YNAB You Need A Budget

[Will]

I'm thinking we are most likely wasting money on DISH. I am going to call tomorrow to see if/when we are no longer under contract. We get 100s of channels, but ultimately only watch network TV and a little bit of Comedy Central, some HGTV, Travel Channel sometimes and not much else. Has anyone else out there gotten rid of satellite/cable? I've heard services like Hulu are pretty good, or some people just watch a lot of Netflix. I do enjoy keeping up with local news (although it isn't super important to me), but I can't imagine doing without Survivor, Family Guy, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report or Modern Family.

[INAB26]

We haven't had cable in over 6 years now and don't miss it. We actually replaced the dish on our roof with an outdoor antenna and get perfect HD reception on all the networks and several local channels. That along with netflix, windows media center and a Tivo box gets us plenty to watch for about $20/mo.

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[W[h]o]

I only have Internet service and hook up my tablet to watch netflix on tv. I can read the news on the computer

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[Will]

So a deal like this would get us in pretty good shape?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/TiVo+Premie ... &lp=9&cp=1

[Will]

Bah! We're under contract with DISH until June 17th. I guess that gives me time to research the best deals on what we need, and if we go with TiVo if we want to go with a monthly subscription or the lifetime plan. Time to start saving up, I guess!

[Will]

I've also read up some on alternatives to cable/satellite, like Amazon Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, and of course, Netflix (which we had, but ditched it when they jacked their prices up). Anyone with opinions on any of these (especially the first 2)?

[blackdiamond]

I'm considering a Roku streaming player instead of our current HD cable. My biggest holdback is that I'll lose access to NFL football and NASCAR. I'm finding less and less time to watch these anyways, but when I do watch them I want it in HD. It's hard to make the jump. We currently have our home phone, internet, and HD cable through the same provider and we're not willing to cut back on our internet services so I'm not sure how much we can really save when you add the monthly Hulu + and Netfixs fees.

[tindelsurf]

I'm a Roku and Netflix junky. HIGHLY recommend both. Woot.com recently sold a Roku XD for $60 + $5 shipping, I think it was. I wanted in on that deal, but decided against it to do other things.

I want to get rid of the cable TV (I have just the very basic cable - and basic high speed internet 1Gbps ( I don't get roku in HD due to this))... just haven't bitten the bullet because high speed internet will be more expensive without bundling - netting me a whooping $20 a month. I figure that's in the noise - and I've taken care of a lot of larger 'noise' items in the last couple months so I'm happy with where we are at - for now.

The thing that is killing me is that all we have here are Quest and Comcast (who have both changed their names recently, but are both the same crappy companies (who do they think they're fooling?) (and why the HELL does the government continue to let them run their monopolies?) (but, I digress...)). They both rape you if you aren't doing bundles. They don't really even provide a service - if they do it right... they set you up, and they never have to go to your home again. The rest is just 1's and 0's. I'd much rather pay the television stations directly for the stations that I want. Cut out the middle man - we don't need him anymore.

I have no home phone. Unless you need a fax machine that you need (i.e. can claim as a business expense) then you don't need a home phone in this day and age.

[INAB26]

I'm not exactly sure about the new Tivo boxes and service other than that they keep sending me emails to try to get me to upgrade;-). We have a Tivo HD that I bought outright as a refurb directly from Tivo a few years ago. I pay the service yearly for a discount and set aside I think $11.50/mo for it in YNAB. The Tivo really isn't necessary, but it does allow us to watch the more limited antenna offerings on our own time and also helps find more shows we'd like to watch. After a while it "learns" what kinds of things you record and it records other things on it's own based on them. It also allows us to easily rent movies from Amazon, which we don't do often, but sometimes comes in handy and stream from Netflix. We also use our Rhapsody subscription with the Tivo and sometimes Pandora as well so its not just TV.

