Question for Cord Cutters

[COUGinNCW]

I called Comcast and the $60 or so per month I pay for internet jumps to over $100 per month if I don't bundle. Rat bastards. Anyhow, I'm thinking, why don't I just ditch internet and pay for unlimited data on our family cell phone plan that would only be another 20 bucks a month or so. There is a Verizon tower a couple hundred yards from my house. Has anyone tried this to run their ROKU TVs and the like?

I'm thinking Sling for Sports and Netflix, Amazon Prime and now Disney plus which will be free with Verizon for a year would all I'd need and I'd save a couple hundred per month.

 

[dgibbons]

I called Comcast and the $60 or so per month I pay for internet jumps to over $100 per month if I don't bundle. Rat bastards. Anyhow, I'm thinking, why don't I just ditch internet and pay for unlimited data on our family cell phone plan that would only be another 20 bucks a month or so. There is a Verizon tower a couple hundred yards from my house. Has anyone tried this to run their ROKU TVs and the like?

I'm thinking Sling for Sports and Netflix, Amazon Prime and now Disney plus which will be free with Verizon for a year would all I'd need and I'd save a couple hundred per month.

Read the fine print on the “unlimited” data. There are exceptions for streaming as I recall.

 

[79COUG]

During peak usage time those with unlimited data (who pay the most) are "filtered"... which makes zero sense to me.

 

[sellas]

torrent everything and cheaty streams for sports! Kinda have to living in Taiwan.

It is incredible how much more expensive all that is in the US. TV/Phone etc.

 

[chipdouglas]

I cut the cord 5 years ago when i lived in NY but never really found any single service that could deliver the football games I wanted (WSU, UGA, Hawks). But I also experienced that with Verizon - for well over $100/mo with maxed out channels.

I pay like $12/mo for Netflix, Hulu is free with Spotify ($11), and I use family’s ATTNow subscription + streams to find games. Or just go to a sports bar. CFBStreams on Reddit used to be a GODSEND but they shut it down earlier in the year.

Honestly, we are in “late stage cable” and providers are doing virtually nothing to address it. All of us on this board are ultra motivated to watch games, but we will get creative when you tell us we have to leverage our homes and buy the restaurant in order to get a pizza. I would rather get resourceful to find the 50 games a year I watch, then get Netflix for the shoulder season, vs paying Megacorp $1500/yr and still having to find streams for a handful of games

 

[billyjoecamaro]

Sports is the only reason I don't cut the cord. Still no viable options out there for sports. Even the streamed games are about 2 minutes behind TV so you have to turn your texts off!

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Send back your all in one cable modem router and buy your own equipment. That'll save you around $25/mo and we replaced our setup for about $140.

Faster throughput and the roi is 6 months.

Sling orange and blue, i buy hbo and my sister buys netflix and we share, and I pirate P12N since they make it so gd hard to get their service (its on everyones "extra extra tier now - f that.)

 

[Observer11]

Until there is competitive 5G, you're pretty well stuck with your local fiber provider.

I suppose (depending on where you live), you can opt for either Comcast (cable) or CenturyLink(DSL) in Spokane, for instance. You give up too much in performance looking at something like satellite (like Hughesnet). But the last leg access to your residence makes true cord-cutting relatively cost prohibitive.


Maybe larger cities have more alternatives but this side of the state, it is what it is.

 

[CougInSpain]

I called Comcast and the $60 or so per month I pay for internet jumps to over $100 per month if I don't bundle. Rat bastards. Anyhow, I'm thinking, why don't I just ditch internet and pay for unlimited data on our family cell phone plan that would only be another 20 bucks a month or so. There is a Verizon tower a couple hundred yards from my house. Has anyone tried this to run their ROKU TVs and the like?

I'm thinking Sling for Sports and Netflix, Amazon Prime and now Disney plus which will be free with Verizon for a year would all I'd need and I'd save a couple hundred per month.

I only pay $55/mo for their internet! What speeds would you be getting in return for that price?

 

[COUGinNCW]

I cut the cord 5 years ago when i lived in NY but never really found any single service that could deliver the football games I wanted (WSU, UGA, Hawks). But I also experienced that with Verizon - for well over $100/mo with maxed out channels.

