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Getting Rid of Cable- What am I missing?

Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Hey @gourimoko, is ballstreams dead??

It looks to be dead. That's what the Ballstreams Reddit scuttlebutt is.

I think buying League Pass but using a VPN to get a non Ohio IP address is the best option.
 
Reddit/r/nbastreams has everything you need.
 
Hey @gourimoko, is ballstreams dead??

It's kaput... Saw it coming a few months ago, that's why I signed up to Reborn4HDLive.

It's.. okay. I can't really complain.. I use league pass for most games and Reborn4HDLive for only a few.

There are better options but all are more complex. IPTV (via IKS IPTV) is a good option for those not demanding HD. IKS Satellite is easily the best option for those of you with a dish. Cable box emulation is for the brave...

Personally, I'm good with torrents, Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, and Reborn4HDLive. When I leave the states again (soon), I'll start using IPTV and cut the Reborn4HDLive since it would be redundant.
 
What's the best quality basketball and football streams I could get?

And could I get them from my Roku?
 
Just officially cut the cord today, actually. Have been working towards it since around Christmas. The FireTV has FoxSportsGo (I borrow a login) which shows 3/4 of the Cavs games. I believe the black it out when its broadcasted on TNT or NBA TV. Still need to figure that one out, but worst case scenario, I can still watch on computer.
 
How much are people saving by cutting cable? My cable + internet is $120/month. Seems like by the time I get rid of cable and add back internet only, plus SlingTV/League Pass/etc I'm probably at $80/month. Not sure I care enough about a $40/month savings to not have cable.

Thoughts? What is your monthly expense like for internet + whatever you use to watch shows/sports etc?
 
How much are people saving by cutting cable? My cable + internet is $120/month. Seems like by the time I get rid of cable and add back internet only, plus SlingTV/League Pass/etc I'm probably at $80/month. Not sure I care enough about a $40/month savings to not have cable.

Thoughts? What is your monthly expense like for internet + whatever you use to watch shows/sports etc?
My bill is going from $122 to $50. I do have Hulu which is an added cost of getting rid of cable, but share that in exchange for Netflix and my parent's DISH login, which give's my access to HBOgo, WatchESPN, and most other channels apps. Also have access to a TW login if I need it. $72/month times 12 is $864 a year. Its sort of like an instant ~1200 raise before tax if you think about it. I see it as a pair of Cavs Finals tickets and it helps justify spending it. I also spend less time in front of the TV which seem like an added bonus.

If you can get everything you need TV wise for 80/month, why spend 120 for it?
 
Its really gonna depend on whats available in your area and what channels you have access to. Sling TV and other internet tv packages are the in between.

Also depends on how mnay tvs you have in your home and how much you watch on tablets.

some people can think of better things to do with that extra 480 dollars a year in savings.

is it worth it is a personal choice
 
My total costs for paid content are $5 Hulu, $5 Netflix (bought with annual promos), $0 Amazon Prime (again, promos and the cost of shipping since I buy from Amazon all the time, Amazon Prime is a savings not a cost).

YouTube is free, torrenting is free (more people need to learn to use this if serious about cord cutting - use your HTPC).

If you add in my IPTV services, I am paying for League Pass, Reborn4HDLive, and an IKS IPTV service for testing purposes. I won't count all of that, but I think having one there is fair and if I had to pick one it would be Reborn4HDLive ($18/mo?).

So, all in all, I'm paying $28/mo total for my non-cable television services.

The only reason that I still have cable is for the Asian channels and that's it. And really only one Asian channel in particular since there is no cheap IPTV source that I have found that includes it, unfortunately. If I could find this one channel, I would instantly discontinue my service from Charter.

With respect to internet service. I'm a power-user and I run my entire business through the internet; I also use torrents quite a bit. Yet my internet service through T-Mobile (which is unlimited and unthrottled) is about 40Mbps in the East L.A./Pasadena area. That is incredibly fast. Great ping times etc. If I needed to, I could simply use T-Mobile for all of my internet requirements. I've done this before when living in Maui, and travelling overseas; I've never had a problem from T-Mobile with respect to my data usage (generally between 30-50 GB/mo, sometimes more)

Otherwise, I could go with Verizon's FiOS which is in my area (AFAIK) and starts at $49.99/mo for a 50/5 connection, which is essentially what I have now except wouldn't be shared with my neighbors and is really more than enough.

