Cutting the cord

[Burque]

They just launched a new Fiber network in town, and I am thinking about kicking cable to the curb.

I am looking at 1 gig speed for 70$ a month or 500 Mbps for 45$ . I could go with 2 gig speed for 100$ but I do not think I need that much speed as it is just me and the wifey.

I currently get 300 Down and 20 up and my TV service through cable and it used to be about 125 but has crept up to nearly 180 so I am kinda over it. To note, I have been waiting for a decent alternative to Cable to show up here because this cable company is notoriously shitty to their customers. The DSL here is garbage, I had it for a few years to avoid said cable company but we couldn't stream TV and play on our phones at the same time because it was so slow.

To the questions:

1. Anyone have fiber and how is the latency in a gaming situation?


2. The Wifey still wants some TV and it looks like I can get blue and orange Sling for 55 a month that would satisfy her (cooking shows) needs and my (Espn/NFL network) needs.

Does anyone have experience with Sling TV?

Can you on demand shows or do have to watch everything live?

For instance we watch a lot of cooking shows the day after they record, so I don't know how Sling service works with on demand streaming versus having to watch everything live. (their live chat bot has proved rather useless in answering this question)

3. Is there any reason to go to 1 gig over 500 mbps when I am already pretty happy with my 300 mbps Cable service?

4. Any other thoughts on cutting the cord and your experience with things that you didn't think about or discovered after doing so?

Also what you did for Television going forward? I already get some streaming options that are part of other services I have, this is mainly just for the live TV/on demand/dvr type of stuff.

 

[nvanprooyen]

They just launched a new Fiber network in town, and I am thinking about kicking cable to the curb.

I am looking at 1 gig speed for 70$ a month or 500 Mbps for 45$ . I could go with 2 gig speed for 100$ but I do not think I need that much speed as it is just me and the wifey.

I currently get 300 Down and 20 up and my TV service through cable and it used to be about 125 but has crept up to nearly 180 so I am kinda over it. To note, I have been waiting for a decent alternative to Cable to show up here because this cable company is notoriously shitty to their customers. The DSL here is garbage, I had it for a few years to avoid said cable company but we couldn't stream TV and play on our phones at the same time because it was so slow.

To the questions:

1. Anyone have fiber and how is the latency in a gaming situation?


2. The Wifey still wants some TV and it looks like I can get blue and orange Sling for 55 a month that would satisfy her (cooking shows) needs and my (Espn/NFL network) needs.

Does anyone have experience with Sling TV?

Can you on demand shows or do have to watch everything live?

For instance we watch a lot of cooking shows the day after they record, so I don't know how Sling service works with on demand streaming versus having to watch everything live. (their live chat bot has proved rather useless in answering this question)

3. Is there any reason to go to 1 gig over 500 mbps when I am already pretty happy with my 300 mbps Cable service?

4. Any other thoughts on cutting the cord and your experience with things that you didn't think about or discovered after doing so?

Also what you did for Television going forward? I already get some streaming options that are part of other services I have, this is mainly just for the live TV/on demand/dvr type of stuff.

I haven't had "real" TV service for probably a decade.

Right now, my internet is 1 gig fiber via AT&T. But I work from home, and so does my wife, so sometimes there could be multiple video calls going + my teenage daughter streaming/gaming. No issues.

You could probably get away with less depending on the demands on your network.

It looks like Sling has a DVR service, but I can't comment on how good it is:

Record Live TV with Cloud DVR | Sling TV

Sling's DVR lets you record and watch up to 50 hours of your favorite shows for free or 200 hours for only $5 a month! Record your favorite programming and watch at your convenience

www.sling.com

I have some subscriptions (Netflix, Hulu, Paramount, etc) and in addition a Plex media server and some automation setup to automatically download things and add them to my media library. I could honestly nuke most of those subscriptions pretty easily, I just haven't yet.

At this point watching "normal TV" is kind of jarring with the amount of commercials involved.

I also watch a lot of cooking content, but mostly on YouTube. I pay for premium there and it's well worth it given the amount of content I consume there.

Really comes down to personal preference I think, and what stuff you watch the most.

 

[Burque]

I haven't had "real" TV service for probably a decade.

Right now, my internet is 1 gig fiber via AT&T. But I work from home, and so does my wife, so sometimes there could be multiple video calls going + my teenage daughter streaming/gaming. No issues.

You could probably get away with less depending on the demands on your network.

It looks like Sling has a DVR service, but I can't comment on how good it is:

Record Live TV with Cloud DVR | Sling TV

Sling's DVR lets you record and watch up to 50 hours of your favorite shows for free or 200 hours for only $5 a month! Record your favorite programming and watch at your convenience

www.sling.com

I have some subscriptions (Netflix, Hulu, Paramount, etc) and in addition a Plex media server and some automation setup to automatically download things and add them to my media library. I could honestly nuke most of those subscriptions pretty easily, I just haven't yet.

