# Explain Cord-Cutting (Cable, Satellite) To Me, In The Simplest Terms Possible **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133 "2017-07-12T22:18:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/21 "2017-07-13T19:21:55Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Sling seems interesting. Is there an online guide or anything to see what is playing on the channels at that moment? I mean a guide like cable has - accessible via the TV, not something that I need to pull out my phone or computer to get. Yes, there is. You can’t browse channels while watching your current program, but it is similar to what you would see on Dish or DirecTV. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/22 "2017-07-13T19:29:17Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > Yes, there is. > You can’t browse channels while watching your current program, but it is similar to what you would see on Dish or DirecTV. Thanks! That sounds ok then. I don’t always know what I want to watch if I have some time. Going through the guide to see if a Seinfeld rerun was on or something like that is extremely useful. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/23 "2017-07-13T20:24:34Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Here’s what I want: the ability to watch my shows, and possibly the 5-10 previous episodes of my shows, the same way I watch them now: when I’m ready, via my DVR (or whatever the equivalent is). This includes both cable TV (Science Channel and all that) and network TV (NBC and all that). > > How can I make that ^^^^^^^ happen? To get a correct answer you really need a detailed list of what “my shows” consists of. Some shows can be streamed but their source will vary and which episodes are available will vary. Some shows can’t be streamed but can be watched live with a traditional antenna. Others can’t be received at all unless you have cable or satellite. It’s really a mixed bag of whats available out there. If you’re not too picky about what you watch and enjoy a wide range of stuff then streaming services offer A LOT of content. The more particular and detailed you get about what and when you watch the more difficult it gets to “make it happen”. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/24 "2017-07-13T22:04:48Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Be aware that with major, nationwide internet/cable/landline phone providers, the savings are all in the bundles, so cutting back to just internet may not save you much, and can actually end up costing you more. I have Verizon FiOS internet and cable, and when my 2-year contract was up I explored their internet-only options and turns out it would cost exactly the same as it did with the cable; the cable was essentially free. The only thing that actually reduced my monthly costs was to keep the cable but cut back to the “local channels”-only plan. Exactly. A few years ago I cancelled my TV from Time Warner Cable, keeping the Internet and phone service, and ended up saving a decent amount, but not nearly as much as if I had TV alone. A year or so later I called them (about something completely unrelated) and they up-sold me to get the cable TV back with a bundle that ended up costing exactly the same as I was paying at the time for Internet and phone alone. (It was a new-customer type deal that lasted one year, so I had to do some finagling later to keep them from jacking up the price too much when that expired. Now that they’ve become Spectrum, I’m not sure what I might be able to finagle in the future.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/25 "2017-07-14T01:38:48Z")
Since the OP is pretty thoroughly answered I’ll hijack a bit if I may. We (wife & I) have got sort-of the anti-problem from that the OP. We live in a condo building. A mid-level Comcast xfinity cable TV package is included in our maintenance fees. We can’t not pay it and we can’t not get it. It’s effectively free, buried in the monthly lump sum we pay for our share of the building’s water, trash, janitorial, gardeners, pool maintenance, etc. It’s also at a pretty good discount versus retail since they have all of us as captive subscribers. It’s far more TV channels than we watch and it fully covers the things we care about most, which is sports channels like ESPN & Fox Sports. Though we’re usually watching a week old game off the DVR. We couldn’t care less how fresh any TV we watch is. The only thing we truly insist on is that we can commercial-zap; unzapped TV is unwatchable, period. I think it’s been about 10 days now since the TV was last turned on. That’s unusually long for us, but not unprecedented. I/we cannot comprehend what “must-see TV” or “binge-watching” is; those are totally not our schtick. So far, I’m happy with this arrangement. I could get by with far less, but there’s no way to do that. I checked. So here’s our problem: Internet access is not included in our building’s prepaid access. So I buy cable internet from Comcast for $65/mo. That gets me ~30Mbps down and ~6Mbps up. Which seems adequate. Times unlimited data volume AFAIK. There is no other cable supplier wired into the building although I suppose I could try DSL over these 40 year old phone wires. I’m also paying for voice/data packages for our two AT&T mobile phones. Which costs me $25 per phone for I think voice/text, plus $40 for 4GB of 4GLTE nationwide shared data with next-month rollover. We usually use just over 1GB of mobile data per month between us. That’s not counting all the misc fees, taxes, and BS associated with mobile phone accounts. But IMO that’s inevitable; we’re gonna have two mobiles no matter what. So I’m ignoring that additional $40/mo cost for this post Bottom line: I’m paying $155 per month for lots of network bandwidth and network infrastructure. And using a tiny fraction of it. The thing I want to do is stop paying so damn much for internet connectivity. Without sacrificing internet speed. I don’t game, I don’t stream, I don’t up or download large files, but slow-loading hangy webpages try my patience. I have computers and a VOIP phone at home that “need” continuous internet, even when we’re out of the house. So I can’t tether the fixed stuff off the phones and cancel the Comcast data. How do I stop spending $155/mo for data I barely use? Thanks to all. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/26 "2017-07-14T02:28:08Z")
