Internet TV (cutting cord)

[sam]

If you get TV service or TV package from Youtube TV or Sling TV, do you have to pay broadcast TV fee and regional sports TV (I think this comes if you have ESPN in your packages) fees? I just checked my cable TV bill, Broadcast TV fees is $25.30 and regional sports TV fees is $9.95 for a total of $35.25.

$10 is for TV box?

Other Charges = $5.21
Franchise Fee $5.02
Public, Educ & Govt Fee $0.10
Regulatory Cost Recovery $0.09

So I am paying like $50.46 for other than actual TV service.

Does any of internet based TV packages comes with ESPN or CNBC?

For Home Internet:

Has anyone tried internet off your mobile phone? Make a Hotspot off your mobile and then connect your smart TV or computer to that internet? I have only done it for computer during internet outage and it worked fine. Not sure as a long term solution. My average monthly data usage for home internet (with Comcast) is like 350 GB. I would think most mobile internet plan will cut speed down to dial up for this kind of usage

T-mobile is offering 5G home Internet service for $50. Has anyone tried this or any data caps? Spectrum is NOT available in my area. Starlink may be another option in few months according to company.

[Birdman96]

Hey Sam,

I’m in the process of “cutting the cord” too. Installed mesh wifi to connect throughout my apartment and subscribed to Youtube tv. When my wife and I realized we were only watching 6 channels between us I went looking for an internet tv package to include them.

We have had Spectrum now for a few years and the fees continued to go up including those “extras,” which as you noted, have nothing to do with the actual service. Youtube tv includes espn but not espn+. I know, it makes no sense but it’s not a channel I watch much.

So with this change I’ll go from $232/month with cable tv and internet to spectrum internet = $79 plus 59.95 for youtube (~$140/month). I’ll look to negotiate a lower internet fee from Spectrum or move to fios, which is in my building at $65/month or T-Mobile wifi at $50/month.

Good luck to you!

[ignatz]

I cut the cable TV cord several years ago. I continue to pay for Internet only...90 a month. The cost of cable TV/Internet package was going over 200 a month when I cut out TV.

It is highly annoying that customers are expected to "negotiate" their cable TV price as if they were buying a car. You are supposed to threaten to quit to get a lower price. Why in the hell did they choose that business model?

First thing I did was buy a Roku box. 70 bucks or so. Fascinated by it for a year or so, but then replaced it with Sling and the modern day equivalent of "rabbit ears" antenna. I still have the Roku (entirely free), but never use it any more.

My total TV charges are 53 a month on Sling. They have 2 packages; orange and blue. I have blue. There is some overlap between them. Orange has ESPN, Blue doesn't.

Included in the 53 bucks are 3 optional packages that I think are about 5 a month: News; Lifestyle; and Hollywood Extra.

No extra charges at all. It's a flat 53 that they put on my credit card. It was I think 45 up until a year or so ago.

No contract at all with Sling...you can add or delete your extra packages at will...or quit it entirely at will.

I like Sling because they have a software package that lets you view it on a PC monitor.

Very few problems with Sling. Pic quality is high. Overall uptime is above 99 percent. Occasionally, I have to shut it down and restart it. Takes 30 seconds.

Overall, I get probably 150 or 200 channels on Sling, of which I actually watch maybe 20.

Including:

CNBC, CNN, Newsmax, BBC, Turner Classic Movies, History, NFL, A and E, News Nation, TNT, Fox Business, Fox News, HLN, MSNBC, Fox Sports, Investigation Discovery, Law and Crime, Oxygen, Syfy, Reelz, The Film Detective, Travel.

Rabbit ears might surprise you. I live in a metro area where the local TV stations have their antennas at a single location about 25 miles away. I get around 40 stations via rabbit ears....which is actually a Moku indoors antenna tacked to an interior wall that cost me 35 bucks, one time fee. Weather can occasionally affect it, but it is generally fine.

