- Feb 14, 2004
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I went through this years ago & am in the process of setting my parents up now. To simplify, there are 3 areas to focus on:
1. Internet
2. Phone
3. Television
I'll be using my parent's setup as an example. They were paying $190 a month for a landline, 50-meg Internet, and cable TV (maybe 100 channels or so). Goal is to have everything work with Roku (one easy, integrated interface) & have everything be as wireless as possible.
1. Internet:
Good Internet is the key part to making cord-cutting work. The two important features here are speed & bandwidth. You want enough speed that you can stream reliably without buffering; that also includes enough bandwidth to handle multiple streams if you live in a household where more than one person watches television. Here are the Netflix requirements for Internet connection speed:
https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306
For quick reference, HD needs at least 5 megs per second (although in practice, this will still buffer...I have a friend who has 5 & her Netflix buffers occasionally) and 25 megs for 4K. Bandwidth is also important. Cox limits residential customers to 1TB of bandwidth per month; my parent's average usage was 2.5TB monthly (55" 4K Roku TV & 43" 4K Roku TV, plus SlingTV at the time, plus Internet, phone, tablet, etc.). They didn't offer a higher bandwidth tier in their area (and even so, their residential max is 2TB, which wouldn't have worked...they charge $10 per 50 gigs over overage), so they ended up moving to Cox Business, which offered unlimited bandwidth for $105 per month at 60mbps. Pretty high for just Internet, but their overall cost went down, as I'll explain in a minute.
You'll also want a good wireless network, unless you plan on hardwiring everything. I set them up with a Netgear Orbi system...not cheap ($380 for a pair), but (1) they get full 5-bar coverage everywhere in their house now, and (2) the wireless satellite has Ethernet ports on it, so they can optionally connect devices via Ethernet if needed. This is the system I use myself & it is the best completely wireless system I have ever used, I can't say enough good things about it. So that gave us the backbone for the system: unlimited bandwidth cable Internet with a solid in-home wireless system.
2. Phone:
Everything is locked to their landline, so it made sense to keep the number. Looked at a variety of VOIP options such as Vonage, but ultimately settled on Ooma: (note the special 911 terms, which sounds scary, but most new landline connections have a local VOIP backend with a battery these days anyway, so that's really nothing new)
http://www.ooma.com/
The basic box is $82 shipped:
https://www.amazon.com/Ooma-Telo-Free-Phone-Service/dp/B00I4XMEYA
They already had a 4-phone wireless DECT system; that simply plugged into the Ooma & then Ooma in turn to the router's Ethernet port. Basic calling is free; the Premier tier (extra features like enhanced caller ID, anonymous call blocking, known spammer blocking, mobile app, call forwarding, backup number, etc.) is $10 a month. You get 2 months free; not sure if they'll keep it yet or not, but the mobile calling feature, voicemail forwarding as an attachment, etc. are really nice features, so we'll include it in the price. So $105 a month for Internet + $10 a month for phone = $115 a month total so far. Oh, and we are also testing out the spam-blocking features, but if those don't work out, we'll be adding Nomorobo, which is free for landlines:
https://www.nomorobo.com/
Personally, I dumped my house phone & went to cellular. That may or may not work for everyone. If you get crappy service at your house, it may be worth keeping a house phone. Although there are a couple things you can do to fix that. First, some modern phones have wi-fi calling, so you can piggyback on your home wireless to route the voice signal through. Second, you can buy what is basically a micro antenna tower called a femtocell, which is essentially a wireless router for your phone. It routes voice calls through your Internet connection, but instead of doing it through wi-fi directly on your phone, it takes the 3G signal & then converts that to Internet VOIP. Verizon sells the Samsung Network Extender, AT&T sells the MicroCell, etc. So basically they just convert your Internet connection into a local 3G hotspot so you can get 5 bars at home, even if you normally get lower in your area due to poor reception.
3. Television:
There are a variety of legal & illegal ways to get television & movies. I'm going to discuss two of them: HD-OTA & IPTV. For a quick summary, HD-OTA is free TV over the air using an antenna (mostly good for local channels, like the news) and IPTV is a satellite/cable replacement live TV streaming service from over the Internet, for a set monthly fee, based on which packages you purchase. My parents wanted the local channels plus "cable" channels, so we're using a combination. There are ways to get both onto Roku as well, which I'll be discussing in a minute.