I pay like $12/mo for Netflix, Hulu is free with Spotify ($11), and I use family’s ATTNow subscription + streams to find games. Or just go to a sports bar. CFBStreams on Reddit used to be a GODSEND but they shut it down earlier in the year.

Honestly, we are in “late stage cable” and providers are doing virtually nothing to address it. All of us on this board are ultra motivated to watch games, but we will get creative when you tell us we have to leverage our homes and buy the restaurant in order to get a pizza. I would rather get resourceful to find the 50 games a year I watch, then get Netflix for the shoulder season, vs paying Megacorp $1500/yr and still having to find streams for a handful of games

thanks for the tip on Spotify and Hula. I have Spotify but didn’t know i got Hula for free.

 

[cougarhawk1]

ill tell you what else sucks, you cant hardly listen to a game online(radio) without downloading an ap and or paying for it. Fing radio isn't free now ?

I can usually find a station somewhere that has live streaming, but its not easy.

I have direct tv and pay for the extra channels but it sucks

 

[425cougfan]

ill tell you what else sucks, you cant hardly listen to a game online(radio) without downloading an ap and or paying for it. Fing radio isn't free now ?

I can usually find a station somewhere that has live streaming, but its not easy.

I have direct tv and pay for the extra channels but it sucks

I've never looked into it all that seriously, but I think there are some good options as far as free (or periodically free) apps for streaming games (e.g., TuneIn, IHeartRadio, a bunch of other live radio apps I've acquired but don't really use, etc.). Also believe the official WSU Cougars app has live audio.

 

[chipdouglas]

I've never looked into it all that seriously, but I think there are some good options as far as free (or periodically free) apps for streaming games (e.g., TuneIn, IHeartRadio, a bunch of other live radio apps I've acquired but don't really use, etc.). Also believe the official WSU Cougars app has live audio.

TuneIn used to be how I caught the radio feed but now everything is behind a paywall.

Completely pointless app now unless you want to listen to Catholic AM radio in Knoxville TN on a Thursday afternoon.

WSU app is a good tip though in a pinch - I just hoped not to have to download an app for every single team I follow

 

[chipdouglas]

Send back your all in one cable modem router and buy your own equipment. That'll save you around $25/mo and we replaced our setup for about $140.

Faster throughput and the roi is 6 months.

Sling orange and blue, i buy hbo and my sister buys netflix and we share, and I pirate P12N since they make it so gd hard to get their service (its on everyones "extra extra tier now - f that.)

Somebody will come along and figure out how to offer what cable offers without all the overhead - probably in the ultra high speed net era. I understand the tech barriers but the business model of having to buy every car on the lot when you just wanted the Explorer is utterly crazy. Somebody will offer it without needing to pay 3 million junior college guys to drive around Comcast Ford Sprints with wire.

 

[wazzucougs96]

Until there is competitive 5G, you're pretty well stuck with your local fiber provider.

I suppose (depending on where you live), you can opt for either Comcast (cable) or CenturyLink(DSL) in Spokane, for instance. You give up too much in performance looking at something like satellite (like Hughesnet). But the last leg access to your residence makes true cord-cutting relatively cost prohibitive.


Maybe larger cities have more alternatives but this side of the state, it is what it is.

Bingo. Any savings on the content end are eaten up by the cost of the internet needed to view the content. Just easier and a way better value to have cable.

 

[CougEd]

Until there is competitive 5G, you're pretty well stuck with your local fiber provider.

I suppose (depending on where you live), you can opt for either Comcast (cable) or CenturyLink(DSL) in Spokane, for instance. You give up too much in performance looking at something like satellite (like Hughesnet). But the last leg access to your residence makes true cord-cutting relatively cost prohibitive.


Maybe larger cities have more alternatives but this side of the state, it is what it is.

Funny as I just called Comcast when I looked at the bill and then looked at the premium channels that were cut back.. I asked them if I just went internet and it is 99.00 per month. I have the bundle of phone internet and cable with premium channels. They removed Cinemax and another channel without telling me yet the billing was the same.

