So I thought I'd write a new blog post and share how our current setup is going and the tweaks we've made the past year to our setup. As said mentioned, we were Internet free for a several months and also TV free. Our old setup at our house we were able to get 20 channels for free, such a good thing, just by doing a scan on our TV and hooked our TV directly to the cable outlet. However we moved to our temporary apartment, it has Fiber Optics verses our house which has DSL meaning even though we'd do a scan looking for free channels none would appear the only option is paying for cable or Internet. We initially thought we'd be in a temporary place for a few months, so we held off on getting Internet and just made do. When reality set in, we decided to go with Comcast for Internet service while we live here than switch back to AT&T since Comcast is more cost effective at the apartment.
Current Set Up
We are paying $37 bucks a month for Comcast, the Fiber Optics is more per month than DSL, so that sucks, but its the best price we could find for Fiber Optics. Anyways we now have two Roku players and are very happy! In our living room we have a Roku 2 XS which is a second generation Roku, we love it. The new Roku player is tiny, and works so great we can also play Angry Birds on it, and trust me you haven't lived until you've played Angry Birds on a big TV, lol.
A few months after buying our new Roku, we decided our family need another Roku player, for our bedroom we purchased the Roku HD. Our remote for the Roku HD is actually a little different than in the picture below, there's dedicated buttons for Netflix, Pandora and Crackle, which is so cool.
What We Pay For
We subscribe to six channels: Netflix, Amazon, Crackle, Hulu Plus, Pandora and Flixster but still only pay a small monthly fee for two channels. We pay for Netflix and Hulu Plus, which are both only $7.99 per month. We did a trial period with Amazon Prime, since I love shopping on Amazon we gave it a try. In my opinion there wasn't enough options for movies and TV shows, or maybe it was such hard to find programs I wanted to watch. That's one thing I like about Netflix, its very intuitive and recommends movies and TV shows based on recent watches. For instance Netflix, 'knows' I love period pieces and British TV shows, thanks to Netflix I have discovered so many amazing TV shows and movies. In the future, we might give Amazon another try, we still rent movies from them. If you follow me on Instagam, then you already know we had a Die Hard-a-thon over the weekend and rented those movies online via Amazon.
What TV Shows We Watch
As I said, we discovered so many great TV Shows thanks to Netflix & Hulu. Here are a few shows Hasani and I enjoy watching together: Breaking Bad, The Killing, The Walking Dead sadly all three of those shows are on AMC, and they don't release their shows to Netflix so were always a season or two behind what's happening, which is cool gives us time to do marathons something we love. We also love Shark Tank! Such a good show. Solo, I like to watch Downton Abbey so glad other people are discovering this amazing show! I watch Downton directly on the PBS website. I also enjoy watching Doc Martin (one of my favorite shows) George Gently, Revenge, and Scandal. Our tween is also able to watch his favorite TV shows, so he's also a happy camper. Can't forget the little guy, Avery is able 'watch' Sesame Street and Yo Gabba Gabba, his shows are on for background noise.
My Must See TV
Even though I'm very happy to be cable free, I do miss watching shows like Real Housewives of Beverly Hills / Atlanta and the crazy Jersey ladies. So I'm always happy when Hulu Plus shares a few episodes online. In addition to watching cable, I love listening to Pandora on the Roku player and creating my own channels, especially since MTV has played music sine the 90's
Now your turn how are you currently watching TV? Have you cut the cable cord and loving it? If so, how much did you save each year going without cable? Or could you never give up cable and why? Ever heard of a Roku player?
Last year, I asked everyone a bonus question. This years bonus Questions what TV show are you obsessed with and why should other people get hooked on it?
I gave up cable in 2010 after a disagreement with my local cable provider (the price went up significantly and when asked to speak to a supervisor was put on hold for almost an hour and rudely told there was no one available) after no apology--decided to end.
ReplyDeleteSuper thankful for Roku and Hulu and Youtube. I hardly ever miss cable (especially the bill)!
The show that I am most obsessed with is Law and Order:SVU. It's just downright exciting and entertaining to me. Always a twist. Always a treat.
Thanks to Netflix I've also been watching a lot of Law & order SUV - love Dec Benson and Stabler!
