People who "cut the cord"- Do you regret it?

[z1ggy]

I'm speaking about ditching cable. I'm sick of getting no lube butt pounded by Comcast every month. I was paying $210 a month for a few HD channels, phone and internet. I complained and got it down to $168 a month. That's still too much considering I really only watch a few channels.

At this point I am willing to cancel my subscription with them (even if I have to pay some kind of fee) and get just high speed internet from another local provider if possible. If not, I might still be willing to use Comcast, but just for internet. I've already got Netflix and Amazon Prime, and would plan on buying Hulu +.

Two questions for any of you who have done this:
-Do you regret it? I'll admit, it is nice to just be able to turn on my TV and watch comedy central or whatever else I tend to watch.
-How do I get regular basic cable now? I haven't had to do this in quite some time and I don't know what hardware I'd need. Do I just plug right from my cable outlet into my TV? Do I need a special box or anything before hand? I have a regular plasma TV, and an Onkyo receiver.

I would like to remind everyone that we do have rules against copyright infringement here, including requesting/providing help and bragging about it. All of your suggestions need to be fully legal, otherwise we can't allow it here. (Lawyers are expensive)
-ViRGE

 

[slag]

-Do you regret it? -How do I get regular basic cable now?

nope
don't know. I have OTA and netflix.

 

[preslove]

I have OTA and a HTPC that I use to watch pirate feed sports (occasionally), netflix, comedycentral.com, torrents, and amazon prime.

 

[Remobz]

Where I live I pay about $25.00 US for over 150 channels with HD, digital and analog and one pay per view channel

 

[smackababy]

I currently have cable and internet. I am paying around $145 a month for 50/10, HD with a DVR (which is extra...) and HBO (that is somehow free, because I went to add it and it wasn't checked). This is after about 5 years without any cable. Did I regret not having cable? Only during sports seasons and GoT.

 

[MrPickins]

-Do you regret it? -How do I get regular basic cable now?

nope
don't know. I have OTA and netflix.

100% this.

I occasionally miss sporting events, but that gives me an excuse to go to a friends or hit up a sports bar.

 

[Tweak155]

I've never had cable myself. Just use OTA & Netflix like the others.

My 25mbps connection I'm about to have installed is only $20/mo to start.

 

[artemicion]

I'm speaking about ditching cable. I'm sick of getting no lube butt pounded by Comcast every month. I was paying $210 a month for a few HD channels, phone and internet. I complained and got it down to $168 a month. That's still too much considering I really only watch a few channels.

At this point I am willing to cancel my subscription with them (even if I have to pay some kind of fee) and get just high speed internet from another local provider if possible. If not, I might still be willing to use Comcast, but just for internet. I've already got Netflix and Amazon Prime, and would plan on buying Hulu +.

Two questions for any of you who have done this:
-Do you regret it? I'll admit, it is nice to just be able to turn on my TV and watch comedy central or whatever else I tend to watch.
-How do I get regular basic cable now? I haven't had to do this in quite some time and I don't know what hardware I'd need. Do I just plug right from my cable outlet into my TV? Do I need a special box or anything before hand? I have a regular plasma TV, and an Onkyo receiver.

No, the only thing I occasionally miss is sports. Even then, it's usually during football season and it's not hard to go over to a friend's house on the weekend to watch a game.

 

[Tweak155]

100% this.

I occasionally miss sporting events, but that gives me an excuse to go to a friends or hit up a sports bar.

Yep that's what we do.

And sometimes I'll, *gasp*, turn on the radio to catch the event.

 

[Tweak155]

No, the only thing I occasionally miss is sports. Even then, it's usually during football season and it's not hard to go over to a friend's house on the weekend to watch a game.

Football season the games are usually on OTA channels. At least here.

 

[HumblePie]

I had the cable cord cut for a long time. Then I got married and my wife is a big TV watcher where I was not. So I had to get cable again for her. Although I only got the cheapest cable package I could get that provided a few more channels that were not already OTA. Which is really annoying. I have Timewarner and their "basic" cable package starts at like $25 for channels that are already free OTA. Only thing extra is a few extra Spanish and religion channels that were worthless to me. So I had to upgrade to their "standard" which was channels 2-99. That is $40 starting out. Which is what cable used to be for programming back in the day before all the HD channels past 99 came out. Right now I'm paying that $40 for TV and $35 for internet. After taxes and fee's it is like $85 ish a month.

I use a free VOIP phone device though for my home phone. I do pay for cell phones with $45 for straight talk for my wife (the best deal really for my situation) and $60 for Sprint for my plan (which I'm ditching soon).

I do subscribe to Netflix, and have Amazon Prime. Although what comes from Prime is very limited. Cool thing is most of the major broadcast channels also allow streaming of their programming directly off their sites now.

 

[HumblePie]

No, the only thing I occasionally miss is sports. Even then, it's usually during football season and it's not hard to go over to a friend's house on the weekend to watch a game.

I usually just hit up a bar if I need to watch a game that isn't OTA.