As a "preferred" customer they dropped my bill down by 50.00 but I am still looking for other alternatives. I pay 180 plus two boxes, so I am starting to sniff around to see what else is out there.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Right now, I pay $93 per month for 150 MB/s internet and some stupid bundled TV package that I don't use but it's cheaper to keep it than not. We pay $50 for the Sling Orange+Blue package plus the Sports package that includes the Pac-12, $15 for Netflix, $15 for HBO Now and we have Amazon Prime (my wife shops a lot). So, we are paying $173 per month now. When I had cable, it had climbed to $230 per month and obviously didn't include Netflix. I'll probably drop the sports package after football is over so that'll drop my rate to $163 per month. Every time I think about dropping HBO, they have a series come on that has kept me subscribing, but it's not worth it for the movies that they carry.

 

[SaveFerris]

TuneIn used to be how I caught the radio feed but now everything is behind a paywall.

Completely pointless app now unless you want to listen to Catholic AM radio in Knoxville TN on a Thursday afternoon.

WSU app is a good tip though in a pinch - I just hoped not to have to download an app for every single team I follow

I stopped using TuneIn I think because on longer games it would drop the post-game. Here's the WSU Audio page from official site: https://wsucougars.com/sports/2016/8/16/live-audio.aspx

 

[CPtheCoug]

Oh man, CFBStreams was CLUCH before it was shut down.

 

[kougkurt]

It’s sports. The easier the better. Satellite or cable with all the sporting extras.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Oh man, CFBStreams was CLUCH before it was shut down.

There is a link to a new site, so ive heard.

The links are safe there too. My friend told me so.

 

[425cougfan]

Bingo. Any savings on the content end are eaten up by the cost of the internet needed to view the content. Just easier and a way better value to have cable.

Yeah. For now, at least, the promise of cord-cutting (cheap Internet, just pay small fees for the small number of channels you want on an as-needed basis) hasn't come close to panning out. Skeptical it will, at least for a very long time. If anything, it's getting even more fragmented.

 

[cougarhawk1]

the big corporations with rights fees will lobby to keep that from happening

if we had 1 honest congress critter we might have a chance

once college football is over ill probably cut back my direct tv package, espn deserves to be cut

 

[Slowmotionjones]

There is a link to a new site, so ive heard.

The links are safe there too. My friend told me so.

I tried the new site to watch some games a few weeks ago when Fox and BTN(?) weren't available. There was a little delay in the broadcasts but it was great for the price (of free).

 

[sellas]

Just as an aside. I pay $12 for unlimited phone and data. $14 a month for a 100mb internet connection. Not sure about TV. Pretty similar though.

 

[425cougfan]

Just as an aside. I pay $12 for unlimited phone and data. $14 a month for a 100mb internet connection. Not sure about TV. Pretty similar though.

Where is that — Thailand?

 

[random soul]

As an Aussie I have to watch a lot of games on shady sites and battle the pop-ups (and have up to date virus scanners and clear that cache after every watch) because if the game isn't going to be shown on ESPN (or games that the network buys replay rights to broadcast here on Foxtel) then it's not going to be shown anywhere. I couldn't pay to see it if I wanted to. I do enjoy the perk of being able to watch complete replays on the ESPN site whenever I want though

 

[sellas]

Where is that — Thailand?

Taiwan

 

[sellas]

As an Aussie I have to watch a lot of games on shady sites and battle the pop-ups (and have up to date virus scanners and clear that cache after every watch) because if the game isn't going to be shown on ESPN (or games that the network buys replay rights to broadcast here on Foxtel) then it's not going to be shown anywhere. I couldn't pay to see it if I wanted to. I do enjoy the perk of being able to watch complete replays on the ESPN site whenever I want though

Run Linux with Firefox and adblockers etc. no worries.

or

Just boot Linux off a USB stick to watch games. Safe and sane

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Run Linux with Firefox and adblockers etc. no worries.

or

Just boot Linux off a USB stick to watch games. Safe and sane

Load "WSU Game", 8,1

 

[twindux]

Duck fan here. Cut the cord on January. My setup:

internet: 1gig thru CenturyLink. 65/month all-in... no install, equipment or taxes. And no contract....totally month to month with guaranteed price.