HD-OTA:
HD-OTA is the same concept as rabbit-ears, but for free over-the-air broadcasts (OTA). There are a variety of antennas you can buy & make, both indoor & outdoor. Just do a search on Amazon for "ota antenna" to get some ideas. I've installed a variety of store-bought antennas with good results. You can typically improve how many channels you receive 6 ways:
1. Getting a bigger antenna
2. Aiming in more directions
3. Getting a combination UHF/VHF antenna
4. Adding amplification (power)
5. Mounting it outdoors
6. Mounting it higher
I recently did a rooftop mount at a small business; surprisingly, it got 35 clear HD channels (granted, 8 or 9 of them were Spanish channels). Because there's no cable compression, the picture actually comes out really really clear. I've used this outdoor unit with good success:
https://www.amazon.com/Element-Bowtie-Indoor-Outdoor-Antenna/dp/B00C4XVOOC
I am building a DIY design this weekend to compare the store-bought version to. My parent's place has a tall attic, so I'll be running it indoors, but at a higher elevation than the smaller ones you stick on your window. I'm anxious to see how it performs; this design has really good reviews:
http://www.diytvantennas.com/sbgh.php
You can check out what channels are available at either of these two websites:
http://www.tvfool.com/
https://www.antennaweb.org/
The next step is getting the free OTA signal to the televisions. First option is to hardwire it, but in wanting to keep this as easy as possible (especially because it would have had to have been wired to multiple televisions), I looked around for wireless solutions. After poking around, I ordered a Tablo today, which converts OTA into a Roku-friendly channel wirelessly. A 2-tuner model is $188 shipped, and you can turn it into a DVR by adding a USB hard drive:
https://www.amazon.com/Tablo-2-Tuner-Over-Air-Wi-Fi/dp/B00MXUDD0O/
It also streams to mobile devices (phones & tablets) & other gadgets, and they optionally have a subscription service for $5 a month that lets you stream anywhere in the world, so if you're traveling or at work or at school or whatever, you can stream your OTA stuff that way (also increases your TV guide from 24 hours to 2 weeks). Haven't decided if they'll keep the subscription feature yet, but we'll add it to the price. So $105 Internet + $10 phone + $5 OTA guide service fee = $120/mo so far.
IPTV:
IPTV is fairly new (at least, legal options). It's basically TV over the Internet, sans a satellite or cable subscription fee. There are currently 4 primary providers:
1. SlingTV
2. DirecTV Now
3. Playstation Vue
4. YoutubeTV
Base pricing ranges between $20 to $40 a month, and grows from there depending on which packages you want (HBO, live sports, Syfy channel, Food Network channel, HGTV bundle, yada yada yada). I have only tried the SlingTV trial so far & it was pretty decent. Aside from channels, you may also want to consider how many simultaneous streams you want; the basic SlingTV service offers one stream, but Sony's service offers 5. Another feature you may or may not want is DVR; Youtube offers unlimited DVR recordings for up to 9 months from the recorded date, which is pretty cool - DirecTV doesn't have one, Sling nicks you $5 a month, etc. Currently YoutubeTV doesn't offer a Roku channel (they are working on expanding the platform), but it does look awfully nice, so hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later. Good intro review here:
http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/5/15177462/youtube-tv-review-streaming-cable-subscription-service
Good face-off between all 4 here:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/youtube-tv-vs-cable-tv-replacements,news-24578.html
Hulu has an IPTV offering coming out soon as well:
https://www.cnet.com/news/hulu-tv-s...vr-local-channels-and-slek-new-look-hands-on/
The thing to keep in mind is that IPTV is currently in its infancy. Those of us who have had things like TV tuners & CableCards in the past have anxious looked forward to the day when we can simply buy channels a la cart; we're inching closer! And of course, there are other options for recording TV, such as Hauppauge's recording cards & boxes. It all depends on how easy-to-use you want it to be, what your budget is, what you want to do with it, etc. There's a good subreddit to stay on top of the news & discuss cord cutting here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cordcutters/
As they're still testing the different services, pricing is not finalized yet. But for the sake of discussion, we'll max out the SlingTV ($20 orange package + $20 blue package + $5 DVR = $45). So $105 Internet + $10 phone + $5 OTA sub + $45 IPTV = $165. With their current monthly bill being $190, that's a $25 savings every month...not huge, but that adds up to $300 a year, which more than pays for the initial equipment purchases ($188 Tablo & $82 Ooma boxes).
