector) or wireless (wifi) connection in most cases.

You’ll have to find the original or a replacement TV only remote in all likelyhood. The TV if connected to the internet via either of the above options, should still be able to access the internet and youtube if it’s one of the many variants of smartTVs. BUT, if its one of those all-in-one units where all your internet was piped through the medium of the TV, which may be the case if it’s a cable-style connector right into the tv, you may be utterly out of luck.

Otherwise, you’re basically looking at what @filmore just typed out as I was writing this tome. You can use the old/new remote to select ‘source’ which is where you’ll be pulling your content from. If it has an internal antenna, you may be able to pick up a few local stations within broadcast range (although it depends on the age of the TV, if it’s digital broadcast compatible which I’d expect you’d be fine).

So to best answer the question, we would need the Year, Make and Model of your TV and how it’s connected to give you the best answers.

23

Yes, you’re right, there is a cable modem and ethernet cable in between my computer and the wall. The modem also supplies wi-fi for my upstairs tablet. Does this arrangement affect what would happen to my TV if I cut the cable?

24

If you cut the cable, you’d just be removing the TV/phone part. The internet side would stay the same. Your computer would work like before. Your TV would only be able to get content over the internet, like YouTube.

But based on what you’ve said, one thing to consider is that interacting with TV over streaming is more clunky to use than your cable TV. It uses more simple functions on the remote to move around. You use the arrow buttons to scroll to the functions you need. It’s fine for what it is, but it’s not as nice as a cable remote. Cable TV costs more, but one thing that’s nice about it is that it bundles everything together in one interface with a remote that allows you to jump right to what you want. You can save money with streaming, but it’s kind of like going to a bunch of different websites to view content where each one does things a bit differently.

25

I personally prefer a computer hooked to my TV. No remote control though. For phone checkout MagicJack. I just renewed for 5 years / $120. I dropped AT&T 3 years ago and that is less than 2 months of their bill.

Never mind. I see you don’t use phone.

26

For what it’s worth, here is my setup, having cut the cord earlier this year.
I have Fire sticks on all my TVs, because none of them were smart enough for useful streaming.
I was already a Disney+ subscriber, so I went with Hulu+ with Live TV. That gives me my networks, locals, and a collection of other channels that I care about. It has DVR capabilities. I can also watch on my laptop.

I set up an antenna and fed it into the coax system that was distributing cable to all the TVs. Except I didn’t want to have to switch inputs and play with the tuners on every TV, so I bought a Tablo TV box. It hooks up to the antenna and rebroadcasts it over my WiFi. There is a Tablo app on the Firestick, so I can watch my local channels through the stick.

I’ve since added a TV to my kitchen, where I did not have a cable jack. Since it’s all WiFI, including my antenna stuff, it does everything the rest of the TVs can do.

27

Depends on what you like to watch, I guess!

Does the 200 a month include your internet? If so, you’ll still have that expense.

We just made the switch last week. Upgraded our internet to gigabit, keot the phone (they raised the price of that, bastidges), and to keep the same TB plan, it would have cost 6 bucks more a month. Forget that: we have Hulu+ and Disney+ through the cell phone plan, we have Netflix and Prime, and we periodically join Paramount+ for a month or so.

All in all, we’ll save 70 bucks a month. We might buy an antenna for local stuff, and we’ll likely try Sling to fill in some gaps, but it’ll still add up to less than we are paying now, with faster internet.

We use Roku on both our TVs, so anything we like, we can watch that way.

The one thing I’ll miss is the ability to flip channels until something catches my interest. But since Verizon had a, habit of “improving” their lineup (addibg crap, and taking away channels I liked), I’ll deal with it.

Oh, and supposedly they’ll give us a credit on our cell phone bills: 10 bucks a month - per line.

With all that, I’m sorry I didn’t do this a year ago.

Someone mentioned that with an antenna, you can only watch stuff live. Well, that’s kinda how we all grew up, right? Being able to stream anything, anytime you like it, is something we’ve gotten spoiled by in the past 5-10 years.

A smart TV is nice but honestly, I’d stick with an external device such as Roku, Fire Stick etc. Our first big TV had Netflix and Amazon built in, but within 2-3 years, they discontinued one of those “to improve service” or some such BS.

Universal remotes solve a lot of problems - but Logitech has discontinued their entire line and things I read suggest that nothing else out there is as good. I’m sorry we did not swipe the one in the condo we just sold; we’re gonna do our best to make the two we have last as long as possible.

28

I forgot to mention this part. The tablo box I have that rebroadcasts my antenna channels allows me to attach an external hard drive, and works as a DVR. So I can record and watch over the air TV too.

29

In central Arkansas, I have never been able to receive digital TV stations well with an inside antenna. The ABC affiliate had an extremely high signal, the transmitter being rather close. I’ve yet to invest in an outside antenna. Local news would be nice, but I think it will be a chancy thing to lay out $100 for an antenna that may not work well.

30

There are some websites which attempt to estimate which channels you’d get with various types of antennas based on your address, for example:

31

Thanks, filmore. It agrees with my experience, sadly. The ABC affiliate at “medium”. Dang.

32

For anyone who’s thinking about cutting the cord but is not quite sure how it would work in their home or if they’d like the different products, note that you can try it out before you cancel your cable subscription! In fact I would say it’s a must-do to try it first before you cancel.

You can get any of the appliances for about $30 (or more, there are different versions). Most of them you can buy at a local store like Best Buy or Target or Wal Mart. As far as I know, even though Roku has different versions of their appliances, the interface is the same on all of them. I believe it would be the same for different models of the other brands of appliance.

You can set them up on your TV(s) and see how you like the interface. You can also test how your wifi works with them. You can get free trials of different services (Netflix, Hulu, YouTubeTV, etc) to see how you like the service and also how the service works on a device.

