Cutting the cable, looking for some advice.

[FlaChief58]

The Mrs and I have decided to take the leap and cut off cable TV and start streaming. Along with vudu, prime video, Pluto tv and a couple other free streaming apps, I want to get an outdoor HD antenna for local channels.

My main questions for anyone who has done this are, what should I look for in an HD antenna (brand, range etc.) and of Hulu, sling, which one would give me the most similar channels to cable.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Why Not?]

We have Hulu TV. Love it. Had Sling and that’s fine but like Hulu a bit more. Get a family member or friend’s(who is in college)email address and get the Sunday Ticket App for $100. Profit.

[Why Not?]

Oh and not sure if it’s the same for all states/areas but we get our locals through Hulu TV

[Clyde Frog]

Hulu + Live TV is <50 a month you get all the Hulu stuff plus live locals. You won't need an antenna.
Disney+ I got free for being a Verizon customer.
HBO GO I got free because my GF is an ATT customer.
Netflix ~14 a month because I'm the one in the family that pays for it and my siblings all use mine.
Everything else, I just stream free off of Reddit or Download Torrents of.

[TambaBerry]

I always laugh when people say I cut cable then talk about Hulu TV and whatever. It's basically cable still lol

[FlaChief58]

I've been looking at the $12 Hulu package. Mainly we're tired of spectrum. By doing this we can save $80 a month which I'm all for. Our savings would be cut in half if we go with Hulu live

[FlaChief58]

Originally Posted by TambaBerry

I always laugh when people say I cut cable then talk about Hulu TV and whatever. It's basically cable still lol

But a lot cheaper

[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by TambaBerry

I always laugh when people say I cut cable then talk about Hulu TV and whatever. It's basically cable still lol

Kinda. But it sure as hell ain’t the same price. We save about $100 a month by using streaming services over satellite.

[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by FlaChief58

But a lot cheaper

This.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Huge cord cutting thread in MC. FWIW, we have YouTube TV and love it.

[Lprechaun]

We cut cable about a year and a half ago and got an OTA antenna. Get about 40 stations with just that.
We dropped internet to the house and strictly stream from phones or ipad thru unlimited data.
Beamed to the TV. Looks better than using firestick for us.

[sedated]

I bought my antenna for (I think) around $30 and it works fine. As long as you are in or near a city, don't stress about it or spend too much.

If you want OTA in multiple rooms, I'd recommend AirTV, which broadcasts 1 antenna to multiple devices. Cost $100, no monthly cost.

(I also don't think there is such thing as an "HD" antenna, since that is how everything is broadcast. Just wanted to mention that in case it saves a couple bucks)

[Mecca]

Here's my advice as someone who has been out from cable for roughly 7 years.

Number 1, find out if your ISP has a data cap, if it does and you are going to stream and especially game/download things you are going to have to pay to be uncapped, this made my internet bill go from 80 which I found reasonable for the 285 down I get to 130 which I think is a bit high but unfortunately I'm stuck with that.

You're likely going to have 2 options, mine are AT&T and Comcast..both have data caps, I've had both Comcast speeds are much better for what I need. Just make sure you go with what you need to have. If you have teens gaming and you go with a package that is like 40 down you are going to get some extreme lag. Other good ISP advice, if it is a company like the ones I mentioned, a lot of times they'll offer you to add super basic cable for almost nothing. I believe they offered it to me for 5 bucks, so know your options.

Now for the sign up services that you are going to need to have...
Netflix obviously
The hulu/disney/espn + bundle is about as good of a deal as you'll find in streaming.
Amazon prime is worth it if you are going to use it to shop also.

But in reality you can sidestep all of these if you know how to use KODI, that is something every single cord cutter should have. I won't explain it since there is a thread on it in the MC and it's easy to look up on google.

Another thing that I've done that is going to be an option for younger people if you're parents or a family member etc are swell...I know my parents cable login and pass..which means I can sign up for the streaming service for all of the channels they get. This means I can watch fox,nbc,abc, fox sports, espn etc etc this has been extremely helpful over the years.

With all of this my budget for all this stuff is still is like 180 dollars, unfortunately until my teenage kids go off to college and take their net usage with them I'm stuck paying to be uncapped as I go over that limit constantly. Also I could get away not paying for any stream service using things like torrents and flash drives or my home network but once again the kids are far to lazy to understand how to use it.

I learned having kids makes cord cutting more expensive if its just say you or you and a wife it's far easier.

[underEJ]

OTA looks so much better than any streaming. I love national game days. My antenna isn’t even outside. It’s just a black square I shove in the window when I have a game to watch. If you are in a city take advantage. It’s free and better. I spent about 30 bucks I think at the most at my local hardware store. Probably available for less from a source that carries a volume of that kind of thing.

[FlaChief58]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Here's my advice as someone who has been out from cable for roughly 7 years.

Number 1, find out if your ISP has a data cap, if it does and you are going to stream and especially game/download things you are going to have to pay to be uncapped, this made my internet bill go from 80 which I found reasonable for the 285 down I get to 130 which I think is a bit high but unfortunately I'm stuck with that.

You're likely going to have 2 options, mine are AT&T and Comcast..both have data caps, I've had both Comcast speeds are much better for what I need. Just make sure you go with what you need to have. If you have teens gaming and you go with a package that is like 40 down you are going to get some extreme lag. Other good ISP advice, if it is a company like the ones I mentioned, a lot of times they'll offer you to add super basic cable for almost nothing. I believe they offered it to me for 5 bucks, so know your options.

Now for the sign up services that you are going to need to have...
Netflix obviously
The hulu/disney/espn + bundle is about as good of a deal as you'll find in streaming.
Amazon prime is worth it if you are going to use it to shop also.

But in reality you can sidestep all of these if you know how to use KODI, that is something every single cord cutter should have. I won't explain it since there is a thread on it in the MC and it's easy to look up on google.

Another thing that I've done that is going to be an option for younger people if you're parents or a family member etc are swell...I know my parents cable login and pass..which means I can sign up for the streaming service for all of the channels they get. This means I can watch fox,nbc,abc, fox sports, espn etc etc this has been extremely helpful over the years.

With all of this my budget for all this stuff is still is like 180 dollars, unfortunately until my teenage kids go off to college and take their net usage with them I'm stuck paying to be uncapped as I go over that limit constantly. Also I could get away not paying for any stream service using things like torrents and flash drives or my home network but once again the kids are far to lazy to understand how to use it.

I learned having kids makes cord cutting more expensive if its just say you or you and a wife it's far easier.

Lots of information there, thanks.

It's just the Mrs and I for the most part and other than our phones tablets and tv we don't use that much data ( no Xbox etc). I'll do some research on KODI