They could further reduce that by going with basic Ooma service (saves $10 a month), skipping out on the OTA stream-anywhere feature & downgrading the 14-day TV guide to a 1-day guide (saves $5 a month), and going with a basic SlingTV package (savings $25 a month, without DVR as well), which would bring the price down to $125 a month, for a $65 monthly savings, or $780 annual savings. IPTV is growing now, so pricing & features are subject to change over the next year or three as well. And if your local ISP doesn't cap bandwidth (or has more reasonable limits...streaming UltraHD & IPTV can really eat up your bandwidth!), you can save a ton of money by not having an expensive business-class connection (which unfortunately is the only viable option in their area).
Extras:
Like I said, this is a basic guide to cord-cutting. Get a solid Internet connection & home network setup, then decide how you want to handle TV & phone. In my parent's case, they ran into a bandwidth issue, which forced them to change their Internet connection to accommodate the extra bandwidth, which opened the door to cutting some cords. They have Roku TV's, which have the Roku box integrated, which make them super easy to operate. In addition to having Roku channels Netflix & Amazon for streaming, the Tablo OTA tuner offers a Roku channel of its own, and the various IPTV services are adding Roku channels themselves, such as the SlingTV for Roku app. So basically everything is handled from one simple remote with channel apps, just like an iPhone...very simple!
I'll say two things about the Roku televisions. First, the 4K models are incredible. I have installed TCL, Hitachi, and Insigna (Best Buy's store-brand model) 4K Roku televisions. They are all really really good. Great upscaling, great picture quality, very easy to use thanks to the Roku interface. One simple remote to rule them all. As a bonus, they have headphone jacks in the back that are controllable via the Roku's volume buttons, so you can hook up standard computer speakers & get waaaaaaay better sound than the TV speakers and waaaaaay better sound than those 2.1 soundbars. I have a Logitech Z-2200 2.1 set on my parent's 55" TV & it sounds absolutely great! No receive to futz with or anything, just great stereo sound with plenty of bass.
One item that is worth considering is a Tech Restarter. It's basically a little outlet switch with a big, easy timer to cut off power at a certain time. I use these on my own Roku televisions (just to keep the OS from getting flaky...the brief power outage causes the Roku to actually cycle instead of just going to sleep) & on my wireless router & cable modem. They are $22 shipped each & have 2 outlets per device:
https://www.amazon.com/Tech-Restarter-Digital-Outlet-Timer/dp/B01C66X6GU/
It's nice because you can set your Internet gear & television players (or televisions themselves, if they have something like a Roku built-in) to automatically reboot every night, which helps prevents the random issues you sometimes run into when stuff is left running too long.
Another nice accessory to get is a small UPS battery backup system. They make small ones now specifically for things like Internet modems & LED televisions. The 330-watt unit is $54 shipped:
https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Protector-Charging-BE600M1/dp/B01FWAZEIU/
The 450-watt version is $88 shipped:
https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Protector-Charging-BE600M1/dp/B01HDC21FE
As a bonus (and one of the main reasons I bought these) is they have a USB port on them (2 ports on the 450w unit), so you can charge your phone (or tablet) during a power outage. I have a portable battery bank & never remember to charge it, so this is very convenient because I can plug my phone right into the UPS when the power goes out to get a charge out of it, and it recharges automatically from wall power, so I never have to think about it.
Anyway, that pretty much wraps it up. There are a million directions you can go with a cord-cutting setup at home; this is just a basic explanation of some of the available options, specifically with a focus on Roku integration & wireless connectivity. Saved my parents a few bucks & helped solved some of their problems as well!
