Ditching the dish?

[Daren Todd]

Like the title says, my wife and I are thinking about getting rid of the dish Local Internet companies made substantial upgrade to the service. So a conversation with them the other day about cancelling the home phone turned into them telling me they finally got around to hooking up the fibre optic lines that they ran through the area. Conversation included scheduling a tech to come out and replace the line to the house and running a new phone jack with cat 5 cable to take advantage of a free life time upgrade for our service. Our local Internet is dsl by the way.

Said upgrade to the lines turned into a 5000 percent increase in speed Our old speed was a whopping 1 megabyte per second. New speed is 50 megabytes per second Before, if my wife was watching Netflix on her tablet, it would eat up all the available speed. Add a second device to the mix, and it took 5 minutes to load OTT

Wife and I don't have one of the smart TV's that's Internet capable. So we started looking at the Internet boxes like roku that can connect the TV to the Internet. But with not knowing much about the boxes, we are trying to learn. As well as trying to drop our bill down considerably and to avoid paying out a bunch of money for one of those boxes. One thing we are trying to do, is to keep the local channels and to be able to stream them over the Internet on the tv.


Any advise about plans, options ect,...... would be really helpful

 

[bearskinner]

Daren, you will love the new service! As a retired Verizon FIOS Wi-Fi tech, what any company offers you this month, will surely change next week! I would just keep checking the offers ( we do) on a monthly or bi monthly basis, and keep getting free options ( usually 3 month free trials) you will be amazed what the phone jockey can giveaway to keep you paying a monthly bill to them.
You are lucky to be close enough to town to get fiber. We have crappy satellite, that is so slow, we can't stream video or movies.

 

[RCW]

I'm no help here.

We do have a Smart TV, in fact it's a lot smarter than we are. We aren't smart enough to use the smart part of it.

 

[Daren Todd]

I'm no help here.

We do have a Smart TV, in fact it's a lot smarter than we are. We aren't smart enough to use the smart part of it.

I got one in the camper. It is handy since you can connect it to WiFi. We tried it on one trip where the camp ground had Internet. But it was too slow to stream movies using my wife's Netflix account. Spent more time loading then playing Kids have Netflix and Amazon on there smart TV over there home WiFi connection. And it's pretty neat just being able to click on that icon on the tv and stream movies or shows.

I'm just trying to get rid of the dish along with the $88 per month bill, and knock it down to say $10 per month plus the current netflix account taking advantage of the Internet. And still be able to keep the local channels. Especially the news, since we are in a tornado prone area

So, what I guess I'm asking, is what app using one of those boxes, allows for the local stations?

 

[KubotaVet]

Welcome to the cord cutters club. We dropped ours a couple of years ago and it was one of the best things we've done, dish was way to expensive!

First for locals check out TV Fool. Put in your address or GPS coordinates and see how many free channel's you can get. We get 23 channels all in HD that was better then our old dish network reception.

There's all kinds of antenna options but what worked best for me was hooking up a roof antenna on the same stand mounted on our roof that our dish was connected. Then I just used the same coax cable that was already wired through the house for our over the air OTA TV.
TV Fool: http://tvfool.com

My Antenna is a MoHu Sky 60, Mile range in all directions:

Also we use TiVo for streaming Netflix etc and it has a built in DVR for pausing and recording OTA TV. TiVo does charge for the DVR service, but for us it is well worth it. I think its $10-12 a month still way cheaper then the $100/month for dish.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[nickelplated5s]

Dump the dish and get rabbit ears. Any of the "Roku" sticks will pay for themselves in a month or two even with Hulu or whatever you choose. Check out ClarkHoward.com.

http://www.clark.com/best-cable-satellite-tv-alternatives

 

[bucktail]

You might be able to run it through your DVD player, but Roku was pretty cheap last time I looked and most people I know that have them like them.

 

[Daren Todd]

You might be able to run it through your DVD player, but Roku was pretty cheap last time I looked and most people I know that have them like them.

That's a good point on the DVD player It wasn't a smart TV out in the camper. I had just bought a cheap one. I had forgotten that it was the Blue Ray that had the links for prime and netflix. I'll have to unhook it and bring it inside to try Our DVD player in the house is an older one and doesn't have those features. And actually the DVD player needs to be replaced anyway. We've just been using it because it came with a surround sound system. That gives me another option for streaming videos

 

[sdk1968]

Roku or firestick are ok...


& yes there that lovely thing called KODI for your firestick...

right now its the schizzle... but that only gonna be for a short time.

if you really wanna be able to get the best stuff for free?

get this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/182270467358?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

its lightning fast & its perfectly LEGAL... you'll get all kinds of TV/movies/ppv..

its called a mini-x & it is basically an android computer for TV..

it will pay for itself the first weekend you have it.

 

[bxray]

I Cut the dish.
Have a smart tv, but a chromcast is easier to work with.
From phone, tablet or pc.

Ray

 

[Newlyme]

Roku or firestick are ok...