DeleteWe cut our cable almost 3 years ago. We have a mac mini hooked up to our tv that functions as a media center (all of our dvds have been ripped and live on the mini). We invested in a tivo (at the time that was the only way we could get a dvr option - and we refused to go back to watching tv commercials). We have a netflix subscription, but not hulu. We have an antenna hooked up to the tivo for local shows, so we don't really miss out on much. If there's sports that I want to watch live that aren't on the local channels they're usually on via espn3 which is included in our internet package. What we love the most is that our kid doesn't get the "I wants" because he never watches commercials. It's lovely!
ReplyDeleteLove hearing about your set-up! And I don't miss the commercials either, there are mini commercials on Hulu but those don't bother me
DeleteWe haven't cut the cable cord. I could do it, but my husband would would miss all of the the sporting events too much.
ReplyDeleteWhen you did your first post on cutting the cable cord, that was the first time I had even heard of Roku. Shortly after that we cut our cable cord and there was no looking back. I do sometimes miss certain shows and channels like the Food Network (I really miss them) and Martha Stewart. But I love the savings and my little Roku player. Did you know Roku has a app? We love it cause we are always losing the remote and can use our phones as remotes! Right now I am hooked to Bones, watching all the back episodes on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteThe Roku App is a life saver! Our Roku Remote goes missing too :) lol I've only watched a few episodes of Bones but liked what I saw, Bones might become my next addiction :)
DeleteSame here as Darnetha. I heard of the Roku from you last year and finally got one a few months back. We also have Netflix which I LOVE. I still haven't cut the cable cord though...there's still something holding me back from doing it. I just need to do it already! lol
ReplyDeleteThe show that Simon and I are hooked on right now is House of Cards which is the Netflix series that was released a couple of weeks ago. It's SO GOOD!! There are 13 episodes and we are on 5 now.
I also started Downton Abbey over the weekend and really enjoy it!
Hi Lauren, I so understand it took us month to finally cut the cable cord after getting a Roku. I saw the House of Cards in my Netflix lineup wasn't sure if it was good or not, I'll have to give it a try :)
DeleteGlad your like Downton Abbey, it's so good
We've been cable free for a while too and just love it. I've been able to go back and catch up on all of Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy and even discovered a few extras like Prison Break. I also like the video channel, I think it's called Vedo whenever I feel like looking at some of the latest. We decided to go cable free after you introduced us to the Roku so thank you girl!
ReplyDeleteLatoya, so glad your loving your Roku :) We got hooked on Prison Break a while back too :) I'll have to check out the Vedo Channel you mentioned.
DeleteI don't have cable either. Ever since I got out on my own, I've just had Netflix, but I love it! I've been watching Downton Abbey and I am definitely hooked now! :) I can't get enough!
ReplyDeleteGlad your hooked on Downton, it keeps getting better & better
DeleteI haven't had cable for about 4 or 5 years. I only miss HGTV and Food Network. I find that most TV shows are on the internet via the channel's website, You Tube, Hulu, or other websites.
ReplyDeleteI tried Amazon Prime in December (watched Downton Abbey and loved it) but, like you, didn't see enough shows/movies that I was interested in so I cancelled it.
For movies, I use Red Box, You Tube, Hulu, or I swap with family and friends.
I am interested in Roku and Netflix but just haven't explored them enough to try. I, also, heard Crackle was good too.
My Must See TV: Revenge, The Good Wife, Scandal, Nikita, Castle, RHOA
Hi, I miss HGTV too - you'll have to check into getting a Roku its a game changer and Netflix is my fav, I've been a member for over 7yrs!! Oh I love The Good Wife too, I rent that one via Netflix
DeleteI am in the process of cutting cable. Just hooked up two Roku boxes. But I'm seeing I need to upgrade my internet speed to get my HD shows. Gonna miss HGTV although there are some episodes on Hulu. I also hook my MacBook up to the HDTV to watch shows only available on the internet. The boys have a Wii in their room to watch Netflix and Hulu Plus.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I didn't know they had a few HGTV shows on Hulu! I enjoy watching Property Brothers! Doesn't feel good to get rid of cable:)
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