1. Internet
2. Phone
3. Television
I'll be using my parent's setup as an example. They were paying $190 a month for a landline, 50-meg Internet, and cable TV (maybe 100 channels or so). Goal is to have everything work with Roku (one easy, integrated interface) & have everything be as wireless as possible.
1. Internet:
Good Internet is the key part to making cord-cutting work. The two important features here are speed & bandwidth. You want enough speed that you can stream reliably without buffering; that also includes enough bandwidth to handle multiple streams if you live in a household where more than one person watches television. Here are the Netflix requirements for Internet connection speed:
https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306
For quick reference, HD needs at least 5 megs per second (although in practice, this will still buffer...I have a friend who has 5 & her Netflix buffers occasionally) and 25 megs for 4K. Bandwidth is also important. Cox limits residential customers to 1TB of bandwidth per month; my parent's average usage was 2.5TB monthly (55" 4K Roku TV & 43" 4K Roku TV, plus SlingTV at the time, plus Internet, phone, tablet, etc.). They didn't offer a higher bandwidth tier in their area (and even so, their residential max is 2TB, which wouldn't have worked...they charge $10 per 50 gigs over overage), so they ended up moving to Cox Business, which offered unlimited bandwidth for $105 per month at 60mbps. Pretty high for just Internet, but their overall cost went down, as I'll explain in a minute.
You'll also want a good wireless network, unless you plan on hardwiring everything. I set them up with a Netgear Orbi system...not cheap ($380 for a pair), but (1) they get full 5-bar coverage everywhere in their house now, and (2) the wireless satellite has Ethernet ports on it, so they can optionally connect devices via Ethernet if needed. This is the system I use myself & it is the best completely wireless system I have ever used, I can't say enough good things about it. So that gave us the backbone for the system: unlimited bandwidth cable Internet with a solid in-home wireless system.
2. Phone:
Everything is locked to their landline, so it made sense to keep the number. Looked at a variety of VOIP options such as Vonage, but ultimately settled on Ooma: (note the special 911 terms, which sounds scary, but most new landline connections have a local VOIP backend with a battery these days anyway, so that's really nothing new)
http://www.ooma.com/
The basic box is $82 shipped:
https://www.amazon.com/Ooma-Telo-Free-Phone-Service/dp/B00I4XMEYA
They already had a 4-phone wireless DECT system; that simply plugged into the Ooma & then Ooma in turn to the router's Ethernet port. Basic calling is free; the Premier tier (extra features like enhanced caller ID, anonymous call blocking, known spammer blocking, mobile app, call forwarding, backup number, etc.) is $10 a month. You get 2 months free; not sure if they'll keep it yet or not, but the mobile calling feature, voicemail forwarding as an attachment, etc. are really nice features, so we'll include it in the price. So $105 a month for Internet + $10 a month for phone = $115 a month total so far. Oh, and we are also testing out the spam-blocking features, but if those don't work out, we'll be adding Nomorobo, which is free for landlines:
https://www.nomorobo.com/
Personally, I dumped my house phone & went to cellular. That may or may not work for everyone. If you get crappy service at your house, it may be worth keeping a house phone. Although there are a couple things you can do to fix that. First, some modern phones have wi-fi calling, so you can piggyback on your home wireless to route the voice signal through. Second, you can buy what is basically a micro antenna tower called a femtocell, which is essentially a wireless router for your phone. It routes voice calls through your Internet connection, but instead of doing it through wi-fi directly on your phone, it takes the 3G signal & then converts that to Internet VOIP. Verizon sells the Samsung Network Extender, AT&T sells the MicroCell, etc. So basically they just convert your Internet connection into a local 3G hotspot so you can get 5 bars at home, even if you normally get lower in your area due to poor reception.
3. Television:
There are a variety of legal & illegal ways to get television & movies. I'm going to discuss two of them: HD-OTA & IPTV. For a quick summary, HD-OTA is free TV over the air using an antenna (mostly good for local channels, like the news) and IPTV is a satellite/cable replacement live TV streaming service from over the Internet, for a set monthly fee, based on which packages you purchase. My parents wanted the local channels plus "cable" channels, so we're using a combination. There are ways to get both onto Roku as well, which I'll be discussing in a minute.
