Do you know about this new thing of notices from companies telling you you can change electricity providers? I am too swamped to give this due dilligence. I wonder if I’m missing out.
If I’m not going to bundle I’m looking at
Vonage for landline;
Hulu or Amazon Prime for TV;
and what are some basic internet providers to replace comcast with? Or is Comcast suitable as an internet provider?
Love the idea of dropping cable: They told me that my old tech is going to be replaced by this awful alpha search modern system my mom has, that I would rather not watch than use. I’m sure I’m going to get the push to change or be forced into it soon.
[quote=“Amateur_Barbarian, post:19, topic:783184”]
You can’t get cable stations OTA though? Can you?
You’re giving seminars? Sounds like a real need. You’re like the guy on the mountaintop with the beard! I found you.
Which internet provider is available depends on where you live. At the very least, you have Comcast or the local phone company as options, and there may be others. (BTW, I read someplace that Comcast isn’t even all that upset about cord cutters, because their internet services are actually more profitable than their cable television business and in most areas, cable company internet is the fastest option.)
Any quality internet provider in your area - shop around and look for reviews and ratings. (Here, it’s almost universally Comcast or nothing; where Frontier is available, it ranges from a no-brainer better service to absolute crap.)
Vonage is a good step towards cheaper landline service. You can always switch again to something cheaper (some go down to $4-5 a month without Ooma/Magicjack’s limitations) but I wouldn’t jump too far at first.
For TV, you need a streaming device like a Roku or Amazon Fire TV. (Avoid generic Android TV gear for the same reason as above - some are harder/techier to use than the consumer-grade stuff, and you probably won’t care about the open-source OS.) You can get either one for under $50, and the discount stores have them for less. That will bring you a video universe that’s much bigger than cable, although it’s missing a few things like live sports at a reasonable cost. Add in a cheap OTA antenna, though, and you’ve probably fixed that hole.
And that’s it. TV need not cost you a dime after you buy the Roku or Fire TV device. Subscriptions to Netflix and Hulu add less than $20/month for a vast amount of material, and most channels have good streaming apps that are free. With Pay-Per-View like Amazon Video and Vudu, you can watch anything any time. Amazon Prime at $100 a year brings the free shipping, but it also brings an unlimited music library and a huge array of free choices from the Amazon Video catalog.
No, you’ll have to stream those to see them.
Well, yes and no.
OTA should bring all the networks, plus PBS, plus (often) secondary networks like ION, Univision, Gala etc. Modern digital TV channels are also multi-channel, with each having one or or more secondary channels. So if the FCC page shows you getting ten stations, that can represent up to 30 channels, some of which are low-tier cable staples like shopping networks and secondary sports channels.
And nearly all the cable channels have streaming apps with varying access. Some are almost unlimited and you can watch current programs (one day delayed from first broadcast, or a recent selection of them, or their entire library. A few are pay-service; a number are still that incomprehensible in-between of “cable locked” - you can only get the streaming access if you already have the channel on cable.
But between OTA, Hulu and all the free streaming apps you can load, most people don’t lose anything of consequence.
So I’m going to assume that Iphone through AT and T at $90 per month is not worth finding an alternative for? Or is there a better thing to be doing?
Can you get this stuff streamed in real time from the news channels to go to my living room TV, just as easy to use as the regular TV? You need to have the computer on and the app on?
My wife insists on the NFL Network so we’re pretty much tied to the Digital Preferred tier of Comcast. If we could get that elsewhere or convince her to let that go we’d be able to drop to Digital Standard which includes Red Sox games on NESN, my dealbreaker.
Depends on your contract. Buying your own phone (especially a ‘last year’s model’ from a good source like Swappa.com) and separating its costs from the contract is a good move. Look at buying out your phone costs and renegotiating the contract. You should be able to get unlimited talk and text and a few gigs of data for under $70.
Sports and 24-hour news are still the weak links in streaming, although it’s changing fast. There are a variety of news sources on streaming, including local news broadcasts. OTA helps with that.
You can get the full NFL package in streaming. Not cheap ($15/month?) but cheaper than carrying high-tier cable just for a few channels, especially as you only have to carry it for the season (4 months?)
Look at Roku’s Channel Store to find out what’s available and for how much. (You have to dig to find it - what you get on the surface is nothing but pages and pages of channel icons, which is useless.)
