Roku or Firestick vs Cable

fancicoffee13

fancicoffee13

Senior Member
Location
Texas
I tried the firestick and roku, bought the antenna and got the booster. Nothing beats cable. I have internet of course or I wouldn't be on my computer and this nice forum. For just $40 more I get expanded cable, internet and free installation. And no more moving the antenna around on the window trying to find the signal! I could not get more than 21 channels when I scanned my tv. So, cable it is. I did the antenna for about 3 years! Anyone else try going without cable and want to share their trials. By the way, not talking about the antenna you can put in the attic.
 

Once you've had cable TV, over the air broadcasts alone may be disappointing. Even though many cable channels are redundant, there is way more to pick from. I have over the air in my hobby room in the garage, and I watch some local stuff. But, I also have a Roku and the internet. With those I don't miss cable TV at all.

My wife, on the other hand, couldn't live without her cable TV. She records most of her favorite shows to view when she feels like it.

Don
 
I'm content with AirTV.

I've had cable in the past but it just didn't have enough WoW/bang for the bucks to be a good value for me.

The funny thing about dropping cable or anything else to save money is that after a couple of months the money saved seems to get spent on something else and you are no better off.

My advice would be if you enjoy cable then you should subscribe and find another area in your budget where you can save, YOLO!
 
Last edited:
I'm wondering how you ever got expanded cable for just $40 a month. After the deals ended mine was a lot more than that so I dumped them. I have amazon firestik now and broadcast channels and a company named philo for my streaming tv plus cbs. I pay about 23. for those two. I also just signed back up for netflix. I really don't need all those tons of channels I never watched and philo has most I watched on cable before for way less money. I'm satisfied with broadcast tv even though I only get about 21 channels or so I'm satisfied with their line up. So for 23. a month plus netflix I feel I am saving.
 
fancicoffee13 said:
I tried the firestick and roku, bought the antenna and got the booster. Nothing beats cable. I have internet of course or I wouldn't be on my computer and this nice forum. For just $40 more I get expanded cable, internet and free installation. And no more moving the antenna around on the window trying to find the signal! I could not get more than 21 channels when I scanned my tv. So, cable it is. I did the antenna for about 3 years! Anyone else try going without cable and want to share their trials. By the way, not talking about the antenna you can put in the attic.
Click to expand...
If I may asked, did you jump into this intermittent fasting and one meal a day or work into it slowly?
 
Ruthanne said:
I'm wondering how you ever got expanded cable for just $40 a month. After the deals ended mine was a lot more than that so I dumped them. I have amazon firestik now and broadcast channels and a company named philo for my streaming tv plus cbs. I pay about 23. for those two. I also just signed back up for netflix. I really don't need all those tons of channels I never watched and philo has most I watched on cable before for way less money. I'm satisfied with broadcast tv even though I only get about 21 channels or so I'm satisfied with their line up. So for 23. a month plus netflix I feel I am saving.
Click to expand...
No, I meant to say my bill went up $40, sorry. My bill is going to be about $145 a month. It is a bundle with landline, internet, and cable.
 
I think there are benefits to both having cable and Roku with Netflix an Hulu and Amazon Prime. Of course cable or Verizon Fios is going to be a more expensive option with also the more options of channels. There are also many cable channels that I never watch as well. Now with the subscriptions to Netflix and Hulu I do love some of there original programming so that makes that very beneficial as well. In the end it can all be rather expensive with not enough time to watch all the television programs that I want.
 
Cable was never available here til about a month ago, but I didn't sign up for it. I have a mental problem with the idea of paying to watch TV; I've never done it and have no plans to (unless I become immobile).

Reception is tough here in the hills so I have a huge roof antenna and get about 20 channels in the winter, fewer in the summer. Plus I have Roku -- but don't view anything unless it's free.

Although the TV is on a lot, I don't really watch it that much -- I'm usually paying more attention to my laptop. But I like the noise in the background.
 
Cable sucks! I had it for years, and as the years went on, the programs got shorter, the commercial breaks much longer. I couldn't stand it, so I discontinued TV service, but kept the internet. When i called to cancel that, after I found I could power my computer internet from my phone, they cut my fees by two-thirds, so I kept the internet feed. My on the air programming comes in with an outside antenna that I mounted inside the well of my tv room's skylight. Very easy to adjust, from a step ladder, although I haven't had to touch it since I tuned it a few months ago.
 
I dumped cable about 6 or 7 years ago. It got way too expensive for me and kept going up. I use my Roku box (one time expenditure of about $99) and have a Netflix, Acorn and Britbox for a combined total of less than $25 per month. I also cast programs and movies from Youtube to my TV. I save over $100 a month by doing it this way.

IMHO there is nothing much worth watching on over the air TV anymore, and I can't stand the constant commercials. I watch news , etc. on the internet.
 
Apartment dweller. Not much choice but cable. Inexpensive. I'm not into Roku or such because I simply don't understand it. My Apple I pad gets me all the entertainment channels I watch. I don't have the attention span to watch a whole movie. The cable comes with a PVR cable box so I can watch recorded programs. I think it all
comes to individual preferences.
 
I get expanded cable, mainly so I can watch HBO, news, and sports. Not sure how good any of those would be as streaming channels. But mainly I very much prefer the channels that my Roku stick brings in, especially Netflix and Prime.
 
I don't know about the other TV distribution companies, but I am getting awfully tired of the non stop commercials on cable. It's not unusual to have 6 minute blocks of ads. A movie of 80 minutes running time last 2 hours on cable with all the ads. I can put up with slot programming like, "Say Yes, To The Dress", but those incessant TV ads bug the hell out of me.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I don't know about the other TV distribution companies, but I am getting awfully tired of the non stop commercials on cable. It's not unusual to have 6 minute blocks of ads. A movie of 80 minutes running time last 2 hours on cable with all the ads. I can put up with slot programming like, "Say Yes, To The Dress", but those incessant TV ads bug the hell out of me.
Click to expand...

Some over-the-air is like that now too, 5-6 minute commercials.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top