Current thoughts on streaming alternative to cable.
- Thread starter Op2
- Start date
I've never had cable at my house because it was too expensive to run back my lane. We used rabbit ears until it went digital. Then I lost a lot of stations. Now I'm using a Roku and using Hulu. There are some problems connectivity due to being rural and they haven't done much to improve the landlines in the past decade. I'm on Verizon and they have pushed their resources to wireless. But, for the most part, things run pretty good.
I was on Sling for a while, but Hulu has the local stations and a better assortment of stations without all the level hype that Sling has. There is a lag in all stations that have to bounce off a satellite.
I was on Sling for a while, but Hulu has the local stations and a better assortment of stations without all the level hype that Sling has. There is a lag in all stations that have to bounce off a satellite.
If you have lag, it’s likely your internet as opposed to your streaming service.
For lag, I would try a few things first. Reinstall the YouTube tv app and reboot your router. Also, check your positioning between the TV and the router. Little things can make a big difference. Depending on where your TV is in relation to your router, you may be able to run a cable direct from your router to the TV and avoid wireless. We have 4 TV’s and the one that’s hard-wired is far less glitchy than the others.
We’ve had Hulu for years basically because it gives us what we need and we’re used to it. That being said, I find people who have done comparisons think YouTube tv is the best. Nobody in our household is too dependent on network TV. Aside from football, I can find everything I want for free. We have Hulu + live from late August through the Super Bowl, then we cut our subscription back to basic Hulu for the spring and summer months.
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Good question. I had Hulu and they just randomly increased prices. I had a lag as well but it was the cable internet service. I switched to U-tube for price and then they started jacking the price. I also switched from Optimum cable to optimum fiber and dropped the cost from $120 to $40 per month.
Sling now advertises a low rate of $40 per month I think and supposedly has local news on it. Not sure if I care about local news any more.
Any thoughts on sling or other services RE Harding price, range of channels, and quality?
Sling now advertises a low rate of $40 per month I think and supposedly has local news on it. Not sure if I care about local news any more.
Any thoughts on sling or other services RE Harding price, range of channels, and quality?
Switched from Verizon cable and internet to T-Mobile. Price is much lower but MUCH less reliable. The number of temporary outages drives us crazy. This is in suburban Philadelphia. Thinking of going back to Verizon for internet and going with streaming services like YouTube and Netflix (which we have through T-Mobile).
Fubo and Hulu Live are great cable alternatives as I have used both.. I currently use Hulu Live. Gave up cable several years ago and never looked back. I use a 300 mbps internet connection and that flawlessly handles streaming, phones, pc, and playstation. For cell I went to Visible, a Verizon budget service and pay $25 per line unlimited. It is excellent and I have only ever had difficulty in two spots, PSU games and the Ocean City NJ boardwalk last summer.
What was the problem signing up for YoutubeTV? I've used it for a few years and it's quite easy. One nice thing for me is that I own 2 homes and I can use it at both places. Just change zip code to get local channels.
I have no idea if Hulu or Sling is better.
It's hard to explain but I tried and tried for over an hour and finally gave up. It just wasn't working. Or maybe I'm too dumb to figure it out.
I do DirecTV via steam. Maybe a hair less than I was paying for regular cable. There doesn't really seem to be a cheap path unless you do the bare minimum.
I had Direct TV since 2000 and liked it till I woke up one day and saw I was paying $160 a month for just basic service, no HBO or movie channels. I cancelled it asap and my kids turned me on to streaming (You Tube tv with local channels). I have enjoyed it since then (2020) until last year when tragedy struck. First You Tube tv eliminated the MLB network which I lived with. I should say here that I am a 50+ year Mets fan, I don`t live and die with the results, but I enjoy watching the Mets games and there is no baseball announcing team better than Gary, Ron and Keith. For some asinine reason, You Tube tv decided to drop SNY from their programing. My son subscribes to the MLB app and he gave me the info to get it, but where I live falls into a blackout area for both New York and Pennsylvania teams so I am forced to go without watching my favorite team play on tv. I don`t like it but I am forced to live without it. I do the best I can to keep up with them.
