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I haven't paid for cable TV in over 6 years. I have a $10/mo Netflix subscription and use the free library that's 4 miles away from my house (and has both BluRay as well as regular DVD's) and haven't looked back. If there is a football or basketball game that I REALLY want to watch I go to the local sports bar or friend's house. I can't say I miss having regular TV and my productivity has skyrocketed.
what do you use to hook up to Netflix and internet?
what do you use to hook up to Netflix and internet?
You use a WIFI modem to connect to the internet. Some ISP's provide them and others make you purchase your own. The best location for the modem is centrally located or close to all the electronics. If you have multiple floors you may need to buy a network extender. It's sort of a digital repeater that lets your WIFI cover a bigger area.
For the TV, I use a ROKU. The ROKU streams the digital data it gets from the WIFI network and voila, TV. You go to roku.com and choose all your channels. Lots are free but there are quite a few with monthly or yearly subscriptions. Many offer free trials so you can check them out. There are choices other than ROKU. The Amazon Firestick is another one. The ROKU is attached to your TV with a HDMI cable.
I have Amazon and Netflix so I chose to activate those channels on the ROKU. If you have Prime, a lot of the TV is included for free. You just have to go to the Amazon site and sign up.
That's TV. For my computers, I prefer a wired network(LAN) because it is faster and it gives them priority on bandwidth usage. So the WIFI router I have also has ethernet ports so I connect the computers directly to the modem with patch cables. You don't have to do this. That's just the way it works best for me.
If you have OTA channels available, you can also add a digital antenna.
I think cable TV can be a frugal purchase. When I lived in rural Minnesota there was literally nothing to do and it was freezing for half the year. Cable was pretty much our only entertainment and it saved money because we didn't go out all the time. And going out was an hour to get wherever and an hour to get home. Plus whatever you spent doing the activity. Cable was a good investment there.
Now I live in urban Las Vegas and there is a lot to do. So we use netflix, etc, and the internet service we pay for anyway. If I could get any OTA channels, I would have a digital antenna as well. We really don't need cable here.
Second, by watching little of the content, I do not have any visual cues that my simple lifestyle is somehow less than adequate. All I have to do is turn on the television at a hotel and if my wife sees HGTV, she wants granite countertops, stainless steel sinks, and new appliances.
World population growth peaked roughly 1962 when measured as a percentage, and in 1988 when measured as absolute numbers. So we are slowly edging towards zero population growth, but in a very uneven manner where exploding populations in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent are balanced out with shrinking aging populations in many other parts of the world (and not just Europe anymore).
But to balance out that trend, most of the world has access to cable or internet today. Back in the 1970's (world population reached 4 billion in 1974) the Club of Rome asked the question what would happen if the average consumption of citizens of the world reached the American Poverty Level.
For those of you too young, the Club of Rome is a global think tank that deals with a variety of international political issues. Founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy, the Club of Rome describes itself as "a group of world citizens, sharing a common concern for the future of humanity." It consists of current and former heads of state, UN bureaucrats, high-level politicians and government officials, diplomats, scientists, economists and business leaders from around the globe. It raised considerable public attention in 1972 with its report The Limits to Growth.
Well back in 1972 CaTV mean community antenna television and was a way for people who had bad reception to tune in primarily the three network via a really big antenna. The most popular network shows were:
All in the Family
Sanford and Son
Hawaii Five-O
Maude (only show in the top 10 that had a touch of controversy)
Bridget Loves Bernie (loosely on the premise of the 1920s Broadway play and 1940s radio show Abie's Irish Rose).
The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Gunsmoke
The Wonderful World of Disney
Ironside
Now the media broadcasts constant stream of shows about desire for material things from the Kardashians and Bridezilla to Cribs.
So forget the American poverty level. The whole world aspires to live at the top of the consumption level.
Can have some pretty good over the air broadcast TV in the city. Worth buying antenna and just look for your area's broadcast TV options. Wish DVR was cheaper option to buy without cable service but is not. Very helpful to find the website for favorite programs and just stream it from computer to TV with Google plug-in to HDMI port on TV.
You use a WIFI modem to connect to the internet. Some ISP's provide them and others make you purchase your own. The best location for the modem is centrally located or close to all the electronics. If you have multiple floors you may need to buy a network extender. It's sort of a digital repeater that lets your WIFI cover a bigger area.
For the TV, I use a ROKU. The ROKU streams the digital data it gets from the WIFI network and voila, TV. You go to roku.com and choose all your channels. Lots are free but there are quite a few with monthly or yearly subscriptions. Many offer free trials so you can check them out. There are choices other than ROKU. The Amazon Firestick is another one. The ROKU is attached to your TV with a HDMI cable.
I have Amazon and Netflix so I chose to activate those channels on the ROKU. If you have Prime, a lot of the TV is included for free. You just have to go to the Amazon site and sign up.
That's TV. For my computers, I prefer a wired network(LAN) because it is faster and it gives them priority on bandwidth usage. So the WIFI router I have also has ethernet ports so I connect the computers directly to the modem with patch cables. You don't have to do this. That's just the way it works best for me.
If you have OTA channels available, you can also add a digital antenna.
understand but you still need an internet company correct? I have 2 roku's and 2 xbox system's for 4 TV's plus I just recently bought an OTA for our tv outside for the summer. but im guessing I still need either Verizon or Cablevision for internet service both of which they almost always charge more without tv or phone...
understand but you still need an internet company correct? I have 2 roku's and 2 xbox system's for 4 TV's plus I just recently bought an OTA for our tv outside for the summer. but im guessing I still need either Verizon or Cablevision for internet service both of which they almost always charge more without tv or phone...
Our landline provider does not offer any 'tv'. They offer phone and dsl. New customers have to start with phone, but can add dsl. and later you can drop the phone part. Our dsl service costs less than it did when we had the phone part also.
I live out in the sticks and can pick up 21 free channels on my antenna.
Not everyone is as lucky as you. We live in a pretty densely populated suburb but due to the elevation of our area and the location of the nearest TV towers, we can only pick up 3 free watchable channels with antenna (NBC, CBS, Fox) - the rest are not really something I would watch even though they're free (Home Shopping Network, and a couple of free channels that only show old TV series like 'The Jeffersons', that's it). And so, we're still holding on to cable until we find a better alternative for our home entertainment.
we can only pick up 3 free watchable channels with antenna (NBC, CBS, Fox) - the rest are not really something
There is 850,000 people that live in the msa, but we only get 3 tv stations, PBS, Local News and Religious channel. I would love it if we could get (NBC, CBS, Fox) over the air.
The real problem with signing up is that it is so difficult to stop. They often continue to bill you. So when you sign up, use a seperate bank account because you may need to stop payments or close that account to close your account with the cable company. And even then, when they cannot dip into it anymore, they may ruin your credit. It's dangerous signing up with the devil
Netflix does the exact same thing. I use a seperate bank account. Because the second you cancel, they steal one additional months worth of payment. So I have them blocked via a stop payment at my bank prior to canceling. So far they haven't ruined my credit as of yet. I sign up with netflix every 5 years or so, and generally stay using their service in about 6 month increments.
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