At this point watching "normal TV" is kind of jarring with the amount of commercials involved.

I also watch a lot of cooking content, but mostly on YouTube. I pay for premium there and it's well worth it given the amount of content I consume there.

Really comes down to personal preference I think, and what stuff you watch the most.

I have been considering getting a subscription for You Tube. The amount two and three commercial videos is crazy lately, I was thinking about sending them some money to stop the commercials.

Is it commercial free for all videos?

 

[Heidenlarm]

I've got t mobile's 5g Internet. 50 bucks a month and I've had no issues with it at all with gaming or streaming, but I'm the only one using it. Get around 300-400 down, 25-30 up.

 

[FozzyBear]

300 is fine m8 for a couple of ppl just being entertained.

Just comes down to use case. If working from home requiring peak performance demands.. more speeds could make sense.

500mbps would be the value bet vs 70 1gb... spend the other 25 on some lube or weed...

I got by streaming, downloading, gaming n shit on adsl for years. Talk about having to plan shit out around video conferences, download/uploads... Our burb recently upgraded to fiber and i went 1gb at first but dropped to 100mbs given our typical usage. still 4k stream fam tv while devices are also streaming and ppl gaming. Its only sucks when i download larger files and being impatient, which isnt often, so no point in me paying 3 times as much for nothing. I dont get that 500 option here, just 50, 100, 250, 1gb.. if i was downloading/uploading more.. 250 would be me min.

fer content.. just the usual shit.. netflix, disney, amazon etc. years ago KODI with all the free shit in the world, just got tired of keeping up with the builds and shit to make it work and being the fam used it more than me.. i needed another solution since they couldnt bother keeping up to date,.

 

[BNB]

Sling TV was trash, imo. I prefer YouTube TV. YouTube TV is nice is also great if you wanna get RedZone and pay for it for 4 months and then cancel it, and Sports in general.

Netflix is becoming garbage. Thinking about cancelling it.

 

[Crystallas]

You're new to this and a late cord cutter. Get a Roku Express 4K+. They're $30 and the best part is, you'll be able to upgrade main TVs and use these as a backup. Go and dabble. Now you'll know 100% what you're getting into.

If you have the extra $ and aren't totally tech illiterate, get the nVidia Shield. It's still the best device you can buy, and it won't lock you into any ecosystems or prevent you from using apps that you grow attached to.

And if you're an advanced tech person who simply hasn't veered into streaming devices, you can recycle old phones with a DSI to HDMI board. Recycle old computers and throw Plex/Kodi into the mix. People use RPis too, and they work okay, but I'm not into that kind of punishment trying to maintain something that isn't all that fast to begin with.

Spoiler

The novel portion:

Here's the funny thing. I was a cable tech in the 90s, no shortage of discounts and hookups to this day. When I got out of the Army and it was time to setup my TV system, I didn't bother getting cable. I got into FTA receivers(which alone is way cooler and cheaper than cable). Now FTA doesn't exist the same way it was before, but people mislabel OTA as FTA, so po'tate-oh poh-tat'oh. Long story short, you have options. Cut the cable.

I cancelled Netflix 2 years ago, and I don't miss it, after having Netflix for 20 years, they didn't really try hard to keep me either.

Cancelling Prime in June once it's up. I go for months without using it for video as well as ordering anything as well. There's just better places for everything and Amazon allowed counterfeits to push out the good quality items. So what's the point? Buy something, think it's real, and when you find out it's fake, return it? Let's skip two steps. I do think the FireTV line remains the best over-all streaming system for the majority of people, just not for me, being stuck in ecosystems, I ain't got time for that.

Streaming sports has been fine forever. The year when MLBTV service started, 2002ish, it worked perfectly back then unless your network and devices were setup poorly. I think maybe 1 game I watched had downtime that year, and it has gotten better since. And because League Pass and Season Ticket took forever to break out of their exclusive deals, I'm used to just finding streams. 4K for about a decade with barely any issues. However, if you go this route, be ready to learn how to do VPNs(*hint*, it's not hard).

Am I missing anything? Youtube is the best right now, it replaces any audio streaming service pretty easily. Save your money on whatever audio services. Archive.org is slowly becoming the best website on the planet, and some streaming devices have amazing 3rd party apps for it.

Tubi, Pluto, Freevee are good ad-based services for movies and shows. It wont get your teenager excited, but for older farts, it's a gold-mine. I don't bother with the Sling Apps, but I'm sure it can be okay too.(just not the hardware, boooo)

 

[gpphat]

You're new to this and a late cord cutter. Get a Roku Express 4K+. They're $30 and the best part is, you'll be able to upgrade main TVs and use these as a backup. Go and dabble. Now you'll know 100% what you're getting into.