We also have a Roku box on the kids' TV. They primarily use it for Netflix although there are lots of "channels" that can be added (some have a fee though and it seems like it could add up quick). We did a trial of Amazon Prime with the Roku, but I was pretty horrified that there are no parental controls on it whatsoever so they were having to scroll through a lot of questionable stuff to find things to watch. It was pretty limited anyway. We use regular Hulu here and there on the computer in our room (we have a big monitor and use it like a TV at times), but have not tried Plus. Honestly we just don't have time to watch a lot of TV anyway. We can also transfer shows via wireless from the Tivo to the computer to watch as well.

Also, for anyone who wants to consider free OTA TV, check out antennaweb.org. You can put in your address and it will give you an idea of how good the odds are for decent reception and give suggestions for what kind of antenna to get. Being able use the old Dish mast and just connect the coax from it to our antenna was great. That way all outlets in the house were already wired!

We had a bundle with Verizon just for phone and FiOS internet and they often offered us the TV for not much more, but I still didn't want to do it. We've dropped the phone now and just have their internet. Even that saved us almost $50/mo. The internet isn't taxed to death like the other two.

HTH a bit!

[Kroneg]

I'm not recommending this route by any means because I personally think cable TV is just 200 channels of junk (with about 3-4 "good" ones in the mix), however, this is what happened to us when we dumped DISH a few years ago...

I had been on the phone with them several times (they don't let you drop with just a single phone call - they keep calling back to try and hook you to stay in), and they finally disconnected the service. Then, about a week later, they called back and offered me super-cheap rates. I said WTF???? I asked you guys about reducing rates before I dropped you. They said that was their "retention" department and they weren't allowed to do that. This was their "reinstall" (or whatever they called it) department. THEY could only call you back once you quit. So, basically, if you quit, then let them call you back, you can get cheaper monthly rates. This p*ssed me off so much I refused to even listen to the full offering, but the basic monthly cost was about $10. If you really WANT the Dish, but just not the $50-100/month charge, may be something to consider. Personally, I'm happy with Netflix and watching prime-time network TV stuff the next day on the network's website (NBC is great at this - almost all of their night-time programming available for streaming the next day). As for TV vs. Computer watching - my computer has a better screen anyway (we have a really old 19inch CRT TV).

[ginwoo]

My DH purchased the first two seasons of Walking Dead through Amazon Instant Video. It generally works well but we have found that on Friday and Saturday nights, in particular, getting the connected to the stream is almost impossible. There have been a few times where the streaming would stop and we'd have to restart play.

You'll be able to see what you purchase but maybe not always when you want to, depending on your viewing habits. I give 3.5 stars out of 5.

[cdub]

We dropped our Att Uverse 2 years ago. I was tired of paying $100+ for crap.

Our house had a perfectly good antenna on the roof so I tried it out... and voila... perfect HD reception for all the broadcast channels. So I bought a Tivo box and haven't looked back.

The ironic thing is that I'm a TV editor for cable shows... but I don't have cable. Haha

[virago317]

Man, I wish I could get rid of cable... my husband wouldn't hear of it, unfortunately. I feel like it's a waste of money considering the high price and the fact that I barely watch it. Of course, my husband watches it regularly... but we also have a a full Netflix subscription and high-speed Internet/savvy to find shows online, so it's even sillier. I went without cable for two years before we got married and didn't miss it, so I know it can be done.

[blackdiamond]

We picked up a Roku this week and are starting to enjoy Hulu+. It's better than cable in some ways and not as good in others. It all really boils down to getting used to what you choose to have. When I first got out of college my apartment had free cable for a few months and then they turned it off so we only had Fox. It stinked for a few weeks and then my roommate and I got so used to watching Fox that when we moved to a house we ended up getting cable because the only local channel that we couldn't get was Fox. It's all what your normal is and that can change.

[Will]

We picked up a Roku this week and are starting to enjoy Hulu+.

I feel somewhat responsible for this.