Main tv: YouTube tv. Has unlimited DVR plus all the sports channels I need except Pac-12. Amazing picture quality

Various services such as prime video, Netflix

as for PAC-12...available legally only on sling and fubo, neither of which handle the rest of my viewing needs and both of which have atrocious picture quality. I’ve found occasional Pac-12 games on unauthorized sources. Willing to buy the minimal sling package on a given month if needed.

That’s the great part about cord cutting....services are month to month. If you don’t like it, jump to a different service.

Hoping for a good game and no injuries in Autzen this weekend.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Duck fan here. Cut the cord on January. My setup:

internet: 1gig thru CenturyLink. 65/month all-in... no install, equipment or taxes. And no contract....totally month to month with guaranteed price.

Main tv: YouTube tv. Has unlimited DVR plus all the sports channels I need except Pac-12. Amazing picture quality

Various services such as prime video, Netflix

as for PAC-12...available legally only on sling and fubo, neither of which handle the rest of my viewing needs and both of which have atrocious picture quality. I’ve found occasional Pac-12 games on unauthorized sources. Willing to buy the minimal sling package on a given month if needed.

That’s the great part about cord cutting....services are month to month. If you don’t like it, jump to a different service.

Hoping for a good game and no injuries in Autzen this weekend.

Sling has come a long way in terms of picture quality. It's still a little buggy at times, but it's pretty good for the most part.

 

[twindux]

TuneIn used to be how I caught the radio feed but now everything is behind a paywall.

Completely pointless app now unless you want to listen to Catholic AM radio in Knoxville TN on a Thursday afternoon.

WSU app is a good tip though in a pinch - I just hoped not to have to download an app for every single team I follow

I caught a recent WSU game while driving home from a Ducks game on TuneIn. Tuneiin provides most content for free, although they do nag you to 'upgrade' to their premium service. I've listened to the Ducks, Beavers, Tree, Cougs and more (all the Learfield IMG stations) ....and haven't paid TuneIn a penny..

Hope it can work for you

 

[twindux]

Sling has come a long way in terms of picture quality. It's still a little buggy at times, but it's pretty good for the most part.

I have a one-month sub right now, and it's not up to the quality of youtube TV or Hulu live...just my experience.

Plus even with 1-gig service, it still rebuffers way too often on my TV...both directly to my LG smart TV (wired ethernet) and my Apple TV (also wired).

YTTV and Hulu Live have never rebuffered for me even once.

Again, just my experience.

For anyone else considering cord cutting or pondering their options, there's a great comparison site: thestreamable.com/live-tv-streaming that does a great job comparing all the options, prices, channel lineups, etc...

 

[chipdouglas]

For anyone else considering cord cutting or pondering their options, there's a great comparison site: thestreamable.com/live-tv-streaming that does a great job comparing all the options, prices, channel lineups, etc...

Nice link, thanks. If it were earlier in the season I would have to check out fuboTV: has CBS Sports, NBC Sports, FS1, FS2, NFL Network & RedZone, P12 Network and 5x FOX College Sports nets + B10N. I could see 90% of games I watch.

Course, looks like it starts at $55 and goes up, which for a cord cutter means quadrupling your monthly bill. Still, if no strings attached, would easily be worth it 4-5 months out of the year. I used to pay Verizon 4x as much for my cell/net/TV bundle in NYC awhile back.

 

[random soul]

Nice link, thanks. If it were earlier in the season I would have to check out fuboTV: has CBS Sports, NBC Sports, FS1, FS2, NFL Network & RedZone, P12 Network and 5x FOX College Sports nets + B10N. I could see 90% of games I watch.

Course, looks like it starts at $55 and goes up, which for a cord cutter means quadrupling your monthly bill. Still, if no strings attached, would easily be worth it 4-5 months out of the year. I used to pay Verizon 4x as much for my cell/net/TV bundle in NYC awhile back.

Yeah I have the coverage silo problem. If I click on the link for fubo, for example, I just get the 'sorry, not available in your area' page. Internationals are still SOL