If you have the extra $ and aren't totally tech illiterate, get the nVidia Shield. It's still the best device you can buy, and it won't lock you into any ecosystems or prevent you from using apps that you grow attached to.

And if you're an advanced tech person who simply hasn't veered into streaming devices, you can recycle old phones with a DSI to HDMI board. Recycle old computers and throw Plex/Kodi into the mix. People use RPis too, and they work okay, but I'm not into that kind of punishment trying to maintain something that isn't all that fast to begin with.

Spoiler

The novel portion:

Here's the funny thing. I was a cable tech in the 90s, no shortage of discounts and hookups to this day. When I got out of the Army and it was time to setup my TV system, I didn't bother getting cable. I got into FTA receivers(which alone is way cooler and cheaper than cable). Now FTA doesn't exist the same way it was before, but people mislabel OTA as FTA, so po'tate-oh poh-tat'oh. Long story short, you have options. Cut the cable.

I cancelled Netflix 2 years ago, and I don't miss it, after having Netflix for 20 years, they didn't really try hard to keep me either.

Cancelling Prime in June once it's up. I go for months without using it for video as well as ordering anything as well. There's just better places for everything and Amazon allowed counterfeits to push out the good quality items. So what's the point? Buy something, think it's real, and when you find out it's fake, return it? Let's skip two steps. I do think the FireTV line remains the best over-all streaming system for the majority of people, just not for me, being stuck in ecosystems, I ain't got time for that.

Streaming sports has been fine forever. The year when MLBTV service started, 2002ish, it worked perfectly back then unless your network and devices were setup poorly. I think maybe 1 game I watched had downtime that year, and it has gotten better since. And because League Pass and Season Ticket took forever to break out of their exclusive deals, I'm used to just finding streams. 4K for about a decade with barely any issues. However, if you go this route, be ready to learn how to do VPNs(*hint*, it's not hard).

Am I missing anything? Youtube is the best right now, it replaces any audio streaming service pretty easily. Save your money on whatever audio services. Archive.org is slowly becoming the best website on the planet, and some streaming devices have amazing 3rd party apps for it.

Tubi, Pluto, Freevee are good ad-based services for movies and shows. It wont get your teenager excited, but for older farts, it's a gold-mine. I don't bother with the Sling Apps, but I'm sure it can be okay too.(just not the hardware, boooo)

hold the fuck up.......................................................................................you still post here?!?

 

[Penny Traitor]

Netflix is becoming garbage

The monster of never ending new content they created is devouring them. Still I enjoy the "pause subscription" feature. If it feels like I watched everything I could watch, I pause my account for 60 days and try again.

Sling TV was trash, imo

Yep.

They were okay back in like 2017, but kept losing good channels to the point I could get all the same content plus far more with a combination of Hulu, MAX and the free apps like Tubi & Pluto. The DVR is legit, but I only seemed to use it for Bears games to free myself of endless comerical breaks. It's an extra five bucks, so now you are up to $60 a month.

If you are going that route, I agree YouTube TV is the better option.

 

[Scoot26]

Once I moved out from my parents house I never got cableTV. This was 2013, so I first bought an antenna to get local channels (and all Bears games), and then had Netflix, plus Amazon Prime.

I've gone around having various streaming services and I cancel and add them when I please. I originally used apps on my SmartTV, but that got out of date within 3-4 years so I bought a Roku. In my house I think we have about 5 of those things now for our various TVs.

The best thing for sports is YouTubeTV, which I don't pay for (wife's family account shares it). I do think YouTubeTV's prices are approaching on what it was just to pay for cable back in the day. If I had to pay for it on my own, I'd probably only get it when the Bulls are good / the month of March for the tournament.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

I've literally never had a cable package in my life. All of our TVs are Roku TVs. For streaming, much like other people, I've cycled through them and pause/cancel subscriptions when I feel like I'm not getting anything out of it. Currently I only have HBO and a bundled Hulu/Disney/ESPN (through cell phone provider). I'd ditch this one, but Disney is great for my kid and it's cheap af.

For NFL games, I did have to purchase Sunday ticket. You can find bootleg streams easy enough, but I prefer the ticket. $300 bux for a guaranteed game/solid stream is worth it for me. That and being out of market for Bears games.

My parents still have cable through DirectTV and gave me their login so anytime I run into something I want to watch (mainly sports), I can always use that.

