Freeing yourself from the Cable treadmill
How we "Cut the cord": |
In 2014 we effectively "cut the cord" for DirecTV after 16 years of their service. I loved DirecTV, their service has been excellent and their quality of the broadcast has been excellent. The main issue is the cost continues to go up and the glut of channels offering no value seemed to increase as well. At the writing of this spreadsheet we were paying about $120/mo for 2-HD signal TV's and 1 Standard Def TV. To go to 3 HD TV signals it was going to increase my cost another $15 or so more dollars per month. By cutting the cord from DirecTV we were able to go all HD on all TV's and reduce our costs substantially. After doing some research I've come up with this plan which works very well - and I'm saving roughly $1200/yr by doing it. Just follow this link to see the cost breakdowns at that time: http://tinyurl.com/hsk24o6_
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Ways to "Cut the cord"
As friends ask me on ways to cut the cord it usually brings up a larger discussion of how to go about doing it. I'll step through each of the options below along with Pro's/Con's of each option. There are ways to do this without having broadband, but if you want any level of Internet related signals, you will have to have it - there's no way around it. Where we live, we have two options, Comcast and CenturyLink. Comcast is absolutely awful and horrible customer service, but at the end of the day provides a better product. CenturyLink provides the ONLY option to Comcast, but IMHO their routers are terrible and don't offer a lot of alternatives if I want to avoid paying the router tax (where they lease me the router for somewhere between $5 and $10/month). With Comcast, I own my router and save myself $5 or so bucks a month. That doesn't sound like much - but let's put it this way, that's $60/year I'm saving and the cost of the router is a little over $60 or so (https://www.amazon.com/slp/comcast-compatible-modem/pckg3obvyuob442). So within a years time I am saving money. The downside - unless you're rather technical, it can be difficult to troubleshoot and Comcast is likely going to blame any issues outside of a signal into your house on the modem. Since they don't own nor maintain the router they can get away with that without cause. The good news is by and large most of the routers listed there have good warranties and work without fail.
The third party routers for CenturyLink provide almost no extra savings value as they don't make anything easier and are generally a pain to find. So I gave up on that option.
Before you do any cord cutting, the first thing to do is to understand "am I able to get off the air TV signals where I live?" It's a pretty simple answer really - look here at https://nocable.org/hd-antenna-coverage-map, find your home and if you have coverage, then you've got step 1. already done. The better the signal, the more likely you are to be able to cut the cord.
Anyway - without further adieu, here's my breakdown of options.
The third party routers for CenturyLink provide almost no extra savings value as they don't make anything easier and are generally a pain to find. So I gave up on that option.
Before you do any cord cutting, the first thing to do is to understand "am I able to get off the air TV signals where I live?" It's a pretty simple answer really - look here at https://nocable.org/hd-antenna-coverage-map, find your home and if you have coverage, then you've got step 1. already done. The better the signal, the more likely you are to be able to cut the cord.
Anyway - without further adieu, here's my breakdown of options.
No Internet.
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So you only have a single TV and you aren't really interested in any remote features, then this is your option.
Must have: TV HD Antenna What to buy:
Total cost:
Pros: Inexpensive Cons: Limited to one TV and no external devices. Also limited to any available off-air signals to get local stations. If you're already thinking this way you realize you won't be getting all of the channels that cable has to offer. But are you watching all of that crap anyway? Do you need ALL of the NFL/MLB whatever games? If you do - then you should stop reading here and keep throwing your money at the big providers because you won't be happy with this. |
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No Internet
More than one TV No DVR function |
If you're already thinking this way you realize you won't be getting all of the channels that cable has to offer. But are you watching all of that crap anyway? Do you need ALL of the NFL/MLB whatever games? If you do - then you should stop reading here and keep throwing your money at the big providers because you won't be happy with this.Things start changing in complexity when you move away from a single TV and want to bring more items together.
Must have:
What to buy:
Total costs:
Pros: Inexpensive Cons: Limited to any available off-air signals to get local stations. Getting complicated without much additional gain. If you're already thinking this way you realize you won't be getting all of the channels that cable has to offer. But are you watching all of that crap anyway? Do you need ALL of the NFL/MLB whatever games? If you do - then you should stop reading here and keep throwing your money at the big providers because you won't be happy with this. |
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Internet Internet
One TV No DVR function |
This may be a little simpler than the previous one with more features simply because we have the power of the Internet working for us. We're still building towards the fully functional system.
Must have:
What to buy:
Total costs:
Pros: Adding the Internet opens up a world of features here. The Amazon Fire Stick brings a TON of features to the mix. YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, MLB, NFL, ESPN, Sling and it goes on and on. For a ridiculously long list of apps these provide, see here http://tinyurl.com/yb92m4rs Cons: You'll want more - trust me. That being said - there are some pretty steep blackout areas for MLB and NFL. You won't get ALL of the channels from the big providers - so be honest with yourself on what you want to watch and what you NEED to watch. |
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Internet Internet Many TVs No DVR function |
We're starting to hit the full stride here.
Must have:
What to buy:
Total costs:
Pros: Adding the Internet opens up a world of features here. The Amazon Fire Stick brings a TON of features to the mix. YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, MLB, NFL, ESPN, Sling and it goes on and on. For a ridiculously long list of apps these provide, see here http://tinyurl.com/yb92m4rs. Plus you can watch all of this on all your TV's with each Fire Stick you add on. Cons: You'll want more - trust me. That being said - there are some pretty steep blackout areas for MLB and NFL. You won't get ALL of the channels from the big providers - so be honest with yourself on what you want to watch and what you NEED to watch. |
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Internet Internet
Many TVs DVR function |
This is the moment you've all been waiting for - a complete and total replacement of your DVR featured cable/satellite TV system. What do we need?
Must have:
What to buy:
Total costs:
Pros: Adding the Internet opens up a world of features here. The Amazon Fire Stick brings a TON of features to the mix. YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, MLB, NFL, ESPN, Sling and it goes on and on. For a ridiculously long list of apps these provide, see here http://tinyurl.com/yb92m4rs. Plus you can watch all of this on all your TV's with each Fire Stick you add on. Cons: You'll want more - trust me. That being said - there are some pretty steep blackout areas for MLB and NFL. You won't get ALL of the channels from the big providers - so be honest with yourself on what you want to watch and what you NEED to watch. |
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What else is there?
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So that's the whole enchilada. Some other errata.
What if I hate Amazon? That's fine - AppleTV is a great substitute (and in fact we're moving that direction once Amazon has Prime on their boxes as an app). Keep in mind you will be a pretty steep increase in the smart TV part for the Apple device. The pros of the Apple TV is you can sling video from your iOS or MacOS devices to the Apple TV. What if I love Amazon? Make sure you have Amazon Prime to go with the Amazon Fire. If you aren't already an Amazon Prime member, it's well worth the $100 or so per year for the 2 day delivery. In addition to that you get all the Amazon Prime TV/Music with your Fire. It fills in a LOT of the gaps that are out there for entertainment. Technical know-how: Some of these takes a bit of doing. But think of it as a stream of a signal. The signal has to come from somewhere. What is your source? What is your destination? What is the signal path and is there a conversion it has to go through. A digital off-air signal in most instance here goes from off-air (digital), to the HD antenna, to the Tablo which then convert the signal to an IP packet if it's being routed in the house (if not it is then converted) and sent via HD signal to the TV itself. |