Only the BEST experiences... LOL, mine happened, when I ditched the husband... he was the cable user. I have an antenna, and prolly watch about 3 hours of TV per week. It's GREAT.

Moni

We are seriously considering it. Our 2 year deal with directv just ended and the price jist skyrocketed. For the channels we get,it's not worth it. I am definitely the tv watcher. As long as I can get my cooking shows and Dr. Pol,I think I'll be good. SO primarily watches the local news so an antenna or one of the local apps would be good for him. Just have to make the leap.

We have been considering it. We have direct tv and they now offer direct tv now which is cheaper and the packages are fairly equal to the ones on regular direct tv. We watch a lot of Netflix now. It is something we are interested in the near future.

I just recently did this. Ditched the land line phone and DirecTV satellite. Converted the land line to a cell phone and went streaming for TV. DirecTVNow is $40/month for pretty much the same channels I watched any way. Down side is there are only 20 hours of cloud DVR available and the recordings expire in so many days. Saving a bunch of $$$.

I severed the imbecilic cord TV/cable wise some years ago for the same reason y'all did. It's too expensive. Like Rhizo... I've kept my broadband computer connection and the land line telephone connection [I don't see well enough to rely on a cell phone plus my rural area is cell phone tower challenged] because I must have a telephone. I'm a reader. I watch the news and occasionally PBS programming via my computer. Beyond that...I'm blissfully ignorant and I love every minute of it. I should have done it years and years ago. :-)

Winter, "most" cell phones from major carriers have a "wifi mode" for calls. Meaning, if you prepare the right settings on the phone, turn on airplane mode, and then connect to a wifi signal, all telephony traffic (both calls and SMS messages) will route strictly over the internet via your wifi system in the house. Our cell phone reception can be variable in our foothill location with canyons and ridges but all mobile phone calls (routed over wifi) are crystal clear, Check it out, maybe your cell phone has that capability. Also, most smart phones can dial with voice recognition, no need to touch buttons.

And or also, if your landline is expensive, check out any of the several services that route calls over the internet. Vonage is one, I think about $20 a month. The one I use (and others have mentioned too) is Ooma. You buy an Ooma box (B+H is selling it for $80 today) that connects to your internet router. After that purchase, you pay only monthly telecom tax, about $5 per month. My ATT bill was over $40 a month for a landline so when I switched to Ooma several years ago, I was money ahead in like 3 months. I've had it for over 4 years and it has saved me several thousand dollars already.

Edit to add

I forgot to mention Talkatone - a free app for both Android and iDevices that allows free and unlimited phone calls to US phone numbers, again, over a wifi connection. I think you can also get a free local phone number for inbound calls too (that people use to call you), a friend I know who spends a lot of time abroad has that.

We are thinking of cutting cable. Personally, I want too. We don’t really watch TV except for NBA and Soccer games. Other than that, nothing on tv interests us. I would love to cut cable and get like NBA tv or something.

Thank you for your suggestions, Elmer. I shall check my cell phone settings but should mention that my major draw back regarding cell phone usage vs a land line system is my continuing loss of vision. If I had an emergency at three in the morning...I'd likely die from whatever it might be if I had to rely on my cell phone. Whereas, I can easily pick up a telephone handset and since I've memorized the number panel...I think my chances of survival are a tad better.

My telephone service through my broadband provider costs me only $20/month so I think I'll remain with the arrangement I have. But I appreciate the info you've provided in case it ever becomes necessary to change my current system.

I got rid of cable tv over 3 years ago, and never missed it. I have flat antennas (like Leaf antenna), which bring in over 40 channels. I watch a lot of totally free content on youtube, including House Hunters episodes and British shows like Escape to the Country. I get recent movies free from the library (I recently saw the Shape of Water, am on a waiting list for Book Club). I have a Smart TV (I hated Roku...bought 2 of them, each stopped working), but Sling does not work on it (too old....it only works on Samsungs from 2016 and later). Would love to get Sling to have HGTV 24 hrs a day! Hope you enjoy not getting that ever-increasing cable bill!

Schoolhouse, our library carries each season of Game of Thrones....just a thought. YMMV

Sounds like you're on top of things, winter, as are the others making comments higher in the thread re their TV suppliers.

Oh I can't wait that long for an episode of GOT.

We got rid of both the cable and the TV in 2000 and have never looked back. Both DH and I listen to NPR radio for the news and utilize our computer (me) / tablet (him) to "read" other news outlets. The only programming we wish to see is "This Old House" which we stream.

I'm going to be following this thread.....My cable bill is extremely high. I really don't watch a lot of TV, but do like Public TV. When I want to watch the Twins games I have to upgrade my connection package for the season,and that is spendy. DS has Hula, which they like but are unable to get public TV unless they add an antenna, but they do get the Twins!