And if you don’t like the device you chose, you can return it. That’s why I mentioned buying at a local store - easier to return. You can try another if you’d like. If you return it I would look up how to reset the device first, to remove your personal info.

There are usually very good deals on devices on Black Friday. I think I got my Roku Ultra ($129) for $50 on Black Friday. Amazon Fire Sticks are super cheap then too.

Anyway - for those of you who have never used a streaming device - try before you buy!

33

Never had cable. It’s not available where I live. I’ve been using satellite dishes. I now have Starlink which is much better than previous dishes. Much, much faster and no band width limits.

We get all our TV and internet over it.

I kept our Hughes.net up and running at the lowest subscription you can get. But that’s because I work from home, and I was unsure of Starlinks reliability. So far, it’s been rock solid.

I did cut the cord on our land line. It was very unreliable. I put a cell phone antenna on the roof. There is some sort of repeater inside. Works well for us. Best not to walk around when your talking though.

34

I keep thinking this thread is about cutting umbilical cords.

35

Thanks for all of the input, but I still have questions.

I guess I don’t see the need for an antenna if the service has the networks and possibly local. We don’t watch news much anymore anyway.

With You Tube TV - when watching network TV is it the same as watching it when using cable TV? On Wednesday night can I go to NBC and watch the Chicago PD at 9:00?

I would have to get Rokus for the older TVs in the house.

The $200+ does include my internet. That’s another thing I’ll have to figure out. What’s a good internet provider to go with? Or do I use my cable provider for just the internet?

Some of you have really complicated systems! Complicated to me anyway. I wouldn’t know the first thing about any of it.

Here’s what I want/need:

My favorite channels that I’m getting through cable now - You Tube TV seems to have them
A DVR - You Tube has it
Network TV - We watch a lot of prime time network shows - You Tube has it
Local news, etc. - Not all that important to me, but if it comes through, great!
Ability to stream Netflix, Prime & Max - a new TV would have that (I don’t remember if You Tube has it).

I want all of this without having to run various extra cables, antennas, plugs, etc. I THINK You Tube TV fits the bill. And trying before I cancel cable is an excellent idea!

36

So, YouTube is a service (a service that has all the extra bells and whistles you are looking for like DVR and local TV). Netflix is a different service. Prime is a different service. Max and Hulu are their own services too.

You’ll need to get an appliance (either a standalone appliance like Roku or Fire Stick, or a Smart TV) to watch any of these services.

You’ll need a subscription to YouTubeTV to watch YouTube TV. You’ll need a subscription to Prime to watch Prime, Netflix for Netflix, Hulu for Hulu, etc. But they will all have apps available in whatever appliance you choose.

37

Right - I have a subscription to Netflix, Prime and Max and am able to watch them on my old smart TV. And yes, I know I would need a subscription to You Tube TV.

Thanks!

38

In case anyone was wondering about the differences in the streaming devices, here is my experience. They all pretty much run everything, but the user experience is different.

  • Roku - The original streaming platform. The title screen is simple tiles of the apps like on your phone. You select the app to bring up the service. Has good search capability. Type in a show you want and it will show you which apps have it and whether it’s free or has a cost. The remote has a few extra buttons. Some buttons launch pre-configured services, like Netflix, Max, etc. Some remotes have a button to skip back 10 sec, which is very handy since REW is often clunky and inconsistent between the services. Will have a button for mute. The 4k Roku devices are integrated with AirPlay, so you can cast Apple devices to the Roku (iPhone, Mac).

  • FireTV - Streaming device from Amazon. Title screen is integrated with your services. Will show you the shows you were watching right on the title screen so you can jump back in. Has lots of ads for Amazon content. Not sure of the search capability. Can cast Android or Windows devices. Apple casting requires an app. Remotes typically have buttons for 10-sec REW and mute. Integrated with Alexa.

  • Chromecast with GoogleTV - Title screen is integrated with your services. I like the integration better than FireTV’s. Very easy to see the shows you’re watching on the various services. Not very good search. I just want to know where a show is, but it seems like it’s doing a web search and returns lots of stuff I don’t care about. Remote is very simple. No 10-sec REW and no dedicated mute. For mute, you have to hold the volume down for a sec, but that jumps the volume to 0. Then you have to scroll the volume back up to where you want it. Has Chromecast built in for Android casting.

For power users, I would recommend Roku. For people who want the simplest and easiest experience, I would recommend GoogleTV.

39

I bought a Roku mainly so I could get MLB.TV on my LG smart TV. (MLB didn’t have a version of their app compatible with the LG.) It worked out pretty well, and I ended up migrating all our other steaming services for that TV onto the Roku–YouTube TV, Netflix, Hulu, Prime. I also had the Criterion Channel for a while, but I dropped it because I wasn’t watching it enough to justify the expense.

40

Like I said before, if it’s only prime time network shows you’re interested in, and don’t care about local news, etc., then you don’t really need a TV service like YouTube TV.

I cut the cord back in January, and went from paying well over $200/mo for cable and internet, to $88/mo for just internet. Plus I signed up for the Paramount+ ad supported tier for $4.99/mo and the Hulu ad supported tier for 7.99/mo. All the prime time shows I used to watch on Fox and ABC are on Hulu the day after they air. All the prime time shows I used to watch on CBS are on Paramount+ the day after they air as well. You’d probably need Peacock for any NBC shows, but all three of those services is going to run you less than subscribing to YouTube TV. I really don’t miss having the actual network channels at all.

PBS is the one broadcast channel I thought I’d miss, but it turns out I can stream many of their shows for free in the PBS app on my Roku, plus I can even watch a live stream from my local PBS station.