A competitor of Comcast with cheaper deals? Get a router and share bandwidth/cost with neighbours? Maybe possible to add a third SIM card to your 4G data plan? Even if you had to pay the full $40, that would still be less than $65. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/27 "2017-07-14T03:10:06Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I have computers and a VOIP phone at home that “need” continuous internet, even when we’re out of the house. So I can’t tether the fixed stuff off the phones and cancel the Comcast data. > > How do I stop spending $155/mo for data I barely use? > > Thanks to all. \*If \*DSL is available, there are slow but inexpensive packages that AT&T offers. 3 megabits or so. AT&T _is_ reliable and 3 megabits still means snappy page load times. It’s about what I had for internet access in 2008. Most web pages haven’t grown much in size since then because of the prevalence of mobile phones with internet access, so if you really don’t do the things you mentioned, you could do that. Sharing a connection with a neighbor would work, but it’s against the TOS and if either party does something illegal, that could get you in trouble, so know the neighbor well. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/28 "2017-07-14T11:02:18Z")
Thanks to you both. Responses: There is no available cable competitor to Comcast unless the entire building switches; there’s only one set of distribution wiring from the building’s service entry point. Since most of us (though not me) have Comcast’s standard issue cable modem/router/wifi unit, most of us are broadcasting a guest wifi hotspot under the “xfinitywifi” SSID. Lots of folks consume each other’s signal, especially outdoors. I certainly do too when elsewhere in the building. But if I terminate my internet subscription I suspect (how to confirm?) my Comcast login would suddenly quit working for guest access to those hotspots here at home and everywhere else in the US. So becoming a permanent poacher (probably) won’t work. Setting aside the moral / legal issues. Here’s some more facts: We occasionally connect a mobile phone to our wifi, mostly when downloading app or OS updates. We don’t routinely leave the phones’ wifi enabled; we’d prefer more battery life. My cable modem/router/wifi unit tells me that my two fixed PCs plus two Win tablets plus VOIP phone (fax line really), plus those occasional mobile phone connections, add up to ~24GB down and ~10GB up per month. Which is just over 1.1GB per day average. It looks like some months are more like 0.9GB / day average. So if I was switch to a metered service I’d need to provision for 1.0GB/day long term average with intermittent ~15% overages. Clearly trying to tether the total fixed usage off the mobile phones or a dedicated mobile-to-wifi hotspot device wouldn’t be cost effective. That’s also far more data consumption than I expected for four Win devices syncing 4 sets of lightly used OneDrive, 4 sets of lightly used Outlook, and a lot of browsing the Dope and similar text-heavy sites. We probably watch an average of 5 minutes of YouTube per week between us. I’m pretty sure I don’t have interlopers on my cable modem/router/wifi unit. It’s not the issue Comcast one, I know what I’m doing with the set-up, and has no enabled guest access nor unexpected connected MAC addresses. So now I’m left with two conflicting thoughts: 1. What’s consuming all that data? Is that a “leak” or real? Am I part of a botnet or somebody’s pet pornserver? 2. Wow; given I’m using so much data I guess I’m not overpaying / underusing as badly as I thought I was. Maybe $155/mo is simply the price of admission to life in the 20-teens. Comments on any of this? ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/29 "2017-07-14T11:49:37Z")
LSLGuy, I suspect you could use Cricket wireless, which is a subsidiary of AT&T, and get their 1gb plan for 30 per month. That would save you about 30 bucks and it is basically AT&T service limited to 8gb/sec download speed, instead of your current wireless plan. As far as high speed Internet goes, you are probably hosed there. Even if you could get DSL, the prices are not all that different. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/30 "2017-07-14T13:00:32Z")
IMO, the best way to cord cut is to firmly embrace that we are now in an era of peak tv. Eliminate the idea of having “your shows” and instead think in terms of you have X tv entertainment hours to fill and keep a ranked list of shows that fit your tv watching proclivities to fill it. Have you seen The Wire yet? Breaking Bad? Arrested Development? Party Down? Six Feet Under? Freaks and Geeks? Veronica Mars? Firefly? If there are buzzy shows you simply must watch in real time and it’s not on any of your streaming services, just know that pretty much every TV show can be bought for $1.99 an episode or ~$30 a season (although, cord cutting has also brought about the resurgence of watching parties for shows like GOT and The Bachelor, hosted by that one friend of yours who still has a cable subscription which are also enormously fun). No matter how prolific your TV watching is or how specific your tastes are, there’s going to be more TV produced every year than you can possible watch so you might as well embrace it. The only downside is that if you have poor self control, there’s no longer the limit of one episode a week anymore so it’s easy to fall into a binging rabbit hole. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/31 "2017-07-14T14:46:07Z")
Is there any way to cut the cord and still get 24/7 cable news channels? I just realized that’s the only thing anyone in my house watches in real time. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/32 "2017-07-14T14:53:01Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Is there any way to cut the cord and still get 24/7 cable news channels? I just realized that’s the only thing anyone in my house watches in real time. One free streaming news channel is CBSN. I think NBC has a news channel. One free channel that aggregates other free streaming channels is called PlutoTV. It provides a cable-like guide. There are a few news channels it shows there: NewsmaxTV, Newsy, RTAmerica, SkyNews, WeatherNetwork, Bloomberg. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/33 "2017-07-14T16:02:49Z")