HD-OTA:
HD-OTA is the same concept as rabbit-ears, but for free over-the-air broadcasts (OTA). There are a variety of antennas you can buy & make, both indoor & outdoor. Just do a search on Amazon for "ota antenna" to get some ideas. I've installed a variety of store-bought antennas with good results. You can typically improve how many channels you receive 6 ways:
1. Getting a bigger antenna
2. Aiming in more directions
3. Getting a combination UHF/VHF antenna
4. Adding amplification (power)
5. Mounting it outdoors
6. Mounting it higher
I recently did a rooftop mount at a small business; surprisingly, it got 35 clear HD channels (granted, 8 or 9 of them were Spanish channels). Because there's no cable compression, the picture actually comes out really really clear. I've used this outdoor unit with good success:
https://www.amazon.com/Element-Bowtie-Indoor-Outdoor-Antenna/dp/B00C4XVOOC
I am building a DIY design this weekend to compare the store-bought version to. My parent's place has a tall attic, so I'll be running it indoors, but at a higher elevation than the smaller ones you stick on your window. I'm anxious to see how it performs; this design has really good reviews:
http://www.diytvantennas.com/sbgh.php
You can check out what channels are available at either of these two websites:
http://www.tvfool.com/
https://www.antennaweb.org/
The next step is getting the free OTA signal to the televisions. First option is to hardwire it, but in wanting to keep this as easy as possible (especially because it would have had to have been wired to multiple televisions), I looked around for wireless solutions. After poking around, I ordered a Tablo today, which converts OTA into a Roku-friendly channel wirelessly. A 2-tuner model is $188 shipped, and you can turn it into a DVR by adding a USB hard drive:
https://www.amazon.com/Tablo-2-Tuner-Over-Air-Wi-Fi/dp/B00MXUDD0O/
It also streams to mobile devices (phones & tablets) & other gadgets, and they optionally have a subscription service for $5 a month that lets you stream anywhere in the world, so if you're traveling or at work or at school or whatever, you can stream your OTA stuff that way (also increases your TV guide from 24 hours to 2 weeks). Haven't decided if they'll keep the subscription feature yet, but we'll add it to the price. So $105 Internet + $10 phone + $5 OTA guide service fee = $120/mo so far.
IPTV:
IPTV is fairly new (at least, legal options). It's basically TV over the Internet, sans a satellite or cable subscription fee. There are currently 4 primary providers:
1. SlingTV
2. DirecTV Now
3. Playstation Vue
4. YoutubeTV
Base pricing ranges between $20 to $40 a month, and grows from there depending on which packages you want (HBO, live sports, Syfy channel, Food Network channel, HGTV bundle, yada yada yada). I have only tried the SlingTV trial so far & it was pretty decent. Aside from channels, you may also want to consider how many simultaneous streams you want; the basic SlingTV service offers one stream, but Sony's service offers 5. Another feature you may or may not want is DVR; Youtube offers unlimited DVR recordings for up to 9 months from the recorded date, which is pretty cool - DirecTV doesn't have one, Sling nicks you $5 a month, etc. Currently YoutubeTV doesn't offer a Roku channel (they are working on expanding the platform), but it does look awfully nice, so hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later. Good intro review here:
http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/5/15177462/youtube-tv-review-streaming-cable-subscription-service
Good face-off between all 4 here:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/youtube-tv-vs-cable-tv-replacements,news-24578.html
Hulu has an IPTV offering coming out soon as well:
https://www.cnet.com/news/hulu-tv-s...vr-local-channels-and-slek-new-look-hands-on/
The thing to keep in mind is that IPTV is currently in its infancy. Those of us who have had things like TV tuners & CableCards in the past have anxious looked forward to the day when we can simply buy channels a la cart; we're inching closer! And of course, there are other options for recording TV, such as Hauppauge's recording cards & boxes. It all depends on how easy-to-use you want it to be, what your budget is, what you want to do with it, etc. There's a good subreddit to stay on top of the news & discuss cord cutting here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cordcutters/
As they're still testing the different services, pricing is not finalized yet. But for the sake of discussion, we'll max out the SlingTV ($20 orange package + $20 blue package + $5 DVR = $45). So $105 Internet + $10 phone + $5 OTA sub + $45 IPTV = $165. With their current monthly bill being $190, that's a $25 savings every month...not huge, but that adds up to $300 a year, which more than pays for the initial equipment purchases ($188 Tablo & $82 Ooma boxes).