Welcome to the club. I’ve never had cable, I don’t have time to watch OTA TV as it is.

I have an antenna in my attic, and get great reception. Netflix and AmPrime, and that's more than enough choices.

We gave up cable television about 18 months ago. We don't have antenna reception here, so we can only watch whatever is available online without a cable I.D. and that's been more than enough programming to keep us happy. We have Amazon Prime access, too.

I have a Roku on my tv in the basement, but still can't find an app to stream tv shows. Just really old stuff. Like: REALLY old stuff. I haven't figured it out yet. I did find one app that had live tv streaming, so I downloaded it and the first channel I clicked on said I needed a different provider to watch it. ??? I want to get rid of the cable, but I still want to be able to watch my current tv shows.

I've never had cable, so I'm responding to your post just to say "good for you!" I do get reception (somewhat weather-dependent) for the networks, PBS, and some local stations, thanks to the antenna mounted on a radio tower my son built, and I have fun with Amazon Prime offerings (via a Fire Stick).

Still waiting for cable to come to our neighborhood, so I, too, could get some satisfaction from cancelling it! No TV, but I do stream some things when my DSL (slow dsl, no high speed here either) landline cooperates (meaning if there are lots of others using it, sometimes I can't even open a webpage). I'm not that far out of the city, but it's rural/suburban and even though cable is only a couple of blocks away, they won't extend it unless we all go together and pay.

We haven't had cable for a long time. We have fiber optic internet and Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. We actually alternate between Netflix and Hulu. When there is a show you really want to watch, like GOT, turn on HBO for a month (or a free seven day trial after all the episodes are out), then binge-watch and turn it back off.

Debby - hook up an antenna to your set. Check here to see what option you might have. https://www.antennaweb.org/Address

As for an app, try Crackle.

I haven't had cable in years and do miss the sci fi channel. I don't find some of the shows on Netflix that I would like to see. I love the low price though. I'm not looking forward to Netflix losing many shows when Disney opens. That means I'm going to have to get a second thing. :/(

chess, Debby is Canadian - see the Maple Leaf flag by her name? I don't think your suggestions will help her any.

Congrats for cutting the cord!

Oly, I’m in the same situation as you, only we do have Direct tv and some decent broadband via cell towers, but at times the broadband is pathetic. And expensive for what we get. We would ditch the Direct tv in a heartbeat if we had more options. The price we pay for rural life vs city life.

Never had it. We get about 80 channels here with just an indoor antenna. Some in Spanish, some are Chinese and Vietnamese. Some are really old shows....but I don't watch TV much anyway....Antiques Roadshow. Some cooking shows on PBS, sometimes Nova, but nothing on a regular basis. I may watch the local news. My husband watches football, the old westerns, and news. I watch videos on YouTube and listen to talk radio. The TV is on 24/7 in the bedroom....use it for a nightlight but keep it muted.

When staying at hotels I love the HG TV and ALL the free movies. But at home....I get 34 channels, with this outdoor antenna. We disconnected the Ooma/phone since we have DSL. I've been reading, it may work with DSL then I'd like to not pay for a land line.

Elmer - So she should be able to look that up on a Canadian site. There are similar sites/tools for Canada. (And I don't look at icons - maple leaf or not).

Nicole, the Ooma box doesn't care what kind of an internet connection it has, so long as it can get to the internet through its connection (usually ethernet cable) to a router. It has a wifi dongle you can get to move the Telo away from the router and pass the telephony over Wifi. Tech support has told me that's not the best way to go, wired is best.

Our Ooma service is great - very clear and consistent connections and at such a low price. Without Ooma, we'd chuck our landline number, it's not worth having.

Chess - sure. Anyone can look up anything. I was only saying that while your effort to help her was nice, the site you linked to isn't of use to her and Crackle apparently isn't available in Canada.

I appreciate the antenna link. As suspected, there are two channels likely to reach me here one, of which is Fox (altho 40 years ago, pre digital, I think we got 4 sometimes with our antenna). So in reality, for me, since I'd never watch Fox, there would be 1 channel and it's something I've never even heard of.

I think you can subscribe to hbo through Amazon prime for $15 a month. We are going to do that as it's much easier to start and stop than having to call the cable company.

I would get rid of cable in a snap if it wasn't for my husband. He flips through every channel. He will focus on stuff he has seen a zillion times, and heaven forbid if you try to talk to him. I watched ONE show and Fox cancelled it. It is going to be on Netflix, but we don't take Netflix (yet).

Thanks Elmer. I'll hook it up. I called Century Link, I'd save $26.50 a month, then spend $6 for the tax. Ooma gives me unllmited long distance, I have 30 minutes a month now.