Cutting the cord...

[508mikey]

Bump...

Recent cord cutter here, I need advice on a good HD antenna, I am about 75 miles south of Nashville, and surrounded by gigantic trees.
And I am considering Sling, or PS Vue, which would be best?
I'll hang up and listen.

you will miss the Vols opener - its on ESPN U - check sports bars now

 

[maotai]

I use Sling because I can start it in August and cancel it in January. Use your Sling credentials to log in to the ESPN app, it's much better than using Sling to watch the espn channels. We've not had cable for five years and haven't missed a thing. We get all the major networks with an antenna and Amazon fire tv takes care of the rest.

If Tennessee doesn't make a bowl like the last two years you can cancel at the end of November.

 

[VolDave53]

If Tennessee doesn't make a bowl like the last two years you can cancel at the end of November.

 

[508mikey]

Direct TV is garbage -- Ive heard they have lost Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC

 

[jordan4vols]

Its also the most expensive at 50.00 a month.

If you want the SEC network ESPN etc that’s what you’re going to pay once you select those upgraded packages from sling or any other. YouTube live with its dvr, 70 channels, and functionality is really hard to beat.

 

[TennesseeTarheel]

I believe that Sling has a 5 dollar sports add on that has SECN.

I am wrong, the sports addon is now 10$ - not 5$! Went up 100% since I had it in January!

 

[Stoked]

We have Hulu live. I also get a student discount on NFL Sunday ticket for $25 a month so I can watch all of my Bears games.

 

[Volinleesburg]

I had DirecTV for 5 years. Switched to Dish. Dish's "Joey" (wifi enabled receiver) consumes more bandwidth than DirecTV's "Hopper".

Today I got an invite from DirecTV which included:
1) a $200 debit card from ATT
2) $19.95 per month for 1 year (180 channels)
3) Free movie channels for 3 months (HBO, Cine, etc...)

I'm starting to play DirecTV and Dish against one another once the 2-year contract expires.

They may be same company by then.

 

[82_VOL_83]

The best advice on this thread so far is given by JakezUT, so I'll just share what me and Shirley do. 'Bout five years (I think) back, we got fed up with both ever-increasing monthly fees first from DISH, then DirecTV - and their downright rude customer service reps. And I do mean RUDE. I got us a Channel Master CM-4221 UHF/HDTV Antenna. Plus a Motorola amplifier as we live (in KY) far from a major city or town. Plus a RCA rotor & controller to direct the antenna. For us, station access does change between summer and late fall. Maybe due to switching towers, I don't really know. We get between 33 - 36 channels, most of which we don't bother to watch. Channel reception will vary depending on where you live. I can point the antenna to receive channels from Indiana, Bowling Green, KY, Nashville, and sometimes Chicago. Asides from experimenting with the rotor I have no reason to set these far away channels. We're happy with what we have. Be sure to include a thick lightning ground wire. If an installer tells you it's unneeded, demand they install it anyway.

For streaming, we use a ROKU, though I am an Amazon Prime member, I don't bother using it for movies and such. ROKU has so many free channels, the only paid subscription we bother with is NetFlix Basic. Now, for UT games, I wait to see how many will show on HULU, an app already built into ROKU. If three or more games, I activate HULU Live TV. When the season is done, I quit the app. We save good money by not being locked in subscribers to a cable or satellite service. Plus get a strange benefit, though inconsistent and never preannounced. Newly released cinema movies show up on our Netflix Basic selections from time to time. I have no idea why except there might be a Netflix glitch or lax employee. They only stay up for between 1-3 nights then vanish. Always pop up at night, usually late. Anyway, we're now waiting for the full UT games broadcast schedule and times so we can decide when to activate HULU. OH yeah, we're grandfathered into a 35mbps plan that's no longer available for new subscribers. They've tempted us with their new 100mbps service but we ignore it. They remotely did something to mess with my modem and router to force us to change. Let's just say I messed with them too and didn't change. Don't ask, I ain't telling.

@WoodsmanVol sound like we are neighbors.

 

[WoodsmanVol]

@WoodsmanVol sound like we are neighbors.

Could be, I infrequently see folks wearing Vols apparel when we ramble into towns at Walmart, Lowe's, and the post office; some with UT themed decals.

 

[YankeeVol]

We have Hulu live. I also get a student discount on NFL Sunday ticket for $25 a month so I can watch all of my Bears games.

I'm doing that this year

 

[ftsandersvol]

Dropped DirecTV about 6 months ago because they wouldn't renew my $75/month bill, Now have HULU Live and am paying $60/month given the features I wanted.

Ironically, or should I say stupidly, DirecTV sent me a "special" offer with their equipment return package, but after 1 1/2 hours on the phone with them trying to convince them to keep me at the same price, given my frustration that ship had already sailed.

It is amazing how utterly stupid some of these big companies are.

 

[wmcovol]

Better upgrade your computer streaming strength while you’re at it. I cut the cord a yr ago. Upgraded to the highest level streaming Xfinity (only reliable internet provider where I live) and I still get freezes etc. I never had a cable outage here in 7 yrs before.

If the stream freezes up on a Tennessee game this yr, I’ll probably go back to cable. Not worth the hassle to save $50 a month.