Hope that helps anyone looking to cut the cord.

p.s.
If you don't have a real HTPC, I strongly suggest you make/purchase one. It will change how you address this question. I personally use my work laptop as my HTPC.

I have a make-shift laptop dock on my TV "stand" (it's wall-mounted), so when I come home, I can simply set my laptop in the dock, and boom, I'm ready to go. I scripted it so that when it docks (HDMI in use), it'll automatically start up the media services applications and I can go from there. It's pretty slick, and is only missing the cable input portion of the HTPC setup - but since I don't watch TV shows in general, I don't really give a fuck about that.
 
My bill is going from $122 to $50. I do have Hulu which is an added cost of getting rid of cable, but share that in exchange for Netflix and my parent's DISH login, which give's my access to HBOgo, WatchESPN, and most other channels apps. Also have access to a TW login if I need it. $72/month times 12 is $864 a year. Its sort of like an instant ~1200 raise before tax if you think about it. I see it as a pair of Cavs Finals tickets and it helps justify spending it. I also spend less time in front of the TV which seem like an added bonus.

If you can get everything you need TV wise for 80/month, why spend 120 for it?

How much are you paying for just internet? To get the same internet that I have currently would be $60/month alone. What internet speeds do you need to have to support the non-cable TV services?

Its really gonna depend on whats available in your area and what channels you have access to. Sling TV and other internet tv packages are the in between.

Also depends on how mnay tvs you have in your home and how much you watch on tablets.

some people can think of better things to do with that extra 480 dollars a year in savings.

is it worth it is a personal choice

This is a good point... $480 to $864 in Pick6's example to do with something else or stash in the bank every year is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but I feel like it's worth it at $40/month, maybe not at $70/month.
 
How much are you paying for just internet? To get the same internet that I have currently would be $60/month alone. What internet speeds do you need to have to support the non-cable TV services?
Internet is $50. All I have left with TWC. I HAD the extreme internet (the speed escapes me, but I'm sure you can look it up). As far as I know I still have the Extreme, but I wouldn't be shocked if TWC dropped the promotion and put me back down to Turbo, which should be good enough. I have a FireTV with an Ethernet cord plugged in and have no issues at all. It probably doesn't really need to be plugged in, TBH. I'm sure others can comment.

Also, I did decide to keep TWC internet because it seems they are one of the few ISPs that do not have a data cap yet (keep that in mind if cutting cable) and really have never had any problems with their internet (can't say the same about cable).
 
How much are you paying for just internet? To get the same internet that I have currently would be $60/month alone. What internet speeds do you need to have to support the non-cable TV services?



This is a good point... $480 to $864 in Pick6's example to do with something else or stash in the bank every year is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but I feel like it's worth it at $40/month, maybe not at $70/month.
Northstar you should try kodi. If you haven't done so already. Currently I have playon and a family uverse account I can use for channel access but if I didn't.
most live streams I can get from there and like gouri said most TV shows can be gotten on Torrent . not to mention Hulu and Netflix gets you access to a lot of TV (even thugh on Netflix your a season behind.

Plus if you already have hulu and Netflix then you should be adding that to your cable bill when comparing cost.


slingTv your paying for AMC , AE, TNT, HGTV and ESPN.


Your not getting Foxsports live, NBCSN, Starz, HBO, SYFY etc.


Kodi phoenix seems to cover the sports stream but it requires the channel to have a working link.

Like gouri said he cant find a specific show so he keeps the local cable running.


some people spend 350 bucks for tablo/TiVo/Channel master. get their hulu and Netflix with amazon and maybe sling tv and their done.

others have all that and cable. its not really about how much it saves you a month. its about how much it will save you over 5 years to a decade.


people are just pointing out options. for a lot of people traditional cable internet packages are the best route.
 
@Tornicade @gourimoko what is the legality of torrenting? I have actually done it for a few playoff games that I want to be able to watch for memories sake (i.e. 2009 Cavs Magic game 2), and I know it's a lot harder to get caught than a direct download, but I've read that people have gotten in some major legal trouble doing it.

Thanks to everyone for all the information.
 
@Tornicade @gourimoko what is the legality of torrenting? I have actually done it for a few playoff games that I want to be able to watch for memories sake (i.e. 2009 Cavs Magic game 2), and I know it's a lot harder to get caught than a direct download, but I've read that people have gotten in some major legal trouble doing it.

Thanks to everyone for all the information.

It's not legal.

I'll answer for gourimoko, learn to use Usenet.

My answer, find a couple good private trackers and you'll have no problem torrenting.
 

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