I bought a 75 dollar Hauppage USB TV tuner that also allows me to watch "rabbit ears" on my PC monitor through the Moku antenna. It connects between the Moku and my PC by cable. About the size of a pocket knife.

I have not turned on my TV in 2 or 3 years. Everything is on the PC monitor.

[Chahta]

Change to T-mobile and get Netflix and Apple TV free as part of your service. Paramount+ is free for 1 year.

[FD1000]

We already have a thread about it big-bang-investors.proboards.com/thread/2054/finally-cut-tv-cord

My solutions for most flexibility: 1) seeing sports+news real time of local+national channels  2) Be able to record unlimited  3) Be able to start watching a recording on one TV and continue on the other  4) High speed internet, at least 300-500 Mgps.

I sighed 2 years with Spectrum at $39.99 for 500 Mgps. The bill is only $39.99, nothing else.  I share YoutubeTV with my daughter family, they told me to pay them $34 per months, that tells me their bill isn't higher than $68. I also added Hulu at $1.99 per month. I went from $185 monthly + $70 year amazon(full price $140 / 2) to $76 monthly + 70 year amazon and I have all/most of the options. I suspect the sweet spot, of 300-500 Mgps, will stay under $50 in major cities with competitions. We also share Netflix(free for us), and Amazon

I'm with T-mobile about 23 years. Their internet speed isn't good enough. The 55+ for 2 at $50 is their best. If you want HD Netflix, you pay $15 more, which means it's not free.

Attachments:

[Chahta]

The $65 is unlimited 5G data and hotspot. The $50 is limited 5G data then goes to 4g after a certain amount is used and limited hotspot. There is that difference. But we get Paramount+ for 1 year, Apple TV + Netflix for $65 (her phone). I am on grandfathered plan of 2 lines (watch/phone)for $60 and no other free adds. But I got Paramount+ for a Free Tuesday offer.

[sam]

Thanks all for your insights and experience.

Currently I am with Comcast.

I pay like

Internet (400 MB) and TV (125 channels, ESPN and CNBC are part of this package) Comcast is only offering 3 TV plans in my area any way. $80 for both with 2 year contract discount!

Other stuff (broadcast fees, regional sports fees, TV Box and others like Franchise fee etc) $50+
Taxes- $7

Total = $137+

But I also get mobile service with Xfinity Mobile. I pay only By Gig plan (work from home so no need for unlimited phone internet data plan). ($25 phone line fees (it covers unlimited Calls and Texts)is waived for Xfinity Internet or TV service customers). = $18/month


Total = Internet + TV + mobile = $155/ month

I usually subscribe to 1 or sometime 2 premium services like Netflix or apple TV or HBO on my own at any given month and some months there is no premium service. With Comcast Peacock TV is free and it also has some good stuff (Yellowstone). That extra varies but I think it averages like $10/month.

Total for Entertainment and Mobile Communication = $ 165/month (I would think it will increase $10-20 this year as I mentioned Comcast is very good at increasing bill every year).

For many many years, my high speed internet and TV fees used to be like $40/45/month (I am mot making this up) but around 2014, this changed. Every year they nickle and dime few bucks from me (an increase of $10-15 /year).

By looking at comments and what other people are paying, it seems like very difficult to get all 3 services for total $155/month or less with different providers.

Cheapest Internet might Be T-mobile home Wifi = $50
Cheapest TV service - sling TV Orange (for ESPN) and Blue (CNBC) = $55 + $6 (CNBC is extra) = $61
Cheaptest Mobile= $45 - $50 (T mobile or may be Boost mobile)

Not sure if there will be sales tax extra added to above mentioned service. I would think yes


By the way for internet, my speed used to 25 MB then increased to 50 and then 100MB and so on. I only noticed speed difference uptil 100 MB plan. This is both for internet usage or watching 4k TV. After that I did not notice a change with higher internet speed. My computers are either latest or at least their Wifi Cards are newer (1-2 years of latest protocol) and newest phone). Hardware is not issue. Has anyone else experienced similar with internet speed?