 

[ftsandersvol]

Better upgrade your computer streaming strength while you’re at it. I cut the cord a yr ago. Upgraded to the highest level streaming Xfinity (only reliable internet provider where I live) and I still get freezes etc. I never had a cable outage here in 7 yrs before.

If the stream freezes up on a Tennessee game this yr, I’ll probably go back to cable. Not worth the hassle to save $50 a month.

True. I had to go to 100 MPS (which is really "up to" 100 mps) and buy a new router to insure no buffering.

 

[larjoranj]

When I had Comcast the intro rate after 2 years was going to jump a ridiculous amount, I think around 100 a month for internet and a premium TV package. I tried to haggle with them. I expected it to go up and had no problem paying a little more but 100? So the best they would offer me was a 20 dollar discount. I told them as nicely as I could that if they didn't give me a bigger discount than that I would start searching for a new provider as soon as I got off the phone and the next time I called back would be to cancel. They didn't budge.

ATT set me up with Uverse at 120 a month for internet and a fabulous TV package. All the Showtimes and HBOs, tons of sports, and sent me a gift Visa card. 4 rooms and DVR. I had it installed and called Comcast back to cancel and they practically begged me to stay. Offered me a much bigger discount than they did in our original conversation. Sorry. I told you before if I get off this phone without an agreement my next call to you will be to cancel. Guess they hear that a lot and people don't follow through.

When my 2 years was up with Uverse it jumped from 120 to 200. I called them, they were much friendlier, and we settled on 160 for the next 2 years. I think they would have done better if I threatened to walk but I didn't want to go through the process of looking around again. My wife and I are both retired and watch a lot of TV. I like having fast internet and 300 channels so that we can find something good to watch any time of the day or night.

 

[dcm3w]

it's a lot cheaper to spend the $100-$200 on the devices and antennas (depending on how many tv's you have), and scrap cable/satellite.....1 time expense...

$8/month for Netflix
$9/month for Amazon prime
$15/Month for HBO NOW
$25/month for Sling w/SEC network

for roughly $60-$70/month you can have access to just about anything you'd want, and you never pay lease fees again for rented/leased equipment. no more weather outages...

and depending on your internet/phone provider, another $60/month...a lot of people go from spending $300 plus, to less than $150 by cutting the cord.

i know for me, i switched to ATT fiber from Spectrum/TWC cabel internet....put my pone on the internet, and went from spending $70/month on interent, $60 on phone, $180 on direct TV....($310/month) to less than $190/month when it was all said and done.

and that's only because i chose to keep some other features. i could probably save another $40 or so a month if i was so inclined....

you can spend as much or as little as you want...but for $60 month on content alone, it just doesn't get much better than doing the a la carte route...

Pro Tip: if you have a chance to get fiber...do it.

 

[Jeepkuntry]

Unfortunately in my area Comcast has the only internet that really is worth a crap. I've checked around as I hate paying $165/mo but internet and 1 upgrade so the kids can have the Disney networks and there we are. When I looked at hulu w/ Comcast internet it would have saved me $15.

 

[615vols]

Youtube tv is my favorite. Has the channels i watch, lots of on demand stuff, never freezes, good quality.

 

[TUSKtimes]

Does Sling TV still just allow the orange package to play on one TV at a time? That got old fast. I'm thinking of giving YouTubeTV a shot soon.

 

[VOLnMiami]

I use watchya TV for $15.00 a month on my firestick...I get almost 9000 channels and most are in HD...Been using it for almost 5 months now with no complaints....Even got most of the local channels from around the USA on there.

 

[molsen81]

I tried Hulu Live for a week and didn't like that I couldn't search more than 2 hours ahead in the guide. I'm now trying YouTube TV which has just the right amount of local channels so I can watch Cal, USC, & Stanford. Hopefully, the SEC Network will be kind to me and show some UTK games. Regardless there's still a group of us that watch UTK game @ The Blue Light in San Francisco.

 

[RockyTopGolfer]

Bump...

Recent cord cutter here, I need advice on a good HD antenna, I am about 75 miles south of Nashville, and surrounded by gigantic trees.
And I am considering Sling, or PS Vue, which would be best?
I'll hang up and listen.

I had decent luck with a Mohu Leaf antenna. It’s going to be hit or missed based on your location and where you try and hang it.

I’ve read where you can place a big antenna in your attic and receive channels pretty easily. I have no desire in doing that.

 

[RockyTopGolfer]

I use watchya TV for $15.00 a month on my firestick...I get almost 9000 channels and most are in HD...Been using it for almost 5 months now with no complaints....Even got most of the local channels from around the USA on there.

Sounds like an IPTV service. I’ve had a couple of them that worked well. Only thing is, you never know when they will disappear or stop working. Many people will question the legality as well.

 

[VOLnMiami]

Sounds like an IPTV service. I’ve had a couple of them that worked well. Only thing is, you never know when they will disappear or stop working. Many people will question the legality as well.

It is an IPTV service but it has been pretty stable...Big reason you only subscribe for a month at a time so if by chance it does stop working your not out really anything...Plus this one has fantastic customer service....But yeah you never know with these things but man I sure have saved a lot of money using it.

 

[volbeast33]

Cable is worth it in the long run. You have to know how to get a lower price on your cable.

No it is not worth it at all