I have cable Internet but have been streaming most of my TV for quite a while. I've had Youtube TV in the past. I'm surprised it was that hard to sign up. I have YouTube Premium and I see the occasional free trial offer, but I'm not eligible since I already had it. But I don't remember an onerous signup process. But I have Gmail and use a lot of Google products. I just checked and the Base Plan is $72.99/month for 133 channels in my market. That includes local broadcast affiliates as well.
I use Sling right now. It's $70/month with everything (Blue and Orange plus Sports Extra). But no local channels. I use rabbit ears for those. They may have local channels in your market. It's probably your cheapest option. I also have Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, Max, DIsney+, PeacockTV and Paramount+.
For live events, yes, there is some lag vs, over the air. Sling is probably mid-pack or better. YoutubeTV will be closest to cable. If you're on this board during a game or listening over the air you might get some spoilers. Most of the time it shouldn't be noticeable. If being close to real-time is important for you I think satellite or OTA broadcast would be faster than cable which will be faster than streaming.
Not sure what issue you had with Youtube TV, it only took me a few minutes to get it up and running. I dropped cable and switched to YTTV several months ago and I don't miss cable at all, and I'm paying about half the price. YTTV has about 90% of the handful of channels I watched on cable so it was basically a direct replacement, and I trust Google to not play the "here's another surprise price increase on your bill now you have to call to beg for a promotion/discount by threatening to cancel service" games played by the cable companies, which happened a couple of times a year at least. I hated how cable companies would gouge long time customers and only give new customers the best rates. YTTV gives everyone the same price.
There are some idiosyncrasies with the YTTV interface because it's kind of a hybrid of streaming and a cable replacement which took some getting used too, but after a few weeks it was a piece of cake. I've almost never had any buffering or signal issues at all, even on wifi, which was one of my bigger concerns. YTTV does automatically delay what you see to reduce buffering, but the delay can be reduced if you want. The only time I see this being an issue is if you are following live game threads online or texting/talking to someone during a live game. Others may be on a smaller delay if on another service and could spoil events for you.
There are some idiosyncrasies with the YTTV interface because it's kind of a hybrid of streaming and a cable replacement which took some getting used too, but after a few weeks it was a piece of cake. I've almost never had any buffering or signal issues at all, even on wifi, which was one of my bigger concerns. YTTV does automatically delay what you see to reduce buffering, but the delay can be reduced if you want. The only time I see this being an issue is if you are following live game threads online or texting/talking to someone during a live game. Others may be on a smaller delay if on another service and could spoil events for you.
I switched to Hulu (comes with Disney +) when I got a new Roku TV. The Roku is a 65" that was only $300 that a family member bought to stage a home they were selling. I love the Hulu content but it really lags. I've come to learn that it is the Roku TV and not Hulu. I have three LGs that work just fine with Hulu. I guess my point is to make sure that you have a good smart TV before cutting the chord.
I've got a 1 gig wifi access as I locked in for $39.95 for several years. I have an Eero router but it is older and doesn't support the whole 1 gig. Internet access is with Breezeline, formerly WOWway. The eero mesh system gives me good coverage over my entire yard as well as basement to third floor. I am VERY pleased with it.
I use this for work so I get to expense the monthly fee. If it was just my wife and me, I'd consider using the hotspot of my phone with unlimited data or get the Verizon 5G box to see if that is fast enough.
Back to content providers like Hulu, Fubo, YouTube, Philo and the rest. You can get a LOT of TV with Pluto TV for free. This is especially true if you watch old TV shows. The rest are all about content for the price. I watch less and less network TV. All of my TV watching is sports or streamed shows (Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon, Apple). Secondarily, I watch breaking news (but never watch CNN, Fox or MSNBC except for breaking news). The local news has been reduced to in-city politics/budgeting and feel-good cat-up-a-tree stories. I no longer care about the news weather segment, traffic or a house fire. So many people are going back to having an antenna for local TV as a separate "input". If you want to watch local TV, you nav on your smart TV to the antenna to watch it. There are even tools where you can hook your antenna feed up to a wifi router and broadcast your single antenna to all of the TVs, iPads and iPhones via wifi. Here is a link to one option
for me, I want ESPN, Local Stations, Fox Sports and news. Other than that, everything is streamed entertainment. We used to watch a lot of home improvement and history stuff plus cable news. We no longer watch those.