[ignatz]

Jan 8, 2023 16:54:30 GMT sam said:

Not sure if there will be sales tax extra added to above mentioned service. I would think yes

No sales tax on Sling, at least in my area. 53.00 on my credit card and I get 1 percent back on that.

[Chahta]

Just checked my T-mobile home internet. I tested to 221/19.25. T-mobile is fixed at $50, no tax. I am grandfathered at this price.

[sam]

I just checked,

T mobile home Internet Wifi is NOT yet available in my area. It is only showing price on web but when I added my address it shows it might be available in future.

Q: Do you know T mobile Home internet WiFi comes from Cell Phone towers like 5G or 4G LTE signal or it is from Satellite? I read T mobile and Starlink announced partnership few months ago. Not sure it was to provide satellite service to Mobile phones or Home internet to T mobile customers.

In my state sales is charged for all services like Sling, netflix or phone bill or internet. I used to have premium internet based channels like HBO via sling and I just checked past bills and sales tax was charged.

[sam]

I guess first thing for cord jail break is decent high speed internet.

In my area, ONLY decent option is Comcast. I can get Giga plan with Comcast. 

Spectrum Not available (it is available nearby but NOT in my area)

Google fiber NOT available (it is available in some areas of my city but NOT my area)

Starlink (satellite) Not available

T Mobile Home internet not available

Verizon -Not available

At&T internet - In area they service via old copper wires and Speed is limited to 50 Mbps

EarthLink - Speed is limited to 45 Mbps

Comcast wants $92 for standalone High speed internet (400 Mbps) and it comes with no discounts. Apparently this is cheapest plan. Both lower and higher internet speed than my current plan are more expensive. Not sure why?

I guess Comcast knows their competition so they can charge whatever they can while they have upper hand!

[Chahta]

T-mobile Home Internet is from a 5G tower. When I see a bill they show tax but all added in its $50. I’m sure service is taxed here as well but it’s not on top of the charge.

[bobfl]

Jan 8, 2023 4:20:21 GMT Birdman96 said:

Hey Sam,

 When my wife and I realized we were only watching 6 channels between us I went looking for an internet tv package to include them.

Same here, about 7 channels. So we just found the individual streaming services that gave us that. Plus will probably add Netflix and Disney+ for one month a year for the "off" season.
The total is 1/3 of the cost of what we were paying. Thousand times more to watch.
Thank goodness my $65 internet gives unlimited streaming. I checked my usage and was surprised by the massive amount of download volume we consume with Bloomberg on all day.
The surprising thing is that last year Disney lost $1.5 billion on streaming, so don't know where all this is going.

[bobfl]

Jan 8, 2023 18:13:41 GMT sam said:

Comcast wants $92 for standalone High speed internet (400 Mbps) and it comes with no discounts. Apparently this is cheapest plan. Both lower and higher internet speed than my current plan are more expensive. Not sure why?

I guess Comcast knows their competition so they can charge whatever they can while they have upper hand!

You are showing us the future. (I get 1 gig for $65 and free HBO Max) NOW, but
when they lose us as TV customers they lose revenue.
They will let us all get nice and comfortable with streaming or internet TV, then raise the internet charge to the moon. Then we will have to reduce bandwidth charges by going back to satellite TV or just use an antenna with a recorder. They will get our money one way or the other.
I know 5g internet is now available for less but people complain about poor service when the bandwidth is used up with callers. 

Funny story about antennas. My techie neighbor uses an antenna and gets all major stations (and sports). He tested 5 antennas before he found one that worked great. He said he mounted it on the unused satellite dish and used the same wires to get the signal into the house. I told him that the satellite dish points south. The odd thing is that all our towers are actually north. So he must have a great antenna. :-)