CNN webpage has a “Live TV” link. I just can’t make it work behind my work firewall. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/34 "2017-07-14T16:18:02Z")
One other thing to consider is streaming devices. Hopefully this doesn’t confuse things even further, but it’s something any cord-cutter needs to think about. There are many options for getting streams on your TV: - Smart TV’s: These TV’s have app capabilities and can show streaming channels. - Standalone streaming boxes (Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, etc).: These are separate boxes which can stream channels and will output HDMI to your TV - DVRs (Tivo): Some Over-The-Air DVRs also have app support for streaming channels. Depending how much OTA content you can receive with an antenna, an OTA DVR + streaming can give you a pretty wide variety of content. I personally prefer using my OTA DVR for network content since I don’t have to deal with each network’s streaming quirks. Tivo has a $300 OTA DVR with app support which provides guide service and no subscription fees. If you happen to have a smart TV already, start looking at the apps and explore all the streaming options. Many of the subscription channels offer a free first month, so you can explore a lot and see if it would work for you. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/35 "2017-07-14T16:45:33Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > The problem is that there are lots of shows that just aren’t available via streaming services without a cable subscription. I’d like to know of some examples that can’t be streamed. I can think of only a couple of times I couldn’t find a show in the three or four years since I’ve cut the cable > [@](#): > > If you watch shows on the classic big 4 networks, you may be SOL as a cord cutter. If you watch sports, you’re definitely SOL. If you watch any cable show that hasn’t made a deal with Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, or Amazon, which, let’s face it, is most of them, you’re SOL. Hulu has pretty much everything on the big four networks. As long as you don’t mind waiting til the next day after it has aired, you’re good. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/36 "2017-07-15T07:34:26Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > I’d like to know of some examples that can’t be streamed. I can think of only a couple of times I couldn’t find a show in the three or four years since I’ve cut the cable Low end reality TV maybe? Judge judy knockoffs, for instance? Fox and Friends and other low tier shows perhaps? I’m not saying these are shows you actually need to watch, not when you’ve got unwatched episodes of Daredevil and Stranger Things and so on in your queue, but technically speaking I don’t know how available the crap is. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/37 "2017-07-15T13:41:58Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > CNN webpage has a “Live TV” link. I just can’t make it work behind my work firewall. Oops. I tried this at home, and it lets me watch 10 minutes as a free preview; after that, I have to sign in with a cable company userid. OTOH, it seems that from inside Canada at least, I can go to the CTV or City TV websites and watch the latest full episodes and it did not ask for a login. This even worked for imported shows like Trevor Noah on the Daily Show. For the USA, I tried [ABC.com](http://ABC.com) - it seems for full episodes you need to be (by IP address) inside the USA and also must login with some sort of cable userid. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/38 "2017-07-18T16:23:50Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > … > > For the USA, I tried [ABC.com](http://ABC.com) - it seems for full episodes you need to be (by IP address) inside the USA and also must login with some sort of cable userid. , For the major OTA networks, that’s a new thing. Back when Lost was in its last 2 seasons, I was able to catch up on all that season’s episodes, with no need to log on. I haven’t tried one of the OTA networks recently though. I’ll have to make a list of the channels we watch regularly and see what sources we might have. I do know that some were not available via the Roku but might perhaps be available on some of the services such as Hulu. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/39 "2017-07-18T16:31:04Z")
Another cost comparison: I had Cable about 6 years ago, which cost me about $80/month over the internet-only price including HBO. I don’t watch sports or pretty much any live events, which is the biggest blocker. These days I have, via an AppleTV: - Netflix at $15/month - Hulu (no commercials) at $14/month - HBO at $15/month. So I saved about half. I’ve also got Amazon Prime, which is basically free since I’d get it for the shipping anyhow, and when I occasionally want to watch something not on any of these services, I’ll buy or rent it from iTunes (probably 2-3 $20-$40 “season passes” a year). This gets me more good TV than I’ll ever be able to watch, a long with piles and piles of bad TV that I don’t have to 🙂 The big risk these days is balkanization (all the individual networks thinking you should pay them $10-$15/month for just their stuff) and removal of net neutrality allowing my cable provider to just block the streaming services so that I have to buy their stuff again. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133/40 "2017-07-18T16:51:47Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > , > For the major OTA networks, that’s a new thing. Back when Lost was in its last 2 seasons, I was able to catch up on all that season’s episodes, with no need to log on. I haven’t tried one of the OTA networks recently though. > > I’ll have to make a list of the channels we watch regularly and see what sources we might have. I do know that some were not available via the Roku but might perhaps be available on some of the services such as Hulu. Yes; back a few years, when we were travelling in the USA, my wife could catch up on soap operas from the network website. It seems a year or two ago, the cable and local stations must have complained, so you now need to login with an ID from a cable company. Canada it seems some networks allow the last week’s episode(s) to be watched without an ID. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-cord-cutting-cable-satellite-to-me-in-the-simplest-terms-possible/791133.md?page=3)