 

[Diehardfan]

IPTV is your friend. Got a super reliable one that gives you 5 lines and more channels than you can count. No pay channels per say but every show on the pay channels are available 24 hrs after broadcast. Sports is ALL games.....NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA and any college game that gets televised. Right now I'm splitting the bill three ways with my brother and my son. We each pay about $50 a year for this. The 4K stuff is limited but everything else is 1080P HD. I didn't exactly "cut the cord" as I use Xfinity internet and get 400-500 mbps for about $60 a month....you don't need that much speed but I've found that everything runs a lot smoother with it and worth the extra $20 a month I pay for it.

 

[nvanprooyen]

I've literally never had a cable package in my life. All of our TVs are Roku TVs. For streaming, much like other people, I've cycled through them and pause/cancel subscriptions when I feel like I'm not getting anything out of it. Currently I only have HBO and a bundled Hulu/Disney/ESPN (through cell phone provider). I'd ditch this one, but Disney is great for my kid and it's cheap af.

For NFL games, I did have to purchase Sunday ticket. You can find bootleg streams easy enough, but I prefer the ticket. $300 bux for a guaranteed game/solid stream is worth it for me. That and being out of market for Bears games.

My parents still have cable through DirectTV and gave me their login so anytime I run into something I want to watch (mainly sports), I can always use that.

I bought the ticket this year and I still had to pirate a bunch of games even though I was "legit" (locally broadcast, prime time games, etc). Kind of pissed me off. Although it was nice for RedZone/fantasy football.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

I bought the ticket this year and I still had to pirate a bunch of games even though I was "legit" (locally broadcast, prime time games, etc). Kind of pissed me off. Although it was nice for RedZone/fantasy football.

Yeah, it's annoying that you don't get MNF or TNF included. It was my first year with it and that caught me off guard.

 

[nvanprooyen]

Yeah, it's annoying that you don't get MNF or TNF included. It was my first year with it and that caught me off guard.

Also if it's locally broadcasted. So here that's the Bucs, Jags, Dolphins, etc. Or if it's an afternoon game where the Bears are getting a good chunk of the national coverage. I think I had to pirate like 6-7 games total. Not a big deal, but still kinda annoying when you're forking out like $400.

 

[Penny Traitor]

Also if it's locally broadcasted. So here that's the Bucs, Jags, Dolphins, etc. Or if it's an afternoon game where the Bears are getting a good chunk of the national coverage. I think I had to pirate like 6-7 games total. Not a big deal, but still kinda annoying when you're forking out like $400.

That is a lot of exemptions, but I guees that's what you get with so many cooks in that kitchen. It costs me more every passing year to keep living in Chicago, but at least I can always take solace in the fact that watching a Bears game is still as simple as turning on my television. I don't know how you out of market folks put in all that work for so little reward.

 

[didshereallysaythat]

The question I thought the OP was trying to address was cable INTERNET compared with Fiber Optics. Not Cable TV vs streaming services. Even if you stream, you still have to have an internet provider and that is likely cable (it just won't be bundled in with TV). And for most people, that is the best option because Fiber is only offered in like 15-20% of the country. It's not offered where I live in Lake County.

My guess is that most people here don't have any experience with Fiber yet. I would like to get people opinions on it too but I don't know a single person that has it.

 

[Crystallas]

I have both fiber and docsis. A fiber home-to-hub setup comes with a shit ton of problems that rely heavily on switching across backup networks. A top tier fiber vs cable side-by-side is closer than people think in real world performance. The big exceptions were cities that went from BAD cable infastructures to Fiber, obviously applesranges, fiber crushes. Don't get me wrong, I use (normal service, not a business line) fiber for my business and it's faster for sure, but I'm paying almost doube for it.

Fiber vs Docsis is moot, even more so now with Docsis 4. People first of all, get a land network that is "rated' at one number(and believe it or not, some users get higher than advertised speeds as well as lower). Then they run it through a router that knocks the potential transmission rates down considerably. Bottlenecked, same difference either way.

Moot, moot, moot, moot. You shop around, buy the best service you can. If someone offers you better, you check it out and trust that the ISP does a compeditive cost:benefit anaylsis to upgrading everything at a rate that doesn't fuck your bill up(fuck x300 @ you AT*T UVerse, you made Comcast look good.)

 

[Hawkeye OG]

Also if it's locally broadcasted. So here that's the Bucs, Jags, Dolphins, etc. Or if it's an afternoon game where the Bears are getting a good chunk of the national coverage. I think I had to pirate like 6-7 games total. Not a big deal, but still kinda annoying when you're forking out like $400.

Yes, we make it increasingly difficult to watch sporting events. My thought process is that if I don’t get the bears game at home I’m going to the bar so I’m saving money in the end. I just absolutely hate pirating the games so I’d rather just spend the money and not deal with that nonsense

 

[Hawkeye OG]

When the fuck are they just gonna do ala Carte. I want to buy all 17 bears games and guaranteed to get them. Why is this so difficult