& yes there that lovely thing called KODI for your firestick...

right now its the schizzle... but that only gonna be for a short time.

if you really wanna be able to get the best stuff for free?

get this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/182270467358?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

its lightning fast & its perfectly LEGAL... you'll get all kinds of TV/movies/ppv..

its called a mini-x & it is basically an android computer for TV..

it will pay for itself the first weekend you have it.

Is this similar to the Apple TV box?

 

[torch]

& its perfectly LEGAL...

That view is being challenged by content stakeholders (eg: cable companies) the world over. While the box itself does not make or store a copy, it can be used to view streamed copyrighted material. Courts are being asked to interpret that as a means of defeating copyright protection -- effectively ruling that the android box itself is illegal.

In North America, the industry seems to be primarily targeting small distributors rather than the big ones (like Amazon). I suspect that this strategy is based on the likelihood that a small distributor will not be able to afford to mount a strong legal defense, so the industry will get a favourable ruling they can then quote as precedent. Kind of like hunting: pick off the stragglers at the back of the pack first, and work your way forward.

Watching poor quality cam-synched video of the latest Hollywood blockbuster is not the only android box use. They can be used to stream any video feed, from youtube to Netflix. That includes your local TV stations' web feed, if offered. If you believe that the sale of a device with perfectly legal applications should not be outlawed, then perhaps you should donate some of your cable savings to one of the "Go Fund Me" type legal defense funds springing up over this.

I suspect that if this was some sort of firearm, US citizens would be falling over each other to decry this erosion of their rights, but since it's only TV, the couch potatoes who can barely reach for the remote control on the coffee table won't ever be heard.

I understand that in England, the industry has taken it a step further and is starting to pursue users. Specifically pubs that have been using them to stream sporting events.

 

[skeets]

It's still about the money aint it

 

[CaveCreekRay]

(face slapping sound)

Skeets: Its always about the money!

The problem is, technology is accelerating faster than the legal swine can catch up with it. With vastly faster 'Net speeds, we may see an end to pay-for-view services and return to free access for everyone. This, of course will end satellite because its insanely expensive to operate without user support.

And technology is accelerating every day.

 

[skeets]

Indeed it is, I have to admit I watch very little TV any more as there is in MHO nothing on worth watching, even the so called science programs seem to have some political aspect to them any more. Most anything I want I can find on line, from TV shows to first run movies news and weather and all the smut a person can handle. Im not much of a sports fan, in fact Im not a fan of any sport any more. Oh well I guess thats what happens when you get old

 

[bearbait]

Tv just plain sucks, more commercials than anything and lot's of repeats. I bought an android of amazon (M8S-11) that works well at least no commercials and for you folks south of us it has USTV now on it which I believe will give you your locals. There is lot's about it on youtube. Also for a phone I have a magic jack, very cheap and no long distance anywhere in North America, cost 40 bucks a year after you buy the plugin, 70 bucks I think for it. And yes everything in this world is all about money.

 

[Corney]

Indeed it is, I have to admit I watch very little TV any more as there is in MHO nothing on worth watching, even the so called science programs seem to have some political aspect to them any more. Most anything I want I can find on line, from TV shows to first run movies news and weather and all the smut a person can handle. Im not much of a sports fan, in fact Im not a fan of any sport any more. Oh well I guess thats what happens when you get old

To bad you live so far away because we could hang out in my shop and drink beer with no tv, I think the same way.

Herself however spends about $200 a month on satellite tv and Internet. When I bitch about it she just asks how much I spend on beer!

Her and the tv are smarter than me?

 

[Creature Meadow]

We watch very little TV so we cut the phone/Internet(Century Link and cable(Charter) 2 years ago.

Added Century Link internet($49.00 month) and bought digital antenna that picks up 20 local HD channels.

The above saved us $111.00 a month or $1332.00 a year!

I do enjoy baseball so I buy the MLB package each year so I can watch the St. Louis Cardinals play. I stream the games through my computer, with a HDMI cable I connect to my TV and with a wireless mouse can sit computer beside tv and control the game from the recliner.

Just got Amazon prime so next step is to stream through my DVD player movies we like to watch. We did not but for the movies but instead for the free shipping which in a couple of months will have paid for it's self.

lots of choices out there which is good for us consumers.

 

[Tooljunkie]

As much as i dislike the commercials,57 channels with the same show on and the fact its kind of pricey i will be keeping it for a while. Dish on shop that plays music all day every day. No ads. Just music. Without that distraction i feel lost and get very little accomplished.
I have a decent collection of music in my phone,but itunes shuffle sucks.
Havent looked much for web music and tv. Trying my son's apple tv and for movies its great.

 

[sheepfarmer]

I have a crummy cable company and a lot of big trees so haven't tried satellite. Cell phone reception lousy out here. Old tv, no modern knick knacks. Does anyone have any ideas of how to get the Canadian tv stations? They dropped it off the cable lineups. I liked to watch the figure skating and a couple of other things. I need a kid that understands all these new gizmos...anyone got a grandchild they want to loan out for a day or two?