Sorry, I kind of missed the point of the question.
Streaming devices are totally standalone and need only WiFi or (much preferable for reliability) wired internet connection. No computer needed. Your smart phone can be used as an uber-remote, though.
You don’t multiplex them the way video used to be. You get one streaming appliance for each TV and they all work independently, sharing things like Netflix and Hulu accounts.
You can also stream from a smartphone or tablet, using either a direct HDMI cable or a “casting” appliance like a Chromecast. That can save having another piece of junk around for a bedroom or other secondary TV.
Am I right that ROKU looks like a destination for finding the services that we have been talking about? I see all them there. Or is this a choice between?
Roku is one of two brand-name streaming device makers - think of their product as a “streaming browser.” I don’t think there are many if any channels that Roku doesn’t offer, including a huge array of Roku-only ones that can get pretty bizarre.
I like Roku for engineering and function reasons, but also because they’re “independent” and not locked to a particular universe the way Amazon’s Fire TV and Apple TV are. (Apple in particular has stumbled in the TV market because they keep insisting on defining user expectations rather than meeting them.)
OK let’s go through this: I’m going to do this at home, so my Comcast internet service will be the medium. And my TV should have a USB opening to make this happen on it. And the service might be ROKU or Hulu or Amazon, or any combination?
My Iphone can be used to remotely program and control my TV and computer?
What does “one streaming appliance” mean? How do they work independently? I have only one tv, and one desktop. (I may be getting a laptop but not now) I think it’s too confusing for me to operate this through my phone. Have you tried it for yourself?
How and why would apps “share” accounts? You mean sharing to another tv in another room?
Sounds like you are saying that ROKU has a problem getting 24 hour news channels simulcasted conveniently?
Tell us how many users, how many minutes, how many texts, how much data you need. What carriers have good service in your area?
There are a huge number of possibilities; see:
Okay, there’s your internet. BTW, buy your own modem. An SB6141 runs about $60 new, $35 refurb and will save you $5-10 a month in rental. Back it up with a decent router/WiFi hub.
No, you need an HDMI port. It’s very difficult to do streaming on a TV that lacks one (one option that I know of, not very good). You plug either a “stick” streaming device into that port, or (preferable) the HDMI cable from a small “box” streaming device. The device can either be a Roku (six models) or Amazon Fire TV (also six models). The lineups are similar except that Roku has fewer limitations (past and present, and likely future) while the Amazon one is a little better integrated with Amazon Video and has in the past lacked some services like Netflix.
Both come with remotes. The Roku one is particularly nice in that it can be used as a remote listening device, with a headphone jack, as well as a remote. You can also get apps for either iPhone or Android to do advanced control of the streaming box and things like faster YouTube searches, voice searching, etc. But that’s an extra, not a requirement.
Think of it as an alternate cable box. You need one box per TV/viewer. If you only have one TV, you only need one streaming device. (Computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones are inherent streaming devices, with the right browsers and apps.)
But your computer, phone, tablet etc. are adjuncts to a streaming device, not required. You need nothing except (1) internet (2) a streaming device with its remote and (3) a TV. But to have more than one TV and watch more than one program at a time, you need one streaming solution - device, phone, tablet, laptop - per audience.
Each TV needs its own streaming source, and they work and are controlled separately. What needs to be shared are subscriptions - Netflix used to charge extra for more users but now has 2- and 4-user plans at base rates. That means up to 2 or 4 users can have independent accounts, watch lists and viewing at the same time. Non-subscription (free) stuff can be watched by any number of viewers independently.
There are almost no continuous-feed channels on streaming; it’s 99% on-demand. Which is good in most ways, but it does make things like 24 hour news a little awkward.
I think nearly all carriers are unlimited talk and text. It’s data that has to be chosen and managed carefully, and you can get by with very little if you use WiFi anywhere you can find it.
Inspired by this thread, I just cut my electric bill in half. I phoned an alternative provider, read them my last bill, and they told me that they would literally reduce my cost by half. Last month it was 61.80, the new provider quoted me a rate plan that would have been $30. They said they would pay a disconnect charge if there was one, but there isn’t.
From time to time, it pays to just phone your present provider to ask if you can be given an incentive discount or promotional rate, or if not, phone a competitor for a lower rate.