They could further reduce that by going with basic Ooma service (saves $10 a month), skipping out on the OTA stream-anywhere feature & downgrading the 14-day TV guide to a 1-day guide (saves $5 a month), and going with a basic SlingTV package (savings $25 a month, without DVR as well), which would bring the price down to $125 a month, for a $65 monthly savings, or $780 annual savings. IPTV is growing now, so pricing & features are subject to change over the next year or three as well. And if your local ISP doesn't cap bandwidth (or has more reasonable limits...streaming UltraHD & IPTV can really eat up your bandwidth!), you can save a ton of money by not having an expensive business-class connection (which unfortunately is the only viable option in their area).
Extras:
Like I said, this is a basic guide to cord-cutting. Get a solid Internet connection & home network setup, then decide how you want to handle TV & phone. In my parent's case, they ran into a bandwidth issue, which forced them to change their Internet connection to accommodate the extra bandwidth, which opened the door to cutting some cords. They have Roku TV's, which have the Roku box integrated, which make them super easy to operate. In addition to having Roku channels Netflix & Amazon for streaming, the Tablo OTA tuner offers a Roku channel of its own, and the various IPTV services are adding Roku channels themselves, such as the SlingTV for Roku app. So basically everything is handled from one simple remote with channel apps, just like an iPhone...very simple!
I'll say two things about the Roku televisions. First, the 4K models are incredible. I have installed TCL, Hitachi, and Insigna (Best Buy's store-brand model) 4K Roku televisions. They are all really really good. Great upscaling, great picture quality, very easy to use thanks to the Roku interface. One simple remote to rule them all. As a bonus, they have headphone jacks in the back that are controllable via the Roku's volume buttons, so you can hook up standard computer speakers & get waaaaaaay better sound than the TV speakers and waaaaaay better sound than those 2.1 soundbars. I have a Logitech Z-2200 2.1 set on my parent's 55" TV & it sounds absolutely great! No receive to futz with or anything, just great stereo sound with plenty of bass.
One item that is worth considering is a Tech Restarter. It's basically a little outlet switch with a big, easy timer to cut off power at a certain time. I use these on my own Roku televisions (just to keep the OS from getting flaky...the brief power outage causes the Roku to actually cycle instead of just going to sleep) & on my wireless router & cable modem. They are $22 shipped each & have 2 outlets per device:
https://www.amazon.com/Tech-Restarter-Digital-Outlet-Timer/dp/B01C66X6GU/
It's nice because you can set your Internet gear & television players (or televisions themselves, if they have something like a Roku built-in) to automatically reboot every night, which helps prevents the random issues you sometimes run into when stuff is left running too long.
Another nice accessory to get is a small UPS battery backup system. They make small ones now specifically for things like Internet modems & LED televisions. The 330-watt unit is $54 shipped:
https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Protector-Charging-BE600M1/dp/B01FWAZEIU/
The 450-watt version is $88 shipped:
https://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Protector-Charging-BE600M1/dp/B01HDC21FE
As a bonus (and one of the main reasons I bought these) is they have a USB port on them (2 ports on the 450w unit), so you can charge your phone (or tablet) during a power outage. I have a portable battery bank & never remember to charge it, so this is very convenient because I can plug my phone right into the UPS when the power goes out to get a charge out of it, and it recharges automatically from wall power, so I never have to think about it.
Anyway, that pretty much wraps it up. There are a million directions you can go with a cord-cutting setup at home; this is just a basic explanation of some of the available options, specifically with a focus on Roku integration & wireless connectivity. Saved my parents a few bucks & helped solved some of their problems as well!
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