I've got a 1 gig wifi access as I locked in for $39.95 for several years. I have an Eero router but it is older and doesn't support the whole 1 gig. Internet access is with Breezeline, formerly WOWway. The eero mesh system gives me good coverage over my entire yard as well as basement to third floor. I am VERY pleased with it.
I use this for work so I get to expense the monthly fee. If it was just my wife and me, I'd consider using the hotspot of my phone with unlimited data or get the Verizon 5G box to see if that is fast enough.
Back to content providers like Hulu, Fubo, YouTube, Philo and the rest. You can get a LOT of TV with Pluto TV for free. This is especially true if you watch old TV shows. The rest are all about content for the price. I watch less and less network TV. All of my TV watching is sports or streamed shows (Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon, Apple). Secondarily, I watch breaking news (but never watch CNN, Fox or MSNBC except for breaking news). The local news has been reduced to in-city politics/budgeting and feel-good cat-up-a-tree stories. I no longer care about the news weather segment, traffic or a house fire. So many people are going back to having an antenna for local TV as a separate "input". If you want to watch local TV, you nav on your smart TV to the antenna to watch it. There are even tools where you can hook your antenna feed up to a wifi router and broadcast your single antenna to all of the TVs, iPads and iPhones via wifi. Here is a link to one option
for me, I want ESPN, Local Stations, Fox Sports and news. Other than that, everything is streamed entertainment. We used to watch a lot of home improvement and history stuff plus cable news. We no longer watch those.
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I wouldn't bother worrying about a smart TV. Get a standalone streaming device instead such as Roku, Apple TV, Firestick, Chromecast, etc. The streaming devices that aren't integrated with other devices usually perform better and provide for better options in terms of control over the settings, adding/removing apps, etc. I use a Roku personally.
Wandering Spectator
Well-Known Member
As others have stated, don’t sleep on your internet service and router. I used to have constant issues with my router and cable internet. I installed a mesh and have TMobile home internet and have had very few hiccups.
I wanted Sunday Ticket so that likited my options. I use YTTV for most of my traditional TV content but I find myself watching much less traditional and more high quality YouTubers.
I wanted Sunday Ticket so that likited my options. I use YTTV for most of my traditional TV content but I find myself watching much less traditional and more high quality YouTubers.
here is some good information on internet providers, which is a big part of the effectiveness of cutting the cord.
The future is every channel will be direct subscription-based. CNN just had a big announcement yesterday that they are investing in direct-to-consumer digital. In my world, it is most interesting that they will be using AI to personalize content to the consumer. (good and bad) Think of Google popping up ads. I pay for dozens of channels I never watch. And I'd love to have other channels that my provider, Hulu, doesn't offer. I watch very little TV other than sports and streamed content (netflix, Apple, Max, etc.)
I like an outfit named "Tom's Guide". They reviewed and came out with their grades in June.
www.tomsguide.com
The best live tv streaming service in 2024: Cable TV alternatives that save you money
The top cable TV alternatives services based on our testing and reviews
That tweet doesn't give you the whole picture. The $50/mo Starlink mini antenna plan is data capped at 50 gigs/mo and designed for weekend use, backup internet, and RVs/campers/hikers. The cost for the equipment is $599!!
On average, homes need about 700 gigs of data from their internet provider. This mini-system will be useful as a second system for relatively few people, and data limits don't make it viable as a stand-alone system.
Agreed but my point isn't about replacing your 300 MB Comcast system. It is for those people that have a) a very rural property that has no or one provider or b) a second home. An average 2 hour movie is 4MB. And that will change over time as the technology matures.
I got it, so the advantage of this mini-Starlink is for those rural users who have NO other providers and can live with about 2 hrs of non-HD usage for 12.5 days a month, all for the privilege of paying $599 + $50/mo.... I'm not impressed.
I feel like I'm repeating myself.... "This mini-system will be useful as a second system for relatively few people, and data limits don't make it viable as a stand-alone system."
For people who live in a rural area with one internet service provider and a weak signal a MIMO 4x4 periodic log antenna might be an option.
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