 

[ioni]

If you cancel cable, why would you think you'd have access to basic cable? I canceled cable years ago and just had internet. Netflix, Hulu, and crunchyroll are more than enough to watch. I recently noticed a bundle with cable+internet was cheaper than just internet so I switched to that. Still don't watch tv though.

 

[TXHokie]

I usually just hit up a bar if I need to watch a game that isn't OTA.

And you have plenty of beer money from cutting the cord. 3+ yrs and no regrets here.

 

[Dankk]

3+ years too, no regrets here either. Fuck cable.

 

[Remobz]

I had the cable cord cut for a long time. Then I got married and my wife is a big TV watcher where I was not. So I had to get cable again for her. Although I only got the cheapest cable package I could get that provided a few more channels that were not already OTA. Which is really annoying. I have Timewarner and their "basic" cable package starts at like $25 for channels that are already free OTA. Only thing extra is a few extra Spanish and religion channels that were worthless to me. So I had to upgrade to their "standard" which was channels 2-99. That is $40 starting out. Which is what cable used to be for programming back in the day before all the HD channels past 99 came out. Right now I'm paying that $40 for TV and $35 for internet. After taxes and fee's it is like $85 ish a month.

I use a free VOIP phone device though for my home phone. I do pay for cell phones with $45 for straight talk for my wife (the best deal really for my situation) and $60 for Sprint for my plan (which I'm ditching soon).

I do subscribe to Netflix, and have Amazon Prime. Although what comes from Prime is very limited. Cool thing is most of the major broadcast channels also allow streaming of their programming directly off their sites now.

I have to buy internet from a separate provider.

My cable is $25.00 for over 150 channels with HD ones included and pay perview as well.

My internet is a whopping $100 a month for a measly 2MB download speed and 512 upload.

I get screwed on the internet side of things compared to you guys but a much BETTER deal on the cable side of things.

Personally, I rather have a cheaper yet faster internet because I barely watch TV these days.

 

[WiseUp216]

I cut the cord in January 2005. Hard to believe it has been that long.

I don't miss it at all. I don't mind waiting for good shows to be released on DVD, Blu-ray, Netflix, etc.

I can watch OTA via Windows Media Center but I don't use it often. Not really a sports fan.

Watching television at someone else's house is brutal for me due to all the commercials. I think people who watch a lot of TV become desensitized to it. It drives me absolutely nuts. I think there is typically a minute of commercials for every 2 minutes of show - and people pay to watch it!

 

[Printer Bandit]

 

[Ns1]

hell yes.

been about 3-4 years now. i miss it daily.

 

[smackababy]

I love the casual sports watchers chiming in. "Oh, you can watch the game OTA or go to a bar!" Sorry, but I watch every game. Even if I only watched one per airing, that is Thursday night, Sunday morning, mid day, night, and Monday night. Sure, let me just head on over to the local bar for 12 hours. Plus, even if I go to a bar, if the Bears aren't playing the Cowboys, I miss the Cowboys. They always have the local teams on.

Basketball? Yeah. Enjoy spending every night of the week at the bar if you want to watch the playoffs.

 

[Sheep]

Five years cable free. I miss the occasional show but seeing some of the crap that passes for entertainment (e.g., Honey Boo Boo, Hoarders, crapping with the Kardashians and stuff along those lines) completely negates that.

As for sports, I live in Chicago so Bears games are always on broadcast TV (aside from Monday Night Football which means I head to a sports bar to watch it) and $150 for NHL Gamecenter with a $4/month VPN to watch all Blackhawks games for the entire season is well worth it.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Honestly nowadays all the best content for cord cutters is locked in walled gardens that can only be accessed with logins you get by having cable service- HBO Go, ESPN, Xfinity, etc.

 

[twinrider1]

-Do you regret it?
No. I just have an cheap OTA antenna. Reception isn't always perfect, screen might freeze for a second here and there. And I miss ESPN and FoxSports. But overall, I'm very glad I did it.

-How do I get regular basic cable now?
You don't. Cutting the cable means no cable. You can get your fix with what's on Amazon Prime and Netflix, you'll basically be a year behind.
Plug in your zip code and address here and you'll see what you can get in your area.

Digital antenna....doesn't exist.
Booster.....doesn't pull in the signal better. It just amplifies the signal you do get to handle long cable runs.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

comcast charges more if you don't have tv with them. you just call them and tell them you want to downgrade to the basic plan. or actually it might be easier if you speak directly to the retention department. just tell them you dont watch tv and your internet bill is too high.

 

[PliotronX]

I cut the cord in January 2005. Hard to believe it has been that long.

I don't miss it at all. I don't mind waiting for good shows to be released on DVD, Blu-ray, Netflix, etc.

I can watch OTA via Windows Media Center but I don't use it often. Not really a sports fan.

Watching television at someone else's house is brutal for me due to all the commercials. I think people who watch a lot of TV become desensitized to it. It drives me absolutely nuts. I think there is typically a minute of commercials for every 2 minutes of show - and people pay to watch it!

Good point! Commercials are for the birds, I like having complete control over what I'm watching and if I want a taste of the random programming there is a plugin for XBMC that'll give me that without commercials LOL: